The place was called “Ma-I” by Han Chinese traders, and

“Mina de Oro” (meaning "gold mine") by the Spanish.

❖ Economy is largely based on agriculture

❖ Products: fruits (citrus, bananas, lanzones,
rambutan and coconuts), grains (rice and
corn), sugarcane, peanuts, fish (catfish,
milkfish and tilapia), livestock and poultry.
❖ Logging and the mining of marble and
copper also thrive.
Mangyan man transporting coconuts.

Digging a fish pond near his home to raise

tilapia for his family.

“We do many things in order to survive,” Cora, a

mother of three, said. “If one could not be done,
we do the other,” she said, citing planting palay,
selling banana or root crops or making charcoal.

Collecting crops is a daily

activity for most all Mangyan
families.
❖ Well-organized groups
❖ There are active tribal councils that are very strict
about what visitors can enter their communities.
❖ Formal bylaws with penalties for different crimes
that are committed

❖ There are about seven different ethnic groups

living in Mindoro, collectively called the
Mangyans. However, only the ethnic group living
in the south of Mindoro claims the name
Mangyan as the descriptive title of their tribe.
❖ To stress their point, they might add the epiteth:
"Hanunuo" Mangyan, that is, a "truly, real,
genuine" Mangyan.
 ❖ traditional poetry of the Hanunuo Mangyans of Oriental
Mindoro
❖ “amba” meaning “invocation to the spirit”
❖ usually written on bamboo in the Surat Mangyan, a
centuries-old pre-Spanish script
❖ syllabic script and the ambahan poetry have
complemented each other, contributing to their
continued existence today

❖ A rhythmic poetic expression with a meter of seven

syllable lines and having rhythmic end-syllables.
❖ It is most often presented as a chant without a
determined musical pitch or accompaniment by musical
instruments.
❖ Its purpose is to express in an allegorical way, liberally
Photo Copyright: using poetic language, certain situations or certain
Renato S. Rastrollo/ NCCA characteristics referred to by the one reciting the poem.
❖ considered to be of Indic origin
❖ existence of a writing system accounts for the wealth of
literature prevalent among them.
 KAHIT BATA'Y MABAIT
SINONG DI MAIINIS
BUONG ARAW AT GABI
IRITAN D'YA'T KAGALIT
AWAYAN D'YAN SA INGGIT!

Sweet are the memories of our childhood. For the Mangyan child, it is a time of unconcern and carefreeness, even if
the child has to take his share of the family duties to the measure of his capacities.
Children, however, are the same everywhere. Romping around with their playmates, they produce a deafening noise,
often to the despair of their parents.
Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez

❖ Born in 1915 in Romblon

❖ Family moved to the barrio of Wasig in
Mindoro in 1919
❖ There he spent his youth among
farmers and fishermen, figures who
dominated his fiction.
❖ This locale had a seminal influence on
his writing:

❖ “Hunger in Barok”
❖ “Life and Death in a Mindoro Kaingin”
❖ Mindoro and Beyond
The "Life and Death in a Mindoro
Kaingin" tells of the pioneering
spirit of the kaingineros, the
struggles of husbands and wives to
work and to raise children, their
animist belief in the spirits residing
in nature, and their movement deeper
into the forest to find new clearings.
Gonzalez's stories fulfilled the
prewar thirst for realistic renditions
of the Philippine scene ("local
color").
❖ “Heart and Center of the Philippines”
❖ Ranked number 1 by the Philippine
National Police and Philippine Security
Forces as the 2013 Most Peaceful
Province of the country due to its low
crime rate statistics
❖ One of the friendliest and most
hospitable locals in the country.
❖ Home to one of the oldest religious
festival of the country, the Moriones
celebrated annually every Holy Week.
❖ a reminder of a grim past when mining
was an important industry in the island –
an industry which took a toll on its
environment and locals
Hundred of years ago, in a
kingdom far away, there lived a Not wanting to be the prize, Marina
Datu with a beautiful daughter confessed her affair with Garduke. Due
named Marina. She was a kind, to the social status of Garduke, the King
brave and an undeniably did not agree with their relationship. He
gorgeous tribe princess. The ordered Garduke to be decapitated. The
beauty of Marina was known far couple’s love for each other is so strong
and wide. Innumerable suitors that nothing could stop them even
came to woo her, but she turned death. The night before the execution
a deaf ear to them all, for she happened, Marina and Graduke sailed
had set her heart on a modest and drown themselves in the heart of the
fisherman named Garduke. ocean.
Without the knowledge of her The whole tribe grieved for the lost of
secret love affair, the king called their princess. Years passed, a heart-
for the most persistent suitors shaped island was formed in the spot
including the best warriors and where the couple was believed to be
heirs of different clans and tribe drowned. It was named “Marinduque”
to battle for the hand of his in memory of the two lovers.
daughter.
❖ January 17, 1908 – October 19, 1953;
❖ born in in Boac, Marinduque
❖ one of the foremost writers of the first generation of
Filipino English writers
❖ wrote poetry under the pseudonym “Mina Lys” which,
according to Tanlayco, had a “romantic significance,” for
the then young writer
❖ Thirty-five of her stories have recently been collected in a
single volume: Desire and Other Stories, edited by Eva V.
Kalaw (U.S.T., 2000).
She was homely. Her nose was broad and flat. Her So, she started wearing long, wide
mouth, with thick lips, was long, straight. dresses that completely disfigured her.
She turned to writing during the nights she spent all alone. She
But nature, as if ashamed of her meanness in sent her works to papers which published them. Then, through
fashioning the face, moulded a body of her writing, he met a man with white blood in his veins.
unusual beauty. The white man found it a bit difficult to associate this
homely woman with one who could write such
From her neck to her small feet, she was delightful letters. But she could talk rather well; with
perfect. Hers was a body men would gladly light vein of humor in everything she said.
have gone to hell for. And that delighted him.
And they did. Men looked at her face One day, she thought, he was such a lover of beauty in
and turned their eyes away; they any form. She desired to show him that she was not
looked at her body and were enslaved. entirely devoid of beauty. It wouldn’t do any harm;
he had learned to like her for herself.
But she hated her body. It made men At their next meeting she wore a pale rose Filipino
look at her with an unbeautiful light dress that softened the brown of her skin. His eyes
in their eyes. lighted up when they rested on her.

She wanted love, but she did “I… I… love…” he stammered after some moment,
not want that love that her as if impelled by an irresistible force.
body inspired in men. He swallowed hard.“I love…. Your body.”
 “I am sorry,” was all he said.

There was a world of regret in

the eyes she turned on him.

“For what?” she asked in a tired

voice. “You have just been
yourself… like other men.”
❖ previously called Lomlon, from a
Visayan word that describes the
practice of a hen nesting to warm
her eggs
❖ “With nearly zero crime rates,
legendary hospitable people, and
undiscovered and unspoiled
natural attractions, Romblon is the
place to be away from the stress of
the city.” (Dizon, 2014)
❖ Romblon people today: More and
more people relocated into town
because of the progression in
commerce. Many now have access
to the outside world and younger
generations slowly adapt the
contemporary lifestyle.
❖ born January 15, 1954
❖ Carlos Palanca Awardee in Literature
(Philippines)
❖ Cultural Center of the Philippines Awards for
Literature
❖ U.P. President's Award for Outstanding
Publications
❖ Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the
Philippines
 Their vehicle, along with the casket, is
stolen by notorious carnapper
"Boy Alambre.”
In the end, Soledad's casket is discovered by
A casket bearing the corpse of "Aurora V. Boy Alambre. He pushes the casket into a
Cabahug" arrives in the Ninoy Aquino murky river, but in an ironic twist of fate,
International Airport from Jeddah. the thief is taken along and drowns with the
Mysteriously identified by Jeddah authorities as corpse.
having died from drowning, she is one of 700
OFWs who return as corpses to NAIA every year.
Soledad remains as faceless as she was when
The corpse, however, is not the real Aurora she came home.
Cabahug but of her older sister, Soledad.
The real Aurora, “Rory,” learns of her sister's death
and claims the body with the help of a local police
officer.
❖ Notes in old Chinese record books
Palawan refer to as “Pa-lao-yu”, meaning
a place of bounty and safe harbor.
❖ Palawan is the largest province in the
Philippines and is home to several
indigenous ethnolinguistic groups such
as the Tagbanua, Palaw’an, Tao’t
Bato, Molbog, Batak, Agutaynen,
and Cuyonon.
❖ The discovery of the Tabon Man during
the year 1962 and the fossils found in the
cave gave way for Palawan to earn the
title “The Cradle of Philippine
Civilization”.
❖ According to Antonio Pigafetta, the
chronicler of Ferdinand Magellan, they
were able to observe the way of life of
the native people who were populating
in Palawan at that time.
The members of the Tagbanua tribe belong
to the oldest inhabitants of the island of
Palawan and the surrounding islands.

Researchers have shown that Tagbanua

people are probably descendants of the
Tabon people, who lived in the Tabon cave
thousands of years ago.
❖ Religious beliefs and rituals are based
on time-honored ancestral myths and
stories which explain the origin of their
world
❖ The existence of the spirit world
finds its explanation in myths, such as
the origin of the salakap, who used to be
on friendly terms with the Tagbanua.
 • The Tagbanua have various creation myths. One story originating from
the settlement of Baraki attributed creation to the collective acts of the deities.
It has two versions of the myth:
• First the deities made stone but the stone could not speak. Then they made
earth and the earth could speak. The earth became a human being, the
Tagbanua. Finally, the deities gave the human being the elements of fire, the
flintlike stones, iron, and tinder, as well as rice and rice wine. Now that the
people had rice wine, they could call the deities and the spirits of the dead.
• The second version is obviously a product of the blending of traditional
Tagbanua belief and Christian mythology, and was told by a masikampu from
another place:
.

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 “The creator made the first man, Adan. But he was like a stone for he
could not speak. Then the creator made earth and the man could speak.
The creator felt a deep pity for Adan, as he had no companion. One day
Adan went to sleep and when he awoke, he had a companion, Eba. Now
the couple had three children. One afternoon Adan went to sleep. As he
was only wearing his loincloth, his scrotum and penis were exposed. The
first child laughed very hard at this sight and was exceedingly impolite.
He became the father of the Tagbanua. The second child also laughed but
not so hard. He became the father of the Moros. The third child took a
blanket and carefully covered his father’s exposed parts. He became
the father of the Spaniards. This was the origin of the Tagbanua.”

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• Tutul- epic chants
• Ulit- shamanic chants
• Igum- riddles (Palawnon)
• Sudsugid- night of stories usually read and done in Kalang Banwa, or the large
meeting house; also known as sudsungit or narratives
• Tuturan- Indonesian word for story or narrative. These are myths of origin and
teachings of ancestors
• Kulial- (love songs) is a highly lyrical poem expressing passionate love sang with
the accompaniment of the kusyapi (two-stringed lute), played by a man, and
pagang (bamboo zither), played by a woman.
• Bagit-also played on the kusyapi, is strictly instrumental music depicting the
rhythms, movements and sounds of nature, birds, monkeys, snakes, chirping of
insects, rustling of leaves, the elements and the like.

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 Some known Palawan Literature includes:
1.) The Legend of the Palay,
2.) The Legend of Observing the Movements of Stars in the Sky,
3.) Bolawlaw
4.) An Enchanted Place
5.) Kudaman
6.) Mamiminbin
7.) Durus Mata
8.) Kaswakan
9.) Datuq at Panarangsangan
10.) Limbuhana

As for their religion, Palawan Highlands religion is characterized by a rather fuzzy pantheon with a Supreme
Deity, Ämpuq as well as many Masters of Things and Deities of all the components of nature. It is also
characterized by a Demonology. This religious thought is polytheist and shamanism is at its very core.

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 The myths and legends of the Tagbanuas and Pala'wans reflect
the practices in their daily living and their rituals particularly
those associated with rice growing, being their means of
livelihood.

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 Once upon a time, it is said the Salakap and the Tagbanua
decided to go fishing at sea. It was agreed that the Tagbanua
would leave some komuy, a rice dish wrapped in alimutyugan
leaves, along the trail, so that the salakap would know where to
go. But the Tagbanua decided to play a trick on their friends.

When the salakap opened the package left for them,

they found human waste instead of food, but they
were so hungry they proceeded to eat it
anyway. Having finished their meal, the salakap said
it tasted good, their flesh should even be better. And
so they decided to eat all the Tagbanua. All but one
man and woman were devoured by the salakap.

.The two were spared, provided they promised to hold a runsay

ceremony once a year. And so the salakap sailed off towards kiyabusan.
The descendants of the Tagbanua survivors have held a runsay
yearly since that time. Touched with humor, the salakap myth explains
the existence of kiyabusan, which plays a significant role in the
agricultural life cycle of clearing, planting, and harvesting.
 • Heard for the first time in May 1970, chanted continuously and taped in October 1970,
transcribed the following year, typed and corrected in 1976, finalized in 1979 after Usuy’s
death, and printed in 1983 in France and then in 1991 in the Philippines with a translation in
Filipino, the text, which is a transcription of the chant, has remained almost unchanged.
Usuy is a Filipino Babaylan. A man named Edgar B. Maranan is the one translated the
Kudaman into Filipino text.
• "Kudaman" is an epic of Palawan. It is a dramatization of nature and social life, a validation of
the beliefs, ethics, way of life to Palawan culture. The complete epic is composed of six
songs. It takes seven nights to perform the epic. The first night is used to introduce the epic;
each of the six songs takes a night to perform. The hero Kudaman appears after the
introductory chant.

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 • Nagsisimula ito sa istorya kung paano napangasawa ni Kudaman si Tuwan Putli, at
pagkaraan, ang tatlo pang asawa na nagturingang magkakapatid at nagsáma-sáma sa
isang tahanan. Sinundan ito ng pagdalo sa isang pagdiriwang ng mga Ilanun upang
manggulo. Ilang taóng naglaban si Kudaman at ang pinunòng Ilanun at sa ganitong
labanan ay nagwawagi sa dulo ang bayani upang kaibiganin ang nakalaban. Anupa’t
malimit magtapos ang mga bahagi ng tultul sa malaking inuman ng tabad, ang alak ng
Palawan, at pagkonsumo ng mahigit sandaang tapayan ng alak. Dili kayâ’y nagsisimula
ito sa malaking inuman na nauuwi sa labanan kapag nalasing ang mga panauhin. Sa
dulo ng mga nairekord na tultul, sampu na ang asawa ni Kudaman na nakatagpo sa
iba’t ibang abentura.
• Gayunman, mapapansin diumano ang taglay na hinahon at paghahangad ng
kapayapaan ni Kudaman. Maraming tagpo ng sigalot na tinatapos sa kasunduang
pangkapayapaan at pagpapasiya alinsunod sa tradisyong Palawan. Nakapalaman din
sa tultul ang mga kapaniwalaan ng Palawan at ang konsepto nilá ng sandaigdigan.

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 • In Bungsud, on November 10th, 1971, Mäsinu sung Mämiminbin,
an epic which lasted half the night. He was only twenty eight
years old. He was accompanied by Kälulut playing bäbäräk on
a small bamboo ring flute. This custom is endangered.
Characters:
• Mämiminbin, the first hero from the Highlands. • The story tells us of the quest for a wife and ideal marriage
• Balud or Putyän, the Nutmeg Pigeons, between two brothers exchanging their respective sisters.
Mämiminbin's pets and helpers.
• A mythological theme underlies this tale with the intercession
• Labit, the second hero from the Highlands., brother of Kuyäw, Grandfather Thunder, and the shamanistic cure he
of Ariq
• Ariq ni Labit, younger sister of Labit.
is going to perform.
• Upuq, the seven Thunder Brothers and Kuyäw, • The song opens as the hero departs from his house and
Grand-father leaves his pet birds to begin his long quest for a wife. He
• Thunder, Guardians of the world, the mediators of offers his seven Nutmeg Pigeons a tree covered with ripe
the middle space and helpers of Mämiminbin and
Labit. fruits.
• Ampuq ät Säraq, the Lady of Fishes, fictive sister of • The birds warn him against any violent action in his attempt
Mämiminbin and his mediator first in the maritime,
then the social space. In the end, became Labit's wife to get a wife. However, the hero is rather a anti-hero and the
• Tandayag, mythical fish, pet of the Lady of Fishes. function of the sung narrative is precisely to teach him
seemliness and to install social harmony between kins and
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potential affins.
 1.First Journey in Quest for a Wife. Warning of the Nutmeg Pigeons.
2.Encounter with the First Woman. Transgression of Prohibition.
3.A Conflict Arises Between the Two Men: Suspicion of Incest.
4.Journey towards Master Thunder in the Middle Space.
5.Mediation and Healing by Grandfather Thunder.
6.Peace is Restored between the two Heros. Their successive return to Earth.
7.Back to Peace, Harmony and Good Manners. Failure of Affinity Links.
8.Second Journey to Forget. Encounter with the Lady of Fishes
9.Journey of the Lonely Nutmeg Pigeons to Labit's House.
10.The Birds Work Wonders.
11.Labit's Aerial Journey in Search of Mämiminbin under the Guidance of the Nutmeg
Pigeons.
12.Mediation of the Lady of the Fishes and Tandayag.
14.Return Journey of the three Heros to Labit's House. Affinity links are now possible.
15. Settlement of the Conflict. Parity and Twofold Affinity Links.

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 SUFFRAGIST, CLUBWOMAN,
PHILANTHROPIST, EDITOR
FIRST WOMAN AMBASSADOR
FROM THE PHILIPPINES
(APPOINTED IN 1958)

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 • Born on March 28, 1899 and died on 1998.
• She was born on Cuyo, Palawan and was trained to be a
teacher.
• She was a beauty queen as a young woman, with the title
“Queen of the Manila Carnival” in 1924
• She was the English language editor of “The Woman’s
Outlook”, a pro-suffrage publication in the country.
• Works: “Philippine Women and the Vote” (Essay, 1931)

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 GAWAD MANLILIKHA
NATIONAL LIVING TREASURES
AWARDEE (1993)
MASTER MUSICIAN
PALAWAN STORY TELLER
EPIC CHANTER

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 • Died at the age of 70 last November 30, 2013 due to
Diabetes.
• Lived in Brooke’s Point town in Palawan, but was born
near Makagwa Valley.
• He was a skilled and proficient player of the basal (gong),
aroding (mouth harp), and babarak (ring flute). He was
also well-versed in kulilal (songs) and bagit (vocal
music), according to the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
• He could chant epics, narratives, and myths into a night
and for several nights in a row.

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 65TH DON CARLOS PALANCA
MEMORIAL AWARDEE (2015)
ONLINE WRITER AT
ASIAHERALD.COM , DEPUTY
EDITOR OF ASIA INSURANCE
REVIEW, LECTURER AT TMC
ACADEMY SINGAPORE, AND
SENIOR ANALYST AT CERULLI
ASSOCIATES ASIA
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 • First Prize in the Maikling Kwentong Pambata with her
work “Sulat sa Birhen”
• Youngest daughter of retired principal and ex-Mayor
Manuel Contreras of Cuyo, Palawan.
• Took up Bachelor of Arts in Journalism at the University
of the Philippines and graduated as Cum Laude
• Finished her Master of Mass Communication during 2006
at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore
• Other works: “Get Lucky: An Anthology” (co-editor under
Ethos Books)

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 ALSO KNOWN AS AURAEUS
SOLITO
65TH DON CARLOS PALANCA
AWARDEE (2015)
FILMMAKER

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 • He wrote “Mga Buhay na Apoy” and won under the
Dulang Ganap category in the Palanca Awards. It made a
comeback in the CCP Little Theater last October 2015.
• Graduated highschool in Philippine Science High School,
and took a degree in Theater Arts in University of the
Philippines.
• He was chosen as one of the 100 emerging film directors
from around the world that has been selected by 10
internationally prominent film festival directors.
• Other works: Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros

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