When you hear datu, what immediately comes to your mind is a tribal leader whose words are law in his turf and is regarded with utmost respect even in other hamlets. When you’re in Kulaman, however, and you meet a datu, don’t be so impressed right away. Aside from the title, a Dulangan Manobo doesn’t have much in common with, say, the legendary ten datus of Borneo or the datus in present-day Muslim territories.
A datu in Kulaman rules a large household only, not a village composed of dozens of families. He is nothing much more a patriarch of a small clan. Harland Kerr, who with his wife lived with the Dulangan Manobos from July 1955 to October 1956, wrote that a datu has “little authority outside [his] group.” Kerr further observed that one Datu Migted “seemed to command little respect in Datu Undas’s territory” and “datus referring to other datus not related to them were by no means reluctant to disparage them.”
I wish to discuss why a Manobo datu doesn’t possess as much power as datus of other tribes enjoy, but Kerr didn’t provide a thorough explanation in his paper. So for now, let me just point out the other differences between a Manobo datu and the traditional datu we have in mind.
With a limited number of followers, most of whom are his younger relatives, a Manobo datu has to work his own farm. He has to provide for his wives and children. In contrast, Kerr noted that a datu of the Kalagan tribe can “be a tyrant if he were so disposed.” A Kalagan datu has a claim to the possession of his subjects, so he doesn’t need to work.
The title of a Manobo datu is not hereditary. If a Dulangan Manobo aspires to be a datu, he must achieve the status by hard work and cunning. He must possess a wide tract of land and a good number of horses for others to want to be part of his family. He may then style himself a datu or his followers may start calling him datu. The title isn’t conferred by any person or body recognized by all the Manobos. So, as stated earlier, a Manobo datu does not automatically command respect outside the premises of his farmland.
With the influx of Visayan settlers, and the introduction of elections, the weak datu system of the Manobos is becoming obsolete. Soon datus will be a thing of the past. The good thing, though, is that some Manobo leaders have learned to adapt with the changes. So far, one or two Manobo datus have been elected as members of the municipal council in Kulaman.
