For two days and two nights, I had a non-stop conversation with Aeta leaders of LAKAS and PBAZ inside their ancestral domain.

We planned our trip to be a “visioning walk and talk,” and we did talk a lot about the future. But our conversations also shuttled back and forth, to the past, the present, and the future.

That may be the reason why on the first night, before falling asleep in the hut of Mulo, I recalled Philip Zimbardo’s book The Time Paradox. His thesis is that people can have three time perspectives: Past-oriented, present oriented, or future-oriented.

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October 11-12, I joined 25 Aeta leaders of LAKAS and PBAZ to visit their ancestral domain. We crossed the river of mud and lahar on a three-hour trip to Barangay Villar, and had an evening assembly to discuss their priorities. The next morning, we went on a two-hour hike to Yamot, one of their original sitios, to visit the hot springs where they want to plant a sacred grove and build cottages for a Wellness Center.

Last stream to cross before Barangay Villar and a welcome merienda of camote and cassava

We went down to a spring water source of drinking water, the priority of the barangay.

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Girlie has just finished packing my bag for  my early morning bus trip to Zambales tomorrow, for a two-day visit to the Aetas’ ancestral domain.

She always helps me pack for any trip I make. Though she doesn’t say so, I sense that she worries about this trip. Perhaps she’s thinking of my legs; I’m 67 and have not climbed any mountain in decades.

“Why are you going up the mountain with the Aetas?” she finally asked. “They can just give you whatever information you need.”

My immediate answer was that I really want to see for myself their ancestral domain, including their settlements that they had to abandon when Mt.

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