mangyan mountain tribes - indigeous people 
by: Mini񡠒. Servano 

    "Mangyan" is the collective name of seven ethnolinguistic group inhabiting most of the highland region of Mindoro, the seventh largest island in the northern end of the vast basin of the Sulu Sea, south of Batangas and the mainland southern Luzon, and west of the Bicol region. Most parts of the island are mountainous. There are still small stretches of flatlands, and the rest are coastal areas. These plains are home to non-Mangyan groups such as Tagalog, Visayan, and Ilocano.  

    The exact etymology of the word Mangyan has not been identified or traced. It had been in use for a long time before the realization, in the present century, that there were actually several diverse groups making up the Mangyan population on the island. Based on existing studies, there are at least six different groups scattered throughout the island, all speaking related languages. The northern groups are the Iraya, Alangan, and theTadyawan. The southern groups are the Hanunoo, Buhid, and the Taubuhid who are also known as "Batangan" or "Bangon". The Buhid and Batangan are closely related groups. A seventh group, the Ratagnon (sometimes called "Latagnon" or "Datagnon"), is said to be non-indigenous to Mindoro because they speak Cuyunon, a Visayan language. Some of the Mangyan groups are composed of smaller units or subgroups.  

    Rough estimates of population from NCCP-PACT: 1998 give the following figures:  
    Batangan  - 36,000  
    Iraya   - 35,000  
    Hanunoo - 18,500  
    Alangan - 13,500  
    Ratagnon - 10,500  
    Buhid  -   6,500  
    Tadyawan  -   2,000  

    The Iraya occupy the northwestern part of Mindoro, where one of the country's highest peaks, Mount Halcon, is located. The word "Iraya" is derived from the prefix "i" - denoting people, and "raya", a variation of "laya" which means "upstream," "upriver" or "upland". Thus the meaning of the word is "people from upstream" or "uplanders". Historically, however, the Iraya occupied the coastal region in some distant past, until they were pushed further inland by settlers from other places. The word also means "man", "person", and adult".  

    The Alangan occupy northwest central Mindoro. One theory about this term is that it could mean "a group of people whose culture is awkward", from the Tagalog word alangan, which means among other things "uncertainty", "doubt" or "precariousness".   
   
        Of these groups, the Hanunoo have been the most studied in terms of ethnography. "Hanunoo", according to the group's language called Minagyan, meaning "genuine", "real" or "true". However, the members of this group call 
themselves Mangyan, and use the term Hanunoo Mangyan or Mangyan Hanunoo only to distinguish themselves from the other Mindoro groups.  

    The Hanunoo Mangyan live in a mountainous area about 800 sqkm in the southeastern part of the island, mainly in Oriental Mindoro. Their territory is under the municipal jurisdiction of Mansalay, Bulalacao, and a certain part of San Jose, which is the capital of Occidental Mindoro. Christian lowlanders surround them on the east. To the north lie the Buhid, and to the southwest the Ratagnon. They are often referred to by their Buhid neighbors as the Mangyan patag - "Mangyan of the flatlands" -- to distinguish them from the former who live in the higher hinterland of the island.  

    Despite their proximity to the lowland settlements of the Christians, the Hnunoo Mangyan have succeeded in insulating themselves from lowland influences, and this has helped them preserve their basic culture. As far as the Hanunoo are concerned, human beings can be classified into two categories: Mangyan and non- Mangyan. Thus, the Hanunoo, Buhid, Ratagnon, and all those who wear the traditional loincloth (Miyamoto 1975:14). It is for this reason that the Hanunoo Mangyan can speak of the Cordillera Ifugao as being Mangyan too, because their traditional wear is the loincloth (Miyamoto 1975:14). The term damu-ong is refer to all non-Mangyan peoples, and to all outsiders. As used by Hanunoo mothers to hush up their crying babies, the term is defined early on some kind of bogeyman of threat-object among the Hanunoo. The word kristiyano is often used as a synonym for "damu-ong" and suggests the negative image the Mangyan have of their Christian neighbors. This was observed by Miyamoto who asked several old Mangyan if they remembered anthropologist Conklin who conducted fieldwork between 1947 and 1957. They all remembered him fondly. One Hanunoo said that Conklin "was not a Christian" because "he was a very kind person" (Miyamoto 1975:16).