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Overview
Bantugan is introduced as a powerful man whose unnamed father is brother to earthquake and thunder. He sends his son Balatama to arrange a marriage with a distant sultan’s daughter. When the messenger is delayed, Bantugan follows and finds a Spanish general claiming the same bride. After naval and land fighting, the sultan pretends to withdraw the marriage offer from both rivals, then secretly marries his daughter to Bantugan when the Spaniard departs.
The general returns, destroys the sultan’s city and later attacks Bantugan’s homeland. Bantugan’s ship sinks in battle, but the island of Bongos rises where it went down. The narrator says that he and his warriors continue to live within its mountains, with watchers who seize women from passing boats. This is Cole’s particular island-survival ending, not an independently established historical event or an account of every Bantugan epic. Its anti-colonial conflict and religious language are retained as features of the recorded narrative without adopting its insults.
Origins & earliest records
Philippines; Mindanao narrative in Cole’s Moro section
Records & interpretation
Complete The Story of Bantugan, its three notes and the Moro-section introduction directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Philippine Folk Tales
Moro section, The Story of Bantugan, pp. 163–171 and notes 7–9
Family, evolution & connections
Bantugan’s paternal family — Cole’s Moro tale
Explicit father, son and father’s two siblings in this 1916 collection’s telling.
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- Bantugan’s father and his two stated siblings
- Unnamed father of Bantugan
- Earthquake — father’s brother
- Thunder — father’s brother
Opening parentage and sibling statement, repeated father–son addresses and note 7. The root groups siblings; it is not an invented common parent. Earthquake and thunder receive no additional personal identities. Bantugan’s later wife is not stated to be Balatama’s mother.
Balatama
Cole explicitly calls Balatama Bantugan’s son. The boy carries his father’s marriage proposal and is rescued on the return journey.
Unnamed father of Bantugan
The opening identifies Bantugan’s unnamed father; the old Sultan’s father later recognizes his flags and recalls their earlier marriage agreement.
Bantugan’s wife within Timaco
Bantugan returns and marries the Princess after the battle and deceptive settlement. The ending separately locates his wife in Timaco. Her motherhood of Balatama is not stated.
Earthquake, father’s brother in Cole’s Bantugan tale
The opening says Bantugan’s father is the brother of earthquake and thunder. This kinship belongs to Cole’s specific version, not an unrestricted genealogy of earthquake traditions.
Thunder, father’s brother in Cole’s Bantugan tale
Cole’s opening makes thunder a brother of Bantugan’s father. No personal name or broader thunder-deity identity is supplied.
Primary records and illustrations
Philippine Folk Tales
Moro section; The Story of Bantugan. Moro section, The Story of Bantugan, pp. 163–171 and notes 7–9
Complete story, notes7–9 and sectional introduction with its note read. Named father-son relation, storm-object and distinct island endings preserved; no extra anatomical or transformation claims. Original paraphrase; no oral teller identified.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical collection / primary recorded narrativeCole, Philippine Folk Tales (1916), Moro section, The Story of Bantugan, pp. 163–171 and notes 7–9Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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