Philippine gold artifacts in general tend to be more elaborate and better crafted than most from West Borneo.



Harrisson looked at the Dr Arturo de Santos collection (part of which was acquired by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) as well, and observed that “…the range of Philippine gold jewelry…includes many pieces of a complexity and finesse that is beyond anything attempted in Borneo” in so far as what had been found at that time (Harrisson 1968: 56).



Throughout Indonesia there was a relationship between gold artifacts and the ruling aristocracy, in the class-power centers which developed on the coastal plains around the middle of the 1st millenium AD (Harrisson 1968:44). Precious metals were worked ‘exclusively in those areas where the influence of Hinduism was strongest’: he includes Java, Bali, southern Celebes and the coastal districts of Borneo. These areas developed as centers with established hierarchies, which necessitated the conspicuous display of wealth (Harrisson 1968: 47).



There was a demand for gold, which the Philippines could have supplied. It would be reasonable to suggest that one of the main sources of Javanese and Bornean gold was the Philippines. That trade would have been important enough to have been direct, by-passing minor pass-on players say, in Sarawak or Sulawesi. Moreover, the early interest in gold from the Philippines would have been in the raw material rather than wrought artifacts. In turn, local interest would have been on goods not made of gold, which they had plenty of.

quotes Alcina, a Jesuit writing about a hundred years after Legaspi, the conquistadores of the Philippines in the 16th century:

“I do remember that once when I was solemnizing a marriage of a Bisayan principala, she was so weighed down with jewelry that it caused her to stoop — to me it was close to an arroba or so (1 arroba = 25 lbs.), which was a lot of weight for a girl of twelve. Then again, I also heard it said that her grandfather had a jar full of gold which alone weighed five or six arrobas. Even this much is little in comparison to what they actually had in ancient times.”

Controlling the Straits of Malacca



As evidenced by history, the country that succeeded in controlling the narrow strait between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra would gain complete control of China's maritime silk route and thus become a thalossocracy - a trading empire. The Srivijaya of South Sumatra did so in 670 AD, the Chola of Southeast India in 1026 AD, the Madjapahit of Java in 1343 AD, the Sultanate of Malacca in 1400 AD, and finally the Portuguese in 1512 AD.*17



When the Portuguese arrived in Southeast Asia in 1500 AD, they witnessed LUZON's active involvement in the political and economic affairs of those who sought to take control of this economically strategic highway. For instance, the former SULTAN OF MALACCA decided to retake his city from the Portuguese with a fleet of ships from LUZON in 1525 AD.*18 In 1529 AD, the Sultanate of Atjeh on the northern tip of Sumatra became powerful enough to consider controlling the Straits of Malacca. LUZON ships formed part of the Atjehnese fleet that attacked key settlements along the straits. At the same time, LUZON warriors formed part of the opposing BATAK-MENANGKABAU army that besieged Atjeh or ACEH.*19 On the mainland, LUZON warriors aided the BURMESE KING in his invasion of SIAM in 1547 AD. At the same time, LUZON warriors fought alongside the KING OF THAILAND and faced the same elephant army of the Burmese king in the defence of the Siamese capital at Ayuthaya.*20



The Portuguese were not only witnesses but also direct beneficiaries of LUZON's involvement. Many Lucoes, as the Portuguese called the people of LUZON, chose MALACCA as their base of operations because of its strategic importance. When the Portuguese finally took the MALACCA in 1512 AD, the resident Lucoes held important government posts in the former sultanate. They were also large-scale exporters and ship owners that regularly sent junks to China, Brunei, Sumatra, Siam and Sunda. One LUZON official by the name of SURYA DIRAJA annually sent 175 tons of pepper to China and had to pay the Portuguese 9000 cruzados in gold to retain his plantation. His ships became part of the first Portuguese fleet that paid an official visit to the Chinese empire in 1517 AD.



In 1591 AD, the CAMBODIAN KING Phra Unkar Langara sent a gift of two royal elephants, gems and horses to the lords of LUZON to petition them to aid him in the war against SIAM.

The name Lusung(LUZON) first appeared in Chinese History in 1373 AD in the Ming Annals. In this document, Lusung was one of the first to answer the call for tribute missions to the new Ming Dynasty [1368 - 1644]. It was Brunei who first responded in 1371 AD, followed by Liuchiu in 1372, and then by Lusung in 1373 AD*11.



Despite the fact that it made its first appearance on Chinese records as late as 1373 AD, evidences suggests that the Chinese had long known the existence of LUZON as far back as the Sung Dynasty[960 - 1278 AD]. The presence of thousands of recognisable pieces of Sung and Yuan Dynasty porcelains found in ancient burial sites in the Province of Pampanga and Manila suggests an active trade with China long before the Ming period.



In the mid-1400s, the Ming Empire further limited the number of tribute missions from overseas when it did not compensate the cost of maintaining foreign embassies and entertaining foreign envoys. In 1550 AD, the Ming Empire finally put an end to overseas trade altogether.



The Ming Empire's ban on overseas trade ironically became a blessing to LUZON. The port cities in Fujian and Canton that had been profiting from overseas trade since the Sung Dynasty cannot simply end its trade relations with Southeast Asia just because the central government in Beijing does not see profit from it. Chinese ships from Fujian and Canton continue to smuggle goods out of China. They chose the port cities of Tondo and Mainila in LUZON as a drop off point. Ships from other parts of Asia, mostly Brunei and Malacca would then sail to LUZON to pick up their percentage of the Chinese goods.

Satements of authenticity and/or integrity



The finds were authenticated by the National Museum, and deeper studies by reputable archaeologists were subsequently done. The oldest Chinese ceramic ware found in Butuan were the Yueh and Yueh type ware which dated back to the Five Dynasties (A.D. 907- 960). In a quantitative survey of the ceramics discovered in Butuan, there were representative types from various Asian realms, ranked according to volume: Chinese (10th - 15th centuries A.D.); Khmer/ Cambodian (9th-10th centuries A.D.); Thai (14th - 15th centuries A.D.) pre-Thai Satingpra (900-1100 A.D.); Haripunjaya (800-900 A.D.); pre-trade Vietnamese (11th - 13th centuries A.D.), and PERSIAN (9th - 10th centuries A.D.)

The proselytization by the Spaniards and the banning of trading/seafaring ways, and the banning of the carrying of arms finally made the islanders pacified and ISOLATED from their other Malay brethren(Spaniards only sanctioned the official Galleon trade for their profit as well as some mestizos'). The Spaniards were guilty also of cultural extinction, now we've forgotten our past, our connections with our Southeast Asian brothers and made our people INDOLENT(noticed by French and Austrian observers and even by JOSE RIZAL in the 19th century who also noted the cultural degradation as compared to other colonized states in Southeast Asia). Fortunately, a renaissance about our past is having a resurgence.(Note: The probable reason why the Spaniards banned the trading-seafaring ways of the Indios or East Indians and relegated the trading to Chinese traders who were kept under control in a district called Parian(Spaniards didn't have a port in China unlike the Portuguese and so relied on the coming of the Chinese traders for the China goods), and of course to the state-sanctioned Galleon trade was the lessons learned from the Tondo conspiracy or the Revolt of the Lakans or the Brunei-Japan-Tondo connections. The Spaniards feared ALLIANCES would be forged again with its neigbors such as the SULU SULTANATE, MALACCA SULTANATE, BRUNEI SULTANATE, AND TO JAPAN to topple their colony. link: http://senorenrique.blogspot.com/2008/08/t...of-1587-88.html Our ancestors were well-respected for their valor and sought after as mercenaries by various Kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The Siamese, the Acehnese, the Burmese, the Malaccans, even the Cambodians asked for assistance in the defense of their states, or in their securing of their strategic interests in the Geopolitics in the region. We even supplied the Japanese with arqubuses and cannons made in Mainila during Prehispanic times.link: http://nippihistory.hp.infoseek.co.jp/lusunghis-e.htm Our ancestors were all over maritime southeast asia, getting sandalwood from East Timor, having trading outposts in Malacca with one in particular Surya Diraja supplying tons of pepper to China and another relative had a rank only lower to the Sultan of Malacca himself acting as temenggong diraja or Chief of Customs and Police Chief all rolled into one.These might change most people's point of view that the Pre colonial Philippines is like a No Man's Land in the middle of the ocean with no trade contacts with its neighbors and that we owe to our colonizers our culture and civilization:A)Map of Spice Routes or Maritime Silk route as verified by UNESCO:"The Laguna Coppeplate Inscription http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription is the oldest historical document in the Philippines that dates back to 922 AD and written in ancient Kavi and in a language of mixed Old Malay, Old Tagalog, Sanskrit and Old Javanese. This document records that thelink: http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/the-m...#comment-105021 The crafters of Surigao treasures were most probably Hindu Bisayans, if not, their allies. The Rajanate of Butuan had alliance with the Rajanate of Cebu. Intermarriages of the royals between the two rajanates were common. And so the comment of pupuplatter that the Hindu-Animists Cebuanos would probably raid their allies, their Hindu-Animists brethren in Butuan, is most probably incorrect. While, the Tausug Muslims of Sulu were originally Hindu-animists Bisayans from Butuan having been proselytized by the Bruneians. And the Tausugs indeed raided their pacified Bisayan brothers only during the time of the Spanish colonial perod as they became Muslim while the latter became Christians.King Humabon of Cebu, King Siaiu of Mazaua, and King Colambu of Butuan were blood kins accdg to the history books.source: http://www.cebuasia.com/2008/01/29/butuano...ebu-and-mazaua/ D)Southeast Asia GeopoliticsE)Trade Missions to China (source: http://nippihistory.hp.infoseek.co.jp/lusunghis-e.htm I looked into the BUTUAN archealogical site, recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site. I was impressed to learn that they not only had advanced boat making and gold crafting skills, but also traded with countries as far away as Persia.I wouldn't be surprised if most of the evidence of an advanced civilized Philippine society was suppressed and destroyed while we were conquered by Spain.