@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar Our tribes were innately democratic because even the most “developed” ones believed the Supreme Being owned the land, not they; they being merely stewards of the land. Since datus didn’t own the land, they weren’t kings but leaders, facilitators of discussion & decision.
@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar That is why in most tribes, as gleaned by Zeus @ibrsalazar’s father, there were 3 leaders rather than one, each with a diff function: datu, babaylan, panday. In the least “developed” all adults would gather nights at the datu’s house to iron our community problems.
@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar Ours is the original democracy, IOW. The Americans merely introduced us to ELECTORAL democracy, but our democracy was more basic. That’s why you’ll never get the end of discussions & arguments in PH, among Filipinos.
@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar The “leader” who rankles against that & tries to impose his will through martial law or a Terror Bill ultimately fails. You-know-who, of course. The leader who can harness the vibrancy of our basic bayanihan democracy ultimately wins. And that, dear friends, is #VPLeni.
@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar We never “developed” enough to “graduate” to kings & kingdoms in the Western, Chinese, or even Vietnamese sense. Only Spain brought us this concept with its feudalism. Otheriwse, we were barely on the brink of slavery, with out tribes not conquering each other.
@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar Our “slaves” were not acquired from conquest of neighboring tribes, as in European or Asian kingdoms. They were less endowed members of the enlarged clan, who were better at agriculture or housework than the leadership types.
@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar And leadership wasn’t necessarily inherited. The datu didn’t pass on his spear to his son. When something happened to him, the babaylan took over. In Iloilo, “binukots” were designated & cloistered from childhood because they seemed to be closer to the spirits from birth.
@indiohistorian @ibrsalazar We have to disabuse ourselves of Western and mainland Chinese frameworks of kingdoms and rulers because we never had such. Our tribes were never conquerors. We have always been...just conquered.
