The Subanon (also spelled Subanen or Subanun) are an indigenous peoples of the Zamboanga peninsula area, particularly living in the mountainous areas of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, and Misamis Occidental, Mindanao Island, Philippines. The Subanon people speak Subanon languages. The name is derived from the word soba or suba, a word common in Sulu, Visayas, and Mindanao, which means "river", and the suffix -nun or -non, which indicates a locality or place of origin. Accordingly, the name Subanon means "a person or people of the river". These people originally lived in the low-lying areas. However, due to disturbances and competitions from other settlers like the Moros, and migrations of Cebuano speakers and individuals from Luzon and other parts of Visayas to the coastal areas attracted by the inviting land tenure laws, further pushed the Subanon into the interior.
The Subanon are traditionally farmers and regularly move from one location to another to clear more forest for fields. They cultivate crops, with rice as the most important crop, but they are also known to raise livestock including pigs, chickens, cattle, and water buffaloes. Subanon houses are built along hillsides and ridges overlooking family fields. The homes are usually rectangular and raised on stilts with thatched roofs.
Classification Subanons generally refer to themselves as a whole as the , meaning "the Subanon nation".
Geographical and dialectical subgroups Subanons distinguish themselves from each other by their roots or point of origin. These are based on names of rivers, lakes, mountains, or locations. Distinct subgroups based on geograohical and dialectial differencescsueastbay.edu/museum/virtual-museum/the-philippines/peoples/subanun.htmlArms, D.G. "Categories of the Sindangan Subanen verb". In Steinhauer, H. editor, Papersin Austronesian Linguistics No. 3. A-84:1-32. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1996. DOI:10.15144/PL-A84.1 are the: Siocon (Western) Subanen; Lapuyan (Southern) Subanen; Sindangan (Central) Subanen; Tuboy (Northern) Subanen; and Salug (Eastern) Subanen.
Given their geographical location, Lobel (2013) classifies the Southern, Central, Northern, and Eastern Subanon languages as "Nuclear," and subclassifies the Western Subanen into Nuclear and "Western" because the populations that speak that dialect live towards the farther west of the Zamboanga Peninsula region.
Subgroups based on religion The Subanen are sometimes also distinguished into groups based on the dominant religious beliefs in their communities, and the impacts those belief systems have had on their community culture. In the Western areas,
Kolibugan Subanon Groups who are linguistically members of the Subanon language subgroup but who have adopted Islam call themselves Kalibugan (in the central area of the peninsula) or Kolibugan (in the western areas of the peninsula).
Kalibugan means 'mixed' or 'half-breed', especially of roosters in Tausug and Cebuano. Although claims are often made that the Kolibugan/Kalibugan are ethnically mixed with Samal, Badjao, Tausug, or Maguindanaon, there is no evidence supporting those claims, and linguistically, the languages of the Islamic members of the Subanon subgroup are virtually identical with the language of the neighboring non-Islamic group, except that the Islamic groups have a larger amount of Arabic vocabulary that refers to aspects of life that deal with religious concepts.
Lapuyan Subanon The Lapuyan Subanon, also known as the Southern Subanon whose homeland is in the area of the municipalities Lapuyan and Margosatubig, are notably different from the other indigenous peoples of Mindanao in that they have been predominantly evangelical protestants since 1912, when the powerful Thimuay Imbing welcomed the missionary efforts of Rev. David and Mrs Hulda Lund, who had been sent by the Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) church to evangelize among the Subanen.
Traditional Subanon The other Subanon groups in the Northern, Eastern, and some of the Central and Western portions of the peninsula have retained their indigenous beliefs, and continue to be call themselves Subanen, while some outsiders use the word Subano, which is a Spanish version of the native name.
History
Prehistory The Subanon were established in the island of Mindanao before 500 BC, before the Neolithic Era, or New Stone Age where the period in the development of human technology taken place beginning 10,000 BC according to the ASPRO chronology (between 4,500 and 2,000 BC). The evidence of old stone tools in Zamboanga del Norte may indicate a late Neolithic presence.
Lordships and commerce
The Subanon had commercial relations with the Tausug, Maguindanaon and Maranao.
Burial jars, both earthen and glazed, as well as Chinese celadons, have been found in caves, together with shell bracelets, beads, and gold ornaments. Many of the ceramic wares are from the Yuan and Ming periods. Evidently, there was a long history of trade between the Subanon and the Chinese long before the former's contact with Islam.
Maguindanao protectorate
Under the protection of the Sultanate of Maguindanao, the Subanon provided combatants and other resources to help in the war efforts of the sultanate. They were also entitled to a share in the spoils of war.
Spanish rule The Spaniards sought to extend their territory over the whole of southern Philippines. Declaring an intention to "protect" the non-Christian and non-Muslim Subanon of the Sibuguey (i.e., Zamboanga) peninsula, the Spanish governor Valeriano Weyler constructed a series of fortifications across the Tukuran isthmus that was, according to him, "for the purpose of shutting out the Maranaos... from the Subanons, and preventing further destructive raids upon the peaceful and industrious peasants of these hills". Spanish military control of the Tukuran garrison and fortifications ended on 12 April 1899, under the terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris.
American rule Before the American government could put in its occupation troops, and surprised how the Subanon had willingly allowed the Americans to construct on their lands without a clamor or fight, the Muslims from the lake region went across the isthmus, and attacked the Subanon and battled Americans in the two districts of Zamboanga and Misamis to prove their intention to fight the Americans' intent on their territory. These renewed raids took their toll on lives and property, and many Subanon were even carried off into bondage by the invaders. The military garrison was taken over by Muslim forces, and a kuta (fort) and several villages were established on the isthmus for years. The place was abandoned, however, when the many American expeditionary forces appeared in October 1900.
Post-war Despite the long history of hostile actions against them by their neighbors and foreign colonizers, the Subanon have managed to preserve their identification, customs, religion, language, dialects, and traditions. Subanon Muslims were co-founders of SMT al-Alam before BIP Dawah Tabligh in Mindanao.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Subanon's contact with the outside world broadened, to include the Visayan, people from Luzon and the latter-day Chinese. Aside from the influx of these settlers and traders, there has been a massive penetration of the national government into the Subanon hinterlands for purposes of administrative control, tax assessment and collection, and police enforcement of national law, logging and mining concessions that affects their way of life.
During the Marcos dictatorship
There is at least one major record of human rights violations against the Subanon people during the peiriod of Martial law under President Ferdinand Marcos—an incident that has been called the Tudela massacre. On August 24, 1981, members of a Marcos-sponsored paramilitary forces strafed the house of a Subanon family, the Gumapons, in Sitio Gitason, Barrio Lampasan, Tudela, Misamis Occidental. Ten Subanon were killed in the incident, including a baby.
Later 20th Century
In 1997, the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997 (IPRA) was passed into law. The law put in place a mechanism for the protection of ancestral lands by "indigenous cultural communities", including the Subanon.
Geography
Ferdinand Blumentritt mentioned the Subanos in his accounts, referring to them as "a heathen people of Malay extraction who occupy the entire (Zamboanga) peninsula of Sibuguey with the exception of a single strip on the south coast". Finley, recording his impressions of the Subanon at the beginning of American administration of the southern Philippines in the 1900s, cited published records of early Spanish chroniclers, notably the writings of Father Francisco Combés in 1667, to argue that the Subanon were the indigenous people of western Mindanao.
The Subanon primarily inhabit the Zamboanga peninsula, which is more than 200 kilometers long, shaped like a giant crooked finger that extends westward to the Sulu Sea, and is joined to mainland Mindanao by a narrow strip of land, the isthmus of Tukuran, which separates the bays of Iligan and Illana. The peninsula itself is divided into four provinces and one independent city: Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Misamis Occidental and Zamboanga City.
The Subanon were estimated to number 47,146 people in 1912, according to records of the governor of the District of Zamboanga. The 2010 census recorded the Subanon population as 220,165 in Zamboanga del Norte, 148,402 in Zamboanga del Sur, 58,069 in Zamboanga Sibugay, 49,897 in Misamis Occidental, 657 in Zamboanga City and 342 in Misamis Oriental.
The Kalibugan group, or Subanon who embraced Islam, are found in villages on the coast in western Mindanao and number some 15,000.
Economy The ancestors of the Subanon practiced dry agriculture, and most likely had knowledge of pottery making. The Subanon are mainly agriculturists who practice three types of cultivation. Along the coastal area, wet agriculture with plow and carabao is the method of producing their staple rice. Beyond the coasts, both wet and dry agriculture is found. Swidden farming is the norm in the interior, particularly the uplands. Along the coasts, coconuts are raised aside from rice. Further inland, corn becomes an additional crop aside from the first two. Apart from the principal crops raised—which are mountain rice and corn—the root crops camote (sweet potato), cassava, gabi (taro), and ubi (yam) are also grown. These are roasted, boiled, or made into preserves and sweets. In some places, tobacco is planted. The people supplement their income and their food supply by fishing, hunting, and gathering of forest products. The extra rice they can produce, plus the wax, resin, and rattan they can gather from the forest are brought to the coastal stores and traded for cloth, blades, axes, betel boxes, ornaments, Chinese jars, porcelain, and gongs.