Summary of the story about

Maguindanao Pearls

MAGUINDANAO PEARLS

Isidro L. Reztizos

Characters:

Sinag-tala- a 16 year old basket weaver and the daughter of Pirang Kawayan. She fell in
love with Magiting/ Walang Gulat. Was called Lily by the River

Magiting/ Walang Gulat – son of the Chief of Pasigan. Was already engaged to Lakambini
but fell in love with Sinag-tala.

Lakambini- antagonist of the story. Became jealous of Sinag-tala and accused her
taking pearls.

Pirang Kawayan- father of Sinag-tala. Chief of Maynila

Summary

When Sinag-tala was 2 and a half, her grandma came and placed a fresh lily in one of
her hands and a small, pale pearl on the other. She said the Sinag-tala was to grow
as soft and delicate as a lily and she will own priceless pearls taken form oysters
from the blue seas of Maguindanao. After 14 years, she was called by Lakambini
to make baskets for the mother of Walang Gulat. So she went to the riverside to get
some bamban reeds and young bamboo joints. While doing this, she met Magiting.
They talked for a while but they didn’t know that some people were watching them.
These people said what they saw to Lakambini and she became furious. She then told
Sinag-tala that she did not need the baskets anymore and ended up hiding the pearls
in one of the baskets. So Sinag-tala was accused of stealing the pearls.

Sinag-tala was then put into trials. Magiting, because he loved her, tried to make her free
by “donating” some jewels to the village in place of the pearls. The Judges did not accept
this. Sinag-tala was then placed into the boiling water ordeal wherein she had to dip her hands
in boiling water and get one stone at the bottom and if her hands showed no signs of being
burned, she was innocent. Sinag-tala was about to this when Pirang Kawayan stood.
Lakambini knew that he was going to do something bad but as she screamed, Pirang
Kawayan stabbed his own daughter. Lakambini then admitted that she was the one who
hid the pearls and that Sinag-tala was innocent. But it was too late for Sinag-tala was
already dying.
MAGUINDANAO PEARLS

Isidro L. Reztizos

Characters:

Sinag-tala- a 16 year old basket weaver and the daughter of Pirang Kawayan. She fell in
love with Magiting/ Walang Gulat. Was called Lily by the River

Magiting/ Walang Gulat – son of the Chief of Pasigan. Was already engaged to Lakambini
but fell in love with Sinag-tala.

Lakambini- antagonist of the story. Became jealous of Sinag-tala and accused her
taking pearls.

Pirang Kawayan- father of Sinag-tala. Chief of Maynila

Summary

When Sinag-tala was 2 and a half, her grandma came and placed a fresh lily in one of
her hands and a small, pale pearl on the other. She said the Sinag-tala was to grow
as soft and delicate as a lily and she will own priceless pearls taken form oysters
from the blue seas of Maguindanao. After 14 years, she was called by Lakambini
to make baskets for the mother of Walang Gulat. So she went to the riverside to get
some bamban reeds and young bamboo joints. While doing this, she met Magiting.
They talked for a while but they didn’t know that some people were watching them.
These people said what they saw to Lakambini and she became furious. She then told
Sinag-tala that she did not need the baskets anymore and ended up hiding the pearls
in one of the baskets. So Sinag-tala was accused of stealing the pearls.

Sinag-tala was then put into trials. Magiting, because he loved her, tried to make her free
by “donating” some jewels to the village in place of the pearls. The Judges did not accept
this. Sinag-tala was then placed into the boiling water ordeal wherein she had to dip her hands
in boiling water and get one stone at the bottom and if her hands showed no signs of being
burned, she was innocent. Sinag-tala was about to this when Pirang Kawayan stood.
Lakambini knew that he was going to do something bad but as she screamed, Pirang
Kawayan stabbed his own daughter. Lakambini then admitted that she was the one who
hid the pearls and that Sinag-tala was innocent. But it was too late for Sinag-tala was
already dying.

Posted by Elyshia

G R A D E 8 (2017-
2018)
Monday, July 31, 2017
MAGUINDANAO PEARLS: IT'S CULTURE
INTRODUCTION:
Maguindanao Pearls is a Philippine folktale that was written by Isidro L. Reztizos. The tale has been
passed from generation to generation. The story talks about how Sinag-Tala was accused of stealing
Lakambini’s pearls even though she hadn’t. And because of a false statement that Lakambini created,
Sinag-Tala died. Afterwards, Lakambini regretted everything that she has done. However, because of
what Lakambini did, it made the story more interesting.

BODY
The setting of the story was in Old Maynila, according to Wikipedia, Manila became the seat of the
colonial government of Spain when it gained sovereignty over the Philippine Islands in 1565. The seat of
the Spanish government was situated within the fortified walls of Old Manila (now referred to as
Intramuros meaning within the walls). The walls were constructed to keep out invading Chinese pirates
and protect the city from native uprisings. Several communities eventually grew outside the walls of
Manila. The city became the center of trade between Manila and Acapulco, which lasted for three
centuries and brought the goods from the Americas to South East Asia and vice versa. In 1898, Spain
ceded control of the Philippines after over three hundred year of colonial rule to the United States after
the Treaty of Paris (1898), which ended the Spanish–American War. During the American Period, some
semblance of city planning using the architectural designs and master plans by Daniel Burnham was
done on the portions of the city south of the Pasig River.

Old Maynila

On the other hand, it is stated in the book that the setting was in

In the story, Sinag-Tala was ordered to dip her hands into the boiling pot and take out the white
stones that are found on the bottom part of the boiling pot Her hands should remain unblistered and
unburnt so that the judges declare her innocent because for them, it is a sign from the gods that she’s
innocent. The order that they required to do by Sinag-Tala was called ‘Trial by ordeal’. According to
Wikipedia, Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused
was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous
experience. The test was one of life or death and the proof of innocence was survival. In some cases, the
accused was considered innocent if they escaped injury or if their injuries healed. In medieval Europe,
like trial by combat, trial by ordeal was considered a judicial Dei: a procedure based on the premise that
God would help the innocent by performing a miracle on his behalf. There are 8 types of ordeals;
combat, fire, cross, ingestion, poison, boiling oil, turf, and lastly water. The water has 3 types, namely;
cold water, witch-hunts and lastly hot water which were required to do by Sinag-Tala.

Trial by Ordeal (Hot Water)

The story mentioned of slave women, according to Wikipedia, Spaniards considered it legitimate to
enslave non-Christian captives from wars and trade them legally in the past. This is because they did not
consider this as an uncivilized and unchristian act because they believed that men were not created
equal and the inferior men may be ruled by the superior ones. The Philippine communities in the olden
times were composed of baranganic societies with small populations and low production levels. To
harness the rich natural resources of the country, the datus thereafter increased the manpower and
made the legal penalties not limited to fines but also included labour services. The debtors also did the
same for the creditors since a lot of them did not have many properties to offer as collaterals. This lack
in manpower also brought wars that not only did widen a barangay’s territories but also increased the
number of captives who could work for them. These dependents were called alipin in Tagalog or oripun
in Visayan. These slaves were traded legally from one owner to another. The difference of the Philippine
slavery from the Spanish slavery was that it was arbitrary in a sense that datus may take slaves just from
committing minor violations from their laws. Also, Philippine slavery was less harsh in a sense that some
of them could eat together with their masters and those who did not live in their masters’ houses
supported themselves. On the other hand, Spanish slaves worked solely for their masters and everything
that they earned were given to them (the masters). A slave owned by a Spaniard debtor could even be
rented out to his creditor and work to pay his debt and the slave could also serve a jail sentence in place
of his master. Filipinos make other Filipinos their alipins. On the other hand, Spaniards generally get
slaves from other races or religions

The story mentioned of a rajah. According to Wikipedia, rajah is a title for a Monarch or princely ruler
in South and Southeast Asia. He is the ruler or the landlord, according to freedictionary.com. This
explains why in the story, whenever the people hear the name of Lakambini, the daughter of Rajah, they
respected the Rajah and as well as his daughter. If not then, things would be chaotic. Hearing her orders,
the slaves and the people didn’t have any choice but to follow or to do her command. Just like what
Sinag-Tala experienced, she was given a command, which was to create two beautiful baskets for her.
Unfortunately, because of jealousy and hatred, Sinag-Tala wasn’t able to fulfill the task because
Lakambini was accusing her of stealing her pearls.

A Rajah

The story also mentioned about pearls. According to purepearls.com, in countless cultures around
the world, the pearl has its own origin myth. Arabs believed these gems were the result of the tears of
the gods, fallen into the ocean and making their way into the oysters. The Greeks believed that the
goddess of love, Aphrodite shed pearls for tears. The Roman greatly revered pearls, and decreed that
only men and women of high birth would be able to wear them. In the Philippines, White and Golden
South Sea pearls were found. The indigenous natives used the natural pearls as part of religious
ceremonies and dream interpretation. Sinag-Tala believed that if a woman wears pearls, it means that
that woman is beautiful. When she saw the pearls’ of Lakabini, her eyes glowed with wonder, and her
lips slightly paled with desire.

CONCLUSION:
I realized that pearls aren’t that important to show everyone that you’re beautiful. In this world,
physical appearance doesn’t matter, but attitude does. The story also states how powerful love is to one
person. Sometimes, we got carried away with emotions and because of that, we people create mistakes.
As they say, “Love conquers all.’ But love could also be a threat to other people, just like what Lakambini
did to Sinag-Tala. In the end, if we learn how to forgive and ask for forgiveness, we can say that love is
indeed a beautiful thing.

REFERENCES:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Manila

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_by_ordeal#Hot_water

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Spanish_Slavery_in_the_Philippines

www.purepearls.com/pearl-origins.html

Posted by Andrea Garcia at 8:38 AM

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