University of San Carlos Publications

THE TAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES

Author(s): F. Douglas Pennoyer and STOWW
Source: Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, Vol. 5, No. 1/2, Philippine Cultural
Minorities - II (MARCH - JUNE 1977), pp. 21-37
Published by: University of San Carlos Publications
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29791309
Accessed: 31-12-2015 06:41 UTC

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THE TAUBUID OF MINDORO,
PHILIPPINES
F. Douglas Pennoyer
STOWW1
Territoryand Linguistic Subdivisions
The Taubuid live in the heartland of
Mindoro. They occupy the highlands and descend?
ing mountain ridges of a high mountain chain
that includes Mount Baco, Mount Wood, and
several other peaks that approach or pass the
6,500 foot level in height. Their territory in?
cludes the watersheds of most of the major
rivers of Mindoro: theBongabong, theAglubang
Magasawang Tubig, and the Pola, all of which
flow out to the eastern coast, and the Patrick,
Lumintao, and the Bugsanga which run down to
the western coast. To the north of their land lies
the territory of the Alangan; to the east they
share land with the Balaban; and their southern
extension reaches down to the land of the Buhid
peoples.
A linguistic division which approximates the
geographical and political division of Occidental
and Oriental Mindoro separates the Taubuid into
two dialect groups, the Western and Eastern
Taubuid. A formal lexical and syntactical analysis
of these two dialects remains incomplete; ap?
parently they are closer to each other than either
is to any of the Buhid dialects. Speakers from the
two groups can communicate without too much
difficulty after an initial exposure to the minor
differences invocabulary and one known variance
in sentence construction. A good estimate would
be that over 65 percent of the basic Swadesh
word list are cognates. Another 5 to 10 percent
of their respective vocabularies can be mutually
understood with slight changes in meaning,
*
The Small Tribes Organization of Western Washington
ration of twenty-three Indian tribes located in the states of Washington and Oregon.
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Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society
5(1977)21-37
through knowledge of the ritual chants inwhich
the terms are often different from ordinary
speech, or through familiarity with cognates
from other languages (e.g., Buhid, Balaban,
Alangan, Ilocano, and Tagalog).
There is a possibility that a third dialect
exists in the still unexplored mountain reaches
of the headwaters of the Bongabong, Rosanna,
and Alianan Rivers. I suspect, however, that there
are only minor gradations in the interior, and
that the Taubuid of Sablayan on thewestern side
and the Taubuid of Pinamalayan on the eastern
side represent the widest range of dialectal
divergence. Still, much work remains to be done
to determine the relationship of these dialects
with the Buhid dialects, and in particular with
the speech of the people called Bangon by earlier
investigators and nicknamed the "Pipe-smokers"
byTweddell(1970).
Editor's Note: Another name often used in
the literature is Batangan (see Barbian, this
issue, p. 10).
Population
Because of the fact that the Taubuid live in
such an inaccessible part of Mindoro and are shy,
to the point of hiding their trails and deserting
their houses when strangers approach, no accu?
rate demographic figures are available. A Japanese
anthropologist, who conducted research among
Western Taubuid groups on the Iglit River and
surveyed some 33 "quasilocal or local social
(STOWW) in Sumner, Washington is a non-profit corpo?
 22 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY

political groups" in western Mindoro, estimated
the total Taubuid population at approximately
3,000 persons (Kikuchi 1971: 29). Tweddeil
(1970) places their number at 4,000. As a result
of my own survey trips across Mindoro, I believe
that both these estimates are too low and a more
accurate estimate may be around 5,000,
Appearance and Dress
Estel (1952: 28) concluded that there are
three distinct phenotypic groups on Mindoro:
'The Iraya are phenotypically Veddoids, the
Nauhan, an aberrant Mongoloid group, and the
Hanunoo one of the Early Asiatic types." The
data upon which Estel's conclusions are based
are skimpy, and the ascription to racial types
such as "pygmy mongoloids", "Veddoids", and
"Early Asiatics" is highly suspect. The fact
remains, however, thatmissionaries, anthropolo?
gists, and others who have spent time with the
various groups can distinguish them even when
the Mangyan are dressed in street clothes.
Impressionistically, in terms of Estel's analysis,
the interior Taubuid definitely do not resemble
theNauhan (Balaban), whom Estel labels "pygmy
mongoloids", nor do they exhibit the darker
skin and curly hair of the "Veddoid" Iraya. But
I would also hesitate to group them with the
"Early Asiatic" Hanunoo, characterized by
marked epicanthic fold.
Formal discussion of Taubuid
physical
characteristics must be postponed until a scien?
tific study can be made of the apparently wide
range of phenotypes observed among local
groups. On all borders a great deal of inter
marriage has occurred, perhaps promoted by the
incest prohibitions that extend to first and second
cousins, maternal and paternal aunts and uncles,
and many agnatic relations.
The Taubuid are often unkempt and dirty in
appearance. Disheveled hair, fireplace ashes on
their faces, and dirt on their bodies present a
general picture of uncleanliness. Exceptions are
a matter of personal idiosyncrasies during court?
ship. At courting age, the young women and men
bathe frequently and wear various plant "per?
fumes", such as ginger, to attract the opposite
sex. In a popular Taubuid song, the boy tells a
girl that even though he is taking a bath daily
in the stream aridwearing ginger in his headband,
these actions should not be construed as his
desire for her but only as his personal habits.
That the traditional attitude towards appearance
borders on an apparent nonchalant disregard of
cleanliness is admitted by the people. My in?
formant told of a trip into the highlands where
the christianized Taubuid met with some interior
folk who commented, "You're Taubuid, but
you're not dirty like us; you're clean."2
Hair isworn in a variety of lengths, but a
man's hair seldom reaches below the shoulders.
In some areas, the people shave their heads,
possibly to avoid the irritatingbites of lice. Hair?
cuts are normally given with a bolo knife and
wood block, and among some groups the use of
scissors is taboo.
Piercing of the ear lobes is performed while
a child is about two years old. The hole is later
used to carry a piece of the thorny rattan,which
is employed to remove thorns and slivers from

2
During a twelvemonth period fromJuly1973 to July1974,1 worked in threeEasternTaubuid villages (Safa,
Banas, and Dalandan) situated in the interior Pola River area of the township of Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro. I
also made a number of trips to the Western Taubuid of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro, and to the headwaters of the
Bongabong and Patrick Rivers. Fieldwork in Mindoro was financed by a Fulbright Grant administered through the
Philippine-American Educational Foundation. The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research allocated
monies to cover the cost of the botanical collection and research equipment. The following year, the National Institute
of Mental Health and the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University provided support funds while
I was writing my report on the Taubuid.
I am grateful to the members of my doctoral committee, all of whom edited earlier versions of this article:
Raleigh Ferrell (Chairman), Allan Smith, Pat Stanley, and John Bodley.

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 Pennoyer/THETAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 23

the feet. No instances of tooth filing or black?
ening, body scarification, or tattooing are
recorded. Necklaces are worn usually as a pro?
tection against the spiritsbut some, such as.those
made from circlets of the inner core of the fern
vine itus (Dicranopteris linearis Burm.)3, are
occasionally donned as playful decoration by
younger people and children. Several types of
arm bands are worn by both men and women
across the middle of the biceps, and are normally
used to hold the pipe when the individual is not
smoking. These bands vary from a simple strand
of cloth or an interwoven length of rattan, to an
intricately woven, wide band made of over 50
small strands of fiber. Patients who have re?
covered from crippling illnesses or cutsmay strap
on anklets or leg bands to prevent a recurrence.
The standard dress formen and women is
the loin cloth. In some areas close to the low?
lands, women wrap a knee-length cloth around
their bark bra-string and men wear cloth instead
of bark. Bark cloth is worn by both men and
women in the interior and is also used for head
bands, women's breast covers, and blankets.
Cloth is made by extracting, pounding, and
drying the inner bark of several trees of the
Moraceae family including tayosi (Ficus bata
anensis Merr.), ayu magatul (Ficus fiskei Elm.),
tubiun (Ficus sp.),gisgis taya (Ficus ribes Reinw.
ex. Blume), and balatu (Ficus sp.). As a tempo?
rary substitute for bark cloth, the large elongated
leaves of the lingabat plant or the bird's nest fern
lumut (Asplenium nidus L.) provide a covering.
During menstruation, the women double the
barkcloth and change and wash it once or twice
daily. The leaves of mabiun (Mussaenda philip?
pic* A. Rich.) and binunga (Macaranga tanarius
(L.) Muell.-Arg.) may be employed as absorbent
pads.
Women usually have 10 to 20 bands wrapped
around their waists to serve as a belt. These
waist-hip bands are manufactured by braiding
light and dark strips of iniyus (Lygodium circin
natum (Burm.) Swartz.) around a rattan core.
Occasionally, these belts, and the one or two
loops that are worn above the breasts, are made
of strips of the sagume (Appendicula sp.), a
prized orchid that is sold among the Taubuid
because its fibers contain a yellow coloring
which brightens the bands. Men normally
wear just a simple belt of two or three rattan
strips.A child's waist band may be made from a
common vine like budawa (Gssampelos pareira
L.). Children wear only waist bands until about
the age of six; then they occasionally don a cloth
or bark loin cloth; when they reach the age of
ten, they are always dressed. Nudity is the norm
for small children, and for old grandmothers past
menopause age who may sit in the house all day
without any bark covering.
Stimulants
The Taubuid are pipe smokers and, except
for some neighboring Buhid, they are the only
Mangyan with this habit. Pipe making is thework
of a specialist, and not everyone knows how to
fashion a pipe from clay,which is often obtained
fromwell-known deposits miles away.
I observed part of the pipe making process
among the Buhid of Sumagui. While they were
planting their upland rice fields, a young man sat
on a log at the edge of the clearing and carved a
pipe out of a ball-shaped lump of clay with a
small, sharp piece of bamboo. He was reluctant
to sell the unfinished product and informedme
that since the clay was still wet, the pipe was
extremely fragile and would crumble on the

3
CoL Demetrio Mendoza of Araneta University in Quezon City, and Mr. Ernesto Barbon and Mr. M. G. Price
of theUniversityof thePhilippinesat Los Baiios made the scientificidentifications
of the treesand fernscited in this
paper. My father, Mr. Fred Pennoyer of the New Tribes Mission, assisted in collecting, processing, and transporting
plant specimens. I wish to express my special thanks also for the innumerable kindnesses of Mr. and Mrs. Russell
Reed of the Overseas Missionary Fellowship who worked for many years with the Taubuid.

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 24 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
slightest impact.After a period of intense bargain?
ing, I purchased the pipe for 50 centavos (seven
cents). Elsewhere I observed that finished pipes
were sold for the equivalent of 25 centavos
to other Mangyan and for a peso to outsiders.
Pipe stems come from the small tubular
sections of bamboo (Schizostachywn sp.) which
are whittled down at one end and pushed into
the pipe stem hole. A string is tied around the
rim of this hole and the bamboo stem so that
when the pipe is cleaned, the stem remains
attached by the string to the pipe. Stem length
is a matter of personal preference, but appears
to be subject to regional trends or fads. In
Occidental Mindoro, pipe stems of up to seven
inches in lengthwere observed; this is in contrast
to the much shorter styles among the Eastern
Taubuid.
Tobacco leaves are smoked in pipes by many
Taubuid, but not all grow or smoke tobacco. In
some areas, the dried leaves of papaya are aged
and constitute the only substance smoked
for pleasure. Burkhill (1935 Vol. 1: 462-463)
mentions that also in New Caledonia papaya
leaves are smoked when there is a shortage of
tobacco. The leaves contain a bitter alkaloid,
carpaine, which increases in strengthwith aging
and depresses the action of the heart, affecting
the respiratory rate (Brown 1943 Vol. 3: 29).
The Western Taubuid nearSablayan once smoked
the leaves of Mussenda philippica A. Rich (a
small plant), but tobacco is now more popular.
Pipe lighting is a continuous chore. While
inside the house, the tobacco is ignited from
coals of the everburning fire. On the trail,
matches (in coastal areas only), the strike-a-light
stone kit, or the yabukan (a hand-sized piece of
punk that burns for hours inside a tied leaf con?
tainer), provides fire for the pipe. The effective?
ness of the strike-a-lightkits was demonstrated
to me one day when a Tagalog trader attempted
to sell a magnifying glass as a means of making
fire to some pipe smokers from the interior.A
cloudy day frustrated his attempts to ignite a
small bundle of fibers and after severalminutes
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he gave up, blaming the weather. An old man
came forward and, taking two stones out of his
small basket, set fire to the fiber with two fast
strokes.
The yabukan ismade from the rottenwood
of amugsa (Cleidion speciflorwn (Burm. F.)
Merr.) amaluwin (Gonystyhts bancanus Gilg.),
sialud (Lithocarpus acuminatissimus Merr.),
arangyan (Pometia pinnata Forst.) or others
with long-burning qualities. The Taubuid will
search for the best wood they can find and may
spend half a day hiking and carrying back a piece
of punk. After setting it alight, the soft, dry
wood is wrapped with the leaves of banana,
bitagan (Phrynium philippinense Ridl.), almo
(Schismatoglottis sp.), asfu (Ardisia pyramidalis
(Cav.) Pers.), manal (Syzygium sp.), or sangbawan
(Sideroxylon sp.), and tied together with a vine.
This smoldering package is attached to thewaist
and is carried on the daily trips to sweet potato
fields or on any occasion where fire for pipes or
meals is needed.
Betel chewing is not a typical Taubuid habit ,
but among some of the Eastern Mindoro people
who live near the lowlands and close to the
Balaban, a few chewers are found. Nuts from
lunang (Areca Catechu L.) or lunang talun (Areca
caliso Becc.) are used with the leaves of samat
(Piper sp., Piper canium Blume, or Piper cordete
limbum Quis.) and slaked lime from the shells
of numerous varieties of land snails.
Tools and Work Garments
traveling,men carry a bolo knife in a
When
scabbard strapped to their waists. Most young
men own a knife; however, it is reported that in
the interior mountains there are groups which
only have two or three knives. A bamboo con?
tainer (sulfa) for charms and personal items is
also tied to the waist or suspended from a
shoulder strap, and a small basket may contain
food for the journey. On their daily trek to
swidden plots, the women carry large baskets
which hang over their backs and are supported
by a large bark tumpline. Long sticks (suari) help
 Pennoyer/THETAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 25
in negotiating the steep mountain trails and at
the fields these function as digging sticks.Popular
trees for these sticks include the hard woods of
banasi (Antidesma sp.) and layag (Caryota
cumingii Lodd.). Weather capes made from the
leaves of badbarun {Calamus sp.), talakut {Arto
carpus elastica Reinw.), salanig bei (Tectaria
crenata Cav.), or tabtabbi sarag (Tapeindium
pinnatum (Cav.) Christ.) provide shade during
extreme heat and keep the body relatively dry
when rain falls. These capes are either brought
home and used until the leaves fall off, or they
are discarded by the side of the trail for others'
use. Temporary capes are fashioned from banana
leaves or large single leaves of various plants.
Settlement Patterns
There is a wide variation in settlement
patterns among the Taubuid and description is
made difficult by these facts:
1. There is evidence that interior local
groups alternate between "summer"
(dry) and "winter" (wet) residences.
2. An epidemic may cause a residential
group to split up into separated nuclear
families.
3. An individual familymay possess several
houses at once: a main residence, a field
house, a hideout.
4. Within permanent residential areas,
houses may be clustered, dispersed, or a
combination of both.
5. What appears from the outside as a
single house may, in fact, contain two
or three separate households, each a
nuclear family with its own hearth or
sharing a single hearth.
Based on personal observation, I have chosen
to call these residential areas "hamlets", since in
many cases several houses are clustered together
within a single compound. In the largerhamlets,
theremay be several such clusters, or one main
cluster with dispersed single houses. A favorite
location for the main group of houses seems to
be on the flat land at the top end of a backbone
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ridge, providing about fourmain exits out of the
compound. As Kikuchi (1971) has observed of
the Bayanan Taubuid of Occidental Mindoro,
several such residential areas (hamlets) may form
a local socio-political group inwhich allmembers
are affiliated by kinship ties and led by a heredi?
tary "caretaker" who controls the land and
performs priestly duties.
Within the hamlet, the household is the basic
social, economic, and ritual unit. In some cases,
one nuclear family is the sole occupant of the
house; however, my data fromhousehold surveys
among the Eastern Taubuid and information
from some Western Taubuid groups clearly show
that many compound and extended households
exist. One hamlet near the Christian Taubuid at
Safa consists of two buildings: one is a temporary
house where themother and father of the bride
live, and the other an L-shaped building With
six separate rooms and two hearths,which houses
a man, his wife, and their three sons' families
(including the newlyweds). This almost approxi?
mates the longhouse arrangement found in
Borneo among the Iban (Freedman 1955). That
this grandiose style is unusual for the Taubuid is
acknowledged by the family and they often
remark to visitors that "our house is like a
market", meaning that the separate sections are
like stalls.
Kikuchi (1971) uses the term "extended
household" to describe an apparently single
building which is actually two separate houses
with a passageway in between. Each has its own
elevated floor (although theymay be on exactly
the same level and only inches apart), roof, and
house ladder. Each also houses a nuclear family
with its own hearth. This is contrasted with the
compound household in which "more than one
family live in a single household and may have
one hearth for the entire household or individual
hearths for each nuclear family" (Kikuchi 1971:
31). Both of these household types are found
among the Taubuid and even in the same hamlet.
To achieve a better understanding of extended
households, we must look at the interior con
 26 PHILIPPINEQUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
struction of the house, the composition of the
families, and the rule of residence.
The Taubuid practice an alternating resi?
dence rule, with newlyweds changing residence
each year from one set of parents' residential
area to the other, that is, from that of the
husband's family to that of the wife's family
and vice versa. This isochronic residence con?
tinues until the death of a parent or until it
becomes impossible to support the visiting
couple. They then settle permanently with either
residence group. While living in the residential
area of either set of parents, the couple may
erect a house close to that of the parents' house,
or build an extension to it. This addition has a
separate floor, roof, and sometimes a separate
ladder, but it shares a common wall and passage?
way with the original house. The couple may
have a separate hearth and function as a separate
economic food producing unit. When a new
house is built, itwill usually consist of two equal
parts, with one elevated sleeping floor for each
nuclear family. Kikuchi (1971:31) gives three
examples of an extended household and two of
these involve children living adjacent to parents;
the other extended household is that of siblings.
An interesting situation arises when the
of both spouses live in the same resi?
parents
dential area. This is probably uncommon as
marriage taboos extend to first and second
cousins, aunts and uncles, and affines such as
immediate members of a spouse's family. Among
the Christian Taubuid there have been several
cases because the settlement is composed of
members from widely separated farnilies. In one
instance, a couple maintains an extension house
at both sets of parents' homes and alternate
residence yearly simply by moving across the
settlement.
Kinship
Taubuid kinship is a bilateral system in
which the individual is affiliated with relatives
of both parents, through both female and male
links. The terms used for relatives show that it
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can be classified as an Eskimo kinship arrange?
ment (Murdock 1949), as lineal relatives are
distinguished from collateral relatives, while
there is no distinction between cross and parallel
cousins. In Ego's generation, all siblings are
called ariyan (younger) or kaka (older), but there
are secondary terms of reference which separate
them by order of birth: first,turungana; second,
daga rungana; third, wayan; fourth, fagluwan;
fifth,fuyu; and sixth,bugna. Lagbe is the primary
term for cousins, regardless of sex; but if a dif?
ference between cousins is required lagbe daul
(primary cousins) refers to first cousins, lagbe
sirut (secondary cousins) or ule lagbe refers to
second cousins, and daga ule lagbe is used to
refer to all cousins beyond ule lagbe. Nephews
and nieces are called mangwai.
In the first ascending generation, father is
called mama and mother mina; all aunts are bai
and uncles mat Grandparents are distinguished
only by sex, fufuina for women and fufuama
formen; these terms also apply to siblings and
cousins of grandparents and are used as terms of
respect when addressing old men and women.
Primary terms of reference are also employed as
terms of address.
Unga and ngenge are the terms for any child,
and parents refer to their children as ku unga or
ku ngenge (my child). If a distinction must be
made between several children, then terms for
the order of their birth are used (e.g., firstborn,
second born, etc.). Fufu is the term for grand?
children and their children.
Affinal terms include nugangama (father-in
law), nugangina (mother-in-law), nugang (son?
or daughter-in-law), biras (spouses of siblings),
ifag (siblings-in-law).
While more in-depth research must be made
into the subject of kinship and descent groups,
the following is a brief description of some such
groupings. Ego's consanguineal ancestors, includ?
ing dead relatives, are referred to as fufuama
and fufuina and consanguinal descendants are
called sisiyan (children). Talanan is a nuclear or
 Pennoyer/THETAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 27
extended family living in the same house while
talafuan is a vertical descent line including
children's children (Kikuchi 1971). Ego has two
talafuan, one through his father and one through
his mother. Telagbe is the large horizontal
grouping of cousins and talyai includes a re?
ciprocal relationship between aunts, uncles,
nephews, and nieces. Other reciprocal relation?
ships include taybiras (between bai), talmanugan
(between father and son-in-law), talifagan (be?
tween ifag). Further investigationwill determine
the specific role these groupings and relationships
play in the largerkinship system.
The House
The most distinctive feature of many
Taubuid houses is the use of bark for the walls
and roof. In the Occidental Mindoro grasslands
and certain other regions where long standing
primary forest trees are lacking, the houses are
often constructed with bamboo walls and cogon
grass roofs. House construction takes place
during the times of the year when themen are
relatively unoccupied with swidden activities
(July). Although the men do most of the work,
women and children may help gather materials
such as grass and palm leaves. Throughout the
year, the men select the best wood available by
noting the location of trees and, when they are
free for a few days, theymay chop and haul logs
for future building.
Dwellings are built on piles with the floors
elevated three to five feet off the ground, and
entrance to the house is by way of a ladder. In
simple houses inwhich the occupants aremainly
a nuclear family, there are two distinct sectors
in the house: a lower floor (25-36 square feet)
containing a fireplace and a slightly higher and
larger floor where the main activities occur.
These floors are often square in shape so that the
house appears to be a rectangular, split-level
dwelling. Since the house ladder is connected to
the cooking room, passage into the house is
through this room first and then up to themain
floor.
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There are six outside posts (turuk), and often
a center post (turuk sub) separates the two floors;
in single roof dwellings this post extends all the
way to the top rafters. Ideally these are selected
from hardwood trees, which are less susceptible
to rotting or attacks by termites. These trees
include yaban (Alseodaphne malabonga (Blco.)
Kosterm.), baluk (Artocarpus ovata Blco.),
fbuyu (Litsea sp.), adame (Shorea squamata
(Turcz.) Dyer), and bolu (Litsea garciae Vid.).
In addition to the main posts, any number of
short forked sticks (sangan) may support either
the posts or the floor frames. The floors are con?
structed out of bamboo or more durable split
sticks of palm trees and tied by rattan or vine to
the floor joists (batlag). The trees preferred for
bat lag are the layag (Caryota cumingii Lodd.),
arubanga (Orania palindan (Blco.) Merr.), fawa
(Pinanga sp.), and lunang (Areca catechu Linn.);
however, less durable but readily accessible trees
like amindang (Macaranga hispada (Bl.) Muell.
Arg.) and aliasi (Leucosyke capitellata (Poir.)
Wedd.) are commonly used. The numerous batlag
are tied to two larger joists called batangan which
are placed on batugan logs tied directly to the
house posts. Logs for both of these come from
binunga (Macaranga tanarius (L.) Muell.-Arg.)
and anadyung (Trema orientalis (L.) Blume).
The circular fireplace sits on the lower floor
and ismade by tying the ends of a piece of giant
vine (Phanera integrifolia) and webbing the
bottom with smaller vines. After placing banana
leaves across thewebbing, it isfilled with soil and
permanently placed on the floor. Bundles of
rattan strips, the discards and remains from
basket weaving, make excellent kindling and a
few are kept around the house for use in restart?
ing the fire. It smolders continuously throughout
the day and night as the burning ends of the two
or three large logs (degan), which constitute a
Taubuid fire,are periodically shoved together and
new logs are added to keep the fire going. Ideally,
the degan selected are logs known for their long
burning, charcoal-like qualities. The degree of
smokelessness is also an important factor.
 28 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Favorite logs for fires are alfanga (Pometia
pinnata Forst.), bayang (Endospermum peltatum
Merr.), balatino (Diospyros discolor Willd.),
aliasi (Leucosyke capitellata (Poir.) Wedd.),
amislag (Aglaia ramosii Quis.), and amilig (Maca
ranga bicolor Muell.-Arg.); other firewood from
many trees is also used including tug (Bischofia
javanica Blume), salibukbuk (Kingiodendron
alternifolium), araganay (Cratoxylon celebium
Blume), binruy (Heynea javanica Mq.)9yanguan
(Tristania decorticata Merr.), agufit (Ficus
irisana Elm.), and daligan (Dracontomelun dao
(Blco.) Merr. and Rolfe). A long, twisted rattan
strand rope, with hardwood or balawi-bamboo
hook, hangs from a rafter beam over the fire
and is adjustable, in order to be able to keep the
pot hot at varying temperatures.
The Taubuid sleep directly on the split
bamboo floor on woven mats (fangdan) of
ulangu (Pandanus sp.) fibers, or on thick bark
mattresses made fromPentacme contorta (Vid.)
Merr. and Rolfe. Single log pillows (tangil) are
of varying sizes and lengths; a married couple
may sleep with theirheads on a single two-by-six
foot block of amilig (Macaranga bicolor Muell.
-Arg.) wood, while their children sleep on much
smaller pillows. If a marital disagreement lasts
beyond sunset, this common headrest may be
transformed into a fence. It is placed parallel
between the angry partners until the problem is
resolved.
Some houses have platform swings; a small
split bamboo floor with wooden sides is sus?
pended from the rafters and is used for napping,
or by sick people who lie there until
they
recover. Rattan hammocks are standard furniture
in most Taubuid houses and have become so
much a part of the people's life that when they
travel to a distant hamlet for a visit, they often
take a hammock with them. The hammock can
be considered a house within a house, a section
of the room where the child spends many hours
of his early life, swinging back and forth to
lullaby sounds. Indeed, the word for lullaby or
child's song famabay (from "baby hammock")
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literallymeans "for use inhammocking" and the
wooden end holder is called tangtangil after the
wooden pillow (tangtt).
During the day when the father and mother
are working, the children are watched and enter?
tained by a babysitter (tagkamato), either an
older child of the family or a child from one of
the neighboring houses. Often these babysitters
come from large families who cannot afford to
feed all their children, so one child eats and sleeps
as a tagkamato with another familywho have no
children old enough to assume the responsibility.
The tagkamato spends his/her time playing with
the children and pulling them back and forth in
the hammock. Children are not the only users of
the hammock;older people may rock for pleasure
or in conjunction with a summons to the spirits.
I have seen couples sitting in tandem on the floor
swaying back and forth as if in a hammock; this
motion has apparently become a subconscious
method of relaxation.
Since the house is a post-and-beam structure,
the walls provide little support for the roof
framework. Materials for the walls and roof are
gathered by prying huge sections of bark off large
trees like talise (Terminalia catappa L.), lawan
(Anisoptera thurifora (Blco.) Blume), uringun
(Shorea polysperma (Blco.) Merr.), sapiang
(Callophyllum blancoi PI. and Tr.), and alukba
(Sterculia philippinensis Merr.). A series of laths
consisting of small sticks for the walls and long
bamboo poles or large logs for the roof help to
keep the bark in place. In areas where storms and
high winds are frequent, the roof is fastened all
over with a network of heavy rattan vines, and
long poles are stuck into the ground at an angle
to the house and tied through the bark to the
rafters. Walls are also constructed by weaving
bamboo splits or cross-weaving palm leaves
(dario, tibanga, and farasan and layag). In a small
house there may not be any windows, and if
someone wants to look outside, he moves the
bark or pushes a temporary hole through the
palm leaves or grass. A large bark or palm leaf
door mat is suspended from the rafter beams
which lie above the entrance way; it is tied across
 Pennoyer/THETAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 29

the hole in the wall during night time or when
the house is unoccupied.
Space for storage is usually made by placing'
extra beams in the rafters and lining them with
wish to confine a pregnant or newly delivered
sow. Pig pens are also made by fencing between
the house posts so that the pig is permanently
penned under the house.

bark pads. Here the Taubuid store firewood,

unripe bananas, and tuber cuttings. Bananas are
harvested before they turn ripe and wild animals,
particularly birds and monkeys, have a chance to
steal them. They are wrapped in the banana
leaves or leaves of other treeswhich are supposed
to aid in the ripening process: amindang (Maca
ranga hispada (Bl.) Muell.-Arg.), emit (Ficus
minahassae (Teysm. and de Vr.) Miq.), uluy
(Artocarpus odoratissima Blco.), nanguya (Ficus
botryocarpa Miq.) and tied together in a loosely
plaited basket of rattan scraps.Yam roots are also
stored in simply-woven baskets until the planting
season. In the regions where the Taubuid plant
rice, seed may be stored in large bark bins
(alungkung), which lie on the floor in the corner
of the house, or in bamboo tubes placed across
the rafter beams. Small, A-frame granaries are
constructed on the tall stumps of trees and
equipped with rat guards. These are common
among the Taubuid near Sablayan, Occidental
Mindoro. In most houses additional storage
space is created by placing items in baskets which
are fastened to the walls or suspended from the
ceiling. Hanging over the outside walls are loosely
woven baskets lined with palm leaves; these are
the chickens' laying baskets. Empty halves of egg
shells are placed above the baskets as charms to
induce continual egg production.
Ladders (talangtang) or log stairways (agdari)
provide access to the house. Ladders may be
made of bamboo with three or four rungs tied at
each end between two long poles. Old house
posts are often recycled into crude stairways
consisting of two notched logs rising at an angle
of about 30? to 40? alongside the house. If the
dwelling is on a slope, a combination of the two
is constructed: a stairway leading up to the
ladder.
A fence of short,upright logs is setup around
the house at a short distance when the people
Twenty or thirty feet away from the dwell?
ing, in the small shrub and grass area of the house
clearing, the Taubuid build their "outhouses"
a log raised two or
(alangan). These consist of
three feet off the ground to squat on and a higher
rail to hold on to while squatting on the log.
Subsistence and Cultigens
The Taubuid are shifting cultivators prac?
ticing a system of food production which follows
an annual cycle of clearing and burning the land
in preparation for planting. After two years'
use, the plot lies fallow for five to ten years,
while the people cultivate other plots in system?
atic rotation. Although root crops are the basis
of Taubuid subsistence, those in the low foothill
areas of Mindoro plant and harvest rice, mainly
as a cash crop for the purchase of outside goods
or as a seasonal substitute for sweet potatoes and
taro. Some interior groups are now planting rice
in small plots on an experimental basis or they
work as laborers in the rice fields of the Buhid
or other Taubuid who live close to swidden
cultivating lowland settlers (see Pennoyer 1976).
Rice planting is prohibited by taboo among the
central highland Taubuid, but it is questionable
if they live in an environment conducive to grain
production, anyway. Japanese stragglerswho re?
treated to the highlands afterWorld War II soon
discovered that rice will not grow at the higher
elevations, forcing them either to move to lower
mountain areas or to cultivate taro and sweet
potatoes (Conklin, personal communication).
are differences in the subsistence
There
economy among the Taubuid themselves, re?
presenting adaptations to varying climatic zones
such as Occidental Mindoro with its long drought
period and the heavy rains that fall in themonths
of June through September. In these locations,
the people may suffer periods of hunger as the
concentrated rainfall inundates the sweet potato

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 30 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
fields and causes the tubers to rot. This drives the
people to exploit the food resources of the forest
or to harvest tiny emergency plots. Seasonal
rotation between "summer" and "winter" villages
may also represent an attempt to overcome this
climatic problem. While severe flooding is detri?
mental to effective crop production, extended
drought can also hamper crop growth. Some
years ago a visitor to a dry area of Western
Mindoro observed that the Taubuid had con?
structed a bamboo pipeline to irrigate their
fields. He returned again the following year and
noted that the pipeline had been dismantled.
Perhaps it had been an experiment to increase
crop production or survive a particularly dry
period.
A more common practice is to plant near the
water source, on fields directly above the river
or paralleling the green sides of a smallmountain
stream.This is common in thewestern grasslands,
where whole mountains are covered with cogon
(Imperata) and miscanthus grasses and the only
cultivatable land consists of thin vertical strips
covered with trees and shrubs close to an often
dry stream bed. In these grasslands, I once
observed a man reclaiming land for cultivation
by digging and pulling the grass roots out of the
ground.
Sweet potato (amunti, sungut, balayang) is
the predominant root crop, but yams (ubi) and
taro (talus) are also planted in the plots and
harvested the year round. In addition to the
many naned varieties of Dioscorea alata, yams
like bed (Dioscorea bulbifera L.) and bong
(Dioscorea esculenta) are occasionally planted,
and informants report that in some mountain
areas the poisonous yam, namu (Dioscorea
hispada Dennst.), is cultivated as a food crop.
Talus (Colocasia esculenta (Linn.) Schott and
Endl.) is second to the sweet potato in terms of
quantity raised and also has several ritual uses.
The leaves may be dried and employed as a
substitute for papaya leaves or tobacco. The large
aroid Cyrtosperma merkusii (Hassk.) Schott is
grown in Occidental Mindoro, and at Safa the
Taubuid cultivate Xanthosoma violaceum Schott
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which is rapidly replacing taro in popularity
owing to its larger size and better taste.Banggak
(Amorphophallus campanulatus (Roxb.) Bl.) is
planted on a limited scale and the corms are
sliced, washed, and boiled for a long time to
reduce the stinging effect of the crystals. Cassava
(baiinguy) is also raised inmany Taubuid fields,
but it is not as popular as the sweet potato, taro,
or yam.
seventeen different varieties of edible
Over
are known to the Taubuid, as well as
bananas
two wild ones, which are not eaten because of
their numerous seeds. Many papaya (afaya) trees
grow in the swiddens, but according to the
people, these have grown from seeds spread by
the crows. No one claims ownership over the
papaya in his field, and fruit-bearing trees lining
the trail are chopped down like any other tree. In
times of plenty, papaya fruitsmay rot on the
trees. Small clumps of sugarcane (tamis or ngawe)
are tended as novelty food or for ritual use.
Pepper (lada) and ginger (rid) are not planted for
later use as condiments; their primary use is
medicinal. Squash (badu) is grown and the fruit
is boiled, the seeds roasted, and the leaves
smoked in pipes. The bottle gourd (baringan) is
planted and eaten as a vegetable and the gourd
is a favoritewater container. It has a special use
as a container for medicine and, according to
Taubuid beliefs, a curse may be sent by heating
the gourd, blowing over the top, and uttering a
chant. Cucumber (unduy), eggplant (tailing),
pigeon pea (adius), cow pea (lumabing), lima
beans (taptu), and Dolichos lablab Linn, beans
are cultivated in small amounts by some Taubuid.
In areas close to the lowlands, the castor bean is
experimentally planted and the seeds are occa?
sionally eaten. Apparently, the people are un?
aware that it contains a deadly substance, a
toxalbumin called ricin; completely harmless if
digested, this poison causes delirium and death if
it enters the blood stream (Steiner 1960: 114).
Wild products of the forest are used to
supplement the Taubuid diet and enable them to
survive during times of famine and crop failure.
Within the year, there are two seasonal periods of
 Pennoyer/THETAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 31
concentrated exploitation of wild resources.
Trapping lasts from September to January;
fishing is done during the driermonths of April
through July. These periods are longer or shorter
in some areas ofMindoro because of sub-regional
variations in climate, particularly rainfall.Fishing
is an important source of food, especially in loca?
tions close to the bigger rivers,where the fish are
larger and more plentiful. Fishing rights are as
clearly defined as the right to cultivate parcels of
land, and during the fishing season, the river
boundaries aremarked by piling stones on a large
rock. Individuals fishby using homemade goggles
and a sort of speargun using wire arrows and
powered by a large rubber band; or they simply
grab with their fingers around and under the
smaller rocks for little fish, shrimps, and crabs.
Woven fishweirs are baited with pieces of
sweet potato and designed so that the fishmay
enter, but not exit. When not in use, these are
tied with long vines and left on the stream bank
so the rising waters will not carry them away.
White rocks placed on larger rocks in the river
mark individual fish poles or traps. To the
outsider, themost impressive scenes of the season
are the gigantic fish dams (baud) the Taubuid
build, some reaching five or six feet in height,
and 30 to 40 feet in length.
These fish-dams are basically earth dams
built over a sturdy framework of wooden posts
and rails. For the latter they generally use the
long, thick trunks of the angbian tree (Cyathea
spp.), which grows along the river banks. The
earth,which provides the fillermaterial,is hauled
in large baskets from the river banks and com?
bined with reeds, small sticks, palm and fern
fronds, and moss to complete the barrier.
In the wider rivers, several such dams are
made in angled tandem starting from thewater's
edge, each succeeding one bigger in size, until
the water is diverted down a secondary bed or
run-off lane. Fish are trapped in baskets as the
water flows through them; these may be placed
at the beginning and end of the newly blocked
bed. In the absence of a natural run-off lane or
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to compensate for low water which will not flow
down the natural flood channel, the people may
construct a secondary lane. These man-made
channels may be several hundred yards long,
three feet deep and several feet across. Co?
ordinated group effort is required to move the
rocks with large pole levers and to dig the
channel.
Trees or vines that contain poison with
which to stun or kill the fish are planted near the
houses or in the swidden fields. Prior to the
coming of the missionaries at Safa, the people
planted maliabut (Denis elliptica (Roxb.) Benth)
and pounded the root in the stream as a fish
poison. Other Taubuid fish poisons include the
bark of aranag (Abarema scutifera (Blco.)
Kosterm.) and amaysa (Croton tiglium L.), the
fruitof anapla (AMzzia procera (Roxb.) Benth.),
the new leaf and bud of dalit (Fagraea ovata
Wall.), and bituin (Barringtonia asiatica (Linn.)
Kurz.).
Foods and Meals
The Taubuid eat two or threemeals a day?
an early breakfast, lunch, and late supper. When
only two meals are eaten, they usually include
yabas (11 ajn. to 2. p.m.) and yafun ("after
sunset"). A meal may consist of only a staple
starch food (boiled or roasted sweet potato, yam,
taro) or include a side dish of greens or vegetables
(papaya, sweet potato leaves, taro leaves) and
meat. Deer, pig, monkey, and civet cats are
seasonal meats. Other meat is gathered the year
round, especially in between hunting and fishing
seasons when the clearing of new fields involves
the step-by-step clearage of forest plots. During
these months, the people return home with
lizards, snails, and wood grubs. These grubs (some
three to four inches long and half an inchwide)
are chopped out of the dead logs, rottenwood
or bark of adame (Shorea squamata
Merr.),
laguan (Myristica elliptica Hook f. and Thomas
var. Simiarum (A.D.C.) J. Sinei.), alukba (Ster
culia philippinensis Merr.), namisan (Ficus
pubinervis Bl.), malagu (Hibiscus tiliaceus L.),
 32 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
uat bangun (Gssus hastata (Mig.) Planch), and
mangkalung (Corypha elata Roxb.).
There are different classes of supplemental
foods such as "hunger food" ("we eat themwhen
we are really hungry") and snacks ("pleasure
food"), but individual likes and dislikes vary so
that what one classifies as hunger food, may be
another's steady diet or snack; a fruit eaten
consistently as a snack by one familymay be
shunned as too bitter by another. Hunger foods
usually include the roots of ansayun, urabi
bunglas, and ligayan (all Dioscorea sp.), uresbes
(Stenameris dioscoreifolia Planch.), bei (Dioscorea
esculenta L.), fanarun (Dioscorea pentaphylla
L.) and salidang (Homalomena sp.). The palm
trees dario (Arenga bipinnata Wurmb.), layag
(Caryota spp.), and mangkalung (Corypha elata
Roxb.) are important supplemental food sources
as the bud is eaten raw or cooked and starch is
produced from the pith of these palms.
In times of severe food crisis, the people
undoubtedly utilize all available wild sources
of food such as roots, tree products, wild animals,
fish, etc., and it is the combined use of these
foods that enables them to survive. This fact
became clear to me after I once watched a man
spend 45 minutes digging for a "hunger" yam
(Stenameris dioscoreifolia Planch). Excavating
a ten-by-five-foot plot, he expended a tremen?
dous amount of energy digging, rearranging the
earth and pulling on the main vine, until he
located the small tuber. In terms of energy in?
take vs. output, the bitter yam, which was later
eaten in four bites, obviously could not even
replace the amount of energy expended.
The same imbalance occurs when palm starch
is made. Palm wood is the hardest wood in the
forest and not only has the tree to be chopped
down, but it is also cut into several separate logs,
each of which must be split inhalf. Additionally,
small hardwood trees like bakwit (Ixora long
istipula Merr.) and bunglas (Tristania decorticata
Merr.) are cut down and the wood made into
mallets so that the palm pith can be pounded out
of the sections. Men do the extracting of the pith
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and the women perform the subsequent chores
of mashing and filtering the pith for its starch.
This division of labor assures that the project is
a group effort; still, for the most part, the
participants seemingly expend more energy than
they gain from the finished product and this loss
must be compensated by consumption of more
easily gathered foods. Some of these include
Ficus minahassae (Teijsm and de Fr.) Miq.
(fruit),Gnetum latifoliwn Bl. (seeds),Kobwratia
elegans Presl. (flowers), Melothria' indica L.
and Trichosanthes A.
(seeds), quinquangulata
The also be
Gray (seeds). hunger problem may
solved by eating larger amounts of edible fungi
such as Gbeoporus sp., Irpex flavus Klotz,
Polystictus affinis (Mees.) Fx.,Pleurotus porrigena
Persoon, and Auricularia auricula-judae (Linn.)
Schroet. Increased meat intake and concentrated
exploitation of seasonal resources such as the
plentiful fruits of uluy (Artocarpus odoratissima
Bl.) and pili nuts (Canarium luzonicum (Blume)
A. Gray) may also help solve the food crisis.
Pleasure or snack foods (fankamatuwanan,
from tuwa "happy") are those itemswhich adults
pick up along the trail, and which are often con?
sidered children's food. These include the
dakdak moluccanus
raspberries (Rubus L.) and
bunana (Rubus fraxinifolius Poir.), fruits of
fantain (Dillenia reifferscheidiaNaves.), nanguya
(Ficus conora Ribes.), arufe (Euphoria didyma
Blco.), anangi (Paratocarpus veneosus (Zoll and
Mor.) Becc. and arangian (Pometia pinnata
and flowers of sulfu (Pseuderantheum
Forst.),
curtatum (C. B. Clark) Merr.). Among some
Taubuid groups seeds of tigbi (Coix lachryma
jobi L.) and alkawayan (Sacciolepis insulicula
(Steud.) Ohew) are harvested and cracked open
for food. Any of these snack foods, of course,
may be gathered during periods of hunger as the
main meal.
Acutely aware of the potential wild food
resources of the forest, the Taubuid still rely
upon shifting cultivation for the major part of
their diet and particular emphasis is placed on
the sweet potato. This reliance on the sweet
potato was expressed by one young woman who
 Pennoyer/THETAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 33
said: "If we didn't have amunti, we would die."
When the supply of sweet potatoes promises to
be lower than was anticipated, the people may
say they are hungry. Even though they are
currently eating to the point of satisfaction, the
thought of a future reduction is expressed as
"being hungry".
Dependence on the root crop is accompanied
by a genuine preference or craving for sweet
potatoes. No sweet potatoes were cooked at one
feast I attended for 80 people, who stuffed them?
selves on a large pig, 20 chickens, and numerous
bowls of rice. An hour-and-a-half after the food
orgy was completed, I was surprised to hear my
companions (who were resting off the effects of
the feast) remark that they were hungry. Ten
minutes later, they began cooking a pot full of
sweet potatoes. When the potatoes were cooked,
each person ate three or four of them. A quick
survey of the hamlet revealed thatmost families
had felt "root crop hunger" and were then eating
tubers.
and Games
Toys
Tops, toy guns, bows and arrows, whirling
devices, and other toys are made by adults and
children for play and amusement. Hand spun
tops are made by pounding a short, pointed stick
through the middle of a balugu seed (Entada
phaseobides (Linn.) Merr.) or sialud fruit (Casta
nopsis sp.). A bamboo tube section with a
plunger and small hole at one end acts as a squirt
gun (famatifus, from tifus "urine"); popguns are
fashioned out of bamboo on the same principle
and loaded with small fruits of the almuk plant
(Aglaonema marantifolium Bl.). In the morning,
when the women leave for their daily work in
the fields and the men are busy at their tasks
(clearing, building, hunting), the children of the
hamlet play outside, making a great deal of noise,
laughing, shouting, and often throwing small
pieces of bamboo, which whirl and loop through
the air.The round fruitofmany plants, especially
the bright red fruits of the tabuyuk (Melothria
indica Linn.) and banana hearts are favorite toys
of the children. Play clothes are tailored out of
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banana leaves; even a hat is made by cutting
small thin strips back in the leaf stem and tying
the fibrous stem around the head.
String games similar to what is known as
"cat's cradle" are also played by the Taubuid,
mainly between a mother and her child. At Safa,
only two women knew how to play stringgames.
I have also seen an interestingpuzzle at Dalandan
made out of rattan loops and similar to some
metal ring puzzles sold in variety stores in the
United States, in which the goal is to move the
ringout of the center loop.
Wrestling is the major game played between
two opponents, usually young men, but women
may also wrestle among themselves. Competition
is intense, but seldom heated and when other
Taubuid visit a hamlet, theymay be challenged
by the local champion to a friendlymatch. There
are fourmain types of Taubuid wrestling:
1. Gagbuan: In this form of hand wrestling,
the opponents sit on the floor facing
each other with elbows on one flexed
knee. Interlocking their thumbs in a tight
hand clasp, they struggle to force the
other person over.
2. Sayangan: Wrist wrestling with same
position as above.
3. Sulftngan: Finger wrestling inwhich the
second fingersare interlocked.
4. Sukli bitis: Ankle wrestling inwhich two
opponents sit on the floor and interlock
the ankles of one foot while steadying
each other by pushing togetherwith the
other foot.
During such contests, the two wrestlers may
push, roll, and slide all over the floor, bumping
into the onlookers, who seldom take sides or
shout words of encouragement to eitherwrestler.
The contest may last up to half-an-hour as the
two change from hand to wrist, fingerand ankle
wrestling.
Music and Oral Literature
Songs (danyu) play an important part in the
daily life of the Taubuid for they are both the
 34 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
major form of entertainment and the means of
contacting the spirit world. Most are seven
syllable-line chants with a last syllable rhyme in
each line. While there are several discernible
tunes which may be applied to most danyu, the
most popular technique is to stay on the same
pitch and then rise and hold the penultimate
syllable, returning to the original pitch on the
last syllable. In the second line, the higher pitch
is used until the last three syllables, where the
performer comes down a note on each, returning
to the original pitch. This two-line, two-pitch
sequence is repeated until the end of the song. A
few songs are accompanied by motions and the
performer sways back and forth, moving his
hands in rhythmwith the song or he may lie on
the floor and "pedal" with his feet up in the air.
Danyu include songs about birds, life situa?
tions,mythical villages, and lullabys. Any danyu
may be used as a lullaby (famabay) or to pacify
or entertain a child, but there are also specific
songs for small children such as the following:
ngenge sirut taglunan
ste yap o garanugan
nansalod ke kafatan
tagmara nu glabungun
fanustus barangutan
Free translation:
Little baby with rolls of fat,
Swing here for awhile.
Iwill tie a supporting beam.
For when the big wind blows,
the vines will slip off.
Two other classes of danyu are the amban
and aluman; the amban are a kind of lullaby, but
the aluman which describe a mythical village
whose inhabitants all sinned and were killed by
thunder, are sung for everyone's enjoyment. In
some episodes, the people are naked and then
discover how to pound bark into cloth. The
primary characteristic of this village is that the
inhabitants cannot talk and must communicate
only by singing.
A large number of songs begin with sama
o sama sama. .. ("friend oh, friend, friend") and
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after the singer ends, he may be answered by
another; they sing back and forth until one ex?
hausts his repertoire. These songs deal with the
problems of everyday life and are full of
metaphors and parables (dawisan) that often
must be explained to the listeners.
Lai are chants which invoke the spirits to
heal, protect, or solve a variety of problems such
as bad weather. Musical instruments are mainly
used by the Eastern Taubuid in chanting these
hi as devices to attract and summon spirits to
the house. Jews' harps (subing) made out of
bamboo or dario palm wood, one-string guitars
(batak), nose and mouth flutes (tulali, salinggab),
bamboo and leaf drum membranes (balakdan),
and coin necklaces (dalag singku) are all classified
by the Taubuid as famasugda ("for use in causing
the arrival of) and may be employed during a
lai chant. Cow bells (giring) and brass gongs
(agang) are found only in the border areas and
are not typically Taubuid.
There is considerable variation in the music
of the Taubuid groups. At Safa, among the
Eastern Taubuid, chanting is most common,
with little variation in pitch. In fact, the people
have extreme difficulty learning the tunes of
hymns, and in singing the majority of church
songs, they simply employ their chanting tech?
niques. Missionaries have commented on the
striking difference between the Taubuid, who
have trouble learning a tune even after repeated
instruction, and the Buhid who seem to learn
much faster and harmonize without formal
instruction.When I visited theWestern Taubuid,
I was surprised to find that their tuneful songs
and techniques of sound production vividly con?
trasted with the music of the Eastern Taubuid.
The former sing (alubad) with much vibrato and
a wide vocal range often extending into falsetto.
Especially interesting is a type of humming
which, when combined with tongue rolling and
Up flicking,produces a variety of sounds.
The average Taubuid has a large repertoire
of love songs, lullabys, and other danyu and, in
addition, knows some stories usually told to the
 Pennoyer/THETAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 35
children at bedtime. These stories are called
fanulitun ('Instructions") or kuwentu, a Spanish
term borrowed recently fromTagalog.
Like many other Philippine groups, the Safa
Taubuid have no cosmogonic myths, although
they report that aman in the interior can account
for the creation of the world. Many stories
begin with the slaughter of the inhabitants of
the earthby a gianteel(?ff)or cobra(dot); the
world was subsequently repopulated through
siblings resulting from an animal-woman relation?
ship. There is also a flood story inwhich only a
few people survive as the great inundation covers
the surface of the earth, drowning most of the
inhabitants. Many of these tales are sexually
explicit and the crowd responds to the actors'
deeds with appreciative snickers and muffled
laughter. A whole series of stories center around
the misadventures ofMakadangdang, a Taubuid
of long ago, as he travels through the spiritworld
and finally returns to earth. Another large cycle
is the ama daul taleswhich describe the trials of a
family as they encounter the ama daul or the
bogeyman spirits of the forest.
Fantabug are long stories which may take
three hours to narrate. They are told only during
the hunting season when the Taubuid drive the
pigs into the traps. Other types of storiesmay be
told at any time, for amusement or instruction.
Commercial and Political Relations with
theOutside World
The forests ofMindoro are a source ofmany
products which are valued by the townspeople.
The Taubuid gather some of these desired
products for trade with neighboring settlers, or
take the items directly into the coastal market
towns, where they have established friendly
contacts with market dealers. Those living in the
more interior areas may not deal directly with
lowlanders, but bring their products to market
through middlemen (other Taubuid, Buhid,
Balaban); or one individual in the hamlet or
territorymay be made responsible for traveling
to townwith the items.
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In traditionally secluded hamlets, there is
a taboo against gathering rattan, the principal
trade product, and the people gather and process
just enough for tradingwith what they consider
necessities of life: pots, bolos, and axes.
Ornamental plants, such as the orchids
tawatawa (Grammatophy?um scriptum (linn.)
Blume or Aerides sp.), birdnest ferns lumut
(Asplenium nidus L.), hanging-club moss
rum
rumay (Lycopodium phlegmaria Linn.), and
common-club moss dafu {Lycopodium cernium
Linn.) are minor sources of cash or goods. These
are gathered in quantity from the upper branches
of large trees when they are chopped down
during the clearing stage of the swidden cycle.
Orchids are kept potted in bundles of moss and
bark until they flower; then they are taken to
the lowlands and sold as ornamental yard plants.
There are many other ornamentals, some of
which would command high prices in the flower
shops of Luzon, but these are not collected by
the Taubuid. In the absence of local demand
they are unaware of the commercial possibilities
elsewhere. Of the species of Strongylodon found
on the island, the jade vine (S. macrobotrys
Gray), with its translucent blue-green blossoms
shaped like upturned beaks, is themost beautiful.
Common plants in the rain forests of Oriental
Mindoro are the species of Medinilla (sugnud)
whose gigantic pink and dark-red trusses make
these trees and vines favorite yard plants among
the wealthy of Manila. Neither the jade vine nor
theMedinilla, which may sell for one thousand
pesos ($140) per flowering plant, is currently
collected by the Taubuid.
Another minor trade good ismanila copal,
the resin of maruruy (Agathis philippinensis
Warb.), which is used for lighting or to start
a fire by the lowlanders. The resin of this tree is
tapped and formed into large cakes and carried
on the shoulders into the lowlands.
Banana is themain cash crop of the Taubuid,
and the favorite marketable varieties include
dangdang (Musa sapientum L. var. suaveolens
(Blco.) Teo) and the cooking banana saba {Musa
 36 PHILIPPINEQUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
sapientum L. var. compressa). Upland rice is a
favorite among the coastal peoples, as it has a
better taste than their own wet rice varieties, and
in areas where the Taubuid cultivate rice it is an
important cash crop.
Additional income may come from hiring
themselves out to neighboring settlers towork in
their rice fields or to cut and haul posts for their
houses. At a hamlet near Safa, the people are
mass-producing small baskets formarket dealers
in Pinamalayan. These small, finelywoven baskets
have become prestige handbags and are currently
in vogue among the women of the town because
of the superiormanufacture and the attractiveness
of themulticolored fibers(Lygodium circinnatum
(Burm.) Swartz.). Hammocks are also made by
the Taubuid and there is a steady lowland
demand for the hammocks and baskets they
make. However, the total amount of trade be?
tween the interior Taubuid and the coastal
peoples is negligible; the exception is the Chris?
tianized Taubuid who need money for transpor?
tation to the Bible school and evangelistic trips
to the other side of the island.
The Taubuid are subject to the modern
problems which face all of theMangyan peoples
on the island of Mindoro as the ever-increasing
tide of lowland settlers pushes deeper and deeper
into their traditional lands, pasturing cattle or
cultivating upland rice, often without any regard
for the time-honored boundaries of tribal
swidden fields. Because of their fear of strangers
and their tendency of keep on retreating to
more inaccessible mountain ranges,most of the
Taubuid are not at present suffering the land
robbery and debt victimization experienced by
the neighboring tribes. Still, on the low hills
and mountain ridges near the coastal plains of
Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, immigrant
settlers are moving into the choicest lands. They
may murder the owners, or buy off the land at
ridiculously low prices through a series of clever
but dishonest legalmanuevers. In one instance, a
lowlander wanted to obtain a parcel of tribal
land which was unoccupied; however, the
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Mangyan had cultivated that land several years
ago and itwas at themoment in the fallow stage
of the swidden cycle. He knew theywould return
in a few years to cultivate it again. The lowlander
transplanted a hundred coconut sprouts on the
land. He then asked an official to certify that he
had indeed been cultivating the land foT a number
of years, as evidenced by the coconut sprouts, so
he could obtain the land legally. After the
inspection and verification, he replanted the
coconuts on his lower plantation fields. Later he
planted swidden rice in the upland field. The
man had tricked the inspector and defrauded
theMangyan of his land.
Court cases involving land disputes are
seldom won by the Mangyan even when they are
championed by Protestant missionaries or
Catholic priests. However, the Overseas Mission?
ary Fellowship is now working in close coopera?
tion with several lawyers who are donating their
time and services to the legal defense of the
Mangyan, especially where the overwhelming
problem of land titles and legal ownership is
involved.
Government concern reflected in the activi?
ties of the office of the Committee on National
Integration reached an all-time low several years
ago when itwas discovered that the head of the
Mindoro office had sold fake land titles to
hundreds of Mangyan. The criminal case dealing
with this big money scandal was thrown out of
court for "lack of evidence", even though the
prosecution had the phoney titles and the
defendant could not account for the expenditure
of the money. The culprit was later transferred
to another province. This has fostered a basic
mistrust of officials, and in recent years the
government has sought to change this attitude
by givingmassive handouts of clothes and food,
particularly in the Buhid territory.When I told
officials that I disagreed in principle with these
conscience-salving activities, they informed me
that it was only a means of "acquainting the
Mangyan with the fact that the government
exists."
 Pennoyer /THE TAUBUID OF MINDORO, PHILIPPINES 37

Since martial law, the situation has improved individuals who would like to implement self
slightly,but there are still reports of government help programs among the Mangyan and protect
men extorting small amounts ofmoney from the them from economic dominance by the im?
tribes. One official convinced the people they migrating settlers but they are the exceptions.
needed proper identification, so he collected The problem will only be solved by the enact?
several hundred pesos for a camera, then grossly ment and consistent enforcement of laws de?
overcharged them for small I.D. photos. There signed to protect the rights and wishes of the
are some genuinely concerned government Mangyan.

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