Manobo Tribe (Outline) Population
Prepared by: Tajos, Maybelle Marie C. Between 1987-2010, the total lManobo
population recorded is; 1,344,077
Kaye Pauline Calingin
Introduction
The Manobo cluster includes eight groups:
The Manobo are several people groups who
inhabit the island of Mindanao in the 1. Cotabato Manobo
Philippines. They speak one of the 2. Agusan Manobo
languages belonging to the Manobo 3. Dibabawon Manobo
language family. 4. Matig Salug Manobo
5. Sarangani Manobo
Their origins can be traced back to the early
6. Manobo of Western Bukidnon
Malay peoples who came from the
7. Obo Manobo,
surrounding islands of Southeast Asia.
8. Tagabawa Manobo.
Social life
Origin
Social life for the Manobo is
Manobo/Manuvu/Minuvu – means patriarchal (male-dominated).
“person” or “people”. The head of the family is the
husband.
Polygamy (having more than one
It may also have been originally “Mansuba”, wife at a time) is common and is
which means “River people” allowed according to a man's
wealth.
Man + Suba
Most marriages are monogamous.
(people/person) (river) The only exception is that of the
powerful datus (headmen).
Religious Beliefs
Language
The religious beliefs of the Manobo revolve
24 main dialects: The Ata or Langilan
around the concept of many unseen spirits
Manobo, Talaingod, Matig-Salug, Tigwa,
interfering in the lives of humans.
Dibabawon, and Umayamnon are more
closely related since their dialects are Ancestral Worship - The Manobo
similar. people believe in honoring and
revering their ancestors.
Animism - the Manobo tribe
practices animism, which is the
belief that natural objects, such as
trees, rivers, mountains, and 4. Kulaguan – the Paradise where
animals, possess spirits. the epic heroes dwell.
Shamanism and Healing Practices –
The Manobo tribe has about 50 spirit-
the Manobo tribe recognizes the
deities
presence of shamans or healers
within their community Magbabaya – supreme deity (first layer)
3 classification of shaman: Mandangon – goddess of bloodshed and
war. (second layer)
1. Walian
2. Tumanuron Ibabasuk – god of farming.
3. Pohohana
Manawbanaw – god of rain and
Supernatural beings – the Manobo
thunder
tribe believes in a variety of
supernatural beings, such as deities, Lelawag – god of wild game.
spirits, and mythical creatures. The
Ahmogkat and Bulalakaw – gods of
most revered deity is Magbabaya,
rivers and streams.
who is considered the creator of the
universe. Mengilala – god of murder.
Manobo cosmology consists of four Ipememehandi – goddess of wealth.
worlds:
Tegulambong – husband of
1. Langit – skyworld Ipememehandi who can cause illness
- believe that it has when angered.
seven layers.
The Dibabawon recognizes five types of
Langit has three kinds of inhabitants: inhabitants on the pasak:
Umli - a class of deities who hold Mamasak – human race
themselves apart from human
Tagbanua – harmful busaw dwelling in
affairs.
balete trees
Diwata - lesser gods who control
natural phenomena and various Mandalingan – tree-dwelling witches
living creatures and are patrons of
Apila – a human-eating giant
human activity.
Busaw - malignant spirits who cause Lunod – busaw of streams, rivers, and lakes
illness and misfortune. who bless fisherfolk with a good catch if
2. Pasak or yongsud to mamasak – properly propitiated, or punish them with
earthworld death by drowning if neglected.
3. Yongsud ni maybowan –
Political System
underworld
Manobo settlements are either beam that functions as a divider at
dispersed or relatively compact, the center of a house—whom all
depending on the terrain, the agreed on.
agricultural system practiced, and
the degree of acculturation.
Compact villages traditionally have CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY
three or four datu or timuay
The upland Manobo practice
(chieftains), but dispersed
swidden or slash-and-burn
settlements have none. Some
farming, whereas those
Manobo groups did not have a
inhabiting the valleys practice
formal system of chieftainship until
wet-rice farming.
the present century.
Rice culture is so central to the
In 1910, the Agusanon Manobo, for
Manobo way of life that there
example, did not have a title for
are more than 60 different
chief. He was simply a bagani, a title
names for rice varieties, and all
that he shared with other members
agricultural rituals center around
of the bagani class. But Visayan
it.
traders called him “datu,” the
Other major means of
Spaniards called him masikampo
subsistence are fishing, hunting,
(derived from maestro de campo,
bee hunting, and trapping.
meaning “camp master”), and the
Because of these occupations,
Moro called him kuyano or kulano.
the Manobo live a seminomadic
The subgroup Manuvu did not
life
develop a datuship system until the
Some Manobo villages that have
middle of the 20th century.
established permanent
the western Bukidnon Manobo held
settlements have shifted to the
elaborate rites to install the chosen
cultivation of coconut for copra
datu or bai (female datu). A great
export.
number of people would converge
During the summer, while the
at a place called the center of the
people are waiting to harvest
earth for the ceremonies that
these two crops, sweet potatoes
involved several aspiring datu who
and cassava are the staple food.
represented the four directions: the
Abaca is raised and sold to
“upstream direction” (Cagayan de
Chinese traders or their agents,
Oro), the “downstream direction”
who take them to the urban
(Cotabato of the Maguindanao),
centers.
“eastward” (Davao of Matigsalug),
An occupation that figures as
and “westward” (Lanao Lake of the
entertainment for the Manobo is
Maranao). The people of these four
bee hunting, the procedure for
directions recognized a ruler, called
the lantung —literally a wooden
which is the basis of the comic
bee-hunting dance.
