The Maguindanao and Their History

The history of the Maguindanao [ancestral domain] claimants dates back to the pre-Islamic era roughly four and a half centuries ago. They take pride in being descendants of Tabunaway, who embraced Islam during the Islamization of Mindanao and significantly influenced the setting up of new social structures in the island.

Sovereignty passed from Tabunaway to Shariph Kabungsuan, who established the sultanate during Islamization. Under the traditional or adat structure, Shariph Kabungsuan represented the datu (ruling class) by reason of his barabangsa descent and princely ancestry. The datuship of Maguindanao vested in him and his direct descendants the eligibility for succession to the Maguindanao ruling class. Tabunaway became the progenitor of the Damatus of Maguindanao while from the descendants of his elder brother Mamalu came the Lumads.

Several generations later, in the 1860s, Maguindanao installed Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat as paramount Sultan. His legacy was his strong resistance against Spanish colonization. He took credit in consolidating all traditional leaders of Maguindanao for independence from foreign domination and led the Sultanate into power and unity.

The traditional leadership that descended from the clans helped the Maguindanao Sultanate flourish, as did other minor principalities and territories. One of the descendants was Sultan Padasan, otherwise known as the Sultan Sa Labo of the Blinen and Binambalanen clans that ruled over vast territories covering the western part of the Allah River. These areas include what was once Laguilayan, now part of Isulan and extending to Surallah, South Cotabato.

During his rule, the Sultan established sovereign sociopolitical and economic systems that lasted until the American period.

Today, one of his direct descendants, Sultan Mukalid Bansil, is establishing claim over the ancestral domains located in the municipality of Bagumbayan. Sultan Mukalid Bansil is the great, great grandson of Sultan sa Labo. According to the Tarsillah (genealogical record) of Sultan Padasan, Sultan Mukalid Bansil is the son of Datu Mapalaw—the son of Datu Mapayag whose father was Rajamuda Bansil, the son and heir to the throne of Sultan sa Labo.

Sultan Mukalid Bansil resides in Daguma where he plans to establish his Torrogan, the Royal House of the Sultan.

(Blogger’s note: This post is the first part of an eight-part series on the Maguindanao people. Each part is posted every Monday starting December 8, 2014. The text is copied as it appears in Defending the Land: Lumad and Moro People’s Struggle for Ancestral Domain in Mindanao. The book, published by a consortium of non-government organizations, has an “anti-copyright” notice and may thus be freely reproduced. Insertions in brackets are mine.)