To Land’s End

General Satos City, Mindanao, Philippines

Sept 7, 2026

Pushing south to the end pf Luzon, the Austronesians trickled through to the Visayas, island-hopping their way to the large island of Mindanao. They also spread west into present day Indonesian islands of Sulawesi and Kalimantan. Ah! The similarities in customs with the Kankanaey that I noticed in Sagada, are rooted in this. The culture and traditions traveled with the peoples from Philippines to Indonesia. But there seems to be no definite path, nor a timeline that all experts agree on; it is still a field of active research.

A reconstruction of Austronesian population using new methods for ancestral gene flow shows a split in the seafaring populations. Some headed toward Sumatra and Kalimantan while other groups headed south to Mindanao first before voyaging onto Sulawesi.

Another more recent paper based on whole genome technology presents a more comprehensive picture of the Austronesian diaspora and its many different branches. And another traces migration via linguistics. They make for fascinating reading!

Nat Commun. 2014 Aug 19;5:4689. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5689

PMID: 34665569 DOI: 10.13110/humanbiology.92.4.04

Courtesy of https://theconversation.com/linguistics-locates-the-beginnings-of-the-austronesian-expansion-with-indigenous-seafaring-people-in-eastern-taiwan-186547

The Visayas would be an obvious next stop on my journey but the same torrential rains I faced in Baguio are also lashing the Visayas and I decide to skip it. The traiI westward into Indonesian islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi will have to be unearthed from my journals from yesteryears. Maybe an addendum to this chapter is in the offing.

But for now, I decide to head southwards to Mindanao. The thought crossed my mind, that I should at least make one of these trips on a boat or ferry, given that I am re-tracing these fearless seafarers. But choppy seas for two and a half days amid an unusually heavy monsoon? Methinks not. I’ve been on multi-day boat rides on these seas before and am no hurry to repeat them! I’ll take the coward’s way out and fly.

And so I landed in General Santos City, at the southernmost tip of Mindanao. The flight landed late, it was pitch dark and there seemed no obvious transport into the city that lay a few kilometers distant. I asked a fellow passenger about taxis and promptly fell victim to native generosity. She told me to hop into their car for a ride to my hotel. Not only did they give me a ride, but I now have an invitation to Sarangani where they live.

A wander through GenSan as it is called locally, shows a strange mix of glitzy malls next door to tin shacks. Wide paved main streets buzz with dilapidated tricycles, motorbikes and top-of-the-line SUVs. Side roads peeling off main streets are dirt, lined with humble homes and stalls.

GenSan’s claim to fame is being the tuna capital of the Philippines. The port at its southern end handles a mind boggling 300-700 metric tons of fish everyday, most of which is tuna. Tuna is available in every form, as part of every dish, in just about every eatery. I do my tourist duty and savor wonderfully fresh sashimi.

References:

Chambers GK, Edinur HA. Reconstruction of the Austronesian Diaspora in the Era of Genomics. Hum Biol. 2021 Oct;92(4):247-263. doi: 10.13110/humanbiology.92.4.04. PMID: 34665569.
Lipson M, Loh PR, Patterson N, Moorjani P, Ko YC, Stoneking M, Berger B, Reich D. Reconstructing Austronesian population history in Island Southeast Asia. Nat Commun. 2014 Aug 19;5:4689. doi: 10.1038/ncomms5689. PMID: 25137359; PMCID: PMC4143916.