A Phenomenological Study of Locals’ Perception to the Inequalities Experienced of Badjao Ethnic Group

A lot of ethnic tribes with diverse social practices, customs, and gatherings are available in the Philippines and one of the ethnic tribes is the Badjao who are recently enticed to move life from the sea to a real existence ashore. Considering the way that they are nomadic, they are dispersed in other cities and towns of Pangasinan. In this connection, the researchers became interested to conduct a study on the perception of the locals in the experienced inequality of the Badjao ethnic group as perceived by them. The study used a qualitative research design specifically a phenomenological approach. Consequently, the interview was aided by an interview guide which is semi structured in nature and the data gathered were analyzed using qualitative content analysis method. As a result, the perception of the participants in experienced inequality of the Badjao ethnic group is discrimination and lack of opportunities which were contributed by their appearance, language, and lifestyle. Moreover, it was concluded that the perception of the locals to the Badjaos are based on the observed traits such as on the physical aspects of discrimination and the way they interact with the locals which leads them to experience prejudice and lack of opportunities. However, in order to help the Badjaos in opposing inequality, the acceptance of the community should be developed in a way that it helps the ethnic group to survive and surpass the challenges in the place they migrated in