Ethnohistory of Mindanao

Mindanao is home to 61% of the total indigenous peoples population of the Philippines according to a report commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB 2002) citing figures from the NCIP.

The three volumes works of Fr. Pablo Pastell, SJ (1916-17) and the five volumes Jesuit Missionary Letters from Mindanao (2002) provides us some glimpses on the conditions of Mindanao a century ago.

Blair and Robertson (1973) have translated a number of works primarily reports of Christian missionaries from the 16^th – 19^th centuries. Rodil (1992, 1994) made a summary of these various historical accounts in his “Kasaysayan ng mga Pamayanan ng Mindanao at Arkipelago ng Sulu, 1596-1898”.

What is evident among the works cited above is the recognition that there were three types of people that dwell in the vast expanse of Mindanao: the Moro, the “Bisayan” settlers and the “aborigines.”

In recent years, collective identities of people began to emerge in areas where strong politicized IP organizations have been formed. In the 18,000 square kilometers of the Gran Cordillera mountain range in northern Luzon, the various ethnic groups that are found in the area are now known collectively as the Igorot or Cordillera peoples.

In Mindanao, Islamized groups are referred to as the Bangsamoro or Moro peoples, while the non-Islamized and non-settler upland dwellers groups have acknowledged as a collective identity the Bisayan term Lumad or native.

Recently, the indigenous communities both the Remonrados and Negritos of the Islands of Panay and Negros have been referred to as Tumandok.

The focuses of this paper are the non-Moro and non-migrant population of Mindanao. A number of works have used the term Lumad to describe these communities. Rodil (1992:233) mentioned that there are about “18 non-Muslim” ethnolinguistic groups such as the Ata, Bagobo, Banwaon, Blaan, Bukidnon, Dibabawon, Higaoonon, Mamanwa, Mandaya, Manguwangan, Manobo, Mansaka, Subanon, Tagakaolo, T’boli, Tiduray, Ubo and the controversial Tasaday.

An examination of the Summer Institute of Linguistics’ Ethnologue (2003) will reveal that there are 35 distinct languages spoken by Mindanao indigenous peoples including the Mamanua. The present Manobo linguistic family consists of 15 languages. Subanu of the Zamboanga Peninsula has 5 languages including Kolibugan. South Mindanao have five languages; Gianga (Klata), Blaan Koronadal, Blaan Saranggani, Tboli and Teduray. There are also nine Mansaka languages that include Kamayo and Isamal.

McFarland (1983) using the 1970 aand 1975 census grouped the Mindanao languages spoken by non-Islamized communities to: East Mindanao languages (Mamanua, Kamayo, Davaweno, Mandaya, Kalagan, and Tagakaulu); Subanon (Sindangan, Salug, Lapuyan, Malayal and Kalibugan); Manobo (Kagayanen, Kinamigin, Binukid, Agusan Manobo, Rajah Kabungsuan, Ata, Tagabawa, Tigwa, West Bukidnon, Ilianen, Obo, Manobo Sarangani, Manobo Cotabato); and South Mindanao languages (Bagobo Guianga, Blaan, Tboli and Tiruray).

In 1977, Elkins (1977:253) provided a sketch on the origins of linguistic diversity of Mindanao and and asserted that there are 18 different languages and dialects of the Manobo subfamily.

During the 1916 Census, the population of Mindanao was only 877,731 people. Beyer (1917:19) listed twelve “recognized ethnographic groups” in Mindanao but the Bukidnon were missed out in the table. However, they were included in succeeding tables and descriptions. The Lumad were only 22 per cent of the total population of Mindanao or 196, 983 out of 877,731 but they occupied the largest territory.

The number of languages however may not be the exact groupings of indigenous peoples in Mindanao. The term Bagobo for instance is a case in point. The meaning originally was meant to distinguish the newly christianized Manobo, which was the popular term used for the pagan population of Mindanao then. It is an ascription by others or exonym referring to three distinct communities with their own language; the Tagabawa, Klata and Ubo (Manuvu).