Those who can’t believe Surigao is the oldest province in the Philippines at age 493 (more or less) since it was founded by Ferdinand Magellan in March 31, 1521 and will be 500 years old in 2021 or roughly 6 years and three months from now, need to study more our history or its living past. What a pity that Surigao is practically a stranger to many Surigaonons today, especially the youth who is our successor generation.
I am posting here the preliminary report prepared by Dr. Kyriacos Louca, PH.D. (Geology) from Prague University , Czech Republic, a former UNDP consultant, regarding the scientific study ,and its result, conducted by Japanese scientists on the now famous Escalon Man whose skeletal remains I turned over to Dr. Hsiaoh Baba, Researcher Emeritus , Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Nature and Science , UENO, Tokyo, Japan for carbon dating more than 10 years ago. I named (it) Escalon Man because the bones were found in a small cave along Escalon River. They were turned over to me by some treasure hunters who were scrounging in the cave and vicinity looking for antiques and the fabled ‘Yamashita’ treasure.
The age of the Escalon Man was placed at 2,900 years(more or less) BP (before the present—the present being placed at 195O). He is the oldest human whose remains were found in Visayas and Mindanao. Escalon Man broke the record of another Surigaonon known as the “Panhotungan Man” whose age was determined to be 1, 800 years (more or less) also through the carbon dating method done in Japan. He was likewise named by me and Dr. Leslie E. Bauzon, formerly of U.P. Diliman, as such because we unearthed his bones in Panhotugan, Placer, Surigao del Norte, in the course of our archaeological excavation there more than 20 years ago. Again, after treasure hunters had vandalized the area described, by Dr. Bauzon, as one of the earliest human habitations in the Philippines.
A lot of people don’t want to be called ‘old’ because that means wayay poyos na! Dili na makakaya! But in history it is an honor to belong to an old culture and civilization. Based on these findings, an Surigaonon an PINAKARAAN na na tawo sa Filipinas! No wonder, Dr. Keichi Omoto , famous Japanese Biological Anthropologist and Population Genetics, described the Mamanwa(original Surigaonon) as “the first people of the Philippines.”
Magellan who came in 1521 only is a newcomer. Bata ra karajao at less than 500 years ago! Cebu and Manila likewise are young, latecomers. They don’t have the remains of human beings aged 2,900 years and 1,800 years respectively to show the ancient ancestry we have whose timeline goes back to some 50,000 BP, living proof of whom are the Mamanwa whose DNA both Dr. Omoto and another equally noted, if not more so, scientist in the person of Dr. Mark Stoneking, Molecular Anthropologist. at the world-famous Max Planck Institute in Leipzig analyzed. (The two undertook extensive field studies involving blood and saliva samplings among the Mamanwa in Surigao del Norte.)
So, be proud Surigaonon! You have a long and historic lineage and origin. Ajao paka sipog!
Note:
Dr. Keichi Omoto and Dr. Kin-Ichio Shinoda, Molecular Anthropologist and Head of the National Museum of Science and Nature , and a team from Japan will shortly undertake new and farther studies on-site in Escalon.
Note (2)
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For those who are interested to know more about Surigao and the largely unknown scientific studies undertaken here by world-class experts and the dynamisn and enormous potentials of these endeavors, I' m posting here the brilliant and tamtalizing highly-technical but comprehensible study undertaken about the Mamanwas DNA and pre-historic past by the U.P. DNA Analysis Laboratory , U.P. Natural Science Research Institute, Q.C. entitled " A Scratch on the Surface: Filipino Population Genetics Perspective on the History and Demography of the Mamanwa of Surigao." This paper was delivered during the International Mamanwa Dialogue Syposium held in Surigao City, Sept. 19-21, 2014. This study is a follow-up or elaboration of the earlier, intial scientific study undertaken here and headed by Dr. Mark Stoneking.
Please don't fall asleep reading otherwise you will miss a lifetime chance to know who you are as a Surigaon.
By: Fernando A. Almeda Jr.
