REVIEW ....

In the following chapter, the imagined real-life heroes of Davao are enumerated – from the Spanish conquest up to the Martial Law era. Tiu rescues the Lumad chieftains (Datu Bago, the old woman of Baganga, and Mangulayon), activists, and civic workers who fought against the different forms of colonization and dictatorship. Finally, the last chapter exemplifies the gargantuan amount of folk stories and narratives that are vital elements in filling in the gaps of history.

What is interesting about the second edition is the rectification of the previous errors, such as the details about the Maitum jar, in which Tiu picked the Blaan over the Tboli as the makers of the humanshaped pottery in the first edition. Here, Tiu corrects himself by tending over the Tboli as makers of the Maitum jar by referencing local lores and stories as compelling pieces of evidence to support his theory.

There are also terminologies deemed to be summarized and depreciative that are reworked such as the usage of “banditry” to refer to the Blaan resistance against the settlers in the 1960s era. The conflict that transpired in Davao del Sur was an outright Blaan uprising and not “banditry” to protect their yutang kabilin (ancestral land). In the parlance of Tiu, “[M] y discussion of the Blaan in the first edition of this book was very inadequate” (106).

Tiu has also rectified the date when the term “Lumad” was first used. Some interlocutors in Mindanao Studies point to the use of the terminology in the 1980s period, but Tiu’s own investigation led him to conclude that Lumad’s first usage can be traced back to the late 1970s when Francisco F. Claver, SJ, then bishop of the Bukidnon diocese in Mindanao, summoned a meeting under the Mindanao-Sulu Conference on Justice and Development (MSCJD) to conduct an all-Indigenous Peoples consultation with representatives from various groups.

The crux of the matter in the second edition, however, is the interesting new additions about the political and cultural landscape of Davao. Tiu expanded the historical highlights of the region up to the mayoral and presidential post of Rodrigo Roa Duterte, to whom the peace and order in what was once tagged as the murder capital of the Philippines was attributed. The rumors have it that Duterte supported the Davao Death Squad in making extrajudicial killings (EJKs) to pacify the crimes in the city, which mostly victimized “suspected” criminals. This significant addition maps out that decoding Duterte’s rise to power and the current national affliction we are enduring entails a deep understanding of how the state has left Davao and its adjacent regions in the detritus of the nation’s dreams and aspirations.

Other important additions worth noting are the write-up on Bibiaon Ligkayan Bigkay, the first Ata woman to earn the distinction as chieftain because of her competence in handling “paghusay” concerns. Bai Bibiaon, as she is fondly called, has stood her ground to lead protests against the threats of mining companies in the remaining forests of the Pantaron Mountain Range. Tiu has also mentioned the plight and struggles of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Suyapa Farm (NAMASUFA) or the SUMIFRU farmers who complained about their harsh working conditions, in which the “pakyaw” or piece rate system replaced the previous hourly rate system. These narratives are vital in how the Indigenous and settler cultural communities assert the need for self-determination and the universal right to breathe.

In the list of local heroes, Tiu has also added more names who fought against the different forms and shapes of dictatorship during the Martial Law period, such as Soledad “Nanay Soling” Duterte who was one of the faces of the Yellow Friday Movement in Davao. The movement ushered for weekly protests participated by various sectors that helped generate nationwide mobilizations leading to the EDSA People Power revolution in 1986. One poignant story in this section is that of Ricardo P. Filio, who made use of his privilege to forward the causes for socio-political changes. Ricky dedicated his life to the countryside by participating in the armed struggle. His death, however ill-fated, is not a failure but a step in the right direction. Ricky’s life and passion have been celebrated and used in various literary works, including the poem “Ricardo Filio, 21” and the highly-acclaimed short story “Sky Rose.”

Tiu has also updated the list of folk narratives in Chapter 5 from 64 to 80 stories. One may surmise that Tiu was inspired by Uruguayan writer Eduardo

Galeano by retelling lores and narratives in reconstructing the history of the Davao region, but Tiu’s collected narratives are also products of critical acumen and astute research. The inclusion of “Andarapit” is a significant addition to the lores as it limns on the mélange of sexuality, pleasure, life, and even life after life. Another interesting addition is “Why the Bats Hide in Caves,” which reminds us about the value of “shame” and the impediment of being neutral in times of distress.

Perhaps, the most riveting part of the second edition is the update on the Manurigaw or the White Mandaya at the Manurigaw River in the Davao Oriental-Davao de Oro border. Tiu, in a fashionable vignette, narrates the uncanny of how a community with grey-eyed and blond people is reclused in the forest of Davao. The book offers different possibilities about the White Mandaya community by continuously uncovering its origins through unearthing documents about the Santa Maria de Parral of the Loaisa expedition that got lost in Davao Oriental in 1526, and to borrow Saidiya Hartman’s words, by critically fabulating. It is in this fabulation that Tiu can persistently reconstruct and reclaim our histories.

Overall, the second edition of Davao: Reconstructing History from Text and Memory is a valuable text that reminds us about the importance of reconstructing the past, reckoning with the present, and reimagining the future of the nation. Tiu reminds us that it is within reach of our arms to revise, rewrite, and reword a world anew – in the present progressive tense of writing and dreaming.

(Jay Jomar F Quintos is associate professor of literature at the University of the Philippines. This book review first appeared in the most recent issue of Tambara Journal of the Ateneo de Davao University. The second edition of Macario Tiu’s Davao: Reconstructing History from Text and Memory is available at the Ateneo de Davao University Bookstore).