Chapter 21 : Dine with the Ancestors Ritual of the Descendants of the Lakan Dula and House of Dula | Kaharian ng Tondo | Kingdom of Tondo | Lakanate of Tondo
Who is Lakan Dula?
Lakan Bunao Dula or Lakan Carlos Dula (Christian name) is the last king of the Lakanate of Tondo. The Lakanate of Tondo extends to the Bicol region and as far as Ilocos Region. Lakan Dula comes from a long line of Lakans which dates back from the ancient times. He is the brother of Rajah Soliman and Rajah Matanda. He has seven children: Batang Dula, Magat Salamat, Dionisio Capulog, Felipe Salonga, Martin Lakan Dula, Luis Taclicmao and Maria Poloin. Batang Dula has three children, David de Goiti Dula, Daba de Goiti Dula and Dola de Goiti Dula . When the kingdoms of Rajah Soliman and Rajah Matanda were neutralized by the Kingdom of Spain, the three brothers consolidated their forces in the Kingdom of Tondo. With the marriage of a daughter of Martin de Goiti and the oldest son of Lakan Dula, the alliance of the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Tondo happened. A descendant of Lakan Dula who remained in Tondo by the name of Gat Santiago Dula later narrated to historians that there was a written document of a blood compact between the Kingdom of Spain and Kingdom of Tondo. The alliance of the two kingdoms expanded the territory of the Philippines to its present state, which includes Sabah through the Sultanate of Sulu where the ruling Sultans are blood relatives of Lakan Dula. The alliance eventually leads to the appointment of datus as the gobernadorcillos, making them part of the principalia noble class of the Kingdom of Spain. They were also free from paying taxes. Eventually however, the idea of independence became part of the vision of the native nobilities and a lot of native nobles died fighting for independence: Tariq Soliman (Kapangpangan), Rajah Soliman (Muslim), David de Goiti Dula, and Magat Salamat to name a few.
Lakan as a Royal Title
Lakan is an indigenous title of a sultan, rajah or datu that has become a paramount ruler among groups of sultans, rajahs or datus. But recent historians point out the title Lakan seems to have a religious or metaphysical component by birth. A historian who is a descendant of Rajah Soliman by the name of Kirby Araullo explains that a Lakan is not only a mere paramount ruler but he is imbued with divinity. He is a physical embodiment of the fascinating methodology of our ancestors. They are devarajas or divine rulers or god - kings who are descendants of the diwatas. Lakan is a divine ruler or divine paramount king of the land.
The Spaniards gained control of the Kingdom of Tondo, which include Marikina, on June 24, 1571, after the arrival of Miguel López de Legazpi in Manila, who agreed to a peace agreement sealed by betrothing one of his half-caste (Half Aztec and Half Spanish) daughters to Batang Dula, heir apparent of Lakan Dula. Eventually their descendants unified the 3 royal houses of Tariq Suleiman, Rajah Matanda and Lakan Dula with the half-Aztec and half Spanish de Goiti family. The Dula y Goiti family married with the Mendoza family who were Catholic Sephardic Hebrews and to mark the dynasty, changed the surname to Dulay. However, upon the commencement of persecutions the Dulay family's descendants changed their surnames even further and thus we have the Salonga and Macapagal families that are known descendants of these royal houses but subsist under a different family name.The Spanish colonization paved the way for the establishment of Manila as a permanent settlement and capital city of the Spanish East Indies. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_de_Goiti)
The Tioco family was a very rich and generous family from Old Tondo. They owned numerous fishing boats in Tondo and Malabon. Siblings Balbino Tioco and Romana Tioco were illustrious citizens and famous Tondo benefactors of the 19th century. Balbino’s son Maximiano was kidnapped in the late 19th century and ransomed for 3 “kaings” of gold. Maximiano was married to a spanish mestiza Marciana Félix (same Félix family as Joji Félix Velarde and Conchita Félix wife of Felipe Calderón of the Malolos Constitution). Maximiano married Teodorica Ylo (The Cabangis family are also descended from the Ylo’s) They bore 5 children, Nemesio, Salvador, “Beot”, Guadalupe (married to Don Eduardo Barretto), Consuelo (married to Dr Rufino Mendoza, son of Don Isabelo Mendoza de Villablanca, a direct descendant of the spaniard Don Benito Mendoza, first gobernadorcillo of Mariquina in 1787. Benito’s great granddaughter Juana Mendoza Cerbito married Ceferino Dulay, a patriarch of the Rajah Lakandula/Dulay clan. Long after the family had left Old Tondo for the plush villages of Makati and other parts of Manila, there remains Calle Romana* in honor of Romana Tioco, and Calle Tioco* in honor of Balbino and Romana, two personages of the same family in gratitude for their inexhaustible generosity to Tondo. (J.Antonio Mendoza y González said onJune 27, 2010*Daluyan : A Historical Dictionary of the Streets of Manila, Printed by NHI. https://remembranceofthingsawry.wordpress.com /2010/06/ 01/ the-families-of-old-tondo/ retrieved on May 30, 2019)
What is the Dine with the Ancestors Ritual
Around January 15 2001, Ms. Yoko Ramos, a Secretary to then Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo got in touch with the House of Dula in Marikina Valley saying that the then Vice President wishes to talk to the Grand Patriarch. Those days, the move to oust President Erap Estrada is snowballing. Then, a three-day street protest forced President Estrada to step down on January 20, 2001 and the Vice President took office as the new President. There are different speculations on the motive why Vice President Arroyo wishes to talk to the Grand Patriarch but when Vice President Arroyo took office as the new President, she did not anymore pursue her visit to the House of Dula. Through Melvin Mitra, the Grand Patriarch would be invited for an ordinary breakfast in Malacanan Palace and the meeting happened casually, attended also by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and Ambassador Tejano, with the Patriarch doing his usual incognito way of dealing with people. But the Dine with the Ancestors between Grand Patriarch and the Philippine President Arroyo in the House of Dula did not ever happen. Few years passed by, President Arroyo would later be jailed on corruption charges. Some historians would say that there could be a connection between the dishonoring of the “Dine with the Ancestors Ritual '' and the “Sumpa ni Lakan Dula”, but some historians would say that probably, this could only coincidental.
More recently, TV personality Sandra Aguinaldo participated in the ritual usually done at the House of Dulay Mendoza in the poblacion of Marikina. Based on her interview with the hereditary Patriarch of the Lakanate of Tondo and was aired in the I-Witness of the GMA, the leading TV station in the country, it was said that the ritual is a way of imploring the presence of the Lakan Dula, Batang Dula and other ancient Lakans in the discussion and decision that will be done after the ritual. The Patriarch did not elaborate any further as to the secrecy of the ritual but some historians have done some analysis and interpretation as to the symbolism of the ritual.
One of the provoking narratives about the ritual was done by David Roxas of PhilippinesFails organization entitled “The God Culture: Dine with the Ancestors Havilah Rites of the Lakanate of Tondo.
The God Culture: Dine with the Ancestors Havilah Rites of the Lakanate of Tondo as narrated by David Roxas
"While tracing a few leads trying to find the origin of the resurgence of the Philippines is Ophir doctrine in modern times I ran across something quite odd that goes by the name of the "Dine with the Ancestors Havilah Rites of the Lakanate of Tondo." On May 12th, 2019 Timothy Schwab of The God Culture took part in these rites.
The "Dine with the Ancestors Havilah Rites of the Lakanate of Tondo". As suggested by Pastor Paul Medrano, this special rite is a variation of the classic Dine with the Ancestors Ritual but this is done when the participants talks about the Lakanate of Tondo; and the Hebrew, Ophir, and the Lakanate of Lawan connections of the ancient Philippine civilization. This rite happened on May 12: the Dine with the Ancestors Havilah Rites started with the arrival welcome through the ringing of a bell in the House of Dulay Mendoza of the Lakanate of Tondo in Marikina Valley.
Then the guests talked freely while partaking grapes kept in the ancient plates that came from the Lakan Dula household and red wine on top of an antique table, and beside an antique lamp and the bayonet of Ceferino Dulay, the 4th hereditary leader of the Dulay Clan of Marikina Valley when he was a guerilla leader during WWll and the guests also played with friendly poodles surnamed by the Philippine Canine Club as Dulay. Then they proceeded to the House of Kapitan Moy, the founder of Marikina shoe industry, Marikina being the Shoe Capital of the Philippines, then walked across the Miraculous Shrine of Our Lady of the Abandoned, one of the ten prettiest churches in Metro Manila and host of the third longest Holy Week procession in the Philippines. Then, the guests proceeded to the secret cemetery of the church to visit the tomb of the Hebrew - blooded Juana Mendoza Cerbito and Ceferino Rivas Dulay, a descendant of Lakan Dula. Then the guests went to the Shoe Museum, an old Spanish Jail where Macario Sakay of Tondo was jailed and presently keeps the famous shoes of Imelda Marcos of Samar Leyte, and, finally back to the House of the Dulay Mendoza for a Marikina dinner of local dishes of waknatoy, everlasting, locally grown fruits, as well as prunes and nuts from the middle eastern countries -- to have the taste of Havilah. Timothy, the author of the famous Solomon's Gold, the God Culture in YouTube , announced a change of his name into Pedro. This rite is only done for Top Leaders of an organization.
Some of the talks during the visit was that Manila Mayor Isko Moreno is from Allen, a part of Northern Samar, which according to Australian studies, a part of the Philippines which is the homeland of the Polynesians. Otley Bayer said that there are already people in the Philippines 250,000 years ago and this was confirmed by a French study which says that the Philippines has been populated by men as early as 700,000 years ago. Some old Filipino historians still have the mindset of "Filipinos are savage and it has to be discovered and cultured by anything foreign". These local historians refuse to mention that there is a civilization of Viking – like people based in the Lakanate of Lawan in Northern Samar (Samar was derived from Samaria). The Samar civilization was once headed by Datu Iberein as written by historian Henry Scott, and takes note of the name -- very Jewish -- and consistent with Jewish Samar from Samaria. These people have siday (native epic) in which one of them is Bingi of Lawan, as mentioned by historian Alcina. They have the Almuraya which is an ancient ruin and they have royal burial jars -- all evidence would point that this civilization could be the biblical Ophir, the homeland of the Polynesians and Viking – like people who sent people to Tondo and different parts of the Philippines. and islands in the Pacific Ocean, including the people of Taiwan.
https://sites.google.com/site/truelakandula/clanhouse?overridemobile=true
In May of 2019 in between stops on his RISE UP evangelical conference tour Timothy Schwab and his wife participated in the secret "Dine with the Ancestors Havilah Rites of the Lakanate of Tondo." This consists in partaking of grapes and red wine served on top of an antique table and surrounded by artifacts from the ancestors consisting of an antique lamp and WW 2 era bayonet. It looked like this: https://www.facebook.com/batangdula/photos/pcb.2993671647324537/2993670120658023/?type=3&theater
I don't want to be a party pooper but who participates in secret rites in front of the television? And who, when they are invited to an auspicious and secret ritualistic dinner with the ancestors, dresses like a schlub? https://www.facebook.com/batangdula/photos/pcb.2993671647324537/2993670307324671/?type=3&theater
Did Timothy leave all his pants, polo t-shirts, and shoes back in the states?
Is this just a regular dinner with some important or rich people? No. It's not. The Lakanate of Tondo is one of the Royal Houses of the Philippines. Sofronio Dulay, also known as Toti, is the Grand Patriarch of the Lakan Dula Clan as well as the Grand Patriarch of the Principalia Hereditary Council of the Philippines.
Back to the dinner ritual. After partaking of the grapes and the wine and visiting the dead Timothy was reborn.
Timothy, the author of the famous Solomon's Gold, the God Culture on YouTube , announced a change of his name into Pedro. This rite is only done for Top Leaders of an organization.
Tim ritualistically ate grapes and drank wine on an old table surrounded by the ancestors. Then Tim, as "a Top Leader of an organization," was born again receiving the new name of Pedro.
Think of the symbology of this secret rite. The symbology of transformation. The grapes are transformed into wine. The symbol of death and rebirth. Wine as the blood of the grape. Wine as blood of the ancestors. Drinking said blood while being surrounded by symbols of the dead ancestors. The antique lamp with its light representing their wisdom. Both the antique plates and the bayonet being fetish objects which the spirits of the ancestors inhabit. Afterwards they go visit a secret cemetery where the dead ancestors lie buried and pay them homage. One of them even had Hebrew blood coursing through his veins while he lived. Then they go visit a museum where Imelda Marcos's shoes are on display. What about the symbol of the shoes? Figuratively the Marcos' walked all over Filipinos when they were in power. Those shoes represent the power of the ruling elite of which Sofronio Dulay is a part even though he does not want you to know that.
Their unassuming secretive patriarch of the modern times does not rule, he reigns privately with a circle of personal advisers, the personal leadership style he inherited from the earlier traditional leaders of the descendancy, a reaction from the centuries of Spanish persecutions. He might even deny his hereditary and historical role and designation; or he might point to somebody else when talking to a non descendant. Descendants who are close to the patriarch will not point directly to him as their patriarch but if needed, they will only indirectly identify him as the one who has been very active in coordinating the present Lakanate of Tondo.
https://sites.google.com/site/truelakandula/clanhouse
As the scripture says:
Psalm 60:8 Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of me.
Meaning Edom shall become a slavish subject just as Filipinos were slavishly subjected to the yoke of the Marcoses. The shoe is a symbol of ruling power.
After all these rituals are completed Tim is then born again taking on the new and secret name of Pedro. Why Pedro? Pedro is Spanish for Peter. The Apostle Peter was the Apostle to circumcision or Israel. Now Tim (Pedro) has relocated to the Philippines where he will be holding evangelistic conferences preaching to Filipinos whom he believes are part of the lost tribes of Israel.
Why is Tim (Pedro) in this house of a noble family patriarch, the house of a king as it were, partaking in occult rituals which culminate in the initiatory rite of his being born again with a new name? Such a connection would explain a lot about who Tim is, what he is doing in the Philippines, and who is backing him. Not just any foreigner comes to the Philippines and starts hobnobbing with the royal elite. It appears that it might be Pastor Paul Medrano who brought Tim to the attention of Sofrontio Dulay but I cannot say for sure. I can find no information online about him or what church he allegedly pastors.
Think of the hypocrisy here as well. Tim (Pedro) says we have to worship on the Sabbath (Saturday) and keep the Feasts of the Lord because all else (Sunday, Easter, Christmas) are pagan. Yet this man has participated in an occult symbolic blood ritual wherein he was born again and given a new name. A ritual that is not so very different from the initiation rites of the Skull and Bones or the Freemasons."
Dine with the Ancestors Ritual with the Muslims from Mindanao and the Rajahs of the Rajahnate of Cebu
A Religious Encounter of the 5th Hereditary Patriarch of the Dulay Mendoza Clan of Marikina, “I Talked to God - A Personal Experience on Super Typhoon Ondoy” narrated by Prof. Sofronio Dulay, published in https://sites.google.com/site/totidulay/talkedtogod
"I am not a religious type of person. I may be a devoted Roman Catholic but not the fanatic type.I am hesitant to write this because I may look lunatic or stupid but I really talked to God. I did.
During the great flood caused by typhoon Ondoy, our ancestral house at the poblacion of Marikina, Philippines, including the nearby Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Abandoned, was flooded for the first time in history, as high as maybe 10 feet in the road.
My daughter Katreena, together with one of my maids, Joan was rescued by some neighbors by mistake and was brought to the nearby evacuation center at the Red Cross. I said by mistake because we were not planning to evacuate because my house has two storeys with an attic.
Braving the flood, I visited my daughter Katreena and our maid at the Red Cross temporary evacuation center and told them to stay there.On my way back, there are commotions – several people are stranded in their one - storey houses. Some of them have babies. I joined the ragtag rescue team with nothing but my basic swimming skills and wearing a basketball short and a t-shirt. Being one of the taller volunteers, I was assigned to be in front of the pack, together with another tall neighbor. We are holding a rope tied to a post. I first encountered a lady neighbor desperately calling for a rescue. She rode on my back and I swam and walked her all the way to the Red Cross. Then I went back to the rescue scene…I met another lady whom I did not talk to for a long time, but really in need of a rescue, I also made her ride on my back and delivered her to safety.
Then, at the farthest house near the river, two babies with their own mothers were stranded. The water was getting high. We can not swim anymore because of strong currents. We made our way by clinging into the post, and iron grills and walls. I even encountered an old man trying to join the rescue team, but is nervously clinging on the wall. I said….come on, move (because he is clinging on the wall blocking my way).He said, “I am afraid, I don’t know how to swim.” I said, “You better go back, your life will be in danger.”
We finally reached the house where the babies were stranded….me, a Red Cross volunteer, a guy with a thick Visayan accent and another guy whom I could not remember now. The first baby, we put him on a big plastic tumbler and swam him through the flood all the way to the Red Cross. The next baby, we decided to pass him through the roofs because the water was already so high and the current from the river was so strong that the plastic tumbler might capsize. That baby finally reached the Red Cross.
All were saved; the four of us parted ways. I was then alone resting on top of a big abandoned tent in the middle of the flooded street, desperately wanting to swim back into my house nearby. The current from the river was getting stronger. From my house balcony, I saw my son Esdee (who has a foot injury due to basketball) shouting: “Daddy, langoy ka na dito, aanurin na yang tent na yan (“daddy, please swim towards here because that tent will collapse soon”). I was already weak and I noticed that I have a lot of wounds in my legs, body and arms with blood. I said, “I can not swim now, let me rest for a while, can you get the bamboo near the balcony and peg it into a balusters towards me.” With the bamboo, I slowly cling my way towards our balcony, just when I am about to reach our balcony, the tent that I used to rest on collapsed. I could have died there.Maybe…because the tent will be all over me in a strong current from the river. My injured son saved me.
Days after the flood, I was in bed sick. But I did not let anyone know that I was not feeling well. I let two families stay in my house….because they were already driven out of the temporary evacuation. The flood subsided and the whole place was stinking. We have to remove the mud from our compound into the road…by hand. The dirt and smelly rotting meats and the garbage and the debris are all over the street which is not passable due to mountains of mud, debris and garbage. Several of my neighbors, including my eldest daughter, were sick.I was sick. The destruction was so depressing, my wounds hurt, and the area stinks. No electricity. Food was rotten because there is no electricity to run the refrigerator.I texted Mayor Marides Fernando to please clear the road of maintains of rotting garbage and mud…an MMDA truck came in the next day which allowed us to pass through the road. Very sick, I went to BPI in Cubao and withdrew cash….
After that, I found myself standing in our gate giving cash to the passers – by and some neighbors…and barangay workers helping in the rehabilitation.My sickness, that I tried to hide, made me lose control of my usual conservative disposition of money….
That night I really felt the pain. Finally, I took self medication for typhoid, the same drugs that my sick eldest daughter was taking…thinking that since my daughter has typhoid, I may have typhoid too… I wore thick jackets…I am so irritated, but never want to admit, even up to now, that I was sick then…. I was going to die without seeing a doctor….How I wish that if I had to die, it would have been when I was rescuing my neighbors so that it would be good in the tabloid: “University Professor Consultant of the Mayor Died Saving his Neighbors”. Then, some second rate local politicians will visit my wake telling everyone that we were friends. Then some of my students will say, “mabait yan si Professor Dulay..mahilig magpatawa….(too bad, I will not be around to give them stars, hey “stars” is a private class joke among my students)….That night, I was hallucinating and chilling. I feel I am asleep but my eyes are half open. Then, I feel that my whole body floated into outer space… I see the stars….with different colors. I was entertained by the site..better than any fireworks display during New Year celebrations. After a long journey, maybe of my soul…or maybe of my body, I don't know…., I saw three constellations of stars in the endless space that looks like an arrangement of heavenly bodies that has the shape of two human being in long white dress walking peacefully and gracefully and a third one is a shape of a human face…all floating in the endless space…. Then the planetary arrangements that look like a human face of a bearded man saw me.
I told Him: “Hi God. Am I going to die already? “. I got the feeling the he was probably God.
He said: “Why, would you like to die?
I said: “Your will be done, but if you will allow, let me live”
He said: “Ok, you will live, what do you want?”
I said: “Thank you, I want to live as an ordinary person enjoying ordinary happiness while pursuing and achieving extraordinary things”. (Looking back, I should have said, let me win in the lotto)
He said: “Ok…”
I said: “And God, if you want to experience again how it is to be human, you can use my body anytime. Just don’t let me know when you are using my body co existing with me, because I might become abusive.”
He said: “Ok”
Then I wake up……so weak, tired and thirsty, but not anymore chilling…..
Up to now, I still deny to my children that I got sick, because I never got sick in my whole life ever since and I am always bragging to them that their daddy has never been sick since I was born. Really. It is true. I don’t get sick.
Well, that night?……. Did I get sick? ……Let us put it this way, maybe, I was dying that night, maybe not, nobody knows..remember, I did not go to a doctor…., but I was never sick…..my wounds in my body, legs and hands should not count. They were not sick. They were just wounds, Ok?"