Mythologies of the Tadyawan Tribe

March 01, 2024

Among the eight Mangyan tribes are the Tadyawan tribesmen who occupy the province of Oriental Mindoro, specifically the towns of Naujan, Victoria, Socorro, Pola, Gloria, Pinamalayan, and Bansud. Similar to most Mangyans, Tadyawans’ traditional clothing comprises a red cloth on the chest and a white waist wraparound called talapi for women, and a g-string called abay for men. Men and women adorn themselves with bracelets and necklaces made of beads. Approximately 4,150 speak their language of the same name Tadyawan, which belongs to the North Mangyan subgroup of the Philippine languages. Tadyawans practice swidden agriculture, similar to the other Mangyan tribes. Oftentimes, they would also venture to the lowlands to sell their harvested crops and livestock. Additionally, just like the Iraya Mangyans, they would be seen eating mostly rice, bananas, sweet potatoes, and other root crops as their steady diet. As mentioned above, the Mangyans are consisted of eight groups, namely, the Alangan, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunoo, Iraya, Ratagnon, Tawbuid, and the Tadyawan. These tribes live in the island of Mindoro, which is subdivided into Oriental and Occidental Mindoro. It is probable that they have migrated from Indonesia in prehistoric times and have stayed in Mindoro ever since.

Traditionally Tadyawan wore a g-string, and the women wore a red cloth called papa, which wrapped around her upper body. Their lower bodies were covered by a white cloth they called talapi. Women wore colorful bracelets and necklaces. Today they dress more like the Filipino majority. They are a subtribe of the bigger Mangyan people. The Tadyawan people live in the Philippines, on the island of Mindoro, just south of Luzon. This people group grows rice, sweet potatoes, taro, and bananas. They are a poor tribal people. The Tadyawan people need to learn ways to increase their harvests.

Tadyawan is classified as a threatened language (EGIDS 6b) spoken in east-central Oriental Mindoro and near Lake Naujan in the south. According to a 2010 census, it has 2,620 users within an ethnic population of 5,100. Most Tadyawans can speak Tau-buid [twb] due to intermarriage between the two Mangyan subgroups (Eberhard et al., 2022). Tweddell (1970) reports that the people used to call themselves Balaban, and the term Tadyawan might have been coined by lowlanders by combining the Tagalog [tgl] prefix taga- (‘belonging to, coming from’) and Yawan, the Balaban name for the Pola River. The group eventually adopted the etic name to refer to themselves and their language. There is not much research done on Tadyawan that can serve as a basis to identify the actual causes of language endangerment. However, like other Mangyan people, they deal with issues concerning their land and socioeconomic situation. As an illustration, it was only in late July 2022 that two Tadyawan and Tau-buid communities were awarded a certificate of ancestral domain title (CADT) that covers 3,270.78 hectares of land. The CADT solidified their ownership of parts of Sabang in Pinamalayan and Buong Lupa in Gloria after 24 years of waiting (Virola, 2022). The coordinator of Tugdaan Mangyan Center for Learning and Development, an educational institution that aims to serve the Mangyan people, once stressed the importance of education in “defend[ing] their ancestral lands from the educated, rich and powerful” (Lintawagin as cited in Virola, 2015), but isolation and poverty continue to hinder the Mangyans from attending school.

The Tadyawan Mangyans live in the municipalities of Naujan, Victoria, Socorro, Pola, Gloria, Pinamalayan, and Bansud. In the past, the women wore for their upper covering a red cloth called paypay, which is wound around the breast. For their lower covering, they wrapped around the waist a white cloth called talapi. The men wore g-strings called abay. For their accessories, women wore colorful bracelets and necklaces made of beads. Today the women are rarely seen wearing their traditional attire, though some men still wear the abay. Like all other Mangyan tribes, the Tadyawan depend on their "kaingin" farm for subsistence. Their staple foods are upland rice, banana, sweet potato, and taro. Some have also planted fruit-bearing trees like rambutan, citrus, and coffee in their kaingin.

The nameTADYAWANis taken from a certain type of coconut named“Adyawan”brought by the Spaniards

The eight indigenous tribes of Mindoro have known no other home since prehistory, although their ancestors probably migrated from Indonesia. (The seventh-largest island in the Philippines, Mindoro is part of the MIMAROPA Region and is divided into two provinces, Oriental Mindoro and Occidental Mindoro.) The tribes, which are referred to by the general term "Mangyan," comprise the Alangan, Bangon, Buhid, Hanunoo, Iraya, Ratagnon, Tadyawan, and Tawbuid. The Mangyan population in the Philippines is over 100,000, and the great majority have grown roots in Mindoro. The Tadyawan occupy Oriental Mindoro, specifically Naujan, Victoria, Socorro, Pola, Gloria, and Bansud. Their language belongs to the North Mangyan subgroup of the Philippine languages. Like most Mangyans and other Philippine indigenous groups, the Tadyawans rely on swidden farming. Their traditional clothing consists of a red cloth in the chest and white waist wraparound for the women, and a g-string called abay for the men.