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MANGYAN
Alangan
The Alangan is one of the Mangyan ethnic groups. They live in a wide area around Mt. Halcon, occupying the northern part of both provinces Occidental and Oriental Mindoro provinces. Some are found in Lantuyan and Paitan settlements located near the midstream of the Dalungan River. Their population is estimated at the approximately 47, 580 (OSCC, 1987).
The Alangan Mangyan are medium built, round face with straight and long hair (both men and women). Their complexion is dark and their teeth are blackened by betel but chewing.
Their economic life is primarily based on the upland agriculture or kaingin system. They cut open the forest every year or two to make new swidden sites.
The term gado or "together" characterizes the local group. They have taditionally lived in big houses paykamalayan, each of which consists of 3 to 20 nuclear families. And it is the minimal socio-economic unit of the Alangan society ruguoan.
Beyond observing the incest taboo, marriage restrictions, endogamy and exogamy are absent in Alangan society and the selection of spouse is made freely. Divorce is not so common, but in cases of adultery, concubinage and the wife's refusal to obey her husband's order, divorce is granted.
Property for the Alangan consists of the clothes, necklaces, bolo, hatchet, medicine box, betel nut box, pigs, chickens, bananas etc. The Alangan move every few years and the idea of private ownership of the land have not emerged yet. The transfer of some goods is made on the occasion of a wedding and the remaining goods are inherited by only one of the children who remains in the family.
Traditionally, the kuyay (caretaker), an old man function only as a person who takes care of seeds for swidden agriculture and as a priest at the agriculture rites.
Nowadays, all the kuyay among the Alangan are forming some sort of kuyay association called banada which functions to protect them from social, political and economic menaces from the christian lowlanders. (Kikuchi, 1984)
In the Alangan belief, Ambuau carries this world/life. The other world/death is referred to as tuyungan and believed to be located under the feet of Ambuau. A living person has one good soul (abiyan) at the ringside of his body and one bad soul (bukao) at the left. (Leach, 1964:53)
BATANGAN
Batangan is one of the sub-tribe of Mangyan. They live in the forest of Mindoro, particularly in the Southern tip of Western Mindoro and belong to an ethnic stock called proto-Malay. They are approximately 49,019 (OSCC, 1987) people. They are bilingual, speaking their own Batangan language and Tagalog language.
Most of the Batangan do not have personal names. They also live a band-level social life. As for their costumes, both sexes wear a loincloth (made of bark for the female), and married women also cover their breasts with scraps of cloth.
There are some variations in their types of dwellings. Their houses are made of bamboo and cogon grass. Some have elevated floors while others have none. They still maintain swidden agriculture and produce camote, taro, and upland rice.
Among the Batangan, the household is the smallest residential, economic and ritual unit. The head of the household is the father or the husband. Sometimes extended households are formed when two housees, built independently, are joined to appear as a single unit although the roots and floorings are separate. Each household has its own heart and each is composed of a nuclear family. (Kikuchi, 1984).
Among the Batangan, material property is equally divided as inheritance among male and female offspring alike. Knowledge of folk medicine is taught to all male children and female children when there is no male child. Amurit or witchcraft is also taught to adult males through the old men in the group.
The title of fu:unan (priest) is inherited by the male line, from father to eldest son. The general function of the fu:unan are to attend to funeral and harvesting ceremonies and as the medicine man, to cure diseases. The rules of succession are: 1) If the fu:unan does not have a son, the oldest among the male children of his brothers becomes the successor; 2) If there is no male child on his side, the oldest nephew is chosen from his wife's side. 3) If his son is underage the successor is selected temporarily according to rules 1 and 2. When the right successor comes of age, the title is returned to him. (Kikachu, 1984).
According to the analysis of the Batangan group genealogy, all members are affiliated with each other consanguineally or affinally. The care-taker or da:naama in a settlement emerges on the basis of age, good personality (kind, thoughtful, brave, etc.), and intelligence (able to speak Tagalog). The family of the caretaker is in charge of the whole area of the Batangan from generation to generation, due to having ecological knowledge of the area, so they can be calles the "caretaker-centered kin group". (Kikuchi, 1984).
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