The Earliest Kingdom of the Philippine Archipelago: the Lakanate of Tondo, or the Muslim Sultanate or the Spanish Kingdom?

      Based on the Laguna Copperplate, the Lakanate of Tondo existed as early as 900 AD. The "Arabization" of the Philippines happened in 1300 AD while the Westernization, through Spain, happened in 1500 AD. Therefore, the Kingdom of the Philippines based in Tondo is the oldest Kingdom in the country. In fact, the title of the King of Tondo is Lakan, a non-Muslim and non - western title which means "paramount ruler". This implies that the Lakans of Tondo are the paramount rulers of all native chieftains all over the archipelago. A historical proof of this is the fact that Datu Iberein of Lawang Island, Northern Samar, who has a Hebrew bloodline from Samaria (where the name of Samar Province came from), recognized the authority of the Lakan of Tondo to the point that his tribe hosted the grandson of Lakan Dula, David Dula y Goiti, who was hidden into his tribe's protectorate in the midst of the intense Hispanic persecution of the native nobility in Tondo and Intramuros. So, it is not true that the Muslim Mindanao was never subjugated by foreign invaders. They were, in fact, the first one who were subjugated by the Arabs. The Christians of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were subjugated too, this time by the Spaniards. So, both the Muslim Filipinos and Christian Filipinos were subjugated by foreign powers -- Arabs and Spaniards. However, the Kingdom of Tondo, eventually won over the invaders, because as of this writing, the Philippines is now free from foreign invaders --  both from Muslims and Spanish alike. If the Russian defeated the Nazi Germans through the long harsh winter, the Kingdom of Tondo defeated the Muslims, Spaniards, British, Chinese, Americans, and Japanese invaders through long and enduring resistance by the people led by the descendants of the Lakans and skillful diplomacy. The Lakanate of Tondo uses diplomacy and marriages to sustain its reign among the confederated tribes scattered in the whole archipelago. The grandmother of Lakan Dula was married to a prince from Bolkiah ruling family of the Sultanate of Brunei.  The mother of Lakan Dula is a member of the British Royalty Ysmeria Doylly from where the regnal name Dula came from because the ancient Filipino alphabet, the Baybayin, has no letter Y so Doylly became Dulay and later on became Dula. The eldest son of Lakan Dula, Batang Dula, was married to a sister of Martin de Goiti, the Spanish ruler who founded Manila. The eldest grandson of Lakan Dula, David Dula y Goiti, was married to a granddaughter of a local chieftain, Datu Iberein of Lawang Islands, Northern Samar.

          At the present democratic system of the country, the Lakanate of Tondo still reigns privately through the descendants of Lakan Bunao Dula, the last King of Tondo. The descendants are keeping the key of the "SUMPA NI LAKAN DULA" which watch over the administrations of different Philippine Presidents. The bad presidents suffer from the "SUMPA" (curse) passed on as public opinion and ending in the jailing of the bad presidents. Those who suffered from the "SUMPA" were President Ferdinand Marcos, President Joseph Estrada and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. As of this writing, the curse is now pointing to President Benigno S. Aquino who is answering several court cases that might put him in jail. The present president, Rodrigo Duterte, is being watch very closely by the descendants.

           The Samaritans or Jewish - blooded people who are not faithful to strict Jewish rituals, are the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines. The Aeta are not the indigenous natives of the archipelago since they came from Borneo.  In a book found in Spain entitled Collecion General de Documentos Relativos a las Islas Filipinas, the author has described how to locate Ophir. According to the section "Document No. 98", dated 1519-1522, Ophir can be found by travelling from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, to India, to Burma, to Sumatra, to Moluccas, to Borneo, to Sulu, to China, then finally Ophir. Ophir was said to be "[...] in front of China towards the sea, of many islands where the Moluccans, Chinese, and Lequios met to trade..." Jes Tirol asserts that this group of islands could not be Japan because the Moluccans did not get there, nor Taiwan, since it is not composed of "many islands." Only the present-day Philippines, he says, could fit the description. Spanish records also mention the presence of Lequious (big, bearded white men, probably descendants of the Phoenicians, whose ships were always laden with gold and silver) in the Islands to gather gold and silver. [9] Other evidence has also been pointed out suggesting that the Philippines is the biblical Ophir. Copy of Solomon's Gold Series - Part 7: Track of the Hebrew to the Philippines (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL2eltMMK0U) shows why the Philippines is the Ophir.

          Some historians, like Agoncillo of the Philippines, believes that Filipinos are descendants of Tarshish, one of Noah’s great grandson, who settled in the Philippines after the great flood. Tarshish started the settlement that the natives still call today even today as the “Araw City” which was named eventually as Samar in the present dimension. Samaritans are people with Jewish blood but are not strictly practicing Jewish rituals. This historical fact is now unfolding after a group of scientists discovered that the Tagalog dialect actually came from the Waray dialect of Samar, as proven by the Calatagan Burial Jar, which indicates that the earliest civilization in the Philippines might have started in some part of Northern Samar facing the Pacific Ocean where the earliest biological living form from the ocean in the tropics to the land area might have gestated and evolved into human form after millions of years of biological gestation  The Lawang – Catubig – Palapag area is an ideal vegetation in the geography of an ocean, a sea, a bay, a big river, groups of islands, etc  -- the topography is a complete package of fertile terrain. Incidentally, Northern Samar is also the gateway to Manila, being the first Philippine island you will see after long years of travel in the Pacific Ocean. That was the reason why a lighthouse was built in Isla de Batang (Batag) and the Spanish government chose the existing ancient native shipping industry in Palapag Island to be the repair station of the Galleon Trade and where the revolt of Lakan Dula descendants, Sumuroy Revolt, also started. The antiquity of the area was scientifically proven with a research on ancient chicken DNA which shows that the Philippines could be the ancestral homeland of the Polynesians, whose forebears colonized the Pacific about 3,200 years ago, the University of Adelaide said recently. An international team of researchers led by Alan Cooper, director of the Australian Center for Ancient DNA (ACAD), at the University of Adelaide used the ancient DNA to study the origins and dispersal of ancestral Polynesian chickens, reconstructing the early migrations of people and the animals they carried with them. They found that Polynesian chickens had their roots in the Philippines, making that region a candidate for the homeland of the mysterious Lapita people thought to be ancestral to Polynesians who transported the domesticated birds to the Pacific islands. “We have identified genetic signatures of the original Polynesian chickens, and used these to track early movements and trading patterns across the Pacific," said lead author Dr. Vicki Thomson of ACAD. "We were also able to trace the origins of these lineages back into the Philippines, providing clues about the source of the original Polynesian chicken populations." 7 There is a scientific theory that the peoples of Polynesia and the rest of Australasia (New Zealand/Australia/Papua New Guineau) including Samoa, Hawaii and likewise as far east as Easter Island and Indonesia and as far west as Madagascar island originated from the Philippines. Our ancestors if the theory is to be believed were highly skilled sea voyagers who predated the Chinese and the Europeans in circumnavigating the globe. Proof of this theory is that the species of chicken in the Philippines is the same as that of chickens in Polynesia and the other islands. Aside from this, the Philippine carabao species is found in Madagascar but not in the African Continent. Plus Philippine mango varieties can be found as well in Madagascar. Additional evidence is the discovery of huge balangays or ancient boats in Butuan, just across Samar Island that could carry up to sixty people at one time. Scientists also confirm that the Philippines is the global epicenter of marine biodiversity in the planet, in a symposium “Scientific Discovery and the Urgent Need for Conservation at the Philippine Epicenter of Marine Biodiversity”. The scientists, in a You Tube presentation call the country the Center of Center of The World, "The Philippines". Another evidence could be the Callao Man.  Filipino archaeologist Anna Valmero believes that the 67,000 years old Callao man discovered in a Philippine cave near Pacific Ocean could be oldest human in Asia Pacific. This could point to an ancient civilization among Polynesian people roaming around the islands in the Pacific, flourished in a fertile vegetation of Catubig- Laoang –Palapag of Northern Samar facing the Pacific Ocean, scattered outward in different island in the pacific rim and inward into the Philippine archipelago  that eventually bloomed into the Kingdom of Tondo, a confederation of native local  chieftains from different parts of the archipelago,  with the Lakans of Tondo as their paramount rulers.

           Samar is the Ophir; the name Samar itself is a Jewish name. And Ophir is the ancient city in Samar – prosperous, inhabited by intelligent and good looking people - in the 6th dimension. The natives, even up to now called the place Araw City. They can feel their existence. The Philippine government calls it Samar. The Bible calls it Ophir. This is the reason why Samar today is still home to virgin forests and their inhabitants are conservative and old fashion. The people of Araw City have been part of the Philippine struggle for independence. Some of them are intermingling with, or the descendants of Lakan Dula themselves. The reason why the bodies of David Dula y Goiti (David Dulay to the natives) and his seven trusted officers and one haunting dog name sigbin were never recovered after they were executed by the guardia civil in the Palapag town plaza is that they are believed to have returned to the Araw City. Some historians however are saying that they are intentionally buried in unmarked graves to prevent them from becoming the rallying point--a sort of pilgrimage site--of native patriots fighting the Spanish colonizers. The ship repair facilities of the Galleon Trade in Palapag town in Northern Samar was stopped and moved to Cavite together with the skilled workers. Some of these workers are actually the relatives of Sumuroy and David Dulay (David Dula y Goiti), who started or caused the Sumuroy Revolt. The rebellious spirit of the Waray was therefore brought to Cavite, with some of the dedicated Cavite rebels having a Waray-Jewish-Araw City blood and connections. They are part of those who started the Cavite Mutiny which later bloomed into the first Philippine Republic of the Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo of Kawit, Cavite. It was said that the reason the forces of Gen. Emelio Aguinaldo are winning battles after battles against the Spanish guardia civil is the existence of the fighters from Araw City who has the ability to be invisible when they are in the state of the 6th dimension. This is also the reason why the Battle of Balangiga was won by the Waray guerrilla forces--the battle-tested American soldiers simply did not see much of their attackers. When the American soldiers burned Samar later, there are only few residents left, an indication that they might have gone into the Araw City for refuge. There are personal testimonies of people in modern times who were fortunate enough to have been invited in Araw City/Ophir. One of them is Col. Ruben Mendoza Sacaguing during his stint as an Army in the hinterland of Samar. He has written a memoir about it. He said that the place is just like paradise; you will be devoid of greed and you will never notice that time has passed by. Col. Sacaguing looks so young for his actual age now, one benefit he has for having been to Ophir/Araw City. Palapag town, the biblical time shipping hub of Ophir/Araw City was later converted as the Galleon Trade ship repair port. Up to now, remnants of the port can still be seen in the area.

         The new Apostle’s Creed of the Roman Catholic Church has now recognized the co - existence of the unseen when it changed its first sentence to "I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible." Some religious historians believe that this change comes from the efforts of the citizens of Araw City/Ophir for their existence on earth to be formally recognized. This insertion also recognizes that other invisible forces like electricity and cell phone signals are really co - mingling with us, and in fact, helping us.

      Up to this day, the people of Ophir/Araw City/Samar still influence secretly the Philippine politics and business through the Jewish connections and through the descendants of Lakan Dula who are keeping the key to the "Sumpa ni Lakan Dula". The Sumpa ni Lakan Dula is the main “gaba” or curse that driven away out of office or jailed three Philippine Presidents: Ferdinand Marcos, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and maybe Noynoy Aquino.

         Another historical proof that points that Ophir/Araw City is an old civilization of the Philippine archipelago based in Samar island is the article below that point to ancient Tagalog to have come from Samar:  Tagalog (pronounced təˈɡɑːlɒɡ in English) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV (CALABARZON and MIMAROPA) and of Metro Manila. Its standardized form, commonly called Filipino, is the national language and one of two official languages of the Philippines. It is related to-though not readily intelligible with-other Austronesian languages such as Malay, Javanese, and Hawaiian. The word Tagalog derived from tagailog, from tagá- meaning "native of" and ílog meaning "river". Thus, it means "river dweller". Very little is known about the history of the language. However, according to linguists such as Dr. David Zorc and Dr. Robert Blust, the Tagalogs originated, along with their Central Philippine cousins, from Northeastern Mindanao or Eastern Visayas. The first written record of Tagalog is in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, written in the year 900 and uses fragments of the language along with Sanskrit, Malay, and Javanese. Meanwhile, the first known book to be written in Tagalog is the Doctrina Cristiana (Christian Doctrine) of 1593. It was written in Spanish and two versions of Tagalog; one written in the Baybayin script and the other in the Latin alphabet. The Kingdom of Tondo has its historical roots from Samar Island.

         This proof was corroborated in an article entitled: "The mystery of the ancient inscription" by Rolando Borrinaga published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. The article talks about the historically famous "Calatagan Pot" which is a burial jar of the Ancient Tagalogs whose seat is in the Kingdom of Tondo. The burial pot which dates back from 12th to 15th century has mysterious markings which for so many years’ historians and linguists have not found a comprehensible interpretation. The historians found out that the pot is used in ancient rituals of sending a dead person's soul to the next life. They used lot of methods to decipher the message in the pot but still they cannot connect the burial rituals and the messages, until they used the present Waray dialect of people from the hinterland of Samar. The ancient messages became very clear. If you go to the Isla de Batag and Lawang Islands in Northern Samar even today, you can still hear natives speaking some Hebrew words not found in any part of Samar nor in Tagalog Region. For instance, they have a word "sibul" for a part of a dwelling place. In Hebrew is "zebool" or dwelling or residence. They have words like "asaya", or eat the fish without rice which must have come from Hebrew word "Asayah" or Yah has made. They also have a term "bug - at" which means heavy, which might have come from the Hebrew word "baw-at" which means to trample down.

Another proof that an ancient civilization within the pacific rim from Cagayan Valley in Luzon to Surigao Island in Mindanao, with Samar as the center of Polynesian civilization, might have existed as the Callao man 35,000 years ago and his tribe might have prospered into Biblical proportion, is the Surigao treasure which is estimated, based on carbon dating, to be as early as 10^th century, around the time of the   Laguna Copperplate of the Kingdom of Tondo. The seat of the kingdom might have moved to Tondo as the ancient settlement and migration pattern in the Pacific Rim – based civilization moved inward to Mactan and to the present Manila. The settlement of Tondo progressed as it made contact with ancient China, India and the Asian Muslim and  and the big part of Luzon,  and much later, the Spain and England, overtaking in terms of progress the ancestral Biblical civilization in the Pacific Rim where the Tagalog dialect came from. However, the contact between the biblical ancient tribes in the pacific based in Samar and the emerging Lakanate of Tondo has continued even to the present day.       Throughout the Philippine history, the struggle of the Kingdom of Tondo against foreign invaders are shown in sporadic but consistent occasions.In 1587 Magat Salamat, one of the children of Lakan Dula, and Augustin de Legazpi, Lakan Dula's nephew and the chiefs of the neighboring areas of Tondo, Pandacan, Marikina, Candaba, Navotas and Bulacan were executed for secretly conspiring to overthrow the Spanish colonizers. Another incident happened in Pampanga during the famine. The Pampangos sought the help of the Borneans for their plan to enter Manila one dark night to massacre all the Spaniards. Unfortunately, a native woman married to a Spanish soldier betrayed the plan. Many Pampangos were arrested and executed. In Northern Mindanao, Governor Fajardo executed the chieftain of the Manobos named Dabao, after he accepted Fajardo's offer of amnesty. David Dula y Goiti, a grandson of Lakan Dula with a Spanish mother escaped the persecution of the descendants of Lakan Dula by settling in Isla de Batag, Northern Samar and settled in the placed now called Candawid (Kan David). Due to hatred to the Spaniards, he dropped the Goiti in his surname and adopted a new name David Dulay. He was eventually caught by the Guardia Civil based in Palapag and was executed together with seven followers. They were charged with planning to attack the the Spanish detachment. In 1762, Palaris led a revolt of Pangasinan and waged war that last for two years. This rebellion was crushed in 1765 and Palaris was hanged. Apolinario de la Cruz or popularly known as Hermano Pule revolted caught and after a hasty trial was executed and his body was dismembered and exhibited in the town of Tayabas. The execution of local priests Gomez, Burgos and Zamora, in February 17 1872, maliciously charged by the friars gained sympathy among the natives that led to numerous uprisings. However these uprisings unfortunately ended up in the execution of leaders and sympathizers. For instance, the 13 martyrs of Cavite, leaders in Bulacan and Nueva Ecija but the most gruesome and well-remembered of all these executions was the execution of Jose Rizal on Dec. 30, 1896.11

      The dying wish of Lakan Dula is for one his descendants to lead the Philippine archipelago to greatness someday, long after the Spaniards had been driven out. So far, two of his descendants had already become the President of the Philippines: Diosdado Macapagal and Gloria Arroyo, but the Filipino people are still waiting for that deliverant envisioned by Lakan Dula. Rep. Mikey Macapagal Arroyo might try to become the third Philippine president from among the descendants. Is he finally the deliverant? Or, is it possible that the real deliverant will be coming from an obscure branch of Lakan Dula bloodline?

     Some historians interpret as abandonment of the Kingdom when Lakan Dula sent his heir apparent and several trusted warriors as well as members of his clan to different places of the archipelago using the galleon trade and river routes. But, there are historians who say that this is a brilliant tactical move to mass up forces form different part of the Philippine Island, regroup, consolidate and drive away the Spaniards in the proper time. This could also be a way to preserve his bloodline - by sending his eldest son and heir apparent, and some children and relatives to far away land. He fears that his bloodlines will be slowly murdered by the Spaniards to totally erase the native aristocracy. This tactical move proved to be long term and had gone beyond his lifetime. This explains why there are Lakan Dula descendants in Pampanga, La Union, Marikina, Northern Samar, Sorsogon, Quezon Province, Quirino, Davao, Zamboanga, Panay Islands, and Cebu; and in many other far flung places of the country. The descendants are usually carrying native sounding or non-Hispanic surnames like lakandula, dula, dulay, gatdula, dulatre, duldulao, dulayba, lakandola, lacandula and many others revolving around the root world dula. During the intense persecution of the Spaniard on the native aristocracy, some descendants even disregarded the dula root words and adopted totally different native sounding surnames like magsaysay, agbayani, salonga, bacani, macapagal, salalima, soliman, pagdanganan, datumanong, katigbak, kasilag, salamat, karingal, pangandaman, sumuroy, silang, makalintal, gatmaitan, capinpin, etc. There are those who actually embraced Spanish surnames like guevarra, legaspi, mendoza, delapaz, santos, etc.

    There are historians and descendants of Lakan Dula, specifically those associated with the blog of Ellen Tordisillas who claim that the macapagals are not really descendants of Lakan Dula. For one, the macapagals are not really from Lubao, but form Candaba, Pampanga. They say that the claim of the macapagal to the Lakan Dula heritage is based on the tall tales concocted by the father of President Diosdado Macapagal who can write stories. These tales seem to have shaped the formative years of young Diosdado which planted the seeds for his presidential ambition. He sustained the tale during his term and at present, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo seem to be sustaining the same tale.

      This website wishes to appeal to fellow descendants of Lakan Dula to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Even God is against exclusivity that is why He warned the humanity against the evil of 666. In short, let us welcome any family or clan who has a long cherished family legend or tales that in one way or another is linked to the old Manila Kingdom of Lakan Dula. The Jewish people have their own myths, legends, practices and tales. And they believe them to the point that they are willing to die for them. In the face of the present day Filipino Diaspora, if the history, legends, myths and tales around Lakan Dula will give us our lasting identity and unity, then, by all means let us continue to make family tales and myths around Lakan Dula, the Old Manila Kingdom, the pre-Hispanic grandeur of native aristocracy, the dying wish of Lakan Dula, the legend of the lineage of the first born son, the descendants, Philippine deliberant, etc. And let them flourish into culture, religion, cult, drama, literature and even civilization. This could be the start of the Philippine greatness that Lakan Dula has wished for.

      In summary, the dialect spoken in Samar came from ancient Hebrew which became the basis of the Tagalog dialect. Where did the ancient people of Samar learn the dialect? Because Samar is Ophir or Araw City to some natives even today, which traded with Israel in the Biblical times and the civilization prospered through years of expansions to the pacific islands and inward into the Philippine islands, progressing into a kingdom based in Tondo, Manila that has consistently fought, up to the present times- against foreign and local tyrants, abusers and invaders.