Sri Visaya and the Legend of the 10 Datus

Sri Visaya and the Legend of the 10 Datus
(By: Dr.Jose Palu-ay Dacudao-INM: Butuan City, Philippines)

“Ice had formed ahead of them, and it reached all the way to the sky. The people could not cross it… A Raven flew up and struck the ice and cracked it. Coyote said, “These small people can’t get across the ice.” Another Raven flew up again and cracked the ice again. Coyote said, “Try again.” Raven flew up again and broke the ice. The people ran across.”

(A Legend of the Paiute ethnic people, describing a time more than 10,000 years ago when their ancestors braved the glaciers of the ice age as they traveled from Asia to America.)

I was just reading an article on Russian History. The Russians start their story at their roots as a Slavic ethnic people during pre- Christian times, inhabiting Eastern Europe . The eastern Slavic tribes were eventually organized by Scandinavian traders called Varangians or Rus (from where Russians took their ethnic name) into a single state in the 800s. These Rus established the ruling House of Ryurik around that time. In 882 AD, Kiev and Novgorod (the two main Eastern Slavic principalities) were united as the state of Kievan Rus under a single ruler from the house of Ryurik. In 980 Vladimir I (son of Svyatoslav, a warrior king who spent his entire life conquering and expanding Kievan Rus) became ruler. Eight years later he converted to Orthodox Christianity and made Orthodoxy the official religion of Kievan Rus. The Church of the Rus used Slavonic (the language of the Slavs as it was known then) in its liturgy. The present-day Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian nations trace their ethnic and political lineage to the Kievan Rus.

Notice that the Russians always start at their origins as an ethnic people, speaking a distinct language. So do practically all nations and nationalities today. If so, there is something grossly askew with the way history is being taught in Philippine schools..

As told in all Philippine schools by the Manila-based Educational curriculum:

NOTHING whatever is mentioned of the origins of the ethnic peoples of the Philippines .

The Russians clearly know that they are a Slavic people, defined by a Slavic language, and a distinct history.. What do we Visayans know of our ethnic origins? Mostly NOTHING, but it’s not our fault because our Educational system is controlled by Tagalista Institutions and individuals who mostly tell THEIR story, which naturally tends to be a Tagalog story, with Tagalog heroes and movements. OUR fault is that we take this propaganda standing down, when we should be telling the story of our people to our children from OUR point of view.

The usual tale (as told by Manila-based institutions) of the Philippines starts when the Portugese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, under the auspices of the Spanish Government, ‘discovered’ the Philippines in 1521. The Tagalogs then were simply ‘taga-ilog’ or literally ‘people living by the river’.

This is not so with the Visayans.

In disinterested sources, the first polity that is always mentioned as having influence in what today is called the Philippines is always the SRI VISAYA Empire. For instance, regarding the only major polity that affected pre-Spanish Philippines , the Encyclopedia Encarta, says:

“By the 12th century ad the powerful Sumatra-based Malay kingdom of Sri Vijaya had extended its considerable influence to the Philippines .”

Present day Visayan languages have practically dropped the phonemes ‘v’ and ‘j’ and so we would pronounce ‘Sri-Vijaya or ‘Shri-Vishaya’ (as written in literature) as ‘siri-bisaya’.

From the Cappeller Sanskrit English Dictionary [

Entry viSaya

Meaning m. reach, sphere, domain, province, country; the right place for (gen.);

‘Sri’ or ‘Shri’ is a Hindu-Budhist Indian honorific. Kabisayaan then literally means ‘Our Country’. To speak ‘Binisaya’ means speaking our own language. ‘Bisaya nga manok’ means native chicken.

What was the Sri Visayan Empire? If one were to surf the internet, one would quickly discover that the Sri Visaya was the longest living Empire in history, outlasting even the Roman Empire in its longevity. It had its origins in the 400s (possibly even as early as 200 AD) and died out in the 1300s. Our neighbors in Indonesia , Malaysia , and Brunei seem to be making capital out of this fact, and seem to be presenting themselves to the world community as the direct political and cultural descendants of longest Empire the world has ever known.

The Sri Visayan rulers were converted to Buddhism early in their history. (There are indications that Buddhism mostly stayed as a court religion, with most ordinary citizens remaining animists, and even much of the nobility seemed to have been interested in Buddhism more for its magical aspects rather then its theological message.) Practically all culturally advanced artifacts dug up in Archipelagic Asia more than a thousand years ago have something to do with the Sri Visaya. Its culture included impressive iron, glass, and dyed fabric technology. A culture that could produce iron implements is definitely not a pushover. The lifeblood of this Empire was the sea-based Persian trade route (the alternative trade route to the land-based Silk Route used by the famous explorer Marc Polo) between Europe and China , and its boat-making technology, which was a necessity in this trade, allowed it to span across the islands of Archipelagic Asia. At its peak, Sri Visaya had an army of 20,000, which could be regarded as small for its status, but then again Sri Visaya was fundamentally a tolerant economic Empire. It was multilingual, and allowed much autonomy for its component principalities, which might be one of the reasons why it lasted so long. (Pro-Federal readers who always argue for autonomy for the LGU’s should take heart in this.)

The Panay Atis may actually have a cultural memory of the Visayans’ arrival. One of the Ati sayings, describing a time when the Visayans still had not arrived in the Philipipines, goes as follows:

“Gurang tamon sa Bisaya,
Labi pa sa Katsila.”

As a matter of fact, we Ilonggo Visayans ourselves have a cultural memory of our ethnic ancestors’ arrival in the Visayas, in the often told tale of the 10 datus. As in all legends, this is just a legend and most disinterested archaeologists would concur that one should not take it too literally. However as with many legends, it is based on fact. Chinese Ming dynasty records (the Chinese were naturally friendly with the Sri Visayans who were their business partners) tell of mass migrations by Sri-Visayan datus fleeing from war-torn Sri-Visaya at its end in the 1300s, coinciding with the timeline of the legend of the 10 datus.

One of the versions of the legend of the 10 datus starts with civil strife in the troubled Sri-Visayan principality of Brunei Borneo just after the fall of the Empire in the 1300s. Sultan Makatunaw of Borneo proved to be such a tyrant that 10 of the nobility fled Borneo together with their clans in the giant outrigger boats typical of the seafaring Sri-Visayan culture, boats known to us as Balanghais, or Baranggays, or Biniray. (The mostly land-bound Chinese apparently had some respect for these boats, as they mention them in their records, as the boats of their Sri-Visayan business partners in the Persian trade.)

The 10 Bornean datus (among them Puti, Sumakwel, Dumangsil, Lubay, Balakasusa, Bangkaya, Paiburong, Dumalogdog), along with other personalities, to make the long legend short, arrived in Panay island, and then bought the whole island from the Ati Chief Marikudo with a golden necklace (upon the insistence of Marikudo’s wife Maniwantiwan) .

Perhaps every normal Ilonggo child grows up knowing that the Atis sold Panay to the Bisaya for a golden necklace. It is a living legend, one that is taught in homes and not in schools.

In actuality, Balanghais and other Sri-Visayan artifacts such as the golden tiara (not a golden salakot) have been dug up in Butuan, that indicate that Sri-Visaya had a presence in what today is the Philippines as far back as the 900s. Since the Philippines was directly in the trade route between the Sri Visayan capital of Palembang Sumatra and China , the Sri Visayans had to establish some kind of presence here, as indicated by such artifacts. Near the end of the Empire, the waves of Visayan migrations are remembered in our culture with legends such as the 10 datus (and officially in Ming Dynasty records).

While not literally accurate, and while these early Visayan migrants must have intermarried with other peoples, the legend carries a kernel of truth that we Visayans should be aware of:

That our ethnic identity is directly derived from the peoples of the great Sri-Visayan Empire, the longest lasting Empire in the world. We actually carry its name, passed on to us present-day Visayans for generations spanning more than a thousand years! Few ethnic peoples could boast of such a claim.

Let us do our ethnic ancestors proud!

After all these years we Visayans still carry the ethnic identity of this Empire. We are not told of this in our schools, controlled by Manila-based institutions, yet every child growing up in the Visayas and most parts of Mindanao is still imbibed with the ethnic identity of being ‘Bisaya’ for as long as he or she speaks one of the Visayan languages.

Next time someone from Manila or a Tagalista or plain ‘Taga-Ilog’ degrades our languages, culture, and identity, or insists on us speaking their language as it is in their opinion the ‘national language’, remember that. We Visayans had a long and glorious history beginning more than a thousand years before Magellan ever set foot here.

Mga Kasimanwa, do teach our Visayan languages to our children at home so that they will grow up as Visayans, and let us always lobby for the formal teaching of our languages in our schools!

MESSAGE FROM BANGKOK, THAILAND

Saturday, 05 September 2009

FASTLANES: Rizal’s Tasio on Noynoy
(by BenCyrus G. Ellorin)

BANGKOK, Thailand (MindaNews/04 September)– “I honor the father on account of the son and not the son on account of the father.” - Jose Rizal in Noli Me Tangere, Chapter 14, English translation by Charles Derbyshire, 1912. The shallowness in our appreciation and analysis of social realities especially in the realm of politics is already synonymous to absurdity.

It betrays the Philippines’ glorious moments like when it won the revolution for independence against 333 years of Spanish Colonialism more than a hundred years ago and when we started the tide of bloodless regime changes all over the world with the People’s Power Revolution that toppled the diabolic dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

This shallowness may bespeak of our inferior social analysis skills to the point that it insults the profundity of the inspirations and sacrifices of Ninoy and Cory Aquino, two beacons of struggle for democracy.

I don’t know if it is lack of imagination or evil idolatry that is behind this looming movement to thrust Noynoy Aquino, Ninoy’s and Cory’s only son to run for President.

In light of the present circus in Philippine politics more than 120 years after the publication of the Dr. Jose Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere (Social Cancer), it may be fitting to revisit even just a chapter of the book, Chapter 14.

Tasio or Don Anastasio is an important character in Noli Me Tangere. He is an intelligent person coming from a rich family turned cynical by his frustrations over the rotteness of the country under Spain. His character gave scathing and accurate commentaries on the excesses and decadence of the theocratic Spanish colonial government.

Rizal’s creation of the character of Tasio is thought provoking and may provide some wisdom as we near the 2010 elections.

In one scene, a merry Tasio got a sarcastic remark from the Gobernadorcillo.

“The storm? Are you thinking of taking a bath?” said the Gobernadorcillo.

To which Tasio replied: “A bath? Not a bad idea, especially when one has just stumbled over some trash.”

The cynical Tasio was actually in “merry mood” as he was looking for something better like a storm which will bring “thunderbolts that will kill people and burn down houses.”

Throughout the book Rizal played magically with ironies and paradox and that scene was a paradox about the country under Spain. That it was in a worst situation than being hit by a vicious storm. It could also be the expression of exasperation “matamaan ka sana ng kidlat,” “makilatan ka unta” (may you be hit by lighting).

Tasio’s conversation with two sakristans (altar boys) who were later prominently portrayed by Rizal in the novel as Crispin and Basilio, children of the destitute mother Sisa is a livid commentary on the sufferings of Inang Bayan (Motherland) under the Spanish cross and sword.

What caught me as most fitting for our political situation and political exercises (in futility, I hope not) was Tasio’s conversation with Dona Teodora Vina about the arrival of Crisostomo Ibarra, son of the Don Rafael, a respectable elite who died after unjustly put behind bars at the behest of the vile friar Padre Damaso.

In a stirring rebuke to hypocritical sympathies and patronage, Tasio made it clear that he was not at all excited with the arrival of the son of Don Rafael, even as held the elder Ibarra in very high esteem.

“Ya Saba V., Senora, que no soy partidario de la monarquia hereditaria... honro al padre por el hijo pero no al hijo por el padre. Que cada uno reciba el premio el castigo por sus obras no por las de los otros.” (“But, madam, I am not a believer in hereditary monarchy. I honor the father on account of the son and not the son on account of the father. I believe that each one should receive the reward or punishment for his own deeds, not for those of another.”)

I have observed Noynoy at close range both in the August Hall of Congress and in meetings during the Congressional hearings of the second Impeachment of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as one of the citizen complainants of the 2006 complaint. To be clear about it, Noynoy is not a bad politician, neither can he be considered as a brilliant one. If that episode in our history is to be a measure, he paled in comparison to young oppositionists like Chiz Escudero and Alan Peter Cayetano, and even to the shouting TG Guingona.

We can go further, and a check with his lawmaking performance in the House of Representatives and now in the Senate wouldn’t make anyone grin with excitement either. Without the shining stars of his venerable parents Ninoy and Cory, Noynoy is a lackluster politician.

There are already many bugheads in the presidentiable list, the addition of another lackluster politician may not be comforting and not at all compelling.

With the country’s current unemployment rate at more than 30%, many Filipinos are hopelessly wandering in the streets or have chosen to abandon ship and find greener pastures elsewhere in the world as opportunity for upward social mobility seems to be exclusively franchised to the scions of the elites.

Thus the challenge for the 2010 elections if genuine political change is to be attained is for it to transcend patronage and transactional politics. It should be beyond entertainment and idolatrous hero worship.

There are many out there who have by far shown genuine vision and solid plans for the country but are not considered as mainstream to Philippines politics. They are definitely what we need now.

Otherwise, more than 120 years after Noli Me Tangere we as a nation is still a caricature of that distraught and destitute mother Sisa frantically shouting “Crispin! Basilio!” in some mortifying talent show of a barrio beauty pageant somewhere.

(Thanks! Segunda del Mar -INM WashingtonDC for forwarding this message)

Stop Coal Plants ... Or Else!

STOP COAL PLANTS ... OR ELSE!

EPITAPH OF ILOILO
(Ni Agurang Rebohan - Abril 3, 2008)

Here, lies Iloilo, where once a cheerful, charming and creative people lived enjoying its bountiful natural resources.

The beauty of iloilo slowly and painfully faded away. The rich blue color of the waters turned black, the fresh air became poisonous, the crops and delightful marine sanctuaries were destroyed, and the once rich agricultural lands lay parched and bare.

It was two decades ago, that the City government allowed Panay Power Corporaton - Metro Bank to install the coal fired power plants in Iloilo City. They said that it was "for the betterment and progress of Iloilo" because coal power plants will address electricity shortages, lower the cost of electricity and bring in investment to Iloilo. Investments came but more on the pollutive types with strip mining at the forefront in Guimaras and Northern Iloilo.

When the coal power plants started operations, seawater immediately intruded in the aquifiers causing severe water crises in Metro Iloilo. Fishponds made unproductive with ash falls, fish fries became scarce and fish catch suffered when the seawater around the power plants heated up by about 3 degrees Celsius. Acid mists are constantrly felt in the sorrounding communities of the power plants.

The cost of electricity never went down, it even shoot up when the price of coal and freight tripled in less than 5 years. Power blackouts are now common because of problems in sourcing supply as Australia and Indonesia drastically cut their coal exports.

Seawater rose and much of the City is constantly inundated with dengue and other vector borne diseases claiming thousand of lives evey year. Climate has been unpredictable with heavy rainfall causing flashfloods and landslides and ultra-strong typhoons damaging homes and infrastructures.

Health advisories have been issued against eating fish, seashells and other marine products because of high levels of mercury, lead and other heavy metals contamination. Cancer, heart and lung ailments are now widespread with early and unexplained death common to every family in Iloilo. Children are observed with learning disabilities and psychiatric problems rampant.

Woe to the generation that allowed the establishment of the coal-fired power plants, why did they allow this monstrosity to happen? Why were their leaders so selfish and uncaring that they sacrificed Iloilo to ruthless growth?

Here lies Iloilo, abandoned and forgotten. A once proud and noble people but their leaders have forsaken them.
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Remarks!
Hi! Melvin, due to senior intellectual interlude I must have inadvertently over-looked posting this item of April last year while in Iloilo. My apologies! --- agurang dinggol.d~~~

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Message from Bago City, Negros Occidental-Philippines

From: jimmy araneta
Subject: [aranetaclan] The DIFFERENCE!! !!
Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 4:38 AM

The DIFFERENCE!! !!

Here is a good article sent by Dr. Arsenio Martin of Fort Arthur , Texas ...
Enjoy reading.

THE DIFFERENCE
The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the age of the country:

This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt , that are more than 2000 years old, but are poor.

On the other hand, Canada , Australia & New Zealand , that 150 years ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries, and are rich.

The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the available natural resources.

Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy. The country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw materials from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.

Another example is Switzerland , which does not plant cocoa but has the best chocolate in the world. In its little territory they raise animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they produce dairy products of the best quality! It is a small country that transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the world's strongest, safest place. Or Finland a small country with small population who is known the world over as the maker of the cellphone brand NOKIA
Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual difference.
Race or skin color are also not important: immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the productive power in rich European countries.
What is the difference then? The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by the education & the culture & flawed tradition.

On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries, we find that the great majority follow the following principles in their lives:
1. Honesty, as a basic principle.
2. Integrity.
3. Responsibility.
4. Respect to the laws & rules.
5. Respect for the rights of others
6. Creativity & Work ethics.
7. Strive for savings & investment.
8. Will of super action.
9. Punctuality.
10. and of course...Discipline

In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in their daily life.

The Philippines is not poor because we lack natural resources or because nature was cruel to us. In fact, we are supposedly rich in natural resources.

We are poor because we lack the correct attitude. We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles of rich & developed societies.

If you do not forward this message nothing will happen to you. Your pet will not die, you will not be fired, you will not have bad luck for seven years, and also, you will not get sick or go hungry.
But those may happen because of your lack of discipline & laziness,
your love for intrigue and politics, your indifference to saving for the future, your stubborn attitude.
If you love your country, let this message circulate so that many Filipinos could reflect about this, & CHANGE, ACT!

Jimmy Araneta
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Reaction:

Salamat! Primo Jimmy, for transmitting this article "The Difference !!!!".

Excerpted: "...What is the difference then? The difference is the attitude of the people, framed along the years by the education & the culture & flawed tradition... ."
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Here's a portion of "Huwag Magpakatuta! !" published on October 1, 2007 in "Ang Pungsod Ilonggo" newsletter of the Ilonggo Nation Movement at www.ilonggoNation. blogspot. com that is relevant to the issue at hand;

" ...In recent history many Illustrados and scholars were housed, hosted and co-opted with the "Victors" --the early Colonizers and the Imperialists who came to fulfill our Manifest Destiny. This created a group of historians, the minions or "tuta" as propagandists with blind loyalty to their former Masters.-- at least for now. The Land of the Rising Sun also almost succeeded to implant their own brand of "our" history for future Filipino generations.

Ever since these lackey’s brain washing materials were adopted in Philippine Educational System, our grade school pupils learned and sang with negative notion: "I was poorly born on the top of the mountain"; My Nipa Hut is very small and Planting Rice is never fun". We know more about the history of the American Revolution and heroes; sang the Star Spangled Banner with patriotic fervor and Dreamt of a White Christmas. Worst, we had to pay fine for speaking our very own language in school campuses. The Good Manners and Right Conduct, a seperate Subject in Elementary Classes of the yesteryears was stricken-out in school curriculum.

Engrained in the minds of students, is a history of a failed Revolution, but glamorizing exploits of the Luzon Revolucionarios or losers. While the defeat and documented formal surrender of Spain to the victorious Independent Federal Visayan Republic; and the heroic saga of the unconquered Bangsa Moro Nation in Mindanao ---are scarely, if ever mentioned in school text books and only relegated to the dustbin of history. Thus, only to become a travesty of the past and lost in the hazy twilight of our memories.

These people even have the gall to initiate ahead the construction of Magellan shrine to be revered by Filipinos while naming a grouper fish "Lapu-Lapu" -- after our foremost hero, whose statue was erected very much later.

Presently, most of us still suffer the hang-over of Magellan discovering the "Islas" and W.H. Scott converts insistence of early Malay Datus from Borneo emigration to Panay in "Maragtas" a hoax. While ancient Chinese Ming Dynasty chronicles recorded otherwise... ..."

And so, perhaps, the objectionable attitude and incomprehensible character of many of us is anchored on the systematic indoctrination that was effectively implemented sadtong mga traidor nga nagdampig sa mga naglupig sa aton mga katigulangan.

ang sa guihapon... dinggol.d~~~
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A Historical Blunder in the Heart of Iloilo City

A HISTORICAL BLUNDER IN THE HEART OF ILOILO CITY
(By: dinggol araneta divinagracia - INM Global Network - July 13, 2007)
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On December 27, 1898 - A few days after Spain's formal surrender and the Federal Republic of the Visayas based in Iloilo became independent; thus, achieved the status as a sovereign Nation --a 3,000-strong American military force led by Gen. Marcus Miller arrived in four US warships (USS: Baltimore, Boston, Concord and Petrel) to Iloilo harbor in Fort San Pedro to demand the surrender of the City.
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Several negotiations were made but the Ilonggos vehemently refused to surrender their battle scarred freedom and legitimate independence and stood their ground. On February 14, 1899 - After about a week of continued naval bombardment, American troops led by Gen. Robert Hughes landed at Fort San Pedro in Iloilo and took the City by storm. Thus; began another ilonggo war, this time against American invaders.
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(Excerpted from: The Philippine-American War as Race War; by Paul A. Kramer)
"...This point was also made at Senate hearings in 1902, when General Hughes described the burning of entire towns by advancing U.S. troops as a means of "punishment, " ---U.S Senator Rawlins inquired: "But is that within the ordinary rules of civilized warfare?" General Hughes replied succinctly: "These people are not civilized."Gen. Robert Hughes admitted he ordered the burning of villages and murder of women and children but he reasoned out that his victims were "not civilized." Describing the Filipinos in racist terms as "Chinese half-breeds" ..."
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Sa Ciudad sang Iloilo, may ara kita dira subong isa ka Barangay and a main Street very near Plaza Libertad going to Fort San Pedro, named in honor of this American Military Officer; the Barangay Gen. Robert Hughes and the Gen. Robert Hughes Street. While most Ilonggo leaders of our very own freedom fighters, who offered their lives for future generations are forgotten and do not have up to this day even just a small alley named in their honor...
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Hamak Mo Ran Banwa!!!

(N.B.  -Gen. Robert Hughes is not the eccentric American Charles Hodges who settled in Iloilo City and operated a big time lending business decades ago.)