THE PILANDOK NARRATIVE IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY AND SOCIETY

by Lilia Quindoza Santiago

Lilia Quindoza Santiago
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Paper for ICOPHIL 9 – The Philippines and the World
9th International Conference on the Philippines
Michigan State University
October 28 – 30, 2012
ABSTRACT
PILANDOK in the literal sense is a Filipino term for mouse-deer, the tragunus nigricans which roam
the southwest regions of Palawan islands in the Philippines.

In folk literature, Pilandok is a prankster. In Maranao and Magindanao folktaless, he is portrayed

as the clever ordinary man of scanty material means but who plays tricks to get the better of
others. Pilandok chooses to challenge creatures who are greedy and filthy rich. People with
enormous wealth and power like Kings, Datus, and even animals like lions and crocodiles are
subjected to embarrasing situations concocted by him which lead these authoritarian figures to
lose wealth, power and authority. Because of his pranks those who lust for power and authority
are maimed, embarrased and punished miserably.

Could the Pilandok narrative essay the Filipino ordinary folks’ contempt for authority? But, could
Pilandok also be the ordinary folk’s everyman whose characteristic cleverness and wit could also
be the source of his own faults and weaknesses?

My paper explores answers to the intrigue created by the Pilandok narrative.

Introduction
Narrative, according to literary and anthropological theorists today is in everything and in the
everyday. The many structures of narratives go beyond literary forms and can now extend to social
organizations, religion and political life [1](Altman, 2008).
There are master narratives and other narratives that give clues to the character of communities.
Novels, essays, dramatic narratives can define communities, polities, nations. And there are many
other narratives that spell cultural attitudes and provide information on how to deal with and
interpret events, peoples, things. [2](Bal, 1997).
For peoples in the Philippines, there is perhaps no other narrative more compelling and effective
than the .master narrative of the formation of the Filipino nation. This narrative as Resil Mojares
claims is achieved in the master works of Jose Rizal, notably his novels, the Noli Me Tangere and
El Filibusterismo. [3] For Mojares, Rizal’s novels and the Filipino nation are “intimately connected
that to trace the history of the Filipino novel is to trace the imaginary body of the Filipino nation
itself. [4] (The novels “gave birth” to and laid down the foundations and trajectory of the modern
Philippine nation.[5]
There exists however up until today, myriad narratives of a pre-colonial past in the indigenous
world of inhabitants of the archipelago. These are narratives of people in the more than one
hundred ethnolinguistic groups in the country.. These narratives continue to excite the
imagination, their wonders have not been fully unraveled and continue to sail the seas, roam the
hinterlands and wander, as it were, like many of the indigenes. These stories are seldom reflected
upon and subjected to critical inquiry and analysis. My paper is centered on a discussion of one
these other narratives or “othered” narratives – that of Pilandok, the Maranao and Magindanao
prankster in different tales and how the thread of the narrative can be related to significant
historical and political conjunctures in the country.

There are three parts to this discussion, first, I will present some transcribed texts of the tale of
Pilandok, then I will analyze the story’s pattern, process or following, and in the third part I
will attempt to interface the Pilandok narrative with significant political events particularly in the
Philippine revolution of 1896 and in the people power revolutions of 1986 and 2001.

Pilandok, the trickster

In literal terms, Pilandok is a mouse deer known to be the protégé or the best friend of the cobra
or the python. As mouse deer, the pilandok cannot do much harm but with the giant snake, he
can be dreadful and dangerous.

The Maranaos have various stories about Pilandok. Here are some examples.

https://lastquarterstorm.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/thepilandoknarrative/
Naging Sultan si Pilandok

Ang kinagigiliwang Juan ng katagalugan ay may katumbas sa mga Maranaw - si Pilandok.

Si Pilandok ay nahatulang ikulong sa isang kulungang bakal at itapon sa dagat dahil sa isang
pagkakasalang kanyang ginawa.
Pagkalipas ng ilang araw, ang sultan ay nanggilalas nang makita si Pilandok sa kanyang harap na
nakasuot ng magarang kasuotan ng sultan. Nakasukbit sa kanyang baywang ang isang kumikislap
na ginituang tabak.
"Hindi ba't itinapon ka na sa dagat?" nagtatakang tanong ng sultan kay Pilandok. "Siya pong
tunay, mahal na Sultan," ang magalang na tugon ni Pilandok. "Paanong nangyaring ikaw ay nasa
harap ko at nakadamit nang magara? Dapat ay patay ka na ngayon," ang wika ng sultan.
"Hindi po ako namatay, mahal na sultan sapgkat nakita ko po ang aking mga ninuno sa ilalim ng
dagat nang ako'y sumapit doon. Sila po ang nagbigay sa akin ng kayamanan. Sino po ang
magnanais na mamatay sa isang kahariang masagana sa lahat ng bagay?" ang paliwanag ni
Pilandok. "Marahil ay nasisiraan ka ng bait," ang sabi ng ayaw maniwalang sultan. "Nalalaman ng
lahat na walang kaharian sa ilalim ng dagat."
"Kasinungalingan po iyan! Bakit po naririto ako ngayon? Ako na ipinatapon ninyo sa gitna ng
dagat. Ako na ikinulong pa ninyo sa hawla ay naririto ngayon at kausap ninyo," ang paliwanag ni
Pilandok. "May kaharian po sa ilalim ng dagat at ang tanging paraan sa pagtungo roon ay ang
pagkulong sa hawla at itapon sa gitna ng dagat. Ako po'y aalis na at marahil ay hinihintay na ako
ng aking mga kamag-anak." Umakmang aalis na si Pilandok.
"Hintay," sansala ng sultan kay Pilandok. "Isama mo ako at nais kong makita ang aking mga
ninuno, ang sultan ng mga sultan at ang iba ko pang kamag-anak." Tatawagin na sana ng sultan
ang mga kawal ngunit pinigil siya ni Pilandok at pinagsabihangwalang dapat makaalam ng bagay
na iyon. Dapat daw ay mag-isang pupunta roon ang Sultan sa loob ng isang hawla.
"Kung gayon ay ilagay mo ko sa loob ng hawla at itapon mo ako sa gitna ng dagat," ang sabi ng
sultan. "Sino po ang mamumuno sa kaharian sa inyong pag-alis?" ang tanong ni Pilandok. "Kapag
nalaman po ng iba ang tingkol sa sinabi ko sa inyong kaharian sa ilalim ng dagat ay magnanais
silang magtungo rin doon."
Sandaling nag-isip ang sultan at nakangiting nagwika, "Gagawin kitang pansamantalang sultan,
Pilandok. Mag-iiwan ako ngayon din ng isang kautusang ikaw ang pansamantalang hahalili sa
akin." "Hintay, mahal na Sultan," ang pigil ni Pilandok. "Hindi po ito dapat malaman ng inyong
mga ministro."
"Ano ang nararapat kong gawin?" ang usisa ng sultan. "Ililihim po natin ang bagay na ito. Basta't
ipagkaloob ninyo sa akin ang inyong korona, singsing at espada. Pag nakita ang mga ito ng inyong
kabig ay susundin nila ako," ang tugon ni Pilandok.
Pumayag naman ang sultan. Ibinigay na lahat kay Pilandok ang hinihingi at isinakay sa isang
bangka. Pagdating sa gitna ng dagat ay inihagis ang hawlang kinalululanan ng sultan. Kaagad
lumubog ang hawla at namatay ang sultan. Mula noon si Pilandok na ang naging sultan.

http://teksbok.blogspot.com/2010/09/naging-sultan-si-pilandok.html
Pilandok and the Sumusong-sa-Alongan
( Maranao )

Pilandok was a prankster. He belonged to a poor family. One morning he left his parents to look
for food. He walked and walked until he became tired. He lay down beneath a tree on which
hung a huge beehive, closed one eye, and rested.
Soon a prince called Sumusong-sa-Alongan came by, riding on a horse. On his saddle hung many
bags of gold and other beautiful things that he had won on his conquests. He asked Pilandok
what he was doing under the tree. Without opening his eye, Pilandok answered that he was he
servant of a powerful sultan and that he was guarding a royal gong whom no ordinary man may
beat. And then he pointed up at where the beehive hung.
"Let me beat the gong, Pilandok," Sumusong-sa-Alongan said.
"No, the sultan will be angry with me if I let just any man beat the royal gong," Pilandok said
firmly.
"I am not an ordinary man. I am the son of a sultan myself. Here – I will give you a whole bag of
gold if you will only let me beat the gong."
Pilandok pretended to think. And after a while, he said "I’ll take that bag. But please, beat the
gong only when I am far away, for the sultan might come at the sound of it and chop off my
head."
Pilandok swept up the bag of gold and ran away as fast as he could. When Sumusong-sa-Alongan
could no longer see him, the prince took a big stick from the ground and beat the beehive.
Hundreds of angry bees were upon him in an instant, and if a troop of soldiers had not come his
way and helped him, he would have died.
Pilandok lived happily with his bag of gold.
http://folklore.philsites.net/stories/laughter1.html