Sunday, January 27, 2008

The Great River: Cagayan Valley

Hemmed in by two mountain ranges: Sierra Madre along the Luzon’s Pacific or eastern sea board and the Gran Cordillera Central, the highlands of northern Luzon, is a vast fertile valley watered by a mighty river named Cagayan. This mighty river, fed by waters from the highlands, runs north and empties out to the Babuyan channel in Appari. It is the longest river in the Philippines, spanning two and a half latitudes in length, almost double its two other rivals, the Pidu Pulangi in Cotabato and the Agusan river, both in Mindanao.

Fed by headwaters and tributaries from the Cordillera and the Sierra Madre, El Rio Grande de Cagayan never dries and where it meets sea at Aparri, the river mouth is so wide that it forms a bay, affected by the sea tides, waves and currents. Where the Cagayan River meanders is an extensive fertile plain running through two provinces Cagayan and Isabela.

Cagayan Valley plays a crucial role in reconstructing Philippine prehistory because it is here that earliest evidence of human presence has been detected. The human referred to is Homo erectus, a species that lived before Homo sapiens or modern humans and from who is hypothesized modern man emerged. But paleontologist have a problem. No human remains have been found, but rather evidence of a tool-making species associated with the remains of prehistoric animals. These are tools made of stone used for scraping and cutting.

In the early 1970s, when National Museum archaeologist surveyed Cagayan Valley near the Kalinga-Apayao border they discovered simple quartz tools made by breaking off fragments from a rock to make a sharp edge. Some tools were even more shaped to give them a keener edge and better angle for handling. Large stone tools with a sharp point were made. Some tools were found on the surface others were found deep underground.

This discovery bolstered the theory that during the height of the last Ice Age, the sea level dropped exposing the ridges of undersea mounts. These bridges or stepping stones were used by animals to cross to the Philippines. This theory of migration, exposed even in elementary and high school textbooks, was first broached by archaeologist Otley Beyer the first director of the National Museum. In Beyer’ scheme, the migration is a series of waves where subsequent migrants from the Asian mainland get more complex and developed. Each new wave introduces peoples a notch higher in the evolutionary scale.

The first “wave” of migrants brought Homo sapiens ancestors of the Negritos and Mamanuas, the followed the waves of the Indonesian. As the ice caps melted with climate change, the migrants could no longer use the land bridges but traveled on boats as did the final wave of Malays, who came on board the barangay.

While Beyer’s theory has the advantage of neatness, simplicity and elegance, it cannot be completely supported by archaeological evidence. National Museum anthropologist Dr. Jesus Peralta, examining the evidence discovered after Beyer makes the precautionary note that we must not imagine the development of human history as a single linear pattern that moved inexorably from Paleolithic, through Neolithic, Metal and the Proto-historic periods but rather as a patchwork or checkerboard of uneven growth. Peralta describes the process: “Where networks of contact exist certain areas will more or less be in the same level of development, but to a greater extent, large areas remain behind in cultural progress, while still fewer others will be more advanced. Different areas and peoples progress through time in different manners and directions. The model is ‘multi-linear’, that is, events move in many lines each of which has its own character.”

And while it is true that in Cagayan indirect evidence of the Homo erectus’ activity have been found to imagine that it was the cradle from which humans radiated and populated the archipelago can not be supported by our present state of archaeological knowledge. Philippine archaeology has long way to go in clarifying the prehistory of the country. Fossils of large animals now extinct similar to those found in Cagayan Valley have been discovered in Novaliches, Panay Island and Agusan Valley. Remains of such animals as elephas, stegodon, rhinoceros and others suggest the existence of land bridges which these animals traversed and possibly too early man. Elsewhere, notably in Tabon Cave, Palawan, skeletal remains of Home sapiens dated to about 22,000 BCE have been discovered. The stone tools found in Cagayan have been estimated to be about 750,000 years old (although the generally accepted date is between 500,000 to 400,000 years ago) while the animals associated with them were last known to exists 250,000 years ago. Thus, animals and Homo erectus are hypothesized to have lived together and shared the same environment. Archaeologist Robert Fox surmises that early man may have been responsible for decimating these animals which these hunter-gatherers tracked down as food. Probably their ancestors came to the Philippines because they were following the movement of the animals.

Having said all that, nonetheless Cagayan is a rich archaeological field for Paleolithic or Old Stone Age study. On the eastern side of the valley in Peñablanca, archaeologists have discovered in Laurente Cave “flaked stone tools, waste flake, burned and unburnt bone fragments and shells.” Dated to 16,000 BCE, this is the earliest evidence of the use of fire in Luzon. Another area is Musang Cave where artifacts discovered is dated to 11,000 BCE. Similar sites have been uncovered elsewhere in the Philippines in Samar and Sanga-sanga, Sulu, dated 10,000 BCE and 6,000 BCE, respectively.

Cagayan’s northern delta at Appari made it a viable landing point for seafarer’s coming from Asia. When the Spaniards arrived in Cagayan, they found not only the dwellings of Chinese traders found throughout the archipelago but also settlements of Japanese. Like these Asians, the Spanish entered Cagayan from the north. Salcedo’s northern expedition after exploring Luzon’s western coast rounded the tip of Luzon. Discovering the Cagayan River, they explored it and established outposts along the river, the most important was Lal-lo. Dominicans who arrived in the Philippines in 1587, followed in the wake of the early explorers and established a mission in Lal-lo.

Among the Dominican pioneers was Miguel de Benavides, who in 1595 was appointed bishop of the newly established diocese of Nueva Segovia. Being a Dominican, Benavides established the diocesan seat at Lal-lo. It was to remain there until 1758, when the seat was transferred to Vigan. One reason for the transfer seems to have been the inaccessiblity of Cagayan and the relatively sparse population of the east when compared with the west. Until the 19th century, the southern part of the Valley, what is Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija, cut off Cagayan from its neighbors, Bulacan and Isabela. This area was impenetrable highlands. It was the intrepid missionary Villaverde who established the mountain trails, upon which the highway connecting the Bulacan and Cagayan Valley is laid.

No comments: