Who Are the Palawan?
The Palawan (also Palawano or Pala'wan) are an indigenous people of southern Palawan Island, Philippines, numbering approximately 100,000. They speak several Palawanic languages, part of the Austronesian family. The Palawan inhabit the mountainous interior forests of southern Palawan, practicing swidden agriculture, hunting, and forest gathering. They have largely avoided lowland integration, maintaining traditional practices including spirit beliefs, traditional medicine, and oral literature. Palawan Island's designation as the Philippines' "last frontier" reflects both its biodiversity and its indigenous peoples' relative isolation.
Forest-Based Livelihood
The Palawan practice kaingin (swidden) agriculture, clearing forest patches for rice, corn, and root crops before allowing them to regenerate. This system, sustainable at low population densities, requires extensive forest territory. Hunting with blowguns (once used, now declining) and traps supplements farming. Forest products—honey, rattan, resins, medicinal plants—provide food and trade goods. The Palawan developed sophisticated knowledge of forest ecology, seasonal cycles, and plant and animal behavior. This forest dependence makes them vulnerable to logging, mining, and plantation development on Palawan Island.
Oral Literature and Music
Palawan oral literature includes the kulilal, sung narratives about spirits, heroes, and the natural world performed during rituals and social gatherings. These songs preserve cultural knowledge, values, and history in the absence of writing. The kulilal's complex poetic forms require years to master; elder performers are cultural repositories. Palawan musical instruments include the basal (gong), kusyapi (boat lute), and bamboo instruments. This oral tradition faces pressure from education systems that prioritize written literacy, Christian conversion that discourages traditional beliefs, and youth migration that disrupts intergenerational transmission.
Contemporary Palawan
Modern Palawan face accelerating pressure as Palawan Island develops for tourism, mining, and agriculture. Ancestral domain claims provide some legal protection but enforcement is weak. Some Palawan have settled in lowland communities; others maintain forest life. Environmental organizations partner with Palawan communities on conservation, recognizing that indigenous territorial control often provides effective forest protection. Mining threatens watersheds and forests. Tourism development offers both opportunities and risks. How the Palawan preserve forest-based life and cultural traditions on the Philippines' last frontier shapes this forest people's critical moment.
References
- Revel, N. (2000). The Palawan: Living in the Philippine Forest (Literature, Music, Rites)
- MacDonald, C. (2007). Uncultural Behavior: An Anthropological Investigation of Suicide in the Southern Philippines
- Novellino, D. (2008). "Palawan Highland Peoples' Traditional Resource Management"