FOLKLORE has it that the peopling of the Philippines began with the migration of the 10 datus that fled oppression in their homeland of Borneo. They sailed the South China Sea aboard vessels called balangay and found themselves settling on Panay Island in communities named barangay. Later, some of the barangays sailed northward to start the migration that encompassed the whole of Luzon, beginning from the province called Batangan — what else but today's Batangas?

That was the history of how the Philippines came about after the 10 Bornean datus claimed the lowlands of Panay from King Marikudo of Panay in exchange for a golden salakot. The spread of the barangays archipelago-wide had the necessary start of the settlement in pre-historic Batangan.