Plate no. 02 - Indigenous Houses of Mindanao

1. Mandaya
 The earliest Mandaya houses were lean-tos  called bayay, which had a wooden framework
and a slanting grass-thatched roof which also served as the wall.
 An improvement on the lean-to was the ile or houses built on trees above bamboo marshes.
 Each ile was connected to another by hanging bridges elevated at a maximum height of
about 9 meters with partitions to separate the pal-langka (men’s sleeping area) and the
digpi (women’s sleeping area).
 It has stairs, made of bamboo poles, leading from the ground up to the entry porch of the
house.
 Its four walls were made of either: tambul-lang (flattened bamboo slats); sinansan (woven
rattan slats); sawali (flattened tree-barks); inak-ak (wooden strips); amakan (woven tambul-
lang or bamboo slats); or binu-ak (split wooden boards).
 Roof is constructed from either cogon thatch (tambul-lang); or anangilan (wooden shingles
made of ilang-ilang).
 Floors were made from tambul-lang, patikan (fishtail palm tree), bahi (hardwood), or patong
(a variety of bamboo).
 Posts, beams, trusses, and other structural parts are tied together with the vine strings of
the uway, which are woven into artistic knots or in zigzag pattern.
 Various enhancements were applied for security such as saungag (booby traps) scattered
strategically around the house; pangayam (spear) standing by the door, and tayakop
(clapper) on windows as alarms against intruders.

Bayay and Ile

2. Manobo

 The Manobo house is a rectangular one-room dwelling, with minimal decorations, no furniture
and is elevated about 1.5 to 8 meters from the ground, on 4 to 16 light posts.
 It has two or three levels. The afayunan (kitchen), is the lowest level, about 1.5 meters above
the ground and is the gomowen (doorway) to the house.
 Its main section, measuring 3.72 square meters, is about 35 centimeters higher than the kitchen.
 Foundation: Four corner posts (bugsod) where each has a diameter of 12 centimeters, extend
upward from 1.5 to 2 meters above the floor, supporting the main beams on which rest four
substantial rafters that turn supports the ridgepole. Alan (poles) standing from the ground to
support the flooring may number from 20 to 50, depending on the flooring material. Balagkal
(crosspoles), 8 centimeters in diameter, usually wood or bamboo, are laid across the vertical
alan poles to reinforce the flooring,
 Flooring: The sa-ag (flooring) were usually made of: 40 centimeters-wide bark of lawan or
kubkub (mahogany), 4 centimeters-wide afus (split bamboo), and 5 centimeters-wide sinalegseg
(poles), which are all tied together with balag-gen (rattan strips).
 Walls (Kalatkat): Are about 1.5 meters high, with usual walling materials of 60-centimeter pieces
of lunot (bark) sewn together with rattan strips, supported by a grill framework of poles or split
bamboo set at 30 centimeters apart. Some walls were made of woven horizontal and vertical
strips of bulu (small bamboo).
 Roof (Atof): is a four-sided gable, with two smoke vents, on each end of the roof ridge. It is
made of eli (cogon grass) put together into sheaves, held together at both ends with split
bamboo, and are laid in an overlapping fashion, starting from the lower layer to the peak of the
roof.
 Decorations: trophies of the chase, sacred jar, a mark of wealth and a venerable relic; plates and
bowls.
3. Tiruray

 Tiruray settlements, with area that traditionally measures about 3 x 5 meters, are located near
water sources.
 Houses are built up on-posts, about 2 meters off the ground
 Wood and bamboo are the main construction materials for the body and has a notched log
ladder (gadan).
 Its tenuwe (door) is made of bamboo frame, which is hinged at the bottom, thus folds out to the
ground when opened.
 The plan is rectangular in shape with 5 or 6 liley (main posts) made of round hardwood that hold
up the structure; while about a dozen or more feher (roundwood pole studs) surround the
house, attached with four serinan (roundwood pole beams).
 The base (sara feher) is made by the studs, fixed on four large bamboo lengths, with two fadal
(roundwood girders) on each length of the house, and a short distance above the ground, which
serve to connect the posts as well as support the series of bekenal (roundwood floor joists).
 Grass is used for the roof (atef), with roof ornaments of a religious nature called fakang, salag
buwen, and kula-kula, located at the center purlin (titay berungan) on the roof ridge.
 The flooring of the house was made of tree bark, and only a few used bamboo.
 Earlier houses had no wall, only hangings of bark or fronds of rattan. Later on, the diding
(walling) goes around the house and is made of cracked bamboo.
 Rattan vines are used to lash together the entire structure.
4. Bukidnon

 The framework of the house consists of upright saplings across which poles are laid and tied to
serve as the base of the bamboo floor.
 The floor is of broad bamboo strips on which grass or rattan mats are laid.
 Mats are made by lacing cords around narrow strips of rattan, like the pattern of venetian
blinds.
 Cross poles join the tops at a height of about 1.8 meters. From the corners, light poles make an
inverted V at each end to which a ridgepole is tied.
 The thatch roof is laid on more poles running from the top to the upper stringers.
 The walls are of beaten bark or mats, but a space is left open between them and the
overhanging roof.
 There is no door and the entrance is by a ladder.
 A knot of leaves or cogon grass is tied to the ladder as a sign that the family is away and the
place is “taboo.”