Kumintang (historical polity)

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A historical polity (bayan) in what is now Batangas City in Southern Luzon

Kumintang (Baybayin: ᜃᜓᜋᜒᜈ᜔ᜆᜅ᜔) or Comintan in Spanish orthography, was a precolonial Philippine polity (bayan) situated north of the modern-day downtown of Batangas City in Southern Luzon, around the Calumpang River. Its inhabitants were the Tagalog people, and was also claimed to be the place of origin of the song “Kumintang”. Its most commonly known ruler was a legendary figure known as Gat Pulintan, the paramount datu of the region.

Etymology

Sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century historical narratives of early chroniclers referred to Kumintang not as a musical form, but as a “kingdom” centered around present-day Batangas City. Batangas is still referred to poetically as Kumintang to this day. However, as time went on, the term ‘kumintang’ became associated more with the song. The original meaning of the term remains to be unknown and evidence remains inconclusive.

Kumintang as a song

According to folklore, it was said that the Spanish missionaries could only communicate to the natives through hand signs, and because he and the soldiers had no way of communicating to the people to ask the name of the place, they decided to call it “Kumintang”, after the “melodious song sung everywhere by the natives”. The folklore however, did not state as to how the Spaniards knew that the song was called kumintang.

The term kumintang was often used in the twentieth century urban music circles as a long lost, archaic song of the Tagalogs, that expressed deep emotions and longing, often describing the beauty of nature and the pain of love.

Kumintang as a song or as a type of song was also mentioned in a 1691 Spanish document from the Ventura del Arco MSS, where it was mentioned that there are ‘several comintans’.

Sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century historical narratives of early chroniclers, however, referred to Kumintang not as a musical form, but as a “kingdom” centered around present-day Batangas City.

Customs

Like the nearby tribes, the early people of Batangan or Kumintang were described to be non-aggressive peoples, partly because most of the tribes in the immediate environs were related to them by blood. However, during war, they used bakyang (bows and arrows), the bangkaw (spears) and the suwan (bolo).

Similar to their neighbors, the people of Kumintang were highly superstitious and made use of amulets (talisman). The people believed in the presence of higher beings and other things unseen. Thus, there was a strong connection between the people and nature.

They also made frequent use of domestic cattles to deliver their goods, and are producers of many cotton hoses. Spanish accounts described them to be ‘healthier and more clever than others’.

History

Spanish accounts

In 1570, Spanish generals Martín de Goiti and Juan de Salcedo explored the coasts of Batangas and found numerous settlements, but mainly around the Pansipit River in Taal, which they called Bonbon. In 1571, a large chunk of land from the lake called Bonbon all the way to Batangan was given as an encomienda (repartimiento) to Martín de Goiti, who led the first Spanish expedition to explore Batangas and Luzon in 1570 under the orders of Miguel López de Legazpi. Kumintang was later founded as the town of Batangan on 8 December 1581 by Spanish missionaries under Balayan Province. It was christened Batangan due to the presence of numerous big logs, which were called “batang” by the locals. However the name was not yet official. On the same year, the Batangas parish was founded under Fr. Diego Mexica. In 1601, Kumintang was officially renamed Batangan, with Don Agustin Casulao as its first gobernadorcillo.

The story of Gat Pulintan

In an old document from the National Library of the Philippines, supposedly an old oral tradition from Batangas, the old ruler of Kumintang was said to be Gat Pulintan, a brave chieftain and a paramount datu in the region. One day, a Spanish missionary in 1572 went to visit Gat Pulintan, only to find Gat Pulintan outside of his home. However, the Spanish missionary met Princess Kumintang, the daughter of the datu. It was said that the Spanish missionary was so impressed by her beauty that he paid homage to her by kneeling and addressed her as a princess. After the Christianization of Kumintang in 1581, Gat Pulintan and Princess Kumintang fled to the hills to resist the Spanish occupation.

According to another oral tradition recorded by Fr. Joaquin Martinez de Zuñiga (1893), Gat Pulintan ruled over the places around Bulaquin (modern-day Bulakin), Magsalacot, and from the Labasin River and Panghayaan, with the former three being located on or near modern-day San Pablo in Laguna while Panghayaan was described to be located in Batangas. Gat Pulintan was also described to be always at war with his neighbors.

Gat Pulintan was mentioned in the “Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala” (1754) by Juan de Noceda as Gat Polintan, who was described to be an ancient ruler. He was also mentioned erroneously as Gat Pulentang, who was the ‘ruler of Bulacan’ by Luis Camara Dery.

The story of Datu Kumintang

Notes

Datu Balensuela is sometimes spelled as Balensusa.

References

^ Folklore, Batangas History, Culture and; Team, Batangas History, Culture and Folklore. "The Folkloric Story of the Beginnings of Batangas City". Batangas History, Culture and Folklore. Retrieved 2024-12-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "Limhoco.net, Batangas History". limjoco.net. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
^ "History". Official Website of the Province of Batangas. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
^ Mirano, Elena Rivera (November 1, 2013). "Travel, Music, Books: Notes on the Musical Score in Nineteenth Century Travel Accounts of the Philippines". Philippine Humanities Review. 15: 118–130 – via University of the Philippines.
Blair, E. H. "The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898: explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XL, 1690–1691". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
Blair, E. H. "The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898: explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XXIII, 1629–30". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
Robertson (1873–1939), Antonio Pigafetta Emma Helen Blair (d 1911) James Alexander. "The Philippine Islands, 1493–1898: explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century, Volume XXXIV, 1519–1522; 1280–1605". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2024-12-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^ Document from the National Library of the Philippines
^ "Batangas Founding Anniversary". Festivalscape. 2023-12-21. Retrieved 2024-12-27.
de Zuñiga, Fr. Joaquin Martinez (December 1893). Estadismo De Las Islas Filipinas: Mis Viajes Por Este País (in Spanish). Vol. 1. Madrid. p. 74.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
University of Santo Tomas Graduate School Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics. (2021). 'Conservation Principles & Guidelines for the San Pablo Heritage Zone'. City Government of San Pablo, Laguna
Noceda, Juan de (1754). Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala (in Spanish). Imprenta de la compañia de Jesus.
Dery, L.C. Ph.D. (1992). 'Sina Raha Katunao, Lakandula, Tupas at Matanda: Isang Pag-aaral sa kanilang Kasaysayang Pampamilya at ang Papel na Ginampanan Nila sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas noong Panahon ng Kastila'. U.P. College Baguio
Maragtas (1907) by Pedro Alcantara Monteclaro
Morrow, Paul. "The Maragtas Legend". paulmorrow.ca. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. In Maragtas, Monteclaro also told the story of the creation of Madja-as in Panay under the rule of Datu Sumakwel and he gave the details of its constitution. In spite of the importance that should be placed on such an early constitution and his detailed description of it, Monteclaro gave no source for his information.
Scott, William Henry, Pre-hispanic Source Materials for the study of Philippine History, 1984: New Day Publishers, pp. 101, 296.
Zorc, R. David Paul (1993). "The Prehistory and Origin of the Tagalog People" (PDF). zorc.net.

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