Kyle Isabelle P.

Francisco October 17, 2020

KAS – 1 K

The modern Philippines, although very rich in culture, is heavily colonized by the west. Most
especially the northern island of Luzon. But before the west took over and imposed their own, the
Philippines was even richer in culture stripped down of its American and Spanish Identity. In line with
Jocano’s Core Population Theory, I was more enamored by the possibility that in the prehistoric times,
Southeast Asia were of the same ethnic group with similar culture and that the Filipinos are products of
a long process of cultural evolution and movement of people, instead of having six ‘waves’ of
immigration to the Philippines. Jocano’s theory is a less rigid version of Beyer’s wave migration theory.
Jocano rebutted that the existing fossil evidence of ancient humans demonstrates that they not only
migrated to the Philippines, but also to New Guinea, Borneo, and Australia. There is also no way of
identifying if the first settlers in the Philippines are actually Negritos. Another point to raise is that there
is no definitive way to determine the ‘races’ of the human fossils. What is only certain is that the
Philippines was inhabited as early as 21,000 to 20,000 years ago.

Jocano’s Theory pretty much has a very strong foundation compared to Beyer’s. The latter
lacked concrete evidences and the method used to come up with such conclusions are also outdated.
Overall, Beyer’s Migration theory is too simplistic in explaining the rich culture and history of the
Philippines and the Filipinos, and is presently being dismissed. I firmly believe that the possibility of
having one core population is more accurate and justifiable. In reality, Southeast Asian people share
many customs and traditions without one certain ethnic group dominant racially and culturally. It was
only then the western colonization that divided the Asian inhabitants into ethnic groups. Digging deeper
into the Philippines’ prehistorical culture and traditions, it is very similar to that of Malay, Indonesian
and other Southeast Asian regions. With this, I strongly believe that the ancient Southeast Asians cannot
be specifically categorized into different groups. And that, it is not accurate to consider Filipino culture
as Malayan in orientation. This core population shared common cultural traits or base culture, such as
tools, pottery, and ornaments of the similar fashion. If there were certain differences, it would probably
be due to factors such as adaptation to the environment. Furthermore, according to Jocano’s findings,
the people of the prehistoric islands of Southeast Asia were of the same population of as the
combination of human evolution that occurred in the islands of Southeast Asia about 1.9 million years
ago. Claimed evidence for this is fossil material found in different parts of the region and the
movements of other people from the Asian mainland during prehistoric times (Principe M., 2013).

Recently learning more about the prehistory of our country, I was surprised to see how closely
similar our culture and traditions were to other Southeast Asian regions. Jocano’s theory is a pretty
strong contender despite many other theories on the rise. The idea of the Philippines being a clean slate
with groups of people conveniently migrating consequently seems pretty half-baked. I stand by the
theory that Southeast Asia had a core population which then dispersed over time. Shared linguistics,
culture, and traditions—some still alive now, some forgotten—are strong evidences of the said claim.
REFERENCES:

 Halili, Maria Christine N. (2004). Philippine History. Rex Bookstore. pp. 34–35. ISBN 971-23-

3934-3.
 Prinsipe, Mirra Jane E. (2013) Filipino Culture: Malayan in Orientation. Pp. 6 & 11.
Retrieved from: https://www.slideshare.net/Ianesspanis/history-16974177

 Models of Migration To The Philippines - Core Population Theory. (n.d.).

Retrieved October 17, 2020, from
https://www.liquisearch.com/models_of_migration_to_the_philippines/core_popu
lation_theory