Early Spanish conquistadores noticed that the inhabitants of the Philippine islands either preferred to live near the sea or deep in the islands’ interior. Miguel de Loarca, a member of the 1564 Legazpi expedition who later became the encomendero of Butuan, observed that:
“There are two kinds of people in this land, who, although of the same race, differ somewhat in their customs and are almost always on mutually unfriendly terms. One class includes those who live along the coast, the other class those who live near the mountains; and if peace seems to reign among them, it is because they depend upon each other for the necessities of life. The inhabitants of the mountains cannot live without fish, salt, and other articles of food, and the jars and dishes of other districts; nor on the other hand, can those of the coast live without rice and cotton of the mountains.”1
This observation was affirmed by Diego de Artieda, another member of the 1564 Legazpi expedition, who reported that generally, the coastal inhabitants were “fishermen who barter their fish and buy from those living inland, who till the soil.”2 Francisco Colin, S.J., writing in 1663, added that the coastal dwellers made use of the sea not only for fishing but also for trade between the islands as well as with other nations. The rivers were used as conduits of trade between the settlers of the lowlands and uplands.3
Advanced Philippine settlements during the pre-Spanish period were found to be participants of foreign trade, inter-island trade and ilawud-ilaya trade. Based on archaeological reports and historical accounts, historians and anthropologists cited Manila, Laguna, Sulu, Cebu, Calatagan, Butuan, Cotabato, Lingayen and Cagayan as tribal societies indulging in the above-mentioned trade systems at the advent of Spanish colonization.4
A. Butuan’s Ilawud-Ilaya Concepts During the Coming of the Spaniards (1521)
During the arrival of Magellan in Mazaua, 29 March 1521, the territorial concepts of ilawud and ilaya among the inhabitants of Agusan were clear. From Mazaua, as a point of reference, Raia Siaui pointed his territory to Magellan, saying ‘that island of his was called Butuan and Calagan.’5 With that, Raia Siaui implied that he ruled two areas-Butuan and Calagan.
Butuan, the lower part of Raia Siaui’s dominion was a geographical area downstream of Agusan River. Its domain included a settlement of the same name-Butuan, Ambangan, Suatan, Masao, Kalot, Mandacpan, Magallanes and the Agusan River delta.6 The area was known among the Manobos as Ilawud.
On the other hand, Calagan7 the upstream of Raia Siaui’s dominion was an area in the upper reaches of Agusan River. It was known among the Manobos as Ilaya, the domain of which was undetermined but did include the areas known today as Amparo, Esperanza, Talacogon, La Paz, and Bunawan.8 It also included some Manobo rancherias around talacogon and beyond Bunawan.
B. The Conduct of Trade
Merchants from mainland Asia, especially Champa (in Vietnam), Amoy (in China) and more northerly ports annually came to trade to almost every commercial port in Southeast Asia including P’u-tuan.
Inter-island trade pattern, due to lack of documentary sources, is hard to reconstruct. It is, however, certain that traders from Luzon and Borneo dropped anchor in the ilawud to trade. Legazpi’s men in 1565 met Luzon Moros trading in Butuan while Legazpi himself met Burnei (Borneo) Moros plying the sea between Butuan and Bohol. Archaeologically, pots from Bohol were found in Ambangan site, in the ilawud.
Butuan’s participation in the inter-island trade was affirmed by the excavation of the nine balanghais, wooden boats designed to sail high seas. Cecilio G. Salcedo in his work, “The Ingenious Filipino Boat,” argued that the Lapaknon Manobos and in general, the inhabitants of the Philippine islands were the retail distributors of trade wares brought by the foreign merchants.
“The ubiquitous distribution of a wide array of trade ceramics in the Philippines also serves as impressive proof of Filipino merchandising skill. After trade had been carried out with larger Chinese junks, these balangays then plied the sea routes to other remote islands. Entering small rivers, they redistributed the trade goods in exchange for native products to a larger mass of people…”13
The necessity for an internal trade was felt in the ilawud because it was visited by Chinese, Luzon, and Bornean traders who came for beeswax, tree resins, tree gums, among other forest products. Beeswax was needed for making candles and manufacturing copper and bronze wares in China. Resins and tree gums were used as incense in Chinese religious ceremonies and also for making lacquer and seal caulking boat planks.14
To cope with the demands for the forest products, the Lapaknon Manobos traded with the Agusanon Manobos in the ilaya.15 A baroto, a balangay, or a raft,16 loaded with ilawud products, sailed towards the forested interiors of Agusan, the ilaya, via the Agusan River.17
The ilawud products included locally produced wares like pieces of jewelry, daggers, earthenware, bark cloth, metal and wood implements,18 and accumulated imports through trade like tempered pots, tapestries, porcelain, silk, and other articles.19
The trade expedition towards the ilaya must be undertaken early November and ended before the heavy rains of December and January.20 the rains caused floods, which oftentimes made the Agusanon Manobos abandon their settlements. 21 It also caused the river to swell, making the trading expeditions laborious and unprofitable.
After a day’s travel, the trader would arrive at an area known today as Amparo, an interface near the Agusan River. In Amparo, Agusanon Manobos gathered beeswax to barter with earthen pots and other articles from the traders. Because of the scarcity of beeswax around Amparo, some traders allowed the Agusanon Manobos to obtain goods on debt.22 They allowed this to gain confidence from them and consequently keep the Agusan River route open.23
The next stopover was an area now known as Esperanza, near the mouth of Wawa and Ohot rivers, tributaries of the Agusan River.24 Here, the Agusanon Manobos would gather around the traders and barter some of their produce with traders’ products. Esperanza had been reported as an archaeological site, where among other things, a 21-carat gold figurine of a sitting deity believed to be from India was found.25
The trade was a backbreaking activity. The course of the river was very winding, with many sharp turns, the currents were strong and some rapids posed a real labor. It took more than four days of travel before the trader would reach what is Talacogon today,26 one of the bigger trading interfaces in the Agusan River route.
In Talacogon, Agusanon Manobos planted camote (sweet potato), gabe (yams), platanos (bananas), and other crops. Talacogon was also an important source of humay (unhusked rice) and maiz (corn).27 Besides beeswax and other forest products, Talacogon became an important stopover for food provisions and water.28
Located few kilometers upriver from Talacogon was an area now known as Sagunto, a kilometer-long plateau bordering Adgaoan River, a navigable tributary river of Agusan. Sagunto was inhabited by Agusanon Manobos, and was ruled by a bagani named Mangondo.29 He defended his people from the ikugans, the Moro slave raiders, who attacked Manobo and Mandaya settlements in Agusan and Davao via the Hijo and Agusan River headwaters in Davao and Bunawan.30 Under the leadership of Mangondo, the trade with Sagunto flourished.
Sagunto, compared to other interfaces, was an important market for porcelain wares. Salvage archaeology in the late seventies yielded porcelain wares. From the Sung (960 A.D.- 1279 A.D.) and Ming (1368 A.D.-1644 A.D.) dynasties. Gold jewelry, gold nuggets and a dagger were also found in association with human skeletons contained in wooden coffins.31 Around the plateau were hundreds of potsherds indicating a more or less dense population.32
Comparative studies would show that shards found in Sagunto were similar with those in Butuan. Except for Butuan’s Tang wares (628 A.D.- 907A.D.) and some Yuan wares (1279A.D.- 1368A.D.), which were of earlier date, all the porcelain items dug at Sagunto were similar to that of Butuan. The transfer of these porcelain wares from Butuan to Sagunto and other inhabited areas of Agusan was facilitated by the internal trade using Agusan River as the conduit.33 Beeswax and tree resins abound around areas in Sagunto, Bunawan, even beyond.
The last interface was Bunawan, where the Agusanon Manobos from Bunawan, Simulao, Maikal and Manat converged to trade.34 Although there were rice fields and few small gold mines in Bunawan, only few traders frequented it because of its distance from the ilawud.35 Eyewitnesses of the ilawud-ilaya trade estimated the trade to take almost a month to complete.36 The traders must go back to ilawud before the rainy days come in.
C. The Importance of Trade
Ilawud, being the trade intermediary, became prosperous. Ilawud royalties like Raia Siaui and Raia Culambu were eating on porcelain dishes, and were living in houses where some parts of it were made of gold. They wore embroidered silk and perfumes of storax and benzoin. Pigafetta recorded all these when they dropped anchor in Butuan.37 Rajah Lumanpaon, the 1565 king of Butuan, had told Legazpi’s men that some of his subjects have much gold while others have less. All these gave us a picture of ilawud’s prosperity under this active trading phenomena.38
The Agusanon Manobos of the ilaya (Amparo, Esperanza, Talacogon, Sagunto and Bunawan) were also benefited in this internal trading set-up. They considered the ilawud products as wealth, which consequently gave them status symbol. Ilawud products such as jars and plates were priced in terms of human slaves. These items together with gold were included in the heirloom wealth called bahandi, without which they could not command respect or exercise leadership.39
Ilawud products were important items for religious ceremonies. Porcelain jars and plates were used as containers of food and wine offerings for the gods. Slaves were also offered to gods, where the baylan represented the spirits in eating and drinking the slave’s raw heart, liver and blood.40 Pieces of jewelry, weapons and other fabricated metals were used as funerary goods,41 bride price or simply household items.
D. The Implications of the Trade
As the Filipino contacts with the outside world intensified, Filipino social organization and pattern of cultural behavior became apparent. Community life throughout the Archipelago was dominantly founded on trade and by increasing specialization in craftsmanship, as technology became more complex .42 In the ilawud, because of trade, some Lapaknon Manobos became specialized craftsmen.43
Alongside with these economic developments was the emergence of cultural homogeneity among the people from north to south. Artifacts recovered from all over the archipelago showed a common pattern of manufacture and use. This is particularly true with respect to pottery and ornaments.44 Also commonly shared was the practice of burying valuable items with the dead.45 This common sharing of cultural orientation was largely influenced and facilitated by intensive internal trade, principally between riverine and coastal communities.46
E. The Spanish Colonization (1582)
With the subsequent act of colonization, the international trade, the inter-island trade hopping among the islanders and even the internal trading systems declined. The Chinese, Borneans and Manila based Moro traders gradually stopped their trading activities. Juan Gutierres Cortes and some soldiers surveyed the area. Understudy in 1577. This survey which aimed to ‘discover the people and ascertain their number and location’ was followed up by the men of Captain Gabriel de Rivera in 1578-1579 as instructed by Governor General Francisco de Sande.47
Eventually, the inhabitants of Butuan and the neighboring scattered settlements were reduced into plaza-complex type of settlements. By 1582, Butuan became an encomienda of Guido de Lavezaris.
__________
2 Ferdinand E. Marcos, “At the Source: Peoples Upstream,” Tadhana: The History of the Filipino People (Manila: Ferdinand E. Marcos, 1976), Vol. 2, Part 1, p.330.
3 Francisco Colin, “Native Races and their Customs,” Blair and Robertson, Vol. 40, pp.45-47.
4 Jaime B. Veneracion, Agos ng Dugong Kayumangi (Quezon City. Abiva Publishing House, Inc., 1990), p. 40. See Also, Eric S. Casiño, The Filipino Nation. (USA Grolier International, Inc., 1982), Vol. 2, pp.22-27.
5 Antonio Pigafetta, “The First Voyage Around the World,” Blair and Robertson, Vol. 33, p.123.
6 History of the Balangay Sites, Diorama exhibit, Philippine National Museum, Caraga Region Branch, Butuan City.
7 Calagan was the forerunner of the old Spanish Province Caraga. It was only in the 16th century that the name Caraga was designated to comprise the entire the eastern coast of Mindanao that is from the point of La Galera to the Cape of San Agustin in the southeast. See Luis de Jesus, “General History of the Discalced Religious of St. Augustine,” Blair and Robertson, Vol.21, p.197.
8 History of the Balangay Sites, Diorama Exhibit, Philippine National Museum, Caraga Religion Branch, Butuan City.
13 Cecilio G. Salcedo, “The Ingenious Filipino Boat,” in Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People, Vol. 2 (Hong Kong: Asia Publishing Company Limited, 1998) p.218.
14 Eric S. Casiño, The Filipino Nation (USA: Grolier International Philippines Inc., 1982) p. 73.
15 Erlinda M. Burton, interview with the author, 8 November 1996.
16 Philippine boats were used mainly for four purposes-fishing, trading, waging wars, and a combination of the last two, which the Spaniards called piracy. Barotos and Balanghais were used to carry luxury cargoes like gold, slaves, and Chinese porcelain, see Scott, “Boat Building and seamanship in Classic Philippine Society,” Anthropological Papers IX (1981) p.23.
17 Erlinda M. Burton, “The First Mass Controversy. An Analysis of Butuan and Limasawa Sites in the Light of Archaeological finds,” in Butuan the first kingdom (Butuan City. Artop Printing House, 1990).
18 Erlinda M. Burton, “Settlement and Burial Sites in Butuan City. A Preliminary Report,” Philippine Studies, Vol. 25, First Quarter (1977), p.109.
19 Rodrigo de Espinosa, “Derrotero del Piloto Rodrigo de Espinosa del Discubrimiento de las Yslas del Poniente,” (From Navidad, 17 November 1564 to Bohol, 4 April 1565), in Horacio de la Costa, S.J., Readings in Philippine History (Manila: Bookmark Inc., 1966), 11-12.
20 Aniceto Beray, letter to Sr. Exmo. Capitan Grãl de estas Islas Filipinas, Talacogon, 20 June 1867: Philippine National Archives, Manila, Exp.9, Fol.180.
21 Joseph Montano, “A Rugged journey Across Tribal Mindanao One Hundred Years Ago,” Peter Schreurs, (trans), Kinaadman, Vol. 5 (1983), p.335.
22 Jose S. Arcilla, “Urios and the Bagani of Agusan, 1785-1900,” Kinaadman, Vol. 7 First Quarter (1984), p.242.
23 Joseph Montano, “A Rugged Journey Across Tribal Mindanao One Hundred years Ago,” Peter Schreurs, (trans), Kinaadman, Vol. 5 (1983), p.320.
24 op. cit. p. 235.
25 Mardonio M. Lao, “Butuan Before the Spanish Occupation: An Introduction,” Mindanao Journal, Vol. 6. nos. 2-4 (1979-1980),p.249.
26 Aniceto Beray, letter to Sr. Exmo. Capitan Grãl de estas Islas Filipinas, Talacogon, 20 June 1867: Philippine National Archive, Manila, Exp. 9, Fol. 180-180B.
27 ibid.
28 Erlinda M. Burton, Interview with the author, 8 November 1996.
29 Erlinda M. Burton, “The First Mass Controversy. An Analysis of Butuan and Limasawa Sites in the Light of Archaeological Finds,” In Butuan the First Kingdom, Sonia Zaide (ed.), (Butuan City. Artop Printing House, 1990).
30 Peter Schreurs, “The Odyssey of Bunawan and Talacogon: 1867-1879,” Kinaadman, Vol. 7, No. 1, (1985), pp. 1-2.
31 Erlinda M. Burton, “The First Mass Controversy. An Analysis of Butuan and Limasawa Sites in the Light of Archaeological Finds,” in Butuan the First Kingdom, Sonia Zaide (ed.), (Butuan City. Artop Printing House, 1990).
32 Erlinda M. Burton, interview with the Author, 8 November 1996.
33 ibid.
34 John M. Garvan, The Manobos of Mindanao (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1931).
35 Apolinario Curato, letter to Sr. Exmo. Capitan Grãl de estas Islas Filipinas, San Juan de Surigao, 20 June 1867: Philippine National Archives, Manila, Exp. 9, Fol. 185.
36 Joseph Montano, “A Rugged Journey Across Tribal Mindanao One Hundred Years Ago,” Peter Schreurs, (trans), Kinaadman Vol. 5 (1983), p.326.
37 Antonio Pigafetta, “The First Voyage Around The World,” Blair and Robertson, Vol. 33, pp.120-123.
38 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, “Relation of the Voyage to the Philippines(1564-1565),” in Gregorio F. Zaide and Sonia M. Zaide, Documentary Sources of Philippine History, Vol.2 (Manila: National Bookstore, Inc., 1990), p.9.
39 William Henry Scott, “Boat Building and Seamanship in Classic Philippine Society,” Anthropological Papers, Vol. 9 (1981) p.25.
40 Erlinda M. Burton, “The Manobo Religion and Rituals,” Kinaadman, Vol. 7 no. 1 (1985) pp. 20-21.
41 Francisco Combes, “Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Iolo y sus adyacentes,” Blair and Robertson, Vol. 40, p. 166.
42 F. Landa Jocano, Philippine Prehistory (Quezon: Philippine Center for Advanced studies, 1975) pp. 135-136.
43 Specialized Craftsmanship in the ilawud included the manufacture of glass and beads, manufacture of gold, silver and shale pieces of jewelry, manufacture of pots, and boat building. All of these have archaeological traces of workshop sites and tool implements for manufacture.
44 F. Landa Jocano, Philippine Prehistory (Quezon. Philippine Center for Advanced Studies, 1975) p.136.
45 Francisco Combes, “Historia de las Islas de Mindanao, Iolo y sus Adyacentes,’ Blair and Robertson, Vol. 40, p. 166.
46 F. Landa Jocano, Philippine Prehistory (Quezon: Philippine Center for Advanced Studies, 1975) p.136.
47 Francisco de Sande, “Captain Ribera’s Instructions,” in Expeditions to Borneo, Jolo and Mindanao, Blair and Robertson, Vol. 4, p.238.
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