Peoples of Palawan
Palawan, the largest province in the Philippines, is home to several indigenous ethnolinguistic groups namely, the Kagayanen, Tagbanwa, Palawano, Taaw't Bato, Molbog, and Batak tribes.
[1][2][better source needed] In 1962, a team of anthropologists from the National Museum led by Dr. Robert Fox unearthed fossils at Lipuun Point (now known as the Tabon Cave Complex) in Quezon town that were classified as those of Homo sapiens and believed to be 22,000 to 24,000 years old.
The recovery of the Tabon Man and other significant findings in the area earned for Palawan the title, "the Cradle of Philippine Civilization."
Magellan's chronicler, Antonio Pigafetta, in his writings, described the cultivated fields of the native people populating the Palawan Islands.
The Cuyunons, originally from the island town of Cuyo east of northern Palawan, are considered the elite class in this group.
Some Tausug residents in Palawan call the Palawano Traan, which means "people in scattered places".
Like the Yakan of Basilan, the Palawano live in houses out of sight of each other[citation needed], scattered among their plots of farm lands.
Some uninformed outsiders believe there is a separate group called Ke'ney (and similar forms), but this is simply a derogatory term meaning "thick, upriver people."
They are a small community of traditional southwestern Palawanos who reside in the crater of an extinct volcano during certain seasons of the year, in houses built on raised floors inside caves though others have set their homes on the open slopes.
Around cave-dwellings, for example, they construct a light and sturdy lattice-work made of saplings lashed together and anchored fast to crevices in the walls to provide access to the caves.
With conditions varying in different caves, there are modifications and elaboration on the basic datag or sleeping platforms, and lagkaw or granary.
They also produce sweet potato, sugarcane, malungay, garlic, pepper, string beans, squash, tomato, pineapple, etc.
The trade is specifically for marine fish which the people of Candawaga provide in exchange for horticultural products of the Taawʼt-Bato.
The ka-asawahan or households units are further grouped into larger associations called bulun-bulun, which literally means "gathering".
The area constitutes the homeland of the Molbog people since the classical era prior to Spanish colonization.
The Molbog are known to have a strong connection with the natural world, especially with the sacred pilandok (Philippine mouse-deer), which can only be found in the Balabac islands.
A Muslim tale tells the Philippine mouse-deer once tricked a prince into giving up his bag of gold and facing a hive of angry bees.
[9] Another tale depicts him as a clever guardian of the environment, using his wisdom as an advantage against those who destroy forests, seas, and wildlife.
