Warrior Society

Bagobos of Davao region, especially in the olden days are reputed to be fierce warriors. They are very protective about their ancestral lands and boundaries and carry a serious-like demeanor wherever they go. Being uptight about the concept of social respect, they rarely laugh or smile about especially when dealing with outsiders or foreigners. They are diplomatic however and carry about themselves an aura of ancient dignity and power. However, when situations call for a tribal war or pangayao, the Bagobos offer their ritual prayers to their war-deity called Mandarangan, and thereby asked for his protection and victory against their enemies. Mandarangan’s home is supposedly on the mount of the Apo.

Then a war party is thereby commissioned. Led by a Datu or Magani wearing his blood-red suit, young and veteran warriors hasten to the lair of their enemies. A pangayao is impelled by theft, murder or killing of a relative, breaking of a taboo, kidnapping of a wife or child or even trespass to ethnic borders.

To assure a winning outcome of the conflict, Bagobos resort to ambuscades, surprise attacks, poisons or even magic. In their weapon inventory, they have swords called palihuma, krisses, spear, bows and arrows and their kaasag or shields. Thus, the opposing tribe may have to defend themselves in a similar fashion. On occasion of obtaining slaves and women, Bagobos will even conduct hostile raids on Bilaan territories in Davao del Sur. Bilaans are also a group of people found particularly in Malita, Davao del Sur.

Bagobos have also met formidable foes in the past.
The Muslim tribes. There are ancient stories recalling of skirmishes between the Bagobos and their neighboring Muslim brothers.

Maguindanao

Bordering the Davao highlands and North Cotabato where most Bagobo territories are situated, is the landlocked region of Maguindanao. This is the home of the powerful Maguindanao Sultanate. Home of the powerful Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat. Leader of the war campaign waged against the Spanish colonial forces in the mid 1600’s. It is said that there were border skirmishes that involved both people.

In fact, in the work of Historian Heidi K. Gloria, The Bagobos: their Ethno history and Acculturation, 1987, an account was made on an encounter between the two: the Bagobos using a kind of magic as defense against the invading “Muslims”.

Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat

Thus it is quoted, “My Grandfather, Datu Gapao, used to tell me that wars were very common between the Moros and the Bagobos in the past. The Bagobos possessed knowledge of the art and craft of warfare, so that eventually the Moros gave up fighting us. As an example, one of our techniques is called “pagtangka”, a charm which is placed along the path, e.g. a river, of enemies. As soon as the Moros step on the water where the pagtangka has been placed they will begin to feel strange and would not want to travel further. Another art known to us Bagobos is that of the felling all the banana trees of the enemy with just one arrow. Still another is the “kasin”, which is spun around a surface on which a sketch of the enemy territory is drawn. Wherever the kasin falls when it stops spinning, all the Moros found in that direction will die.”

Independence and Lapu-Lapu

June 12 marks the celebration of the Philippine Independence Day. It marks the country’s freedom from the Spanish yoke.

 It is the celebration of a country, who fought gallantly against the long-standing oppression and abuses perpetuated to it by various foreign oppressors. For more than 350 years before it finally became a republic, the Philippine Islands was the pearl of many punitive expeditions from both Europe and the West.

As the world was divided between Portugal and Spain by virtue of the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, privateers and imperialist zealots of these countries raced against each other for ultimate colonial conquest. Blessed by the hand of Pope Alexander Vl, Catholic buccaneers spread far and wide in search of spices, gold and new empires.

In the Far East in 1521, the first Spanish colonizers led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan entered the Philippine Islands. With five (5) Galleons and around two hundred and fifty men (250), Magellan’s fleet sailed near Tagbilaran’s strait. Together with a Malay-speaking interpreter, Magellan was able to meet with the island’s natives and consequently a blood compact was entered into by Magellan and the Chiefs of Bohol, Sikatuna and Humabon.

 

Inset is a watchful silhouette of Lapu-lapu’s monument at Luneta, Manila

Magellan’s imperious foray into Visayan waters however, though seen as probably diplomatic by some natives, was considered as an anathema by some who had been living in Mactan. It would take the person of Lapu-Lapu, the Chieftain of Mactan, to challenge the presence of the white man from Europe.

Lapu-Lapu, a sturdy fighter and leader, was descended from the race of orang-lauts, a tribe of free men who regularly plied the routes of Visayan, Mindanao and Sulu waters for barter and exchange.

Waiting together with his men in an early morning for the arrival of the impertinent European explorer at the coast,  Mactan warriors braced themselves for the event. Brandishing with spears, bolos, knives and kampilans, Lapu-Lapu and his men waited for the inevitable.

Then, the horizon darkened.

As Magellan and his mercenarial contingent jumped off from their boats near the bay, Lapu-Lapu and his warriors descended upon Magellan’s party. Being outwitted by Lapu-Lapu that the tide was at its lowest ebb in the early morning, Magellan and his men lay helpless in the waist-deep end of Mactan Bay.

Existing historical accounts relate how a fierce battle took place between the two forces;

“There were cries and shouts of men. There were clashes of steel, the Toledo swords and Sri- Vijayan – made blades. Mactan warriors lunged and speared at their foreign counterparts. Spanish soldiers retaliated with their cutlasses and swords.  Native warriors were pitted against the hardy men of Europe. Men were locked in a historic battle. In a war of conquest and a struggle for liberation. Blood, guts and sweat was spilled everywhere.”

As men endured the fighting, it would take Lapu-Lapu’s kampilan to slay the Portuguese explorer. As old tales would have it, Lapu-Lapu cut off Magellan’s head.

As consequence, the haughty conquistador fell dead.

Then, they retreated.

Still reeling from a confused battle, Spanish soldiers faltered at the sight of their fallen leader.

From among the fifty-men who invaded Mactan, only a handful would survive Lapu-lapu’s wrath.

They returned to their docked ships at Bohol and went back thereafter, to Spain.

It would take another fifty (50) years, before Spain would launch another expedition to colonize the Maharlikan islands.

Postscript:

Lapu-lapu’s bravery in the face of armed foreign intrusion reminds us, as a nation, what we can do to protect and preserve our dignity as a race and the richness of our cultural diversity. His leadership bore the hallmark of a true Maharlikan patriot.

Though it must not always be through arms and soldiery that we may assert our collective or individual rights, circumstances today necessitate, that we must be ready to live the examples shown to us by our heroic forefathers. If only to show the youth that there is truly hope for our fatherland.

Lapu-lapu’s valorous exploits should rightfully be commemorated, along with the pantheon of heroic Katipuneros such as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and Antonio Luna during the annual celebration of this country’s independence.

In history’s eyes after all, they are all equals.