The Origin of the Filipino People
In 2007, Filipino archaelogist Armand Salvador B. Mijares from the University of the Philippines and his team found the bones of two adults and a child from a previously unknown human-related specie now called Homo Luzonensis and previously known as the Callao Man. In 2010, Mijares and French anthropologist Florent Detroit and their colleagues identified them as belonging to the modern humans but later on, in 2019, after the discovery of 12 new specimens and based on the apparent presence of both modern-humanlike and primitive Australopithecus-like features, they reassigned the remains (and other hominin findings from the cave) to a new species, Homo Luzonensis, the specific name deriving from the name of the island of Luzon where the bones were extracted.
Homo Luzonensis is locally called "Ubag", named after a mythical caveman. It is an extinct and possibly pygmy species of archaic human from Late Pleistocene of Luzon. Their remains, teeth and phalages, are known only from Callao Cave in the northern part of the island dating before 50,000 years ago (estimated to be in existence 67,000 years ago).
Like the Homo Luzonensis, another archaelogical discovery that can shed lights about the origins of the Filipino people was the discovery of Rhinoceros Philippinensis, an extinct specie that once roamed around in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, and in the provinces of Cagayan and Kalinga. The first fossils were found in 1936 at Laya, Cagayan and another batch of bones were recovered in 1965 in Fort Bonifacio, Manila. But what becomes more interesting of all these discoveries was in 2013 when a team of international and local researchers led by Dr. Thomas Ingicco from the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle found an almost complete skeleton of the Rhinoceros Philippinensis in an archaelogical site in Rizal, Kalinga Province. The volcanic materials that covered these fossils gave a maximum age of 1 million years while the tooth and sediment was dated around 700,000 years +/- 70,000. These bones have bludgeoned and cutting marks which were indications that it was butchered by early humans in the area - the Homo Luzonensis.
Mijares in a television interview pointed out that the Homo Luzonensis have similar features with the Philippine Negrito (Ayta/Agta/Ati/Mamanwa) and the Australopithecus but he didn't identify the primate as the direct ancestor of the modern Filipinos. He said that the specie probably was related to the modern Filipinos, as well as, the whole world.
But some indigenous peoples' group, as well as other historical organizations believed that this Homo Luzonensis or "Ubag" might be the ancestor of the recorded first inhabitants of the Philippines - the Philippine Negritos.
The Subanen people - the indigenous people of the Zamboanga Peninsula and Basilan, in their website Subanen People's Kingdom with the link https://www.subanen.com/p/ancestors-of-filipinos-groups-of.html, stated the following as the group of ancient people that settled and migrated in the ancient Philippines:
1. First Settlers: Homo Luzonensis - the ancestors of Philippine Negritos - 67,000 years ago.
2. Second Group: Austronesians - 5,000 to 1,500 B.C.
3. Third Group: First Batch of Ancient Indonesians - 4,200 B.C.
4. Fourth Group: Second Batch of Ancient Indonesians - 1,500 B.C.
5. Fifth Group: Malays - 300 to 200 B.C.
The second to fifth groups, together with other migrants who arrived in the Philppines intermarried with our native Negritos and produced the mixed-blood races of modern Filipino ethnicities. Based on the DNA testing conducted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the United States Library of Medicine, a branch of the US National Institute of Health, modern Filipinos, particularly the Tagalog, Bisaya and the Manobo people's DNA, are admixture of Ayta, Agta, Batak and Mamanwa. The Ayta and Agta were the Negrito groups of the Philippines and they were called Ati by the Visayan people. Batak was the Negrito group related to the Ancient Indonesians while Mamanwa were related to the Papuan Negritos of Oceania. Surprisingly, most of the Filipinos doesn't have the Orang Asli DNA - the first inhabitants of the Malayan Peninsula, making most of the modern Filipinos not really Malays but Austronesians with a slight Negrito DNA.
In a statement from the United Royal Houses of the Philippines (where The Royal House of Maria Poloin is a member), it declared that the modern Filipino race of today was a "katutubo-based mixed race" pointing out that we emerged from the Philippine soil from the evolution of man from "Ubag" to native Negritos (Ayta/Agta/Ati); to the first admixture with the Austronesians and Polynesians producing the Agta-Dumagat and Mamanwa people, as well as the Ancient Cordillerans; to the arrival of Ancient Indonesians (Batak), Malays (Indonesian Malays and Borneans), Indians, and constant Austronesian migrations, particularly the Mongolian, Formosan and Chinese people, producing the first Dumagat Remontado, Tumandok, Sambal, Subanen, Tausug, Manobo, Tagbanua and other indigeneous peoples group of today; to the modern ethnicities of different regions such as Tagalog, Bisaya, Ilokano, Bikolano, Mindanaoan, among others.
As per the United Royal Houses of the Philippines and the Subanen people's statement, the intermarriages of katutubo (native) people started as families, settlements and civilizations from the geographical center of the ancient archipelago of the country. And these continuous practices of intermarriages and intermigrations of the Philippine Negritos and the Austronesians southward; the Ancient Indonesians upward and eastward; Papuans upward; and the Polynesians westward produced different civilizations in Southeast Asia making the diversified culture of the Philippines and other neighboring countries almost similar to each other. There were theories that it was actually the Philippines who were the origins of other SEA and Oceania people but this topic will be discussed on a later article.
Ancient Filipinos further developed a mixed-race bloodline with the invasion of Spanish, British, Americans and Japanese. The natives intermarriages with Europeans and Americans who invaded us produced the first batch of Filipino Mestizos. While during this modern era, overseas Filipino workers and migrants married to foreigners, as well as, modern technology that connects Filipinos to other nationalities abroad produced another batch of mixed-race Filipinos who currently dominates major beauty contests, sports, and the entertainment industry.###
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Note: During the pre-colonial era, our ancestors were not yet called Filipinos, because the archipelago were comprised of several kingdoms/chiefdoms, it will be difficult to identify the natives one by one according to the kingdom/chiefdom or ethnicity they belong so we just used the word Filipino to identify the natives as it will be easier for us to write this article. It was only during the American occupation that natives of the archipelago were called Filipinos. During the Spanish colonization our ancestors were called Indios.
Photo credits to Department of Social Welfare and Development website
For inquiries about this article please send E-mail to: poloinroyalhouse1564@gmail.com
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The Royal House of Maria Poloin is an organization comprised of descendants of Dayang Maria Poloin, the only daughter of Lakan Bunao Dula who was the last king of the Lakanate of Tondo also known as Kaharian ng Tondo. The Royal House of Maria Poloin is a member of the United Royal Houses of the Philippines.
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