Lee Andre Nillama (BS Electronics Engineering – 2nd Year)

“GINTONG PAMANA: SURIGAO TREASURES”

Readings in the Philippine History (GEC 105)
Reaction Paper

Gintong Pamana: Surigao Treasures was a documentary by ABS – CBN on the

discovery of archeological artifacts which was believed to be dated as far as the 10 th –
13th century long before Magellan even arrived at the Philippines. The discovery is said
to be among the largest collection of the Philippine archeological gold and as well as in
the rest of the world. Many also believed including experts in the field of history that this
might rewrite the history. Dr. Florina Capistrano-Baker, former curator of the Ayala
Museum stated that nothing of this scale and magnitude and magnificence has ever been
seen before. They also noted that the workmanship and the intricate design on the
archeological gold is too hard to imitate even with the technological advancements at
present.

Berto Morales, a farmer which was employed as a bulldozer operator discovered

the gold artifacts in the year 1981 within the site of their irrigation project located at Sitio
Magruyong, San Miguel, Surigao del Sur. As he was flattening the surface for an irrigation
project, it was then he realized that there was something shining within the surface of the
ground that he was flattening. Out of curiosity, he went out of the truck and inspected the
shiny material within the ground and to found out that it was gold.

Gold even back then was still valuable even though it can be obtained easily in the
late 10th century – 13th century. At present, gold is one of the most expensive metals in
the global market. Experts estimated that the value of the artifacts is approximately “23
Million Pesos”. According to the historians, Philippines is very rich in terms of gold way
back then. They noted that even before the Pre – Colonial period, in order to obtain gold,
you can just walk by the river to see one as large as an egg or even larger. In addition to
how rich Philippines was in terms of gold, the place that the artifacts were discovered was
said to be a trading place between our ancestors and other foreign individuals. This can
also be a factor on why there was that much of crafted gold present in that area. According
also to the Spanish colonial accounts, our ancestors were quite sophisticated with gold
working techniques that even children can reckon the purity of gold even just by looking.
Though the use of gold was not just limited in trading. Many of the Philippine ancestors
also crafts some of the gold as jewelry to display power, knowledge, and uses it for their
own beliefs and traditions.

Watching the documentary is somewhat entertaining and fascinating. Learning

something through those gold artifacts about how our ancestors strived, the way they
lived, how they interacted with each other. Dr. John Miksic, a Gold Specialist of the
National University of Singapore describes the Surigao Treasure as the important tangible
heritage of the country but it is really sad and frightening how far greed can take us to not
realize how important the artifacts was and just sell it to certain private collectors and
individuals. The gold artifacts were proof of how creative and imaginative our ancestors.
They must’ve worked hard to make those jewelry using their manual technology and
seeing how detailed and sophisticated the design in every item was really fascinating.