Lay witness to my so-called fundamental existence.

The heaven was a bit downcast when the plane touched down at Bancasi National Airport. The flight was completely filled with passengers and people seemed to be in hurry to claim their luggage from the newly-installed carousel. I smiled because the baggage conveyor was new and people seemed to be a bit delighted about the airport’s latest acquisition. On the other hand, I thanked Cebu Pacific for its on-time departure from Cebu.

I was back in Butuan for I do not know how many times already this year. I had an earlier blog about this place but I never focused on its historical aspect. This is not a trip primarily devoted to the uncovering or identifying the facts about the origin of the Filipino people. I flew in to Butuan primarily for work-related activities but on the side, part of me wanted to visit CARAGA and understand its significance to us Filipinos.

This Tuesday was a bit dismal in all aspects. For one, the weather was dull and gloomy – the sky never cleared up even for a bit. Two, our prospect client for a clinical chemistry machine had decided to buy from a local competitor. And three, the museums I’ve visited was disturbingly drab.

I asked myself what products or objects Butuan City is known for. Certainly it’s not known for its food as there were only a couple of decent restaurants in the area. We could not even find any pastry shop say Goldilocks or Red Ribbon even as we passed by all major streets in the city, except for a local one along the national highway. We were told that a Goldilocks shop may have closed down because of poor sales.

The city is not known for eco-tourism either. Butuan is situated on a delta of several rivers, the largest of which is the mighty Agusan. None of the eco-tours could be found in the city. We were also told that there used to be a river-cruising activity nearby, similar to Bohol’s Loboc River Cruise but then it was not at all sustained.

Economic activities in the area are fewer than its neighbor cities like Cagayan de Oro. But Butuan, being the regional center of Caraga and as of the moment, the capital of the province of Agusan del Norte (in later years, the capital is said to be transferred to Cabadbaran), government administration and regional department offices are located here.

It used to be the “Timber City of the South.” Much of the logging and lumber actions were coursed through the Agusan River.  The boom was said to have happened in the 1950s to 1970s. At present, the industry had diminished due to the log ban and because of several efforts to protect the forest and the environment as whole.

Butuan and timber I think had a long history together.  Found in the 1970’s were several archaeological sites of wooden boats at the banks of El Rio de Butuan and Masao River. The boat parts and some of the wares were dug up from muddy banks and were reconstructed through commissioned archaeologists and restoration experts of the National Museum.

The first of these discovered boats was restored, preserved and displayed at the Balanghai Shrine in Libertad, Butuan City.  I visited the shrine before lunchtime and the museum was in a terrible shape. Though the Balanghai was housed in a glass box and supported by frames to hold its shape, the building was poorly maintained. Behind the boat displays were rows and rows of old wooden planks from some of the excavated Balanghai boats. We were told that these parts are still to be preserved and re-assembled. Some of the walls where replaced with ply woods to protect the boat parts that were just displayed in th open, which were still in the process of restoration.

Judging from the structure of the shrine alone, you wouldn’t think that it’s a museum. I thought that it’s just one of the rundown government offices around. Well yes, it is under the National Museum but sad to say, the place was in a very disappointing state. Obviously there’s no support and no effort to restore and improve the condition of the shrine.

I was bothered by the poor condition of the Balanghai Shrine. But at least I was relieved to see the old wooden boat.  There it was, several meters long, a bit narrow but big enough to carry a family or two.  Historians claim that in the boat there was a social organization, a basic unit of sort, comprising a group of families that functioned much like the barangays of today.

These archaeological finds clearly pointed out that there was a flourishing activity in Butuan hundreds of years before the Spaniards came.  These boat parts were carbon-dated and had been traced as far as 320 AD. I looked at the Balanghai and wondered how many more of these were still buried deep in the delta.

They said that 9 of these boats had already been known to exist. 2 more have been added and were in the process of documentation. Out of these finds, only 3 were excavated, the rest were still buried in the mud. The National Museum could not excavate them due to lack of financial support.

I looked at the ancient planks that were still waiting to be assembled. Every plank had wood splinters protruding on opposite sides. I found out that these were pegs used to attach the flat timbers together. The Balanghai was also described as a round bottomed boat, Neolithic in architectural design, that is driven by a sail and steered by a rudder.

I could not take photos of the boat since the museum would not allow it. Suffice to say though that seeing the Balanghai boat with my own eyes is a form of recognizing the possible root of the Filipino race. Certainly one of these types of open-water boat may have carried the forebears of our nation.

I decided to proceed to the National Museum Branch in Butuan City. Just like the Balanghai Shrine, the museum is dilapidated and depressing. There were only two galleries in the museum. The gallery on the left houses the artifacts discovered before the Spanish colonial era. The other gallery displayed the ethno-cultural items attached to CARAGA.

The items in the Archaeological gallery justified the claim of historians that: there existed an international trading activity between Butuan and China as well as with Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam long before the Spaniards came; that our ancestors practiced a burial system where the dead are placed in wooden coffins and are placed in caves; and that the area had a thriving gold ornament industry that attracted traders from foreign lands.

These boats, the Balanghais, pre-historic native boats of Butuan are the best items attached to Butuan City today. As a repository of the ancient boats, may the city continue to value its dug-up treasures, being the only site that contains such artifacts. May the national government fuel some funds to unearth the remaining Balanghais and restore the Shrine for people to be reminded of how we Filipinos came to be.