Bridging the Gap
Establishing pre-colonial Ilonggo identity
The Ilonggo-Bisayans are among the principal ethno-linguistic groups of people in the Philippines. They are interchangeably referred to as Ilonggo or Bisaya and inhabit the islands of Panay and Guimaras, and the Province of Negros Occidental.
Ilonggo pre-history is primarily based on the so-called Maragtas, a document purportedly written in early times, detailing the coming of the ten Bornean datus to Panay, and translated into Spanish by a Spanish priest, Fr. Tomas Santaren. Eventually, the Spanish version was translated into Hiligaynon and English, the more prominent of which was the translation of Pedro Monteclaro of Miag-ao. Some scholars, however, consider the Maragtas as mere folk history because of its dubious historical narrative and because it has about six versions. Also, it is interlaced with events and stories quite fantastic to be true.
Archaeological evidences uncovered in Iloilo, especially in Oton, Cabatuan and Dingle, indicate that the Ilonggos are older than the Maragtas which is traditionally put at 1250. The archaeological sites contained considerable cultural materials, particularly Chinese porcelain wares, indicating early settlements and extensive trade with the Chinese and other Asians beginning with the 10th century.
Based on the accounts of the Chinese and early Spanish writers, the Ilonggo-Bisaya lived in permanent settlements with a relatively large population. They were engaged in the production of crops and crafts, and in fishing in the surrounding rivers and seas with their own-constructed wooden boats. They had a system of writing, their own songs and dances, folk legend, epics and stories. They wove colorful textile materials from piña, abaca and cotton, as well as silk that they imported from the Chinese traders. They built sturdy houses made of wood, bamboo, nipa and cogon. They were also expert silversmiths and coppersmiths, and worked on intricate jewelries made of gold and silver. Moreover, early Spanish writers like Colin, Loarca and Morga attested that the Ilonggos already enjoyed a certain degree of civilization at the time of the Spanish contact. Thus, it is not possible that they were the primitive Ati or Negrito that the Bornean Malays came into contract with in the middle of the 13th century.
As to who the people were in early times, they were known by a number of designations. Initially, the Spaniards called them as Pintados because the Ilonggos were fond of decorating their bodies and faces with tattoos. Because the Spaniards did not have any idea about how tattoos were made, they thought that the Ilonggos painted them on their skin. This will explain why, at first, the Spaniards called the Visayas as “Las Islas del Pintados." Later, as the Spanish colonizers began to settle down in Panay, they began to record two groups of inhabitants in Panay – the Bisaya and the Ati.
Still, further on, some Spanish writers, mostly friars who were assigned for some time in Panay, talked about the Bisaya being divided into three linguistic groups: the Higesina, Haraya and Ignine. The Higesina were those living along the coasts, the Haraya were those found in the lowlands near the rivers, and the Ignine were those living in the uplands. It may be speculated that Hiligaynon, Iloilo City's lingua franca, came from Higesina or simply Sina; the Haraya speech could have evolved into the present-day Kiniray-a or Hinaray-a, the language of the island's inland communities; and, Ignine is the mother tongue of the present-day extant Ligbok, still spoken by the older members of the Sulod-Bukidnon.
Today, other than the Ilonggo-Bisaya, remnants of the Negrito or Ati population are still extant in Panay, through their numbers have decreased dramatically over the past century. One group of the Ilonggo-Bisaya, the Sulod-Bukidnon, also called the Panay-Bukidnon, inhabit that mountainous hinterlands of the provinces of Iloilo, Antique and Capiz.