Final Paper

The American and Japanese Ventures: Historical and Comparative Perspectives

THE AMERICAN VENTURE-THE MANGULAYON IN DAVAO

"The greatest Manobo Hero (sic) in Davao was Mangulayon, who murdered Davao's first

American district governor Lt Edward C. Bolton on 6 June 1906 in near-Malita," said Macario

D. Tiu in Davao in The Reconstucting History of Text and Memories (Ateneo de Davao

University, 2005). In the Malalag region, there followed massive military operations,

documenting aboriginal massacres. Only when Mangulayon was declared murdered on 3 August

1906 would militant operations cease. However, in fact Mangulayon was protected by the

indigenous peoples and the Americans believed that he died in the attack on his kuta. Thus, while

American documents record his death, Mangulayon actually lived a mature age in Lupon (Unless

stated otherwise, all information about Mangulayon comes from my book Davao 1890-1910

(UP-CIDS, Quezon City, 2003, 161-221).

The Lumads of Mindanao also fought against this usurpation of their lands. An example

is this uprising of the Kaolo, B’laan, Manobo, Samal and Moro Tribes against the colonial

landgrabbers. Led by Datu Mangulayon-the uprising spread fast and wide, from the agricultural

colonies in Davao del Sur to the towns of Davao Oriental.

It was also said by Prof. Macario that Mangulayon probably was the greatest Davao

heroes, for he notably earned a distinction in killing the highest American official in the local

colonial government that was established in the Philippines. It was Lt. Edward C. Bolton, the

Davao district governor who was assassinated in Lacaron, Malita on June 6, 1906.

During the first month of 1906, the American planters were afraid of the plan of the

lumads to have the American planters to be killed. Not only that, a strange “fanatical dance” a

unifying symbol of the uprising was the “dance of labi” which the colonialists never understood
until June 3, 1906 when he killed Lt. Bolton since some of the oral traditions found out that he

was killed on 3 and others said it was on 6.

A few days after the Lupon date had been arrested, Bolton went to Malalag to repair

differences between Americans and indigenous people. His last days are reconstructed to show

Bolton's departure from Mamacaw into Malalag, now located in the city of St. Maria, and his

departure from Dool, the Magulayon residence. Dool was a Kibulan, known for being very small

(kibul), the river's end. The river used to be deep and navigable by small boat, while emptying in

Mamakaw, Malalag Bay.

According to the American reports Dr. Tiu learned that Bolton stayed overnight in

Mangulayon’s place. This was so because the deputy head of the tribe ward was Mangulayon

and should help to solve the problem by calming the men of the tribes. The Governor went to

Malita with Mangulayon and his brothers the next morning, 6 June, and the plantist Benjamin

Christian. On the 7th day, several tribesmen told the American plantors in Malita that two

Americans had died at Lacaron Beach. The plantors went there to discover Christian and

Bolton's bodies buried in the sand in shallow grave. They found the bodies and sent them to

Lacaron and told Davao officials about the killings.

After resisting arrest, some 3 months after the murder of Bolton, most historian simply

says that Mangulayon was killed. Yet Dr. Tiu said that Mangulayon was outwitted americans and

the whole body of Lumad and Moro led to a legend that defends themselves and their leaders.

First of all, about Bolton’s shooting. American reporters say that Mangulayon and his brothers

accompanied Bolton and Christian. But Mangulayon seemed to have many other companions

involved in the killing. Oral tradition still states that around him there are fifteen armed guards.

He acted as the deputy headman and the people under him. Mangulayon instructed his followers
to put all the blame on him so that the American would focus their anger on him about the later

stories about the assassination to protect the other men. The Americans have given a lot of

weight to the statement by the fisherman of Manobo, who quoted Mangulayon as saying: I feel

like a man now. These two Americans I’ve killed.

Mangulayon has 225 men with eight firearms according to the Americans, while

Balawag, the tribal leader, had 300 men with forty firearms. They may have been in

Mangulayon’s kuta, which is now in Dimolog Mountains of Sangay. When the Europeans finally

came to it, the colonists defended themselves spiritedly. Some have fires, while others have

released their arrows. Or they killed many Americans with their lances. Superior firepower,

however, won and defenders fled. In the kuta the Americans found a dead body and they cut off

its head and told the indigenous people that it was Mangulayon.

Nevertheless, there are conflicting myths that circulates in Davao del Sur. Another

version says that he was actually killed, but on the other one claims that he died in his old age.

Ironically enough, Mangulayon was alone with his mother in the kuta, as shown by open

legends. Clearly the people of Mangulayon, who defended the kuta, sought to differentiate from

Mangulayon in order to avoid punishments. They also carried on the myth that he died, when he

didn’t actually die in the kuta. He was able to escape, and he was protected by the people

throughout his life, especially the Lupon Kalagans where he remained until he died, something

Americans have never discovered.

THE JAPANESE ECONOMIC VENTURE IN DAVAO

In 1903, Oshiro came to Davao and brought the license to buy a part of the land in Bago.

He was learning abaca culture from the lumad Bagobo tribes and planting abaca plants in his

land. There have been unemployed Japanese workers working for the Americans in building the

road of Baguio Kennon. He invited them to work for him in the planting of abaca and abaca

fiber. Oshiro has persuaded young Japanese people to come to Davao, marry young Bagobo

women, borrow land from them and grow abaca, to harvest abaca hem for export because the

American colonial rule has prevented segregation of non-American foreigners.

The first company formed was the Ohta Development Corporation which was set up by

the “father of Davao’s development,” Ohta Kyosaburo. Ohta was eventually joined by a

competitor, Yoshizo Furukawa, whose Furukawa Plantation Company became the umbrella

corporation of the smaller companies. These two rivals were a study in contrast. The Ohta

Development Corporation was the pioneer in Davao abaca production, having been established

on May 3, 1907 with the very little capital. Furukawa, on the other hand, entered abaca

production almost a decade later, backed up with the capital from a Japanese zaibatsu, Ito

Shoten. While Ohta went through the birth pangs of the industry, at one time even facing

bankruptcy, Furukawa’s zaibatsu financing allowed his corporation to immediately engage in a

series of buy-outs and leases of failing American and Filipino Plantation.

The Americans, except for a few planters located in Jose Abad Santos, in Tagum and in

Mati gave up their dream of being rich coconut and abaca planters because they could not get

workers, especially the lumad worders, whom they maltreated like their black slaves in South

Unitied State. They had to sell their families to the Japanese nation. The Japanese were kind to

their Bagobo lawyers, whom they gently trained in their Japanese lawyers to work day after day
in the snacks. The family got share in the profit of their hacienda. Many who were unable to

follow the strict worker's program moved uphill to the foothills of Mt. Apo and Calinan hilly

land for further hunting and food-forging. In contrast, the Japanese cultivated crops such as

mango, pineapple, rice, corn, vegetables, cocoa, and cacao. In the Davao Gulf they fished. Half-

born children studied Genkai school in Nikkei in Calinan. In Mintal there was a large Japanese

hospital and houses.

The Japanese also streamlined the organization of labor in Davao through direct compaby

employment and through growers’ contracts with the Japanese farmers. The Ohta and Furukawa

companies often used their own labors to work on their farms and the farmers they managed

through the pakyaw and the “dummy” systems. In other instances, the lands were parceled out to

the Japanese farmers who signed the contracts to undertake the work of the company and sell it

the produce later. The farmer cleared the land, planted it with abaca, and administered it for ten

to fifteen years. He shouldered all the expenses related to the production, including payment of

the land taxes. He then sold his harvest to the company and received 95 percent of the profit

from the yield while the corporation retained 5 percent as the land rent. Rent was later increased

to 10 percent and ultimately 15 percent as the companies’ capitalization stabilized and grew. The

farmers often hired Filipinos to clear land and plant abaca. When unable to do so, they used

family labor which accrued substantial savings for themselves and for the companies who

employed them.
 Bibliography

Abinales, P. (1997). Davao-kuo: The Political Economy of a Japanese Settler Zone in Philippine

Colonial Society. The Journal of American-East Asian Relations, 6(1), 59-82. Retrieved

from www.jstor.org/stable/23612831

Cody, C. (1959) “The Japanese Way of Life in Pre-war Davao” Philippine Studies 7: 174

Hayase, 158

Manila Times, 31 October 1917

Philippine Free Press, 10 November 1917