THE VIKINGS OF THE FAR EAST They painted their bodies with fearsome tattoos called patiks. They spread terror by sailing their dragon warships known as karakoas. And they wielded terrifying […]

THE AGINID LEGEND Academicians and history writers have both critiqued and celebrated Jovito Abellana’s recorded dance epic that is known as Aginid Bayok sa Atong Tawarik, which we shall call […]

THE ANCIENT PAMAHALAANS For sure, it is never easy running a village, much more a 16th-century Malayan kingdom. Concerns of law and order, naval and military defenses, tax collections, granaries […]

THE LUZONES TOWN There was a place called Minjani in the 16th-century Malacca that had a market village that welcomed merchants from the precolonial Philippines. Most likely, these merchants were […]

THE PANGLIMA Often mentioned alongside datus, rajas, and sultans, certainly, the panglima is one of the most intriguing characters in the 16th-century Philippines. Even its name elicits interest. The panglima’s root […]

THE PRECOLONIAL RULER A datu is a ruler during the precolonial Philippines. He governed his territories, led his soldiers to war, commanded his armadas at seas, protected his villages from […]