Chapter 9 : Datu Iberein, the Hebrew - blooded hereditary leader of the lequios tribe (waray hadlok) in the Vicinity of the Lakanate of Lawan, One of the Wealthiest Pre Hispanic Rulers of the Philippines
With the French diggings of a 700,000 – year - old rhinoceros man in the pacific side of Luzon; the 250,000 – year - old dawn man ancestors of Filipinos expounded American scholar Otley Beyer and the 69,000 year - old - Callao man in another pacific side of the island of Luzon somewhat support the findings of scientists like Darwin who believes that life evolved from the ocean and into the shores, river and inlands. The human being evolved and populated a settlement after another. The human population grow and a system of protecting itself from nature and fellow men emerged through time and eventually flourished into some kind government ,culture, economics and civilization (https://www.popsci.com).The human life in the Philippines is an evolution from the biological life that started in the Pacific Ocean. This was somewhat confirmed somehow by a US study that the biodiversity of the ocean waters in the Philippines is so dense that made them declare that they believe that the Philippines is the center of the earth (Center Of Center Of The World "The Philippines).This early life form in the Pacific Ocean into the fertile inlands of the present day Philippines was further confirmed by an Australian study that somewhat points out that the Philippines is the homeland of the Polynesians based on the DNA of the chickens. This is further triangulated by the research of an American Jewish scholar who said that Philippines could be the Biblical Ophir and he presented his findings through a series of YouTube videos entitled Solomon’s Gold. With all these scientific findings done by modern scientists and scholars using advanced technology, it is indeed probable that human form evolved from the Pacific Ocean into the Philippine islands, into a settlement, and into a civilization. One of the earliest leaders identified in this evolutionary movement is what historian Henry Scott identified as Datu Iberein of the Lakanate of Lawan, the hereditary leader of the Lequios, a Hebrew - blooded tribe who scattered sporadically in the long stretch of the Pacific side of the country within the influence of the Lakanate of Lawan . The tribe is responsible for naming the third largest island of the Philippines as Samar, in honor of their ancestral homeland Samaria, in the present day Israel. According to Hebrew scholars like Dr. Narag, the original settlers of Lawan, the Lequios Waray Tribe, named the place after Awan or Aklia, the daughter of Adam. It also means in Hebrew as white beach which pointed to the golden white beach named Onay, in Lawan. In a note to the head of the Principalia Hereditary Council, Dr. Narag said: "What I discovered is that Lawan is the center of Ophir". Historian Otley Beyer's intermigration theory from the general origin of the vicinity of middle eastern asia to the direction the Lakanate of Lawan (Ophir) of "populating through intermarriages" the ancient Philippines, is after all proven correct with the research findings triangulations of the recently discovered facts. The Lequios, Negritoes, Indonesians, Malayans, the Arabs and the Hindu sailed to the direction of the Lakanate of Lawan using generally accepted " Ancient Ophir Route" in search of romanticized gold, beautiful women, marriages , prosperous life and lasting peace. The romanticised tales of the sailors about the Lakanate of Lawan (Ophir) might have seduced different global settlers to look for that mysterious land of Ophir populated by the Lequios Tribe and supplying gold and other commercial items to Israel. The Lequios Tribe found the Lakanate of Lawan ahead of the rest of the adventurer settlers and intermarried with the natives several centuries before, making them the de facto natives of the Lakanate. The Hindu only reached as far as Butuan missing the center of Ophir several islands away, the Arabs only reached Sulu, the Indonesians, Malaysians, and Negritoes reached as far as Panay... and spread in Luzon and other Visayan and Mindanao islands. The centuries of intermigrations and intermarriages of the natives and the foreign settlers drastically changed the physical appearance of the native Filipinos, especially with the coming of the Chineses, Spanish and Americans later in their national history. Eventually the Hebrew - blooded Lequios tribe dominated the Lakanate of Lawan (Ophir) which became the center of expansion to the inner Philippines like Tondo and to the polynesian islands as confirmed by the Australian DNA studies on chickens.
Pre-colonial Philippine royalty of the Postclassical Era and the early modern period
Source: National Historical Institute, 1964. Any proposed addition to the list should be communicated to the Principalia Council for further historical study and approval.
Where is the Lakanate of Lawan? Where is Ophir?
In a book found in Spain entitled Colección General de Documentos Relativos a las Islas Filipinas (General Collection of Philippine Islands related Documents), the author has described how to locate Ophir.
According to the section "Document No. 98", dated 1519-1522, Ophir can be found by travelling from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, to India, to Burma, to Sumatra, to Moluccas, to Borneo, to Sulu, then finally to Ophir facing the Pacific Ocean, occasionally, from Ophir to Taiwan (China) and to some other Polynesian Islands to collect precious stones and commodities, and then back to Ophir, and eventually to Israel using the same route.
Ophir was said to be "[...] in front of China towards the sea, of many islands where the Moluccans, Chinese, and Lequios met to trade..." this group of islands could not be Japan because the Moluccans did not get there, nor Taiwan, since it is not composed of "many islands."
Only the present-day Philippines, could fit the description. Spanish records also mention the presence of Lequios (big, bearded men, probably descendants of the Phoenicians, whose ships were always laden with gold and silver) in the Islands to gather gold and silver. Some historians believe that the seat of Ophir in the Philippines is the Pacific Ocean side of the island of Samar (derived its name from Samaria) which was led once upon a time by a Hebrew-blooded Datu Iberein, who was a staunch ally of the Kingdom of Tondo. This alliance made Batang Dula, the eldest son and apparent successor of Lakan Dula of Tondo, entrusted to hide his eldest son and successor David Dula y Goiti in the protection of the Lakanate of Lawan. The Pacific side of Samar is also recognized by some historians as the ancestral homeland of the Polynesians. Ophir is more formally called by some historians as the Lakanate of Lawan. (http://bibleexplainer.blogspot.com)
The seat of the Lakanate of Lawan was described by Fr. Ignatius Alzina in his book Historia de las Islas y Indios de Bisayas, as follows: “On the opposite side of Rawis, on the Lawang Island, which is a sandbar there is a solid ridge of rock. It is fashioned by nature itself and it is so steep that it looks like a façade of a wall… It was a natural fortification, due to its great height of massive rock; it was also secured as if by a moat which encircled its three sides. The fourth side was blocked by a palisade of strong logs. Then too, nature also formed on one side of this rock something like a small cove with its little beach.” Today you can still see some ruins of this ancient civilization which the natives call almuraya made of cobble stones similar to what is being used in the Samarian homeland in Israel. They also have sophisticated passages curved from the mountains into the shipping port in the nearby Palapag which was later converted by the Spaniards as the shipping repair station of the galleon trade. The justice system of the Lakanate of Lawan is also working: the youngest son of Datu Iberein by the name of Ete was accused of murdering a trusted officer of the lakanate so he was sentenced to be thrown out (distiero) of the Lakanate of Lawan and hidden ("taklobi" in Waray term) in a nearby big island at the back of Samar, together with some warriors, farm workers and slaves. Ete would later be a ruler of that island. The Romualdez and Veloso are said to be direct descendant of Datu Ete. The Palapag of the Lakanate of Lawan is also be known in history as the seat of one the earliest major revolt of the natives against Spain, the Sumuroy Revolt, supported secretly by the Lakanate of Tondo. In the vicinity of the Lakanate of Lawan, several diggings of martabanas (burial jars) and an expensive royal burial jar which the natives call “Inalasan nga Tadyaw” now kept in a Museum in Calbayog City. The influence of the Lakanate of Lawan extends all the way to the Isarog settlement lead by Datu Dumaraog of the present Legaspi City, in Quezon Province where an ancient burial ground in Benavides was found, in Mactan known as the seat of Datu Lapu Lapu, Butuan where several historical artifacts and big balangays (ships) where unearthed, and in Surigao where gold are plenty and has been the major source of the Lakanate of Lawan in their delivery of gold to King Solomon in Israel. A foreign study of the Tagalog dialect spoken in the Kingdom of Tondo reveals that Tagalog came from the dialect spoken in the hinterlands of Samar. This was confirmed by the Calatagan Jar found in the deeply Tagalog Region of Batangas. The jar is an ancient burial jar being used in the ancient settlements within the influence of the Kingdom of Tondo. The ancient markings in the Calatagan Jar is written in Waray dialect of Samar in the Lakanate of Lawan. Even Henry Scott had a theory that the original settlers of Tondo may have arrived in the area through boats, probably from the Lakanate of Lawan . The existence of the Lakanate of Lawan was somewhat triangulated by the migration theory of Otley Bayer, but it can be corrected now as a process of intermigration to and from the direction of the Lakanate of Lawan in the Pacific Ocean. Some attempted migration to the direction of the Lakanate of Lawan only reached as far as Panay Island (10 Bornean Datu story), the Muslims only reached Mindanao and Hindu only reaching Butuan. Theses series of attempted migration into the direction of the Pacific Ocean seem to be fueled by wild and romanticized tales of the sailors about the existence of a prosperous civilization somewhere in the Pacific Ocean -- with plenty of gold, Hebrew – blooded inhabitants, with educated people and beautiful women - somewhere. The tale about beautiful women was documented in a siday (local epic) entitled Bingi of Lawan as written in the writings of Fr. Alzinas and Henry Scott. Today, the tales of this prosperous city still exist, although some people call it now as urban legend, the Araw City, which after all dates back from ancient times. The Hebrew - blooded people of the Lakanate of Lawan were uprooted and brought to Cavite to work for the new Galleon repair station. Years later, a series of mutinies happened in the shipyard and spread all over Cavite, and eventually, a Caviteno by the name of Emilio Aguinaldo declared the Philippine independence. When the Jewish people were being butchered by the Germans, a Philippine President by the name of Manuel Quezon, a native of a town facing the Pacific Ocean within the Lakanate of Lawan, opened 10,000 visas in a desperate effort to save the Jews.
Who are the Other Wealthy Rulers of the Philippines?
The Lakanate of Lawan of Datu Iberein is so strong that the foreign invaders avoided armed confrontation with him and were forced to settle in less warlike native settlements like the present Cebu, Legaspi City and ultimately, Manila. Historian William Henry Scott wrote that a “Samar datu by the name of Iberein was rowed out to a Spanish vessel anchored in his harbor in 1543 by oarsmen collared in gold; while wearing on his own person earrings and chains.” In the local epic called siday entitled "Bingi of Lawan" as written in the article of Scott, Lawan is a prosperous Lakanate in Samar. Apparently, Datu Iberein was able to show to the Spaniards that his forces, if necessary, can subdue invaders that is why the Spaniards moved to other settlements. (https://fahwany.files.wordpress.com). From his native Samaria (where the name of Samar province came from), the ancestors of Datu Iberein where the hereditary head of the lequios, a group of Hebrews who settled around Ophir, which the Spaniards considered the Philippine islands to be, before its colonization. The clan of Datu Iberein started the ancient intermigration between the Philippines and Israel. In Spain there is a 16th Century Book entitled "Coleccion General de Documentos Relativos a las Islas Filipinas." It is found in the Archivos de Indias de Sevilla. It was reprinted in 1920 in Barcelona, Spain by the Compania General de Tobaccos de Filipinas. Its Tomo III (1519-1522), pages 112-138, contains Document No. 98 describing how to locate the land of Ophir. This same volume also contains the official documents regarding the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan. It also contains the logbook of Francisco Albo, the chief pilot of the ship Victoria. This logbook is also one of the main references regarding the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan that landed in Samar. (https://findwords.info).
In an article Datus, Rajahs, and Sultans: How Wealthy and Powerful Were the Pre-Colonial Filipino Nobility? Filipinos, commoners and nobility alike, wore gold jewelry as everyday accessories written Mario Alvaro Limos last January 21, 2019 and published in https://www.townandcountry.ph, the following were stated:
When 17th-century Spanish missionary Francisco Colin came to the Philippines, he mentioned that “there are no kings or rulers worthy of mention” in the islands. He made a common mistake among European observers at the time in searching for evidence of early wealth and power in authoritative law codes, centralized government, and temple complexes, which the Philippines then lacked.
They were surprised, however, when they discovered that Filipinos, commoners and nobility alike, wore gold jewelry or clothing as everyday accessories.
Historian William Henry Scott describes the regality of a certain Datu Iberein and his entourage in 1543. Upon seeing a Spanish vessel anchored off the coast of Samar, the datu wearing golden earrings and chains, rowed to the Spanish boat. His oarsmen wore gold necklaces.
Iberein is merely an example of some of the wealthy and influential rulers of the Philippines in pre-colonial times. Among the most wealthy and powerful were Rajah Sulayman and Lakan Dula of Manila (circa 1570), and Sultan Kudarat of Maguindanao (circa 1619 to 1671).
Not All Datus Were Powerful
Filipino datus did not ascribe wealth and power to territory, monuments, and centralized government, but rather, they were measured in terms of networks of connections, alliances, monopoly of trade, and control of people. Not all datus were on equal footing. Some were significantly wealthier and more powerful than others, owing to the strategic position of their territory. Those who lived at the mouths of rivers and coastal areas such as Rajah Sulayman, who controlled the southern half of the Pasig River Delta that opens up to Manila Bay in the 1570s, were significantly wealthier than their upriver counterparts.
Lakan Dula, who ruled the northern side of the Pasig River Delta in Tondo, was an equally powerful and wealthy datu. According to Abinales and Amoroso (2005), Rajah Sulayman and Lakan Dula became very powerful datus who subordinated their upriver counterparts by controlling the entry of upriver goods into the trading system.
Datus who paid tributes or those who were subordinated to superior datus in coastal areas were called vassals, and typically settled in upriver communities.
Rajah Sulayman and Lakan Dula also demanded tributes from visiting merchants who wished to participate in trade.
Depiction of Wealth and Royalty
One of the reasons we know how Filipino rulers dressed is because of the Boxer Codex, a colored manuscript depicting the appearance and attire of various Filipinos during circa 1590. In this manuscript, Tagalog and Visayan royalty are shown wearing fine silk and adorned with gold accessories.
Among the members of the nobility, red clothing was symbolic of their social status as rulers, especially in the Tagalog region. Notable in the pictures are the gold chains, bands, earrings, and trimmings.
Datus also wore fine cotton and silk, as opposed to the tree bark fiber worn by ordinary folk.
Other Status Symbols
According to Abinales and Amoroso, datus and their families were distinguished by the way they lived, looked, and dressed. Apart from this, their large entourage and the many dependents in their household were a symbol of their wealth and power.
A datu earned his wealth by virtue of collecting tributes paid by his people and by other datus under his protection.
Comparable to today’s banquets, datus also sponsored feasts that validated their social status as the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in the community.
People, Not Gold, Was the Standard Measure of Wealth and Power
While the Europeans considered gold and land as the standard of economic wealth especially in the age of mercantilism in the 1500s, the Filipino datus, who had a natural abundance of both land and gold in their domains, considered people to be the most important symbol of wealth and power. According to Abinales and Amoroso, this was the result of the Philippines’ abundance of natural resources and shortage of human resources.
The Lequios tribe from the ancient Jewish Samaria eventually became known as the Waray of Samar
The Lequios tribe came from Jewish Samaria and settled in the Lakanate of Lawan whom they call as Ophir. They are involved in the gold trade to Israel. The tribe was headed by Dati Hadi Iberein, Dati Ete and Datu Sava, etc. This tribe intermarried with local native Warays. Some historians consider their settlement as a Lakanate, and is official known as Samar (in honor of their homeland Samaria) and Leyte (in honor of Datu Ete). Because of their love for the seas, this ancient Filipino tribe is responsible for the different settlements of polynesians in the pacific ocean and inward into the Philippine archipelago like the Mactan settlement, Butuan settlement, Isarog settlement, Surigao settlement and Tondo settlement. This was confirmed by a linguistic studies where the origin of the Tagalog dialect is confirmed to have come from the Waray region of the Lakanate of Lawan. This is further triangulated by the fact that the Calatagan Jar unearthed in the Tagalog region in Batangas was written in Baybayin Waray dialect that originated in the place called Baybay in the Lakanate of Lawan. The similarity of the Hebrew dialect, Tagalog, baybayin and the ancient alphabet of the Jews is so strong. The name of Datu Iberein, a Jewish name, was mentioned by historian Henry Scott and the Bingi of Lawan was mentioned by historian Alcinas. Recently, an Australian study based on DNA confirmed that the Philippines is the homeland of the polynesians. The existence of the natives that intermarried with the Lequios tribe was mentioned by Otley Bayer as the "dawn man", as early as 250, 000 years ago and a French study talks of "rhinoceros man" found in the pacific ocean side of the country which is dated as 700,00o years old. The Lakanate of Lawan (Ophir) has been romanticized in the olden days that it attracted waves of migration towards their direction (but some did not reach them), as describe by Otley Bayer. Even European explorers sailed on their direction, including Magellan. The Lequios may refer to certain inhabitants of Ophir, which the Spaniards considered to be the Philippine Islands before its colonization.[1] The inhabitants of the Ryukyu Islands were also referred to as Lequios by Tomé Pires.[2][3]This same volume also contains the official documents regarding the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan. It also contains the logbook of Francisco Albo, the chief pilot of the ship Victoria. This logbook is also one of the main references regarding the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan.Ophir was "delante de China hacia el mar, las islas donde muchos de los moluqueños, chino, y se reunió con el comercio Lequios (in front of China towards the sea, of many islands where the Moluccans, Chinese, and Lequios met to trade)."[1]
It was crucial for datus to maintain control and accumulate dependents and alliances to maintain their power, around which society was built at the time. So how wealthy were the datus, rajahs, and sultans of pre-colonial Philippines?
In terms of gold, they could have well outranked all the European principalities of the 13th century, considering the Philippines was one of the top gold-producing countries in the world, as even common folk like timawas and warriors were shown wearing gold ornaments in the Boxer Codex.
For the datus, the more people they controlled, the more alliances they forged, the more expansive their networks were, and the more dependents they had, the wealthier and more powerful they became.
Hebrew Settlements
Along the route described by Document No. 98 are locations of old Hebrew settlements. It would not be surprising for that was the procedure used by King Solomon's fleet.Settlements were established at selected places to trade and process the gold and silver. The ships collected the gold and silver and brought it to King Solomon. To the credit of the Hebrew people, their settlement remained true to the Hebrew faith even for thousands of years. Settlements were found in India, Burma, Sumatra, and Vietnam (Annam and Cochin China). Hebrew settlements then, even extended to the Philippines, which was Ophir proper. One of the known tribal leaders of the Lequios is Hadi Iberein, as mentioned by historian Henry Scott.In association with these records, Spanish books mention of a mysterious people known as Lequios. Modern historians variously identified them as Okinawans, Koreans, or Vietnamese. They were favorite targets of Spanish ships during the time of General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi because the ships of the Lequios were always laden with gold and silver.
Also, according to Document 98, the Lequios were big, bearded, and white men. They were only interested in gold and silver when trading at Ophir. Okinawans, Koreans, and Vietnamese people are not big nor are they white. Their beards are just small goatees and could not satisfy the word "bearded". Therefore, they were not the Lequios. The Lequios were thus deemed to be the remnants of Hebrews and Phoenicians who have made enclaves in their trade with Ophir proper.
These Lequios Tribe, are the Warays who were scattered among the islands of the Philippines. Eventually, they too were converted to Christianity: along with the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Animists of the Pre-Hispanic Philippine states after active Hispanic settlement via the Americas became uninterrupted in the 333 years of Spanish colonization.
References
^ Jump up to:a b Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas. Colección general de documentos relativos a las Islas Filipinas existentes en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla. Tomo III--Documento 98, 1520-1528. pp. 112–138.
^ Diffie, Bailey Wallys. Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415-1580.
Saraiva, Luís. History of Mathematical Sciences: Portugal and East Asia II.
Abinales, Patricio N., Amoroso, Donna J. (2005). State and Society in the Philippines. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,
Center of Center of the World "The Philippines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4efhXRP6qc. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
http://bibleexplainer.blogspot.com/2019/04/q715-is-philippines-biblical-land-of.html retrieved June 24, 2019
https://fahwany.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/philippine-medical-and-solidarity-mission-4-14-september-2018-1-1.pdf. Retrieved October 10, 2018
https://findwords.info/term/lequios . Retrieved July 25, 2019.
https://www.popsci.com/where-and-when-did-life-begin#page-4. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
https://www.townandcountry.ph/people/heritage/datus-rajahs-and-sultans-how-wealthy-and-powerful-were-the-pre-colonial-filipino-nobility-a1957-20190121-lfrm retrieved June 24, 2019.
Scott, William Henry (1985). Cracks in the parchment curtain and other essays in Philippine history. New Day Publishers. p. 93. ISBN 978-971-10-0073-8.