English - Balay Mindanaw

LUMADNONG PAGKINABUHI NGADTO SA KALINAWthat Khondo Nhagawa was a teacher in Japan. The Japanesestayed with him for three years and was accommodatedwell. At first, since the Japanese did not know how to speakthe Binukid language, they communicated through signlanguage, until little by little the Japanese learned some basicBinukid words. Likewise, Amba Palasambag learned how tospeak some Japanese phrases.“When you are about to leave you would say, “Dharagkhina sayu.” When you meet someone and you ask him wherehe is headed, you will say “Tokhu eh kimas ka?” And whenhe answers “Kalabugao egkimas,” it means he is going toKalabugao. I also know that the Japanese term for grandfatheris odjosang and grandmother is odjisang.”Qualities of a DatuAmba Palasambag claimed that integrity and sincerityare the foremost qualities of a Datu. He should be someonewho knows the sukod or parameters and qualities of beinga datu and he noted that not all the present datus knowand possess these qualities. Amba Palasambag had theseobservations:“There are several datus nowadays but only a few knowexactly the qualities required of a datu. I know some datus whosolemnize weddings just for the money. They have personalinterests. I also reprimand those who ordain persons unfit tobecome a datu. I tell them to stop what they’re doing becauseit’s not good practice, and would only ruin their names. Butas I said, others are in it just for the money.”Paredes (1997: 134-135) related in her study that in thepast, datuship was granted only to Higaunon men who hadachieved the position through gaining the respect of otherdatus. However, as this title is conflated with the Dumagatnotion of social status and political power, a non-Higaunon38