In 1971, all over the world, including the USSR, sensational articles were published in the magazine Around the World.
In the impenetrable jungle of the Philippine island of Mindanao, the Tasadai tribe was discovered, who know nothing about the world around them, live by gathering, eating crabs and frogs, they do not know how to hunt other game, use stone axes, their only clothes are loincloths made of leaves.
They have been described as the most backward people on Earth. Television showed several documentaries about them. Of course, everyone began to think about how to ensure their safety and security.
It was reported that Tasadai live in conditions of primitive communism and mutual assistance, without knowing aggression and conflicts:
“They have learned to live in harmony and harmony not only with nature, but also with each other. There are no conflicts at all between the people of the Tasadai tribe. If one of the people in the tribe does not have food, the others do not eat either. When we gave them a bolo, each man took a ball for himself. There was an extra ball left, but no one wanted to take it."
The anthropologists who met them Tasadai were mistaken for Divata - a kind creature who should one day descend from heaven.
The scholars who first met Tasadai were brought to them by Manuel Elizalde, a famous Filipino politician. He brought journalists, politicians, filmmakers, movie stars and other celebrities, including Gina Lollobrigida and Charles Lindbergh, to watch the tasadai by helicopter. John Rockefeller created a tribal relief fund.
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In 1972, Philippine President Marcos declared the cavemen's habitat a nature reserve. The territory was guarded by the military, visits were prohibited. All excursions were conducted only in conjunction with Elizalde, who declared himself the protector of the tribe …
After 15 years, Marcos was overthrown, the military cordons on the way to the reserve were removed. Now anyone could get to the Tasadai tribe. Swiss anthropologist Oswald Iten and Filipino journalist Joey Lozano decided to visit the tribe. They found no one in the cave. But there were suspiciously similar natives nearby.
They lived in huts, wore jeans and T-shirts. It turned out that these are the inhabitants of the surrounding villages, whom Elisalde forced to live in a cave, convinced them not to wear clothes, paid them money for this and promised to give them an additional payment on condition that they look completely beggars. The stone axes were also found to be fake.
Elisalda was not found, since two years earlier he had fled to Costa Rica, taking $ 35 million from the Fund for Helping "Children of Nature".
After that, a documentary film is released: "The Tribe That Never Was". During the exposure, while in Costa Rica, Manuel Elizalde spent the first of the 35 million dollars of the Aid Fund, collected over 15 years of the charitable foundation!