Chapter 2.

Geographical Setting of MinSuPala

LESSON:

MinSuPala and Its People at Present

TIME FRAME: 3 Hours

LESSON OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the module, the students should be able to:
1. Describe the geographical features of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan.
2. Locate the traditional places of the native inhabitants in MinSuPala.
3. Identify the inhabitants of MinSuPala.

OVERVIEW/ INTRODUCTION:
Mindanao, which means “land of many lakes”, is one of the major administrative
divisions of the Philippine archipelago aside from Luzon and Visayas. Because of its
geological development, the region has a long and irregular coastline with many bays and
large peninsulas, high, rugged, faulted mountain ranges, a number of volcanoes, broad,
level and swampy plains, high rolling plateaus, and thousands of islands and islets which
home of today’s tri-people of Moros, Lumads and Christian migrants.
This module would discuss about the geographic location of MinSuPala, its
geological periods and land formation that could have influenced that lifestyle of the
Moros and Lumads people in the region. It would also highlight the inhabitants of the
region, their traditional territories and classification.

ACTIVITY:
The students will create a vlog about introducing themselves using their own native
tongue (with English subtitle). Post it in our Facebook page.

ANALYSIS:
The student’s introduction may be guided by the following questions:
1. What is your name and what is the history behind it?
2. Where is your place of origin (specific hometown/province)?
3. What language do you use at home/your community?
4. What are the major ethnic groups in your hometown/province?
5. How do you feel about cultural differences in your community/Mindanao?
6. What is the relationship between your self-introduction and the History 003
subject?
LESSON PROPER/ ABSTRACTION:

A Brief Historical Geology of Mindanao

By Linda Burton

Mindanao, meaning “land of many lakes,” is the second-largest island in the Philippines. It has an
area of about 92,000 square kilometers or nearly 34 percent of the total land area. Because of its geological
development, the island has a long and irregular coastline with many bays and large peninsulas, numbers
of volcanoes, and high peak mountain ranges.

Studies of Philippine geology reveal that during the Cretaceous (last period of the Mesozoic era)
which began some 135 million years ago, the Philippines was part of the Asian continent as indicated by
the presence of some landmass including the peneplains of Mindanao. However, at the end of the
Cretaceous and towards the Middle Tertiary period, around the Miocene age, a rift separated the Philippines
from Formosa or Taiwan. Between the Miocene (16 million years ago) many geological events took place
within the region: there was the intense volcanism which resulted in more mountain-building and pushing
up of new lands. Most geologists believe these events led to the birth of Mindanao wherein the peneplain
was uplifted as much as 500 to 600 meters. Towards the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene, or Ice Glacial
age, around two million years ago, Mindanao may have been five distinct islands: the Zamboanga
peninsula, the long narrow island east of Agusan Valley, and the land south of Cotabato River, the land
near Lake Lanao, and the land between Bukidnon and Agusan Valley. These islands were finally brought
together and became Mindanao during the late past Pleistocene uplift. Mt. Apo, an old volcano, was also
formed at this time.

Moreover, during the Pleistocene, the ocean level was very low islands which exposed continental
shelves and low islands around the Southeast Asia region: thus, land bridges were formed. There were two
distinct land connections: the Palawan-Borneo land bridge and Sulu-Mindanao-Borneo linkage. These land
connections permitted certain fauna such as stegodon and elephas (middle Pleistocene ancestors of the
modern-day elephants) and more flora to migrate from Asian mainland down to Java, Celebes, thence to
Mindanao and perhaps northward. Around 10,000 years ago, world climatic conditions changed, which led
to the melting of the ice sheets up to the northern hemisphere. This resulted in the rising of the ocean level
up to around 300 meters or more inundating and submerging low islands and continental shelves as well
as coastal lines. Thus, the once linked land bridges were disconnected, so Mindanao, Borneo, and Sulu
archipelago became distinct and separate islands.

Land Forms of Mindanao

(From “Shadow on the Lands: An Economic Geography” By Robert E. Huke)

Of all the islands of the Philippines, Mindanao the second-largest shows the greatest variety of
physiographic development. In this island are to be found high, rugged, faulted mountains, almost isolated
volcanic peaks, high rolling plateaus, and broad, level, swampy plains.

Mountain Ranges

The mountains of Mindanao can conveniently be grouped into five ranges, including both complex
structural mountains and volcanoes. The structural mountains on the extreme eastern and western
portion of the island show broad exposures of Mesozoic rock with ultra-basic rocks at the surface in many
places along the east coast. Surface rock in other areas of the island is mainly Tertiary or Quaternary
volcanic or sedimentary.

Paralleling the east coast, from Bilas Point in Surigao del Norte to Cape Agustin in southeast
Davao, is a range of complex mountains known in their northern portion as the Diwata mountains. This
range is low and rolling in its central portion, reaching a maximum elevation of only 450 meters. The Diwata
mountains, north of these low portion, are considerably higher and more rugged, reaching an elevation of
2,012 meters in Mount Hilonghilong, 17 miles’ northeast of Butuan city. The southern portion of this east
coast range is broader and even more rugged than the northern section. In eastern Davao, several peaks
rise above 2,500 meters, and one unnamed mountain rises to 2,810 meters.

The east-facing coastal regions of Davao and Surigao del Sur are marked by a series of small
coastal lowlands separated one from the other by rugged forelands which extend to the water’s edge. Off-
shore are numerous coral reefs and tiny islets. This remote and forbidding coast is made doubly difficult of
access during the months from October to March by the heavy surf driven before the northeast trades. A
few miles off-shore is found the Mindanao or Philippine Deep. This ocean trench, reaching measured
depths of 35,400 feet, marks one of the greatest depths known on the earth’s surface.

A second north-south range extends along the western boarders of Agusan and Davao provinces
from Camiguin island in the north to Tinaca point in the south. This range is mainly structural in origin, but
it also contains at least three active volcanic peaks. In the central and northern portions of this range, there
are several peaks between 2,000 and 2,500 meters, and here the belt of mountains is about 30 miles
across. West of the city of Davao two active volcanoes, Mount Talomo at 2,693 meters and Mount Apo
at 2,954 meters, the highest point in the Philippines, dominate the skyline. South of Mount Apo, this central
mountain belt is somewhat than it is to the north, with peaks averaging 1,100 and 1,800 meters.

In western Mindanao, a range of complex structural mountains forms the long, handle-like
Zamboanga Peninsula. These mountains, reaching heights of only about 1,200 meters, are not as high
as the other structural belts in Mindanao. In addition, there are several places in the Zamboanga Mountains
where small intermountain basins have been created, with some potential for future agricultural
development. The north-eastern end of this range is marked by the twin peaks of the now-extinct rise
splendidly behind Ozamis city to a height of 2,425 meters.

A series of volcanic Figure 5. Physical Map of Mindanao.

mountains is found near Lake
Lanao in a broad arc through
Lanao del Sur, northern Cotabato,
and western Bukidnon provinces.
At least six of the twenty-odd peaks
in this area are active, and several
are very impressive as they stand
in semi-isolation. The Butig
peaks, with their four crater lakes,
easily seem from Cotabato. Mount
Ragang, an active cone reaching
2,815 meters, is the most isolated,
while the greatest height is
reached by Mount Katanglad at
2,896 meters.

In southern Cotabato, still

another range of volcanic
mountains is found, this time
paralleling the coast. These
mountains have a maximum extent
of 110 miles from northwest to southeast and measure some 30 miles across. The best-known mountain
here is Mount parker whose almost circular crater lakes measures a mile and a quarter in diameter and lies
300 meters below its 2,040-meter summit.
Upland Plateaus

A second important physiographic division of Mindanao is the series of upland plateaus in

Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur provinces. These plateaus are comprised of basaltic lava flows interbedded
with ash and volcanic tuff. Near their edges, the plateaus are cut by deep canyons, and at several points,
spectacular waterfalls drop to the narrow coastal plain. These falls hold considerable promise for the
development of hydroelectric energy. Indeed, one such site, at Maria Cristina falls, has already become
a major producer. Because the rolling plateaus lie at an elevation averaging some 700 meters, above sea
level, they offer relief from the often oppressive heat at the coastal lowlands.

Lake Lanao occupies the major portion of one such plateau area in Lanao del Sur. This largest lake
in Mindanao and second in the entire country is roughly triangular in shape with an 18-mile long base.
Having a surface at 780 meters above sea level, and being rimmed on the east, south, and west by a series
of peaks reaching to 2,300 meters, the lake provides a scenic grandeur, and pleasant temperature seldom
equaled in the country. Marawi City, at the northern tip or the lake, is bisected by the Agus River which
feeds the Maria Cristina Falls.

Another of Mindanao’s spectacular waterfalls site is located in Malabang, 15 miles south of lakes
Lanao. Here the Jose Abad Santos Falls present one of the nation’s scenic wonders at the gateway to a
LANDFORMS…200-hectare national park development.
Lowlands

Mindanao contains two large inland lowland areas, the valleys of the Agusan and Mindanao Rivers
in Agusan and Cotabato Provinces, respectively. There is some indication that the Agusan valley
occupies a broad syncline between the central mountains and the east coast mountains. This valley
measures 110 miles from south to north and varies from 20 to 30 miles in width. Thirty-five miles north of
the head of Davao Gulf lies the watershed between the Agusan and the tributaries of the Libuganon River
which flow to the Gulf. The elevation at this divide is well under 200 meters indicating the almost continuous
nature of the lowland from the Mindanao Sea on the north to the Davao Gulf.

The Mindanao River and its main tributaries, the Catisan, and the Pulangi form a valley with a
maximum length of 120 miles and a width which varies from 12 miles at the river mouth to about 60 miles
in central Cotabato. The Southern extension of this Cotabato valley extends an uninterrupted across a 350-
meter watershed from Illana Bay on the northwest to Sarangani Bay on the southeast.

Other lowlands of a coastal nature are to be found in various parts of Mindanao. Many of these are
tiny, isolated pockets, as long as the northwest coastline of the Zamboanga. In other areas such as the
Davao Plain, these coastal lowlands are as much as ten miles wide and several times that length.

From Dipolog eastward along the northern coast of the Mindanao almost to Butuan City extends
a rolling coastal plain of varying width. In Misamis Occidental. The now dormant Mt. Malindang has
created a lowland averaging eight miles in width. Shallow Panguil Bay divides this province from Lanao
del Norte and is bordered by low lying, poorly drained lowlands, and extensive mangroves. In Misamis
Oriental, the plain is narrower and in places almost pinched out by rugged forelands which rich to the sea.
East of the Cagayan de Oro a rugged peninsula extends well into the Mindanao Sea. A few miles off the
tip of this lowland rimmed protection lies the island of Camiguin and its famous, or perhaps infamous’ Mt.
Hibok-Hibok.

This well-known mountain is the largest of a series of six volcanoes on the 15-mile-long island. The
most recent violent eruption occurred in 1951 when poison gas, ash, and lava were spewed forth in a deadly
blanket which leads waste to large sections of the northeast quarter of the island.
Basilan

Immediately south of Zamboanga Peninsula lies Basilan Island. South of it, the Sulu Archipelago
extends over 200 miles southwest toward Borneo.
 MINDANAO: THE LAND OF PROMISE

As an island in the southern part of the country, Mindanao is the second largest at 94,630 square kilometers,
only about 10,000 km2 smaller than Luzon. The island is mountainous and is home to Mount Apo, the
highest mountain in the country. To the west of Mindanao island is the Sulu Sea, to the east is the Philippine
Sea, and to the south is the Celebes Sea.
The island group of Mindanao encompasses Mindanao island itself, plus the Sulu Archipelago to the
southwest. The island group is divided into six regions, which are further subdivided into 25 provinces.

Island Group of Mindanao

The island group of Mindanao is an arbitrary grouping of islands in the southern Philippines which
encompasses six administrative regions. These regions are further subdivided into 25 provinces. Of which
only four are not on Mindanao island itself. The island group includes the Sulu Archipelago to the
southwest, which consists of the major islands of Basilan, Jolo, and Tawi-Tawi, plus outlying islands in other
areas such as Camiguin, Dinagat, Siargao, Samal, and the Sarangani islands.

The six regions are listed below, and each is individually discussed in the succeeding paragraphs. (As of
2004)

• Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX)

• Northern Mindanao (Region X)
• Davao Region (Region XI)
• SOCCSKSARGEN (Region XII)
• Caraga Region (Region XIII)
• Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX), formerly Western Mindanao, is located in the landform of the same
name. It consists of the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay,
and two cities – Zamboanga City and Isabela City – which are independent of any province. Isabela City
is the only territory not on Mindanao island itself and is located in Basilan. The region’s new administrative
capital is Pagadian City and the whole region used to a single province named Zamboanga.

Northern Mindanao (Region X) consists of the provinces of Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis
Occidental, Misamis Oriental, plus Cagayan de Oro City. The province of Camiguin is also an island just
of the northern coast. The administrative center and capital of the region is Cagayan de Oro City.

Davao Region (Region XI), formerly Southern Mindanao, is located in the southeastern portion of
Mindanao. The region is divided into the provinces of Davao Oriental, Davao, Davao del Sur and
Compostela Valley plus Davao City. The region encloses the Davao Gulf to the south and includes the
island of Samal in the gulf and the Sarangani islands further to the south. Davao City is the region’s
administrative center.

By virtue of RA 10360 enacted on July 23, 2013, the Davao Occidental province is the newest in the country,
carved out from the southern part of Davao del Sur. The Act was passed by the House of Representatives
and the Senate on November 28, 2012, and December 5, 2012, respectively, and signed by President
Benigno Aquino III on January 14, 2013. A plebiscite was held on October 23, 2013, along with the
Barangay elections and the majority of votes cast were “yes” ratifying the province.

SOCCSKSARGEN (Region XII) formerly Central Mindanao is located in the central portion of the island. It
consists of the provinces of Cotabato, Sarangani, South Cotabato (which was used to be part of Region
XI), and Sultan Kudarat plus Cotabato City. The names of the provinces together with General Santos City
spell the name of the region, which is an acronym. Cotabato City, geographically located in, but not part of
Maguindanao province, is the region’s former administrative center. Koronadal City in South Cotabato is
the new administrative center of the newly formed region.
CARAGA (Region XIII) is located in the northwestern part of Mindanao. Its provinces are Agusan del Norte,
Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur. The administrative center is Butuan City in Agusan
del Norte. The region also covers the outlying islands of Surigao del Norte such as Dinagat Islands,
Siargao Island and Bucas Grande Island.

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is a special region which covers the territories
predominantly populated by Muslims. ARMM has its government, unlike almost all the other regions in the
country. It consists of almost the whole of the Sulu Archipelago (the Isabela City of Basilan is part of
Zamboanga Peninsula region) and two provinces in the mainland. The provinces located in the Sulu
archipelago are Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. Basilan and Tawi-Tawi are themselves the main islands of
their respective provinces, while the main island of Sulu in Jolo island. The mainland provinces are Lanao
del Sur and Maguindanao. Cotabato City, which is not part of the ARMM is the region’s administrative
center.
Figure 6. Mindanao and Outlying Islands. Source: http://mapsof.net/mindanao/mindanao-and-islands-map (2016)
Figure 7. Ethnographic Map of MINSUPALA
Source: Jubair, Slalah (Bangsa Moro:
A Nation Under Endless Tyranny (1999)
 MUSLIM FILIPINOS AND THEIR HOMELAND
By Peter Gowing

The Malay World, encompassing the insular Southeast Asian states of Indonesia (with East
Timor), Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippines, has one of the heaviest concentrations of
Muslim peoples on earth. Approximately 129 million humans being embraced Islam there, and
Indonesia lays claim to being numerically the world’s largest Muslim nation – some 90 of her 135
million population adhering to that religion. Racially, linguistically and, in important ways, culturally,
the Philippines is very much part of the Malay World. But she is not a Muslim country. Ninety-two
percent of her population of 42.2 million is Christian, a fact which makes her the only predominantly
Christian nation in Asia. Still, the Moros (Muslim Filipinos) who inhabit mainly on the southern islands
of the Republic and who constitute a little over 5 of the population, are self-consciously part of the
Muslim majority in island Southeast Asia.

A PROFUSION OF GROUPS

The estimated number of Muslim Filipinos in 1975 was 2,188,000 (Yambot et al., 1975:16).
This is considerably below the figures of four or five million which some Moros claim, but it also
suggests that the official 1970 Philippine Census figure of 1,584,394 was too conservative. Counting
Muslim Filipinos is manifestly an imprecise science, yet the 1970 Census did reveal that the rate of
growth for the Muslim population has been slower than that for the Christian population. Economic
disadvantage, social and political upheaval, and high political mortality in areas without adequate
faculties, partly explain this slower growth.

The Moros are found principally in southern Philippines: on the island of Mindanao, in the Sulu
Archipelago and on the island of Palawan south of Puerto Princesa. Thirteen cultural-linguistic groups
have been identified as Muslim (Fox and Flory, 1974) though a few of the groups, such as the Badjao
of Sulu, have been less intensively Islamized. Some 94 of the 2.2 million Moros are found in three
groups: 1. the Maguindanao of Cotabato region; 2. the Maranao-Ilanun of Lanao region, and the
Tausug and Samal of Sulu. The thirteen Moro groups, their estimated number in 1975 and their
principal locations are as follows: (cf. Yambot et al., 1975:16)

* The distinction Maranao and Ilanun has not been clearly defined and in many accounts they are
together as Maranao. They are very closely related ethnically. The Maranao are Ilanun who, centuries
ago, migrated from the shores of ofIlanaVay to the Lake Lanao area where minor cultural and linguistic
differentiation from their Ilanun kinsmen have occurred (cfLabar, 1975:35). The figure is given for the
Ilanun in the above table is probably too high, while with that for Maranao is too small.

Group Principal Location

1. Badjao South Sulu
2. Ilanun (Iranun) Buldon and Parang
Maguindanao Province
north along the shores of Ilana Bay in
Lanao del Sur
3. JamaMapun (Samal Cagayan) Cagayan de Sulu
4. Kalagan (kin of Tagakaolo Davao Provinces, on the shores of
Davao Gulf
5. Kolibugan (Kalibugan) Zamboanga del Sur
6. Maguindanao Cotabato Region
7. Maranao (Malanao) Lanao Region
8. Molbog (Melebuganon) Balabac Island, Southern Palawan
9. Palawani (Muslim Pinalawan) Southern Palawan
10. Samal (Sama’a) Sulu Archipelago
 11. Sangil (Sangir) Sarangani Island group
12. Tausug (Joloanos, Sulus) Sulu Archipelago, mainly Jolo Island
13. Yakan Basilan Island

Malay in the race, the Muslim Filipinos are virtually indistinguishable physically from Christian
Filipinos. Anthropologists today stress that except for those Filipinos who are Chinese or Negrito
stock, the Filipinos are racially one people.

The thirteen Moro groups speak various languages or dialects – often the name of the group
and of the language is the same. A native speaker of the Tausug, for example, refers to himself as
Tausug (“people of the current”). Some of the languages are so closely related as to be mutually
intelligible. This is the case with the Maranao, Ilanun and Maguindanao language which, taken
together, virtually constitute one Mindanao language. The dialects of the Badjao, Samal and Jama
Mapuns are also closely related. But there is no single language which is understood by all the Muslim
groups. In nearly all the groups, there are some who have studied Arabic fo religious purposes.

All of the indigenous languages and dialects are spoken by the Moros belong to what has
been termed “the Central Philippines Subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) Linguistic
Family.” Hence, they are related in varying degrees to the languages spoken by the major Filipino
Christian groups such as the Ilocano, Visayan, and Tagalog. Generally, the Moros are monolinguist
except in the larger ethnically mixed settlements along the coasts. In Sulu, Tausug is the lingua franca,
and both the Samal and Badjao feel obliged to learn it.

Each of the thirteen Moro groups occupies a more or less distinct territory, though in some
instances the smaller groups have their living space penetrated by families belonging to the larger
groups. Again using Sulu as an example, The Tausug mix on various island cluster. Generally, the
Tausug outnumber other groups in the northern half of Sulu and the Samal increase in number in the
southern half nearest Borneo. But the Tausug found all over, ranging even to distant Palawan and the
East Malaysian state of Sabah.

The Badjao – the name given to a boat dwelling Samal people – are the smallest of the Moro
groups in Sulu. Living as “sea gypsies,” they move with the wind and the tide in their small house-
boats. They are the least intensively Islamized of all the Muslim groups, and their religious beliefs and
customs are still largely animistic. Even so, it is a mistake to call them “pagans” for Islamization
continues steadily and is bringing about social and value changes among them (Nimmon, 1972:96).

The Maranao, Ilanun, and Maguindanao are found mostly on Mindanao though each group
has kinsmen in Sulu and Sabah. As noted above, the Maranao and Ilanun are so closely related
ethnically and linguistically that they are often thought as one group. The minor differentiations which
exist spring mainly form the fact that the Maranao historically have been somewhat isolated in their
Lake environment while their Ilanun cousins have remained centered principally on the shores of Illana
Bay and oriented to the sea. Very likely, what are today identified as three groups – Maranao, Ilanuns,
and Maguindanao – came from common progenitors not many centuries back. For their part, the
Maguindanao have long been found in the broad valley of Pulangi River and communities scattered
all over the Cotabato region. Together, the three groups make up 61% of all Muslim Filipinos. They
have maintained fairly close contacts over the centuries and on occasions have formed military
alliances to repel outsiders.

The unifying bond of Islam notwithstanding, the Moro groups differ among themselves almost
as markedly as the Muslim population as a whole differs from the Christian Filipino groups.
Anthropologist Melvin Mednick (1965:15) has commented that the Muslim Filipinos “in a micro manner
… illustrate the range of diversity to be found in the Philippines.”

The Moros differ in their subsistence patterns, ranging from those who are predominantly
sedentary agriculturists, such as the Maranao, to a group which is almost completely dependent upon
the sea, the Badjao. Between these two may be found practically every other kind of subsistence
adaptation which exists in Southeast Asia. Both wet and dry rice cultivation is practiced among the
Maguindanao as well as the Maranao; slash and burn (swidden or kaingin) agriculture is found among
the Yakan; and the sea-and-coast oriented livelihood –i.e., fishing, trading, smuggling – is seen among
the Samal and Tausug. These differences in subsistence are by no means rigid, for there are many
fishermen and seafarers among the Maguindanao and many farmers among the Tausug.

Moro groups also differ to some extent in their historical development and the intensity of their
contacts with the rest of the Philippines and the world beyond. While the Maranao has been, until this
century, comparatively the most isolated and least touched by external influences of the major groups,
the Maguindanao have fallen the brunt of encounter with migrating peoples from the central and
northern regions of the Philippines. The Tausug has been the most exposed to foreign influences by
virtue of Sulu’s location hard by the lanes of international shipping.

The Muslim groups differ as well in the details of their social organization; in the degree of
their Islamic acculturation; and in their dress, customs, arts, and many aspects of culture.

While acknowledging the differences which distinguish the various Moro groups from one
another, these differences should not be emphasized as to lose sight of the things they have in
commons which justify their being included together under the general name “Moro” or “Muslim
Filipino.” Chief among these, obviously, is their adherence to Islam. Almost as important is their
retention of the old “datu system” which, being touched by the unifying and legitimizing effects of Islam,
provided a cohesiveness in the face of threats to their way of life that did not exist among the non-
Muslim groups of the Philippines at the time of the Spanish arrival.

Cultural differences between Muslims and Christian Filipinos are significant, but it is broadly
true that they have more in common with each other than either has so-called “Tribal Filipino” cultural
communities which make up roughly 3 percent of the population. The Christian and Muslim peoples
are mainly coastal, lowland or agriculturalists (though many Christians are urbanites) who live in
permanent settlements with a population often ranging upward from several hundred persons. Both
Christians and Muslims engage in cottage industries, are active in trade and have contact with other
peoples within and outside the Philippines. The tribal Filipino groups, in contrast, tend to be marginal
and isolated. Their settlements are small; often as not, temporary and scattered through relatively
inaccessible hill and mountain country. There are few craft specialties among them while their
agriculture is based on shifting cultivation and relies largely on the dibble-stick. The notable exceptions
to this general description are, of course, the Igorot groups of the Luzon mountains which lie in
permanent communities and make extensive use of impressively engineered rice terraces (cf.,
Mednick, 1965:2-6).

The factors which most characterize the Muslim Filipinos as a whole-Islam and the datu
system – most differentiate them form the Christian Filipinos. This differentiation is the product of
history. Spain, arriving in the Archipelago four centuries ago, halted by force of arms the Islamization
then in progress in the northern and central regions. Islam was pushed out of Luzon and the Visayas
and after that contained in the southern islands. Spain tried, but failed, to effectively incorporate the
Moro parts of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan into the political system, under which she had united the
northern and the central islands. Consequently, the social and cultural development of the Moros has
been more or less independent of the development of the other lowland Filipino groups. That
development was along “Islamized Malay” lines, in contrast to the Hispanization and Christianization
which occurred in the north. “It was not,” Professor Mednick (1956:4) remind us, “until the assumption
of American jurisdiction of the Philippines in 1898 and the resulting pacification of the Moros that the
separate steam of development came together again”. Even so, the Moros belong to that category of
Filipinos – along with the Igorot peoples of Luzon and the other Tribal Filipino groups in Mindanao and
Palawan – who were little touched by centuries of Spanish acculturation. They are part of what Dr.
William Henry Scott has called “the un-hispanized Philippines.”
 MOROLAND

The land of the Muslim Filipinos, Moroland, has been described picturesquely as a vast green
crab, in tropic waters, stretching out an irritated claw after a school of minnows skipping off in the
direction of Borneo. The crab is the island of Mindanao. The irritated claw is the Zamboanga
Peninsula. And the minnows are the islands of the Sulu Archipelago. Moroland is the territory of
36,540 square miles, exceeding in size the combined areas of all the other islands of the Philippines
excluding Luzon. By way of comparison, Moroland is larger in territory than either Portugal of Austria.
And the Muslim population of Moroland outnumbers the populations of many independent countries
such as Albania, Costa Rica and Libya.

Actually Moros have never occupied the whole of Mindanao. Historically, they have been
concentrated in the western and southern portions of the island. Islam had not had time to take hold
among the Filipino groups inhabiting the northern and eastern parts of the island before the Spaniards
began encouraging the colonization of those areas by Christianized Filipinos from the Visayas and
Luzon. The Spaniards also established a Christian presence at the very gate of Moroland when they
placed a strong fort and settlement at the tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula. During the American
regime (1898 – 1946) and under the Republic, increasing numbers of Christian Filipinos migrated to
Moroland, notably to northern Lanao and Cotabato. They settled on vast tracts of fertile lands unused,
or little used, by the Moros who traditionally have favored riverbanks and shorelines. The mountainous
interior portions of Mindanao have long been the habitat of such Tribal Filipino groups as the B’laan,
Tiruray, Manobo, and Tiboli of the Cotabato region, the Subanun of Zamboanga and the Mandaya and
Bagobo of Davao.

In Muslim Filipino history, three regions of Moroland have loomed more important than others.
The Sulu Archipelago, the Lake Lanao region, and the Pulangi River Valley that is the Cotabato region.

Sulu
The Sulu archipelago is the southernmost chain of islands in the Philippines and extends for
200 miles from the Zamboanga Peninsula to northeast Borneo. The archipelago was one of the
principal routes of early migrations, maritime traffic and Islamization from Borneo to Mindanao, the
Visayas, and Luzon.)

Sulu (a name given by foreigners) is made up of 369 named islands and at least 500 nameless
protrusions. It has a total land area of 1687 square miles, of which only 180 square miles are suitable
for cultivation. Most of the arable land is found in three clusters of islands: Jolo, Siasi and Tawi-Tawi.
Coconut, cassava, yams, and upland rice are the principal crops. The islands also produce tropical
fruits and vegetables in abundance and the markets of Jolo, Siasi and Bongao offer a wide variety of
fresh fish and other sea products. In the past, pearl fishing was an important source of income. There
is a possibility that the Sulu and Celebes seas cover significant deposits of oil, the exploitation of which
could have an enormous impact on the economy and lifeways of the peoples of Sulu.

The three principal island clusters of Sulu are today among the most densely populated areas
in the Philippines. In 1948, the density of the Jolo cluster alone was 2,088 persons per square mile of
cultivated land. In 1975, the total population of Sulu was estimated 714,000. The peoples of Sulu –
the Tausug, Samal, Badjao, and JamaMapun – are mostly sea oriented, their livelihood dependent on
the current shore and market place. (cf. Stone, 1965’ Kiefer, 1972; Nimno, 1972 and Casino, 1976).
As already noted, however, there are many fanners among the Tausug, locally called Taugimba or
Guimbahanon (“inland people”) by the shore-dwellers.

Sulu today is divided politically into two provinces: sulu province and the Province of Tawi-
Tawi. The town of Jolo (population in 1970: 45,000), capital of Sulu province, and located on the main
island of the archipelago, is 590 statute miles from mania and 85 miles south of Zamboanga City.
When Manila and Cebu were little more than enlarged villages, the old town of Buansa (embraced by
modern Jolo) was an important center of trade and commerce, if not actually the most important center
of settlement in the pre-Spanish Philippines. Chinese merchants traded in Jolo markets long before
the arrival of Spaniards. For centuries, and down to the present time, Jolo has enjoyed lively trade
with Borneo and the Malay Peninsula. In past centuries, when European incursions sought to curtain
traditional trade, and then in the present century as American and Philippine government policy further
restricted commerce across international lines, some of the seafaring Sulu turned to piracy or
smuggling, finding havens in the many small bays and estuaries of their archipelago.

Lanao
Lake Lanao, 135 square miles in size and shaped roughly like an isosceles triangle, fills the
depression of a collapsed plateau 2300 feet above sea level. The temperature at that altitude is
comfortably cool most of the year, while heavy annual rainfall keeps the countryside lush and green.
The Lanao region is the homeland of the Ilana Bay. To the east and the northeast, it fronts the province
of Bukidnon, and to the south, it borders Cotabato. Today two provinces divide the region: Lanao del
Norte whose population is only 20% Muslim; and Lanao del Sur, which is about 92% Muslim. Lake
Lanao is entirely within the Province of Lanao del Sur.

The Maranao (“people of the lake”) are concentrated around the edge of Lake Lanao and
along the banks of the small rivers which lead to it. Few of tier communities can be described as large,
though Marawi City (63,000 people in 1977), capital of Lanao del Sur, is the only chartered city in the
Philippines with a predominantly Muslim population. The twenty-five municipalities bordering the Lake
had a density of 536 persons per square mile or arable land in 1956. If the Maranao and Ilanun groups
are counted together as one people, their estimated population in 1975 was about 670,000.

The last of the major groups to be Islamized, the Maranao were little touched by the Spaniards
until the end of the 19th century. Left pretty much to themselves in their rather isolated Lake country,
they have adhered more tightly to their traditional lifeways than either the Tausug or Maguindanao.
Primarily, agriculturists, the Maranao cultivate both upland and lowland (wet) rice and sweet potatoes
for their own consumption and corn for export. Cottage industries are an important source of income;
and their woven mats and textiles, brassware and decorative woodcarving are famous. Maranao
vendors carry these items all over Mindanao and the Visayas and as far north as Manila. Fishing on
the Lake, once an important industry, has declined sharply in recent years due partly to man-induced
ecological changes.

Some of the Ilanun cousins of the Maranao are farmers, but many are fishermen living in small
communities along the eastern shore of Ilana Bay. In the past they were famous as buccaneers,
carrying death and destruction to the Spanish foe and their Filipino Christian allies in the Visayas and
Luzon.

Cotabato

The Pulangi River, called by the Spaniards the Riio Grande de Mindanao is the longest in
Mindanao ad, together with its tributaries, forms the chief means of transportation for conveying people
and produce up and downstream to the coast. The Maguindanao (“people of the food plain”) lived
along the banks and in the broad river valley. Their name derives from the fact that the river, affected
by the tide for more than ten miles inland, regularly overflows its banks, inundating the adjacent plain.
The interior of the Cotabato region is a vast swampland crossed by sluggish, muddy streams which
converge into the Pulangi River.

Some twenty miles inland from the coast, the river forks into north and south branches.
Historically, after the coming of Islam, this geographic break was paralleled by a political division: the
“lower valley” (sa-ilud) nearest the sea was the locus of the Sultanate of Maguindanao (also called
Sultanate of Mindanao), while the “upper valley” (sa-raya) inland was loosely under the control of the
Sultanate of Buayan. The fortunes of these two states rose and fell; and, at times, a third and smaller
principality, that of Kabuntalan (Bagumbayan), located at a point between two larger states,
momentarily appeared and then receded from view.
 Cotabato City (the name means “stone fort”) is located about twelve miles from the mouth of
the Pulangi River (i.e., on the northern branch of that river) and has given its name to the surrounding
region. That region is now divided into four provinces. North Cotabato, South Cotabato,
Maguindanao, and Sultan Kudarat. These four provinces encompass the entire southwest portion of
Mindanao.

The coastal Maguindanao are fishermen and traders while the valley dwellers. Who are the
majority, are mainly rice farmers. One or two communities among the Maguindanao manufacture
brassware, making beautiful trays, urns, and gongs. In 1975, the Maguindanao were estimated to
number 674,000 personas and so constitute the largest of the Moro groups. The great number of
Christian Filipinos who have migrated into the Cotabato region, both before and since World War II
have made the Maguindanao a minority in their own homeland. 1 This resulted in marked changes in
their economic, political, and social life, often accompanied by severe hardship and consequent
breakdown in peace and order.

Yakans
The Samaeacas, as the Spaniards were wont to call the Yakans, once lived in the interior of
Basilan. They were described as people who kept much to themselves, who were suspicious of
everybody, and who was given to fighting whenever a chance occurred. They were seldom to be seen
about their huts being high upon the mountains. But they have changed.
The Yakans have marked Malay features – slanting eyes, the skin of deep brown and wavy
black hair of a fine texture and rich blue-black color. They have few hairs on the lisp and chin, but
none one the jaw. There still remain sighs that these people came from good stock – formerly much
more refined than at present – or else how could one account for the prettily formed and chiseled ears
with undetached earlobes/
The Yakans have long specialized in agriculture and are extensive growers of rice peanuts,
root crops, and coconuts. They live principally on camotes, vegetables, and fish although, as in times
past the hunt provides them occasional meat except for wild pigs which are hunted for sale to the
Christians. They have also been engaged in the making of boats which they sell to the Tausugs. But
vital to their present-day survival is their dependence on trade with coastal villages.
As the people kept to themselves, they have preserved tier racial features except for the
corrupting influence of constant intermarriages. They professed to be Muslims, although, to a
rudimentary belief in the Quran, they have added a vast number of superstitions of their own. They
follow their own datu or sultan, although in the past their datus were under the sovereignty of the
Sultanate of Sulu. Today, many of them have become educated and even Christianized, providing
some kind of a transition to their social change.
Considered the latest groups which migrated to the region are the Jama Mapuns. They belong
to the Samal group and sedentary. They are found in Cagayan de Sulu island, and thinly scattered in
Southern Palawan and North Borneo.
The Jama Mapuns are sometimes called Samal Cagayan. Although they have some customs
similar to the Tausugs, they nonetheless, have essentially remained Samal in culture.

IN A DIFFERENT WORLD

SOMETHING OFTEN OVERLOOKED BY NON-Muslims is the crucial fact that Muslim Filipinos live in
a quite different world from Christian Filipinos. Muslims and Christians are oriented, respectively
toward two different wide communities from which they draw their religion, culture, law, values, and

*The province of Maguindanao is the only province out of the four in the Cotabato regions which is predominantly
(60%) Muslim. The province of Sultan Kudarat, with the second largest number of Muslims, has only a 40 %
Muslim population.
view of history (cf. Schiegel, 1974”12-13). Christian Filipinos owe much to the West – to Spain, which
brought the Roman Catholic faith and influences in language, music, art, law and so on; and to
America, which brought the English language, democratic institutions, and perhaps less happily, a
“Hollywood” lifestyle. But the Muslims of the southern Philippines have maintained their roots more
firmly in the Islamized Malay World, and owe much to the Islamic civilization of Arabia and the Middle
East.

One cannot study the histories of the Mindanao and Sulu sultanates without noting the
dynastic, political and commercial ties which for centuries existed between them and the rest of the
Malay World and the larger Islamic World beyond. One cannot travel in the Muslim areas of the
Philippines without discovering that the arts and manufactures, music and dancing, language and
literature, dress and lifeways are similar, in some instances nearly identical, to those of the neighboring
Islamized people of Malaysia and Indonesia. Nor can one stay long in the southern Philippine without
being aware that a great deal of trade and communication – “legal” and otherwise – is still carried on
between the Moro inhabitants and their kinsmen and partners across the international lines. Indeed,
as is well-understood, those lines were drawn not by Malaysians or Indonesians or Filipinos but by the
Spanish and American, Dutch and English colonial powers. And those lines had the effect of
involuntarily incorporating into the Philippine nation a Muslim people who were, and remain, integral
to the Malay World.

Source: Muslim Filipinos: Heritage and Horizon by Peter G. Gowing: Quezon City, 1980

Figure 8. Photos Related to Moro Groups of MINSUPALA

Moro women in the island of Mindanao, 1898 photo Moro warriors

Source: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/ (2006) Source: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/ (2006)
 Sulu Datus (Chiefs), 1899 Moro weapons
Source: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/ (2006) Source: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/ (2006)

Moro “lantakas” or small cannons

Source: http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/ (2006)

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

LUMAD

“Lumad” is a Cebuano Visyan term meaning native or indigenous. For more than two decades
it has been used to refer to the groups indigenous to Mindanao who are neither Muslim nor Christian.

There are 18 Lumadethnolinguistic groups, Ata, Bagobo, Banwagon, B’laan, Bukidnon,

Dibabawon, Higaono, Mamanwa, Mandaya, Manguwangan, Manobo, Mansaka, Subaanon,
Tagakaolo, Tasaday, Tibolli, Teruray and Ubo.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Lumads controlled an area which now covers 17 of
Mindanao’s 24 provinces, but by the 1980 census, they constituted less than 6% of the population of
Mindanao and Sulu. Heavy migration to Mindanao of Visayans, spurred by the government-sponsored
resettlement programs, turned the Lumads into minorities. The Bukidnon province population grew
from 63,470 in 1948 to 194, 368 in 1960 and 414,762 in 1970 with the proportion of indigenous
Bukidnon falling from 64% to 33% to 14%.
 Lumads have a traditional concept of land ownership based on what their communities
consider their ancestral territories. The historian BR Rodil notes that “a territory occupied by a
community is communal private property, and community members have the right usufruct to any
piece of unoccupied land within the communal territory.” Ancestral lands include cultivated land as
hunting grounds, rivers, forests, uncultivated land and the mineral resources below the land.

Unlike the Moros, the Lumad groups never formed a revolutionary group to unite them in
armed struggle against the Philippine government. When the migrant came, many Lumad groups
retreated into the mountains and forest.

The infieles, as the Spaniards called the unchristianized, were probably the most numerous
of the peoples of southern Mindanao at that time. But the most numerous if these infieles were the
Manuvus of Agusan. The Manuvuswere found as well in the peninsula of San Agustin and parts of
the m mountains of Culaman and eastern Pulangi in Cotabato. It was believed sometime in the past
Manuvus had mixes of Chinese blood. They were characterized as fierce, fearsome, and powerful,
and their lives were marked by uninterrupted warfare with their neighbors. They paid homemade to
the spirits of the dead ancestors, a belief which is widely shared with other groups in infieles, but the
quaintest element in their belief was that the thunder being the spoken word of lighting, a god whose
form is that of a monstrous animal. When lightning struck and fell a tree, the Manuvus believed that
the monster’s teeth or some of them remained embedded in that tree. Missionaries, who related the
above accounts, explained that in reality, the teeth were flint axes of fragments of them. In any case,
these were actually artifacts similar to the one found in old buried trees in some primitive lake
communities in Europe.

The Mandayas occupied the mountainous area of Surigao, the peninsula of San Agustin and
the Northern part near the Gulf of Davao. Most of their ways and customs were very similar to those
of the Manuvus except that the former was docile and gentle. The Mandaya were wont to depilate
their chins and eyebrows and their taste of clothes tended toward the more colorful. The Mandayas
were more expressive of their religious beliefs than the Manuvus. In front of every Mandaya
household, an altar is tended for the anitos. On the rivers, they constructed rafts or makeshift boats
with the same offerings other anitos. They interred their dad in their huts, which were built deep inside
the forest. Their great attachment to idolatry was the despair of the missionaries. Their idols were
called manauag were made from a special kind of wood from the bayog tree, and the eyes of these
idols were of the fruit of magobahay. They were also greatly influenced by their bailanas or priestesses
and sometimes by living deities.

There are five principal groups of Mandayas, according to the place where they live and their
environment. 1) Mansakas, those who lived in the mountain clearings and practice the kaingin method
of cultivation; 2) Manwanga, those live in the thickly forested mountains, known to be wild and warlike;
3) Pagarpan, those who thrive in the swampy river banks of the Tagum and Hijo rivers, facing unique
fishing methods; and 5) Divavaoan, the groups found in the southern part and western parts of
Compostela towns. Although these groups have separate places of habitat, they have similar dialects,
customs, and traditions so that they could be regarded as one group.

The Bagobos were the first infieles from among whom the Spaniards won their first converts.
They wre found to occupy the highlands of Mt. Apo and some were found living in the lowlands of
Daliao, Bago and Talimo, a short distance from the cabecera or capital of Davao. Their nearest
neighbors were the Guuiangas who lived along the banks of rivers in Dulian, Gumalan, Tamugan,
Ceril, and Biao, but for a slight difference in language, the Bagobos and the Guiangas observed the
same customs and beliefs.

The Bagobos were ruled by their chieftains who were called datu, after the fashion of the
“Moros.” It may be said that the Bagobos were the most exposed to the Muslim in terms of customs
and civilization since the former were already living in the lowland coastal areas which were occupied
by the latter at the tune of the arrival of the Spaniards in the Gulf of Davao.
 The Bagobos were greatly feared for the practice of offering human sacrifices to their god,
Madaranganor Darago, whom many believed to live on top of Mt. Apo. These sacrifices were usually
made during the planting or harvesting seasons. Sometimes, newly –married couples were also wont
to offer human sacrifices in the belief that these would bring them good fortune. Another occasion for
these sacrifices was pestilence, especially after a member of the family had died.

These sacrifices started with a feast, during which all were invited to the house of the datu.
Everybody are, drank and danced, during the drinking which lasted for several days, the old men
among them started to call on Darago invoking him to accept the soon-to-be-made sacrifice. These
sacrifices were usually kept a secret from the Spaniards who waged vigorous campaigns to stop them.

The first group of Bagobos whom the Spaniards came to know was those Sinulan. They
impressed the Spanish missionaries as being very ancient for possessing a Genealogy of the
ancestors. The datu at this time was a Manip whose father was Pangilan.

The Bagobos of the 19th century was probably the most fastidious dessets among the infieles.
The missionaries cold tell a Bagobo from afar, from the manner and number of adornments, e.g.,
beaded necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and pendants hanging from belts and clothes. The men wore
the customary short jackets and knee-length breeches and a kerchief around the head like a bagani.
The women wore combs in their hair, short blouses with embroidered sleeves, a patadjong made of
abaca and dyed in fantastic color combinations.

They played the agong and the kulintang like the Muslims and the gimbao like the Mandayas.
They possessed guitars with only two strings and a large flute which touched the ground when played
in a sitting position.

The Bagobos are divided into two groups: the lowland Bagobo and the upland ones. These
groups came about when the natives were forced to retreat uphill because new settlers arrived to
exploit the potentials of the place. They are confined to the district of Davao, especially within the
vicinity of Mt. Apo.

Calaganes inhabited the eastern coast of the Gulf of Davao. They were neighbors to the
Bagobos in the CasilaranCreek; some believed that the Calaganes descended from the Samals whose
customs resembled those of the former. They were fishermen and lived on trade with other groups.

The Dulanganes were found south of Lake Buluan. The Muslims called them by the name
Bangal-Bangal. The former appeared to be greatly afraid of the Dulanganes whom they described as
fierce and cruel. The Dulanganes went about almost naked except for small pieces of clothing which
covered their private parts.

The Samales of the island of Samal resembled the Mandayas on their ways, but the most
interesting that the Spaniards learned about them was the story that these people maintained the
mummified ancestors in caves. For hundreds of years, they were known to have interred their dead
in one of the caves of caverns of the nearby island of Malipano. Here, the dead of the Samales lay
buried for the centuries with their worldly belongings such as weapons, cups, plates, etc. The coffins
in which they were buried were made of wood and were shaped like boats bound tightly in bejuco or
rattan.

The most industrious of the different infieles was said to be the Bilaans or Bilanes whose
communities were found between the Belatukan River and Sarangani Bay. They were known as
friends if the Moros and aided the latter in their piratical activities.

The Bilaans are otherwise known as 1) Tagalacad or “dwellers in the back country; 2)
Tagakogon or “dwellers in the cogon”, the groups living in the grass plains west of Malalag; 3) Buluan,
the group dwelling near Lake Buluan which is sometimes identified with the Tagabilis who reside in
that region; 4)Bira-an or Bara-an, synonym for Bilaan, often used by the neighboring Bagobo; 5)
Vilanes or Bilanes; 6)Balud or Tumanao, which is sometimes applied by the early writers to the Bilaans
who live in the Sarangani Island.

The Talaos lived in an island of the game name south of the Sarangani. They were known to
be peaceful and industrious and much admired by the Spaniards for bringing goods and expert sailors.
The Talaos knew how to construct boats which were big as the Spanish goletasduring the months of
April and May they would take to the seas sailing as far as the peninsula of San Agustin where they
would land and even live in some Christian settlements there. When the month of November came,
they, however always sailed back to their island.

The Tagakaolos were so-called because they preferred to build the Rancherias at the sources
of heads of rivers. Groups of Tagakaolos were found inhabiting the areas between Malalag and
Sarangani. This people, in general, were not as warlike as the other groups of infieles with the
exception of the ones known as Loocswho were quite fierce and primitive. The Tagakaoloswere often
victims of preying Bagobs and Moros. The term Tagakaolos pertains to “those who dwell at the head
of the river.” It is applied to all the hill people living between the coast and the country of the Bilaans.
They inhabit a part of the district of Davao, bordering on the Davao Gulf and extending from the
Casilaan Cave to a point a little below the Lais River. Some also live on the peninsula of San Agustin,
between Cuabo and Macambul.

The Tagabilis inhabit the area hidden in the mountains of southern Cotabato between Surala
and Kiamba. The land of the Tagabili is considered to be more beautiful than the beauty itself. It has
three lakes. One is Lake Sebu with a floating island on it, with numerous lagoons, a couple of
waterfalls, rolling hills, steep crests, and forested mountains. The name Ata is derived from a word
meaning “high” or “on top of.” It is applied to the members of numerically important groups living the
high mountains in the interior of Mindanao, west, and northwest of Mt. Apo, the headwaters of the
Davao, Lasan, Tuganay and Libagawan rivers. In the region around the Apo, the Atas is found with
the Obo and Tigdapaya, and in the area around Lasan, they are known as Dughatang or Dugatong.
In the central part of Mindanao are the Tagahuanum, who have a distinct feature like those of the
Negritoes. Known to be the traders of hemp cloth and knives, they are also classified as Atas.

Subanun

The Subanun (also written as Subanu, Subano, Subanon) is of Moro (Sulu origin and means
men or people of the river, more exactly, miner people who live along the river banks or streams. Their
habitat is confined to the interior and the mountainous portions of the Zamboanga district of the island
of Mindanao. In 1667, Father Francisco Combes called the Subanuns the “fourth nation” of Mindanao
and referred to them as the inhabitants of the rivers, to which they owe their name, as one radical
Suba is the word used by the inhabitants of Mindanao for “river.”

This group is scattered all over the mountains of Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del
Norte. They have continued their old customs and traditions, which keep them distinct from the outside
world. However, many of them have embraced Christianity and have been integrated into the larger
community. They are typical Malays either dark or light and complexioned with plenty of hair on the
head and forehead, sturdy bodies and with a blunt and prominent cheekbone. They are closely knit
clan since they believe they have all descended from one ancestor.

Those among the Subanuns who were Islamized and who remained as such are called
Kalibugan. Although religiously they are like Muslims, they still retain their old Subanun customs and
beliefs. But unlike their parent-stock, they have derived benefits from coastal trade which the Muslims
had dominated since ancient times.

Across the northern tip of Zamboanga del Sur, bounded by the Basilan Strain in the north, the
Celebes Sea in the south, the Moro Gulf and the Sulu Sea in the East and West respectively, is the
lay and fertile land of Basilan, the traditional home of the Yakans. Called by the Spaniards “Taguima,”
Basilan had also been described as the finest garden in Zamboanga. It was once part of the Sulu and
for a long time was a refuge for Sulu traders and seafarers.

One part of Zamboanga del Sur, Basilan was made into an independent province on
December 27, 1973, by Presidential Decree No, 356. Its total land area, including the adjacent islands,
is 1,359 sq. km. With a predominantly rural population of 171,000, it has seven municipalities with
Isabela as the capital town. The provincial terrain is rough and mountainous, especially along the
center.

The mother tongue of the province is Yakan, the tribe being the biggest cultural group. It is
spoken mostly in the interior where the Yakans live. In the towns, a mixture of English, Filipino,
Tausug, Chavacano, and Samal is spoken.
Figure 9. Photos Related to Lumad Groups of MINSUPALA

Bagobos in their warrior dress. Tiruray

Source: https://dabawenyonglumad.wordpress.com/ Source: http://www.seasite.niu.edu/
(2012)

Subanen drinking wine in a jar using straw reeds. T’nalak weavers are considered dream weavers since their
Source: http://class.csueastbay.edu/ designs are inspired by patterns originating from dreams.
Source: http://ironwulf.net (2010)
 Source: http://alexderavin.blogspot.com/ (2006)
Source: http://litera1no4.tripod.com/

Blaan Tribal Costume

Mandaya warrior

A STORY OF MINDANAO AND SULU IN QUESTION AND ANSWER

Excerpt from B.R. Rodil

1. Who are the present peoples of Mindanao, Sulu, and how may they be distinguished
from one another?

In general, the peoples of Mindanao may be divided into two broad categories: indigenous
and migrant. The indigenous may be further subdivided, for our convenience, into Indigenous A and
Indigenous B, while the migrant may be sub-classified into migrants and their descendants.

Indigenous A

Generally professing belief in Islam, the Muslims or Islamized groups are, more specifically,
in alphabetical order, the Iranun (also known as Ilanun or Ilanum), Jama Mapun, Kalagan, Kalibugan,
Maguindanao (also known as Maguindanawon), Maranao, Sama, Sangil, Tausug and Yakan. Also
generally known as Moro — or more recently Bangsamoro — they constitute about 20 percent of the
total population of Mindanao and Sulu. We also include the Islamized group of Palawan province,
namely, the Molbog (also known as Melebugnon) and the Panimusan (also Palimusan), the Islamized
portion of the Pala'wan group. The Kalagan are partly Islamized and partly not. Although not generally
Muslims, the seafaring Sama Dilaut or Badjao of the Sulu Archipelago are also classified in the Moro
category by virtue of their long traditional stay in the Sulu seas.

Approximately five percent of the total population of the region, the Lumad groups are
individually known, in alphabetical order, as: Ata (or Ata Manobo), Arumanen Manobo, Bagobo,
Banwaon, Bla-an, Bukidnon, Dibabawon, Dulangan Manobo, Higaunon, Ilianen Manobo, Jangan,
Lambangian (mix of Teduray and Manobo), Livunganen, Kulamanen, Mamanwa, Mandaya,
Mangguwangan, Manobo, Mansaka, Manuvu, Matigsalug, Pulangiyen Manobo, Subanen, Tagabawa,
Tagakaolo, Talainged, T'boli, Teduray, Ubo Manobo and Umayamnon. There could be more if we
pursue the Lumad habit of naming themselves after their place of traditional residence. We must also
include here that part of the Kalagan population that are not Islamized, although it must be stressed
that it is extremely difficult to make a population estimate of them.

Indigenous B

Under Indigenous B we have the Visayan speaking indigenous peoples of Northern and
Eastern Mindanao, and also the Chavacanos of Zamboanga. There were already Visayan-speaking
peoples in northern an eastern Mindanao when the Spaniards arrived during the second decade of
the 17th century. They eventually became the Christian communities of the Spanish colonial period,
which in 1892 totaled 191,493 thousand. It is no longer easy to identify them because they have
assimilated into the migrant Visayan population, which now compose the majority in the place. They
are known locally by their place names like Davaweño in the Davao provinces but mostly in Davao
Oriental; Butuanon in Butuan, Camiguinon or Kinamigin in Camiguin island, Cagayanon in Cagayan
de Oro City, Misamisnon, Iliganon in Iligan, Ozamiznon in Ozamiz, Dapitanon in Dapitan, Dipolognon
in Dipolog, Chavacano in Zamboanga City and nearby places and so on and by some peculiarity in
their respective accents. The two provinces of Surigao have several local dialects peculiar to the place.
Surigaonon, Waya-waya, and Jaon- jaon are spoken in the towns of Surigao del Sur, namely,
Carrascal, Madrid, Lanuza, and in Surigao del Norte, specifically in the towns Siargao, Gigaquit and
Claver. In Surigao del Norte, iianon is spoken in Cantilan; Tandaganon in Tandag and 'ligon-on in
Tago, San Miguel, and Bayabas; Kamayo in Lianga, Diatagon, Barobo and Bislig. Cebuano is
predominant in and Bol-anon in Cortes and San Agustin.

Originally Mardicas or Merdicas, meaning "free people" who were natives of Ternate in the
Moluccas, in present-day Indonesia, the Chavacanos were Christian soldiers who were brought to by
the Spaniards in 1663. They were first settled in Ermita what was known as Bagumbayan and were,
later, resettled at Barra de Maragondon or the sandbar of Maragondon river; they called this Ternate
in 1850 in memory of their place of origin. Some of them must have been assigned to Zamboanga,
possibly in 1718, if not later. They, too, are now integrated into the majority population.

Migrant and Their Descendants

Also known as settlers, these constitute the migrants of the 20 th century from Luzon and the
Visayas and their descendants. Since 1948, they make up the majority population of the region, and
since 1970, about seventy percent of the total population. They are also known as settlers. Included
in the count are the Indigenous B and the Chavacanos.

2. Where the name Moro come from did and what does it mean?

It came from the Spanish colonizers.

When the Spaniards arrived in the archipelago in 1565 and discovered that some of the
inhabitants were Muslims, they called them Moros, in the same manner, that they called those Muslims
from North Africa who had conquered and occupied Spain for nearly eight centuries, that is, from 711
to 1492. It was meant to refer only to the Muslims of the archipelago. But over the years, as a result of
the bloody Spanish-Moro war which lasted for 333 years, the name acquired a pejorative connotation,
like pirates, and was much disliked by the Muslims themselves until very recently.

It did not begin to be accepted among the Muslims until around 1900. But with the
emergence in 1972 of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which bannered the name Bangsa
Moro, Moro acquired a new dimension. Using it became a source of pride in itself. In their own words,
the MNLF claims that

originally, the use of the term Moro by the colonialists was meant to
perpetuate an image of the Muslim people of Mindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and
Palawan, as savage and treacherous, while they are simply daring and
tenacious in defense of their homeland and faith. But despite its colonial
origins, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has cleansed the term
of its unpleasant connotation by propagating the more correct view that the
tenacity with which the natives conducted their war of resistance against
foreign intrusion was a classic exercise in heroism.

They also expanded the population base of the name, at least in theory, to include all
indigenous populations of the region, among others, as follows:
 The term is not only common to all the indigenous tribes of the region but
includes Muslims, Christians, and those still adhering to traditional religious
values — in a word all those who share common aspiration and political
destiny. Hence, the MNLF has adopted Bangsa (nation) Moro as national
identity and implants it in the consciousness of the masses. Today, it is rooted
in the heart of every man and woman, and the defense of its integrity has
become a national identity and implants it in the consciousness of the
masses. Today it is rooted in the heart of every man and woman, and the
defense of its integrity has become a national duty.

3. Where did the name Lumad come from, and what does it mean?

The name Lumad grew out of the political awakening among various tribes during the martial
law regime of President Marcos. It was advocated and propagated by the members and affiliates of
Lumad-Mindanao, a coalition of all-Lumad local and regional organizations which formalized
themselves as such in June 1986 but started in 1983 as a multi-sectoral organization. Lumad-
Mindanao's main objective was to achieve self-determination for their member tribes, or, put more
concretely, self-governance within their ancestral domain in accordance with their culture and
customary laws. No other Lumad organization had this express goal in the past.

The name is a Cebuano Bisayan word, meaning indigenous, which has become the
collective name for the thirty or more ethnolinguistic groups enumerated earlier. Representatives from
fifteen tribes agreed in June 1985 to adopt the name; there were no delegates from the three major
groups of the T'boli the Teduray and the Subanen. The choice of a Cebuano word Cebuano is the
language of the natives of Cebu in the Visayas was a bit ironic, but they deemed it to be most
appropriate considering that the various Lumad tribes do not have any other common language except
Cebuano. This is the first time that these tribes have agreed to a common name for themselves, distinct
from that of the Moros and different from the migrant majority and their descendants. Lumad Mindanao,
the organization, is no longer intact, but the name Lumad remains and is apparently gaining more
adherents.

Earlier, they were called by various names by outsiders, like paganos by the Spaniards or
simply by their tribal identities; Wild Tribes or Uncivilized Tribes or non-Christian Tribes by the
Americans; National Cultural Minorities or just Cultural Minorities or simply Minorities by the Philippine
government since 1957, which was amended in the 1973 Constitution as Cultural Communities, then
by the 1987 Charter as Indigenous Cultural Communities. Except for paganos, all these denominations
also included the Moros. Visayans call them nitibo; Tagalogs call them taga-bundok or katutubo.
Christian churches used to prefer the name Tribal Filipinos, but today they are among the more active
users of the name Lumad.

4. What do all of them, the Moro, the Lumad, and the other settler inhabitants of Mindanao,
Sulu and Palawan have in common?

They all share a common origin in the Malayo-Polynesian family of languages which
explains the close similarity among the various languages in use throughout the islands. Also, in their
ratites physical appearances.

A recent linguistic study by Richard E. Elkins has concluded:

Present-day Mindanao languages which are members of the Manobo subfamily

include the following: Cotabato Manobo and Tasaday in South Cotabato; Sarangani
Manobo in southern Davao; Tagabawa and Obo, west and southwest of Davao City;
Dibabawon, Ata, and Matig Salug in northern Davao; Livunganen, Ilianen, and
Kulamanen in northern Cotabato; Western Bukidnon Manobo and Tigwa in southern
 Bukidnon; Binukid in northern Bukidnon; Agusan Manobo with its several dialects in
Agusan and Surigao; and Higaonon in Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, and Agusan.
Kinamigin on Camiguin Island north of Mindanao and Kagayanen on Cagayancillo
Island in the Sulu Sea have only recently been identified as members of the Manobo
subfamily.

This similarity of origin is acknowledged among the Moro people and the Lumad by their
folk tradition. For example, among the Kalibugan of Titay, Zamboanga del Sur, they speak of two
brothers as their ancestors, both Subanen. Dumalandalan to Islam while Gumabon-gabon was not.
Among of Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur, they talk of four ancestors. Tabunaway was the ancestor of
the Dumalandalan the Maranao; Mili-rilid of the Gomabon-gabon of the Subanen.

Arumanen Manobo of North Cotabato and the say that brothers Tabunaway and Mamalu
are their ancestors, although they differ on which of the two was to Islam and on whether they were
really siblings. To the Maguindanao, they were blood brothers, and it was Tabunaway a Muslim. iIn
the Manobo version, also, the real names of Tabunaway and Mamalu were Rimpung and Sabala and
were close friends, not siblings. They called each other brother, but this word is used for siblings,
relatives, and friends as well. The story goes that after Sabala adopted Tåbunaway told him that he
would call him Mamalu because while he was a Manobo but not anymore, he had become Muslim.
Sabala, in turn, said to Rimpung that because he had decided to retain his traditional Manobo belief
and the practice of their tradition, he would then call him Tabunaway.

The Manobo version further states that they share the same ancestor with the llanun, the
Matigsalug, the Talaandig, and the Maranao. In the Teduray tradition, the same brothers Tabunaway
and Mamalu are acknowledged as their ancestors.

In the Teduray tradition, the same brothers Tabunaway and Mamalu are acknowledged as
their ancestors.

The Higaunon and the Maranao also speak of common ancestry in their folklore, especially
in the border areas of Bukidnon and Lanao. This seems more pronounced in the Bukidnon folklore
where they speak of two brothers Bowan and Bala-oy.

Among the Talaandig of Bukidnon, their great, great ancestor Apu Agbibilin is the common
ancestor of the Talaandig, Maguindanao, Maranao and Manobo tribes who were saved at the highest
peak of Mt. Kitanglad during the great flood.

Among the Bla-an (pronounced by them as two syllables, accent on the second syllable) of
Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, and Cotabato, they speak of common
ancestry with other ethnolinguistic groups. In an interview with a Bla-an tribal leader, Lawon Tokaydo,
of Danlag, Tampakan, South Cotabato, this author got the following account:

It was Almabet, their creator, who gave them that name. Almabet created
eight people, first the Bla-an, then the others, namely, Tabali (T'boli), Ubo
(Manobo), Alnawen (Maguindanao Muslim), Teduray, Klagan, Matigsalug,
and Mandaya. And be called them by these names. They would later be the
ancestors of ethnic groups of the same names. Lands were assigned to
them. Kolon Nada/ (Koronadal) was given to the Bla- an. Almabet ascended
from Melbel (Marbel) From here they (Bla-an) went to Kolon Bia-o
(Columbio), to Buluan which they partly share with the Alnawen
(Maguindanao Muslim), to other parts of the present South Cotabato, and
Datal Pitak in Matanao in the present Davao del Sur. The Tabali went to
Lake Sebu. The rest went to their respective places. Although they claim
common ancestry with these other groups, their languages are not mutually
intelligible.
 The Kalagan belong to the same tribe as the Tagakaolo.

5. When did Islam come to Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan?

Islam first arrived in the Sulu archipelago towards the end of the 13th century, estimated to
be in 1280, brought by a certain TuanMasha'ika who apparently got married there and thus established
the first Islamic community. Masha'ika was followed by a Muslim missionary named Karim ul-Makhdum
around the second half of the 14th century. With Rajah Baginda who came at the beginning of the 15th
century was introduced the political element in the Islamization process. It was his son-in-law,
Abubakar, whom he had designated as his successor, who started the Sulu sultanate.

Islam came to Maguindanao with a certain Sharif Awliya from Johore around 1460. He is
said to have married there, had and left. He was followed by Sharif Maraja, also from who stayed in
the Slangan area and married the daughter of Awliya. Around 1515, Sharif Kabungsuwan arrived with
many the Slangan area, roughly where Malabang is now. He is generally credited with having
established the Islamic community Maguindanao and expanded through political and family alliances
with the ruling families.

Maranao tradition speaks of a certain Sharif Alawi who landed (in the present Misamis
Oriental and his preaching there was to have eventually spread to Lanao and Bukidnon. There is any
evidence of this in the latter, however, except in some border towns adjacent to Lanao del Sur. From
the southern end came through marriage alliances with Muslim Iranun and Maguindanao datus,
specifically around the area of Butig and Malabang.

It is not clear when Islam first came to Palawan. Indicators at the arrival of the Spaniards,
however, reveal trade and political influences flowing from the sultanate of Brunei, then later from the
sultanate of Sulu.

6. How did Islam come to Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan?

Islam came with trade.

After the death of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) in 632 A.D. a general expansion movement
followed. Through military conquests, the Islamic world turned empire with dominance established in
the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. The expansion likewise moved
towards Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, made possible either by or through Muslim
merchants or missionaries or both. It was through the latter that the Malayo-Indonesian region and
Mindanao and Sulu were Islamized.

The trade route which led to the Islamization of Mindanao and Sulu was the one that linked
Arabia overland through Central Asia and thence overseas to India, China, Southeast Asia an Africa,
especially in the period starting from the beginning of the 9th century.

Overseas travel at that time was directly influenced by monsoon winds and merchants had
to establish trade stations along their route where they tarried for long periods of time. In the course of
these stays, merchants-missionaries would marry into the local population, thereby creating and
establishing Muslim communities.

It was generally assumed that the Islamization process was facilitated and hastened in this
way in such places as Malacca, Pahang, Trengganu, Kedah, Java, and others. By 1450, Malacca had
become a leading center of Islam in the Malay Archipelago. It was from the Malay Archipelago that
Mindanao and Sulu were Islamized. The establishment of Muslim trading communities in such places
as Mindoro, Batangas, and Manila in the northern Philippines came from the same direction.
 The combination of trade and Islamization created the necessary conditions that enabled
the Sulus, and later, the Maguindanao, to advance way ahead of the other indigenous inhabitants of
the Philippine archipelago.

7. To what extent did Islam revolutionize the recipient communities?

Before the advent of Islam in the Philippine archipelago, no community was reported to be
a monotheist. The diwata (in the Visayas and Mindanao) and anito (in Luzon) were essential features
of the belief system of the peoples here. Animists, they are called by social scientists nowadays.
Believing that "There is no other god but God, and Muhammad is His Prophet," Islam was the first to
bring monotheism to the people of the Philippines.

In the course of its historical development, the Islamic world was able to develop a social
system distinctly its own, in consonance with the doctrine revealed in the Qur'an and also embodied
in the Hadith or Sunnah (tradition) of the Prophet. Such institutions as the caliphate, the emirate, and
the sultanate are part of this development.

The religion and the social system brought by Islam were radical from the animism and
barangay type communities prevalent among the many peoples of the archipelago, specifically
lowlanders. Further, the stimulus-provided by the Muslim combined to push the Islamized communities
far ahead of others.

There is no question that the centralized system of life introduced by the combined forces
of Islam and trade provided greatest source of strength in their 333 years of struggle against Spanish
colonialism. Doubtless, too, this fight against foreign domination contributed in no small measure to
this strength. And the main explanation of why they were able to sustain themselves gloriously against
Spain until 1898 is to be found here.

8. Which portions of Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan are traditionally considered the
ancestral homeland of the Islamized people, and which portions that of the Lumad?

Ordinarily, when we speak of the ancestral homeland, we refer to that portion of territory
traditionally occupied by a tribe or another, or by a community of people, say a clan bound by ties of
common interests. This is normally understood to mean not just land, but also rivers, creeks, seas,
mountains and hills, forests and all-natural wealth contained therein, Including the wild game, and,
nowadays, also the airspace above. No different, therefore, from the present concept of state domain.

The nature of the occupancy is usually described in modern-day legal language as "prior
and uninterrupted," meaning, the tribe or community came to the territory in question ahead of any
other, and their stay has remained unchallenged. "Prior and uninterrupted occupancy" is recognized
the world over as the ultimate evidence of possession. The case of the Sulu and Maguindanao
Sultanates, however, presents a more complex situation where (political) dominance attendant to their
having attained statehood was added to the matter of occupancy.

Using the territorial jurisdictions of the 22 provinces and 16 cities that constitute the entirety
of Mindanao and Sulu, In the 1990 census, prior to the creation of the three provinces of Compostela
Valley from Davao del Norte, Sarangani from South Cotabato, and Zamboanga Sibugay from
Zamboanga del Sur, there is incontrovertible evidence that from 1596-1898 the Islamized peoples
have traditionally lived in an area encompassed within the equivalent of fifteen provinces and seven
cities; the Lumad in seventeen provinces and fourteen cities, and the indigenous Christians in nine
provinces and four cities. They overlap in many places.

It must be stressed, however, that defining the ancestral homeland of the Islamized people
presents some difficulty because aside from being subdivided into twelve ethnolinguistic groups
through which the matter of physical occupancy may be determined, they were also identified with one
sultanate or the other where the decisive point is, to use a modern terminology, political dominance.
The sultanate is a political entity that is by right and as a matter of fact, a state, no different, say, from
a monarchy, exercising sovereign jurisdiction over the various peoples encompassed within its
territory. And in the history of the Moro sultanates, these peoples included communities from the non-
Muslim tribes. There were generally two traditional sultanates in Mindanao and Sulu, the older one of
Sulu and that of the Maguindanao.

9. Which portions are generally deemed to be the traditional territorial jurisdiction of the
Sulu Sultanate?

The Sulu Sultanate started formally in 1450 A.D. At its peak, its territory included the Sulu
archipelago (covering the present provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi), North Borneo or the present
Sabah, Basilan, southern Palawan and Samboangan, roughly equivalent to the present territory of
Zamboanga City, and the western portions of the Zamboanga peninsula where the Tausug and Sama
settlements were located. The present towns of Sibuco and Siraway in Zamboanga del Norte could
possibly be two of these.

Islamized tribes in the territory were the Tausug in Sulu Sama in Tawi-Tawi; Jama Mapun
in Mapun Island and Palawan; Molbog or Melebugnon and the Panimusan or Palimusan, the Islamized
portion of the Pala'wan group, also 500thcrn Palawan; Yakan in Basilan and the Kalibugan in the
Zamboanga peninsula. The non-Islamized tribes included the Dilaut or Badjao of the Sulu Archipelago,
the Batak and Of southern Palawan, and the Subanen of the Zamboanga peninsula. We have not
included northern Palawan because there is so far no clearcut historical evidence that this portion ever
fell within the territory of the Sulu sultanate. Spanish records have shown that Muslim settlements in
the province were located generally in the southern part roughly from Aborlan southward to Balabac
Island.

The whole time that the Spanish colonizers were wreaking havoc in the sultanate domain,
from 1565 to 1898, the sultanate machinery remained intact. But certain portions of its territory went
to the colonizers. Samboangan was taken over by Spanish armed might in 1635, seized by the
Maguindanao sultanate after it was abandoned by the Spaniards in 1663, recaptured by the Spaniards
in 1718 and remained in their hands until 1898.

Palawan had a curious history all its own. It was ceded by the Maguindanao sultan to the
Spaniards in 1703, yet it was also given away by the Sulu sultan to the Spaniards in 1705, and this
was confirmed by his successor in 1717.

An additional factor in the story of Zamboanga may be cited here. The Chavacano speaking
population were presumably brought in by the Spaniards in 1718 and have remained there
continuously until the end of the Spanish regime, and to the present. From available historical sources,
it appears that their arrival caused no dislocation nor displacement on the indigenous population

To what extent were the indigenous communities of the Tagbanua and Batak of Palawan and Subanen
peoples subjects of the sultanate? This is not clear in existing documents. No doubt, extensive
research on the oral traditions of these people would help The Sulu sultanate's claim to sovereignty
over its territory and subjects was challenged decisively by the American colonizers. After the Treaty
of Paris in 1898 through which the Americans acquired dubious title to the entire Philippine territory,
including the Sulu sultanate, there followed the Bates agreement in 1899 and the Carpenter agreement
in 1915 which supposedly marked the Sulu sultan's submission to American sovereignty. The latter
was in turn passed on to the Philippine State in July 1946. The Philippine claim to sovereignty over
the territory once held by the Sulu sultanate dates back formally only to the Treaty of Paris.

10. Which portions belonged to the traditional territorial jurisdiction of the Maguindanao
Sultanate?
 The Maguindanao Sultanate came into reality around the second decade of the 17th
century. Its territory was most extensive in the reign of Sultan Kudarat (1619-1671), particularly in the
last twenty-five years. Following was the way Dr. Majul describes it:

The coastal area from Zamboanga to the gulf of Davao was tributary to
him. He was acknowledged the paramount lord of the Pulangi. His sphere of
influence extended to Iranun and Maranao territories and even as far as Bukidnon
and Butuan in the north of Mindanao, His rule held sway over Sangil and Sarangani.
Except in points like Dapitan, Caraga, and the sites of the present-day Butuan and
Cagayan de Oro cities, and in the almost inaccessible parts of the interior of the
island, practically all of the accepted him as suzerain.

The center of the Maguindanao sultanate was in the present province of Maguindanao and
the southern portions of Lake Lanao, from where it expanded through the use of armed might
traditional alliances, all the way to Davao Oriental in eastern Mindanao and to Zamboanga del Norte
in western Mindanao.

The Islamized tribes that may be categorized as subjects at one time or another of the
Maguindanao sultanate included the Maguindanao, Iranun, and Sangil; the Kalagans are part Muslim
part Lumad. The Lumad tribes found within the territory claimed by the Maguindanao Sultanate were
the Subanens in the Zamboanga peninsula; the Teduray, Ubo T'boli, Bla-an, Dulangan, Lambangian,
Manobo In the Cotabato area (encompassing the present four provinces of North Cotabato, South
Cotabato Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat); the Bagobo, Bla-an, Tagakaolo, Ata, Mandaya and
Mansaka and Manobo in the Davao region, and the Bukidnon and Higaunon in the Bukidnon border
as well as in Iligan.

It is extremely difficult to determine from historical sources to what extent the non-Islamized
groups were subjects of the Sulu Sultanate. In the specific case of Zamboanga, no study has yet been
made specifying where the Sultanate's suzerainty ended and where the Maguindanao's influence
began. Nor is it clear to what extent the Subanens were subjects of or influenced by them. Dr. Majul
did mention Bukidnon as falling within the Maguindanao sphere of influence but Jesuit writings in the
late 19th century indicate that the farthest Muslim outpost in Bukidnon at that time was located at the
confluence of the Malita river or in the present border between Bukidnon and Cotabato. Muslim traders,
usually Maguindanao, reportedly went deeper into Bukidnon upstream of the Pulangi. Not, however,
to collect tribute which was the common expression of subjection at that time, but to trade. ii Twentieth-
century censuses, however, reveal that until 1948 the municipalities of Pangantukan and Talakag had
a relatively high number of Muslim residents, presumably Maranaos since these towns are located at
the Bukidnon-Lanao del Sur border. Of some-more than thirty coastal settlements noted in Davao by
the Spaniards in the late 19th century, the Moros of Davao occupied nineteen.

These settlements were spread out along the coastal stretch from Mayo Bay in the east
coast, roughly where Mati is, and westward along the entire length of Davao Gulf's coastline to
Sarangani Islands. The non-Muslims were decidedly more numerous. We are told that the Muslims
collected tributes from the Mandaya far as Caraga; controlled the Samals of Samal Island, and were
continually at war with the Bla-an, Manobo, Ata, and Tagakaolo. It was from this last tribe that the
Kalagan Muslims came from, Ka'agan means imitator in the Tagakaolo language.

Portions of the provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato,
and Maguindanao were without a doubt open to question, despite very strong Maguindanao influence,
in the sense that these were traditionally occupied by the non-Islamized tribes whose subjection to
Maguindanao rule can no longer be gauged at this time. Until 1918, certain towns were predominantly
inhabited by them, like Awang (83.75%), Glan (60.76%), Kabakan (66.42%), Kiamba (80.59%),
Kidapawan (65.9%), Salaman (64.16%) and Sebu (83.07%), Talayan (56.88%); some others were
almost equally shared with the Maguindanao, e.g., Buayan (45.14% Muslim & 53.89% Lumad),
Kitubod (50.99% Muslim & 49% Lumad), Kling (50.18% Muslim & 49.4% Lumad).
 Lanao del Sur is definitely Maranao territory including at least seven border towns in the
present Lanao del Norte, namely, Balo-i, Matungao, Pantao-Ragat, Munai, Tangkal, Tagoloan, and
Nunungan, The Maranao people generally identify themselves with the Pat a Pongampong a Ranao
and did not experience domination by the Maguindanao sultanate. Those of Kapatagan Valley in
Lanao del Norte, however, speak of their own Pat a Panuruganan a Kapatagan and clam no allegiance
to the Pat a
Pongampong.
Figure 10. Polities and Sultanates in the 10th to 16th century
Philippines. Source: Historical Atlas of the Republic (2016)

Throughout the 333 years of Spanish attempts at conquest of Moroland, the Sulu and
Maguindanao Sultanates fought Spanish colonialism as independent states and remained uncolonized
to the very end. The Moros are extremely proud of this. Yet it cannot be denied that in the last 50 years
or so of the 19th century, the sultans of both sultanates signed treaties and agreements with Spain
which compromised their respective sovereignties. Sulu, in particular, signed the 1878 treaty with
reduced the sultanate to the status of a Spanish protectorate.) To modern political scientists, both the
Sulu and Maguindanao sultanates lost their de jure status but seemed to have retained their de facto
status.

Shortly thereafter, U.S. colonialism took over from Spain through the Treaty of Paris in
December 1898. Spain ceded the archipelago, including the sultanates of Maguindanao to the United
States for $20 million. Finally on March 1915, through the Memorandum of Agreement between the
General of the Philippine islands and the Sultan of Sulu, The latter ratified and confirmed recognition
of the sovereignty of the U.S.A. By this time, nothing more was left of the two sultanates’ sovereignty.
The Moro people's right over their ancestral domain was substantially eroded by the implementation
of American public land laws, later sustained almost hook, line and by the government of the Republic
of the Philippines.

11. Which portions are generally regarded as the ancestral homeland of the Lumad peoples
of Mindanao and Sulu?

In the tradition of the Subanen, the entirety of Zamboanga peninsula is their ancestral
homeland. Among themselves, they have partitioned the territory to the three major subdivisions of
the tribe, the Ginsalugan, the Sibugay-Sung, and the Debaloy.

The Debaloy territory includes the present municipalities of Baliguian, Gutalac, Labason,
Sibuco, Sindangan, Siocon, and Siraway in Zamboanga del Norte; Salug, Surabay, Tukuran, Kalawit,
in Zamboanga del Sur, and Ipil, Titay, Tampilisan, and Tungawan in the newly created Zamboanga
Sibuguey.

The territory of the Ginsalugan encompasses 32 municipalities in the three provinces in the peninsula
of Zamboanga, as follows: Misamis Occidental: Aloran, Baliangao, Bonifacio, Calamba, Clarin,
Concepcion, D. Victoriano, Jimenez, Lopez Jaena, Oroquieta, Ozamiz, Pana-on, Plaridel, Sinacaban,
Sapang Dalaga, Tangub, Tudela.

Zamboanga del Norte: Dapitan, Dipolog, Katipunan, La Libertad, Manukan, Mutia, Osmeña,
Piñan Polanco, Punot, Rizal, Roxas, Sibutad. Zamboanga del Sur: Balangasan, Josefina, Mahayag,
Molave, Pagadian City.

The Subanen of Sebugay and Sung are distributed into four sub-tribes of Sebugay, Sung,
Balangasan, and Pingulis; their territory encompassing a total of 20 municipalities in the provinces of
Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sebuguey, as follows: The Sebugay group are to be found in the
towns of Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur, and in Naga, Kabasalan, Buug, Siay, Imelda, Payao, Alicia in
Zamboanga Sibuguey. The Sung people are in the Baganian peninsula in Zamboanga del Sur which
includes the towns of Dinas, Margosatubig, Danao (Lakewood), Tabina, Pitogo, SM Tigbao, V. Sagun
and Dimataling.

The Balangasan inhabitants are found in the towns of Malangas in Zamboanga Sibuguey
and other parts of Dinas and Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur.

The Pingulis population is on the island of Olutanga, specifically in the towns of Mabuhay,
Olutanga, and Talusan in Zamboanga Sibuguey, and Lapuyan in Zamboanga del Sur.

They have been living in larger concentrations in the following specific areas: Dapitan or
Illaya Valley, Dipolog Valley specifically in Diwan, Punta and Sinaman, Manukan Valley, Sindangan,
Panganuran in the present town of Gutalac Coronado in the present town of Baliguian, Siocon, Kipit
in the present town of Labason, Malayal and Patalun (now Lintangan) both in the present town of
Sibuco, Bolong Valley, "lüpilak and Bakalan Valleys in the town of Ipil, Lei-Batu Valley, Sibugai-Sei
Valley, Dumankilas Bay, Dipolo Valley, Lubukan Valley, Labangan Valley and Mipangi Valley. Other
concentrations are also found in the present towns of Katipunan, Roxas, Sergio Osmena, Sr., Leon
Postigo, Salug, Godod, and Siayan.
 The Higaunon generally refer to their ancestral territory as the walo ha talugan or eight
territories, named after big rivers in northern Mindanao, namely, Odiongan (Gingoog), Agusan Kabulig
(Claveria), Tagoloan, Lanao, Cagayan, Pulangi (Bukidnon) and Balatukan (Balingasag). More
particularly, these places are located in the present provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur,
Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, and Lanao del Norte. In Agusan del Norte they are to be found in the
towns of Las Nieves Buenavista, Butuan City, and Nasipit. In Agusan del Sur they are the town of
Esperanza. In Misamis Oriental, they inhabit the towns of Magsaysay, Gingoog, Salay, Balingasag,
Medina, Claveria, Cagayan de Oro City, Manticao, Naawan, Initao, and Opol. In Bukidnon, they have
lived in the towns of Manolo Fortich, Impasug-on, Baungon, Talakag, Libona, Malitbog, Malaybalay,
Cabanglasan, Lantapan, and Valencia. In Lanao del Norte, they are in Barangay Rogongon of lligan
City. Although the Higaunon their language Blnukid and themselves as Higaunon, they tend to be
identified with Bukidnon in popular usage among outsiders. latter is a generic name given all
indigenous groups in the province of Bukidnon by Bisayans and other outsiders. Among indigenous
groups found at the north-central Bukidnon area aside from the Higaunon, the Talaandig and the
Banwaon; the inhabiting the border area between Bukidnon and Agusan, more specifically within the
territory stretching from Libang River Esperanza in the north up to the town of San Luis and La Paz,
Agusan del Sur, from Barangay Balit still in San Luis to the Agusan del Sur-Bukidnon boundary. The
southern part of the province is inhabited by the Tigwahanon; the Matigsalug — mostly in the town of
Kitaotao, Bukidnon and the Umayamnon, the latter occupying the border area of Bukidnon and
Agusan, more specifically in the municipality of Cabanglasan, Bukidnon.

The Manobo are traditional inhabitants of several portions of Mindanao: at the Agusan river
valley, Surigao del Norte and Sur; in Bukidnon south; in Sigaboy north of the Cape of San Agustin in
Davao Oriental; along the coastal stretch from Padada in Davao del Sur down to Sarangani Bay in
South Cotabato; in Sultan Kudarat, and in Cotabato.

The Mamanwa used to live in the territory around Lake Mainit at the Agusan del Norte
Surigao del Norte down to Tago river in Surigao del Norte.

The Mandaya have traditionally occupied the stretch of territory from Tandag in Surigao del
Sur down to Mati in Davao Oriental and the area of Salug river valley in the interior of Davao del Norte.
Within the Davao Oriental-Davao del Norte are also to be found the Mansaka-Dibabawon-
Mangguwangan populations.

Starting from that part of Davao City bordering Davao d Norte down to Davao del Sur, we
have in succession the Ata or Manobo, the Bagobo, the Tagakaolo-Kalagan, and the Bla-an.
As one moves into South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan, and Maguindanao, one runs into the
Bla-an again, then Manobo, the Arumanen, Ilianen, Pulangiyen, Manuvu, Ubo, then the T'boli, then
the Dulangan, the Lambangian and the Teduray.

In Palawan, the Batak and the Tägbanua are more well. known Indigenous Cultural
Communities. We cannot tell, however, to what extent they were subjects or influenced by the Sulu
Sultanate. Other indigenous populations which have been assimilated into the majority culture are the
Agutaynon, Kagayanen, Kalamianen, and Kuyunon; the last is also known as Cagayano.

Determining the exact boundaries of Lumad tribal territories at present has become
extremely difficult. For one thing, a good number of them are now dispersed people, intermixed in
small pockets with settler populations. This dispersion is reflected at the municipal level in the various
censuses. Short of another statistical survey with each tribe, we can only rely on the censuses of 1918,
1939, and 1970. But not fully. The 1903 census does not have comparative figures at the municipal
level of Muslim, Lumad and Christian population; the details of the 1948 census seem to be unavailable
in most big libraries in Manila; the 1960 enumeration has simply eliminated the "Pagan" classification
Which is the nearest to determining the Lumad population. The censuses of 1975, 1980 and 1990 no
longer have any classification that will lead us to more accurate figures on the indigenous cultural
communities.
 Many of their elders who know their ancient habitat have died, and very little oral tradition
affecting territorial boundaries, no matter how vague and general, has been handed down to the
present generation. The dominant presence of the migrant-based population, which IS also concretely
revealed in the censuses has made the situation even more complicated.

APPLICATION/ ASSESSMENT:

Maps Me!

Create three (3) sets of Map of MinSuPala showing the location (province) of its
inhabitants. You need to manually draw your map or use computer aided apps and
highlight the inhabitant’s location using colors/symbols/pictures/other forms of
legend.
1. Set A- The Moros and their locations in MinSuPala
2. Set B- The Lumads and their locations in MinSuPala
3. Set C- The Indigenous Christians and their locations in MinSuPala

REFERENCES:

Gowing, Peter P. Muslim Filipinos: Heritage and Horizon. Quezon City: New Day
Publishers, 1979.

History of Filipino Muslims and Other Indigenous Peoples of Minsupala: A Teaching

and Learning Guide. MSU System resource material for History 003 classes,
2015.

Kadil, J. Ben. History of the Moro and Indigenous Peoples in Minsupala. Marawi
City: OVCRE, 2002.

Majul, Caesar Adib. Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: UP Press, 1999.

Rodil, Rudy B. A Story of Mindanao and Sulu in Question and Answer. Davao
City: MINCODE, 2003.