Tagalogs and Visayans like to claim theirs are the best. But really?!

I wondered how people from India could have made their way into my family tree, which feels deeply rooted in the ethnolinguistic tribes that would later be forced together by Spanish colonists.

My great-grandparents, grandparents, and relatives lived under that shadow, and their stories connect me directly to those dark years.

Ethnolinguistic tribes throughout the Philippine archipelago are increasingly interested in delving into their unique pre-colonial roots that made them unique to the Tagalogs—whose language and culture was forced on them.

My ancestors were told that their gods, their rituals, their ways of relating to the land were evil—and they were punished for honoring them.