PART 1: THE SETTING
The Philippine archipelago lies in Southeast Asia in a position that has led to its becoming a cultural crossroads, a place where Malays, Chinese, Spaniards, Americans, and others have interacted to forge that unique cultural and racial blend known to the world as Filipino. The archipelago numbers some 7,107 islands and the nation claims an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles from its shores. The Philippines occupies an area that stretches for 1,850 kilometers from about the fifth to the twentieth parallels north latitude. The total land area is almost 300,000 square kilometers. Topographically, the Philippines is broken up by the sea, which gives it one of the longest coastlines of any nation in the world. Off the coast of eastern Mindanao is the Philippine Trough, which descends to a depth of 10,430 meters. The Philippines is part of a western Pacific arc system that is characterized by active volcanoes. Among the most notable peaks are Mount Mayon near Legaspi, Taal Volcano south of Manila, and Mount Apo on Mindanao. All of the Philippines islands are prone to earthquakes. The northern Luzon highlands, or Cordillera Central, rise to between 2,500 and 2,750 meters, and, together with the Sierra Madre in the northeastern portion of Luzon and the mountains of Mindanao, boast rain forests that provide refuge for numerous upland tribal groups. The country's most extensive river systems are the Pulangi (Rio Grande), which flows into the Mindanao River; the Agusan, in Mindanao which flows north into the Mindanao Sea; the Cagayan in northern Luzon; and the Pampanga, which flows south from east Central Luzon into Manila Bay. Laguna de Bay, southeast of Manila Bay, is the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines. Filipinos were known to be : hospitable, very close to family ties, respect for elders, fatalistic, sensitive, loyal, tendency to be indolent, curious, individualistic, jealous, and regionalist.
PART 2: BEFORE THE CONQUEST
The Philippines, scientists believe, once was a part of Mainland China. According to the scientists, during the Ice Age, the waters surrounding the Philippines dropped to about 156 feet below the present levels, exposing large bodies of land. These became land bridges connecting the Philippines to the Asian mainland. Dr. Fritjof Voss, a German scientist who studied the geology of the Philippines, questioned the validity of this theory of land bridges. He claimed that it arose from the bottom of the sea and, as the thin Pacific crust moved below it, continued to rise. The country lies along great Earth faults that extend to deep undersea trenches. The resulting violent earthquakes caused what is now the land masses forming the Philippines to rise to the surface of the sea. It was concluded that about 250,000 years ago, primitive men came to the Philippines from the Asian mainland in 1962. Then about 25,000 years ago came the pygmies, the small, black-skinned, squat-nosed, thick-lipped, and kinky-haired people from the south over the still remaining land bridges. Around 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, another Negrito migration occurred. They reached Luzon from Borneo over land bridges in Palawan and Mindoro. The submergence of the land bridges when the ice melted with the passing of time did not prevent other people from inhabiting the Philippines. 5,000 to 6,000 Years Ago? The first Indonesians arrived by boat from Southeast Asia some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Much later, around 1500 B.C., a second wave of Indonesians arrived. Then came the Malays in two successive waves, the first between 800 and 500 B.C. and the second, between 300 and 200 B.C. From Borneo, they traveled by sailboats and settled in the three major islands of the Philippines: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Subsequent peoples who came from the start of Christianity until the present time include the Indians (Hindus), the Arabs, the Chinese, other Eastern Asians, the Europeans, and the Americans. Who Came First? The matter of who the first settlers were has not been really resolved. This is being disputed by anthropologists, as well as the theory of Professor H. Otley Beyer that the first inhabitants of the Philippines came from the Malay Peninsula. The Malays now constitute the largest portion of the populace and what Filipinos now have is a Malayan culture. Anthropologist F. Landa Jocano of the University of the Philippines contends that what fossil evidence of ancient men show is that they not only migrated to the Philippines, but also to New Guinea, Borneo, and Australia. He says that there is no way of determining if they were Negritoes at all. However, what is sure is that there is evidence the Philippines was inhabited as early as 21,000 or 22,000 years ago. According to Jocano’s findings, the peoples of the prehistoric islands of Southeast Asia were of the same population as the combination of human evolution that occurred in the islands of Southeast Asia about 1.9 million years ago. The proofs of this are fossil materials found in different parts of the region and the movements of other peoples from the Asian mainland during historic times.
PART 3: EARLY CUSTOMS AND PRACTICES
Among the ancient Filipinos, the male attire was composed of the upper and lower parts, the upper, called kanggan, was a black or blue collarless jacket with short sleeves. It seems that the color of the jacket indicated the rank of the wearer, for the chief wore a red jacket, while those below his rank wore either blue or black depending upon their position in society. The lower part of the attire, called bahag, consisted of a strip of cloth wrapped about the waist, passing down between the thighs. Such method of dressing naturally left one’s thighs and legs exposed. The woman’s dress, too, was composed of the upper and lower parts. The upper, called baro or camisa, was a jacket with sleeves, while the lower part, called saya by the Tagalogs and patadyong by the Visayans, was loose skirt. A piece of red or white cloth, called tapis, was usually wrapped about the waist. Men, women and children walked about barefooted, for sandals and shoes were Spanish innovations. The male had a headgear consisting of a piece of cloth, called putong, which was wrapped around his head. The color of the putong showed the “manliness” of a man; a red putong for instance, signified that the wearer had killed a man in war. But he who had killed at least seven was privileged to wear an embroidered putong. The woman, on the other hand, had no putong, but wore her hair gracefully knotted at the back of her head
PART 4: PRE-COLONIAL CULTURE
During the early period thousand years ago, the early Filipinos were composed of different groups that came from different part of Asia. With different groups they form their own community, system of education and religious belief. They group into different communities composed of 50 to 2,000 individuals and they construct their shelters in different areas according to their lifestyle and source of living. Usually they were situated along the seashores, streams, rivers, forests, fertile land areas and even in caves. In water areas they look for fish, shells and pearls as their source of living. They also used boat and craft as there means of transportation for an easier travel and carrying their goods for trade from one place to another. For those people located in land areas they cultivate the land and plant rice, bananas and crops. After the harvest they no longer use the area indeed they just move to another place with less grass and fine soil and abundant of trees where they can start farming again. Perhaps this gives an idea that the Philippines is very rich of resources for a bountiful living. At that early period a system of education already exists which accounted by the so-called Alibata- the early Filipino form of writing. This is according to Fr. Pedro Chirino, one of the first Spanish missionaries arrived in the Philippines. The early Filipinos also believed that there is a connection of spirit to the daily life of a person. If one their love ones or family member get sick or died they believe that the spirit of nature get angry and they are force to burn and leave their place.
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