Mindanao

“ The very next day the regiment received marching orders for Mindanao.
It was her first trip to the Islands, and so her father, who had been stationed there before, decided that she should stay with an aunt of hers in Manila for a few months ... “to get a little climatic and social seasoning” as he expressed it. Later on she could come down to Mindanao and join him in cantonments.
She was very busy during the next few days, very busy and happy and contented. There were the ancient streets of the town to be explored. ”

“ ABORIGINES OF MINDANAO.
Up in the mountains, living in nearly as wild a state as when the Spanish came, we still find the aborigines. This is a word which means the first dwellers in a country. It is thought that the first people who lived in the northern islands were the Aetas, or Negritos. A 45race called the Indonesians (in dō nā ́sē äns) are the aborigines of the great island of Mindanao.
The Negritos are dying out. They are a small, timid people, with thick lips and flat noses. Their hair is like curly wool. They hunt and fight with bows and arrows, and are very quick and active. ”

“ West Mindanao is taken up by the mixed population (Arabo-Negrito-Indonesian) of pirates, Mussulman fanatics, known by the name of Moros; the east of this island being inhabited by several tribes as yet little known, such as Mandayas in the south, Bogobos in the north, etc., and the Caragas tribe of Bisaya or Vissaya. Most of these last people occupy the rest of the archipelago north of Mindanao, as far as and including the south of Masbate and Samar and Tablas islands. They are met again beside the Moros in Palawan Island between the Philippines and Borneo. ”

“ The Indonesians of Mindanao are also aborigines. The Igorrotes are a wild tribe of Luzon and the Visayas, who have from the first been enemies of Spain. The Spanish treated them cruelly and won their hatred. The civilized Filipinos are of Malay origin, and came here from the Malay Peninsula. Those who settled in Mindanao were converted to the Mohammedan faith in the twelfth or thirteenth century by Arabian missionaries; and they are called Moros. The people of the islands are broken up into many tribes, and this has hindered their becoming a united people. ”

“ Without stopping to use your pencil, you can see that Mindanao, the island where the “intractable Moros” Governor [568] Forbes speaks of live, contains about a half million people. Half of these are civilized Christians, and the other half are the wild, crudely Mohammedan Moro tribes. Above Mindanao on the above list, you behold what practically is the Philippine archipelago (except Mindanao) , viz., Luzon and the six main Visayan Islands. ”

“ But not alone the Moro sword and spear has delayed for so long the conquest of Mindanao. Deadly fevers lurk in the lowlands, the swamps and the creeks of that rich and fertile island.
The Moros appear impervious to the malaria. At all events they live and thrive in, or in close proximity to, mangrove swamp and flooded jungle. The Tagal or the Visaya is not immune, and some even resist an attack of the terrible perniciosa less than a white man. I shall never in my life forget the awful sights I witnessed in 1887 and 1892 when some native regiments returned to Manila from the war in Mindanao. ”

“ Now considering Mindanao under its social and political aspect, its population is divided into Christians, heathens, and Moros, all of whom proceed in general from the Malay, Indonesian races,21 and the indigenous or Negrito race, and from crosses of the same races among themselves and with other superior races, especially the Chinese and Spaniards. The Christians are divided into old and new. ”

“ Mindanao, next to Luzon, is the largest of the Philippines, being sixty leagues long by forty or fifty leagues broad. Its southern end is in lat. 5° 30' N. the N.W. extremity reaching to 9° 40' N. The soil is generally fertile, and its stony hills produce many kinds of trees, most of which are unknown to Europeans. The vallies are supplied with brooks and rivulets, and stored with various sorts of ever-green trees, and with rice, water-melons, plantains, bananas, guavas, nutmegs, cloves, betel-nuts, durians, jacks, or jackas, cocoa-nuts, oranges, &c. ”

“ They are all or most of them of one Religion, which is Mahometanism, and their customs and manner of living are alike. The Mindanao People, more particularly so called, are the greatest Nation in the Island, and trading by Sea with other Nations, they are therefore the more civil. I shall say but little of the rest, being less known to me, but so much as hath come to my knowledge, take as follows. ”

“ Its fathers are in charge of many conversions and parish ministries about Manila, and in the islands of Marinduc, Ybabao, Panay, Negros Island, Bohol, Leyte, Imaras, and Mindanao—all belonging to the bishopric of Zebu—and in others; all these are administered with admirable exactness, courage, thoroughness, and zeal. In all the languages spoken therein, grammars and vocabularies have been prepared. The Society has, and always has had, some very learned writers, and other members distinguished in all branches of knowledge; and it has many martyrs, not only in Xapon but in Mindanao. ”

“ If this be questioned, then let us recollect that as recently as 1897 they carried off slaves from the Visayas, a sporadic case, probably, but giving evidence that the disease of piracy is to-day merely latent. Given an opportunity, it will break out again. Under independence, the large, beautiful, and fertile island of Mindanao would be left to its own devices, would be lost to civilization. Upon this point we need have no doubt whatever. The issue of Filipino control of Mindanao was very clearly raised, when Mr. Dickinson, the late Secretary of War, visited Mindanao in August of 1910. ”

“ Fifty leagues from this island of Mindanao lies the island of Jolo, which has been given over to encomenderos these many years. It is an island where many pearls are found, and where elephants are reared. The inhabitants have a king of their own, who is a relative of the monarch of Terrenate. Neither in this island nor in that of Mindanao is there much Christian teaching; nor can there ever be, unless the people are pacified. ”

“ The same may be said of the rivers Paniguian, Ydac, Matanda, Ytanda, Tago, Ono, and Beslin—all of which have a population of about three thousand, mostly hostile.
Two attempts have been made to explore the chief river of Mindanao—the most important of the island, and from which the island of Mindanao derives its name—but with little result, for our people have been able to discover only six or seven villages. Of these villages the principal one is where the petty king lives ”

“ On other islands of the Philippines there are similar wild tribes. On the island of Paragua there are the Tagbanúa and other savage folk.
Characteristics of the Tribes of Mindanao.—In Mindanao, there are many more tribes. Three of these tribes, the Aetas, Mandaya, and Manobo, are on the eastern coast and around Mount Apo. In Western Mindanao, there is quite a large but scattered tribe called the Subanon. These people make clearings on the hillsides and support themselves by raising maize and mountain rice. ”

“ While I do not believe that any large number of Americans can be induced to settle permanently in Mindanao (and Mindanao seems to be the most inviting place) , there will be ample time to test this question while a government is being established among the Moros. It is more likely that the waste lands will be settled upon by immigrants from the northern islands and that in time the Christian Filipinos will be sufficiently numerous to control the islands, and they can then be annexed to the northern group.
The leaven of American ideas is already spreading. ”

“ This numerous tribe inhabits the western peninsula of Mindanao from Misamis to Zamboanga, except the coasts which are mostly occupied by Visayas or Moros.
They are of a darker colour and inferior in physique to the Mandayas and Montéses.
Like other races in Mindanao the Subanos are organised under dattos or baganis in a feudal system. It is said that he who has killed one enemy may wear a red head-cloth, whilst other tribes only concede this distinction to a warrior who has killed five. ”

“ Not more than a fourth of Mindanao is under Spanish rule, although by an old treaty, never enforced, Spain claimed suzerainty over all the territory subject to the Sultan of Sulu. This treaty was formally recognized at the close of the war of 1876.
In the interior of Mindanao are many fierce and savage tribes, owning allegiance to no government, controlled only by their own fierce passions.
A bagani, or man of might, is one that has won recognition by having cut off sixty heads. This entitles him to wear a scarlet turban. No one not a bagani can be a chief. ”

“ As an initial step in the program of giving new impetus to the development of Mindanao, this work will be of incalculable value to the country, since it will not only provide an overland outlet for Davao but will also open to settlement immense unoccupied areas of that island.
The time has come when we should systematically proceed with and bring about the colonization and economic development of Mindanao. A vast and rich territory with its untapped natural resources is a temptation to enterprising nations that are looking for an outlet for their excess population. ”

“ Those who exploited Mindanao with that thing, sloganeering, “go to Mindanao because it is a land of promise.” With the vast entry of so many people basically coming from the Visayas, nagkaroon tayo ng... we cannot solved it the way you want to be. You have to understand each other, then you have to live with each other, but we will try. ”

“ The Mindanao People live 3 or 4 Months of the Year on this Food for their Bread kind. The Native Indians of Teranate, and Tidore, and all the Spice Islands, have plenty of these Trees, and use them for Food in the same manner; as I have been inform’d by Mr. Caril Rofy, who is now Commander of one of the King’s Ships. He was one of our Company at this time; and being left with Captain Swan at Mindanao, went afterward to Teranate, and lived there among the Dutch a Year or two. ”

“ The present income of the government is quite insufficient to even attempt to do more than carry on its present activities. Were there no other reasons for the creation of new sources of revenue, the need of developing Mindanao alone would make it an unavoidable duty for this Assembly, especially those who visited Mindanao recently with me, are conscious, I feel sure, of our grave responsibility to encourage settlement and develop Mindanao. There are provinces in Luzon and the Visayas that are already overpopulated. ”

“ It has large fields of high productivity, yet also six of our ten poorest provinces.
The prime reason is the endless Mindanao conflict. A comprehensive peace has eluded us for half a century. But last night, differences on the tough issue of ancestral domain were resolved. Yes, there are political dynamics among the people of Mindanao. Let us sort them out with the utmost sobriety, patience and restraint. I ask Congress to act on the legislative and political reforms that will lead to a just and lasting peace during our term of office. ”

“ Dampier’s account of his sojourn in the islands is here concluded from the preceding volume. He finds the Mindanaos friendly to the English, but distrustful of the Dutch and Spaniards. They are ingenious and clever in metal-work, and with very primitive tools and appliances make excellent utensils and ship-repairs; another industry of theirs is shipbuilding. The English ship remains about a week on the southern shore of Mindanao, to wait for favorable weather, and then proceeds to the Rio Grande of Mindanao, where it arrives July 18. ”

“ The Mindanao Missions
The island of Mindanao2 is the largest of these Filipinas Islands, next to that of Manila. A great portion of it is yet to be subdued. In that part which is conquered, the Society has charge of the jurisdictions of Iligan and Zamboanga. The latter is the chief presidio of the Spaniards, where a college is in the first years of foundation, which has a rector and five priests who work in it. The villages that it instructs are as follows: The village of the natives and Lútaos3 of the same Zamboanga, who number 800 families. ”

“ They learned here, from the friar belonging to the garrison, that Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, was very fertile and productive, and that the natives, who were Mohammedans, were [361] at war with the Spaniards. They therefore resolved to go there, and left Guam on the 2nd of June. After seeing Luzon, (Matan,) where Magellan was killed, they anchored off Mindanao, the largest of the Philippines with the exception of Luzon. Though mountainous, Dampier found its soil "deep, black, and extraordinary fat and fruitful." ”

“ There is a small export of coffee and cacao, and the circumstance that the greater part of the island is free from typhoons renders it exceptionally favourable for planting these valuable products, or for growing unlimited quantities of cocoa-nut for making copra. For the same reason the timber in Mindanao is larger than in the best districts of Luzon, and some of the trees are truly magnificent. Mindanao, with its inhabitants busily engaged in murdering their neighbours and enslaving their children, can, of course, never prosper ”

“ The general chapter of 1672, meeting in Spain, assigns definitors and discreets to the Philippine province.
Chapter iv of the ninth decade of the history carries us into Mindanao, where the work among the heathen Tagabalòyes is reviewed. These are a heathen people living in the neighborhood of Bislig in Caraga, the Recollect mission center farthest from Manila, in the mountains called Balooy (whence their name) . They are a domestically inclined people, courageous and intelligent, faithful in their treaties and promises, and said to be the descendants of the Japanese. ”