Andrea Malaya M. Ragragio and Myfel D. Paluga “The People That Dwell on the Heights: The Pantaron Highlands of Southern Mindanao from the Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Centuries”

This study reconstructs life in the southern Mindanao highlands from the midnineteenth century to the early twentieth century from historical accounts and contemporary ethnographic observations. It explores the evolving relationships among highland groups, referred to as “atas,” “ata-as,” or “ataas,” and other communities in the region. Such terms, later recognized officially as “Ata,” were used by non-highlanders to denote highland communities based on their geographical location, while they self-identified according to upland river configurations.

This study reveals that various named groups inhabited a three-tier highland/inland-to-lowland/coastal axis, engaging in both cooperative and adversarial interactions, such as trading and slave-raiding. By the time Spanish authorities established the Davao pueblo, the highlands were already a dynamic, inhabited space, independent of colonial influence. The Pantaron highlands emerged because of long-term, cumulative decisions by these communities, reflecting a complex history that predates colonial dynamics. The findings challenge colonial-centric narratives and emphasize highlander agency in shaping their social and geographical landscape.

Keywords: highlands, colonialism, slavery, Ata, Pantaron Manobo, Davao (Mindanao), indigenous peoples, ethnohistory