Ranaw: Isang Alamat

Summary:

Once there was a tribe and the Sultan and his warriors were hunting. While searching,

they found a baby and the Sultan and his wife adopted the child and named him Bato Lakungan.

Bato grow up to be a man of great stature and had been looked up by many. The Sultan seldom

went home to their village and at the same time occurs the unjust accusation of Bato Lakungan.

As he was been imprisoned, many voices whispering him to open a treasure chest or the “baul”.

He found four enchanted weapons which give him the courage to show his capability in being a

true strong warrior. It helped him to overcome the hazards. He escaped to Ranaw when one day,

he saved Kamayungan, princess of a rival tribe. He went to a village that was been cursed by the

monster. In return for killing the monster the old couple adopted him as a son. He saved the

couples village from a terrible scourge and the constant harassment of a war-lord Baringigan.

The people crowned him Datu and offered him a woman to be his wife. Bato saved the village in

many times from dangerous wars. He was intrigued by the mysterious Kamayungan who is

Baringigan’s betrothed bride. Kamayungan and Bato fell in love and Baringigan vows

vengeance. The conflict among the three tribes heightens with the news that “white men” have

plundered their coasts even as Bato tries to unify the people. The people who were called as the

“white men” were the Spaniards. This is the time when the Spaniards came in the Philippines

and no one knows what happened next. Some say that one of the enchanted weapons can be

found in one of the Muslim families here in Iligan City. Until now, the story of Bato Lakungan

remained a mystery.
Reaction:

The Ranaw was a very nice theatre play. When we came in, the place was already

overcrowded and I had a hard time while watching the play. As the play starts, the narrator tells

an “alamat” about Bato Lakungan and after that, the actors started to act their roles. During the

play, due to overcrowding, there were instances that the actors stumble on some of the audience

but still they performed very well and successfully delivered the message of the play to us.

The story of Bato Lakungan is an example of the desire to unite and have peace between

tribes, races, and even nations. The enchanted weapons enhanced the power of Bato Lakungan

and through these, he successfully overcome challenges. From the play, we can get many moral

lessons and one of that is having peace between each other. In the story, the attainment of peace

is a very hard thing to realize. In my opinion, if they have encountered the white men, they

would have been united having the same goal to defeat these foreigners. Today, unity has been

exercised in some parts of our country but it is evident that many people fought each other to

death just to protect and expand their territories.

Overall the performance was very good and full of lessons. The one hundred pesos was

worth it and in fact the play was worth more than that. Aside from being internationally

renowned, they were very excellent performers. Through their play you can really appreciate the

cultures of our country and give life to the events happened in the past. I can’t wait for their next

performance and I hope many of us youths can appreciate our cultures.