Cuyonon life was not always marked by extensive social status differences between neighbors. Until the twentieth century, Cuyonon economy and society were identified only with the small and isolated island of Cuyo itself. In this chapter, we will see how similar Cuyonon farmers once were in their basic economic and social characteristics. To be sure, even in Cuyo, people were not literally “equal” in such attributes as landownership, income, or social status. But economic stagnation and social isolation minimized the import of any differences in these realms. In practice, rural Cuyonon differed little in living standard or life-style. Further, drawn largely from the middle ranks of their home villages, those farmers who actually left Cuyo to homestead land in Palawan were broadly equal in wealth and social status.

A volcanic island, Cuyo is located in the Sulu Sea midway between Palawan Island and Panay Island (Map 1.1). Spain Catholicized Cuyo early (1622) and long retained the island as its principal foothold in this part of the Philippines. From Cuyo, the Spanish nominally administered, but never fully controlled, Palawan Province, which embraces both Palawan Island itself and numerous small islands, including Cuyo Island. In contrast to Cuyo, Palawan Island never had an indigenous lowland population but was instead sparsely inhabited by a number of upland groups: the Batak, the Tagbanua, and the Palawan.

Yet it was the Cuyonons who were destined to inherit Palawan Island or at least to so dominate it that they would also become known as “Palaweños.”