Mythologies of the Tiruray Tribe

The Tiruray, also called Teduray, are a traditional hill people of southwestern Mindanao. They live in the upper portion of a river-drained area in the northwestern part of South Cotabato, where the mountainous terrain of the Cotabato Cordillera faces the Celebes Sea. The word “Tiruray” comes from tiru, signifying “place of origin, birth, or residence,” and ray from “daya,” meaning “upper part of a stream or river.” The Tiruray call themselves etew teduray or Tiruray people, but also classify themselves according to their geographic location: etew rotor, mountain people; etew dogot, coastal people; etew teran, Tran people; etew awang, Awang people; and etew ufi, Upi people. The Tiruray may also be classified into the acculturated and the traditional. The first refers to those who live in the northernmost areas of the mountains and who have had close contact with Christian and Muslim lowland peasants, as well as with Americans since the beginning of the century. The second refers to Tiruray who have survived deep in the tropical forest region of the Cotabato Cordillera and have retained a traditional mode of production and value system. The Tiruray comprise the largest indigenous group in the entire Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). As of 2002, they number about 50,000, distributed in several areas of the municipality of Upi and the province of Cotabato: the coastal region, the northern mountain region, the Upi Valley, the Tran Grande River, and Maganoy (now Shariff Aguak) River regions. In Upi alone, they number about 22,502, which is 44% of its total population of 51,141. The entire mountainous stretch, in the seaward portion of northern Maguindanao, is also home to two other cultural groups who are linguistically distinct from the Tiruray and from each other: the nearby Cotabato Manobo and the Tboli. The Tiruray are Malay in physical appearance. Their language is structurally related to those of the Malayo-Polynesian family, but when spoken, it is unintelligible even to their immediate neighbors.

The Teduray, also called Tiruray or Tirurai, are a Filipino ethnic group. They speak the Tiruray language. Their name may have come from words tew, meaning people, and duray, referring to a small bamboo hook and a line used for fishing. The Tiruray (Teduray) culture was studied at length in the 1960s by anthropologist Stuart A. Schlegel. Schlegel spent two years as a participant/observer among a group who lived in and was sustained by the rainforest. He was profoundly moved by the egalitarian society he witnessed, and went on to write several books and papers on the subject, including Wisdom of the Rainforest: The Spiritual Journey of an Anthropologist. The Teduray ancestral homeland is considered sacred. The Teduray, together with the indigenous Lambangian people, originate from the Agusan, Davao and Lanao regions, the province of Bukidnon, and in the cities of Davao and Zamboanga. The Teduray, Lambiangan, and Manobo have jointly applied for recognition of their ancestral domain covering 289,268 hectares of land comprising the municipalities of Upi, South Upi, Ampatuan, Shariff Aguak, Datu Unsay, Datu Saudi, Guindulungan, Talayan, and Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao Province and portions of Esperanza, Lebak, Bagumbayan, Senator Ninoy Aquino, Kalamansig, and Palimbang in Sultan Kudarat Province and the city of Cotabato where the indigenous groups are predominantly situated.

There are coastal, river, and mountain Tiruray clans, each of which has variations in dialect. In fact, Tiruray is a combination of tiru (“place of origin, birth, or residence”) and ray (from daya, meaning “upper part of a stream or river”). Their language, another distinct ethnolinguistic group, is structurally related to those of the Malayo-Polynesian family but is unintelligible even to their immediate neighbors. The majority of Tiruray habitations are in Upi, South Upi, Dinaig, and Ampatuan in Maguindanao (ARMM), plus scattered populations in Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato (SOCCSKSARGEN Region). The primary source of income for coastal Tirurays is farming, hunting, fishing, and basket weaving; those living in the mountains engage in dry field agriculture, supplemented by hunting and the gathering of forest products. Tirurays are famous for their craftsmanship in weaving baskets with two-toned geometric designs. While many have adopted the cultures of neighboring Muslims and Christians people, a high percentage of their population still believe and practice their indigenous customs and rituals.

The Tiduray people are one of about 26 non-Islamized ethnic groups in Mindanao who originated in what became the old unified Cotabato province but now live mainly in the towns of Upi, South Upi, and Datu Blah Sinsuat in southwestern Maguindanao province and in Lebak town in northwestern Sultan Kudarat province. There are also scattered populations in Agusan, Bukidnon, Davao and Lanao. They have their own distinct and unique traditions, language, art and culture, belief systems, social mores, and political systems. The Tedurays number approximately 350,000, or about 17.2 percent of Mindanao’s total Lumad population of 2.04 million. The term “Lumad” has come to refer to all non-Muslim indigenous peoples of Mindanao. Near the close of the 19th century, three indigenous Teduray sisters, Juana, Servanda, and Nicolasa, surnamed Borromeo, abandoned their home village of Tamontaka along the banks of the Tamontaka River southwest of the town of Cotabato. They then braved what was then a long and perilous 407-kilometer journey to the town of Zamboanga on the southwestern coast of Mindanao. In the new town, the sisters established residences in three separate places, Juana in Sta. Maria, Servanda (Lola Banday) in Buenavista, and Nicolasa (Lola Culasa) in Tetuan. Juana Borromeo married a Chinese immigrant named Lu Utih, who later converted to Christianity and changed his name to Jose Climaco. They were my maternal great-grandparents, making me one-eight Teduray and one-eight Chinese.

Teduray (Tirurai) is one of the major Indigenous Peoples of Southern Philippines. This indigenous group is composed of two distinct ethnic groups — the Teduray and the Lambangian. The word Teduray comes from the word Tew meaning man and Duray referring to a small bamboo with a hook and a line fishing instrument. The Tedurays are known for their distinct and unique culture, beliefs, customs and traditions. These people exhibits strong family ties but are too dependent on other members who are more influential and affluent in the community. The Teduray are honest, soft-spoken, shy, sensitive and soft-hearted people. They are also hospitable and peace-loving. A klakafan or a traveler who is still on the road by night fall, in a fenuwo where he does not know anybody, can knock at the nearest Teduray dwelling where he will be readily accepted and given the respect and hospitality extended to strangers and guests alike. Teduray are scattered in different provinces in Mindanao like Agusan, Bukidnon, Davao, Lanao and in the cities of Davao, Zamboanga and Manila, Cotabato Province is the main place of origin of the Teduray and Lambangian peoples with the estimated population 350, 925. In Central Mindanao-Region XII, Teduray used to have the highest number of population among the 21 ethnolinguistic groups with total population of 239,475, but due to the devolvement of Maguindanao Province to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) the population was reduced to 67,745. The Teduray in Central Mindanao-Region XII are found in Cotabato City, Municipalities of Columbio, Isulan, Tacurong, Bagumbayan, Esperanza, Kalamansig and Lebak, Sultan Kudarat Province; Alamada, Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, Pikit, Antipas, Arakan, Kidapawan City, President Roxas and Tulunan, Cotabato Province. In the later part of 1889, Teduray are scattered all over the undivided Cotabato and concentrated in the Southwestern mountain of the province. Some Teduray leaders have classified and further named themselves after the place where they come from — the Tew Dage, Tew Dawa, Tew Dogot, and Tew Tudok. Although the Teduray belong to one ethnic group, they differ in some ways like their dialect intonation, rituals, dress and color identities. The economy of the Teduray is basically agriculture. Their primary means of livelihood is farming. Their other sources of income are fishing, hunting and mini handicraft production. Majority of the farmers still practice slash-and-burn methods of farming. Thus, most of the farmers get marginal production which is very insufficient to serve the needs of their families.

The Tiruray are a Philippine tribe traditionally adapted to forested mountains. In recent years the forests are being destroyed by outside influences and their economy is rapidly being transformed from a forest swidden regime to a plow‐farming one on cleared land. Hunting, fishing, and gathering of wild resources have virtually disappeared. This paper reports a study done in two Tiruray communities at opposite poles of this shift in the subsistence system. Diet data were recorded over a full year on the food consumed by a typical male in each community. The nutritional value of the diet of the traditional Tiruray and that of the peasant Tiruray are compared, and both are evaluated in relation to Philippine recommended dietary standards. The data reveal clearly the major shifts in ecological setting, the diminished significance of wild resources, and the vastly increased dependence on market foods. The Tiruray view that the shift has resulted in an impoverished diet is not substantiated. Finally, the study suggests that Tiruray have adapted to a considerably lower level of nutrient intake than that generally recommended for Filipino men.