Tagbanua Tribe: Towards to their Culture

Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Palawan has many different tribes, Palaw’an tribe

The Tagbanua tribe, one of the oldest tribes in the Philippines, can be mainly found in the

central and northern Palawan. The tribe has two major classifications based on the geographical

location where they can be found. Central Tagbanuas are found in the western and eastern

coastal areas of central Palawan. They are concentrated in the municipalities of Aborlan,

Quezon, and Puerto Princesa. Calamian Tagbanua, on the other hand, are found in Baras coast,

Busuanga Island, Coron Island and in some parts of El Nido. These two Tagbanua sub-groups

speak different languages and do not exactly have the same custom.

The Tagbanua community has three social classes. The first social class is the upper

class. Leaders are chosen from this class. This class is inherited. The second social class is the

middle class. These are ordinary people. From the middle class, local leaders are chosen. The

third social class consists of people who are in debt and can’t pay those debts off.

Marriage also plays an important role within the community of Tagbanua. Tagbanua

marriages within the community are often pre-arranged by the parents. After the wedding, the

married couple will live with the parents of the woman or build a new house in the

neighborhood. Children are very important in the life of the Tagbanuas.

In the south of Palawan, specifically the municipality of Aborlan, the festival of

Pagdiwata is held every year. This festival takes place in December during full moon. The

festival is dedicated to showing gratitude to the gods and asking for help for the sick.

The Tagbanua hang follow an animistic religion with a complex mythology related to gods and

other divine beings. There are four most importanat gods to them, these are the following:the

Mangindusa, the Polo, the Sedumunadoc, and lastly the Tablacoud

These people follow certain distinct customs which make them different from all other

tribes residing on Palawan. What makes them different is the aura of superiority that surrounds

them as well as their boosting pride that proves to everyone that their old ways of living were the

greatest. They stay isolated from the outer political activities and artificial living and stay

connected to their ancient ceremonies and traditions, make them deeply endemic and devoid of

damaging modernization.

Conceptual Framework

Dependent Variable
Independent Variable
“The Quirino Tagbanua Tribe:
“Quirino Tagbanua Tribe”
Towards to their Culture”
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

Research Paradigm

Dependent Variable
Independent Variable
“The Quirino Tagbanua
“Quirino Tagbanua Tribe” Tribe: Towards to their
Culture”

Statement of the Problem

The main problem is the culture of the Tagbanua Tribe residing at Quirino, Narra

Palawan. Specifically it seeks to answer the following questions

1. What are their rituals? Do they practice rituals?

2. What do you celebrate? How do you celebrate it?

3. How do you choose chief in charge?

4. How they able to introduce new laws in their tribe?

5. How they preserved their culture?

6. What economic activities they involved in?

7. Do they practice Polygamy?

Assumption

There is a significant difference between Tagbanua Ttribe to other Palawan tribe.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study will add information about their cultures such as practices,

belief, values and economic activities. This will benefit the society regarding the significant of

the Tagbanua tribe in the history of Palawan Province. In addition, this will also benefit:

To the Researchers:

As researchers, this study will help them to discover more about the tribe specifically the

Tagbanua tribe in terms of their cultures and others. Also it will help the social interaction ability

of the researchers.

To the People and Community:

This study is important to the people and to the community itself, specifically to the

people of the Palawan Province to find out the real significance of tribes in our land. Also it

helps to the community with balanced respect for indigenous people and their cultures.

Scope and limitations

The study covers the Tagbanua tribe in Quiriño, Narra Palawan. It will be conducted on

Monday (Marchh 19,2018) and will be limited only to a certain number of respondents due to

the distance, insufficiency of time and most of them goes to work at this specific frame time.

Only few informants ages 20 and above will be selected because they are preferable in terms of

experience such as cultural, traditional and economic activity while younger ones would serve as

second hand source of information.

Definition of Key Terms

Ancient- belonging to the distant past; a very mature;old. In this study, the term means that the

Tagbanua tribe belong to the oldest ethnic group in the Philippines.

Conducted- the act, manner or process of carrying on; a mode or standard of personal behavior

especially as based on moral principles. In this study, this term means of carrying an information

about the tribe.

Cultures- the arts and other manifestation of human intellectual achievement regarded

collectively. In this study the term use as the main point.

Economic Activities- the production, distribution and consumption of commodities. Economic

activities create economic or financial gain by producing goods or services.

Indigenous People- also known as first peoples, aboriginal people or ative people, are ethnics

groups who are the original inhabitants of a given region, in contrast to groups that have

settled,occupied or colonized the area more recently. In this study the term means that the

Tagbanua tribe is a Indigenous People.

Practices- the actual application or use of an idea, belief or method as opposed to theories about

such as application or use. In this study the term will use as a subject or a main point.

Polygamy- the state or practice of being married to more than one person at the same time. In

this study, the researchers ought to find out whether the Tagbanua tribe in Quirino Narra,

Palawan do such thing.

Tagbanua- are one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Philippines, and can be mainly found in the

central and northern Palawan. Research has shown that the Tagbanwa are possible descendants
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

of the tabon man, thus making them one of the original inhabitants of the Philippines. In this

study will cover the culture of Tagbanuas who resides in Quirino, Narra Palawan.
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

Chapter II

Review of Related Literature and Studies

This chapter presents relevant literature and studies taken from journals, encyclopedias,

and which are related in this study

According to Encyclopedia.com (2009),Tagbanua stated tha the name Tagbanua derives

from tiga banua, meaning "people of the village." There is evidence of early influence from

Hinduized Brunei. In more recent times, Muslim traders and aristocrats, chiefly Tausug from

Sulu, dominated Palawan. Although Magellan's expedition made a landfall on Palawan, and its

chronicler Pigafetta recorded an impression of the natives, intense Spanish contact did not begin

until the 1872 founding of the town of Puerta Princesa at the northern edge of Tagbanua

territory. American contact with the Tagbanua only commenced with the 1904 founding of the

Iwahig penal colony. Catholic and Protestant missionaries have had only limited success in

converting the Tagbanua, even in comparison with the neighboring Palawan ethnic group. Like

most peoples in the southern Philippines, the influx of immigrants from the overpopulated

Tagalog and Visayan regions has had a profound impact on Tagbanua life, though the

relationship in their case is not one of armed conflict.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-

maps/tagbanua

According to Keesa Ocampo(2007), The five facts about the Tagbanua tribe,The

Tagbanua are considered as one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Philippines. Research has

found that the Tagbanua people may be descendants of the Tabon Man – remains found in the

Philippines dating from more than 16,500 years ago – meaning they may be one of the original
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

inhabitants of the Philippines. The Tagbanua tribe of Coron were given a Certificate of Ancestral

Domain Title for more than 22,000 hectares of both land and sea. Therefore, the Tagbanua tribe

has the right to manage their land and resources as they please, which is important in maintaining

their traditions that have sustained their people for centuries.

https://discoveringroutes.com/five-facts-about-the-tagbanua-tribe/

According to Hughes (2012) The No-nonsense guide to Indigenous People, Land is a life

itself for many indegenous people. The natural environment is at the heart of their identity and

culture. Aboriginal people believed the spirit of life exist for ever, and manifests itself in the

landscape. The Tagbanua's relationship with the spirit world is the basis for their rituals,

celebration, and dances. They have many ceremonial feasts punctuating Tagbanua life are based

on a firm belief in a natural interaction between the world of the living and the dead.

Base from Patricia Diaz (2011) Tagbanua, According to folk history, the Tagbanua had an early

relationship with Brunei, with the first sultan of Brunyu, from the place called Burnay.Formal

history of the Tagbanua tribe began in 1521 when Magellan's ships dockedin Palawan for

provisions. Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, recorded that the Tagbanua practiced the

ritual of blood compact, cultivated their fields,hunted with blowpipes and thick wooden arrows,

valued brass rings and chains, bells, knives, and copper wire for binding fish hooks, raised large

and very tamecocks which they pitted against one another and laid bets on, and distilled rice

wine.

https://www.scribd.com/document/256543026/Tagbanua-Tribe
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

According to Vanz Justine(2015) Tagbanua Tribe, The Tagbanua speak a language which is

closely related to other Palawan groups,such as the Palawanon, Batak, and Cuyunon. It is

believed that Tagbanua andPalawanon may have derived from a common protoculture, and their

languages mayhave separated only circa 800 AD. Today, the Tagbanua still use their

ancientnative syllabary in writing (Fox 1982:13-14), like the Palawan and Mangyan Buhidand

Patag

https://www.scribd.com/document/256543026/Tagbanua-Tribe

According to Sheryl Morales the Tagbanua Tribe, The tribe, one of the oldest tribes in the

Philippines, can be mainly found in the central and northern Palawan. Research has shown that

the Tagbanua are possible descendants of the Tabon Man; thus, making them one of the original

inhabitants of the Philippines. They are brown-skinned, slim and straight-haired ethnic group.

The Cental and Calamian Tagbanua sub-groups speak different languages and do not exactly

have the same custom. Tagbanua live in compact villages of 45 to 500individuals. In 1987, there

are 129, 691 Tagbanuas living in Palawan at present, Tagbanua tribe has an estimated population

of over 10,000. Of which, 1,800 are in the Calamianes.

https://www.scribd.com/document/73539217/The-Tagbanua-Tribe

Based from Holiday to Palawan, The Tagbanua community has three social classes. The

first social class is the upper class. Leaders are chosen from this class. This class is inherited. The

second social class is the middle class. These are ordinary people. From the middle class, local

leaders are chosen. The third social class consists of people who are in debt and cannot pay those

debts off. Marriage plays an important role within the community of Tagbanua. Polygamy is
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

permitted within the community but is rarely done. Divorces do occur but are discouraged when

the married couple has children.

https://holidaytopalawan.com/palawan/palawan-culture/tagbanua-tribe/

According to Jonalyn Villarosa Making a Literature Alive: Closer look at Pala’isgen , a

tagbanua Ethnoepic, The Tagbanua respect their parents and elders. They address their

grandparents as Apo; their fathers as Ama; their mothers as Ina; their aunts as Menan; their

uncles as Amay; and their brothers or sisters as Aka. The children obey their parents. They

follow what their parents tell them to do. If their parents get old, they take care of them. They

believe that they have to take good care of their parents to repay them for taking care of them

when they were still young. In an extended family or clan (sansulsugan), the eldest is usually

considered as the head. He is respected by his clan and his advice is always sought.

http://www.philippines-languages.sil.org/ical/papers/VILLAROSA-

Making%20Literature%20Alive.pdf

2015 Tagbanwa, the group (Tagbanua) is known for their highly involved ritual,

the pagdiwata, which is held in celebration of different occasions: a bountiful harvest, weddings,

and others. The ritual includes the drinking of rice wine using bamboo straws from stoneware

jars traded in from China. The group, too, is one of the few remaining ethnic groups that still

utilize their own syllabic writing. Slash-and-burn cultivation is the primary subsistence source.

http://ncca.gov.ph/about-culture-and-arts/culture-profile/tagbanwa/
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

Chapter III

Research Design and Methodology

This chapter presents the materials, and methods that used in relevant in this study.

A. Research Design

This study use descriptive research and ethnographic methods. The descriptive method will

be used to determine what prevails in the present way of living of the Tagbanua tribe while the

ethnographic method will be used in describing, analyzing and interpreting the gathered

information. The specific ethnographic techniques that will be employed are the observations

and not instructed interview.

B. Research Locale

The researcher selected Quiriño, Narra Palawan as research site based on the said

criteria below:

1. Safest place that we know.

2. Easy to reach due to the nearness at researchers’ house.

3. The place is no longer unfamiliar to the researchers because one of them

reside nearly to the said site.

C. Key Informant Selection

The key in choosing the key informants is based on the following criteria:

1. Role in the community. The source of the informant in the community should expose

him/her to the nature of the community of the study.

2. Knowledge. The source must have enough knowledge to supply the needed

information.

3. Willingness. The source should not be force to share his/her knowledge.

D. Research Ethnics

The researchers will be following the moral principles and rules of the conduct.

They have duties to respect the rights and dignity of the tribe and protect the respondents

from any harm. In addition the researchers will conduct the study he/she is fully aware on

respect, cultural and the role differences including the religion, lifestyle, socio-economic

status, sexual orientation, disability, beliefs and race.

E. Research Instrument

The research will use an interview guide that is semi-instructed questionnaires

consisting of open-ended questions. They will be interviewing selected respondents. The

questions will be flexible and will allow the researchers to explore and seek the frame of

references for their answer.

F. Data Gathering

The researchers will contribute Filipino written request letter to the

Chieftain/leader of the ethnic group that would serve as approval to execute the study.

The researchers will gather the information about their culture such as economic

activities, craft, beliefs, values and practices through not instructed interview. Most of the

informants can understand Filipino, therefore, this will be used in favor with the

researchers who can’t understand or speak the tribe’s language.

G. Data Analysis

After gathering of the data, researchers will analyze the respondents’ answers and

experiences. This process will help the researchers in supplying the needed information.
the quirino tagbanua tribe: towards to their culture

Schematic Diagram of Research Methodology

RESEARCH DESIGN

RESEARCH LOCALE

KEY INFORANT SELECTION

RESEARCH ETHNICS

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

DATA GATHERING

DATA ANALYSIS