The Coming of the Borneans to Panay

This story of how the Philippines was inhabited originated from the order of President Ferdinand Marcos - adding it on the Philippine History Books. But evidence of the existence of the ten datus had no records in Borneo, where they came from, neither in other neighboring Southeast Asian countries.


The Story


[Taken from a Book:]

...They came as the result of dissastisfaction with the rule of Datu Makatunaw, the chief of all datus in Borneo, a group of ten datus with their families and slaves fled Borneo to seek a new home. They were Datu Puti and wife Pinangpangan, Datu Bangkaya and wife Katurong, Datu Paiburong and wife Pabulanan, Datu Sumakwel and wife Kapinangan, Datu Paduhinog Ribongasapaw, Datu Domangsol and wife Kabiling, and Datus Lubay, Dumangsil, Dumalogdog, and Balensuela.

These datus, together with everything they could take along, left Borneo on small sailing boats called Biniday (or, in various sources, Balangay, from which the word Barangay came from.). They sailed northward from Borneo along Palawan (Paragwa), which was at that time politically a part of Borneo. In due time they sighted Panay. Early records tell us that the first Borneans landed on the coast of Panay in 1394. They sailed along the Sirwagan River in the southern part of the town of San Joaquin, Iloilo, and in the Barrio Sinugbuhan. They sailed farther to Andona Lake and up the Sirwagan River.

Upon the arrival of the datus, the local inhabitants of the islands, the Aeta, grew terrified but the diplomatic Datu Puti said to Marikudo, the chief of the native Negritos, that they had peaceful intentions. Later both parties entered into a trade alliance. Under the headship of Datu Puti, they asked Marikudo, if he was willing to sell Sinugbuhan (an island in Panay). The sale was concluded after Marikudo's consultation with his followers. The Datu paid them a golden salakot. The Borneans settled in Sinugbuhan and later in the coastal town of Malandug.

When Datu Puti returned to Borneo, Datu Sumakwel took his place, because he was the oldest datu, besides being a man of good character. At once Sumakwel and the rest set improve three districts. Hamtik (Antique) under Datu Sumakwel, Aklan (Capiz) under Datu Bangkaya, and Irong-Irong (Iloilo) under Datu Paiburong.


The history of some civilization that we knew was based on written records of ancient historians. But this, which was considered as a legend, was based from spoken historical record, not from a written one. The story might be true, but as it was passed verbally to their children, the story might had changed. Being unreliable, this was eliminated in History textbooks.

Sources:
Oriental History for Philippine High Schools by: Diosdado G. Capino, M.A. 1963. Fifth Edition. Manlapaz Publishing Co., Inc.
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Legend_of_the_Ten_Bornean_Datus

Comments

  1. This is not an urban legend. It's a folk tale.

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    1. Well, yes. It is not an urban legend, but I just created an article for those people who wanted to know about that. Some people thought it was an urban legend though it isn't. Actually, the story of the Bornean Datus is part of an epic song/poem which in one tribe, they accepted it as true and an important piece of their history.

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    2. ACTUALLY, we ilonggos really believed this was real. in in panay, in capiz (my town) there were still "binukots". binukots were the most beautiful ladies in our barangay. we preserve these binukots. we treat them with high honor because they were taught the oral history of how our ancestors had their way. THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, in the visayas, had studied the 10 epic chanting songs that these binukots are singing during special occasions. and all these binukots have almost the same lyrics. sa liriko ng kanilang kanta, sinasalaysay nila ang mga importanteng pangyayari sa kanilang paglalakbay.... ang pag aalaga namin sa mga bunikot namin talagang parang prinsesa sila kasi sila ang may dala ng sinaunang kasaysayan, kaso lang walang written history, oral history lang, kasi mga ninuno natin mas pinili yung oral kasi artistic sila. kinakanta at sinasayaw ang ang himig ng kasaysayan. they came from bloodline of the ten original datus. pinapakain namin ng pinakamasarap na pagkain, at pinapasan sa duyan upang hindi masugatan ang mga paa.

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  2. Actually it wasn't a golden salakot but 1 salakot filled with gold from all the datus. the confusion comes from the rough translation of "sanka salakot nga bulawan" that translated may mean one golden salakot although it actualy means one salakot fill of gold in local dialect and sinugbuhan is not an island but a name of a specific area by the shore currently the last barangay of iloilo bordering antique.

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  3. Need help for my Research paper. can you give me more information or site that deals about the 10 bornean datus.

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  4. To be credible about our history, we should provide evidences, cross- references, artifacts, sources that are quantifiable and concrete. Otherwise it is blah, blah and more blah. A laughing stock of the world that is the 10 datus as narrated by ilonggos. What a shame...

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  5. 10 datu or the 10 lost tribe of Israel?

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