Where can you find Lequios Tribe in the Philippines?

Answer 1

The Lequios is a group of ancient Hebrews who settled around Ophir, which the Spaniards considered the Philippine islands to be, before its colonization. Some historians are saying that the Samar Island of the Philippines could be the seat of the Ophir because the island was named after Samaria, the ancestral homeland of Datu Iberein of the Lakanate of Lawan. In Spain there is a 16th Century Book entitled "Coleccion General de Documentos Relativos a las Islas Filipinas." It is found in the Archivos de Indias de Sevilla. It was reprinted in 1920 in Barcelona, Spain by the Compania General de Tobaccos de Filipinas. Its Tomo III (1519-1522), pages 112-138, contains Document No. 98 describing how to locate the land of Ophir. (findwords.info/term/lequios).

When 17th-century Spanish missionary Francisco Colin came to the Philippines, they were surprised, that Filipinos, commoners and nobility alike, wore gold jewelry or clothing as everyday accessories. Historian William Henry Scott describes the regality of a certain Datu Iberein of the Lequios Tribe, and his entourage in 1543. Upon seeing a Spanish vessel anchored off the coast of Samar, the datu wearing golden earrings and chains rowed to the Spanish boat. His oarsmen wore gold necklaces.Iberein is merely an example of some of the wealthy and influential rulers of the Philippines in pre-colonial times. Among the most wealthy and powerful were Rajah Sulayman and Lakan Dula of Manila (circa 1570), and Sultan Kudarat of Maguindanao (circa 1619 to 1671). (esquiremag.ph )

Women of the Lakanate of Lawan populated by the Lequios Tribe are known from far away lands as pretty and faithful.This long generations of pretty women are instrumental in the growing prosperity and influence of the Lequios Tribe’s Lakanate of Lawan among far away settlements -- in Albay, indianized settlement of Datu Buntuan, gold rich settlement of the Kalagan people, civilized settlement of Mulanay, battle - tested settlement of Mangatang and even settlement in Tundok. There are even historical research which suggests that the Otley Bayer Theory of the Philippine Migration towards the direction of the Lakanate of Lawan from as far as Judea, India, China, Muslim settlements, and lately, Spain -- is primarilly driven by these romanticised legends and seafarer stories of gold, spices, prosperous life and beautiful women. These intermigration from elsewhere in the direction of Lawan ended, in most of them, in other places which started new settlements, in addition of the settlements all over the archipelago initiated by the Lakanate of Lawan in their search for precious gold to be traded in their ancient homeland in Samaria. With the recent French discovery of the 700,000 year old rhinoceros man in the Philippines, the findings that the ancient alphabet of the Philippines called Baybayin came from a settlement in the Lakanate of Lawan called even today as Baybay, and the Australian study which says that the Philippines is the homeland of the polynesians including findings that it could be the seat of the biblical Ophir, the Lequios (known in vernacular as Waray) sparked the golden age of the Philippine ancient history. To paint a picture this golden age, an account of Fr. Alcina, as written by Henry Scott, talked about a pretty princess named Bingi of Lawan. There lived in this place a chief called Karagrag, who was its lord and ruler. He was married to a lady of his rank called Bingi, a name which had been bestowed on her because of her chastity, as we shall see. (I was not able to find out if she came from the same town; most probably she was from upstream on the Catubig River, where she was the daughter of the chief there.) This lady, according to what they recount, was endowed with many fine virtues and ready celebrated for her beauty among these natives, so much so that, moved by the fame of her beauty, the Datu, or ruler, of Albay got ready a hundred ships. This chief was called Dumaraug, which means the victor, and with all those ships he weighed anchor in his land, and within a short time came in view of the [Lawan Island] town of Makarato. His unexpected arrival excited the town, but since it was well-fortified by its natural location and it was the season of the Vendavales (the best time for going there from Albay) when the force of the sea and its waves were strong and turbulent, he did not venture to go straight in but took shelter instead near the beach which Rawis Point makes with very fine sand and free of shoals, where, became of an islet across the entrance from the sea, the surf is less obstructive and the sea milder and calm. From there he sent a small boat with a sign of peace to announce the purpose of his coming, which was simply to carry Bingi away as his wife, the fame of whose beauty alone had left him lovestruck. Datu Dumaraog went back to Albay, failing to win the heart of Princess Bingi of the Lequios Tribe. (archive.org/stream/BarangaySixteenthCenturyPhilippine)