Historical Dakbayan of Butuan
In the sound of the bongs bang to a beat, the rattling of sticks, as the balangay’s gently rock in the bank of the Agusan River that coalesce to the sounds of the night, comes the birth of Butuan. As the popular and favorite saying of Butuanon, “In the beginning there was no Philippines, but there was Butuan”, may come as the basis of proof of the First Kingdom of Butuan.
Mario Balangoy, the Butuan’s National Museum Anthropologist and Museum guide told us the story of how Mindanao was blooming of natural resources that enamored westerners and other countries to explore the riches it had. One of its most treasured prices, were the Golden Tara, and the Balanghay boat which enticed different countries that especially Butuan has still yet much to offer. As early as the 14th century, settlements along the banks of Agusan River were already in the height to prosper. Rich from the river’s abundance of clay, Butuan is also placed in an area where it is shielded from pirates, tropical storms and raging floods. Now that’s strategic!
Naturally gifted and knowledgeable and highly advanced in their time, the Butuanons were skilled boat builders. There were evidence of trading links as eleven balangay relics, their signature boats, were discovered around the city and mostly in Ambangan, Brgy. Libertad which was also described as the only concentration of archaeological, ancient, ocean-going boats in Southeast Asia. Buried 1.20 meters from the surface, the Butuan balangay was discovered in 1976; it was carbon dated 320 AD by the Gakushuin University of Tokyo, Japan.
Butuan was also an important trading port of the Sri Vijaya and Majapahit Empires. This claim was reinforced when after a storm and flood a golden tara was recovered by a Manobo tribesman along the banks of Wawa River in central Agusan in 1917. This four-pound, eight-inch tall, 21-carat gold Buddhist figurine believed to belong to the Sailendra Period of the Sri Vijaya Empire.
And there’s always that heated topic about where Ferdinand Magellan really had held the first mass, is it in Limasawa or in Masao? Where was it really held? These two places have claimed that the first mass happened in either of these places and until now, they are still debating about where it could really be. There are really controversies and debates about the First Christian and Easter mass in the Philippines but whatever the result may be, the truth will or shall prevail.
As we celebrate this year’s Adlaw Hong Butuan, may we remember the vast treasure of our heritage that made Butuan as it is now. These artifact and man-made treasures will be forever embellished as proof that “In the beginning, there was no Philippines, but there was Butuan.”
