According to her, during the old days, the extent of people’s land ownership then were identified and delineated through traditional landmarks such as rivers, various perennial trees, and other traditional boundaries. Bai Kusan also had planted on the land a number of silal or buri and coconut trees herself. A mosque but destroyed during the war was also built by her grandfather in the area. Several tampat, tombs of members of Maguindanaon royalty, whom she claims to be her ancestors, can also be found within the adjacent Sitio Malasila. The Sultan of Malasila was also buried there.
only about seven years old. She was so frightened by the first sight of big numbers of bisaya who first appeared in Barangay Popoyon one night time when her father was still out trading at other towns. She recalled that out of fear, her mother refused to sleep. To feign an excuse not to sleep, she started weaving a mat, and finished by the crack of dawn one big enough to cover their entire home. Her scared Moro yaya (nanny) had removed a few pieces of wood planks of their house and instructed her that should anything happen that night, she should escape through one such opening, run as fast as she could, and leave her to face the settlers alone.
She recalls that when she was still a child, she saw how the Moros lived peacefully in Malasila where Barrio Damacling belonged (now Barangay Popoyon). Her parents, ancestors and the Moros then used to barter trade at Dulawan, Datu Piang and Cotabato City out of their corn and coconut harvests. They would exchange corn for fish fry (uyap). It used to take them seven days by boat to reach Cotabato to trade.
The presence of settlers caused them fear and anxiety because they could not communicate with and understand each other. It was their first time to hear a strange language being spoken. When her father arrived, he tried to drive away the settlers, but the settlers refused to leave. The situation grew more tensionfilled when one day, her father tried to build a new “tabungos” (warehouse) for their rice. The settlers would forcibly topple down and destroy each and every post he put up. They could not understand why they were being prevented by the settlers from constructing any improvement on their own land.
She says that the idea that her ancestors had ever sold lands to others was unthinkable. Due perhaps to the abundance of land, she said that any Moro, usually their relatives and her grandfather’s sakop (constituents/vassals) could occupy and cultivate any unoccupied land but always with the permission of the Datus or Sultan. Lot 352 and their neighboring/adjacent lands which is now part of Baragay Popoyon were inhabited only by Moros and a few Manobo highlanders. Today, majority of the population of Barangay Popoyon are settlers.
Their family found out later that the settlers came into the area because a prominent Maguindanaon Congressman commanded them to enter the area, something that was without their knowledge and consent. He is said to be a Representative of the undivided Cotabato Province during 1950’s. The settlers were allegedly brought in by the said politician to muster more votes during elections110. From then on, Bai Kusan witnessed
Bai Kusan recounts that she would never forget the first time she saw the bisaya109(settlers) in the early 1950s when she was Land Tenure Stories in Central Mindanao
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