(Blogger’s note: The following is an excerpt from the book Defending the Land: Lumad and Moro People’s Struggle for Ancestral Domain in Mindanao, specifically pp. 100–1. The publishers welcome and even encourage the reproduction of the book in part or in its entirety, so I am posting this excerpt here. I did not change a single word and preserved the style of the text as it appears on the source. To cite Defending the Land, please see Webliography.)
There are two sub-tribes of Manobo, according to the geographical setting that each occupied. The Karagatan Manobos inhabit the coastal region of Lebak and Kalamansig, essentially adapting their lifestyles to the exigencies of coastal living. The Dulangan Manobos, on the other hand, are native inhabitants of the hinterlands. The rugged terrain accustomed them to the living standards of the remote forests of Lebak and Kalamansig.
According to Manobo traditional accounts, the Dulangan Manobo were descended from a famous chieftain named Dulangan. He was born to a native couple, Timuway and Tapay Lawa, in Dulaw, a mountain slope near Mebo. The term Dulangan means “a high place” referring to the birthplace of Dulangan.
Because of their nomadic nature, the couple left Mebo and looked for another promising place in which to dwell. Already in his mature age, Dulangan opted to stay and established his own settlement in Dulaw. Subsequently, the Dulangans became a sub-tribe of Manobos living in the hinterlands. The evolving Dulangan communities in the mountain areas of Lebak and Kalamansig flourished in the succeeding generations. Their heritage prospered and their birthrights survived even amid several attempts of assimilation and colonization.
Today, the Dulangan Manobos are exerting all possible means to reclaim their ancestral domain. Attempts to recover what is rightfully theirs find them at the crossroad of two conflicting property systems: government-controlled public domain against ancestral land; western-based property law against indigenous law.
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