Where did Lakan Dula come from?

Answer 1

Lakan Dula was born on December 16, 1503 A.D and died on March 21, 1589 A.D. He was the last King of Manila before the kingdom was totally subjugated by the Spaniards and his descendants were forced to do self exile to escape the bloody hispanic persecution by settling in far flung areas within the sea and river routes. It was in Lakan Dula's era when Britain and Spain are rivals for world power. Britain's way is to gain the trust of native royalties all over the world by diplomacy or intermarriages and then group these royalties into federation under its leadership. Spain's way is through conquest and subjugation. Lakan Dula's tall and fair appearance came from his great grand father who has British blood, a Lord of Manor from Oxfordshire. The birth of Lakan Dula is the early attempt of the British crown to gain the trust of the native Manila aristocracy. It is one of the ways to slowly defeat Spain as the world power of that time. A not so popular footnote in the Philippine history is the early attempt of the British Royalty to drive out the Spaniards from Manila and reinstall the British - blooded Lakan Dula lineage into the old Manila Kingdom. The British Royalty assigned a distant relative of Lakan Dula, Thomas Cavendish from the British Royalty along Oxfordshire, to lead the attack with the backing of the subjects of the Lakan Dula of the Manila aristocracy. This is now recorded in the Philippine history as the "Ang Subwatan ng mga Maharlika".

In 1586, three years before the death of Lakan Dula of Manila, Queen Elizabeth I of England, sent support to the Protestant causes in the Netherlands and France, and Sir Francis Drake launched attacks against Spanish merchants in the Caribbean and the Pacific, along with a particularly aggressive attack on the port of Cadiz. In 1588, hoping to put a stop to Elizabeth's intervention, Philip sent the Spanish Armada to attack England. Favourable weather, more heavily-armed and manœuverable English ships, and the fact that the English had been warned by their spies in the Netherlands and were ready for the attack resulted in defeat for the Armada.

After the death of Lakan Dula in 1589, an intense drive to erase once and for all the British - blooded Manila native aristocracy from their Intramuros homeland was launched by the Spanish authorities after realizing that the Lakan Dula descendants have, afterall, British lineage and therefore, these descendants might side with the British forces, in case of a full blown Spanish - British war. The Spaniards were eventually proven right because the British eventually invaded and occupied Manila from Spain, from 1762- 1764, far two centuries after the death of Lakan Dula. In the short - lived British occupation of Manila, the British introduced the elections as a way of teaching the concept of democracy at the same time, to ease out local leaders loyal to the Spaniards. The first ever election in the Philippines was held in Marikina Valley, a stronghold of Lakan Dula descendants who moved out from the Intramuros homeland via river routes and where the British are more at home and have a strong link, according to the former executive director of the National Historical Institute. Marikina Valley then was part of the Province of Manila, the Manila proper is the City of the Province of Manila, or simply, City of Manila.

But as early as 1587, a year before the Spanish Armada will be defeated by the British, Magat Salamat, one of the children of Lakan Dula, and Augustin de Legazpi, Lakan Dula's nephew, and the chieftains of modern Tondo, Pandacan, Marikina, Candaba, Navotas and Bulacan were executed for secretly conspiring to revolt against the Spanish settlements. Several decades later, mestizo by the name of David Dula y Goiti, a grandson of Rajah Lakan Dula with a Spanish mother escaped the intense persecution of the descendants of Lakan Dula by settling in Isla de Batag, Northern Samar and settled in the placed now called Candawid.[4]

More than half a century after the death of Lakan Dula, his descendants in Northern Samar started the Sumuroy Rebellion of 1649-1650, led by the Waray hero Juan Ponce Sumuroy of Palapag Town. Warays are known for conspiratorial tendency, suicidal courage and closely knit family loyalty, which manifested in the fact that most of the inner core of the Sumuroy Revolt are his blood relatives. One of the trusted co conspirators and relative of Sumuroy, David Dula y Goiti of nearby Laoang Town, sustained the Filipino quest for motherland with a greater vigor. Due to his hatred for the Spaniards; he dropped the name Goiti in his surname and adopted a new name David Dulay.[5] He was however wounded in a battle, was captured and later was executed in Palapag, Northern Samar by the Spaniards together with his seven key lieutenants, one of who was the great grandfather of current Northern Samar Governor Raul Daza. They were accused of masterminding several attacks on Spanish detachments. The place where David came from was named later as Candawid (Kan David or owned by David in Waray dialect) in Isla De Batag, Laoang, Northern Samar. Some of David's descendants changed their surnames to Dulay to avoid Spanish prosecutions. Some maintained their surname Dula, which up to these days is the source of minor internal frictions among some descendants of David Dula y Goiti in Laoang, Northern Samar accusing each side as "sigbinan", a native Waray folklore which originated in Isla de Batag, which connotes "a family secretly keeping bear-like creatures", which are being fed with all kinds of meat, sometimes, including human flesh of dead Spanish Guardia Civil. Several famous Northern Samarenos are tracing their ancestry among the seven co conspirators executed with David Dula y Goiti in Palapag, Northern Samar.

The Ancestors of David Dulay (David Dula y Goiti)

Reference:See the related link for further information.

1. Batang Dula: Father of David Dula y Goiti; Son of Lakan Dula and Mutya;Brother of Magat Salamat, Felipe Salonga, Martin Lakan Dula, Dionisio Capulong and Maria Poloin.
2. Lakan Dula (1503 - 1589): David's grandfather; Husband of Mutya; Son of Rajah Sulaiman I and Ysmeria; Father of Batang Dula, Magat Salamat, Felipe Salonga, Dionisio Capulong, and Maria Poloin.
3. Mutya: David's grandmother; Wife of Lakan Dula; Mother of Batang Dula, Felipe Salonga, Magat Salamat, Dionisio Capulong, and Maria Poloin.
4. Rajah Sulaiman I: David's great grandfather; Son of Rajah Lontok and Dayang Kalangitan; Husband of Ysmeria; Father of Lakan Dula and Rajah Sulaiman II,; Brother of Dayang Panginoan, Dayang Lahat and Gat Kahiya.
5. Ysmeria: David's great grandmother; Wife of Rajah Sulaiman I; Mother of Lakan Dula and Rajah Sulaiman II.
6. Rajah Lontok: David's second great grandfather; Son of Sultan Bolkiah and Lela Mechanai; Husband of Dayang Kalangitan; Father of Dayang Panginoan, Dayang Lahat, Rajah Sulaiman I and Gat Kahiya; Brother of Rajah Gappandan
7. Dayang Kalangitan: David's second great grandmother; Wife of Rajah Lontok;Mother of Dayang Panginoan, Dayang Lahat, Rajah Sulaiman I and Gat Kahiya
8. Sultan Bolkiah: David's third great grandfather; Son of Sultan Sulaiman; Husband of Lela Mechanai; Father of Rajah Lontok and Rajah Gatpandan.
9. Lela Mechanai: David's third great grandmother; Daughter of Sultan Amir Ul-Ombra; Wife of Sultan Bolkiah; Mother of Rajah Lontok and Rajah Gatpandan
10. Rajah Gambang: David's third great grandfather; Father of Dayang Kalangitan
11. Sultan Sulaiman: David's fourth great grandfather; Father of Sultan Bolkiah
12. Sultan Amir Ul-Ombra: David's fourth great grandfather; Father of Lela Mechanai
13. Rajah Alon: David's fifth great grandfather; Son of Lakan Timamanukum
14. Lakan Timamanukum: David's 6th great grandfather; Father of Rajah Alon.

The Gatbonton Clan is one of the earliest clans in the Philippine history which was able to show their link with the pre Hispanic native nobility. Their research is comprehensive and often cited by Filipino historians. One of their clan members is Fernando Poe, Jr. who won the Philippine Presidency but was cheated by Gloria Arroyo, from the La Candola Clan of Arayat Pampanga, who was jailed later on the charges of election offenses and plunder. La Candola is a common hispanic /italian surname adopted by lots of Filipinos in different parts of the country.The Gatbonton Clan kept a ancient secret genealogy of the native Filipino royalty, to wit:

This genealogy of the Gatbonton Clan shows the Dulay Clan of Marikina Valley as direct descendants of Lakan Dula of Tondo. As the leader of the Gatbonton Clan said: " I am a grandson of Feliza Gatbonton Corrales-Macam. The Gatbontons are not descendants of Lakan Dulas but rather a direct relative. Gatbonton (mandala) was the administrator of the rice granary of the kingdom. He was the son of Dayang Lahat, sister of Raja Sulaiman Sri Lila (salalila)I. His other kin were MONMON, GATCHALIAN, GATMAITAN, MACARALAGA, GATMAITIM, MANDIC, GATDULA and DUMANDAN." Note, the Gatdulas of today is not in the line of the present day Dula but surely of the Gatbontons as their Father was Gat Timog. The will says:"GATBONTON married MACAYABONGDILI ( in english: the one with the ladies in waiting), a sister of my father*. They had five children, namely LOVERA, MACABAT, CAPITANGAN, TAUI and PAMPALUNG (founder of the Kingdom of Apalit) whom they called MACAPAGAL. The name could have been used as a cover up to avoid persecution when the Gatbontons escaped Tondo for Candaba via Rio Grande River. The name was used during his youth and assumed another before he died. He had also a son named Palong Gatbonton. From this line comes the line of my great Grandmother Simeona Gatbonton-Corrales, Martha Gatbonton-Kelly;grandmother of FPJ, Juan Gatbonton, Liborio Gatbonton, Manolo Gatbonton and Zcarina Gatbonton."

The descendants of Lakan Dula of Tondo therefore can be traced by knowing the present descendants of his seven children, namely: Batang Dula, Martin Lakan Dula, Magat Salamat, Dionisio Capulong, Felipe Salonga, Maria Poloin and Luis Salugmoc. The family of Diosdado Macapagal is claiming descendancy from Lakan Dula of Tondo but they can not point out where in the Lakan Dula children did they come from. They always end up not with any children of Lakan Dula, but with a certain guy with a surname Lacandola from Arayat, Pampanga who turned out to be a traitor to the natives and pro Spaniards, whose one of the children is surnamed Reyes who married Juan Macapagal where the present Macapagal of Lubao came from. This is shown in the present Wikipedia article on Lakan Dula which is dominated by the paid hacks of the Macapagal but is boycotted by respected Philippine historians. Lacandola is a very common Filipino surname but to show that it is a descendant of Lakan Dula of Tondo, it must show that it came from one of the seven children of Lakan Dula. Maybe, the Macapagal came from Gatbonton Clan, whose great great grandfather is the "administrator of the rice granary of the Kingdom of Lakan Dula".

Lots of native sounding Filipino surnames today, just like the Gatbontons, may have been descendants of the relatives of Lakan Dula who served in special capacity in the Kingdom of Lakan Dula.The Spanish persecutions of the descendants of Lakan Dula continued and intensified, but a lot of descendants maintained their native surnames like lakandula, dula, dulay, gatdula, dulayan, abdullah, rebadulla, dulatre, duldulao, dulayba, lakandola, lacandalo, lacandola, lacandula, dula - torre and many others revolving around the root word "dula". During the intense persecution of the Spaniards on the native aristocracy, some descendants have to disregard the "dula" root word and adopted totally different native sounding surnames for disguise, like magsaysay, lontoc, agbayani, acuna, salonga, gatchalian, bacani, macapagal, guingona, gatpandan, pangilinan, sumuroy, dagohoy, kalaw, salalima, soliman, pilapil, mabini, pagdanganan, macalintal, angara, bamba, datumanong, panganiban, katigbak, macarambon, sakay, aglipay, kasilag, salamat, karingal, kiram, daza, lacanilao, lacanlale, gatchalian, manalo, lagumbay, tamano, ilagan, bunye, pangandaman, maliksi, silang, badoy, puno, lapid, ziga, nalupta, binay, gatbonton, sinsuat, capulong, puyat, gatmaitan, macuja, dagami, ablan, capinpin, punongbayan, madlangbayan, gatlabayan, batungbakal, cabangbang, sumulong, gustilio, calungsod, capangoy, kapunan, etc, but continued fighting for the liberation of the natives from Spain. Some of the descendents hid their Lakan Dula heritage by changing their names into the likes of guevara, aguinaldo, legaspi, aquino, mendoza, osmena, de Leon, estanislao, laurel, fernando, ejercito, delapaz, mercado, santos, bonifacio, de guzman, etc, while some adopted chinese surnames of their mother like lim, uy, go, tan, etc, but they continued to pursue a belligerant posture against Spain. There are however few who were forced to collaborate with the Spanish authority. Wishing to avoid the persecution experienced by his latter ancestors, Lakan Dula's alleged great grandson Juan Macapagal (Wikipedia article points out that he is actually a descendant of certain Mr. Lacandola of Arayat who is a traitor to the natives and a proud pro Spaniards), for instance, aided the Spanish authorities in suppressing the 1660 Kapampangan revolt of Francisco Maniago, and the Pangasinan revolt of Andrés Malong, and the 1661 Ilocano revolt. To some natives, this is an act of treason against their cause, but some leaders understand this as a heroism to save the future descendants of Lakan Dula.The Philippine Genealogical Society has the official list of these native Filipino surnames in its website at the related link. Each surname may have some family history that will show their designation or role in the Kingdom of Lakan Dula the way the Gotbonton Clan had documented from the past. One example of which is the surname Lacandola of Arayat who is proudly anti - native and pro Spaniards. Other native sounding surnames may have exciting histories.