Tracing the Backstory of the Telenovela’s Character the Sorcerer AG-MATA

1. Tracing the Backstory of the
Telenovela’s Character
the Sorcerer AG-MATA

2. Texts and Illustrations are from
The Tinguian
Social, Religious, and Economic
Life of a Philippine Tribe
by
Fay-Cooper Cole

3. In the book’s Introduction, Fay-Cooper Cole writes:
This second and concluding section of
Volume XIV gives the greater part of the
results of an investigation carried out by me
with the assistance of Mrs. Cole among the
Tinguian, from January 1907 to June 1908:
the funds for which were furnished Field
Museum of Natural History by the late
Robert F. Cummings.

4.  The Tinguian and Ilocano…evidently left their
ancient home as a unit, at a time prior to the Hindu
domination of Java and Sumatra.
 Upon the arrival of Salcedo, the greater portion of
the coast people accepted the rule of Spain and the
Christian religion, while the more conservative
element retired to the interior, and there became
merged with the mountain people.
 To the Spaniards, the Christianized natives became
known as Ilocano, while the people of the mountain
valleys were called Tinguian, or mountain dwellers.
 The Tinguian are a pagan Philippine people who
inhabit chiefly the mountain province of Abra in
northwestern Luzon.

5.  The Tinguian has been taught by his elders that he
is surrounded by a great body of spirits, some good,
some malevolent.
 The youth…attends the ceremonies, where he not
only learns the details of…important events, but
[also] the close relationship of the spirit world to his
people.
 He has seen the bodies of the mediums possessed
by the superior beings; he has communicated with
them direct, has seen them cure the sick and
predict coming events.

6. Ag-Mata’s ancestry may be based on two folk-tales.
He could be either the son of a male spirit and his
human wife or the placenta of a newborn baby.
 The first folk-tale recounts the story of BAYON, a
male spirit who dwells in the sky and comes to earth
as a breeze. He steals a girl called LOKADAYA and
marries her.
 The second folk-tale reflects a firm conviction that
a group of spirits, known as ALAN, sometimes take
the placenta and transform it into a real child, who is
then more powerful than ordinary mortals.

20. We are sharing some of our research
to show our students that in the production
of a period drama series and feature film
such as VIGAN, infusing the backstory of
fictional characters with some of the
country’s cultural heritage can be quite a
rewarding experience not only for the
filmmaker but also for the viewer.