Old age in Mangyan society is not given special status and special privileges. As long as anyone is able to keep up, he is expected to take part in daily work. It is, therefore, not surprising to see the old and feeble people working side by side with the younger generations in the rice fields. However, the irrevocable advance of time is felt by the elder generation. It is something that can't be changed.

The moment will come when the Mangyan cannot be kept tied any longer to his house and the daily chores. He has to go, whether it is opportune or not. The woman, however, is not as fortunate as the man; she is tied to her home, especially when her children are still small. In spite of that, she would also like to go out once in a while. The parents should be, therefore, understanding and reasonable.

To give a sample of all the various aspects of the home life within a Mangyan settlement would be next to impossible. However, an attempt to draw a general outline will be undertaken here. Two great themes can be considered of importance in the life-cycle of a Mangyan: 1) His struggle for life in and around his house, to keep hunger and sickness away; and, 2) His unbelievable ability to relax, be happy and unconcerned, often by escaping from his immediate surroundings.

The ambahans are very common among the Hanunuo-Mangyans. About thirty percent of the Hanunuo-Mangyans do not read or write the pre-Spanish Hanunuo-Mangyan script, but it would be rare indeed for a Mangyan not to know the art of the ambahan. Of course, a Mangyan will quickly deny any knowledge of the ambahan, but this is only a polite way of refusing to demostrate such knowledge.

If you ask a Hanunuo-Mangyan, "Where did you get this ambahan?," he will most likely answer, "I copied it from somebody else." That is quite probable, for the ambahan has been popularized by being copied on any piece of bamboo, such as the container for tobacco or apog (lime), the scabbard or sheath of a bolo, a violin or guitar, and even on the bamboo beams of a house.

To the Hanunuo, clothing (rutay) is one of the most important criteria in distinguishing the Mangyan from the non-Manyan (damuong). A Hanunuo-Mangyan male wears a loin cloth (ba-ag) and a shirt (balukas). A female wears an indigo-dyed short skirt (ramit) and a blouse (lambung). Many of the traditional style shirts and blouses are embroidered on the back with a design called pakudos, based on the cross shape.

The Buhids are known as pot makers. Other Mangyan tribes, like the Alangan and Hanunuo, used to buy their cooking pots from the Buhids. The word Buhid literally means "mountain dwellers" [Postma, 1967]. Buhid women wear

Mangyan is the general name for the indigenous tribes who live in the province of Mindoro. Ten percent of the total population of the people who live in Mindoro are Mangyans. Before Spain conquered the Philippines, the Mangyans were already practicing the "barter trade" to the Chinese, who traveled to the shores of Mindoro using their ancient boats. The Mangyans traded their local products of cotton, root crops, medicinal plants and bees-wax for beads, gongs, plates and jars.

Last month I made a long awaited trip to the island of Mindoro to visit some of the different Mangyan groups there. This trip took a few months to arrange and I was very excited our journey happened as I have been wanting to visit Mindoro for a long time. Although, we knew it would not be easy to get access to the different communities we wanted to visit, our contacts and non-stop effort explaining and promoting the Katutubong Filipino Project helped us significantly on this trip.