KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 6 March)—Kidapawan was dealt a huge loss last week with the demise of Datu Lamberto “Ombuon” Delfin of Mua-an, one of the Pillars of the City’s Heritage.
At the time of his death, Datu Lamberto was Kidapawan’s most senior and most revered Monuvadtuvad (performer of rituals) and one of the most important sources both of Itulon (oral history) and Tulliyan-Tungoppan (customary jurisprudence).
It was the culmination of decades of public service in various capacities.
In 1976 he was one of the founding members of the Mindanao Highlanders Association (MINDAHILA), one of the country’s first IP rights organizations (and later he was also founding member of its successor organization, the Tribal Communities Association of the Philippines, in 1986).
Datu Lamberto then served as Kidapawan’s City Tribal Affairs Officer (one of the first formally designated city officials to attend to IP affairs) before becoming Chairman of the Mindanao Indigenous People’s Conference for Peace and Development.
In 2014 Datu Lamberto Delfin was chosen as the National Awardee in the Adult Category of the 2014 Search for Outstanding Volunteers (SOV) conducted by the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA).
These official designations do not emphasize enough the lifetime of work he has done to raise awareness about IP rights, fighting discrimination to teach IP youth to be proud of their cultural identity. He once hosted a radio show to talk about Monuvu culture, and he has served as consultant to an innumerable number of educational and cultural programs. The Monuvu of Kidapawan are today proud of who they are in no small part thanks to his efforts.
Datu Lamberto was the son of Datu Dataa, the grandson of Datu Onnaa, and the great-grandson of the known Bohani Datu Sumoggod. From Sumoggod he inherited a celebrated century-old Tongkuu (headdress), which has acquired a reputation for cursing anyone who would touch it without permission. It was one of the most interesting Pusaka (heirlooms) we exhibited in the now-defunct Kidapawan City Cultural Heritage Museum.
On a personal level, Datu Lamberto was one of those tribal leaders who once knew my great-grandfather, Eugenio Galay Sr. (one of few who could attest to the Galay family’s past ties to the Monuvu).
Together with Deputy Mayor Datu Camillo Icdang, he was among the elders of the Monuvu of Kidapawan who recognized me as Datu in 2022.
Datu Lamberto was the one who dreamt my Gaa (epithet) of “Piyak nod Pobpohangon nod Kotuwig don od Ukaa” (Hatchling with a Cockscomb Already Gifted at Crowing). Not everyone invested as Datu receives a Gaa, it has been a privilege to have received one.
The late datu had given me Monuvu umpak (embroidered vest) and a Sow-aa (embroidered shorts) as part of a ritual he conducted over me.
I was walking around the streets of Manila wearing the Umpak when I heard the news of his passing away. I was wearing it when I paid a courtesy visit to the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila’s President, and I was wearing it when I went around the National Museum and the Manila Clock Tower Museum.
I like to think I brought his legacy along with me in all those excursions.
[MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Karlo Antonio G. David has been writing the history of Kidapawan City for the past thirteen years. He has documented seven previously unrecorded civilian massacres, the lives of many local historical figures, and the details of dozens of forgotten historical incidents in Kidapawan. He was invested by the Obo Monuvu of Kidapawan as “Datu Pontivug,” with the Gaa (traditional epithet) of “Piyak nod Pobpohangon nod Kotuwig don od Ukaa” (Hatchling with a large Cockscomb, Already Gifted at Crowing). The Don Carlos Palanca and Nick Joaquin Literary Awardee has seen print in Mindanao, Cebu, Dumaguete, Manila, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, and Tokyo. His first collection of short stories, “Proclivities: Stories from Kidapawan,” came out in 2022.]
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On this section of Moppiyon Kahi diid Patoy, we remember important dates and incidents that took place in Kidapawan history.
17 February 1975 – DXND, North Cotabato’s oldest radio station, started operating in Kidapawan.
22 February 1960 – Elpidio Masbad Sr., newly appointed PC Commander of Cotabato, appears before the Kidapawan Municipal Council for the first time. Masbad would shake up Kidapawan’s police force in the succeeding years.
22 February 1965 – Municipal Council Resolution No. 35 of 1965 was passed asking congress to abolish the newly organized Poblacion governments. The administration of then Mayor Alfonso Angeles was coming into conflict with that of the founding barrio captain of the Poblacion, Peidu Dumacon.
26 February 1974 – Municipal Council Resolution No. 34 of 1974 was passed declaring Mt. Apo a tourist attraction, Kidapawan’s first official tourist attraction.
3 March 1966 – Consul of the Republic of China visited Kidapawan, first foreign diplomat recorded to have visited Kidapawan. The name of the Consul is not recorded.
6 March 1968 – In a Municipal Council Session, Councilor Felix Jalipa reported on the night club raids in Davao, and how it resulted in mass influx of hostesses into Kidapawan, bringing a spike in venereal diseases.
