Maitum Anthropomorphic Potteries are around 2,000 years old.

Venturing further west, inquisitive minds can satisfy their archaeological curiosity by visiting Sagel Cave, amidst the simple Maguindanaon villages of Barangay Pinol. While Sarangani’s political independence is only two decades old, remarkable evidence traces its past to more than two millennia.  In 2008, quarry workers accidentally discovered this cave, unearthing human-shaped secondary burial jars, similar to the ones found much earlier in nearby Ayub Cave. While anthropomorphic earthenware has been found elsewhere in the Philippines, the distinct facial expressions on the Maitum Jars make these discoveries unparalleled in Southeast Asia. Dated to the Metal Age – from around 5 BC to 225 AD – these mysterious finds are outstanding proof of an advanced civilization that thrived in prehistoric Sarangani. While the original artifacts are now housed at the National Museum in Manila, expertly crafted replicas and dioramas can be admired at the Maitum Municipal Hall.

Turn-of-the-century houses in Glan have decorative cutwork called calados

“Coconuts put us through college,” says Luz Margarita’s brother, Dr. Jose Tranquilino Ruiz II. Donning a panama hat and spectacles, the notable physician, town councilor and hotelier walked us through the history of Glan at Sarangani Highlands, his mountain resort in General Santos overlooking the province. In 1914, during the American occupation, their grandfather Don Tranquilino Ruiz was appointed by Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison to lead Cebuano colonos or settlers. They established “Colony No. 9”, an agricultural settlement in the southern frontier of the Empire Province of Cotabato that prospered to become present-day Glan. Today, besides the coconut plantations, a few ancestral homes built by those pioneering colonists have survived, distinguished by large capizshell windows and intricate cutwork called calados.

A B’laan elder weaves tabih (abaca cloth) in Lamlifew Tribal Museum, Malungon

Many young professionals belonging to indigenous groups are reconnecting with their ethnicity through cultural projects like the Lamlifew Tribal Museum at Barangay Datal Tampal in the only landlocked municipality of Malungon, only 45 minutes from General Santos. Established in 2007 as a venue to cultivate and share indigenous knowledge and traditions, Lamlifew (pronounced lam-lee-foe) is the only community-initiated museum in the Philippines endorsed by the National Museum. A traditional B’laan house displays authentic weapons, colorful garments, beadwork and musical instruments. At the Gumabal weaving house, women master the craft of creating tabih, an abaca textile similar to t’nalak of the T’boli, characterized by designs patterned after crocodile and snake skin.