Well as you say, with the flatness of the spine and the narrowness of the blade this knife does really seem to have much of the profile that i would normal associate with a barong. Hard to say from the photos, but it also doesn't look like a laminated blade nor one of any particular quality, though you should clean it up and give it a light etch to be sure when you get it. My guess would be that this was not a blade that was made for native use. But at that price

it was a real bargain anyway and i would have bought it if i saw it so cheap.