[migueldiaz]

The comments of (Datu) Bangkaya are very edifying indeed.

The only thing I can add is that according to one of my favorite historians, William Henry Scott, a study of ancient local vocabularies in our country reveals that the Bicolanos had the most number of terms for warfare and fighting (including sea raiding).

For instance in the well-studied Chinese account of southeast Asian sea raiders (from "Pisheya") that routinely attacked southern mainland China in the 12th century, these "Visayans" are being thought to be either from Samar or from Bicol. And the narrowing down to these two groups had something to do with the ocean jet stream that these sea raiders use to facilitate the going in and out of southern China.

And my own speculation is that Bicol swords are usually short and stubby precisely because of this naval or 'piratical' roots ...

PS - Goegraphically, Bicol is attached to Luzon. But ethnographically and historically, the Bicolanos are more of Visayans. The seas that separate Bicol from the Visayas actually link the two. Because for southeast Asians, waters connect while land masses (mountain ranges) divide.