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SUBANON TALES & ORAL HISTORY

ANTONIO ENRIQUEZ

MUCH TO OFFER
Already Enriquez has much to offer the Pacific and the Atlantic worlds in both hemispheres, and the more so because in theme, in mode of expression and in cast of mind he retains firmly his unique identity as a Filipino writer.Elizabeth Perkins

Subanon Tales and Oral History

Retold by Antonio Enriquez

Copyright 2010 by Antonio Enriquez All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages. An educational institution intending to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or a publisher who intends to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology may inquire from AreRuby Books, Ramiroville cor. UCCP Church, Carinugan, Bo. Balulang, Cagayan de Oro City 9000, Misamis Oriental Province, Philippines.
Cover design: Cedrick Zabala

Digital, Philippines

--for Joy

About Antonio Enriquez

After graduating secondary school at Ateneo de Zamboanga, 1953, and enrolled in liberal arts, one term, there, Antonio Enriquez spent his out-of-school years, over half a decade, shuttling from one odd job to another in his hometown Zamboanga City. Between jobs, he often took short vacations in the fishing village of Labuan, a coastal barrio 32 kms. northwest of Zamboanga. There he learned to ride carabaos and bulls, hunt for turtle-eggs and beetles on the beach, and drink tuba(coconut wine) with farmers and fishermen. He was also an avid listener to the villages story-teller, a thirdgeneration progeny of a Visayan migrant worker of his grandfather, Don Julian. He loved even more deep-sea fishing off the Zamboanga City coastal waters that, in later years, became known as the highway, because it became the route used by Moro pirates to harass merchant vessels. He also enjoyed hunting wild fowl and other game in

the hinterlands. His other favorite fishing grounds were at the islets of Balug-Balug and Sangbay, southwest of Basilan Island, a feared Moro smugglers lair, where he landed the bigger fishes, as well as all kinds of fishes: pompano, barracuda, sail fish, and even the giant pgui, or ray fishnot to speak of sharks off the Pilas Group. At the great swamps of Basilan Island, he hunted wild pigeons and mallards and, with, a short-barreled carbine that his father gave him, hunted wild monkey and boar there in the forest and abandoned logging areas. It was years later, however, in the early 60s, while working with a Manila geodetic surveying company in a watershed project in Pikit, Maguindanao, that a dramatic change in his life took place: he gained direction and purpose, as he led a surveying party crisscrossing the pristine Liguasan Marsh and hinterlands of Maguindanao and climbing Mount Pulanggi, a sanctuary of Moro bandits, where once a band of Moro outlaws forced his group to abandon a triangulation-site. This experience forged in him a special bond with nature, its mystery and danger, her beauty and savagery. All those years of adventure on land and sea, experiencing life far from civilization, slowly gestated, waiting to be written about by a writer. Some years after he returned home in 1964 from Liguasan Marsh, his short story The Outlaw appeared in the foremost literary magazine in the country at the time, the Philippines Free Press. Many years later, in 1981, his first novel, set of course in same memorable locale, Surveyors of the Liguasan Marsh (University of Queensland Press) came off the pressand began his writing career. Earlier collections of short stories followed: Spots on Their Wings and Other Stories (Dumaguete: Writers Associates, 1973; Dance a White Horse to Sleep & Other Stories(UQP Australia, 1977); The Night I Cry and Other Stories(Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1980; and in 1996, The Unseen War and Other Tales from Mindanao and The Voice from Sumisip and Four Stories, (Quezon City: Giraffe Books, 2006). A second and third novel also came out: The Living and the Dead(Giraffe Books, 1994), and Subanons (Quezon City: UP Press, 1999), and his fourth novel, Samboangan: the Cult of War(QC: UP Press). His literary awards in fiction include the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature in the Short Story category and its Grand Prizes for his novels; other awards include the UMPHIL for fiction in English; UP National Fellow for Literature Lifetime Award; S.E.A. Write Award, Bangkok, Thailand; and Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers Fellowship, Scotland, U.K. Recently, as faculty and through a Luis Yap Kun Climaco grant, he became honored with a Professorial Chair as Writer In Residence at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, Zamboanga City, 2007-08. Enriquez was born (b. 1936) and raised in Zamboanga City. He now lives in Cagayan de Oro City, with his wife, Joy Viernes, and son, Julien Patrick, and three grandchildren, Anton Vladimir, Nikka, and Mikee, since the family moved there from Zamboanga in the middle of 1979.

Illustrations and drawings:

Cedrick Zabala, Lovers Plunge Nonoy Estarte, The Seven Guardian Giants of Lapuyan Photos by Antonio Enriquez

Thanks
My eternal gratitude to Dr. Vicente Imbing, M.D., Thimuay Mangura, younger leader of the Subanon tribe in Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Peninsula, who had been both a source and an inspiration in the writing of my novel, Subanons, and the re-telling of Subanon folktales. And to Sigbe Mamadod, who chanted for us the Subanon epic Gambatutu, even as gunfire was heard outside and darkness fell over Lapuyanin the early 80s.

Preface
Lapuyan is a small community in Zamboanga del Sur, named after the river that cuts across it before pouring into the sea and skirting Zamboangas western coastline. Located just a little way off the much larger Municipality of Margosatubig and east of Dumanguilas Bay, Lapuyan is Subanon country. It was settled by the nomadic tribe, Subanon, led by Da-asunay in 817 A.D.and at the peak of its growth thousands of people lived there. Today, the thousands who survived wars and famine had done so by clinging to the vestiges of their culture, tradition, and folktales. Though my wife Joy and I had earlier been in Lapuyan several times, she as an ethno-musicologist to gather data of the epicGambatutu and Subanon traditional music, and I as storyteller to record folktales (but at most time enjoying more the sylvan and parochial sites), we always find reasonone being the hospitality of the Imbings and their ancestorsto return to Lapuyan. And so, there we were on the third week of October 1984, collecting old tales from Vicente Imbing, M.D., thimuay mangura, younger leader, a direct descendant of Gomotan Lumang, the last leader to use the ancient Subanon title gomotan, meaning king instead of todays title datu chief.

Unlike folktales that we read in books, or listen to from story-tellers, which give us so much fun and pleasure, said the good doctor, this one has real-life protagonists whom Subanons to this modern day believe in and who are to them as real as the river Lapuyan or Phingi Bay. I recall he began narrating to us the tale in the early morning of the 22nd of October, while we sat by a window having native black coffee in his old house. Not only I but even the thimuay mangura himself became intrigued by his tale and recollection that we almost missed lunch. It rained in the afternoon and he went on narrating to me the tale of the guardian giants of Lapuyan. Evening came and we continued our session in his sala receiving room of his house; it was raining stil, and it was an hour before midnight when he finished telling me the tale. When we looked outside the window we saw that the rain had stopped and it was very dark outside. You may believe the tale or not, but why not listen toor readit first and make up your mind? I am not a very good listener as a rule and its beenmy habit to go to bed at about 10:00 oclock in the evening in small towns that had no bars and where the sari-sari stores closed at nightfall before one could get a bottle of Kulafu wine or Cereza Negra. But I was still awake past my bedtime that late evening when the doctor and thimuay mangura Imbing stood up and went to the window to check if it was still raining. Like other indigenous tribes of the Philippine Islands, the river people Subanons would beat the agong for festivities, assemblies, rituals and as musical pieces. It likely happened that agongs were beaten to call the relatives and warriors to stop the lovers, who had defied their parents, from running away.

The Seven Guardian Giants of Lapuyan

CONTENTS 1. Minanga: Guardian Giant at the Rivers Mouth 2. Dagot: Guardian Giant of the Creek 3. Mati: Guardian Giant of Mt. Thumahub 4. Gumanpa: Guardian Giant of the West Coast of Lapuyan 5. Dasay: Guardian Giant of the Lake Dasay 6. Baga: Guardian Giant of Animals and Wild Flowers 7. Phingi: Guardian Giant of the Imbing Tribe LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Minanga , 13 2. Dagot , 15 3. Mati , 19 4. Gumanpa , 21 5. Dasay , 23 6. Baga , 29 7. Phingi, 31 8. Map of Mindanao, 34

The Seven Guardian Giants of Lapuyan

Retold by Antonio Enriquez

Minanga, the Guardian Giant at the Rivers Mouth

ONE SUCH guardian giant was called Minanga, Dr. Imbing began, who guarded the southern part of the town where the mouth of Lapuyan River opens into Dumanquilas Bayto scare away Moro pirates and marauders with evil designs on Lapuyan. At night Minanga would sit on a tiny islet found at the mouth of the river, which has its source from a spring in Mt. Thumahub, and thats where many fishermen and Subanons had seen him. This tiny island is called Bato Manuyak, after the legendary hunter Manuyak, who, thinking that the island was a ray fish, had hurled his spear at it. They say you can still see the notch his spear made on the islet. And how did Minanga look like?

The balians priests who had seen him say he was the biggest of the seven giants there, because when he walked about the mouth of the river the water reached up to his knees only; and he frequented the bay so much that barnacles grew around his shanks. His whole body vibrated and sparked with blazing fire. During Spanish times, Moro pirates who kidnapped Subanon children and sold them to slavery were frightened away by balls of fire that Minanga spat out at them through his huge, cave-like mouth. Truly, from a distance the balls of scorching fire seemed to come down from the skyfor he was very tall and hugeto the sea in a continuous flow like rolling molten lava. As tribute for his protection, fishermen to this day leave offerings to this giant, and even the Muslims leave a part of their fish catch and, on certain seasons, their flags there, too. It is a way of paying homage to this guardian giant, Minanga.

The Guardian Giant Minanga

Dagot, Guardian Giant of the Creek

IN THE east there is a creek named after the giant Dagot, who is rarely seen. It is not because he is ashamed of his nakedness, why he avoids people. Nevertheless, the Subanons living near the creek insist that he never has anything on every time they see him, completely naked as when he was born. And except for Mati, all the other giants of Lapuyan had their private parts covered with something like a loin cloth. According to our four baliansnamely, Langanay, Tagayan, Sagula, and Dagandang, living in the sitios of LapuyanDagot is remembered fondly by the Subanons there. Because, in 1975, a few years after martial law, some one hundred MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) rebels were repulsed at the creek by only seven ICHDF-INP (home defense unit) militia. How this is possible has remained a mystery. Some two years later, one of the Moro raiders who surrendered to the government forces explained why they stopped their siege and fled from Lapuyan place. He said that while attacking the town they heard volleys of fire as if hundreds and hundreds of soldiers were at once firing at them from Mt. Thumahub, north of the town, which towers over the creek. Tremendous mortar and cannon shells coming from Mt. Thumahub were falling all over them, he said. But there were no home defense militia there. According to the four balians, the giant Dagot is the guardian of Mt. Thumahub; and he and another giant, Mati, who also lives there, must have made all the noisesas if there were incredible shell explosions and cannonade hurled on the Moro raiders.

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The Guardian Giant Dagot

Mati, Guardian Giant of Mt. Thumahub

MATI, THE good doctor Imbing said, is also known by his other name, Mamaloy. When Mati lies down across the Lapuyan River, his body, which looks like its made of stone, blocks the water there like a dam so that the river becomes shallow or actually godry. Oo, o, yes, Mati is feared most by the Subanons than any of the other giants. Because sometimes he challenges the strength and power of their priests or balians when they perform the special ritual, buklog. It is the most religious ritual of the Subanons. On top of a bamboo platform elevated some fifteen or twenty meters high, the Subanons dance and offer sacrifice. But if the giant Mati would decide tooverpower the balians, then all the people and the houses in the village would turn to stone.

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Madam Sigbe Mamadod, an old woman chanter of Gambatutu, the epic of Lapuyan, recalled during one of our sessions that Thimuay Imbing had told her this story. Sigbe was about seven years old, said Dr. Imbing, when Datu Lumok Imbing celebrated a buklog four years past his last richest buklog. Since the datu was the richest man in his tribe, he could afford to hire the most powerful balians to celebrate it. Well, as the buklog was being performed, the binalay a decoration made of leaves taken from the distant hills and found in conspicuous places during religious ritesbegan to bend and turn hard like stone. The tips of the leaves, Sigbe told Thimuay Mangura Imbing, when he was old enough to understand, broke off and fell all over onto the bamboostrip floor. By and by, like darkness fell and covered Datu Lumoks house like a shroud. And yet, it was the middle of the day, and beyond it, not too far from the villagewould you believe it?was bright and sunny. And then the balians, they noticed ... these most powerful priests, grew weaker and weaker, until they were almost lying on the floor, helpless and child-like. Now, theres the belief that if the giant Mati would overpower the balians, the thimuay had to cut off the balians heads, yes, decapitate them. If he did not do this, everyone there in the datus house and his village would be turned to stones. Thus, with great hesitation, for he had only love for his people and the baliansThimuay Lumok drew his bololong knife and, waving itfeverishly, began dancing on the bamboo-stripped floor of his house, while meantime praying to the diwatas gods and the supreme being Gulay that the giant Mati would go away, not exert his full vengeance on his tribe if they had somehow erred in the performance of the ritual. So that he wouldnt have to behead the balians, so faithful and true to him all these years. Tears began to flow down his face, and his lips trembled with remorse. Datu Lumoks grief must have reached Matis heart, and struck it deep. For about the time it takes to cook two cookings of boiled rice, the shadow swiftly vanished and the sun, they said, shone very bright that it illuminated the house as well as the village once again. Ah, Mati is an ugly giant and loves to tease the Subanons. He loves to play pranks on them there in Lapuyan. Indeed, it was Mati the giant who turnedpeople into stones, there somewhere in Zamboanga del Sur, when he

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became angry with those wrongly performing the ritual buklog, as they showed no respect and were mouthing bad words during the ritual dance and sacrifice.

The Guardian Giant Mati

Gumampa, Guardian Giant of the West Coast of Lapuyan

DOCTOR IMBING paused and pointed over toward the window. He said, quite far from his house, some 100 meters west of the hanging bridge of Lapuyan, is a stone cave in a sitio small village of Balerek. It is called Bato Gumanpa, and has an opening people fear to crawl into, since the top might

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cave in and they may not have a way to get out and maybe forever trapped inside it. One giant who lives there is the guardian giant called Gumanpa, and who looks like a hunter. Gumanpa guards the west coast of Lapuyan.

Guardian Giant Gumampa

***

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Map of Zamboanga Peninsula, showing the municipality of Lapuyan, Zamoanga del Sur. Circa 1986

The Story Oral History of the Subanons According to the Thimuay Mangura
Retold by Antonio Enriquez

Contents

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Preface, The Story,

Preface
Late in May 1978, I went to Lapuyan Municipality, Zamboanga Peninsula, to interview Vicente Imbing, an accredited medical doctor (UP School of Medicine) and the acknowledged thimuay mangura young Subanon chiefon the migration of his tribe from Cotabato Province to Western Mindanao. As he spoke, I pounded on his younger sisters old Royal typewriter, an excellent relic of the past. All the while, in the telling of the Subanon migration story, he didnt take his eyes off the green and mountain range of Guilian beyond, shrouded with Subanon myth and folklore, as if to gather strength from it.

THIS ORAL, traditional history of the Subanon of Lapuyan tribe, Zamboanga del Sur, he began softly, is based on stories, which he heard, or were told to him bythe late Datu Lumok, and his youngest brother, Datu Purok Imbing, and also Malalahad Lusay, a Subanon chronicler, and some other leaders of the tribe. Later, he consulted other datus to compare these stories, he said. They were Thimuay Mana-asa, who came from the Balangasan Subanon, of Balangasan sitio, which is presently known as Pagadian City; late Datu Giligan, also of Pagadian, just before the war began; and Thimuay Tangkilan ...(That name sounded familiar, I thought then. Isnt he the father of my friend Datu Agdino Andus of Mandih, whom I had visited two years ago today?)of Sindangan municipality, Zamboanga del Norte; Datu Limba, who comes from the Sibuco, Malayal, and Zamboanga City area; and Thimuay Danda of Kabasalan and Sibuguey area, Zamboanga del Sur.

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I noticed that all these stories would always point to Cotabato as the Subanons place of origin, he said. The Muslims, too, confirm this, like Sultan Tato, of Maguindanao, who said the stories are true, and also Datu Benito of Malabang, Lanao. That is why these two leaders, Tato and Benito, say that the Subanons are still related to the Maguindanaos. Probably can be traced to the female line. Tabunaways mother was the sister of the father of Gumabongabon. Besides Sultan Tato and Datu Benito, Datu Piang, of Dulawan, Cotabato, also confirmed this kinship with the Maguindanaos when Thimuay Mangura Imbing met him before the war, and by the Sinsuats, of Danaig, province of Maguindanao. This relationship is found in their book, Tagasil, which they said was written there in Arabic, likely by Shalip-a-Bunsuan. The Subanons then inhabited the area along the Maguindanao Creek in Cotabato. It is a small creek that pours into the Pulangi River or Mindanao River. Pulangi comes from the Subanon word pulang, or nipulang, meaning in Subanon to annihilate the enemy. For the Subanons there, they said, would annihilate their enemies. They were led by four brothers: Tabunaway, the eldest, the ancestor of the Maguindanaos; Menirilirelid, ancestor of the Tirurays, Bilaans, Manobos, and other pagan tribes; Dumalandalan, ancestor of the Maranaos; and the youngest brother, Gumabon-gabon, ancestor of the Subanons and was also known as Gumabon. The eldest, Tabunaway, was converted to Islam by Sharif Kabunsu-an, known to Subanons as Shalip-a-Bunsuan, a Muslim missionary who came to Cotabato. Unlike other tribes and foreigners who came to fight and conquer, Sharif Kabunsu-an said he came in peace. Of their [Kabunsu-an and his followers] arrival ... Tabunaway said, They came in a cawa, a very big pot. Maybe they didnt know what a ship was, said Dr. Imbing. They did not know how it looked like, as it was their first time to see one. So Tabunaway said Sharif Kabunsu-ancame in the cawa and said to the people there, We come in peace. The people of Cotabato are Maguindanao Muslims, known familiarly as Maguindanaos; however, the Subanons call them Baguindanaos. Thimuay Mangura Imbings late uncle, Datu Lumok Imbing, explained why there is this disparity. He explained that the Subanons called them Baguindanaos after the missionary Baguindali (Rajah Baguinda to the Muslims), the first Muslim missionary who came to Sulu earlier than Sharif Kabunsu-an. And probably,

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Sharif Kabunsu-an himself must have called the people there Baguindanaos in order to honor the first Muslim missionary, Rajah Baguinda. Thus, the Baguindanaos who stayed by the banks of the creek called it Baguindanao Creek. One can still see the creek in Cotabato City. He and his Uncle Purok Imbing, said Dr. Imbing, went there in 1956. Purok Imbing was still strong and healthy and wanted so much to see the house of Tabunaway and Tabunaways descendants. Later, he told the young Imbing that during that visit Sultan Tato confirmed to him what he had heard from his father: the Baguindanaos are the descendants of Tabunaway, who converted to Islam perhaps during the 15th century. The Subanons or Baguindanaos do not know the exact date, as we know them now in history based on the Gregorian calendar. The three other brothers, however, preferred their religious practices of Megayep to Mohammedanism (or Islam). So, Menerili-relid fled into the hinterlands of Cotabato, and his people are now known as the pagan tribes of the Tirurays, Bilaans, and the Manobos. While Dumalandalan and his younger brother, Gumabon-gabon, went up toward the north, following the source of the Baguindanao River. After traveling upstream, said Dr. Imbing, they settled on the banks of Lake Lanao. They called the place there dansalan [now known as Marawi], which in Subanon means a temporary place. Because there they slept on logs found around the new place, as there were no houses and people by the lake then. Dumalandalan built his house there and stayed at Lake Lanao, he continuedstill gazing out the window, and then his eyes would abruptly flit to meet my own and then flit back again to the window. His voice had not changed, it was still quiet, soft, just above a whisper. In time, Dumalandalan was also converted to Mohammedanism. Gumabon-gabon, who was still a worshipper of the Subanon Megayep pushed on toward the Zamboanga Peninsula. This journey was confirmed by Datu Benito, a Maranao, who resided in Malabang. He told the Thimuay Mangura that in his placeduring the war, he freed many Subanons who had been sold as slaves by the Maranaos. Do not sell these people as slaves, for they are the followers of my brother, Datu Lumok Imbing of Lapuyan ...he said to the Maranao slave-traders. Datu Benito told Datu Purok Imbing about this event. Meanwhile, Gumabon-gabon settled in Molave. He called the place Salug, from the Subanon word shaleg, which means level like a floor. The present name Molave was given by the late representative Juan Alano, who

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during his term in Congress named places in the Zamboanga Peninsula after trees; for instance, Ipil in Zamboanga del Sur. Gumabon-gabon said to his tribesmen the place was nice and flat, like a shaleg. Gumabon-gabon decided to settle in Salug Valley, and there he bore sons who became strong leaders; two of his strongest sons, Anda and Dagunog, went to Misamis, lived there, and fought against invading Muslims.

The patriarch Datu Purok Imbing at 70 yrs old shows how its done the grand way at royal weddings

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The Lapuyan Musical Group Band beat their agongs and kulintang under the blackberry trees in a neighbors yard.

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They all danced. the young as well as the old, in Lapuyan mun., ZS.

The buklog the author attended along the Labuan coastline was nearly as high as a coconut tree. Subanons then feasted on gasi wine and dishes with pork meat for over a week.

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A jar bartered with goods by Chinese merchants & placed in the center post of a house during a wedding ceremony.

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The Grand Old Man, Datu Purok

The authors wife, Joy (left), with Shaman Diringan onmoonlight worshipin the woods of Lapuyan.

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A royal wedding demonstration shows young and old sharing a good drink, gasi wine fermented for months in a jar buried in the earth, as well as a common straw. Its the best, author concedes. Better than some European wines. Muy saproso, compoblano So delicious, province mate! Second from right, Mayor Sulong; right, Shaman Lantay and future thimuay mangura.

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Wooden icon above is placed on one side of the buklog, a special ritual, which is indigenous to the Subanon tribe of Zamboanga Peninsula and Misamis Occidental province.

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Nanay Sigbi, chanter of the epic Gambatutu, extreme right, and Subanons trek to town for tab-market.

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Nanay Sigbe Mamadod, epic chanter of Gambatutu, dances the Subano way in Lapuyan mun., ZS.

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Unlike other Philippine tribes, Subana women of Lapuyan mun.play the agong as dexterously as their men.

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Part of a royal wedding ceremony: a white chicken is butchered, and seven leaves drenched in its blood are brushed, smearing on the hands of the bride and groom.

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Young lasses of Subanon ancestry pause unaware of the keeper of the epic Gambatutu in the background. Unfortunately, none of Sigbes three or four children had memorized its thousand lines. But entirely not lost, as Joy Enriquez had recorded 85 percent of the epic before chanter Nanay Sigbes demise. Part of a translation by a grandson, Gerardo Imbing, of the Imbing clan was made not too recently at sessions in Lapuyan mun., cities of Zamboanga & Cagayan de Oro.

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At the residence of Vicente Imbing, M.D. (center right, seated), thimuay mangura of the Lapuyan Subanon tribe, in Lapuyan mun., ZS, Mindanao Island. With him (center left, seated) isthe epic chanter Nanay Sigbe Mamadod, and his wife, Trining (right).Seated left isJoy Enriquez, ethno-musicologist, and recorder of the epic Gambatutu. Standing on left is Amy Mamadod, daughter of Sigbe, and on right is the illustrator, Nonoy Estarte, Jr., of Xavier University Museo de Oro.

The Keepers of Mansakada

by Antonio Enriquez

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ILLUSTRATION (above) In Thimuay Ibod Anduss front yard, a mansakada idol stands alone facing the village. Offerings to the diwatas and Gulay, the Supreme Being, such as tobacco, gasi wine, and unsalted chicken intestines are either placed in a porcelain bowl or on a wide leaf.

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Lovers Plunge: the Legend of Pulong Bato

Retold by Antonio Enriquez

IN THOSE OLD days, said Aunt Concha, before the Spanish colonizers came to Zamboanga, there was a village called Muruc. In that village lived the first people of the peninsula, who were called Subanons. One of those living there was a young maiden; her skin was very white and smooth; and of all the Subanas she was the most fair and beautifulshe was called Radia Puti. And there was this Datu Pulong, our principal character in our tale, a tall and handsome Moro warrior, who went to the sitio of Cagang-Cagang, to meet with his friends, for it was market day. As usual, it was full of people from the neighboring barrios, like Magay and Cawa-Cawa in the west coast, and Tetuan and Mariki in the east, and from the north Muruc.

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You ask how the sitio got its strange, tongue-tying name? Why, from the thousands of colorful, tiny cagang-cagang violin crabs which lived there in bottomless holes along the seashore. On that day, we are telling the story again, the Subanons brought their merchandise to barter with the Moros of neighboring sitios and barrios. Among them was the most beautiful Subana, Radia Puti. In this kind of situation, inevitably, they were bound to meet: he while looking for his friends, and the beautiful Subana maiden while trying to attract the attention of market-goers to barter her goods. When, indeed, they met, said Aunt Concha, it wasas you young boys call itlove at first sight.