Chapter 64: Dumagats, the Indigenous Ancestors of the Ancient People  of Tondo, Rizal Province and Metro Manila

Based on the Evolution of Man, the Dumagats (Sinaunang Tagalog) Started in a Prosperous Settlement in the Coastline Manila Bay in Tondo, in the mouth of the Pasig River? But what part of the Philippines did they come from?

If the inhabitants of the Philippines resulted from the natural evolution of men evolving slowly over  thousands of years, then, the Evolution Theory of Darwin must be one of the basis of this study. Darwin implied that life in the Philippine archipelago   may have begun in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Here is the scientific explanation on Darwin Evolution Theory: 

Origin of the Tagalogs based on Language:

So,  it is possible that the Dumagats may have come from the ancient settlements near the Pacific Ocean (probably from the Lakanate of Lawan, who are also called as the Vikings of the Philippines) and moved by paraw or bakunawa to Manila Bay in a long series of settlements over a thousand years …in the same manner that the mysterious ancient civilization has moved people from the ancient Philippines to the Austronesian islands making the Philippines the homeland of the Austronesian people (Principalia Theory) . This inter migration pattern is evidenced by tracking the origin of the Tagalog dialect:

“The word Tagalog is derived from the endonym taga-ilog ("river dweller"), composed of tagá- ("native of" or "from") and ilog ("river"). Linguists such as David Zorc and Robert Blust speculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in Northeastern Mindanao or the Eastern Visayas (Zorc and Blust).”

The Tagalogs are the Dumagats who settled permanently near the River, but there are Dumagats who keeps on moving to mountains.

Here is another narrative on the origin of the Tagalogs from Wikipedia:

“ Research on the Philippine languages hypothesize a Greater Central Philippine subfamily that includes, among others, the Bisayan languages and Tagalog, the latter vaguely assumed to have originated somewhere in the eastern Visayas.(Wikipedia, 2023)”

Based on this study, the migration of the ancient people is from karakowa/paraw  riding  Eastern Visayans pintados lequios Waray speaking people to Manila Bay. This is the origin of the term Dumagat..they are people who came from the sea and settled in the coastal land of Manila Bay over a thousand years. They  slowly  settled inwards into the Pasig river flowing  from the upland,  from where the Tagalog term (Taga-ilog) came from. The settlements expanded further to the smaller rivers and streams into the mountains, with some of them being driven further upland by the growing civilizations happening in the original coastal settlements in Intramuros, Tondo and Binondo.

Some nomadic Dumagats keep on moving up into the deep of the mountains  and forest in search of streams, springs and wildlife while those who did not move too far  from the original ancient settlements in Manila Bay eventually became the present Dumagat Remontados. The Dumagats who pursued reclusive and nomadic lives deep into the forest maintained their Agta appearance and even developed a distinct dialect quite different from their present Tagalog ancestral bloodline in Manila up to the present times.

Historian Henry Scott says that the Ancestors of Tondo are Boat People:

According to historian William Henry Scott, the forbear of the Kaharian ng Tondo is the Lakanate of Lawan somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. He said: "No doubt, the ancestors of the Tagalogs reached Tondo and other places in boats, but it is hardly likely that Tagalog communities could have maintained their discrete boatload identities across centuries and millennia. But the choice of the term balangay (which is the origin of barangay, describing a settlement), and the explanation for it, would have reinforced the perception of each community as historically distinct from all others, and legitimized its captain’s claim to personal allegiance. With the exception of sparse populations inhabiting the interior mountain ranges, all sixteenth-century Filipinos lived on the seacoast or the banks of navigable lakes and streams. Their only means of transportation were boats: there is no evidence of wheeled vehicles or draft animals. Traders and raiders, friends and foes crossed from one side of a river to the other by boat, from island to island, and between distant ports on the same island. Communities were connected, not separated, by water: it was by water that they exchanged foodstuffs, manufactured wares, and foreign imports (Scott)." The reign and inter migration of the Hebrew – influenced Lawan (suspected to be the Ophir) civilization went into different directions slowly over thousands of years reaching inward as far as Surigao, Butuan, Mactan, Albay,  Tondo Manila, Quezon Province, Cagayan Valley, Palawan, Taiwan, and outward as far as Madagascar, and Marquesas Islands

An article entitled,  “The Agta Tribe (Dumagat Remontados) of the Philippines - History, Culture and Traditions [Philippine Indigenous People | Ethnic Group]” has this to say about Dumagat:

“The Agta in Quezon, Rizal, Bulacan, and Aurora provinces are also called Dumagat. In Tagalog, it is synonymous with “people from the sea.” The Agta are also called Remontado, which is derived from the Spanish word remontar, meaning “to flee to the hills.” Remontado was the name given by the Spanish colonialists to the natives in lowland villages who decided to flee to the highlands. And because it is associated with “bandits” and “thieves,” there are Agta who do not want to be called Remontado (Padilla 2013, 4; Ancestral Domain 2014, 3; Bennagen 1985, 228-229).

In time, though, the Agta were accustomed to being called “Dumagat” and “Remontado” by outsiders like the Tagalog. However, the different names engendered social and geographic separation among them. Those who call themselves Remontado resided along the Agos River in the western portion of the ancestral domain of the Agta in Quezon province, while those known as the Dumagat settled along the Agos River toward the Pacific coast and onto the Umiray River. Moreover, there are those who believe that the offspring of a native and a non-native should be called a Remontado, while the offspring of pure natives should be called a Dumagat. The basis of this differentiation had been documented as early as 1916 by a Tagalog official who became a town mayor in Rizal province until after World War II. This town mayor recounted that the Remontado of Tanay were descendants of the Tagalog who escaped to the forests and intermarried with the Agta or Dumagat. Decades after, the different labels have resulted in uncertainty regarding what the official name of the ethnic group should be. But the anthropologist Sabino Padilla Jr asserted that the term “Agta” is the unifying nomenclature for all Agta sub-groups which include both the Dumagat and the Remontado (Bennagen 1985, 228-229; Ancestral Domain 2014, 3).

In the ancient past, the Agta used leaves from the forest as a form of communication. There was an ascribed meaning for each leaf. Combinations of leaves and branches convey different messages. For example, a family that departed from one location informed relatives of their intended destination by using branches. They also used ropes to indicate time. This type of communication is no longer in use, though, because there are no more experts in forest flora among the Agta. However, remnants of such communication skills are still being utilized for survival in forested areas. Leaves are still mounted on poles to warn people or to serve as signs pointing to alternative trails (Ancestral Domain 2014, 4; CADT Recognition Book 2008).

Each of the 16 Agta groups in Northeastern Luzon speaks its own Austronesian language generally called Agta. All of the 16 Agta languages or dialects are endangered and some are close to extinction. Some of the languages spoken by the Agta are Casiguran Agta, Dupaningan Agta, Palanan Agta, Paranan, and Kasiguranin. The last two are also spoken by the non-Agta (Headland 2003, 1; Robinson 2008, 1). There used to be intermediate languages and dialects among Agta communities living in specific terrains. Those who resided along the shorelines and near the mouths of rivers, from the east coast of Quezon up to Umiray, used to speak in Bulos, which means “sea.” The dialect called Ilog was used by the people along the river, from Umiray up to Aurora. Meanwhile, Hattangkaye, a language spoken in bamboo-forested areas, was also spoken in Umiray and in some portions of Bulacan. These language classifications slowly disappeared, until the only distinctive language being spoken at present is Dumagat, which is also known as Hatang-kayey, Remontado Agta, or Sinauna. With the in-migration of other ethnolinguistic groups into their territory, the Agta have learned to speak Tagalog, Bikol, Visayan, and English. There are areas where the Agta no longer speak their native languages (Ancestral Domain 2014, 4; Ethnologue 2013).

During the Spanish colonial period, the Agta still maintained their foraging lifestyle. Spanish colonialists, who were determined to convert the Agta, established Franciscan and Dominican missions in the Palanan and San Mariano-Ilagan areas. When these efforts failed, the Spaniards regarded the Agta as infidels and barbarians.

Depiction of the Agta (Les Philippines: Histoire, Geographie, Moeurs, Agriculture, Industrie et Commerce des Colonies Espagnoles dans l’Oceanie by Jean Mallat. A. Bertrand, 1846)

       The modern Dumagats (Sinaunang Tagalog) of today are losing their ethnic curly hair feature as a result of years of mixing with other races, even the so-called Dumagat Remontados  in the  mountains of today are slowly losing their curly hair features. However, the lady Dumagats seem to be slower in losing their wavy hair than their male counterparts. This is an evidence of a continuous evolution of the Filipino race that evolved over thousand years from the beginning of life in the Pacific Ocean to Rhinoceros Man, Dawn Man, Callao Man, Tabon Man - -  scientifically called as Homo Luzonensis or locally called as “ubag”. The present Filipinos are of mixed race that have been winning all major beauty contests in the world.      

         The Agta had contacts with other ethnic groups—the Ibanag, Yogad, Gaddang, Kalinga, and Paranan, also known as the northernmost Tagalog—who took refuge in the mountains of the Sierra Madre when they escaped Spanish colonization. Relationship between these farming groups and the Agta sometimes became hostile. The Agta who were experts in archery launched raids against these groups. But their lack of sophisticated political and military organization rendered the Agta vulnerable to slave traders, who sold them in China and Borneo (Minter 2010, 37-39).

The Agta still have a living memory of World War II. They experienced military encounters with Japanese imperial forces in 1945 to 1946 when the troops retreated into their territory, desperate to reach the Pacific coast where the vanquished Japanese soldiers hoped to be rescued. Starting in the 1970s, the Agta again experienced armed conflict when guerrilla troops of the New People’s Army (NPA) operated in their ancestral areas, resulting in an unaccounted but significant number of deaths among them. Both NPA and government troops recruited the Agta as combatants and civilian supporters (Minter 2010, 41).

Their pristine way of life was reversed during the late 1950s when the government allowed the conversion of forested lands into agricultural settlements. Ilocano, Tagalog, and Visayan migrants settled in their ancestral lands. For example, the Casiguran Agta, after World War II, occupied 90% of the forests in Casiguran Valley. Majority did not even know they lived in a country called the Philippines. When new government roads opened up remote areas like Casiguran in 1977, the ratio of settlers to Agta became 85:1. The Casiguran Agta started to abandon living in the rainforest to work as casual workers for lowlanders in exchange for commodities like rice, liquor, clothing, and cash. By the first decade of the 21st century, with only 3% left of primary forests, the traditional lifeway of the Casiguran Agta was almost gone (Bennagen 1985, 230; Headland 2003, 2).

Well Known Figures in History with Dumagat Bloodline

The Sumulongs of Rizal

Marikina was once the Hacienda Sauza-Berenguer de Marquina (1809-1870), the land and home was formerly owned by Don Santiago Sauza y De los Rios (1777-1880) and his wife Dona Ysabel Berenguer de Marquina y Sumulong (1790-1900). Moreover, Doña Ysabel Berenguer de Marquina y Sumulong (19 November 1790, Cagsawa, Daraga, Albay, Philippines - 30 January 1900, Banwa, Batan, Aklan, Philippines) was the only daughter of Doña Demetria Sumulong y Lindo and of Señor Felix Berenguer de Marquina y FitzGerald, the former Governor General of the Philippines and from the Royal House of FitzGerald of Ireland (familiasauza).The surname Sumulong is one of the Lakan Dula descendants who settled in Jesus de la Pena in Marikina Valley, together with Dumandan, Capangoy, Gatdula/Dulay/Dula, and Gatlabayan. Some siblings of the group of families led by Sumulong, Gatdula and Gatlabayan "ay sumulong papuntang bundok ng Antipolo" from Jesus de la Pena, Marikina, using the present Sumulong Highway route, and from then on, that is the name that the Kingdom of Tondo called them. This family who descended from Lakan Dula owned the Hacienda, but as to how it was acquired by the Tuason is still a historical mystery. The Tuasons are also relatives of the Sauzas. There are wild stories that an adopted child of the Sauza sold the hacienda to the Tuasons. There are other stories that the hacienda was slowly squandered in a gambling called “panggingge” to the Tuasons. The most acknowledged version is that the Tuasons got the hacienda by force through political connections with the Spanish government.However, the first gobernadorcillo of Marikina is actually Don Benito Mendoza. An adventurous son of a Sephardic Jew Spanish couple, the young Benito left his brothers and sisters at the Lakanate of Lawan and tried his luck in Tondo. He was in love with a pretty daughter of a high ranking maginoo family of the Kingdom of Tondo who decided to settle in Jesus de la Pena in the present Marikina Valley and later to Antipolo to escape the Spanish persecution of the native nobility. The lineage of that maginoo family of today carries the surname of Sumulong and Gatlabayan. Benito is the oldest of six siblings, and he inherited the headship of the native settlement in what is now called Jesus de la Pena in Marikina and was eventually appointed by the Kingdom of Spain as the first gobernadorcillo of Marikina Valley.

The Dumagat Music

The Revival of the Vanishing Culture of Dumagats

The Day to Day Lives of the Dumagats

References:

Himes, Ronald S. (2002). "The Relationship of Umiray Dumaget to Other Philippine Languages". Oceanic Linguistics. 41 (2): 275–294. doi:10.2307/3623311. JSTOR 3623311.

Zorc, R. David Paul (1977). The Bisayan Dialects of the Philippines: Subgrouping and Reconstruction. Pacific Linguistics, Series C, No. 44. Canberra: The Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-C44. hdl:1885/146594. ISBN 9780858831575.

Blust, Robert (1991). "The Greater Central Philippines Hypothesis". Oceanic Linguistics. 30 (2): 73–129. doi:10.2307/3623084. JSTOR 3623084.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_people. Retrieved March 26, 2023

https://familiasauza.webs.com/. Retrieved December 22, 2019

https://www.yodisphere.com/2022/05/Agta-Dumagat-Tribe.html?fbclid=IwAR3UPiAABUg-T_h776nnckyxYqk_6GivPoFxzwvpZU57bwFjpJn5wmTuLSA . Retrieved  March 26, 2023

https://www.slideshare.net/TotiDulay/a-proposed-principalia-theory-of-austronesian-inter-migration. Retrieved March 27, 2023.

Scott, William Henry. Cracks in the parchment curtain and other essays in Philippine history. 1985. New Day Publishers. 978-971-10-0073-8. 93.