Mangyan is the generic name for the eight indigenous groups found on the island of Mindoro,

southwest of the island of Luzon, the Philippines, each with its own tribal name, language, and
customs.

Their sustenance are farming for their own crops, fruits, and hunting. A certain group of
Mangyans living in Southern Mindoro call themselves Hanunuo Mangyans, meaning “true”,
“pure” or “genuine,” a term that they use to stress the fact that they are strict in the sense of
ancestral preservation of tradition and practices. And while their customs differed, they lived in
gentle harmony and never had tribal wars.

Their traditional religious world view is primarily animistic; around 10% have
embraced Christianity, both Roman Catholicism and Evangelical Protestantism (The New
Testaments have been published in six of the Mangyan languages).

The Mangyan have a complex spiritual belief system which includes the following deities:

 Mahal na Makaako – The Supreme Being who gave life to all human beings merely by
gazing at them.

 Binayi – Owner of a garden where all spirits rest.

 Binayo - Is a sacred female spirit, caretaker of the rice spirits or the kalag paray. She is
married to the spirit Bulungabon. The kalag paray must be appeased, to ensure a bountiful
harvest. It is for this reason that specific rituals are conducted in every phase of rice
cultivation. Some of these rituals include the panudlak, the rite of the first planting; the rite
of rice planting itself; and the rites of harvesting which consist of the magbugkos or binding
rice stalks, and the pamag-uhan, which follows the harvest.

 Bulungabon – The spirit aided by 12 fierce dogs. Erring souls are chased by these dogs
and eventually drowned in a cauldron of boiling water. He is Binayo’s husband.

They used esoteric herbal cures. As civilization closed in on them, they moved to isolated
mountain tops in order to protect their survival, their lifestyle and their dignity.

In the 20th century, missionaries and volunteers worked among them, and were amazed to
discover a simple life imbued with noble aspirations. Quint Delgado Fansler, a young idealist
who was once with Jesuit Volunteers Philippines, says, “Their intrinsic values of honesty,
generosity and hospitality exemplify the best of who we are. Our acceptance of them gives us a
broader understanding of ourselves as a country, a more open patriotism.”

Ambahan sessions are organic, often going from dusk to dawn or over a weekend. Mangyans
gather round, whispering, laughing, composing and chanting, much like an endless balagtasan.
They build on each other’s thoughts and feelings with no ownership of the verses, only a kinship
born of shared understanding and the light of intuition.
Ambahans are usually etched on bamboo poles and left outdoors to be read or passed on. The
script is clearly precolonial and considered the most ancient Philippine text in existence.