BRIDGING THE GAP
Questions and puzzles regarding Ilonggo & Bisayan ethnic identity
The ethnic mix of people living in the Visayas today consists of the Boholanos, Cebuanos, Ilonggos and Warays. There is also a sprinkling of the so-called traditional communities like the Ati, Panay Bukidnon, Karol-anon and others. The Ilonggos are found in Panay and Negros Occidental, while the Warays inhabit Samar and some sections of Leyte. The question though is at what point of time did these people start calling themselves these various ethnic labels.
One must recall that when the Spaniards arrived in the central part of the archipelago in the early 16th century, they designated the people as Pintados and the present-day Visayas as Las Islas de Pintados. They did this because they observed the people, both men and women, to be covered with some sort of body painting. Of course, what they saw were actually tattoos but they did not understand how they were impressed on the skin. They thought that the artistic body designs were just painted on the skin surface.
Soon, however, when they had already explored and occupied the area and had learned more about the people, they began referring to the latter as Bisaya (Spanish Vizaya) and the islands as Las Islas de Visayas. The first reference to the use of the name Bisaya was in 1570 (unauthored Spanish doc). This may be an indication that the inhabitants were really known as Bisaya even before the coming of the Spaniards. It is not yet clear, however, whether the term was already applied to the inhabitants of the whole of the Visayas or just those in Panay and Negros. Still, the question is, why were the people called Bisaya and why were the islands known in a similar manner?
Two theories have been advanced to explain the name Visayas and the label Bisaya. The first is that the central part of the Philippines may have become part of the Shri-Vishayan Empire of the 8th to the 11th centuries that had its capital in present-day Indonesia. The weakness of this explanation, however, is that there is practically no historical or archaeological basis for it. The second says that the early Bornean Malays that settled down in Panay and the rest of the Visayas came from a certain place in North Borneo where the Bisayas River is found and the people living along it were themselves called Bisaya (Sonza 1973). It is possible that, to remind them of their place of origin, the people who eventually dispersed all throughout central Philippines called themselves Bisaya.
Looking at documentary evidence, beginning with 1570, the Spaniards were already using Vizaya to refer to, at least, the inhabitants of Panay. The Povedano scripts of 1572 and 1578 also applied the name Vizaya to the people and language of Panay and Negros. This name appears, therefore, to have become the official designation of the people in the area. However, by the 1800s, the labels Boholano, Cebuano, Ilonggo and Waray began to appear, although not frequently (Blair & Robertson, 1903-1909). It can be speculated that this was because the whole country had been officially divided into political and administrative units, and the people became more conscious of the island or province to which they belong. This tendency to have a more specific ethnolinguistic designation became more apparent in the 19th century, with the advent of significant economic, political and socio-cultural improvements in the life of the people. This was further triggered by growing ethnic pride, especially in Panay and Cebu where there was notable progress. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of the Visayas were still, by and large, called as Bisaya, both from the inside and from the outside.
In more recent times, knowingly or unknowingly, the Cebuanos have expropriated the name Bisaya to refer only to them. The others are excluded from the label and are called as Ilonggos, Bol-anons (Boholanos) and Warays. Even in language, Cebuano has become synonymous with Bisaya while the others are Ilonggo (Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a), Binol-anon and Waray. This certainly needs correction and the Cebuanos have to undergo some kind of re-orientation.
As one can see, there are still many questions and puzzles on Ilonggo and Bisayan ethnic identity. More researches have to be done in order for the Ilonggo Bisaya to really understand who and what they are vis-a-vis the other Bisayan groups.