A. Review of Related Literature
There are few written accounts related to this study, either in method, purpose, or findings. With regards to method, Karl Hutterer’s analysis on the prehistoric trade in the Philippines, Joy Burrough’s study on periodic markets in Sabah, Malaysia, and Benneth Bronson’s abstract model for upstream-downstream exchange were employed in this study.
With regards to purpose, no work was purposely done to describe and analyze the ilawud-ilaya trade pattern of Agusan. Though some works like that of Erlinda Burton, Jaime Veneracion and Fernando Almeda mentioned in part the said trade pattern, not one of them had conducted any purposive study on said trade. However, their findings and that of William Henry Scott, proved to be of much help.
1.Upstream-Downstream Trade
Karl Hutterer, an archaeologist who conducted studies on Philippine Prehistoric trade, argued in his work Prehistoric Trade and the Evolution of Philippine societies: A Reconsideration, 1 that foreign trade participated by the Philippine societies ‘constituted an extremely important element in the socio-cultural evolution of Philippine societies. This foreign trade encouraged the growth of nucleated settlements along the Philippine coasts, a response to both opportunities and demands of the exchange interactions. Many of the goods demanded for exports were primarily products of rain forests, which were not directly accessible to the coastal communities. Thus, coastal populations had to enter into exchange interactions with populations of hunters and swidden agriculturist in the uplands.
To explain the dynamics of the said trade, Benet Bronson, in his work Exchange at the Upstream and downstream Ends: Notes toward a Functional Model of the Coastal State in Southeast Asia,2 proposed a functional model. This model was constructed after studying the relationships among early political, economic, and geographical systems, and surveying the archaeological reports, historical information and recent politico-economic patterns in Southeast Asia.
Joy Burrough’s study The Development of Periodic Markets in Sabah, Malaysia, 3 laid down the basic prerequisites of the development of internal trade markets. For an internal periodic market to develop there must be: (1) an interface between two contrasting environments; (2) the availability of products that would have stimulated trade. (3) groups of people who might be expected to develop highland-lowland trade; and, most importantly,(4) a long history of foreign maritime trade.
2. Ilaya-Ilawud Trade
Erlinda Burton’s work entitled The First Mass Controversy: An Analysis of Butuan and Limasawa Sites in the Light of Archaeological Finds,4 contends that the first recorded Christian mass in the Philippines was held in Masao, Butuan City. As, evidence, she cited that the archaeological finds in Butuan are consistent with the 1521 account of Antonio Pigafetta. Aside from the above contention, she proposed that Butuan traded with some settlements upstream. Archaeological finds in Butuan were similar with those in Sagunto, La Paz, Agusan del Sur. Beside La Paz, the Municipalities of Talacogon, San Luis and Esperanza in Agusan del Sur also yield archaeological materials.
Veneracion’s work, Agos ng Dugong Kayumangi 5 is a high school Philippine History textbook with a new approach to the study of Philippine History. In particular, he tried to discuss the development of Philippine settlements. He cited the Manila area, Lingayen, Cagayan, Cebu, Butuan, Cotabato and Sulu as ancient communities with advanced socio-political organizations. Most of these communities were found in the drainage of great river systems that connected them with the interior.
On the basis of archaeological and historical sources, Veneracion surmised the existence of the trade between the upstream and the downstream settlements. He specifically cited Butuan as a community enriched by this internal trade. He also noted Butuan’s international trade relations as an important factor in the intensification of this internal trade.
Almeda’s work, Story of a Province: Surigao across the Years, 6 in general, tries to reconstruct the history of Surigao, which until 1911, included Agusan and Butuan. On this ilawud-ilaya contacts, he commented, that the “movements and development of the ethnic groups clearly indicated a trend towards a unification of the people in the ilawud and ilaya.”
William Henry Scott’s Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History 7 tackled the Sino-Butuan trade based on Chinese source, Sung Shih. He described the trade to be direct and that the peoples of Butuan were the ones who went to China for trade. Scott’s “Boat Building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine society,” noted that Butuan’s balanghais or barotos were used to peddle trade products to inland settlements via the Agusan River. 8
B. Theoretical Framework
Fundamental to the study of upstream-downstream trade relations was the notion that there were two ecological zones-the coastal and the inland zones.
“The pattern in the Agusan area becomes one of downstream-upstream along the troughlike valley of the Agusan. Although there are highlands on both sides of the valley, in pre-colonial and colonial times movements of people and commerce followed the river. The upper section of the valley is poorly drained, and it gets flooded seasonally between Talacogon and Bunawan, an area of about 1,294 km² "10
These two ecological zones form two halves of a single cultural ecosystem bound together through political, economic, and cultural exchanges that came with the trade up and down the river. 11 And the more politically integrated principalities acted as superordinate powers toward the more fragmented inland tribes. This relationship is known as “negative reciprocity.”12
The findings of Burton, Veneracion, Almeda have one in common - that there was indeed an ilawud-ilaya trade relations between Butuan and Agusan settlements, particularly Sagunto in La Paz, as Burton may add. The existence of this trade was confirmed not only in archaeological and historical sources but also because of the presence of the basic prerequisites of internal trade as Joy Boenisch Burrough laid. Balanghais and barotos facilitated this trade as Scott had suggested.
Veneracion exactly adopted this scissors-and-paste of ideas as he cited in his book that Butuan, along with Cebu, Manila, Cotabato, Sulu, Lingayen and Cagayan, was once a settlement, which flourished through ilawud-ilaya trade.
Bennet Bronson proposed an abstract model for exchange at the upstream and downstream ends. The diagram of such system is as follows:
The model focuses on a single hypothetical class of ancient exchange networks, one which involves the control of a drainage basin opening to the sea by a center located at or near the mouth of that basin’s major river. It contains these elements:
A, the center at the river mouth;
B and C, second- and third- order centers located upstream and at primary and secondary river junctions;
D, the most distant upstream center to participate in the A-based system of market exchange and the initial concentration point for products originating in more remote parts of the watershed;
E and F, the ultimate producers of these products and perhaps centers on a separate exchange system based on non-market institutions, involving goods only parts of which come from or go to the market system centered on A;
X, an overseas center which serves as the main consumer of goods exported from A and the principal supplier of its imports; and
A, another river-mouth center some distance along the coast, controlling a hinterland similar to that of A. 13
C. Definition of Terms
Agusan Manobos. A small dark-skinned people, member of the Indonesian subfamily of Austronesians. They inhabited the highland plains, intermontane valleys, and hinterlands of Agusan del Sur. Some of them can be found along the hills of some towns of Agusan del Norte. 14 Negrito blood admixtures can be observed among the Agusanon Manobos. 15 They were short, dark and do have shorter noses. 16 [<Manobo Agusanon, Agusan people + Manobo, river dweller] 17.
Balanghai. A large wooden edge-pegged plank-built boats constructed on a keel. It is the oldest known pre-European watercraft found in the Philippines. Dating to the 4th and 13th centuries A.D., these Balanghai’s average 15 meters in length and 3 meters in width. It is similar to the Samal-Badjao type of boat. 18 [<Old Cebuano Balanghai, large boat] 19
Baroto. A dugout canoe. Common barotos are with woven sawali (wooden support) sides coated with beeswax or almaciga sap and without outriggers. It was what the Spaniards called canoa. 20 [<Old Cebuano boloto, small boat] 21
Downstream. In the direction of the flow of current or a stream; down the stream. 22
Foreign Maritime Trade. The trading interactions between the Philippine societies and the traders from Asia and Southeast Asia. 23
Ilawud. Downstream 24 or the direction towards the sea. 25
Ilaya. Upstream, the sources of the rivers. 26 It is the direction towards the mountain 27 or interior farmlands. 28
Lapaknon Manobos. A small light skinned-people, who inhabited the swampy estuarine areas north of Butuan especially Suatan, Ambangan and Masao. 29 They were tall, athletic built, slightly curled hair, 30 and well-developed height in forehead, which were Malayan characteristics. 31 [<Butuan lapak, mudflat 32 + Manobo river dweller 33]
Upstream. Toward the upper part of a stream; against the current; toward or at a place nearer the source or situated or occurring thereon. 34
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1 Karl L. Hutterer, “Prehistoric Trade and the Evolution of Philippine Societies: A Reconsideration,” Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspective from Prehistory, History and Ethnography (U.S.A.: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 1978)pp.177-196.
2 Bennet Bronson, “Exchange at the Upstream and Downstream Ends: Notes toward a Functional Model of the Coastal State in Southeast Asia,” Economic Exchange and Social interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspective from Prehistory, History and Ethnography (U.S.A.: Center for South and Southeast Asian studies, University of Michigan, 1978)p.39-52.
3 Joy B.Burrough, “The Development of Periodic Market in Sabah, Malaysia,” Sabah Society Journal,vol.6 (1975-1976)p.23.
4 Erlinda M. Burton, “The First Mass Controversy. An Analysis of Butuan and Limasawa Sites In the Light of Archaeological Finds,” Butuan the First Kingdom, Sonia Zaide (ed), (Butuan City. Artop Printing House, 1990).
5 Jaime B. Veneracion, Agos ng Dugong Kayumangi (Quezon City. Abiva Publishing House, inc., 1990) pp.43-44, 46.
6 Fernando A. Almeda, Jr. Story of a Province Surigao Across The Years (Quezon City: Philippine National Historical Society and Heritage publishing House, 1993)p.49.
7 William Henry Scott, Prehispanic Source Materials For the Study of Philippine History (Quezon City. New Day Publisher, 1984) pp.66-67 and 137.
8 William Henry Scott, “Boat building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine Society,” Anthropological Papers, No. 9 (1981) p. 23.
9 Eric S. Casiño, The Filipino Nation, The Philippines: Lands and Peoples, A Cultural Geography (USA: Grolier International Philippines, Inc., 1982) pp. 194-195.
10 ibid.
11 Eric S. Casiño, The Jama Mapun: A Changing Samal Society in the Southern Philippines (Quezon City. Ateneo de Manila Press, 1976) p. 11
12 Marshall D. Sahlins, The Relevance of Models for Social Anthropology (London: Tavistock Publications, 1965), p.148.
13 Benneth Bronson, “Exchange at the upstream and Downstream Ends: Notes toward a Functional Model of the Coastal State in Southeast Asia,” Economic Exchange and Social interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspective from Prehistory, History and Ethnography (USA: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan,1978)p.43.
14 Dionisio L. Yumo, “Power Politics of Southrn Agusan Manobo,” Mindanao Journal,Vol.15. Nos.1-4 (1988-1989) pp.4-5.
15 The Report of the Philippine Commission (1901) , 353.
16 Joseph Montano, “Voyage aux Philippines et Malaisie,” Peter Screurs, (trans), Kinaadman, Vol. 5 (1983) p. 323.
17 Dionisio L. Yumo, “Power Politics of Southern Agusan Manobo,” Mindanao Journal Vol.15, Nos.1-4, (1988-1989)p.3. Also Rosario C. Lucero, “Agusan Manobo” CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts, Vol. I, A-J, (Manila: Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, 1994) p.40.
18 Butuan Regional Museum, Do it yourself Guide (Butuan City. Butuan Regional Museum) p.10.
19 "Words of those Heathen People (in Zubu),” In Antonio Pigaffeta’s “First Voyage Around the World,” Blair and Robertson, Vol.33. p.197.
20 William Henry Scott, “Boat Building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine society,” Anthropological Papers No. 9 (1981) p.23.
21 "Words of those Heathen people, (in Zubu),” in Antonio Pigafetta’s “First voyage Around the World,” Blaire And Robertson, Vol.33, p.197.
22 Webster Comprehensive Dictionary, International Edition (1987).
23 Karl L. Hutterer (ed.), Economic Exchange and Social interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspective from Prehistory, History and Ethnography (USA: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, 1978) p.13.
24 Fernando A. Almeda, Jr. Story of a Province Surigao Across the Years (Quezon City: Philippine National Historical Society and Heritage Pblishing House, 1993)p.45.
25 Ferdinand E. Marcos, Tadhana the History of the Filipino People, Vol.2, part.1 (Manila:Ferdinand E. Marcos, 1976) p.330.
26 Francisco Colin, “Native Races and Their Customs,” Blaire and Robertson, Vol.40, pp.45-47.
27 Marcos, oρ. cit.
28 Almeda, op. cit.
29 Erlinda M. Burton, “Settlement and Burial Sites in Butuan City. A Preliminary Report.” Philippine Studies, Vol.25 (1977)pp.97-98. Also, Angel P. Bautista, “Archaeological Report on the Luna and Torralba Sites, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte,” National Museum Papers, Vol.1 (1990) p.7.
30 The Report of the Philippine Commission (1901), 353.
31 Joseph Montano, “Voyage aux Philippines et Malaisie,” Peter Screurs (trans.), Kinaadman vol.5 ( 1983) p. 323.
32 Erlinda M. Burton, “Remains of Lost Tribe Dug Up,” Times Journal, Vol.5, No. 54 (1976) p.11.
33 Pablo Pastells, Letter to Father Provincial Juan Capelle, Manila, 20 April 1887,” Blaire and Robertson, Vol.43,p.276.
34 Webster Comprehensive Dictionary, International Edition (1987).
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