Analyst: Public concern for 'Badjao girl' opens opportunity for IP

MANILA, Philippines — The public concern over a Badjao girl on social media is an opportunity for the new government to ensure the rights of indigenous peoples, an analyst said.

Photos of 13-year-old Rita Gabiola, who came to be known as Badjao girl, while begging on the streets of Lucban, Quezon went viral after online Filipinos noticed her beauty.

A few days later, Gabiola was given a scholarship following a guesting on ABS-CBN's Rated K. The ;ocal government of Lucena City also vowed to provide her family with a job.

"The public concern for Rita Gaviola is an opportunity for the new Philippine government to strengthen efforts to ensure the rights of livelihood, housing and health to the Badjao and other indigenous peoples who, too often, are denied those rights in the face of discrimination, conflict or displacement," Carlos Conde said in an article published on the website of international group Human Rights Watch.

Conde added that the government should start providing adequate resettlement for the Badjao who still live in evacuation centers in Zamboanga City. Gabiola is originally from Zamboanga City, where thousands of its residents including Badjao were displaced following armed confrontation between government forces and members of the Moro National Liberation Front in September 2013.

More than 100,000 residents were displaced and nearly 200 people were killed during the incident. Ethnic minorities in the city were forced to relocate due to the fighting.

"The authorities, with little or no genuine consultation, forcibly moved the Badjao inland from their homes along the coast, despite their traditional occupation as fishermen," Conde said. Thousands of Badjao and other residents, mostly Muslims, remain homeless and live in evacuation sites up to this day.

The Badjao, commonly referred to as "sea gypsies" as they live and fish in coastal areas, live in extreme poverty. This forces them to join the beggars in the country's urban areas.

"The government should also help ensure the livelihood of the Badjao by relocating them to areas that allow access to the seashore so that they can work as fishermen. Perhaps then Rita Gaviola—and the thousands of Badjao like her—can finally stop begging and return home," Conde said.