Speakers of Manobo language populate the Agusan Valley, Caraga Region, Eastern part of Mindanao Island, Philippines. Because there are many dialectical variations among these Agusan Manobo speakers of the vast Agusan Valley, the presentation concerns only the descendants of the aboriginal Manobos who live in the town of Loreto, Agusan del Sur province.

    Bounded in the south and west by the central mountain range of Mindanao and in the north and east by marshy lands that alternate with plain and grassy lands, Loreto is locked in one corner of the map. It is described as a “river town” because it is not along the National highway that would have linked it physically to Butuan City in the North or to Davao City in the south.

    Loreto is drained by Umayam River, which headwaters is in the mountains of neighboring Bukidnon province. Downstream Umayam River meets the Agusan River from Davao province, which then empties into Butuan City. In this part of Mindanao Island, rivers have been the major passageways by which goods and people travel to and fro the hubs of small trading posts and “highway” towns.

    Historically, much of the lands were formerly forests, but many huge logging concessions operated in the place from the 1950s to 70s, connecting this faraway obscure place to First World markets. Land clearings thereafter were immediately squatted by speakers of the Visayan language, who came from the seacoasts or from other parts of Mindanao. These settlers bartered the cleared lands from the Manobos with manufactured goods with modicum values.

    Loreto became an independent town in the 1960s.