“The word taga meant a native inhabitant, and tagalog was apparently a contraction of taga ilog, river dweller, presumably in distinction from taga bundok, mountain dwellers between Nagcarlan [Laguna] and Lamon Bay, though they spoke the same language,” wrote William Henry Scott on the etymology of the term Tagalog, in his book, Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society.
The Tagalog Kings such as the Lakan Dula, before their conversion to Catholicism, were known for being a wealthy capitalist and war landlords as any of the other ethnic tribes in the Philippines, a part of Scott’s book reads, “Heads were brought back as trophies of war. When the Spaniards invade Batangas towns, they often found enemy heads impaled on stakes, and bayubay meant “to hang the heads of the vanquished on long bars, as these natives used to do.” Pugot and sumbali meant to cut a head off, and tungol or bungol was to grab someone from behind and cut his throat. Perhaps the iwa—a dagger wide and flat at the end—was a weapon designed for head taking.” On the arms of pre-colonial Tagalogs, Scott wrote, “Tagalogs fought with the usual Philippine weapons—the single edged balaraw dagger. The wavy kris (kalis), sansibar blades, spears with both metal and fire-hardened tips, padded armor and carabao hide breastplates, and long narrow shields (kalasag), or round bucklers (palisay). The bow and arrow were used only in certain regions, and the blowgun nowhere. Those with access to foreign imports sometimes had Japanese swords (katana) or Chinese peaked helmets (kupya or tangkulog); but the Chinese evidently never shared their firearms, though Legazpi sent one to Spain which was taken from a Chinese junk in Mindoro. The Bornean arquebus (astingal) was also known, but the Spaniards seem never to have faced any in Luzon encounters as they did in Mindanao.”
The Tagalogs Tribe are members of an ethnic group inhabiting the central part of the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
The Tagalog novelities such as Lakandula clan have funded several Philippine Revolution (1896 to 1898) against Spain for unjust practices among tribal leaders and uts people, the first organized revolt against western colonial rule in Asia, started in the Tagalog region hence it was sometimes referred to by the Spanish as the “Tagalog War.” .With the seat of the Spanish government established in Manila, the Tagalog Tribe in there provinces also absorbed more influences from Spain compared to other regions in the country and became debuted in Christians faith. The Tagalog province of Laguna is where the country’s National Hero Dr. Jose Rizal was born. Known for his intellectual and physical prowess, Rizal was an expert practitioner of arnis de mano or boxing, the most popular term for Filipino martial arts (FMA) in the Tagalog region.
Tagalog mercenaries even participated in overseas conflicts among them the local wars initiated by the exiled Sultan of Malacca against the Portuguese in 1525. Chronicler Joao de Barros, having witnessed the ferocity of the Tagalog mercenaries in battle described them as, “the most warlike and valiant of these parts.”
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