Also known as Negritos, they are said to be descendants of the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, dating back to the late Pleistocene Era.
[6] The Ayta Abellen are distinguishable by their curly black hair, and darker skin tone as compared to other Filipinos.
In this theory, there were two different migrations, one from the southern coast of Sundaland eastward and from Wallacea to Mindanao, causing there to be a separation of Ayta people and the Mamanwa for about 20,000 to 30,000 years.
Pinatubo in the 1990s, some of the Ayta Abellen have relocated from the mountains and have intermarried and mixed in with the local Ilocano people.
The Ayta people rely on natural resources; however, due to shrinking forests, it has become harder to sustain that life style.
[7] In the Sambal and Ayta languages, the glottal stop tends to replace a word final non-obstruent when proceeded by a stressed high central vowel.