ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the process of increasing inequality in the frontier settlement of Napsaan on the west coast of Palawan Island in the southern Philippines. It explains the initial development of economic differentiation in the context of ethnic diversity and the alternate economic strategies pursued by members of the two main ethnic groups that settled in the community. There are: indigenous ethnic minority Tagbanua who migrated from the east coast of Palawan, and lowland Christian settlers originally from the Visayan Islands in the central Philippines. Tagbanua families comprised about one-fourth of the population, while households of mixed ethnicity accounted for another one-fourth and lowlanders one-half of the community. Economic choices made by individual settlers and the consequences of pursuing different subsistence strategies were important elements in the initial development of inequality in Napsaan. By the 1980s, however, new social and economic forces were beginning to influence the ability of households to achieve prosperity.
