The Philippines is an incredibly diverse
nation in terms of language, religion, ethnicity and
also geography. Ethnic and religious fault-lines
that run through the country continue to produce a
state of constant, low-level civil war between north
and south.
Early History -The Negritos
are believed to have migrated to
the Philippines some 30,000 years
ago from Borneo, Sumatra, and
Malaya. The Malayans followed in
successive waves.
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Possessive Adjective
Demonstrative Adjective
Interrogative Adjective
Indefinite Adjectve
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An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun by
describing, identifying, or quantifying words. An adjective
usually precedes the noun or the pronoun which it
modifies.
In the following examples, the highlighted words are
adjectives:
The truck-shaped balloon floated over the treetops.
Mrs. Morrison papered her kitchen walls
with hideous wall paper.
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A Strong and Beatiful People
The country is inhabited by people largely of
Malay stock butsub-classified into hundreds of tribes,
ethnic groupings, and distinct languages. The
colonizers, much to their disgust, could not penetrate
the mountain tribes living in the remotest fastness of
the Cordilleras nor subdue the “Moros” in the Muslim
south, in Sulu,a nd other parts of Mindanao. It is just as
well. They havre remained today as our brothers and
sisiters who have lived lives, untouched by foreign
influences and thus, have retained thier cultural
traditions just as they were before the first white man
came.
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One sees in the Filipino a strong and beautiful
people. Legend has it that once upon a time, long,
long, , ago, there lived a maid and a man who loved
each other dearly.. it is said that Malakas and
Maganda were born on the same night, at the same
hour just the new moon was rising. And thier
people, whose loves were ruled by the movements
of the sun and the stars and the moon, knew that
this strange coincidence had a wondrous meaning.
And even as they worshipped the newly-born
babaies, thier diviners decreed that Bathala, in his
mysterious wisdom, must have meant them for
each other. And so it cameto pass that the two
kingdoms which were ruled by the parents of
Malakas and Maganda held a joint festival to
celebrate the double birth. And at this festival,
Malakas and Maganda were promised to each other.
They would be married after fifteen years.
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However, on the night of their birth, a seer had prophesied that
their marriage would not come true because an evil bird sang. So,
famine and drought delayed their marriage for three years. Finally,
when the night of their wedding had come and both kingdoms were
getting ready fot he great feast, fears of war between the two
kingdoms, one as strong as the other, did not augur well for the
occasion. Malakas came secretly to see Maganda, to tell her about his
fears, but that he assured her he loved her and that nothing would
ever separate them. Everyone thought they were so right for each
other. No other love was more powerful than theirs. Besides, the
young and the romantic thought that their marriage was written in the
stars.
At the marriage festival, the two rajahs, parents of the bride and
groom had a confrontation over disputed ancestral lands. There was
no wedding. As the two kingdoms separated, Princess Maganda and
Prince Malakas were also separated. They couldn’t understand how
some old hill could destroy a friendship of many, many years. To
Maganda and Malakas, however, their love had grown stronger than it
was before, they knew in their hearts they would find a way.
One night, when her father was out, Princess Maganda escaped
from home and sought out Prince Malakas. Afraid that Maganda might
not get another chance to escape, together, they ran away to distant
lands. Legend says, they became parents of the first Filipinos. Thier
union gave birth to a strong and beautiful people—Malakas at
Maganda.
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To what racial stock did most of the people of the
Phillipines belong?
2. Are there groupings? What are they?
3. Were the colonizers able to subdue these ethnic
tribes or cultural communities? Why not?
4. Can you mention some of these communities and
the places where they can still be found today?
5. What legend is retold here to account for the first
Filipino? Do you know of any other? Share it with
the class?
6. Relate the legend to the title of the reading text.
7. What appealed to you most in the story of Malakas
and Maganda? Why did it apppeal to you most?
1.
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Not yet, Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace:
There are a thousand waters to be spanned;
there are a thousand mountains to be
crossed;
there are a thousand crosses to be borne.
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