What is the homeland of the Austronesians? What is Ophir? Who are the Austronesians? What is a homeland?
Ophir (/ˈoʊfər/;[1] Hebrew: אוֹפִיר, Modern: Ofir, Tiberian: ʼÔp̄îr) is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon received a cargo from Ophir every three years, 1 Kings 10:22 which consisted of gold, silver, sandalwood, pearls, ivory, apes, and peacocks (Schroff,p41).Polynesians form an ethnolinguistic group of closely related people who are native to Polynesia (islands in the Polynesian Triangle), an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and form part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group with an Urheimat in Taiwan. They speak the Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic subfamily of the Austronesian language family.As of 2012 there were an estimated 2 million ethnic Polynesians (full and part) worldwide, the vast majority of whom either inhabit independent Polynesian nation-states (Samoa, Niue, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji and Tuvalu) or form minorities in countries such as Australia, Chile (Easter Island), New Zealand, France (French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna), United Kingdom Overseas Territories (Pitcairn Islands) and the United States (Hawaii and American Samoa).The Austronesian peoples, or more accurately Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of various peoples in the Philippines, Taiwan (collectively known as Taiwanese indigenous peoples), Island Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar, that speak the Austronesian languages. Homeland is defined as a person's or a people's native land. Based on Hebrew scholars and hereditary heads of the ancient royal houses in the Philippines, Ophir, the ancient name of the Philippines, is the homeland of the Polynesians and Austronesian peoples all over the world. Magellan's landing in the Philippines was not accidental. He had been in the region before, and had likely come into contact with the Filipino community in Malacca. In his writings, Magellan clearly seems to think that the islands of the Lequios and the Biblical "Tarsis and Ofir," were to be found at the latitudes he purposely steered towards. In fact, the official charter of the voyage states that one of the goals was Tarsis and Ofir. In a manuscript of Barbosa with annotation by Magellan, the latter crosses out the references to the Lequios and replaces them with "Tarsis and Ofir." The Lequios in Magellan's time were believed to be somewhere north of Mindanao. Indeed, the latitude given for the Lequios by Pinto would have lead Magellan right to the northern part of Leyte. Thus, it is possible that after talking to some members of the Filipino community in Malacca, Magellan realized that one of these people would make the perfect assistant for a journey that he was already planning (Manansala, 2020).
A reaction from the Philippine and global public
Narag Theory of Ophir: the Ancient Philippines was Ophir
Principalia Theory of Inter Migration: The Ophir (Ancient Philippines) is the Homeland of the Austronesians
One Application of the Narag Ophir Theory and the Principalia Theory in Historical Interpretations: Without Spain, the Philippines could have been the "Federated Kingdoms of Ophir"
Love, Romance and Faithfulness of the Lequios Tribe in the Heart of Ophir (ancient Philippines)
Modern Efforts to Rectify some Errors in the Philippine History: Lapu Lapu is not a Muslim Bornean but a Lequios (waray hadlok) within the influence of the Lakanate of Lawan of the ancient Philippines (Ophir)
1. That Lapulapu, our first national hero, settled in a village called Bagasumbol, the old name of Naval, the capital town of Biliran Province north of Leyte;
2. That the word Bagasumbol was a reverential folk attribute to Lapulapu for his spectacular feat, the victory over the attacking Spanish troops led by the ill-fated Ferdinand Magellan during the Battle of Mactan in April 1521;
3. That Bagasumbol was the "provincial" abode of Lapulapu, his vacation spot, and the farming and hunting ground of his tribe; and
4. That Mactan Island was merely Lapulapu’s "urban" abode near Cebu (Sugbu), an ancient trade center, an abode which he shared with Sula, another datu (chief).
The Meaning of Sumbol
The former name of the town of Naval was Bagasumbol (i.e., "like sumbol"). According to local folklore this "war-like" name, Bagasumbol, was changed in 1859 to a more "peaceful" name, Naval, supposedly to commemorate the historical La Guerra Naval de Manila in 1646, which was believed to have been won by the Spaniards against the powerful Dutch squadron because of the miraculous intercession of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary. The Blessed Virgin is the adopted patroness of the town of Naval.2
The folklore of the town, therefore, has a ready explanation for the "Naval" name. However, the natives have always been at a loss to explain the origin of its former name, Bagasumbol. This old name has been provided with explanations by several authors and writers in the past.
Artigas3 wrote that the word bagasumbol meant "an obstacle to enemies." Lepasana4 mentioned that the settlement was named after its founder who happened to be called Bagasumbol. Chico5 noted the theories advanced by Artigas and Lepasana, but added that whatever may be the case, "the place (Bagasumbol) may either refer to the founder who earned the name of an obstacle to the enemies for his prowess and fearlessness against the hostile attacks of the enemies, or it may refer to the inhabitants themselves, who were reputed for their bravery and courage which enabled them to repel the almost insuperable (sic) invasions of their antagonists."
The diverse interpretations of Bagasumbol, borne largely out of word-play rather than out of a discreet inquiry into the etymology of the word, certainly did not put an end to the debate.
In 1990 I finally came across a direct reference to the word sombol, together with its definition, in an English translation of the Alzina manuscript of 1668. Alzina defined the Bisayan word sombol as "a great feathered ornament (gran plumaje) which they tie to the prow (of their boats, when returning from war or a mission) as a symbol of their victory or as the greatest sign of conquest."6 The word therefore always referred to the ethnic, self-made equivalent of the modern victor’s trophy.
Thus the word Bagasumbol or baga sumbol had always meant "like or similar to (baga, in Waray) a symbol of a great victory or conquest (sombol)." With the meaning of Bagasumbol now known, I was left with speculating on how the place became referred to as Bagasumbol.
"Urban" and "Provincial" Abodes
Pigafetta’s account of his observations in Limasawa Island gives us some clues that the native datus in 1521 had both "urban" (i.e., near a trade center) and "provincial" abodes, where they farmed, hunted, or vacationed. For instance, the brothers Rajah Kolambu and Rajah Awi, whom Magellan and Pigafetta met in Limasawa, happened to be in that island at the Spanish contact only because they had previously agreed to meet each other and do some hunting there.7 In the case of Rajah Awi, he appeared to have an "urban" abode in Butuan, but his "provincial" abode appeared to be Calagan (Surigao). As for Rajah Kolambu, Limasawa Island appeared to be just a favorite "provincial" abode, but he probably came from his "urban" abode in the present Carigara town in north Leyte, which was the abode of his grandson, Rajah Bankaw, of the Bankaw Revolt fame in the 1620s.8
With the above examples in mind, we might surmise that Lapulapu, the other datu of Mactan, must have also had a "provincial" abode. And this could have been Bagasumbol, the old name of the town of Naval in Biliran Island.
Historical Inference
The historical proof for Bagasumbol as the "provincial" abode of Lapulapu could partly be inferred from the accounts on the expedition of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in 1565.9 When Legazpi and his expedition settled in Cebu that year, he found that the people of Mactan persistently refused to come to terms with the Spaniards, as Lapulapu had done to Magellan in 1521. When Legazpi tried to negotiate peace with them, the Mactanese instead fled eastward, to Leyte. Later, when a force was about to be sent to Leyte, the refuge of the Mactanese, the people of Cebu begged of Legazpi not to launch the attack until they had warned their relatives trading there to get out.10
One of the interesting native characters dealing with the Legazpi expedition was a person named Makyaw. He was the brother of Rajah Tupas, the datu of Cebu in 1565, and the husband of a woman and the father of two girls who had been taken hostage by Legazpi to guarantee peace following the burning of Cebu by the Spaniards. After his family was released, Makyaw played a front-line role in a native attempt to drive the Spaniards out of the islands by hunger, a passive resistance approach to preserving their way of life. But this tactic failed because the Spaniards had decided to settle in these islands, though they left Cebu after a few years in favor of Panay, from where they proceeded to Manila to establish their permanent settlement.11
Makyaw appeared to be the same person as Capitan Basio (a corruption of Makyaw?), the legendary founder of the settlement of Kawayan, now a town 18 kilometers north of Naval. The historical data paper of Kawayan tells that Capitan Basio was a resident of Cordova in Mactan. It also tells that he fled from Mactan and settled in Kawayan supposedly to escape the injustice inflicted on his family by the Moros and the Spaniards.12 If Makyaw of history and Capitan Basio of legend were indeed the same person, then we have proof that Biliran Island was the Mactanese domain in Leyte where Makyaw fled to.13 This could provide a tenuous association with the claim that the neighboring Bagasumbol may have been the "provincial" abode of the famous Mactanese, Lapulapu, who probably sired a similarly brave and defiant son who also became chief of Mactan.14
Was Lapulapu Bagasumbol?
Lapulapu’s victory over Ferdinand Magellan during the Battle of Mactan in the morning of 27 April 1521 was a memorable event in the Western world. Magellan’s death was mourned as a great loss to world history. However, if my speculation is correct, the natives of the Philippines at the Spanish contact may have also acted like true victors: they apparently memorialized Lapulapu’s victory by revering him as a living human trophy, baga sumbol ("like a symbol of a great victory"). Taking Lepasana’s explanation cited earlier, was Lapulapu the person called Bagasumbol, the founder of the settlement of the same name?
In a previous article published in Kinaadman concerning the beginnings of Naval town,15 I apparently erred in interpreting Artigas’s Bagasumbol, "obstacle to enemies." I wrote that Bagasumbol became the name of the old poblacion site of Biliran pueblo only after the local residents showed a belligerent attitude against their deluded and heretical first parish priest, following the latter’s decision to transfer the poblacion to another site sometime between 1765 and 1775. I now believe that Bagasumbol had been the name of this village long before it was made the poblacion of Biliran pueblo, and that the "obstacle to enemies" perception contextually evolved out of a different "war-like" stance showed by the local residents -- that of protracted resistance. The new meaning expanded, but did not necessarily alter, the original meaning of Bagasumbol.
But it might be asked, if the village was named after Lapulapu, why was it not named Lapulapu? Why Bagasumbol instead? The answer to this question reflects the civilities, terms of courtesy, and good breeding of the prehispanic natives. Their greatest courtesy was in their form of address. They never spoke to anyone as "you" or in the second person but always in the third person.16 Thus, in the case of Limasawa Island, for example, the island was not named after Rajah Kolambu in his name, but after one of his probable attributes -- his having five wives (i.e., of him who has lima asawa).17
One of the interesting events in Naval history occurred sometime in the 1930s. The predominantly Spanish names of the town’s 14 streets were abruptly renamed mostly after illustrious local forebears.18 However, one old street name was retained: Magallanes. (Another renamed street, Gran Capitan or Great Captain, probably referred also to Magellan.) It probably would not strain our credulity if the redundant folkloric reference to Magellan in this town subconsciously alluded to the fact that it was Magellan’s conqueror who founded the settlement that became known as Bagasumbol and who may have brought there some trophy from the battle of Mactan.
NOTES
This chapter was originally published as an article in Kinaadman (Vol. 17, No. 2, 1995), pp. 207-214.
1 Rolando O. Borrinaga, et. al., "Beginnings of Naval, Biliran Island: A Revisionist Account," Kinaadman XIV, 2 (1992) 129-140.
2 Ibid., p. 133.
3 Manuel Cuerva Artigas, Reseña Historica de la Provincia de Leyte (1914). Cited by Chico, see Note No. 5.
4 Esmeraluna Lepasana, "History of Leyte," 1954 masteral thesis. Cited by Chico, Note No. 5.
5 Eduardo A. Chico, "A Short History of Naval" (Unpublished 1957 undergraduate thesis at the Leyte-Samar Museum Library, Divine Word University, Tacloban City), 44 pages.
6 Cantius J. Kobak OFM, "Ancient Bisayan Literature, Music and Dances: In Alzina’s Historia de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas ... 1668," Leyte-Samar Studies XI, 1 (1977) 49.
7 "Pigafetta’s Account," in The Philippines at the Spanish Contact (ed., F. Landa Jocano). Manila: MCS Enterprises, Inc., 1975. pp. 50-51.
8 Eduardo Makabenta and Victoria S. Salazar, "Carigara: Ancient Capital of Leyte," Leyte-Samar Studies I, 2 (1967) 180-193.
9 Martin J. Noone SSC, The Discovery and Conquest of the Philippines, 1521-1581 (Manila: Historical Conservation Society, 1986). pp. 299-363.
10 Ibid., p. 362.
11 Ibid., pp. 348, 351, 354, 357, 362.
12 Historical Data Paper for the Town of Kawayan, in Historical Data Papers - Leyte (Vol. V).
13 Several prominent families (i.e., Veloso, Aznar) in mainland Cebu own large haciendas in northwest Leyte, but not in western Biliran Island, where small landholdings of families from humbler origins are common. Bruce L. Fenner, in Cebu Under the Spanish Flag, 1521-1896: An Economic-Social History (Cebu City: San Carlos Publications, 1985), mentioned family names such as Veloso and Antonio. These were also among the prominent landowning families in northwest Leyte (i.e., Villaba, Tabango, San Isidro and Calubian towns) at the turn of the century.
14 Noone, op. cit, pp. 353-354. Fr. Noone made mention of Dagami, "the chief of Mactan (who) was captured and convicted of the murder of Pedro de Arana and executed" nearly one year after the arrival of the Legazpi expedition. Was Dagami the son of Lapulapu? Dagami had urged the native chiefs not to make peace with the Spaniards, "but to drive the invaders out, especially by hunger, and threatened the others with dire consequences if they made peace."
15 See Note No. 1.
16 "Chirino’s Account," in Jocano ed. (see Note No. 7) pp. 135-136.
17 Ann R. Rogador, "The History of Triana, Limasawa" (Student Note, 1990).
18 1987 Naval Fiesta Souvenir Program, p. 2. The old and new street names of Naval are as follows: San Fernando (Vicentillo); Real (Padre Inocentes); Sta. Cruz (Santissimo Rosario); Marquis de Cadiz (Corvera); Gran Capitan (Caneja); Unnamed street (Trece, i.e., 13th); Esperanza (Garcia); Urdaneta (Redaza); Burgos (not changed); Del Rosario (Castin); Magallanes (not changed); Legazpi (Sabenorio); Rizal (Ballesteros); Colon (Abad). Two old street names, Gran Capitan and Magallanes, referred to Magellan. However, when the streets were renamed, two new street names referred to the founder of Naval, Fr. Juan Inocentes Manco Garcia. These are the Padre Inocentes and Garcia Streets.
ADDENDUM:
THE LAPULAPU IN BILIRAN DEBATE
In the middle of 1996, Fr. Miguel Bernad, SJ, editor of Kinaadman, brought to my attention a letter from Fr. Peter Schreurs, MSC, reacting to my article about Lapulapu. Fr. Schreurs is a retired Dutch Columban missionary who served in Mindanao. He was formerly parish priest of Magallanes town in Agusan del Norte, which covers Masao, the other claimant of the recorded First Mass in the Philippines. As a historian, he had refuted the Masao claim in favor of Limasawa.
Fr. Schreurs wrote from Tilburg, Holland. His letter, published in Kinaadman (Vol. 18, Nos. 2 and 3, 1996, p. 246), went as follows:
On Lapulapu in Biliran
Dear Editor,
Kindly allow me to comment on the article ‘Lapulapu in Biliran?’ (Kinaadman Vol. XVII, No. 2, p. 213-214).
1) I am not aware if Kolambu of Limasawa did indeed have ‘lima asawa’ (five wives) but the island certainly did not get its name from that attribute!
2) As for the street names of Biliran: ‘Gran Capitan’ does not refer to Magellan but to the great Spanish warrior Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba (1443-1515) who transformed the Spanish infantry of King Ferdinand of Aragon into the most feared military force of Europe."
Peter Schreurs MSC
Tilburg, Holland
I immediately wrote a response to Fr. Schreurs’ comments. Fr. Bernad published this in the latest issue of Kinaadman (Vol. 21, 1999, pp. 370-371), the text of which went as follows:
Lapulapu in Biliran
Dear Editor:
I write to clarify Fr. Peter Schreurs’ comments (Kinaadman, XVII, 2-3) on my article "Lapulapu in Biliran?" (Kinaadman, XVII, No. 2).
(1) The "lima asawa" (five wives) explanation of the name of Limasawa is a folklore that I have known since childhood. Whether or not this is mere word-play is still debatable.
In 1990, a student of mine from Limasawa wrote a short composition on the origin of her home barangay. She wrote: "Triana got its name from one of the five wives of Rajah Kolambu (Bancao) named Tirana." Of course, Kolambu and Bankaw were two different persons, but the Limasawa tradition seems no longer sure which of them had five wives.
My student also mentioned the names of the five wives as follows: Tirana, Maanyag, Ujaja, Fujing, and Istamona. Five beaches in Limasawa had been named after each of them.
I know that the late Dr. William Henry Scott had a different theory about Limasawa’s name (i.e., Five Phyton or Phyton Place). But this was not sufficient for me to dispense with my own theory.
Like his convincing refutation of the Butuan tradition of the First Mass (in favor of Limasawa), I wish Father Schreurs will further explain his certainty that Limasawa did not get its name from the "five wives" attribute.
(2) I stand corrected on the name "Gran Capitan," a street name which I had mentioned in a parenthetical sentence as a reference to Magellan. I shall remove this erroneous interpretation from future versions of the article.
(3) While that article was in process of publication, I came across other place-names and published references to bolster my theory about Lapulapu. A Lapulapu District in the poblacion of Dagami, Leyte, helped firm up my theory that Dagami, who was executed on orders of Legazpi in 1567, was probably the son of Lapulapu and successor of his "urban abode" in Mactan. Dagami and his mother, perhaps one of Lapulapu’s several wives, may have been natives of Dagami (whatever its former name remains unknown to me), a town that was probably named after a heroic son.
Scott had written a lengthy article about Dagami’s betrayal by Tupas of Cebu.
The probability of Dagami’s being a Waray led me to the hypothesis that Mactan was possibly a Waray enclave during Lapulapu’s days, and to the related hypothesis that Lapulapu was probably a Waray himself. In his book, The Jesuits in the Philippines, Father Horacio de la Costa, SJ, mentioned about a chief of Bohol named "Waray Tupung" (Peerless One). If his part of Bohol was Waray territory, would it be far-fetched to presume that nearby Mactan was also ruled by a Waray during those days?
Of course, Father Schreurs is a historian I admire much. I own a copy of his Caraga Antigua, which I have cited as reference for several articles. Indeed, I feel honored by the attention he has given my article. He has better access to archival sources than I do.
But I have more intimate knowledge of Leyte culture and geography, and of the nuances of both the Cebuano and Waray languages. Since these have not yet been totally discredited as alternative data sources for hypothesis-testing historical studies, then I shall continue availing of them to complement "conventional" sources for my speculations.
Rolando O. Borrinaga
UP - School of Health Sciences, Palo, Leyte
The Advocates of the Principalia Theory has this Message to Filipinos: be patriotic
References:
Kobak, Cantius (2002). Historical Sketches of the Pueblos of Samar and Leyte: 1580-1900. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Unpublished. pp. 445–477.
Manansala, Paul. http://www.iphil.net/rp/travel/banaue/. polmansl@IXNETCOM.COM. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
Schroff, The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea 1912, p. 41.
Scott, William Henry (1985). Cracks in the parchment curtain and other essays in Philippine history. New Day Publishers. p. 93. ISBN 978-971-10-0073-8.
