The Philippines’ Aeta people are losing their way of life because of rapid urbanisation

Left behind: Aeta children now go to school. (Right) Philippine bush man Serrano building a fire in much the same way Stone-Age man must have done two million years ago. — AFP

SAPANG UWAK: Philippine bush man Edward Serrano struck two rocks together and wrapped the faint spark in wood shavings, building a fire in much the same way Stone Age man must have done two million years ago.

The short, Afro-ed jungle survival instructor is an Aeta, from one of the most unique ethnolinguistic peoples of the Philippines, who are also the archipelago’s first known inhabitants.