The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI)

Antoon Postma

A Copper-plate-with-Inscription, similar to those found in Indonesia Java, etc., has been

discovered in the Philippines, at Laguna de Bay, east of Manila, bearing the date of 900 A.D.
The script-characters are the ones common to the 10th Century inscriptions of the Greater-
Malayan area; the language, however, presents several unknown and puzzling aspects, never
encountered before, although Old-Javanese, Old-Malay, and apparently Old-Tagalog words have
been identified. Its authenticity is guaranteed by experts in Indeonesian Paleography. Certain
words, of Old-Javanese origin, can be found in current use in Tagalog language. Placenames
mention tally with identical ones in the Philippine georgary, namely: in the Province of Bulacan,
where these names correspond to existing villages. Philippine official history has been enlarged,
with the revelation of this copper “document” with more than 600 years, beginning now with the
year 900 A.D. Historic data of former Philippine prehistory have now to be re-examined in the
light of the “Laguna-Copper-plate Inscription”.

Antoon Postma’s Translation of a 900 AD Philippine Document

Antoon Postma, a Dutch national who has lived among the Mangyans of Mindoro for
most of his life, made the breakthrough translation of the Laguna Copperplate inscription in
1990. He has made three more since then, each one a little different from the previous
translation. The one presented here is his latest, the one he presented at a conference in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands in December 1992. He follows the traditional method used by
Indonesian experts, i.e., translating text line by line.

Line 1:
Hail! In the Saka-year 822; the month of March-April; according to the astronomer: the 4th
day of the dark half of the moon; on
Line 2:
Monday. At that time, Lady Angkatan together with her relative, Bukah by name,
Line 3:
The child of His Honor Namwran, was given, as a special favor, a document of full acquittal,
by the Chief and the Commander of Tundun,
Line 4:
The former Leader of Pailah, Jayadewah. To the effect that His Honor Namwran, through the
Honorable Scribe
Line 5:
Was totally cleared of a debt to the amount of 1 kati and 8 suwarna (weight of gold), in the
presence of His Honor the Leader of Puliran,
Line 6:
Kasumaran; His Honor the Leader of Pailah, namely: Ganasakti; (and) His Honor the Leader
Line 7:
Of Binwangan, namely: Bisruta. And (His Honor Namwran) with his whole family, on orders
by the Chief of Dewata,
Line 8:
 Representing the Chief of Mdang, because of his loyalty as a subject (slave?) of the Chief,
therefore all the descendants
Line 9:
Of His Honor Namwran have been cleared of the whole debt that His Honor owed the Chief
of Dewata. This (document) is (issued) in case
Line 10:
There is someone, whosoever, some time in the future, who will state that the debt is not yet
acquitted of His Honor…

Source: National Museum Papers (1991), Vol. 2 No. 1

Discussion

Copperplate

A small, innocent-looking object found in 1989 on the southeastern shore of Laguna de Ba’y was
such a find. It now threatens to upset our basic understanding of Philippine history. The object is
a thin copperplate measuring less than 8x12 inches in size and is inscribed with small writing
that had been hammered into its surface.

The black, rolled-up piece of metal was found by a man dredging for sand near the mouth of the
Lumbang River where it emptied into Laguna de Ba’y. The man could just have easily thrown it
away as just another piece of junk that tended to clog his equipment as he tried to make a living.
It was not porcelain, like those he found before and was able to sell for good money to the
antique dealers from Manila.

Those dealers have been frequenting the area because it was a rich source of artifacts that were in
demand among the rich in Manila. These artifacts provided another welcome source of income
for people like this man who struggled to provide for his family.

Fortunately, the sand man decided to keep that peiece of metal and take another look. Upon
unrolling, it turned out that there was some kind of writing on the crumpled and blackened metal
plate. He finally sold it to one of the dealers for almost nothing for it was unlike anything every
found before and nobody knew what it was.

Because it was not a recognizable object the dealer could not find a private buyer for it. In
desperation, he offered it to the National Museum of the Philippines, normally the buyer of last
resort for unsold objects. The copper object is now called “Laguna Copperplate Inscription”
(LCI). It languished at the National Museum as supposedly qualified scholars padded up the
chance to evaluate the artifact. They were either too busy or not interested, but perhaps
intimidated by the prospect of working on something they had no knowledge of.

Fortunately, the ability and persistent effort of one man paid off in unlocking the secrets of the
LCI. Antoon Postma, a Dutch national who has lived most of his life among the Mangyans in the
Philippines and the director of the Mangyan Assistance & Research Center in Panaytayan,
Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro, was able to translate the writing. His effort is all the more
remarkable when you consider that the text was in a language similar to four languages (Sanskrit,
Old Tagalog, Old Javanese, and Old Malay) mixed together.

The text was written in Kavi, a mysterious script which does not look like the ancuent Tagalog
script known as baybayin or alibata. Neither does it look similar to other Philippine scripts still
used today by isolated ethnic minorities like the Hanuoos and the Buhids of Mindoro, and the
Tagbanwas of Palawan. It is the first artifact of pre-Hispanic origin found in the Philippines that
had writing on copper material.

Indeed, artifacts of pre-Hispanic writing are so rare that only three had been previously found
and made available to researchers. They are the 14-15th century Butuan silver strip, the 10th century
Butuan ivory seal, and the 15th century Calatagan jar. The writings on these three previous finds
have eluded attempts to decipher them so far.
Important date

Postma’s translation provides a lot of exciting surprises. Like most other copperplate documents,
it gives a very precise date from the Sanskrit calendar which corresponds to 900 A.D. in our
system. It contains placements that still exist around the Manila are today. It also lists the names
of the chiefs of the places mentioned.

The date is important because a country’s history is considered to begin with the first dated
document recorded in it. This newly found document pushed the “starting point” of the
Philippine history all the way back to 900 A.D., 621 years earlier than the previously accepted
date of 1521 when Antonio Pigafetta wrote his observations during his voyage with Magellan.

Authenticity

The authenticity of the LCI was a prime concern to all from the very beginning. Postma and the
Philippine National Museum were aware of the many frauds that had been perpetrated on
Philippine historians in the past. Many of these fraudulent historical documents have
unfortunately gotten into Philippine history textbooks which are still being used today. The most
famous of these frauds is the Code of Kalatiaw that every Filipino schoolboy knows. The
supposed text of the code was contained in the Pavón manuscript, one of the many fraudulent
documents passed on to the Philippine National Museum over many decades by Jose E. Marco, a
known philatelic forger. Damage caused by frauds like this is immeasurable.

More than a quarter century after the fraud was exposed in 1965, the average Filipino still
believes that the Code of Kalantiaw was real. This is not so much a reflection on the average
Filipino’s interest in history as it is on the Philippine government’s failure to educate the public.
As a matter of fact, President Marcos was still inducting “deserving” justices into his Order of
Kalantiaw in the 1970’s. (This was, perhaps, a fitting way for History to get back at those who
wanted to rewrite it.) Postma wasa cutely aware of what yet another phony document would do
to the community of Philippine historuans. He sought and got advice from Dutch and Indonesian
experts on the LCI’s authenticity. The experts concluded that the specific script style used I nthe
LCI was consistent with its indicated date, and the correctness of the languages and words used
would have been very hard for a forger to have contrived. Although there were some differences
between the LCI and the copperplates found in Indonesia, they were for legitimate reasons and
their consensus was that the LCI was authentic.
The text on Indonesian copperplates of the same era was mostly in Old Javanese andm as was
customary at that time, mention the name of King Balintung (899-910 A.D.). Unlike its
Indonesian cousins, the language of the LCI was not Old Javanese. That the LCI did not mention
the king’s name was another clue that the LCI did not come from Indonesia. However, the
biggest difference was in the way the copperplate was inscribed. Indonesian copperplates were
prepared by heating them until they became soft. Then a stylus was used to impress the letters on
the soft metal, creating smooth and continuous strokes. The Philippine copperplate, on the other
hand, was inscribed by hammering the letters onto the metal using a sharp instrument. The letters
show closely joined and overlapping dots from the hammering.

Philippine connection

It was left for Postma to establish the LCI’s Philippine connection. When he first saw the LCI, he
thought it may originally have come from Indonesia but made to appear like it was found to the
Philippines so that it could be sold as a valuable antique. The text of the LCI convinced him of
its Philippine provenance.

The LCI was an official document issued document issued to clear a person by the name of
Namwaran, this family, and all their descendants of a debt he had incurred. In the old
Philippines, an unpaid debt usually resulted in slavery not only for the person concerned but also
for his family and his descendants. The amount of debt was 1 kate and 8 suwarnas of gold (865
g. or about $12,000 at today’s prices), an unusually large amount.

The pardon was issued by the chief of Tundun, who was of higher rank than the other chiefs who
witnessed the document and whose names and respective areas of jurisdiction are listed. The last
sentence on the copperplate in incomplete, indicating that there was at least one more page to the
document. Unfortunately, none has been found so far.

Placenames mentioned in the LCI

The placenames mentioned prove the Philippine connecion of the LCI. The names are still
recognizable today although almost eleven centuries have passed since the document was issued.
The placenames are Pailah (Paila), Tundun (Tundo), Puliran (Pulilan), Binwangan (Binwangan),
Dewata (Diwata), and Medang (Medang). The first four places are near Manila but Dewata and
Medang pose a problem. They could have been personal names but more likely “Dewata” was
Diwata, a town near Butuan, and “Medang,” Medang in Old Java or Sumatra. Both these places
must have been connected politically to Tundun and the other settlements in 900 A.D. Diwata is
important because in addition to the silver strip mentioned earlier, there are reportedly some
other artifacts with undeciphered ancient inscriptions that have been found in the Butuan area.
Shamefully, like many other artifacts they are in private hands and unavailable to scholars.

Since the LCI was found in Laguna de Ba’y, Postma first thought that Pailah was Pila, Laguna
and Pulilan was the southeastern area of the lake because that was what the place was called in
the old days. Pila was then apart of the area known as Pulilan. However, he opted to take Pulilan
and Paila both along the Angat River in Bulacan as better candidates because the document
clearly referred to two separate places, not one inside a larger jurisdiction. A look at the map
would show that his choices are correct since they are more conveniently connected to each other
by the usual river and coastal travel routes than if he had picked the Laguna area.

Another possible connection to this Bulacan riverine area is the village of Gatbuca that exists
today. Bukah, son of Namwran, is mentioned in the document. Gat was a title used for important
persons and has found its way into many contemporary family names (e.g., Gatbonton,
Gatmaitan, Gatdula, etc.). It is possible that the town was named for Bukah when he rose in
position later.

Significance

Just how significant is this incomplete document that ends in midsentence and contains only ten
lines?

It means, as we have discussed earlier, that the edge of history has been pushed back 621 years,
giving the Philippines a documented existence among the ancient kingdoms of Southeast Asia
like Shri-Vijaya (Sumatra), Angkor (Kampuchea), Champa (Vietnam), Madjapahit (Java), and
others that existed before the 10th Century.

Ancient Chinese records with placenames like P’u-li-lu, which was thought to have been Polilio
(but didn’t make sense), will have to be reevaluated. Placenames mentioned in the LCI will have
to be given more importance when evaluating ancient records that contain similar sounding
names. From porcelain finds, Manila was thought to have been settled as late as 1200. It now
appears that an earlier date was more likely. Certainly, a search for other means of dating
Manila’s first settlements is needed. A search for artifacts in the places mentioned in the LCI
might also prove fruitful.

Earlier historians thought that the Philippines was part of Shri-Vijaya or even Madjapahit. Their
theories have been largely discredited in recent times. It is now time to reexamine the possible
connection. Hostorians believe that the Muslims who ruled Manila were the first to establish
more sophisticated forms of government in the area. They also believe that the Muslims started
the trade with Borneo and other points south. It is possible that the Hindus were in Manila before
the Muslims.

The Tagalog script was so rudimentary that it cannot even completely record the sounds of its
own language. Three centuries before the Tagalog script’s emergence, the Manila area used a
scipt so rich and sophisticated that great empires were ruled through its use. How did this
happen? Hw could a less sophisticated script have supplanted a better one?

Many interesting scenarios can be created to explain some of the above puzzles. During the era
of the LCI it was not uncommon for settlements to disappear. They flourished for some time,
even for centuries, but things like natural catastrophes, epidemics, emigration, pirate raids, war,
etc. made them disappear. It is also known that Muslim culture pushed Hindu influence in
Indonesia out of most areas, leaving Bali as the only place where Hindu culture has survived.
Any of these things could have caused the early settlements around Manila to disappear. The
disappearance of the earlier people who settled around Manila may explain why the Kavi script
was lost and a lesser one introduced later. But how did the placenames remain? If a few people
remained to maintain a continuity of their settlements and placenames, how did they lose their
knowledge of the Malay language and the Kavi script? At this time, everything is conjecture.
Many more questions will be asked, answered, and refuted; other questions will be asked again.
Little by little, we will know more about the Philippines as it was before the Spaniards came,
thankst o a little piece of metal dredged from the sand.