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The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (900 A.D.) is inscribed with small writing hammered into its surface. It shows heavy Indian cultural influence (by way of Srivijaya) present in the Philippines prior to Spanish colonisation in the 16th century.

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Description

The inscription is on a thin copper plate measuring less than 20 × 30 cm (8 × 12 inches) in size with words directly embossed onto the plate. It differs in manufacture from other Javanese scrolls of the period, which had the words inscribed onto a heated, softened scroll of metal.

Inscribed on it the Saka era date year of Siyaka 822, month of Waisaka, the fourth day of the waning moon, which corresponds to Monday, 21 April 900 CE in the Gregorian calendar. The writing system used is the Kawi Script, while the language is a variety of Old Malay, and contains numerous loanwords from Sanskrit and a few non-Malay vocabulary elements whose origin is between Old Tagalog and Old Javanese. The document states that it releases its bearers, the children of Namwaran, from a debt in gold amounting to 1 kati and 8 suwarnas (865 grams).

Dutch anthropologist and Hanunó'o script expert Antoon Postma has concluded that the document also mentions the places of Tondo (Tundun); Paila (Pailah), now an enclave of Barangay San Lorenzo, Norzagaray; Binuangan (Binwangan), now part of Obando; and Pulilan (Puliran); and Mdaη (the Javanese Kingdom of Medang), Indonesia. The exact locations of Pailah and Puliran are debatable as these could refer to the present-day town of Pila and the southeastern part of the lake previously known are Puliran, both close to where the plate was found. The reference of Namwaran may also have the connotation for nawara, a Visayan term for revering the dead. In old Visayan customs, the name of dead persons were not spoken in conversation, out of respect. The word Binwangan in Waray means river mouth while 'Puliran' would mean to roll from hills to a flatland, a topographic condition present in the present town of Lumban.

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Discovery

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription was found in 1989 near the mouth of the Lumbang River near Laguna de Bay, by a man who was dredging sand to turn into concrete. Suspecting that the artifact might have some value, the man sold it to an antique dealer who, having found no buyers, eventually sold it to the National Museum of the Philippines, where it was assigned to Alfredo E. Evangelista, head of its Anthropology Department.

A year later, Antoon Postma noted that the inscription was similar to the ancient Indonesian script of Kawi. Postma translated the script and found the document dated itself to the Saka year 822, an old Hindu calendar date which approximately corresponds to 900 CE.[4] This meant that the document pre-dated the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and is from about the same time as the mention of Philippines in the official Chinese Sung History for the year 972.

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The authenticity of the LCI was a prime concern to all from the very beginning. Postma and the Philippine National Museum were aware of the many frauds that had been perpetrated on Philippine historians in the past. Many of these fraudulent historical documents have unfortunately gotten into Philippine history textbooks which are still being used today.

The most famous of these frauds is the Code of Kalantiaw that every Filipino schoolboy knows. The supposed text of the code was contained in the Pavón manuscript, one of the many fraudulent documents passed on to the Philippine National Museum over many decades by Jose E. Marco, a known philatelic forger. Damage caused by frauds like this is immeasurable.

More than a quarter century after the fraud was exposed in 1965, the average Filipino still believes that the Code of Kalantiaw was real. This is not so much a reflection on the average Filipino's interest in history as it is on the Philippine government's failure to educate the public. As a matter of fact, President Marcos was still inducting "deserving" justices into his Order of Kalantiaw in the 1970's. (This was, perhaps, a fitting way for History to get back at those who wanted to rewrite it.)

Postma was acutely aware of what yet another phony document would do to the community of Philippine historians. He sought and got advice from Dutch and Indonesian experts on the LCI's authenticity. The experts concluded that the specific script style used in the LCI was consistent with its indicated date, and that the correctness of the languages and words used would have been very hard for a forger to have contrived.

Although there were some differences between the LCI and the copperplates found in Indonesia, they were for legitimate reasons and their consensus was that the LCI was authentic.

--from an article by Hector Santos
http://www.bibingka.com/

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