What is the history of manguangan tribe in the Philippines?

Answer 1

Mangyan is the collective name of eight ethnolinguistic groups— Iraya, Alangan, Tadyawan, Tau-Buid, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunoo, and Ratagnon —who inhabit the highland region of Mindoro.

Mindoro is the Philippine archipelago’s seventh-largest island, measuring about 10,000 square kilometers. It lies at the northern end of the vast basin of the Sulu Sea, south of Batangas and mainland southern Luzon, and west of the Bicol region. Most parts of the island are mountainous. There are small stretches of flatlands, and the rest are coastal areas. These plains are home to the damuong, the Filipino lowlanders such as the Tagalog, Visayan, and Ilocano migrants. Another group, the Ratagnon, which can be found in a nearby territory of the Hanunoo (also Hanunuo) and are usually grouped with the Mangyan, are considered by anthropologists and linguists as settlers from the island of Cuyo.

The etymology of the term “Mangyan” is unclear. It may have been formed by the prefix mang (“one from a certain place”) and the root word yan (“that place”). Therefore, “Mangyan” may mean “the people from that place.” Lowlanders use the word to refer to any indigenous group residing in Mindoro, including the Ratagnon. Nevertheless, for the indigenous peoples themselves, the word means “people.” They also use it to distinguish themselves from the “foreign” lowland settlers.

For most outsiders, the term “Mangyan” has a derogatory connotation because they associate it with being “primitive,” “aggressive,” or “enslaved.” Worcester (1930, 591-592) wrote that the Mangyan were dirty and unsanitary, and “only slightly more developed than the Negritos.” Conklin (1947) did not like the term “Mangyan,” claiming that it was “confusing, had no scientific value and was a source of conflict.” At present, however, the different indigenous groups of Mindoro claim it as their collective name. The name of their island-wide alliance is HAGIBBAT Mangyan Mindoro, the first word being the acronym for the seven groups: Hanunoo, Alangan, Gubatnon, Iraya, Buhid, Bangon, Tadyawan. Formerly named Samahang Pantribo ng mga Mangyan (SPMM) (Association of Mangyan Groups), it is still called SPMM by some Mangyan.