Who Are the Manobo?
The Manobo (also Manuvu, Bagobo Manobo) are one of the largest indigenous ethnolinguistic groups of Mindanao, the southern Philippines. Numbering approximately 500,000-700,000 across numerous sub-groups, they inhabit the interior highlands and forests of Mindanao, particularly in Bukidnon, Agusan, Davao, and Cotabato regions. They speak various Manobo languages, a subgroup of Philippine Austronesian with significant diversity. The name "Manobo" likely derives from "Mansuba" (river people) or similar roots. Traditionally forest-dwelling swidden agriculturalists, the Manobo have faced tremendous pressure from logging, agribusiness, and armed conflict that has devastated their ancestral domains.
Forest-Based Culture
Traditional Manobo life centered on the forest. Swidden (kaingin) agriculture produced upland rice, root crops, and vegetables; hunting and gathering supplemented cultivation. The forest provided materials for housing, tools, medicine, and ritual objects. Spiritual beliefs recognized diwata (spirits) inhabiting trees, rivers, mountains, and other natural features; proper relationships with these spirits ensured community welfare. The baylan (spirit medium/healer) communicated with spirits through ritual. Social organization centered on extended families and datu (chief) leadership. This forest-dependent culture has been progressively undermined as logging, plantations, and settlement have destroyed Manobo forests throughout the 20th century.
Land Struggles
The Manobo have lost most of their ancestral lands to logging concessions, agribusiness plantations (particularly pineapple, banana, and palm oil), mining, and migrant settlement. These losses accelerated under martial law (1970s-1980s) and continue today. Many Manobo have organized resistance, sometimes joining or being caught between government forces and Communist New People's Army (NPA) insurgents who operate in Mindanao's highlands. Militarization has brought human rights abuses; Manobo leaders have been killed. The Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (1997) theoretically protects ancestral domain, but implementation has been limited and contested by corporate interests. The Manobo struggle represents the broader conflict between indigenous land rights and extractive development in the Philippines.
Contemporary Manobo
Modern Manobo communities exhibit tremendous variation—from relatively intact highland communities practicing traditional livelihoods to displaced populations in lowland resettlement areas. Christianity (Protestant and Catholic) has spread widely, though traditional beliefs persist, often syncretically. Education has expanded but often means leaving ancestral areas. Traditional crafts including beadwork and weaving continue. Schools of Living Tradition programs attempt to transmit cultural knowledge. Advocacy organizations fight for land rights and against mining/plantation expansion. The Manobo face existential challenges: can indigenous culture survive when ancestral forests are gone and communities are dispersed? Their situation represents the crisis facing many Philippine Lumad (indigenous peoples) whose lands remain targets for extraction and development.
References
- Elkins, R. E. (1968). Manobo-English Dictionary
- Manuel, E. A. (1973). Manuvu Social Organization
- Anti-Slavery International. (2007). Ancestral Domain and Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines