This mountainous island of 10 244 km2 is divided into two provinces. Total population is 670 000 inhabitants (1980). There are seven groups of swidden cultivators, referred to generically as the Mangyan : the Iraya, Alangan and Tadyawan in the northern half, and the Taubuid (or Batangan), Buhid (or Buid), Hanunóo and Ratagnon (or Loktanon) in the southern half.
Though documentation only exists for two of these groups, it seems that the situation has evolved rapidly for all of them in the last 20 years. Migration has drastically affected several of these societies.
Thus the Hanunóo have been absorbed by the populations of farmers in the plains who took their land and became their employers. The Buhid (whose name means 'highland') have settled down to sedentary life growing cash crops and using the plough and buffaloes. The introduction of cash has created a social stratification in a traditionally egalitarian society.
On the other hand the Taubuid, or Batangan, remained inland and continue using slash and burn agriculture, growing tubers and vegetables. They occupy the valleys and slopes of the big rivers east and south of the island.
Their neighbours are the Alangan to the north, the Balaban to the east, and the Buhid to the south. The Batangan have obtained a 'Mangyan reserve' of 1156 ha.
Geographical distribution of these populations
They all live in the mountainous areas inland.
The Alangan live between 1000 and 2000 m, the Iraya in the low hills near the coast between 0 and 1000 m, the Hanunóo in the mountains in the south of the island, the Taubuid and the Buhid, north of the Hanunóo, in a territory divided by a mountain ridge 1950 m above sea level at its highest.
It is a Malayo-Polynesian linguistic area and most of these populations are monolingual ; some are bilingual such as the Taubuid and the Buhid who use Pilipino as lingua franca.
Population density varies in different areas ; the Hanunóo for example have densities that vary from 25 to 35 inhab/km2 in forested areas and 5 inhab/km2 on rough terrain.
Dwellings are close to the swidden plots and move with the seasonal monsoon rains (heavy rains).
Thus the Taubuid who traditionally live in hamlets made up of a few houses scattered over the swidden area, also have dwellings near the summer and winter fields to avoid the heavy rains as much as possible. The Buhid groups nowadays are partly sedentary.
Hanunóo example
|
Hawili
village
|
Wasig
village
|
| 3
camps
|
small
camps along the 7 tributaries of River Wasig, 400 m above sea level
| |
| 67
people (1974)
|
210
people (1980)
| |
| 45
households (4 people/household)
|
* The Hanunóo's dwelling is a one or two room house at no
more than 1 km from the swidden plot. The inhabitants of any one village are
all kin. The forest plays a vital role in their lives : it provides foodstuffs,
housing materials, clothes, and most of their tools (CONKLIN).
* The long house on stilts can be found among the Iraya and
Alangan.
* Mobility : during the dry season the Hanunóo will travel
10-20 km to visit other camps, and all year round young men will leave on short
visits (id.).
The household is the fundamental unit for social, economic and religious activities. All the inhabitants of one hamlet are related by blood or marriage, or have settled down there and given their allegiance to the headman (Taubuid and Buhid : they reckon kinship bilaterally). Among the Hanunóo, the nuclear family lives matrilocally but then becomes bilocal after a certain amount of time : 5 or 6 people (father, mother(s), children). 2 or 3 nuclear families may join together, but only on a temporary basis.
>
a - small camps (8%) : 1 group of 2 houses, but only one resident family ;
b - ordinary camps (74%) : 1 group of 3 houses, but only 2 or more resident families ;
c - complex camps (10%) : 1 group of 4 houses, but only 3 or more resident families ;
d - compound camps (8%) : 2 groups of houses a few hundred metres apart.
Authority is borne by the elders of a lineage, but there are no headmen (Hanunóo, Taubuid, and Buhid). The ultimate decision is made by the hereditary headman. The latter controls the rights over arable land, is the religious specialist and conducts the ceremonies ; he may be a shaman (Taubuid and Buhid). Today a 'Mangyan governor' (lowland governor) is nominated by the government. He is assisted in his work by a 'Mangyan tyniente', Yaom, a Buhid, who is one of the most important connections the people have with the government nowadays.
Traditionally, non-cultivated land could not be owned, alienated or controlled by any member or section of society, whereas all the crops and even the plants can be owned, alienated of controlled by household individuals.
In the last few years, the pressure of migrant populations has brought about major changes.
The Tagalog and Bisayan have pushed Taubuid groups into leaving their land to the migrant populations and moving inland ; but there were few groups in this situation and most of them continue swidden agriculture.
It is interesting to see that many Buhid groups have altered their concept of property by adopting private ownership of land ; the CNI and their Buhid headman, Yaom, helped them in this process. They were thus able to obtain vast areas within the forest reserves of Mindoro and are the only group on the island to have so few problems related to the forest.
In contrast to the Buhid, the Mangyan-Patag or Hanunóo have lost their land through the illegal manoeuvres of unscrupulous farmers from the plains. These farmers thus became landowners and their masters (amos), employing them as managers on what used to be their own land.
The cosmology is based on a dichotomy of the camp and the forest (talon).
The forest is inhabited by spirits who live in the plants and by evil spirits in some places. The forest provides the sacred stones and medicinal plants used by the healers. The dead are buried there and their souls go to live deep in the forest (Hanunóo).
Though partly converted to Christianity, animism remains a strong component of Taubuid and Buhid religious life because it takes into account such things as bad weather and rain that hamper work and the crops' well-being.
It is an important activity with numerous crops following one after the other. Tubers are omnipresent.
Many varieties of taro, yam and sweet potato are grown, and also maize, Lima bean, manioc, banana, marrow, sugar cane, intercropping different species in different parts of the field (Alangan and Iraya, MAC DONALD).The first to be planted are yam and taro, then mountain rice with maize and pulses ; then comes the weeding, an arduous but necessary task to ensure a good harvest ; after the rice harvest, manioc and sweet potato are planted (Hanunóo).
Rice does not grow above 1000 m (Alangan) ; it was only introduced in 1933 among the Iraya (1 ha yields 20 times the amount of seed). Highly valued by the Hanunóo, it is the crop that demands most attention.
On the swidden plots
|
one
swidden plot
|
| several
of the 92 known varieties of rice
+ 280 food plants
|
16
main plants
|
| 90%
of crops
|
Out of 87 sorts of plants, 68 (78%) are food plants : 17 are staple plants, 47 provide accompanying foodstuffs, 20 provide snacks ; 39 out of the 87 plus 19 non-food plants are used in other context (47 for medicine, 17 for technology, 11 for trade, 10 for rituals and 4 for cosmetics). After one or two harvests, fruit trees, banana, abaca, cacao, areca, and coconut trees and others are planted on the swidden plot and remain for several decades ; this 'forest' can be cleared and burnt at a later date.
The Taubuid and Buhid mainly grow tubers.
Different varieties of sweet potato, yam, taro are planted several times over a period of one year and harvested all year round, together with other crops : maize, banana (17 varieties), papaya, marrow, various pulses, Xanthosoma violaceum, Cytosperma merkusii (in the west), and on lower land : mountain rice, eggplant, Lima bean, and manioc. Pepper and ginger are primarily medicinal.
Cash crops : rice and especially maize (Taubuid and Buhid).
Size of the swidden plot : from 1/4 to over 1 ha (Hanunóo, Taubuid, Buhid). It is surrounded by fences to protect the plot from wild pigs, monkeys and the little cattle one might have (Taubuid and Buhid).
On secondary swidden, the Hanunóo leave the coconut, areca and banana trees that date back to previous plantations. The larger trees are often left to grow to serve as stakes for the yam, even those with a trunk of more than 15-20 cm in diametre. 1/3 to 2/5 ha are cleared every year to grow cereal. This allows for 1/6 ha/person/year or 1 ha for 5,75 people/year.
Data showing the ideal balance between a territory and the population living on it :
If the average swiddening cycle is 12 years and the population of the Hanunóo village of Yagaw 150 inhabitants (present figures), 315 ha of land would seem necessary to maintain a stable balance. Yagaw's territory covers approximately 6,2 km2, 1,2 km2 of which are not arable for ritual, and geographic reasons and because of the vegetation. There are therefore 5 km2 (=500 ha) of secondary forest that are valuable for swiddening, i.e. 185 ha more than the estimated basic minimum. This means that with the present Hanunóo agricultural system, Yagaw's territory could take a 60% population increase ; in other words, Yagaw can provide for a maximum of 240 inhabitants, or 48 inhabitants per km2 of swidden land under present conditions.
In short, to preserve the balance between one year of cultivation and 12 years of fallow, it is necessary to have 2 ha of agricultural land per person.
Cultivation periods have been extended because of government restrictions on swidden agriculture (Taubuid and Buhid)
Fallow periods traditionally last from 1 to 20 years depending on soil and plants ; 7 or 8 years is standard, less for bamboos ; 10 to 20 years are ideal for cereal ; 20 to 25 years allow for proper regeneration and a good secondary forest. After 30 years there is little difference between the secondary and primary forest ; trees can then be as high as 30 to 40 m (Hanunóo, CONKLIN, see diagram). The Taubuid and Buhid leave the land fallow for 5 to 10 years.
Permanent agriculture is recent : cash crops, mainly of maize, coffee, cacao, calamansi (a kind of lemon) and coconut (Taubuid and Buhid) ; the introduction of surplus production has enabled them to begin using the plough and buffalos. The Hanunóo grow banana and manioc around their dwellings.
Domestic animals are pigs and fowl. Buffalos (Bubalus bubalis), goats and horses are only bred to sell to people in the lowlands (Hanunóo). The Iraya breed wild fowl, used as decoys, and pigs.
Diet still relies heavily on hunting and trapping.
During periods of heavy rain the fields cannot be burnt ; animals then become the only food resource : monkeys and civets are plentiful, together with owls and other birds.
But recent immigration into the southern zones has reduced these meat supplies, and wild pigs and deer are nearly extinct. Also, the necessary activities for rice or maize cultivation are in direct competition with hunting periods (Taubuid and Buhid).
The Hanunóo hunt wild pigs and monkeys (bow, spears) but snakes and lizards are taboo. Children hunt birds with catapults. Where the Iraya live, game is still abundant : wild pigs, wild fowl, monkeys, roe-deer, rodents. Spear and traps.
Fishing is very important during the dry season when the lower water levels allow for daily fishing, thus providing an important supplement to daily diet.
Children start fishing and collecting at the age of three : small fish, crabs, shrimps. The Iraya fish 31 known species, among which 5 of eel, 5 of shrimp, and 9 species of shellfish are collected. Men fish big fish with a kind of underwater speargun made with a bamboo tube, a steel arrow and a strong elastic band. Big fish are abundant in the Taubuid and Buhid rivers. When the sea is less than 2 hours walking distance away, at night the Hanunóo go to catch squids, octopi, sea cucumbers, etc, with a torch.
Seasonal fruit picking
They collect Canarium luzonicum nuts and the Artocarpus odoratissima fruit with its juicy pulp and floury seeds that can be roasted. These trees are individualized and given names. All year round, honey, fungi, wild yam, sago, larvae, snails, snakes and lizards (Taubuid, Buhid, Iraya), but also Dioscorea hispida tubers, toxic.
Diet
Two or three meals a day : boiled or roasted tubers eaten with leaf-vegetables (leaves of papaya, sweet potato, taro) and meat (monkeys, civets, wild pigs, deer are seasonal but lizards, snails and 7 sorts of larvae are to be found all year round) and fish (seasonal species and others to be found all year round). Various shoots and wild yam are eaten in times of food shortages. Many fruits are eaten as snacks while walking : berries (Rubus moluccanus and R. fraxinifolius) and the Pseuderanthemum curtatum flowers (Taubuid and Buhid).
The Hanunóo are very omnivorous compared to the neighbouring populations in the plains. Only cooked foodstuffs are considered proper food : unripe bananas, cereal, tubers, meat and most vegetables ; raw fruit is considered a snack. They have three meals a day except during the rainy season when they occasionally skip the morning meal. Staple food : rice, maize, banana, sweet potato, cultivated and wild yam, taro, manioc. It is eaten with vegetables, Lima bean, pigeon peas, cowpeas, eggplant, pumpkin, but also small fish, shrimp, sometimes wild pig and monkey. Meat from domestic animals (fowl and pig) is only prepared for feasts.
tubers
|
cereals
|
banana
|
|
| 27%
|
34%
|
33%
|
90%
of total diet
|
Staple plants, cereals, bananas, tubers, provide 90%of total annual food intake. They all grow on swidden land. Cereal (34%) get more and better attention than other plants, especially rice, highly valued, used regularly for feasts and offerings (CONKLIN).
The Hanunóo go to town on sundays to sell vegetables or meat, and buy salt, tobacco leaves, kerosene, salt and dried fish. During the dry season they travel to get medicinal plants, seeds, pots from other tribes or to trade with coastal Christian villages.
The emergence of a demand for Buhid marketable products has modified agricultural production ; what used to be side productions became important to the detriment of traditional staple crops. This is the case with maize that used to be marginal, and with the paddy which has been literally abandoned. Rice used to be grown as a cash crop but has been replaced by maize. Paradoxically the cash revenue from the maize production has increased rice consumption among the Buhid, though they no longer grow it themselves. They get taken on as seasonal labourers in the paddies of the migrant populations settled in the plains, and to pick calamansi (a Citrus fruit), coffee and cacao.
The Taubuid sell the products they collect : rattan, Agathis copal for lighting, and ornamental plants : orchids, ferns, lichen. They sell mainly a lot of bananas(sweet and plantain) and mountain rice that people in the plains prefer to irrigated rice.
People still collect a little for cash revenues : rattan, Agathis copal for lighting, and ornamental plants : orchids, ferns, lichen (Taubuid, Buhid).
There are many contacts between the various ethnic groups.
The Taubuid and Buhid with the Balaban (Tadyawan) and the Alangan who speak Buhid and are their neighbours.
[40] CONKLIN, LOPEZ, 1977, PENNOYER, 1977