Fact #9: The Maharlikans Have No Social Classes or Titles

9. Titles like rajah, datu or lakan were of Hindu-Malayan origins. Maharlikan people have no titles except being “maharlikans” which means men of renown, great men or men from the great plane.

Recent archaeological findings suggests that the history of the Philippines could have begun as early as 67,000 years ago with the discovery of Callao Man and believed to have reached the Islands using primitive rafts or boats. Callao Man predated the arrival of the Negritos 37,000 years earlier. Indonesians arrived more or less between 6,000 to 5,000 years ago.

These groups then stratified into: hunter-gatherer tribes, warrior societies, petty plutocracies and maritime-oriented harbor principalities which eventually grew into kingdoms, rajahnates, principalities, confederations and sultanates. States such as the Indianized Rajahnate of Butuan and Cebu, the dynasty of Tondo, the august kingdoms of Maysapan and Maynila, the Confederation of Madyaas, the sinified Country of Mai, as well as the Muslim Sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao. These small maritime states flourished from as early as the 1st Millenium. These kingdoms traded with what are now now called China, India, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia.[1]

Titles such as datu, raha, lakan or sultan in the early Pre-Spanish Philippines were of colonial influences and origins introduced during the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. The pure Muian Maharlikans have no social classes, statuses or titles as they were created equally in reference to their original purpose and nature. They simply called themselves the maharlikans meaning men of renown, great men, or men from the great plane, a name which exemplifies their sublime and pure origin, their level of consciousness, and their purpose in accordance with the divine plan of creation. In Tagalog terminology, in the Philippine history, maharlika became commonly referred to as “freemen” (malaya) or sometimes called the “noblemen” (maginoo). The first term implies an acquired status free from being a slave or a subject of a master while the second one implies nobility, high regard or respectable status in the society. However, these definitions of terms are misnomers.

The following descriptions should further clarify these terms:

·              Datu - The word Datu is a cognate of the Malay terms Dato' or Datuk, which is one of many noble titles in Malaysia, and to the Fijian chiefly title of Ratu.

·              Raha - Raha; also spelled Raja or Rajah (from Sanskrit Rājan), is a title for a monarch or princely ruler in South and Southeast Asia. The female form Rani (sometimes spelled ranee) applies equally to the wife of a Raja (or of an equivalent style such as Rana), usually as queen consort and occasionally as regent.

·              Lakan - Lakan originally referred to a rank in the pre-Hispanic Filipino nobility in the island of Luzon, which means "paramount ruler." It has been suggested that this rank is equivalent to that of Raha, and that different ethnic groups either used one term or the other, or used the two words interchangeably.

·              Sri - Sri, also transliterated as Sree, Shri, Shree, Si or Seri is a word of Sanskrit origin, used in the Indian subcontinent as a polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." or "Ms."

·              Sultan – Sultan is a title of the ruler of a Muslim country, especially of the former Ottoman Empire.

·              Dayang – Dayang or Dayang Dayang means "princes", and is a title given only to the daughters of the Sultan.

So far, the oldest known written record in the Philippine history discovered in the Philippine soil is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription dating back in the year 822 AD, written in the Indonesian script called Kavi. Navigators, sailors and traders of the Srivijayan Empire started their influences by 9th until 12th century. The Chinese had established a commercial contact with the Pre-Hispanic Filipinos as early as the year 982. By 14th century, Islam started to spread in the Philippines. Majapahit Empire replaced Srivijayan Empire until the early 15th century and occupied a Maharlikan territory thereafter.

With that being said, from the pre-colonial times until 822 AD, there were no surviving records have been found to consult what exactly happened during those missing years. Henceforth, the claim by many that the Muslims were the first to populate the Philippine archipelago is a lie, a baseless claim that should not be entertained at all levels. That statement is a blatant disrespect to the first inhabitants in the Philippines propagated by those Muslims who are trying to give credit to their religion or to their unfounded claim that they belong to the bloodlines of the sultan and the entire archipelago belongs to them.

Source:
[1] History of Philippines

Fact #8: The Srivijayan & Majapahit Empires Were Only Custodians of the Ophir's Gold

8. The nation's treasury of the Maharlikan people were so abundant that when under the Srivijayan-Majapahit Empire these were accumulated and taken as part of the empires’ treasury being the custodians of the wealth meant (only) for the Maharlikan nation.

In the previous topics, three facts were established: 1) the location of the land called Ophir (of the Maharlikan people) where King Solomon obtained gold points to no other place than the present-day Philippine Archipelago; 2) gold was so abundant in the land of Ophir during those days, and; 3) the Maharlikan people in the land of Ophir were in trade relations with other kingdoms and nations.

Prior to the Moslem's invasions of the Malayan Peninsula, in the 15^th century, the Majapahit Empire had already commercially controlled most part of the Maharlikan archipelago due to the latter’s having no central governance to unify the nation and no central forces to resist the impending occupation. It was an easy integration process on the part of the empire as there was no opposition at all. That condition of no central rulership had convinced them that the Maharlikan archipelago is a territory belonging to the Majapahit.

But owing to the unceasing incursions of the Moslems in the Malaya Peninsula between 1470's to 1520's establishing their sultanate governance and the Sharia Law in the region, the Majapahit Empire slowly disintegrated forcing its remaining central government to gradually moved from Java to Bali (Indonesia). And from there, a large number of courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royal family together with the huge amount of their treasury finally transferred to the Maharlikan archipelago in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (North Borneo).

There, in the Maharlikan archipelago the reigning royal family remained undisturbed for two centuries. With that reason, among others, as the reigning family continues, the treasures and natural resources were mined and accumulated into their treasury for the sustenance of the newly established kingdom. Gold was so abundant in the land that by shifting alone on the riverbeds anyone can find a gold nugget even as big as egg or walnut. Citing from the article Gold of Ancestors: Ayala Museum's Greatest Treasures written by Emmie V. Abadilla in 2014, she said, "Masters and slaves wore gold in their daily lives. Even the lowest of the low slaves wore gold ornaments. The country overflowed with gold in those days." It was no surprise why the Majapahit Empire was the richest kingdom in the world when it had controlled the Maharlikan archipelago. The same reason is also attributed to the legendary King Solomon’s temple made of gold that were mined from the land of Ophir.