MANILA, Philippines — An old, disparaging myth about the Mangyan tribes in the island of Mindoro was that they had tails “half a span long.” That was how the 17th century Italian traveler Giovanni ...

For hundreds of years they lived unnoticed and unknown, eight Mangyan tribes in the mountains of Mindoro. They harvested rice, corn, bananas and wild yam, and bathed in rivers and streams. They ...

A campaign to revive Baybayin or the alibata script, the writing system of pre-Hispanic Philippines that includes surat Mangyan, has been launched in the United States by cultural activist Norman de ...

Generous, resilient and peace-loving — these words best describe the Mangyans of Mindoro. Their rich heritage took center stage in “Buklod Mangyan”, an exhibit mounted by Editha Buñag, Imelda Elido, ...

MANILA, Philippines — It is very easy to judge someone we do not know. This seems to be the case for some people in the Philippines, which is home to around 100 million people, 12%-15% of whom are ...

During the last quarter of 2017, I was lucky enough to be invited to give a talk on the ambahan, the traditional poetry of the Hanunuo Mangyans of Mindoro. Their poems are inscribed normally on bamboo ...

My own personal celebration of National Literature Month was my rather belated discovery of the ambahan, Hanunuo Mangyan poetry, thanks to a coffee table book, “Bamboo Whispers: Poetry of the Mangyans ...

A recent lunch with the Mangyan Heritage Group made it clear to me why Filipinos find it hard to agree on anything. We are a nation of 84 million people speaking more than 120 languages and dialects ...

MANSALAY, Oriental Mindoro—A monthlong sea journey from Holland (The Netherlands) was how fate brought anthropologist Antoon Postma to Oriental Mindoro province in the Philippines, where he found love ...