Theories on Racial Origins

When I was in elementary, I was taught that we, Filipinos, have come from Negritos,
short, dark-skinned people who first inhabited our country. Then we had been influenced by
different ethnic groups, like the Malays and Indonesians, when they reached the Philippines
through the land bridges. But after knowing that these things were only just assumptions and had
no solid evidences, I started to wonder where Filipinos really came from. Who are the prehistoric
Filipinos?

Many scholars have tried to explain our racial origins and they have come to different
conclusions. According to Professor H. O. Beyer, Filipinos came from original waves of
migrants who varied physically from each other. Despite of this claim, no evidences could prove
that what Beyer described about these migrants is true but most have accepted the assumption
without question. Other researchers have come up with somewhat similar ends that Negritos,
Malays and Indonesians are the major racial groups which were believed as ancestors of modern
Filipinos.

Focusing more on the Negritos, they have been considered and accepted to be the
aboriginal inhabitants in the archipelago. However, it is definitely difficult to attest that theyre
the first group since all human bones which were found could not determine the skin color of the
person. That is why I certainly agree to the statement that If history is not fiction, then any
hypothesis that cannot be supported by solid empirical data has to be rejected. This goes to
show that there is no certainty that we have come from Negritos. However, the social impact of
being called by the colonizers as Negritos have remained and maybe thats the reason why
most have accepted that we descended from Negritos. Another point made is that we are
ethnically and racially Malay. But what evidences could prove it? Many paleontologists have
discovered remains or fossils near the archipelago which was once connected to nearby countries
but these, just as I mentioned earlier, have no indication of the physical features of the person.
Who they were and the ethnic identity they have are still questions not yet answered. In addition,
it can never be really proven that we are culturally Malay in bearing. Despite the similarities of
being situated in a tropical environment and other factors, we differ from our adaptive
techniques. Even our historical experiences are different from theirs. Thus, these ethnic groups
could not be scientifically and historically being proven to be our racial origin due to the lack of
evidences.

The origin of Filipinos should not only be justified by the physical traits but also the
biological classification of man. I agree to the stand of modern physical anthropologists that
genetic studies must be observed to finally resolve the racial identity of Filipinos. Despite of all
these, it is really in the posterity that we can get solutions. Time will definitely come that all our
questions will be answered. As for now, I like the idea of being part of the brown race, the
Southeast Asians. There is no doubt about it; the idea of neutrality.