PEARL-DIVING IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES
Sulu Islands in southern Philippines is known as the pearling capital
of the country and home to one of the finest and rarest natural pearls
in the world. On October 15, 1996, under Proclamation No. 905, the
South Sea Pearl was declared as the National Gem, a distinctive part
of the Philippines’ socio-economic and cultural tradition.
Pearl shells were also traded locally, either by kilogram or per
piece, depending on the size. However, local regulations banning the
trade of these items resulted to its disappearance in the market.
Accounts of some descendants about Manilamen who “came in a boat with
a house in the middle” suggest that some of them may have belonged to
the Sama-Dilaut or Badjao community. An Indigenous group in southern
Philippines, they are considered as the best free-divers in the world.
Until present, they engage in fishing and free-diving for food, while
some learned how to cultivate oysters and clams on the stilt of their
houses. They only kept pearls in oysters or clams as souvenirs, having
little knowledge about their market value. Dubbed as sea gypsies, they
spend most of their lives in the water, onboard a lepa, an eight-meter
long and a meter and a half wide seacraft, which is very flat and
often with outriggers.
and its shell, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines.
by kilogram before the regulation
banning its selling was passed.
“Agostin came to Yam Island in a long fishing boat with a house in
the middle. Other long fishing
boats had a house on their stern… Agostin dived first for
beche-de-mer (sea cucumber)…
he dived with his countrymen for trochus shell. They were called
‘naked divers’ because
they did not use breathing apparatus and special suits.”
- Josephine David-Petero
Manilamen descendant
Sulu Passages
Pearl Divers in Tawi-Tawi
