1

MINDANAO: THE LAND OF PROMISE

As an island in the southern part of the country, Mindanao is the second largest a 94,630
square kilometers, only about 10,000 km2 smaller than Luzon. The island is mountainous, and
is home to Mt. Apo, the highest mountain in the country. To the west of Mindanao island is the
Sulu sea, and to the south is the Celebes sea.
The island group of Mindanao encompasses Mindanao itself, plus the Sulu Archipelago to the
southwest. The island group is divided into six regions, which are further subdivided into 26
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 26
provinces. Of which only four are not 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
Saranggani 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 XIII)
 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)

Zamboanga Peninsula
(Region IX), formerly Western Mindanao, is located in the land form 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 located on Basilan. The region’s
new administrative capital is Pagadian City and the whole region used to be 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 northern coast. The administrative center and capital of the region is Cagayan de
Oro city.
 2

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, Davao
Occidental 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 Sarangani Islands further to the south.
Davao City is the region’s administrative center.

SOCCSKSARGEN
(Region XII), formerly Central Mindanao, is located in the south-central portion of the island. It
consists 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 was an acronym. Cotabato City,
geographically located in, but not a 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 of
Butuan City is Agusan del Norte. The region also covers the outlying islands of Surigao del
Norte such as Dinagat Island, Siargao Island, and Bucas Grande Island.

Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao

(ARMM) is a special region which covers the territories predominantly populated by Muslims.
ARMM has its own government unlike almost all the other regions in the country. It consists of
almost the whole of the Sulu archipelago (Isabela City of Basilan is part of the 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 themselves the main
islands of their respective provinces, while the main island of Sulu is Jolo Island. The mainland
provinces are Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao of Cotabato City, which isn’t part of ARMM, is
the region’s administrative center.

A STORY OF MINDANAO AND SULU IN

QUESTION AND ANSWER

Rudy B. Rodil
Historian and Retired Professor, MSU-IIT
 3

1. Who are 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 sub-divided, 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 muslim or Islamized groups; are, more specifically, in
alphabetical order, the Iranun (also known as: Illanun or Illanun),Jama Mapun, Kalagan,
Kalibugan, Maguindanao (also, known as Maguindanawon), Maranao, Sama, Sangil, Tausug
and Yakan. Also generally known as Moro – or more recently Bangsa Moro – they constitute
about twenty percent of the total population of Mindanao and Sulu. We also include the
Islamized groups of Palawan, namely, the “Molbog (also known as the Melebugon) and the
Palawani (Panimusan). The Kalagan and the Palawani are partly Islamized and partly ot.
Although not generally Muslims, the seafaring Badjao of the Sulu Archipelago are also classified
in the Moro category by the 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, Higaonon, Illanen, Manobo,
Jangari, Lambagian (Teduray and Manobo), Livunganen, Kulamanen, Mamanwa, Mandaya,
Mangguwangan, 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 and eastern Mindanao when the
Spaniards arrived during the second decade of the 17th century. They eventually become the
Christian communities of the Spanish colonial period which in 1892 totaled 191,493. It is no
longer easy to identify them because they have assimilated into the migrant Visayas population
which now compose the majority inhabitants of the place. They are known locally by their place
names like Davaweno in the Davao provinces but mostly in Davao Oriental: Butuanon in
Butuan, Camiguinon or Kinamigin in Camiguin island, Cagayanon in Cagayan de Oro,
Misamisnon, Iliganon in Iligan, Ozamiznon in Ozamiz, Dapitanon in Dapitan, 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 dialiects peculiar to the place.
Surigaonon waya-waya and Jaon-jaon are spoken in the towns of Surigao del Sur, namely
Carascal, Madrid, Lanuza, and, in Surigao del Norte, specifically in the towns of Dinagat,
 4

Siargao, Dapa, Gigaquit and Claver. In Surigao del Sur, Cantilanonis spoken in Cantilan;
Tandaganon in Tandag and Aras-asan; Tagon-on in Tago, San Miguel and Bayabas; Kamayo in
Lianga, Diatagon, Barobo and Bislig. Cebuano is predominant in Mangagoy andBbol-anon in
Cortes and San Agustin.
Originally Mardicas or Merdicas, meaning free people where natives of ternate in the Moluccas,
in present Indonesia, the Chavacanos were Christian soldiers who were brought to Manila by
the Spaniards in 1663. They were first settled in Ermita in what was known as Bagumbayan and
were, later, resettled at Barra de 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 20th 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. Included in the count are the
indigenous B, the Chinese, and another permanent residence.
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 from 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 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 the 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 a savage and treacherous, while they are
simply daring and tenacious in the defense of their homeland and
faith. But despite its colonial origins the Moro National Liberation
Front 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.
 5

They also unilaterally 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 the
traditional religious values – in a word all those who share common
aspiration and political destiny. Hence, the MNLF has adopted
Bangsa (nation) Moro as 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 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 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 ethno linguistic groups enumerated earlier. Representatives from
fifteen tribes agreed in June 1986 to adopt the name, there were no delegates from the three
major groups of the T’boli, and the Teduray , and the Subanen. The choice of a Cebuano word
– Cebuano is he 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 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 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, 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; Tagalog 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?
 6

They all share a common origin in the Malayo-Polynesian family of language which explains the
close similarity among the various languages in use throughout the islands. Also, in their
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.
Illanen, and Kulamanen in northern Cotabato; Western Bukidnon
Manobo and Tigwa in southern Bukidnon; Binukid in northern
Bukidnon; Agusan Manobo with its several dialects and Agusan and
Surigao; and Higaonon in Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon and Agusan.
Kinamigin on Camiguin Island north of Mindanao and Kagayanen of
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 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 was converted to Islam while
Gumabon-gabon was not. Among the Subanen of Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur, they talk of
four brothers as their ancestors. Tabunaway was the ancestor of the Maguindanao;
Dumalandalan the Maranao; Mili-rilid of the Teduray and Gumabon-gabon of the Subanen.
The Arumanen Manobo of North Cotabato and the Maguindanao say that brothers Tabunaway
and Mamalu are their common ancestors, although they differ on which of the two was
converted to Islam and on whether they were really siblings. To the Maguindanao, they were
blood brothers and it was Tabunaway who became a Muslim. In the Manobo version, also, the
real names of Tabunaway and Mamalu were Rimpung and Sabala and they were close friends,
not siblings. They called each other suled, brother, but this word is used for siblings, relatives
and close friends as well. The story goes that after Sabala adopted Islam, Tabunaway told him
that he would call him Mamalu because for a while he was a Manobo but not anymore, he had
become a Muslim. Sabala in turn said to Rimpung that because he had decided to retain his
traditional Manobo belief in the practice of their tradition, he would then call him Tabunaway.
The Manobo version further states that they share the same ancestor with the Ilianen, the
Matigsalug, the Talaandig, and the Maranao.
In the Teduray tradition, the same brothers Tabunaway and Mamalu are acknowledged as their
ancestors.
The Higaunon and the Maranao also speak of a 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.
 7

Among the Talaandig of Bukidnon, their great, great ancestor Apo 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 authpr got the following account:
It was Almabet, their creator, who save them that name. Almabet created
eight people, first the Bla-an, then the others, namely, Tabali (T’boti), Ubo
(Manobo), Alnawen (Maguindanao Muslim), Teduray, Klagan, Matigsalug,
and Mandaya. And he called them by these names. They would later be
ancestors of ethnic groups of the same names. Lands were assigned to
them. Kolon Nadal (Koronadal) wasgiven 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
to 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 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 Tuan Masha’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 camee
at the beginning of the 15th century was introduced the political element in the Islamization
process,s. 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 a daughter and left. He was followed by Sharif Maraja. Also from
Johore, who stayed in the Slangan area and married the daughter of Awliya. Around 1515,
Shariff Kabungsuan arrived with many men Aat the Slangan area, roughly with Malabang is
now. He is generally credited with having established the Islamic community in 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 said to have eventually spread to Lanao and Bukidnon. There is
hardly any evidence of this is in the latter, however, except in some border towns adjacent to
Lanao del Sur. From the southern end, Islam came through marriage alliances with Muslim
Iranun and Maguindanao datus, specifically around the area of Butig and Malabang.
 8

It’s 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 South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, made possible either
by and through Muslim merchants or missionaries or both. It was trough the latter that the
Malayo-Indonesian region, 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 and
Africa, especially in the period starting from the beginning of the 9th century.
Overseas travel at that time was directly influenced by monsoon wind 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, Pahangga, Trengganu, Kedah, Java and others. By 1450, Malacca
had become the leading center of Islam in the Malay Archipelago. It was from Malay
Archipelago that Mindanao and Sulu was Islamized. The establishment of Muslim trading
communities in such places as Mindoro, Batangas and trade and Islamization created the
necessary conditions that enabled the Sulus, and later, the Maguindanao, to advance way
ahead of their indigenous inhabitants of the Philippine.
7. To what extend did Islam revolutionize the recipient communities?

Before the advent of Islam in the Philippine archipelago, no community was reported to be
monotheist. The diwata (in the Visayas and Mindanao) and anito ( in Luzon) were essential
features of the belief system of the peoples here. Animasts, 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 the 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 the part of this development.
 9

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

There is no question that the centralized system of life introduced by the combined forces of
Islam and trade provided the 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 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 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 wild game,
and, nowadays, also the airspace above. No different, therefore, from the present concept of
state domain.

The nature of 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, present 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 twenty-two provinces and sixteen cities that constitute the
entirety of Maguindanao 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
1596-1896 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 province’s and four cities. They overlap in many
places.

It must be stressed, however, that defining the ancestral homeland of the Islamized presents
some difficulty because aside from being subdivided into thirteen ethno linguistic groups through
which the matter of physical occupancy may be determined, they were also identified with one
sultanate or another where the decisive point is, to use a modern terminology, political
 10

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 people
encompassed within its territory. And in the history of the Moro sultanates, these peoples
included communities from 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 Zamboanga, roughly equivalent to the present territory
of Zamboanga City, and the western portion 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.

The Islamized tribes in the territory were the Tausug in Sulu and the Sama in Tawi-tawi; Jama
Mapun in Cagayan de Sulu and Southern Palawan; Molbog nor Melebugnon and Palawani also
in southern Palawan; Yakan in Basilan, and the Kalibugan in the western part of Zamboanga
peninsula. The non-Islamized tribes include the Badjao of the Sulu Archipelago, the Batak and
Tagabanua of southern Palawan, and the Subanen of Zamboanga peninsula. We have not
included northern Palawan because there is so far no clear cut historical evidence that this
portion ever fell within the territory of 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, sultanate machinery are mainly intact. But certain portions of its territory went
went to the colonizers. Zamboangan 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 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 to the story of Zamboanga may be sited here. The Chavacano speaking
population was presumably brought in by the Spaniards in 1718 if not later, 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 neither dislocation nor displacement on
the indigenous population.

To what extent were the indigenous communities of the Tagbanua and Batak of Palawan and
the Subanen people’s subjects of the sultanate? This is not clear in existing documents. No
doubt, an extensive research on the oral traditions of these people would help.
 11

The Sulu sultanate’s claim to sovereignty over its territory and subjects were challenged
decisively by the American colonizers. After the Treaty of Paris 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 sultans 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 7th 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 almost inaccessible parts of the interior
of the island, practically all of the inhabitants of the Island of Midanao
had 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 and
traditional alliances, all the way to Davao Oriental in eastern Mindanao and to Zamboanga Del
Norte in western Mindanao.

The Islamized tribes that may categorize as subject at one time or another to the Maguindanao
sultanate included the Maguindanao, Iranun and the Sangil; the Kalagans are part Muslim and
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,
Lambagian, Manobo in the Cotabato area (encompassing the present four provinces of North
Cotabato, South Cotabatnd, Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat); the Bagobo, Bla-an Tagakaolo,
Ata, Mandaya and Mansaka and Manobo n the Davao region Lanao del and the Bukidnon and
Higaunon in the Bukidnonborder as well as Illigan.
 12

It is extremely difficult to determine from historical sources to what extent thenon-Islamized

groups were subjects of the Sulu Sultanate. In the specific case of Zamboanga, no study has
yet been made specifying where the Sultanates suzerainty ended and where the
Maguindanao’s influence began. Nor it is 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 the at that time was located at the confluence of Molita 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. 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 were Mati is, westward along the entire length of Davao’s Gulf coastline to Sarangani
Islands. The non-Muslims were decidedly more numerous. We are told that the Muslims
collected tributes from Mandaya as 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.

Portion of the provinces of South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and
Maguindanao were without doubt open to question, despite very strong Maguindanao influene,
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), 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 Panurungan a Kapatagan and
claim no allegiance to the Pat a Pongampong.

Throughout the 333 years of Spanish attempts at conquest of Moroland. The Sulu and
Maguindanao Sultanate fought Spanish colonialism as independent states and remained
 13

uncolonized to the very end. The Moros are extremely proud of this. Yet it cannot be denied that
in last fifty years or so of the 19th century, the sultans of both sultanates signed treaties and
agreement with Spain which compromise their respective sovereignties. Sulu, in particular,
signed the 1978 treaty with reduced the sultanate to the status of a Spanish protectorate. (See
part ll for more details) 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 entire archipelago, including the sultanates of Maguindanao
and Sulu, to the United States for $20 million. Finally on 22 March 1915, through the
Memorandum of Agreement between the Governor 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 was left of the two sultanate’s sovereignty. The Moro people’s right over their
ancestral domainwas substantially eroded by the implementation of American public land laws,
later sustained almost hook, line and sinker by the government of the Republic of the
Philippines.

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

In the tradition of the Subanen, the entirety of Zambonga 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, andTtungawan in newly created
Zamboanga Sibuguey.

The territory of the Ginsalugan encompasses thirty-two municities in the three provinces in the
peninsula of Zamboanga, as follows Misamis Occidental, Aloran, Baliangao, Bonifacio,
Calamba, Clarin, Concepcion, D. Victoriano, Jimeenez, Lopez Jaena, Oroquieta, Ozamiz, Pana-
on, Plaridel, Sinacaban, Sapang Dalaga, Tangub, Nudela.

Zamboanga del norte: Dapitan, Dipolog, Katipunan, La Libertad in Manukan, Mutia, Osmeria,
Pifian Polanco, Punot, Rizal, Roxas, Sibutadi, Zamboanga del Sur: Balangasan, Mosefina,
mahayag, Molave, Pagadian City.

The Subanen of Sebugay and Sung are distributed into four sub-tribes of Sebugay, Sung,
Balangasan and Pingulis, their territory encom – passing a total of twenty municipalities in the
provinces of Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sebuguey, as follows:
 14

The Sebugay group are to be found in the towns of Bayog in Zamboanga del Sur, and in Naga,
Kabasalan, Buug, Silay, Imelda, Payao, Alicia in Zamboanga Sibuguey.

The Sung people are in the Baganian peninsula in Zamboanga del Dur which includes the
towns of dinas, Margosatubig, Danao (Lake Wood), 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 in the island of Olutanga, specifically in the towns of Mabuhay,
Olutanga and Talusanin in Zamboanga Sibuguey and Lapuyan in Zamboanga del sur.

They have been living in the 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
Baliguian, Siocon, Kipit in the present town of Labason, Malayal and Patalun (now Lintangan;
both in the present town of Sibuco, Bolong Valley, Tupilak and Bakalan Valleys in the town of
Ipil, Lei-Batu Valley, Sibugai-Sei Valley, Dumankilas Bay, Dipole Valley, Lubukan Valley,
Labangan Valley and Mipangi Valley. Other concentrations are also found in the present towns
of Katipunan, Roxas, Sergio Osmelia, 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 Nanao 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 in the town of Esperanza. In Misamis Oriental, they inhabit the towns of Magsaysay,
Gingoog, Salay, Balingasag, Medina, Claveria, Talisayan, Cagayan,de Oro City, Manticao,
Naawan, Initao and Opol. In Bukidnon they have lived in the towns of Manolo Forlich, Impasug-
ong, Baungon, Talakag, Llibona, Malitbog, Malaybalay, Cabanglasan, Lantapan and Valencia.
In Lanao del Norte, they are found in Barangay Rogongon of Iligan City. Although the Higaunon,
call their language Binukid and themselves as Higaunon, they tend to be identified with
Bukidnon in popular usage among outsiders. The latter is a generic given all indigenous groups
in the province of Bukidnon by Bisayans and other outsiders. Among these indigenous groups
found at the north-central Bukidnon area are, aside from te Higaunon, the Talaandig and the
Banwaon; the latter inhabiting the border area between Bukidnon and Agusan, more specifically
within the territory stretching from Libang River in 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 Tigwahon, the
Matigsalug – mostly in the town of Kitaotao, Bukidnon and the Umayamnon, the latter occupying
 15

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 the Agusan river valley,
Surigao del Norte and Sur; in Bukidnon south; in Sigaboy north of the Cpe 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 and the Agusan Del Norte-surigao
Del Norte down to Tago riverin Surigao dl Norte.

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

Starting from that part of Davao City bordering Davao del Norte down to Davao del Sur, we
have in succession the Ata or Ata Manobo, the Bagobo, the Tagakaolo-Kalagan, and the Bla-
an.

As one moves into South Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat and Maguindanao, one runs into
the Bla-an again, then the Manobo, the Arumanen, Illanen, Livunganen, Kulamanen, Manuvu,
Ubo then the T’boli, then the Dulangan, the Lambagian and the Teduray.

In Palawan, the Batak and the Tagabanua are the 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 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 then are now a dispersed people, intermixed in small
pockets with settle 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 o determining the Lumad population.
The censuses of 1975, 1980 and 1990 no longer have any classification that will lead us to most
accurate figures on the indigenous cultural communities.

Many of our 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
 16

present generation. The dominant presence of the migrant-based population which is also
concrete revealed in the censuses has made the situation even more complicated.

THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

LUMAD

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

There are 21 Lumad ethnolinguistic groups ‘Ata, Bagobo, Banwaon, B’laan, Bukidnon,
Dibabawon, Higaonon, Mamanwa, Mandaya, Manguwangan, Manobo, Mansaka, Samales,
Subanon, Tagakaolo, Talaanding, Tasaday, T’boli, Teduray, 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
government-sponsored resettlement programmes, 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 Bukidnons 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 a communal privately, and community members have the right of 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 this infieles were the
Manuvus of Agusan. The Manuvus were found as well in the peninsula of San Agustin and parts
of the mountains of Culaman and eastern Pulangi in Cotabato. It was believed sometime in the
past the 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 homage to the spirits of dead ancestors, a belief which is widely shared with other groups
of infieles, but the quaintest element in their belief was that the thunder being the spoken word
of lightning, a god whose form is that of a monstrous animal. When lighting, struck and fell a
tree, the Manuvus believed that the monster’s teeth or some of them remained embedded in
 17

that tree. Missionaries who related the above accounts explained that in reality the teeth were
flint axes or 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 Manuvus ecept that the former were docile and gentle. The Mandayas were wont to
depilate their chins and eyebrows and their taste for 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 raft
or makeshift boats with the same offerings other anitos. The interred their dead 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 manuang 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
influence by their baylanas or priestesses and sometimes by living deities

There are five principal groups of Mandayas, according to the places 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 who 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 the Pacific Ocean; 4.) Managusan, those who live near the water, and
who use unique fishing methods; and 5.) Divavaoan, the groups found in the southern and
western parts of Campostella towns. Although these groups have separate places of habitat,
they have similar dialects, customs and traditions so they could be regarded as one group.

The Bagobos were the first infieles from among whom the Spaniards won their first converts.
They were found to occupy the highland of Mt.Apo and some were found living in the lowlands
of Daliao, Bago, and Talomo, a short distance from the cabecera or capital of Davao. Their
nearest neighbors were the Guiangas who lived along the banks of rivers in Dulian,
Gumalan,Tamungan, 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 Muslims 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 time 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,
Madarangan or Darago, who 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.
 18

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 ate, 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. The sacrifices were usually kept secret from the Spaniards who waged vigorous
campaigns to stop them.

The Bagobos of the 19th century were probably the most fastidious dressers among the infieles.
The missionaries could 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 and a kerchief around the
had like a bagani. The women wore combs in their hair, short blouses with embroidered
sleeves, a patajong made of abaca and dyed in fantastic color combinations.

They played the agong and the kulintang like the Muslims in 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 Casilaran Creek, some believed that the Calaganes descended from the
Samals whose customs resembled 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 Dulangens whom they described
as fierce and cruel. The Dulangens 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
their mummified ancestors in caves. For hundreds of years, they were known to have interred
their dead in one of the caves in 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.
 19

The most industrious of the different infieles were said to be the Bilaans or Bilanes whose
communities were found between the Belatukan River and Sarangani Bay. They were known as
friends of 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”, 3.)Buluan, the group dwelling near Lake Buluan which
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.)Villanes or Bilanes; 6.) Balud or
Tumanao, which is sometimes applied by the early writers to the Bilaans who lived in the
Sarangani island.

The Talaos lived in an island of the same name South of the Sarangani. They were known to be
peaceful and industrious and much admired by the Spaniards for being good and expert sailors.
The Talaos knew how to construct boats which were big as the Spanish goletas, during th
months of April and May they would take to seas sailings 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 preferred to build their rancherias at 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 infiel with the exception of the ones known as
Loocs who were quite fierce and primitive. The Tagakaolos were often victims of preying
Bagobos 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 and the Bilaans.
They inhabit a part of the district of Davao, boardering on the Davao Gulf and extending from
Casilaan Cave to a point a little below the Lais River. Som also live on the peninsula of the 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 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 head
waters of the Davao, Lasan, Tuganay and Libagawan rivers. In the region around the Apo, the
Atas are found with the Obo and Tigdapaya, and in the area around Lasan they are known as
Dughatang or Dubgatong. In the Central Part of Minadano are the Tagahuanum, who have
distinct feature like those of the Negritoes. Known to be traders of hemp cloth and knives, they
are classified also as Atas.

Subanun
 20

The Subanun (also written as Subanu, Subano, Subanon) is of “Moro” (Sulu) origin and means
“men or people of the river”, more exactly, people who live along the river banks or streams.
Their habitat is confined to the interior and the mountainous portions of the Zamboanga distinct
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
names as 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
outside world. However, many of them have embraced Christianity and have integrated into the
larger community. They are typical Malays either dark or light complexioned with plenty of hair
on the head and forehead, sturdy bodies and with blunt and prominent cheekbones. They are
closely knit clans since they believed they have all descended from one ancestor.

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

Across the northern tip of Zamboanga del Sur, bounded by the Basilan Straight in the north,
Celebes Sea in the south, the Moro Gulf and Sulu Sea in the east and west respectively, fertile
land of Basilan, the traditional home of the Yakans, called by the Spaniards “Taguima”, Basilan
has also been described as the finest garden in Zamboanga. It wasonce part of the Sulu and,
for a long time was a refuge for Sulu traders and seafarers.

Once 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
island, is 1359 sq. kms. With a predominantly rural population of 171,000. It has seven
municipalities with Isabela as capital town. The provincial terrain is rough and mountainous
especially along the center.

The mother tongue 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 spoke

Suggested Readings:

Ben J. Kadil, Ph.D. History of the Moro and Indigenous Peoples in Minsupala (Philippine
Studies, Culture and Society) Department of History, MSU-Marawi, 2002.

THE FILIPINO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’

 21

LAST FRONTER

By: Timuay Ronald L. Adamat

A paper presented by Timuay RONALD L. ADAMAT, Founding

Chairman, Association of Poor and Indigenous (API) and
Secretary General, Tribal Communities Association of the
Philippines (TRICAP) during the Four-day Workshop on Conflict
Management entitled “Building the Philippine Future” sponsored
by the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center (AIM-PC) and
the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on September 2-5,
2003 at the AIM Conference Center, Makati City, Philippines

The Indigenous People’s Situation: International Perspective

There are about 300 million Indigenous Peoples (IP’s) living across the world today. They are
the hopeful surviving descendants of the once free people who lived blissful lives of natural
abundance, of rich and colorful arts and cultures, of traditional yet sustainable livelihood
initiatives, of simple tribal people over an environment of peace, tranquility and contentment.

Ironic to the claims of ignorance and backwardness of their conquerors who wore knee-high
boots, their forefathers never learned to wear shoes because to them the ground where they
stood where the extension of their feet. This umbilical relation only depicted their assimilation
with Mother Nature that feeds them in her breast and alone serves as the source of their life.

Sad to say, the current generation of IPs never inherited the exuberance of being free and in
peaceful existence with their environment.

The coming of the “White Man” who brought along with them “religion” and “development”
capture everything that was sacred to the IPs. Greed, power, and deceit claimed ascendancy
over the peaceful Indigenous Cultural Communities’ communion with nature. The evils of
colonial rule marked the start of penitence to the IPs who became the targets for exploitation.
They evolved as mere tenants if not squatters to their once sacredly owned ancestral domains.
Worst, they now fear from extinction in their delimited settlements, which were “graciously
provided them by their visitors.”

From the snowcapped IPS settlements of Canada down to the India Reservation in the United
States of America towards the mosquito infested wilderness of Latin America, from the flecks of
IPs raped abodes in the Pacific Isles towards the Aboriginal allotment territories of penal
Australia, from the unwelcome sun baked desserts of the Middle East toward the freezing
heights of Himalayas, and down Southeast towards the last IPs frontiers of the Philippines, the
IPs can only cling for a single web of hope, a peaceful and humble longing for the last minute
 22

understanding – a hope that would mean the preservation of their existence of their ways of life,
and the protection of their already delimited environment from total destruction.

The IPs century’s old resistance to religious and development aggressors, which fell into deaf
ears and numb hearts, can only echo an urgent warning: Indigenous life is on the critical blink of
extinction, and so is the natural environment that sustains it.

Somehow, in response to the sorrowful plight of the IPs, the International Labor Organization
(ILO) in its Convention 169 in 1989 adopted measures in the elimination of the paternalistic and
assimilationist approach to the IPs. Subsequently, the United Nations (UN) in the same year
declared 1993 as International Year for the IPs”. And the thereafter, the US also declared 1994
to 2004 as “International Decade for the IPs” with the theme “IPs as New partners in
Development.”

However, sad to note, everything seemed to be document serving only. It is now Year 2003 yet
we fail to see any concrete UN interventions to provide real flesh in its pronouncement to evolve
the IPs as “new partners in development.”

All we see now are the usual mere relief assistance and curative military interventions among
ethnic peoples in conflict. Issues on IPs socio-economic emancipation, political empowerment
and the promotion of their human rights and rights to their ancestral domains are being left out
in the dark to rot. Not even any single preventive effort worthy of mention was ever made to
address conflict situations in IPs ancestral domains as a mechanism to better prepare them as
“new partners in development.”

Let me summarize this portion of my paper with a statement of challenge: The Super Powers of
colonial era who currently maintain powerful votes in the UN cannot deny the fact of their
responsibilities for the Indigenous Peoples’ painful past, current dislocations, and bleak future
life owing now the IPs the equivalence of life once enrolled by their forefathers – the exuberant
life of a free people with honor, dignity and with inherent rights to their ancestral domains.

The Indigenous People’s Situation in the Philippine Setting

In the Philippines today, there are 110 Indigenous Cultural Communities with a total population
of about14 million, or roughly 18% of the entire Philippine population of 80 million. The IPs are
spread out in most of the 7, 107 island and islets compromising the Philippine Archipelago.
They are found in at least 63 of the country’s 76 provinces, and scattered over 7 major ethno
linguistic regions.

The bulk of the Indigenous People numbering about 7 million and composed by about 67 tribes
are sporadically scattered in the mountain lairs and recesses of Mindanao. The major tribes
include the Subanens of the Zamboanga Peninsula; the Manobos, Higaonons, Talaandigs and
 23

Bukidnons of Central and Northern Mindanao; the Bagobos, Mandaya, Mansaka of Eastern
Mindanao ; and Tedurays, B’laans and T’bolis of Southern Mindanao.

What is common though among the Filipino IPs are their centuries old sad experiences from
colonial exploitation that has even been aggravated by the Filipino lawlanders who have driven
them farther away into the recesses of forests and mountains – their last frontier, relinquishing
their fertile farmlands and abundant rivers while losing their sense of belongingness and self-
respect as a people.

Problems, Issues, Concerns, Conflicts

The problems that continuously besiege the IPs since the coming of foreign influences are
multifaceted: Issues on religion, socio-cultural, economic, and political concerns directly and
indirectly contribute in the propagation and group of conflict situations.

Religion

The sowing of the first seeds of the Islamic Faith in the Philippine Archipelago specifically at
Tubig ndangan in Simunol, Tawi-Tawi by Sheik Karimul Makhdum in 1380; the subsequent
missionary works and establishment of the Sultanate form of government by Rajah Baguinda in
the Sulu Archipelago in 1390; as well as the arrival of Shariff Mahammad Kabunsuan in
Mainland Mindanao, specifically at the Pulangi River in 1470 greatly affected the once cordial
relations among the IPs inhabitants of Southern Philippines.

The “Tarsillah”, or the “Book of Accounts” of the Maguindanaons depicted how to blood
brothers, Tabunaway and Mamalu parted their ways, with the former having embraced the
religion brought about by Kabunsuan and remained in the lowlands, and the latter having
rejected it and fled into the mountains. Tabunaway became the predecessors of the
Maguindanaons while Mamalu that of the Tedurays and the other hill tribe of Mindanao.

When Christianity was introduced in 1521 with the coming of Magellan and the subsequent
arrival of Spanish friars, it facilitated the gap between the Filipino lowlanders and the Filipino IPs
with the latter shunning away from Christianization for it means turning their back 180 degrees
away from their own traditional beliefs.

Christian subjugation among the Indigenous Cultural Communities continued and was even
more aggravated with the coming of the Americans in the 1900’s who brought with them
Protestantism. They divided among themselves areas for the Anglicans who propagated the
gospel in the Cordilleras, Western Mindanao and South-Central Mindanao, and areas for the
Evangelicals and the Baptists who evangelized the other IPs areas in Luzon, Visayas and
Mindanao. Other religious denominations soon sprouted and founded even by Filipinos from the
majority sector to include the Iglesia ni Cristo by Manalo and the Aglipayan Church now called
the Philippine Independent Church by Aglipay.
 24

Throughout the process of religious conversions and practices conflict situations creep in,
religious intolerance, prejudices, ignorance of others’ traditional faith, misinterpretation of
religious terminologies, religious extremism, politicalization of religion, use of religion as political
tool, restriction of religious opinion, and the missionary zeal of preachers have evolved greatly
affecting relations between and among members of the emerging three major sectors: The
Christian majority, the Muslims, and the IPs who became even more divided and more
confused.

Socio-Cultural

Tribal/Ethnic conflicts between and among IPs, the Christian majority and the Muslim emerge as
a result of several factors. Foremost is ignorance of the culture of others and lacking of the
appropriate attitude in respecting their unique difference. It is also enhanced by cultural
domination as influenced by the superiority complex of the major group, usually propelled
towards the IPs, resulting to discrimination, marginalization, stereo-typing and imposition of their
own beliefs highlighting the notion of emancipating the lesser groups from “ignorance,
barbarism, and fake beliefs.” Moreover, the introduction of foreign influences like “westernized
education” which threatens the continuing survival of indigenous ways also arises to friction.
And further, the continuing lack of appropriate education to fully realize a tribes worth to defend
and assert their rights as a people is likewise contributive to tribal/ethnic conflicts.

Economic

The indigenous people’s basic needs for survival are now the cry of the times. It has become
the cry of anguish…a call for justice…and a scream for action.

The continuing and unabated land grabbing and usurpation of the IPs ancestral domains and
the continuing exploitation of natural resources within the perimeters of their sacred lands by the
Trans-National Capitalist/Global Capitalist and the lowlander Filipino majority consequently lead
to land conflicts, economic discrimination, oppression and dislocation. And though the IPs are
naturally peaceful, such continuing actions against their right for existence may finally arouse
the 500 years old embers in their hearts into wildfires of resistance and counter aggression.

Actually, the embers already did flicker once with the birth of the Indigenous Peoples Federal
Army (IPFA).I am therefore, with humility of heart, appeal to all peace loving Filipinos to
intercede in any appropriate and peaceful means to quell these embers of pain, suffering and
hatred!

Political

Politically motivated aggressions against the IPs come in many different and subtle forms.
 25

It commenced with the invasion, rape and outward grabbing of their held territories. It was even
more aggravated by a more serious and direct intervention in the affairs of their affairs of their
land such as the sale of the Philippines by Spain to the US made possible through the Treaty of
Paris of 1898.

Not yet satisfied, the colonial imperialist caused the Filipino people to fight against one another
by sending troops of Christianized Filipinos to fight against their brother Muslims in the South. It
was just like an expanded version of classical Rome’s gladiator where innocent brothers play
brutal games of death the watchful eyes of their masters and the cheering crowd of blood thirsty
Roman audience.

This inhuman political ploy resulted to the distrust and feelings of aversion between the
Christianized North and Central Philippines with the Islamized Mindanao. And what is more
dejecting is the fact that the IPs have always been caught in the crossfire of events.

To add more pain to injury, the Philippine government in the 1930’s opened Mindanao for
resettlement by people from Luzon and the Visayas. Waves after waves of settlers arrived at
their “Land of Promise.” As they joyfully settled and started new life to select fertile lands, the
IPs had to more further upwards retreating to the hilly and mountainous parts of their domains to
live in harsh conditions.

Nearly overnight, then IPs majority of Mindanao became the minority nearly overnight, the
expanse of ancestral domains were partitioned among settlers like hot cakes by means of legal
tenders.

Like birds of prey in their nests above the comfort of towering trees, the IPs could only watch in
silence with sorrowful dismay from the apex of their mountain lairs.

Eventually, the political control over Mindanao wrested from the IPs Datus, Timuays and
Babaylands, as well as the Muslim Sultans and Datus.

The foregoing dismal experiences and the succeeding political injustices brutalities of the
Philippine armed forces and with the government’s enacted laws prohibited the IPs and the
Muslims from regaining their lands gave birth to the continuing Civil War in Mindanao.

The mother of all evils, the Regalian Doctrine brought along by the Western imperialists, shaped
the above-cited historical events. It dictated that all occupied territories shall automatically
belong to the king, or the government without taking in consideration that such territories
already belonged to the people who since time immemorial, or prior to the arrival of colonialism
and the establishment of the birth to the Land Regulatory Act 496 of 1903 and the
Institutionalization of the Torrens System of Land Titling treating land resources as commodities
that can be commercialized contrary to the IPs reverence for mother nature with the concept
that people belong to a territory, which they hold in common, and must act only as
 26

administrators of the land. The IPs do not have the sense of individual and ownership because
to them nature is God-inspired and no is allowed nor given the liberty to massacre, ravage and
individually own it.

Oppressive state policies like the foregoing strip the IPs of their means for survival. It keeps
them in poverty and diminishes their culture. More so, multiplier effects of conflict situations
occur giving birth to armed conflict, security problem, secessionism, vigilantism and
militarization.

Another political motivated action worth mentioning is government’s inaction itself to the cries of
the IPs. This political apathy is too dangerous for it breeds dissent and encouraging the IPs to
devote themselves to arm struggle if it is the only way for them to get heard.

Having recognized the century’s inequities against the IPs, the government created several
agencies and offices that were supposed to be primarily mandated to address the needs and
concerns of the IPs.

As early as 1903, during the American Colonial Administration, the Bureau of Non-Christian
Tribes was created to provide specific attention and answers to the dismal needs of the IPs.
However, in truth and in fact the basic intension delved more on the context for the smoother
subjugation of the IPs through their assimilation to the greater body politic rather than provide
services to their own and greater interests.

In 1935, under the Commonwealth Republic of Pres. Quezon, the Office of the Commission for
Mindanao and Sulu was created replacing the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes. Again, the
purpose was not geared on service orientedness but to further strengthen the state’s policy in
fully subjugating of the IPs dominated mainland Mindanao and the Muslim dominated Sulu
Archipelago.

By virtue of P.D. 18888, the Commission on National Integration (CNI) was created in 1946 to
implement the postwar plan of action in fast-tracking the assimilation of the IPs with the greater
Filipino majority. It was also more of a military strategy in unifying the highly dislocated Filipino
people in addressing the concern for postwar reconstruction. At the same time it was a slap on
the face of the IPs who still maintained and carried on their sense for self-determination. The
CNI existed for about 10 years.

Upon the imposition of martial law under Marcos regime and when the government failed to get
the majority support of the Muslim communities with the advent Muslim secessionism, it created
the Presidential Assistance on National Minorities (PANAMIN) by virtue of PD 719 to attend to
the concerns of the non-Muslim communities. It was a courtship for the IPs not to support the
Muslim secessionist movement, which was gaining its heightened climax of spreading out in IPs
areas in Mindanao. PANAMIN was abolished in 1984.
 27

With the surrender back to the fold of government by top MNLF commanders in 1975, the
Southern Philippines Development Authority (SPDA) was institutionalized to address the socio-
economic and infrastructure needs to war-torn Mindanao and to some extent absorbed some of
the functions of CNI. Subsequently, the Ministry of Muslim Affairs (MMA) upon its established
absorbed from SPDA the function left out by CNI. However, for not so long MMA was replaced
by the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities (OMMACC) by virtue of E.O No. 989.
The OMMAC, with both the non-Muslim Communities and the Muslim Communities and the
Muslims as its clientele was structured after the CNI.

Again, the OMACC did not last long because it was among those agencies abolished after the
EDSA revolution of 1986 and with the ascendancy of the Aquino government. In its place,
equitable offices for the IPs in the North, the IPS IN THE South and the Muslims established by
splitting the OMACC into 3 offices namely, the Office of Muslim Affairs(OMA), Office on
Northern Cultural Communities(ONCC), and Office on Southern Cultural Communities(OSCC),
all created by virtue of E.O. 122-A, B & C, respectively.

It can be gleaned however, that among the foregoing offices created except in the cases of
ONCC and OSCC, no member of the IPs as ever appointed to head the other offices.
Appointees either come from the Muslim sector and even from greater Filipino majority. The
administration of the SPDA, in its almost 3 decades of lifespan was never offered to any
member of the IPs. Hopefully, with the creation of the Mindanao Peace and Development Fund
(MPDF) by virtue of E.O. No. 228 series of 2003 replacing the SPDA which was abolished due
to issues of rampant corruption, intrigues and low performance, a member of the IPs be given
the elusive opportunity to be appointed as administrator.

This concern on equity and empowerment is becoming a wrong signal, an alarming situation
whereby the government seems to neglect the concerns of the peacefully inclined IPs,
encouraging them instead to do violence first before attending to their empowerment concerns.

A deeper dissection, however, of all the various initiatives the government have introduced to
address the impoverished condition of the indigenous peoples, which many experts still belief
and were concurred too, by the IPs themselves, were all merely and plainly palliative
government actions and were designed not to really hit the solution of true IPs problems which
are centered on social justice and human rights violation but simply to appease them to avoid
civil disobedience and possible insurgency affiliation.

Recent government interventions are more promising and quality initiatives. It includes the
incorporation of specific provision for IPs in the 1987 Constitution, recognizing and promoting
their rights within the framework of national unity and development, and as well as protecting
their rights over their ancestral domains ensuring their economic, social and cultural wellbeing.
 28

Aside from their legal achievement, DENR-DAW-02 of 1993 was issued to provide the
preparatory recognition in the delineation of Ancestral Domains/ Ancestral Lands. Moreover, the
Social Reform Council (SRC) adopted in Social Reform Agenda (SRA) as a blue print of
government plans to address social inequities.

And lastly, came the biggest break for the IPs when in 1997, and with the co-authorship by
yours truly during the 10th Congress, RA 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) was
passed into law. IPRA merged the ONCC and the OSCC into one office which is now the
National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP). The signing of IPRA into law on October
29, 1997 by then President Fidel V. Ramos was subsequently reinforced with the declaration of
FVR by the virtue of PO 1129 designating October 29 to November 4 of every year as
“Indigenous Peoples Week”.

Concluding Statements

For almost 500 years, the IPs have suffered the agony of being poor, dispossessed of the land,
exploited and discriminated. The waves after waves of oppression and creeping injustices
inflicted upon them have resulted to the vanishing of their cultural traditions, marginalization,
social discrimination and political disenfranchisement.

Government interventions were made, yet most of which were self-serving and only tended to
forward the hidden intent of the state towards cultural subjugation. Not until IPRA was passed
into law and was hailed as “a landmark legislation and triumph of political will” that realization
dawned upon the IPs of the current generation.

Yet more things are left undone. Let’s the IPs leaders brace their hands together and in
peaceful manners and sustained strides march towards the IPs most cherished and current cry
for genuine socio-economic emancipation.

Recommendations

1. Religious animosities can best be carved out through continuing participations in

religious dialogues such as the Bishop-Ulama Conference. A strong representation by
the IPs to be equal footing in the Bishop-Ulama Forum be established.

2. Economic emancipation can best be fast-tracked with direct economic packages as debt
payments to IPs by their former colonial master.

3. Socio-Cultural conflicts can best be prevented by a continuing advocacy on cultural

relativity and progressive peace education among all concerned the concept of tri-people
co-existence and cultural solidarity in the Filipino society.
 29

4. Equity in the appointment in both local and national levels of government be pushed
through. Moreover, the IPs must always be represented during peace talks between the
GRP and the MILF; GRP and the CCP-NPA considering the fact that the IPs Ancestral
Domains have always become the battleground of the warring factions.

5. Every Filipino, whether he belongs to the Christian majority, the Muslim sector, or the
IPs must have to build, fore mostly, “Peace Zones”, in his heart (personal peace), within
his family, and among his neighbors.

6. Federalism could also be a good catalyst for the emancipation of the IPs from the
bondage of poverty through political empowerment.

In view of the foregoing, it is my virtual hope that we find the elusive unity and trust that
we keep on losing in the past up to the current times, and finally rediscover that our
diverse cultures and different religious orientations are mysterious ways of the Almighty
Being to call upon all of us to Love, Compassion and Peace.

Let the Filipino Indigenous Peace LAST FRONTIERS evolved as “Sanctuaries of Peace
and Development” and “Zones of Harmony” with their fellow Filipino brethren.

Further Readings: Patricio P. Diaz, What Ails Muslim Autonomy? General Santos City,
Philippines, 1998.

THE DISPLACEMENT AND DISPOSSESSION OF THE LUMAD AND

THE MORO PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN
 30

ANCESTRAL LANDS

1. What is the Regalian doctrine and what is the fundamental contradiction between
the Regalian doctrine and ancestral domain?

We shall begin our discussion of this section with a clarification of Regalian doctrine. With it the
state declares itself the sole owner of what is called state domain and reserves the right to
classify it for purposes of proper disposition to its citizens. Thus, lands classified as alienable
and disposable may be owned privately, and titled to themselves, by individuals or corporations
and lands forest areas, bodies of water, and so on are describe as inalienable and non-
disposable are state owned and not open to private ownership. They may, however, be leased
for a period.

The republic of the Philippines inherited the Regalian doctrine from Spain as it also adopted
hook, line and sinker all laws affecting land and other natural resources enacted and
implemented by the American colonizers. These constitute one of the biggest chunks of
institutions carried over from colonial times. It is now embedded at the core of the Philippine
property system, and still is enshrined in the Philippine Constitution of 1935, 1973, and 1989.

It is said that Spain’s discovery of the Philippine archipelago gave the Spain crown as was the
practice among European expansionists in the 15th and 16th centuries, possessory rights over
the islands. Since the King stood for the Spanish State, it was understood that his dominion and
the King or the State reserves the right and the authority to dispose of lands therein to do
subjects and in accordance with its laws.

The Regalian doctrine is regarded as legal fiction because no such law ever existed. In any
case, it was on the basis of this authority that the Spanish crown handed down a law in 1894
commanding its subjects in the Philippine colony to register their lands. It was presumably on
the basis of this authority that Spain ceded the entire Philippine archipelago to the United States
through the Treaty of Paris of December 1898. Whether this cession was legitimate or not was
entirely a matter of opinion. To leave no doubt about it, the Americans employed armed might
extensively to extract acquiescence from resisting indigenous inhabitants.

To the United States government, the Treaty of Paris and the subsequences treaty of 7
November 1900, which added portions of Philippine territory overlooked earlier, affected a
transfer of title ownership or of sovereign rights over the entirety of the Philippine archipelago.
This fact explains why the Philippine Islands, along with other Pacific Islands have been referred
to in American textbooks as their “Insular Possessions”. This was unmistakably contained in the
Philippine Bill of 1902 or more formally, Public Act No. 235passed by U.S. Congress on 1 July
1902, an organic law, which served as the fundamental law of the Philippine Islands until the
enactment of the Jones Law of 1916. From here, the leap to the Philippine constitution of 1935,
then to 1973 came as a matter of course.
 31

To what extent did the Regalian doctrine contribute to the minorization of the indigenous
communities? To the extent that the state took away the lands that should properly belong to
these communities. How extensive is the indigenous territory involved? Or how much of the
Philippine archipelago was uncolonized by the Spaniards? An early assessment made by Mr.
Worcester about the extent of Philippine territory inhabited by the so-called non-Christian tribes
gives us a fairly good idea about the size of uncolonized lands in the early years of the
American colonial regime. He wrote:

there today remains a very extensive territory amounting to about

one-half of the total land area, which is populated by non-Christian
peoples so far as if is populated at all, Such peoples make up
approximately an eight of the entire population.

To ensure unchallenged exercise of the state author to dispose state domain or public lands,
the Philippine Commission enacted a law, six months after the passage of the land registration
act, which took away from indigenous leaders, datus or chiefs their authority to dispose of lands
within their respective jurisdictions. Clearly self-explanatory, Act No. 718 of 1903 was entitled
“An Act making void land grants from Moro sultan or dattos or from chiefs of non-Christian
Tribes when made without governmental authority or consent”. It was now illegal for any
indigenous leader to dispose of lands to any member of his community, regardless of whether
or not his had been their practice since time immemorial.

The Land Registration Act No. 496, passed by the Philippine Commission on 6 November 1902,
was adopted in the Philippines. It institutionalized the Torrens System in the country, first
introduced in South Australia as the Real Property Act of 1857-1858. 188 This law mandated
and provided for the guidelines for the registration and titling privately owned lands, whether by
individual persons or by corporations. The word corporation” leaves no room for the indigenous
concept of private communal property. Forests lands, bodies of water and so on which used to
be sources of daily food and other needs for the indigenous communities were o longer
indigenous territories; they have become state owned and could only be made use of within the
consent of the government.

The strength of the Torrens system is further reinforced by the provisions of the public land laws
which happen to be patently discriminatory against the indigenous communities – the same
accentuate the contradiction between regalian doctrine and ancestral domain concepts – next
section will show.

2. What are the Discriminatory Provisions of Public Land Laws and Other Laws
Affecting Land?
 32

First, It must be reiterated, for emphasis, that the US acquisition over the Philippine archipelago
did not carry with it the recognition of the communal ancestral domains of the indigenous
communities. Neither did it recognize that of the Moro, least of all legitimacy of their sultanates,
nor that of any other community for that matter.

Second, The Philippine Commission passed a law (Act No. 718) on 4 April 1903 six months
after the passage of the land registration act, making void “lands grants from Moro sultans or
datus or from chiefs of non-Christian tribes when made without governmental authority consent.
Section 82 of Public Land Act no. 926 which was amended by Act No. 1874 by the Senate of
the House of Representatives on 29 November 1919 in accordance with the provisions of the
Jones Law, continues to carry the almost exact wordings of the same law, reiterating further the
legitimacy of the transfer of the sovereign authority from Spain to the United States and the
illegality of indigenous claims. This same provisions is still in effect to this day (1995).

Third, The Land registration Act No. 496 of 6 November 1902 requires the registration of lands
occupied by private persons or corporations and the application for registration of title, says
Sec. 21, “Shall be writing, signed and sworn to by the applicant”. The very matter of the
registration was not only totally alien to the indigenous communities, most of them would have
been unable to comply, illiterate that they were, ever by some miracle the acquired the desire to
register. Also what would they register? There was no room for registration of communal lands.
As a young Filipino lawyer recently pointed out, “under our present property laws, communal
ownership is a mere fiction of the mind; It unregistrable and deserves no legal protection. “It was
only after the ratification of the 1987. An act to recognize, protect, and promote the rights of
Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples, creating a National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples, establishing implementing mechanism, appropriating funds therefor, and
for other purposes that the future looks brighter for the indigenous peoples of the country.

Fourth, the Public Land Act No. 926 of 7 October 1903, passed by the Philippine Commission
allowed individuals to acquire homestead not exceeding sixteen hectares each, and
corporations 1,024 hectares each of “unoccupied, unreserved, unappropriated agricultural
public lands” as stated in Sec.1. Nothing was said about the unique customs of the indigenous
communities.

Fifth, Public Land Act No. 926, amended through Act No. 2874 by the Senate and the House of
Representatives on 29 November 1919 in accordance with the provisions of the Jones Law,
provided that the sixteen hectares allowed earlier to individuals was increased to twenty-four,
but the non-Christian was allowed an area (Sec. 22) “ which shall not exceed ten (ten) hectares”
with very stringent conditions, that is “ It shall an essential condition that the applicant for the
permit cultivate and improve the land, and if such cultivation has not begun within six months
from and after the date on which the permit was granted, the permit shall ipso facto be
cancelled. The permit shall be for term of five years. If the expiration of this term or at any time
 33

theretofore, the holder of the permit shall apply for a homestead under the provision of this
chapter including the portions for which a permit was granted to him, he shall have the priority,
otherwise the land shall be again open to disposition at the expiration of the five years.”

“For each permit the sum of five pesos shall be paid, which may be done in annual
installments.”

Sixth, Commonwealth Act No. 41, as amended on 7 November 1936, withdrew the privilege
earlier granted to the settlers of owning more than one homestead at twenty-four hectares each
and reverted to only one not exceeding sixteen hectares. But the non-Christians who were
earlier allowed a maximum of ten hectares were now permitted only four hectares.

3. To what extend did the Resettlement Program contribute to the dispossession of

the Indigenous Cultural Communities?

Resettlement into their lands brought about and intensified the physical displacement and
dispossession of the indigenous cultural communities. The process also accentuated how
helpless hey wee in the face of this phenomenon which government has brought upon them.

By operation of law, not only did the indigenous communities find themselves squatters in their
own lands. Worse, if they happened to be inhabitants of provinces in which had been opened to
resettlements, like Cagayan Valley, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija , Mindoro, Palawan,
Negros, Mindanao, and so on, they would have seen their lands, as they really did see them,
being occupied by streams of setters from other part of the country. Aside from dislocating and
dispossessing them, the new development literally reduced to them to the status of numerical
minorities. From being inhabitants of the plains, they now have become dwellers of forest areas,
or midlands and uplands.

In the wake of settlers, or sometimes ahead of them, came the which and the powerful in the
form of extensive plantations, pasture leases or cattle ranches, mining concerns, logging
operations, and rattan concessions. The government, too, added its bit: development projects
like irrigation dams, hydroelectric plants, geothermal plants, highways and so on. Now that most
of them have become upland dwellers, a new law came into existence in 1975, Presidential
Decree 705 or the Revised Forestry Code providing, among others, that lands not covered by
paper titles which are over eighteen percent in slope or less than 250 hectares are considered
permanently public. Section 69 of the same decree declares it unlawful to do kaingin or practice
swidden agriculture without permit. Penalty is up to two years imprisonment or a fine not to
exceed.

UNDERSTANDING THE TRI-PEOPLE

COMMUNITY OF MINDANAO FOR SUSTAINABLE
 34

PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

The recognition and appreciation of the multi-people of Mindanao is a recent development. It

can be traced back to the establishment of the Mindanao Interfaith People’s Conference (MIF’C)
in the mid 70’s. However, it was only in the mid 80’s, that the tri-people concept has emerged.

The term and concept Tri-People is very timely and relevant in the light of the emerging climate
of peace and development programs in Mindanao. At a glance, the term Tri-People is highly
divisive and contradictory to the needs of the whole nation to move forward as one. Worse, it
deviates from the prevailing notion that there is only one Filipino nation and one people under
one sovereign state.

And three distinct categories: the Bangsamoro people, the Lumads and Christian Filipinos.
These groups of people have their own history, culture and distinct characteristics. It may look
simple but it is not. As a matter of fact, it is very complex , and would require a lot of creativity
from us to move forward as one. It is a reality which calls for a very creative approach in social
engineering. This is a great challenge for all of us.

Nature and Characteristics of Ethnic Relations in Mindanao

A strange mix of colonialism and religion has brought the Bangsamoro , the Lumads and the
Christian Filipinos together in Mindanao. This historical experience which saw 333 years of
Spanish – Moro war, characterized by misuse of religious beliefs for colonial objectives and left
behind the seeds of the conflict that continue to affect the relationship of the present-day
inhabitants of the region. In the mind of Bangsamoro, there seems to be a popular and common
perception that the problems in Mindanao were brought about by the coming of the settlers, the
“Bisaya” or the Christian Filipinos. It was the “Bisaya” who had helped the Spaniards during said
war. It was the “Bisaya” who drove them away from their ancestral lands. It was the “Bisaya”
who fought against them in 70’s. It was the “Bisaya” who served as strong hindrance to
asserting their right to self-determination.

In the mind of the Christian Filipinos, living with the Bangsanoro is living in fear and insecurity.
Some of the most common attributes that a “Bisaya” would give the Bangsamoro are that they
are traitors, kidnappers, and war-like. The war in the 70’s and the 80’s contributed much to this
predicament.

On the other hand, in the mind of the Lumads, both the Bangsamoro and the Christian Filipinos
are the causes of the present day Mindanao problems. The Bangsamoro and the Christian alike
 35

drove them away to the top of the mountains. Both of them are war-like people. Both of them do
not recognize their rights over the vast tract of lands in Mindanao, their ancestral domain.

The reality in Mindanao is there had not yet been a period of complete healing and eradication
of biases and prejudices. Mutual apprehensions and insecurities among the people in dealing
with one another remain so strong and alive today.

Given the above-mentioned nature and characteristic of the, relationship among these people,
at present, we have to deal with the issue of self-determination of the Bangsamoro and the
Lumads and the need of the country to move forward in order to attain the status of a newly
industrialized country.

Part of these creative processes that we have to undertake is the search for commonalities
underneath the layers and layers of inherited and acquired biases and prejudices against, one
another.

At this moment, a number or he same create common grounds are cited for the readers’
consideration.

First, we may differ in our religious faith, but we all believe in the same God. God is called by
different names by different religions, but people are actually talking about one and the same
creator of the universe and of the mankind. The kinds of Muslims and Christians that can bring
true peace and development in Mindanao are those who use their knowledge to understand the
lessons of history and appreciate the essence of both Islam and Christianity and reconciling
faiths found on peace, love and justice.

Second, humanity is another common factor among us. When we talk about humanity, we refer
to the same human being in each of us. There have been attempts in the past to distinguish
people by races and religions, but our own researches and experiences showed that except for
the color of our skin and some other differences in our culture, we are actually referring to the
same human being.

Third, Mindanao the place upon which we live is shared by all of us. We the same sea through
some may be in the south and others in the north or somewhere in between, We share the
same natural resources with the rest of creation that inhabit the region. We drink from the same
water that flows from within Mindanao. Advances in knowledge have taught us that whatever
happens in one part of Mindanao will greatly affect others in other parts regardless of their
identity or ethnicity.

How can these commonalities be harnessed In the pursuit of sustainable peace and
development in Mindanao? In the first place, these are elements of life that all of us share and
cannot do without.
 36

If the Bangsamoro, the Lumads and the Christians Filipinos can talk about these commonalities
and how to share these among themselves, it becomes an easier matter to talk later about
common interests and joint endeavors, They can now see in an entirely different perspective the
relationship between themselves and their environment including the rest of the creation like the
animals and other natural resources in the region.

While we partake of the common natural resources in Mindanao, we also have common
responsibility to nurture and care for our habitat and common destiny regardless of our ethnicity.

I cannot say much about the Lumads and Christian Filipinos, but as Bangsamoro, a certain
perspective is brought about into the scene when we can relate to the Lumads and Christian
Filipinos in common terms. Common interest is accentuated; less on the differences even if we
know that we are distinct from one another,

The Bangsamoro, the Lumads and Christians Filipinos should realize that there are still so much
to be done. The people of Mindanao have only partially succeeded in the establishment of the
foundation of the climate of peace which is an important requisite to sustainable development of
the region. They still have to reckon with the local and international forces who still believe that
the acts of domination over community of people are perfectly justified. But that is may, there
seems to be sufficient realization that their destinies lie in their own hands. They can expect no
one else to do the thinking and acting for them. Even those who regard themselves as
downtrodden and oppressed are exception to those.

Tri-people Approach On Creating a Culture of Peace in Mindanao

Creating a culture of peace in Mindanao is not a simple case of settling the issue of the right to
self-determination of the Bangsamoro people. While it is true that with the signing of the peace
agreement between the MNLF and the government of the Philippines and the subsequent
establishment of Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD), which
may also be interpreted as the recognition of ethnicity of the Bangsamoro, the Lumads and the
Christian Filipinos have serious difficulty finding their place in the state of affairs in Mindanao. It
is equally relevant to consider that the Lumads, - incidentally, all twelve ethnolinguistic groups
are within the area of SPCPD – have been articulating and asserting their own right to self-
determination within the area which they also consider as their ancestral domain.

It is also worthwhile to bear in mind that the Christian Filipinos, most of whom are the third or
fourth generation of descendants of the immigrants from Luzon and the Visayas who already
considered themselves as indigenous and genuine Mindanawons too, and distinct from the
Bangsamoro and the Lumads and are also asserting and articulating their ethnicity.
Furthermore, it is very significant to take note that, while the Christian Filipinos constitute the
majority of Mindanao population, not all of them are blessed with prosperity and security in lives.
Like the vast majority of the Bngsamoro and Lumads, majority of them are also deprived,
 37

marginalized, landless and powerless. The only thing that places them over and above the
Bangsamoro and the Lumads is the fact that they are the majority of the population of the
region.

In Mindanao, we have therefore a situation where diversity of interests and diversity of ethnic
assertions are realities that are given. However, only one, the Bangsamoro, saw the need to
assert themselves as the people and have partially succeeded in getting the implementation of
the Tripoli Agreement. On the other hand, the Lumads and the Christian Filipinos cannot quite
naturally identity themselves with it.

Unifying Values

We should start a sustained process of talking more positively bout each other. This call for
development of new habits and discarding the old ones. In our day to day existence, little acts of
kindness like genuine smile to Bangsamoro customer from Christian trader or not overpricing a
‘"Subanen farmer who cannot read will go a long way. In the home front, avoid using the term
“Moros” to scare the children. In the school, some of our textbooks carry misconceptions or
mislabeling or omission. We should be more critical in the use of textbooks. We should
remember, among teachers, that values education is at the core of good citizenship training.

Common Activities

We should encourage sharing each other’s joys and pains. For example, let the Bangsamoro
invite a Christian and Lumads to their homes during Islamic feasts like Hariraya Puasa and
others. Let the Christians invite the Bangsamoro and Lumads to their homes during Christmas
and Fiestas. The Lumads have also their own elaborate and colorful festival and they can also
invite these two faith communities. All these are calculated to develop the spirit of mutual
acceptance and appreciation of each other’s uniqueness and differences.

From little things, we slowly graduate to bigger activities like restoring our forest, protecting our
watershed and ensuring sustainability of our natural resources for the benefit of everybody.

For instance, we cannot have industrialization without energy. We cannot have industrialization
without good agriculture. We cannot have sustained supply of energy and sustained agriculture
activities without water. We cannot have sustained supply of water without sufficient watershed.
The work of reforestation and maintenance of watershed is only one of the many big activities
that requires the because our own survival lies in this be no cooperation. And there will be no
cooperation until we accept and appreciate each other.
38