Maragtas Account

To some, Maragtas is considered to be one of the authentic historical documents to prove

Philippines prehistoric culture especially in the Visayas area. It is about the different datus who
came and bought the Panay Island from the Negritos. However, many still question its
authenticity by just being a folk history, not the history per se.

According to the information, Maragtas, being just copied by different persons and not
having the original document, is definitely hard to prove. With the so-called authors, even
themselves could not affirm the real source and Maragtas is just a product of their long search
and surveys in their locality. Thinking upon this, I consider Maragtas as a document of a written
legend passed on to people.

In terms of the dates, there have been debates, even by the respected people like Beyer,
regarding the actual time of the coming of the Borneans in the archipelago. It was not only Beyer
but also the persons who published this document. It seemed like there was no accurate point in
the coming of these people. Some thinks that Borneans came to the Philippines in the 12 th
century, others in the 13th century. This just makes everything so confusing. But since most are
insisting that Borneans came before the Spanish period, another discrepancy was noticed. There
are terms used in the document which were only introduced in the Spanish era. Others would
claim that it was only translation errors but its as if the writer was writing in his own time, not at
the time when Borneans came. Not only that, based on the Maragtas account, there was this datu
who gave seeds of different plant species however these seeds were only introduced by either
Spaniards or Americans. Then the Maragtas account, from this point, could never prove its
authenticity.

From all the angles inspected, I agree that Maragtas is just a folk history mistaken, at
first, as real history. However, Maragtas can be a good basis of prehistoric culture and
environment of ancient people living in the archipelago. Thus, Maragtas may not be a historical
document but it plays a crucial role in showing us a glimpse of the primordial times.