Lesson Proper for Week 5

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Bangka, Kaluluwa, at Katutubong Paniniwala

Maria Bernadette L. Abrera

Since the fifteenth century, variously characterized as a small and light vessel to a large
commercial boat, “bangka” has been the general Philippine name for all types of seacraft. This
name does not exist in seventeenth-century Visayan and Bikol dictionaries; instead, the term
“baloto” arises, which is similar in appearance and function to the bangka.

The bangka’s ceremonies demonstrate that it is more than a water vessel in Philippine
culture: it is a storehouse for an entire indigenous society’s belief system. The entire procedure
is enveloped with rituals and religious implications, from the selection of the tree to its fall,
digging out, or hewing into planks, through the construction, and finally to its launching into the
sea. The bangka reflects the indigenous animist belief system in a clear and obvious way. The
funeral ceremonies and the use of the bangka as a vessel to transfer the deceased to the next
life are examined, exposing Filipinos’ worldview. These all indicate the belief not just in the
bangka as a “soul boat” but in a “soul of the boat” itself.

Visit this site for full text: https://bangkanixiao.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/abrera-bangka-

kaluluwa-at-katutubong-panininwa.pdf

Massive Balangay “Mother Boat” Unearthed in Butuan

By Timothy James Dimacali

Published August 9, 2013 4:04 pm | Updated August 16, 2013 12:00 am

Link: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/science/321334/massive-balangay-mother-
boat-unearthed-in-butuan/story/

The world’s largest sailing vessel is being uncovered in Butuan City, Mindanao, and it has
the potential to rewrite Philippine maritime history as we know it. The plank vessel, which is
thought to be roughly 800 years old, could be centuries older than the ships used by European
explorers in the 16th century when they first discovered the archipelago that was eventually
dubbed Las Islas Felipinas after a Spanish monarch.
 The discovery also supports notions that the Philippines, and especially Butuan, was an
important center for Southeast Asian cultural, religious, and commercial interactions.

Dr. Mary Jane Louise A. Bolunia, a National Museum archaeologist who leads the study
team at the site, says the recently discovered “balangay” is gigantic in practically every way.

As though grabbing a Coke can, she raises her hand and folds her fingers into a circle.
Bolunia explains, “That’s simply one of the treenails utilized in its construction.”

A “treenail” is a wooden peg or dowel that is used in place of iron nails in boat
construction.

Bolunia creates an onionskin piece of paper with a meticulously inked map of the
archeological site. An approximately pea pod-shaped boat wreck around 15 meters long sits in
the upper corner, one of eight similar-sized balangays discovered at the site since the 1970s.
But just next to it, discovered only in 2012, are the ruins of a ninth balangay that appears to be
so large that it could easily house the smaller boat twice over – and that’s just the part that’s
been excavated so far.

The boat is expected to be at least 25 meters long, despite the fact that it has yet to be
entirely excavated.

Aside from the treenails, the planks themselves are as wide as a man’s chest –
approximately twice the width of those used in other balangays on the site. According to
Bolunia, the planks are so massive that they can no longer be copied because there are no
more trees large enough to make boards that size today.
Visiting the Site

On August 14, GMA News went to the site and discovered the excavation site was soggy,
requiring more digging and investigation. Bolunia, on the other hand, assured that for the time
being, preserving the antiquities in this state is actually beneficial to their conservation. “We
just leave it alone and let the water seep in since it’s better protected that way than if it’s dried.
It would disintegrate if you expose it without adequate conservation,” she revealed to GMA
News.

The Butuan Museum’s officer-in-charge, Jorge Absite, is optimistic that the new discovery
may reveal more about our forefathers. The Butuan Museum is in charge of overseeing the
preservation and management of the balangay excavations and any objects discovered there.

“Kung ano ba talaga ang uring pamumuhay meron ang mga ninuno natin, ito ang
kasagutans a ‘missing link’ ng kultura natin,” Absite added.

“The ability of Filipinos to construct or build large boats is not new… Before the Chinese
arrived in the Philippines, Filipinos traveled to China via the Butuanons,“ Bulonia emphasized.

Historians, including Bolunia, warn that much more work is needed before the boat can be
definitively dated and identified.

“The newly-discovered boat will require more technical verification to establish its
connection and relationship with the other boats already excavated, so that we can know its
date, boat typology, and technology,” said Dr. Maria Bernadette L. Abrera, professor and
chairperson of the Department of History at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, in an
email interview.
 “We have to be cautious,” said Ramon Villegas, a researcher who has studied pre-colonial
Philippine history extensively. “There hasn’t been enough study time (the artifacts). It may be a
Chinese junk or a Spanish boat.”

Aside from carbon dating to identify the age of the wood, the building techniques used, as
well as the type of wood itself, must all be determined before a definitive conclusion can be
reached.

Dr. Jesus Peralta, an archeologist and anthropologist, notes, “Everything depends on the
construction, on how the boat was built, before you can legitimately term it is a ‘balangay.’” He
stated that he has yet to see the newly discovered boat.

Nevertheless, the boat’s proximity to prior sites of buried balangays is likely to cause
consternation among academics.

Bolunia said without hesitation, "It’s a ‘mother boat,’ and it’s transforming the way we
think about ancient Filipino sailors.”

Changing the Course of Philippine History

It has long been known that Filipinos journeyed throughout Southeast Asia in groups called
balangays as early as the 10th century, reaching Champa on Vietnam’s eastern coast.

The term “barangay” – the Philippine government’s smallest administrative decision –

perpetuates the impression that these flotillas are made up of similarly-sized small vessels.

However, according to Bolunia, this latest discovery implies that these were likely only
support vessels for a much bigger main boat, where trade items and other supplies were likely
stored for safekeeping.

The discovery also implies that Filipino seafarers were significantly more ordered and
structured than previously assumed.

Butuan As A Major Center of Culture and Trade

This balangay “confirms past excavation discoveries about Butuan’s position as a commerce
and population center in precolonial Philippines,” Abrera told GMA News.

“The harbor of Butuan has maintained long-standing trading ties with Champa and
Guandong” (China). “You can trace the significance of (the newly discovered boat) by using it as
an archeological key to the period when Butuan was a busy link to the pan-Asian cultural and
commercial intercourse,” historian Arnold M. Azurin told GMA News through Facebook chat.
 Indeed, Filipino seamen from Butuan were exploring Asia over a thousand years ago, long
before our Chinese neighbors: the Song Dynasty reported the arrival of a diplomatic delegation
from the “Kingdom of Butuan” as early as 1001.

“In 1003 AD, a Butuan chieftain petitioned the Chinese Imperial Court to allow his people to
send their goods directly to Guandong rather than utilizing Champa as the entrepôt*(major
trading post),” Azurin continued.

The petition was denied, according to Azurin, since the Court insisted on regulating trade
through Champa.

He also believes Butuan may have played a significant role in the spread of culture and
religion in the Philippines, long before Christianity or even Islam arrived.

“The boat’s deeper meaning could be that it was one of the first carriers of Hindu-Buddhist
cultural impact in the Philippines, long before Islam and Christianity arrived. Many experts
believe that the baybayin script arrived in the same way that Champa did. As a result, you can
enrich our forefathers’ cultural inheritance,” Azurin remarked.

Older than Magellan and Jung He

While the newfound boat has yet to be precisely dated, its structure and proximity to a
balangay from the 1200s strongly suggest that it is a balangay from the same era.

If this is the case, the boat predates Magellan’s arrival and death in the Philippines in 1521,
as well as the Chinese explorer Zheng He’s trip across Asia in 1400, by hundreds of years.

“For over a thousand years, trade and settlement patterns and routes across Asia
connected select islands (of the Philippines), particularly those with adequate harbors and a
constant supply of local products,” Azurin explained.

“The mention of slaves-for-sale in Magellan’s chronicler Pigafetta’s account of the first

circumvention is especially interesting: Raja Humabon boasted to Magellan that some
boatloads of slaves had just left Cebu for Cambodia and Champa – likely in need of warm
bodies for their succession wars, or new stonecutters for their megalithic shrines,” he
continued.

Could balangays of Filipino craftsmen have aided in the construction of ancient Asian
temples like Angkor Wat?
 “Given that archeologists such as Robert Fox, H. Otley Beyer, and others have pointed out
that various islands in the southern Philippines had communities related to these areas,” he
added, “that’s a plausible conjecture.”

Continuing A Seaworthy Tradition

According to Dr. Bolunia, the “mother boat” and the smaller balangays in Butuan were
“clearly intended for exploring the high seas.”

Their overall design and construction, she claims, are more adapted to navigate deep ocean
waters than shallow rivers. A quarter rudder and sails would also indicate a seagoing vessel,
however these have yet to be discovered, according to Dr. Bolunia.

“That’s especially true for a boat this big,” she explains, referring to the massive balangay.

The Sama-Badjao of Sulu continue to use boatbuilding techniques that are very similar to
those used in the Butuan boats today.

In 2010, replica balangays created by Sama-Badjao artisans and operated by Filipino

explorers completed a 14,000-kilometer journey across Southeast Asia, demonstrating the
genuine balangays’ seaworthiness and the traditional woodcraft used to build them.

The 15-meter-long “DiwatangLahi,” one of the boats, is now on permanent exhibit outside
the National Museum in Manila.

AUTHOR’S ARGUMENT AND POINT OF VIEW

• The idea or belief that an author wishes to persuade readers to believe is referred to as
the author’s argument.
Identify the Issue
 • The author’s problematic topic is referred to as the tissue.
The death penalty, gun regulation, foreign policy, and abortion are all examples of
contentious issues.

• “Is the author writing a contentious issue?” you might wonder.

Determine the Author’s Point of View

• The author’s argument expresses his or her point of view on a particular topic.
• “What is the author’s position on the issue?” you might wonder.
Step 1: Determine the Author’s Premises

• The author’s assumptions are things he takes for granted without providing any
evidence (to put it another way, what the author believes or accepts as factual and uses
to support his argument).
• “What does the author take for granted?” you might wonder.
• The entire argument will be flawed if the author’s assumptions are irrational or
inaccurate. Unless readers recognize the author’s preconceptions, they may be mislead.
Step 2: Determine the Different Types of Assistance

• The types of evidence that the author employs to support his or her argument are
referred to as types of support.
• “What kind of backup does the author present to back up the argument?” you might
wonder.
• Research findings, case studies, personal experience or observation, examples, facts,
analogies, expert testimony, and views can all be used as evidence.
Step 3: Determine the Support’s Relevance

• Relevance refers to how closely the support relates to the argument.

• “Is the support directly tied to the argument?” you might wonder.
• Unless the author is a specialist, his or her personal experience or viewpoint may be
irrelevant.
Step 4: Assess the Author’s Objectiveness

• When the author’s argument is supported by facts and other obvious proof, it is
objective.
• “Does the author give facts and clear proof as support?” you might wonder.
Step 5: Assess the Completeness of the Argument

• If the author provides appropriate support and defeats opposing ideas, the argument is
complete.
• Authors occasionally fail to provide adequate support.
• Authors sometimes omit material that would undermine their position. If they stated
and countered their point, it would be more powerful.
Step 6: Check to See if the Argument is True
 • If an argument is logical, it is legitimate (has validity).
• “Is the argument logical (well-reasoned)?” you might wonder.
Step 7: Assess the Credibility of the Argument

• If an argument is believable, it has credibility (convincing).

• “Is the author’s argument credible?” you might wonder.
• Because an argument that is not valid will not be believable, validity and credibility are
tightly linked.