New forum member from the Philippines

tagalanao · 12th September 2005, 02:30 PM

Hi,

Greetings from the Philippines!

I've long been lurking in this forum as an outsider, though not that often. Took me so long to decide to finally register coz I feel I don't fit in this very scholarly community. I'm no sword enthusiast/collector, just a lowly sword vendor (on ebay mostly). But recently, I found myself talking to a few of you here privately, so I figured I must join the forum as well. And Kai kept prodding me to join. So here I am.

I'm in a small city called Iligan, which used to be capital of Lanao del Norte province. The capital was moved elsewhere, but Iligan remains the business center for all of Lanao (Lanao del Sur included). Lanao is home of the Maranaos, or "people of the lake," one of the Muslim tribes in the southern island of Mindanao. Iligan is only an hour's drive away from Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur, and 1.5 hours away from Tugaya, where many of you know is home to Maranao swordsmiths.

I'm a journalist by profession. I used to write for a daily paper in Manila, but I can't tolerate the traffic, the floods and the rat race. My last assignment there was covering the Senate, which got me really bored. I decided to bring my family back to my hometown, and resumed my journalistic pursuits here. It was much more exciting work than Manila. But the low pay in the journalism industry in this country drove me to look for other sources income, and thus found ebay, and the Moro swords. I don't do journalism on a regular basis now, only on special assignments. I also do photography work on the side.

While I enjoy earning more on ebay, I also enjoy the readings I need to do so I could communicate well with my buyers, who usually are much more knowledgeable. And reading about Moro swords made me learn more about the history of my very own people. Unfortunately, there's not much reading materials available here. But I can see a lot of people here who know Mindanao a lot.

I'm no Maranao Moro though (how I wish I were), even though I'm living in a place that is traditionally Maranao. That's why I opted to use "tagalanao" instead for this forum, which is vernacular (for the Cebuano dialect) for "one who is from Lanao."

Hoping to an enjoyable stay in this forum.

Bobby T.

12th September 2005, 02:30 PM	#1
tagalanao Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Lanao, Philippines Posts: 37	New forum member from the Philippines Hi, Greetings from the Philippines! I've long been lurking in this forum as an outsider, though not that often. Took me so long to decide to finally register coz I feel I don't fit in this very scholarly community. I'm no sword enthusiast/collector, just a lowly sword vendor (on ebay mostly). But recently, I found myself talking to a few of you here privately, so I figured I must join the forum as well. And Kai kept prodding me to join. So here I am. I'm in a small city called Iligan, which used to be capital of Lanao del Norte province. The capital was moved elsewhere, but Iligan remains the business center for all of Lanao (Lanao del Sur included). Lanao is home of the Maranaos, or "people of the lake," one of the Muslim tribes in the southern island of Mindanao. Iligan is only an hour's drive away from Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur, and 1.5 hours away from Tugaya, where many of you know is home to Maranao swordsmiths. I'm a journalist by profession. I used to write for a daily paper in Manila, but I can't tolerate the traffic, the floods and the rat race. My last assignment there was covering the Senate, which got me really bored. I decided to bring my family back to my hometown, and resumed my journalistic pursuits here. It was much more exciting work than Manila. But the low pay in the journalism industry in this country drove me to look for other sources income, and thus found ebay, and the Moro swords. I don't do journalism on a regular basis now, only on special assignments. I also do photography work on the side. While I enjoy earning more on ebay, I also enjoy the readings I need to do so I could communicate well with my buyers, who usually are much more knowledgeable. And reading about Moro swords made me learn more about the history of my very own people. Unfortunately, there's not much reading materials available here. But I can see a lot of people here who know Mindanao a lot. I'm no Maranao Moro though (how I wish I were), even though I'm living in a place that is traditionally Maranao. That's why I opted to use "tagalanao" instead for this forum, which is vernacular (for the Cebuano dialect) for "one who is from Lanao." Hoping to an enjoyable stay in this forum. Bobby T.