Twelve Regional Ethnic Groups

The Philippines is a collectivity of approximately 7,107 islands and islets making it one of the well-known archipelagos in the world. Due to this topographical features federalism is the sought solution to unite a diversified cultural differences and to bring the central governance closer to the heart of people. As far as national legislations are involve the Philippines as a country and as a nation was originally subdivided into 12 regions according to the peoples' cultural orientations. This regionalization was ethnographic in nature where each cluster represents a unified single identity of the people galvanized by way of similarities in their cultural origins.This reminds a history bookworm of almost the same story of 12 ethnographic groups of people somewhere in the far distant in the west, in the middle east thousands of years ago: the 12 tribes in the land of Israel.

The Twelve Tribes of Israel were once distributed according to the names of the twelve sons of Jacod, in the Promised Land. However, because of unending conflict with the Palestinians and with the Arabs most of them migrated to other countries thus were scattered around the world. They were called the Escaped Remnants or the Lost Tribes of Israel.

The Prophet Isaiah foretold the days of these Escaped Remnants. “And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” (Isa. 66:19).

There are hints between the lines that could lead us identify where did the Escaped Remnants go, “…that draw the bow” is the simplest description of the people in this “isles afar off” which gives a picture of “hunters” or primitive people using “bow and arrow” as their most remarkable tools in hunting. 

According to a Philippine legend, around the 13th century there were ten Bornean datus who escaped from the tyranny and cruelty of certain Sultan Makatunaw, the ruler of Borneo. These ten datus and their families left Borneo and accidentally reached the Island of Panay in the Visayas region in their search for a new land. Panay at that time was already inhabited by the Aetas, the first settlers. The Aetas were described as “hunters and food gatherers”. They lived in the primitive ways of living. Never in their entire lives have heard about the western civilizations, about Jehovah, Yahweh, Judaism or Adam. They were animists and totally alien about the history of the Hebrews and of the Promised Land. Were these primitive people those “that draw the bow” that was referred by Prophet Isaiah?

And how about the names of the places mentioned, such as Javan and the isles afar off? Are these not the present day Java in Indonesia and the Island Philippines which are much closer to each others?

The ten Bornean datus were among the Escaped Remnants of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. When the Europeans first set foot in the archipelago, one particular priest named Padre Chirino, an eminent Jesuit historian wrote, “The Tagalog language has the mystery and obscurities of the Hebrew language.” The Tagalog (Tagala) was the language introduced by the ten Bornean datus and became widely known throughout the Philippine archipelago.

The first inhabitants of this archipelago were said to be mixtures of different races, such as Austronesians, Indonesians, Malaysians, Chinese, Indians (from India), Negritos and Aetas. The Philippines is a melting pot of different races riding on a single vehicle moving towards the same prophetic end.

Source: Ranie's Page

Philippine Ancient Class System

We don’t hear the word maharlika very much anymore. Its origin goes all the way back to the ancient language of India called Sanskrit, from the word, maharddhika, meaning, "a man of wealth, knowledge or ability." Today it is generally accepted to mean "nobility or aristocracy." The venerable Tagalog dictionary of Leo James English gives us this example: Ang mga harì at prinsipe ay kabilang sa mga maharlikâ. [Kings and princes belong to the nobility.]

That’s the modern definition, but back in the days when there really was a maharlika class in the Philippines, it was actually a lower class of nobility that served the datus, or chiefs, in times of war. The maharlikas belonged to the “kings and princes” and not the other way around.

Marcos’ Maharlika

We can thank former President Ferdinand Marcos, mainly, for our misunderstanding of this word today. “Maharlika culture” was his propaganda tool for promoting nationalism during the days of the “New Society.” The word became very fashionable and was used in naming streets, buildings, banquet halls, villages and cultural groups. Marcos named a highway, a broadcast company and the reception area of Malacañang Palace, Maharlika. He even toyed with the idea of renaming the whole country as Maharlika.

Marcos’ fascination with the term apparently began in World War II when he claimed to have commanded a guerrilla force of over 8000 men that he called the Maharlika unit. His claims were proved false in 1985.

It’s ironic that Marcos’ first use of the word maharlika was quite appropriate because he only used it to name a group of soldiers (albeit fictitious soldiers) rather than an entire aristocracy or country.

The maharlikas were just one rank in the ancient class system of the Tagalogs, which was a little more convoluted than our Western idea of aristocrats and commoners. This class system was the norm in other parts of the Philippines, too, though the names of the classes varied slightly.

Source: Maharlika and the Ancient Class System