Barbian

University of San Carlos Publications
THE TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MANGYANS

Author(s): Karl Josef Barbian
Source: Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, Vol. 5, No. 1/2, Philippine Cultural
Minorities - II (MARCH - JUNE 1977), pp. 5-11
Published by: University of San Carlos Publications
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Philippine Quarterly
of Culture and
Society
5(1977)5-11
THE TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE
MANGYANS
Karl
Josef
Barbian
It is a
generally accepted principle
in scien?
tific work that a scholar who ventures
beyond
an
established frontier in a certain field of knowl?
edge
shows that he is
acquainted
with the
history
of research and the latest efforts of his
colleagues.
Since this
principle
seems to have been dis?
regarded
in some recent
publications
on the
Mangy
ans,
their denomination and
distribution,
the
following
article delineates
briefly
how the
question
of the tribal distribution of the
Mangy
ans
during
the last
thirty years reached,
step by step,
its final answer.
There have been some five
publications
on
the
subject
in the
past.
There
is,
first of
all,
H. Conklin's
map published
in 1942. It is a mere
outline
map,
which shows little
beyond
the
shoreline of Mindoro and the
approximate
course of the
major
rivers,
but without
indicating
any
names. The areas of tribal distribution are
obviously
drafted from an
"eastern"
perspective,
as is indicated
by
no. 10 with its
legend:
"no
major pagan
group".
The
only boundary
line
shown
crossing
the whole width of the island is
that of the
Iraya
area. A more detailed
map,
as
the one done
by
Emeterio de la Paz in his master's
thesis
published
in 1968
but which,
unfortu?
nately,
is not available to
us,
shows that the
boundary
in Conklin's
map
has been moved so
far south as to include the whole
Calapan
district
in the
Iraya country.
The
Alangan territory,
no. 2 on
Conklin's
map, appears
centered around
Mt.
Halcon, overlapping
with the
Iraya
area.
Though
there is a small territorial
overlapping
of
the two tribes in the
upper Pagbahan
area,
the
Alangan
are found not
only
around the Halcon
massif but on both sides of an axis that
may
be
drawn from
Calapan
to
Sablayan.
Conklin
correctly
indicates that the
Batangan
are
neighbors
of the
Alangan
in the central section of
the
island,
but he
mistakenly separates
them
linguistically
from the
Bangon-which
is
just
another
name for this
group (see below, p. 10).
The same is true with the
Mangyan groups living
around
Naujan
lake and in the district between
Pinamalayan
and Bansud
(actually just along
the
Banus and Bansud
rivers),
which the American
author entered as the Nauhan and Pula. These
two
groups
are
linguistically
one, and are
known
today
as
Tadyawan.
The
drawing
of the three
southern
language
areas,
Conklin's focal
point
of
interest,
is closer to the actual situation. The
Buhid are taken as a cultural and
linguistic
unit
whose
territory
reaches from
Bongabong
in the
East to Bato Eli in the West. Their southern
neighbors
are the Hanunoo in the
municipalities
of
Mansalay, Bulalacao,
and San Jose. But the
area reserved for the
Ratagnon
is much too
wide;
however,
area
no. 9
correctly
locates their central
territory
near Santa Teresa. In
short,
one
may
say
that the
map
of H. Conklin is a
rough
sketch
based
mostly
on second-hand information.
A more
detailed and also more accurate
picture
is offered in the draft of Colin E.
Tweddell in his doctoral thesis on
Iraya
accidence
published
in 1958. The author entered in his
map
the names of almost all
municipalities
in both
Oriental and Occidental Mindoro and located
other
important points
of orientation like Mount
Halcon,
Mount Baco and some
Mangyan
settle?
ments. The most
important improvement
consists
in the delineation of the southern
Iraya
bound?
ary.
It is shown to start in the area of Sta.
Cruz,
Occ.
Mindoro,
from where it runs in a north?
easterly
direction towards Mt.
Halcon,
half
circling
the
massif,
and
ending
in the munici?
pality
of Baco.
Furthermore,
the
Alangan
country
is indicated
correctly
as
stretching
across
the island from
Sablayan
to
Calapan.
In the
6 PHILIPPINE
QUARTERLY
OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
7
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HAROLD
CONKLIN,
1942
Barbian
/
THE TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MANGYANS 7
COHN
E.
TNEDDELL,
1958
8 PHILIPPINE
QUARTERLY
central section Tweddell entered the
Suri,
an
Alangan subgroup (according
to
Quezon Budo,
informant) mistaking
them for a
separate
lin?
guistic community.
In the area around
Naujan
lake he
places
the
Tadyawan
on the western
side,
reserving
the eastern section for Confclin's
Pola
people.
The
picture
of the tribal distribution
in the southern
part
of the island remains
unchanged.
It took another decade before the decisive
publication by
the same author came out. His
article of
1970,
'The
Identity
and Distribution
of the
Mangyan
Tribes of
Mindoro", though
questionable
on some
points, presents (p. 191)
a
map reflecting
the actual distribution of the
seven
Mangyan
tribes:
Iraya, Alangan, Tadyawan,
Buhid, Batangan, Hanunoo,
and
Ratagnon.
The
draft is based
on a
1.250,000
U.S.
Army map
of
1944 and
gives
the
names of the rivers such as
Salagan, Mongpong, Bugsanga
and
Cagur
in the
West,
and
Bongabon, Banus, Pola, Magasawang
tubig, Dulungan
etc. in the
East,
which are
natural boundaries of the tribal territories and
aic a
great help
for orientation on the
map.
Minor
shortcomings, resulting
from the
attempt
to accommodate
everything
on one
page,
are the
small size of the
map,
a certain amount of dis?
tortion,
and the
hatching
which somewhat
obscures the
picture.
The
map
omits the
Tadya?
wan
groups
settled on the eastern side of Lake
Naujan.
The
expansion
of the
Ratagnon territory
to Din island is at least
questionable.
However,
it remains the merit of Colin Tweddell to have
terminated
a controversial
chapter
of
Mangyan
research. His
picture
of tribal distribution in
Mindoro
was thus with
good
reason
accepted
by
the editors of the
Ethnographic Map
of the
Philippines, published by
the National
Museum,
Manila,
in 1974.
The information for
my
own distribution
map
was
gathered during
an extensive field
trip
around Mindoro from October 1975 to
May
1976.
My
aim was a
deeper acquaintance
with
the
Mangyan
culture in
general,
the
gathering
of
extensive
vocabularies,
and the
defining
of the
different
language
areas.
The field
trip
had its
starting point
in
Occidental
Mindoro,
following
a line from North
to South.
My
first station was
Calamintao,
a
small
Iraya
settlement seven kilometers
up
the
Pagbahan
river from the
provincial highway
on
the north-eastern
boundary
of the
municipality
of Sta. Cruz. The reservation has a
four-grade
elementary
school with two
teachers,
a
per?
manently assigned
Catholic
missionary, and,
since
1975,
two Catholic nuns in
charge
of an
emergency hospital
and a
dispensary.
Tomas
Pacifico
(72),
the headman of the
clan,
served as
informant. He had
graduated
in 1929 from the
Elementary
School of
Mamburao,
the
capital
of Occidental
Mindoro,
where he had
acquired
a
good
command of
T?galog
and a
working
knowl?
edge
of
English.
Other informants in the area
were
Capitan
Carlos
Maayos (40),
Malbaton
Fuentes
(35),
Martin
Lamayor (65),
Antonino
Romero
(80),
and
Ingkargado (90),
whose
second wife is an
Alangan
from Oriental Mindoro.
Very willing
contributors to the
vocabulary
of
the human
body
were the ca. 20 school children
boarding
in the
dormitory
of the reservation.
The brothers
D?ring (35)
and Roberto
(40)
Gatdola, presently residing
with their families in
Casague,
Sta.
Cruz,
Occ.
Mindoro,
served as
Afangan-informmts.
Their
parents,
who now live
in a
place
called
Kapauwan
on the Pula river
(Aituna) originate
from the
Alangan
river area in
Oriental Mindoro. Both brothers showed
great
skill in
making
utensils and
hunting devices,
like
spear traps (balatik), monkey traps (pagawang),
and bird snares
(bantayari). However,
since
they
are
living
on the
fringes
of their tribal
area,
their
data were
counterchecked with
Quezon
Budo
(60)
and
Sinay
Kasidsid
(35),
both from
Kulasisi,
a
tributary
of
Mompong river,
near
Barrio
Arellano,
Sablayan,
Occ. Mindoro.
Quezon
is a well-known
personality
and was
put by
PAN?MIN in
charge
of the
Batangan though
he
himself is
linguistically
an
Alangan.
The latter
name is derived from the
Alangan
river in the
East and not in use
among
the natives in the
West.
They
call themselves
simply Mangyan.
Quezon
has travelled
throughout
the
Alangan
Barbian
/
f4^7pP\
if
MINDOROt
?"^2S
10 PHILIPPINE
QUARTERLY
language
area and found his dialect
spoken along
the
Amnay
river and
beyond,
all the
way
to
Calapan.
The information
concerning
the
Batangan
was collected in
Malfalon, Calintaan,
Occ.
Mindoro.
My
main informant was the headman
of the
clan,
Santo
Lumawig (60),
whose
oval,
bearded face and
sharp-cut, prominent
nose were
hardly mongoloid
but reminded
me
of some
slender
types
which I had observed in the
Iraya
country (e.g.,
Tomas and
Antonino).
His data
were checked in Oriental Mindoro with
Capitan
Pedro Roldan
(50),
a resident of Barrio
Rambida,
Sokorro,
Or.
Mindoro,
where the
Batangan
are
known as
Bangon.
The same name is
given
to
them
by
their
neighbors:
the
Alangan
in the
north,
the
Tadyawan
in the
east,
and the Buhid
(Bukid, Buid)
in the south. Santo
Lumawig
thought
the name
Batangan
to be of
Tagalog
origin
and said their true name was Too Buid.
The next station was Bato
Eli,
San Jose
Pandurucan,
on the southern bank of the
Bugsanga (Bisanga)
river near the new 330 in
long bridge
on the
provincial highway.
Here the
national
government
offers
elementary
education
to ca. 500 Buhid
living
within the boundaries
of a 12 ha. reservation.
My
informants were
Capitan Jan'og
de Jesus
(50), Bandayan
Ramos
(40), Ukmayan
de Jesus
(30),
who knows how to
write the
Mangyan script,
Ben Asilo
(32),
and
Jaodan
Reyes (60),
all residents of
Balangaw,
sitio Bato
Eli,
barrio Monte
Claro,
San Jose.
According
to
them,
the
territory
of the tribe
reaches as far as
Bongabon
in the East. The
author met Diosdado Antaw
(25),
who hails
from that area
(Barrio Batangan),
in
Panaytayan,
Mansalay.
He
helped
to countercheck
some items
of the word list collected in the West. The dif?
ferences noticed were
only slight.
The southern
neighbors
of the Buhid are the
Hanunoo, who,
like the
Alangan,
call themselves
Mangyan.
In Barrio
Tugtugin,
San
Jose,
some of
these natives settle with the
Tagalog
and send
their children to the local
school,
an
example
of
a successful
integration
of a
minority group.
Other Hanunoo settlements in the West visited
by
the writer were
Naluak,
on the
upper Caguroy
river,
and
Bamban,
where
Hanunoo, Ratagnon
and
Bisayans
are
living
side
by
side and inter?
marry.
Both
places belong
to the
municipality
of
Magsaysay.
It seemed
preferable
to collect the
basic
vocabulary
in the central
area of the tribe
within the
municipal
boundaries of Bulalacao
and
Mansalay,
Oriental
Mindoro,
where Conklin
had
gathered
his data three decades
ago
and
where Rev. Antoon
Postma, SVD,
a
Catholic
missionary,
has set
up
his
Mangyan
Research
Center. Barrio
Panaytayan
is situated ca. 5 km
from the
highway
in the mountains southwest of
Mansalay. My
main informant was
CapitanBalik
Luna
(46),
a man of native
intelligence
and con?
versant in
Tagalog.
The central area of the
Ratagnon (Latagnon,
Datagnon)
is the lower
Caguray
river near Santa
Teresa,
south of San Jose. The
vocabulary
and
other cultural data were
gathered
from
Igmediyo
Luwalhati
(70), Caguray,
Sta.
Teresa,
now
residing
in San
Nicolas, Magsaysay,
and Aborido
Inano
(40)
of barrio Banban in the same munici?
pality.
Aborido learned from his
parents
that
their forefathers had come from
Panay,
and
Igmediyo
claimed that his
grandparents
came
from the
Cuyo
islands.
The last
period
of research was devoted to
the
Tadyawan,
whose settlements lie to the west
and east of Lake
Naujan.
The information was
gathered
in
Happy Valley, Socorro,
Oriental
Mindoro,
from
Elpidio
Gaba and
Apolonio
Salamat
(45),
both residents of Barrio
Talapaan
of the same
municipality.
The two informants
complemented
each other since
Elpidio grew up
in the Pola
area on the eastern side of the
lake,
and
Apolonio
was a native of the mountains
on
the western side. There were noticeable dif?
ferences in the
vocabulary
and in
phonology,
with the latter
resembling
the
specific phonemes
of the
neighboring Batangan.
In order to ascertain
the
precise
extent of the
dissimilarities,
the
writer
proceeded
to Pola and counterchecked
the wordlist with
Capitan
Alberto Laurista
(40)
of
Pahilaan, Calatagan, Pola,
Oriental Mindoro.
The differences between the western and eastern
Baibian
/
Tadyawan
dialects were
confirmed,
but
proved
to
keep
within the
range already
noticed at
Talapaan.
The first-hand data collected
during
the
author's
trip
around Mindoro
proved
in all
essential
points
to be identical with the informa?
tion
provided by
Tweddell's
map,
which came to
my
notice
only
after
my trip. They provide
a
strong linguistic
confirmation for the
findings
of
Tweddell.
My
own distribution
map,
which is
based on the best
cartographical
material at
present available, emphasizes
the
river-system
as
the chief means of orientation. The
boundary
of
the
Iraya
area
follows,
from west to
east,
the
ridge
between the
Salagan
and Pola rivers
up
to
their
headwaters;
then it bends north to the
headwaters of the
Sanyan
river,
then east to
peak
2379 north of Mt.
Halcon;
from there it follows
the
ridge dividing
the headwaters of the
Alag
and the
Dulongan
and their tributaries in Oriental
Mindoro and ends in the lower
Alag
area near
Baco.
The
population figures
for the
Mangyans
vary
from 7264 in the Census of
1903,
to 13044
in
1918,
to 38000 in a
field-report
of the <<Com
mission on National
Integration" (CNI)
in 1963.
TweddelTs estimates add
up
to a total of 28500
to
32500,
counting
for the
Iraya 6000-8000,
for
the
Alangan 3000,
the
Tadyawan 1000-2000,
the
Batangan 4000,
the Buhid
6000,
the
Hanunoo
6000,
and the
Ratagnon
2000. Ac?
cording
to the data the writer himself was able to
gather
from
Mangyan
informants and
through
his own
observations,
the numbers
given
for the
Tadyawan, Batangan,
Buhid
and
Ratagnon
should be reduced
by
SO
per
cent so
that the
total would run to
only
about 22000
*
It remains a task for future fieldwork to
map
with
greater precision
the tribal boundaries
and
Mangyan
clan settlements in the interior.
*
Editor's note: But see also the rather different
estimate of
Pennoyer,
this
issue, p.
21.
REFERENCES
Conklin,
Harold
1949
'^eliminary Report
on Fieldwork on the
Islands of Mindoro and
Palawan, Philip?
pines,"
American
Anthropologist
51:268-273.
de la
Paz,
Emeterio
1968 **A
Survey
of the Hanunoo
Mangyan
Culture."
Unitas, 41:1-67.
Lopez,
Violeta B.
1976 The
Mangyans of
Mindoro: An Ethno
history.
Manila:
University
of the
Philip?
pines
Press.
Tweddell,
Colin E.
1958 *The
Iraya (Mangyan) Language
of Min?
doro,
Philippines," Unpublished
Doctoral
Dissertation,
University
of
Washington,
Seattle,
Wash.

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University of San Carlos Publications

THE TRIBAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MANGYANS

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