Badjao or Bajau means man of the seas, this tribal group is known as the Sea Gypsies because they move with the wind and the tide on their small houseboats called vintas, they can be found in many coastal settlements and inhabit the waters and shores of the Sulu archipelago.

The Sama Dilaut, the formal name of the Badjao, are among the most obscure, misunderstood and marginalized among the Filipino ethnic-linguistic groups. Their story needs to be told.

Widely known as the “Sea Gypsies” of the Sulu and Celebes Seas, the Badjao are scattered along the coastal areas of Tawi Tawi, Sulu, Basilan, and some coastal municipalities of Zamboanga del Sur in the ARMM. Amongst themselves, they're known as Sama Laus (Sea Sama) and are found living on houseboats where they make their livelihood solely on the sea as expert fishermen, deep sea divers, and navigators

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – “We want to go, but there's no sea there,” said Rufaida Marrudin as she held her grandson inside her makeshift shelter, a house on stilts on the shoreline of Cawa-Cawa Boulevard.