by: Jason de la Cruz
The Tau't Batu are very articulate in Palawan, a language spoken by the different groups in the southern portion of the island and the Tau't Batu language. Only two men can speak the Tagalog, Lineas and Ukir, both Palawans who married Tau't Batu women.
The Tau't Batu are still primitive in their lifestyle, even in the way of dressing. The men still wear G-strings made of bark and cloth and the women wear a piece of cloth made into skirts to cover the lower body. Both of them are half-naked but sometimes women wear a blouse which is not indigenous but obtained through the market system.
The Tau't Batu's craftsmanship is cruder compared to other Palawan group, except in exceptional cases involving basketry. Around cave-dwellings, for example, they construct a light and sturdy lattice-work made of saplings lashed together and anchored fast to crevices in the walls to provide access to the caves. The construction does not depend on any major framework to hold the unit against the walls. The anchorage is distributed all along the framework such that the breakdown of one section can be compensated for by the rest of the construction. With conditions varying in different caves, there are modifications and elaborations on the basic datag or sleeping platform, paga or multi-purpose platforms, and lagkaw or granary.
There are two musical instruments known, the Kubing and Kudlong aside from the gong.
There are swidden cultivators, practicing multiple cropping with cassava as the major source of carbohydrate. They also produce sweet potato, sugarcane, malunngay, garlic, pepper, string beans, squash, tomato, pineapple, etc. Throughout the year, hunting and forging is pursued to complement the carbohydrate diet of the people. Most of the wild pigs are caught through spring traps.
They also indulge in sambi or (barter) and dagang (monetary exchange). The trade is specifically for marine fish which the people of Candawaga provide in exchange for horticultural products of the Tau't Batu. Dagang involves forest products like almaciga, rattan, etc.
The basic social unit among the Tau't Batu of Singnapan is the ka-asawan or marriage group. This extends from the basic couple, man and woman, to the more complex arrangements of a compounded and extended family grouping. The ka-asawahan or households units are further grouped into larger associations called bulun-bulun which literally means gathering. These multi-household bands are physically bounded in the terms of areas of habitation. Each bulun-bulun ordinarily occupies a single cave for residence, or a single house complex in the swidden area. One thing clear is that membership in a bulun-bulun is characterized by the system of sharing through different types of social and material exchanges, a prominent example being the sharing of food.
