For one, the Bagobo-Tagabawa tribe is one of the most colorful tribes as
seen in their costumes.
Lastly, communing with them gives you a sense of pride knowing that their
culture and traditions are being conserved. One should go beyond what they
read online. There should be an effort from us to immerse in their culture
and tradition to get to know them better.
Introduction / History
The Manobo are several people groups who inhabit the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. They speak
one of the languages belonging to the Manobo language family. Their origins can be traced back to the
early Malay peoples who came from the surrounding islands of Southeast Asia. Today, their common
cultural language and Malay heritage help to keep them connected.
The Manobo cluster includes eight groups: the Cotabato Manobo, Agusan Manobo, Dibabawon Manobo,
Matig Salug Manobo, Sarangani Manobo, Manobo of Western Bukidnon, Obo Manobo, and Tagabawa
Manobo. The groups are often connected by name with either political divisions or landforms. The
Bukidnons, for example, are located in a province of the same name. The Agusans, who live near the
Agusan River Valley, are named according to their location.
The eight Manobo groups are all very similar, differing only in dialect and in some aspects of culture. The
distinctions have resulted from their geographical separation.
What Are Their Lives Like?
The most common lifestyle of the Manobo is that of agriculture. Unfortunately, their farming methods are
very primitive. The Cotabato use a farming system called kaingin. This is a procedure in which fields are
allowed to remain fallow for certain periods of time so that areas of cultivation may be shifted from place
to place.
Social life for the Manobo is patriarchal (male-dominated). The head of the family is the husband.
Polygyny (having more than one wife at a time) is common and is allowed according to a man's wealth.
However, among the Bukidnon, most marriages are monogamous. The only exception is that of the
powerful datus (headmen).
The political structures of the Manobo groups are all quite similar. A ruler, called a sultan, is the head of
the group. Beneath him are the royal and non-royal classes. Only those people belonging to the royal
classes can aspire to the throne. Those belonging to the non-royal classes are under the power and
authority of the royal classes. Each class is interdependent on the others.
The political aspects of life are often integrated with the social aspects. For example, many social events,
such as weddings, require political leaders. Whenever there is a negotiation for marriage, both the bride
and the groom must use the local datu (headman) to make all of the arrangements.
There is a wide range in the populations of the eight Manobo groups. Many of the groups are struggling
with a changing world. Outside pressures have greatly affected their respective cultures.
What Are Their Beliefs?
The religious beliefs of the Manobo revolve around many unseen spirits interfering in the lives of humans.
They believe these spirits can intrude on human activities to accomplish their desires. The spirits are also
believed to have human characteristics. They are both good and evil in nature and can be evoked to both
anger and pleasure.
While the religious practices of the Manobo vary slightly, there seems to be at least one common thread
linking them together. Each culture believes in one "great spirit." This "great spirit" is usually viewed as
the creator figure.
As the various Manobo groups have been separated, the religious beliefs of other peoples have
influenced them somewhat. However, the Manobo have often incorporated these new practices into their
belief system, rather than abandoning their practices and being converted to new religions.
What Are Their Needs?
The farming techniques used by many of the Manobo groups are primitive. Inefficiency of labor hinders
economic growth in their communities. Agricultural development projects are greatly needed to educate
them on such things as crop rotation and use of chemical fertilizers. Such training would not only enhance
their efforts, but also provide open doors through which missionaries may enter.
Another need of the Manobo lies within the area of their culture. These groups speak many different
languages and dialects. This has made learning to speak and write their languages very difficult for
outsiders. The smaller cultures are being pressed upon by larger groups that surround them. Because of
this, they fear losing their original languages and cultural idiosyncrasies. An effort must be made to
preserve their original culture so that these fears will be calmed.
Spiritually, the Manobo need a Savior! They must be told that there is a loving God who longs to make
them a part of His family. Who will tell them that the "great creator spirit" is really a Father who cares for
them? Prayer alone has the power to break through the strongholds of spirit worship. Intercessors are
needed to daily stand in the gap and pray for the salvation of these precious people.
Prayer Points
* Scripture Prayers for the Manobo, Tagabawa Bagobo in Philippines.
* Pray for a resolution to an ongoing land dispute.
* Ask the Lord to call people who are willing to go to the Philippines and share Christ with the Manobo.
* Pray that God will raise up Christian workers to live among them and teach them agricultural skills.
* Ask God to encourage and protect the small number of Manobo Christians, and equip them to minister
the Gospel to their own people.
* Ask the Holy Spirit to soften their hearts towards Christians so that they will be receptive to the Gospel.
* Pray that God will give missions agencies strategies for effectively reaching them.
* Ask the Lord to raise up strong local churches among each of the Manobo groups.
The Bagóbo are a proud people with proto Malayan features and with a strong social structure enabled them, as
a group, to integrate with the main body politic while retaining much of their indigenous customs, beliefs, and
values. That said, most of the Bagóbo have suffered dislocation due to the loss of their ancestral lands and the
effects of modern day insurgency. While many are in economically depressed circumstances, a considerable
number have attained a substantial degree of self-sufficiency.
For instance, they are renowned for their metal-craft skills, particularly in the production of brass articles by
means of the ancient lost-wax process; weaponry best exemplify Bagóbo ornate traditions of metal-crafting.
While still others of the Bagóbo specialize weaving abacca cloths of earth-toned hues, as well as, basket-
making trimmed with beads, fibers and horse hair.
7Their distinct ceremonial attire made of ikat textiles is likely to be referred to as either costume or dress. For
the Bagóbo, however, whichever word is used made a difference. For example, they tend to use kóstyom
(costume) when speaking to non-Bagóbo; amongst themselves, they use ompák (garment or clothing).
Kóstyom is not just “costume” pronounced with a local accent, it referred to something more exact. For the
Bagóbo, the implementation of these clothes took on multiple meanings that delineated the many modes of
being a modern Bagóbo. Textiles continue to profoundly connect to ideas of the self in relation to the group,
especially with regard to shared ideals of spiritual understanding and belonging.
The Lumad are a group of Austronesianindigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is
a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang
Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopted by the delegates of the
Lumad Mindanao Peoples Federation (LMPF) founding assembly on 26 June 1986 at the
Guadalupe Formation Center, Balindog, Kidapawan, Cotabato, Philippines.[1] It is the self-
ascription and collective identity of the indigenous peoples of Mindanao.
Damo,2015
The skirt that they wear is hand-woven out of abaca fiber and is called
“inabal.” The weaving process has been handed down from generation to
generation and the designs evolve around the community and the family.
The entire community is represented by the black and cream colors,
while for the members of family, they wear costumes with red
Two, they make intricate beadworks for their accessories such as earrings,
anklets, necklaces and bracelets.
Dominant colors for the Bagobo-Tagabawa are red, yellow and black but
they mix it with blue, green, orange and violet.
Three, the tribe shares their dance and music and are willing to teach
others.
One can dance with them and learn their steps.
Four, one can have a taste of their native dishes cooked in bamboo
chambers. The “Linotlot” type of cooking is common with the tribal peoples.
This relationship broadened my weltanschauung. My understanding of
cultural relativism deepened my respect towards other culture. My
tendency to be ethnocentric is being significantly minimized, mostly
motivated by my respect to my own culture.
The indigenous cultural communities (ICC) in the Philippines are believed to make up about ten
percent of the national population. Also known as cultural minorities, they had been pushed to the
mountains and forests by lowlanders ever since towns and cities were built. Most of the ICC do not
possess money or private property and, widely discriminated against, find it hard to integrate with
mainstream society. With the destruction of the forests as well as with efforts of the lowland majority
to assimilate them into Christian culture, the ICC struggle to protect their ancestral domain and
cultural identity
The lumad who live within the southern highland ranges are swidden farmers, and practice little
trade. Like many of its neighbors, Bagobo society is ruled by a class of warriors known
as magani or bagani. The Bagobo’s elaborate dress and personal adornment are well known among
anthropologists. The T’boli and Teduray are also known for their baskets, trinkets, bracelets, and
earrings made of brass. The T’boli’s t’nalak are prized fabrics believed to be inspired by the dreams
of the woman weavers.
Philippine Folklore Stories, by Mabel Cook Cole, [1916], at sacred-texts.com
ORIGIN
Bagobo (Mindanao)
In the beginning there lived one man and one woman, Toglai and Toglibon. Their first children
were a boy and a girl. When they were old enough, the boy and the girl went far away across the
waters seeking a good place to live in. Nothing more was heard of them until their children, the
Spaniards and Americans, came back. After the first boy and girl left, other children were born to
the couple, but they all remained at Cibolan on Mt. Apo with their parents, until Toglai and
Toglibon died and became spirits.
Soon after that there came a great drought which lasted for three years. All the waters dried up,
so that there were no rivers, and no plants could live.
"Surely," said the people, "Manama is punishing us and we must go elsewhere to find food and a
place to dwell in."
So they started out. Two went in the direction of the sunset, carrying with them stones from
Cibolan River. After a long journey they reached a place where were broad fields of cogon grass
and an abundance of water, and there they made their home. Their children still live in that place
and are called Magindanau, because of the stones which the couple carried when they left
Cibolan.
Two children of Toglai and Toglibon went to the south, seeking a home, and they carried with
them women's baskets (baraan). When they found a good spot, they settled down. Their
descendants, still dwelling at that place, are called Baraan or Bilaan, because of the women's
baskets.
So two by two the children of the first couple left the land of their birth. In the place where each
settled a new people developed, and thus it came about that all the tribes in the world received
their names from things that the people carried out of Cibolan, or from the places where they
settled.
All the children left Mt. Apo save two (a boy and a girl), whom hunger and thirst had made too
weak to travel. One day when they were about to die the boy crawled out to the field to see if
there was one living thing, and to his surprise he found a stalk of sugar-cane growing lustily. He
eagerly cut it, and enough water came out to refresh him and his sister until the rains came.
Because of this, their children are called Bagobo
According to Mabel Cook Cole (1916), the author of the Origin of Bagobo tribe (Mindanao), the story of
Bagobo tribe starts with Toglai and Toglibon who had two children a boy and a girl which happens to be
called Bagobo.
Philippines: Bagobo
The upland Bagobo ( Manobo, Obo, Obbo, Manuvu, Matigsalug, Matidsaug,
Kulamanen, Tigwa-Salug) and Guiangan (Attaw, Jangan) traditionally live in the east
and south of Mount Apo and the eastern side of Cotabato. Presently most Bagobo
populations are scattered in the interior ranges beyond Davao City, whole those on the
coastal plains have adapted a lowland way of life. The national population is placed at
58601 (NM 1994).
The Bagobo are heterogeneous, including subgroups like the Tahurug west of the
middle of the Davao river; the Timananon in the headwaters of the Tinaman river; the
Puangion in the southeastern Bukidnon; the Kuamanon living near the Kuaman river,
etc., with differences in dialects and other culture traits. Bagobo in the linguistic sense,
belong to the Manobo family of languages. The term is of little help in fixing ethnic
identity because for intents and purposes the group described in 1910 is virtually non-
existent to date due to the spread of Christianity, plantation economy and the market
system.
Traditionally, Bagobo society is dominated by a warrior class called magani, that
includes the community leader, usually a datu who wields no real power except his
influence as senior arbiter and judge, qualities, which derive from his being a magani.
He exerts influence over a community composed of households organized through
kinship principles, whether by blood or by marriage.
The houses are scattered near swidden fields. The scattered neighborhood is
organized into a district or political domain under the datu who functions as a temporal
head of a group. It is said that several domains identified as Bagobo with its datu or
chief, recognize the political authority of the datu of Sibulan, as a higher level of
hierarchy. The house of the datu has been said to be able to accommodate several
hundreds of people, and it is the ceremonial and defense center for the community.
Specific domains are controlled by magani. The magani is identified by his blood-red
clothing, which he earns in successful combats.
Abaca used to grow wild in the Davao provinces. These are usually stripped for the
fibre for which are used for commercial purposes especially during the early 1900s
when the demand for hemp was great. Domestically the fibre is used for weaving tie-
dyed cloth. Both men and women use the abaca for clothing which usually are heavily
decorated with multi-colored beads and embroidery over the woven designs on the
cloth. The Bagobo is also known for the production of cast brass ornaments like bells
using the lost-wax process.
They subsist largely with upland rice cultivated in a dry regime in swiddens. This
crop is supplemented by corn, sweet potato, bananas, sago and coconut. Food
gathering and hunting, and fishing are regularly done when the environment was not yet
degraded.
The Bagobo pantheon is composed of a number of spirit beings that interfere in the
affairs of men. The principal being is the creator called Eugpamolak Manobo or
Manama. There are a large number of lesser nature spirits who have to be shown
respect and others who take pleasure in being irritants. The mabalian who are usually
women, are the ritual practitioners which include healing. It is not rare that mabalians
are also skilled as weavers.
