Sambal

The Sambal are the original Austronesian inhabitants of Zambales on the mountainous western coast of Luzon, with related communities in Pangasinan. They once lived farther south until Tagalog migration pushed them north, where they displaced the Aeta foragers.

Early Spanish accounts describe a headhunting society of small villages, skilled with poison arrows, short spears and the rectangular kalasag shield. Warriors took heads with the bararao dagger, and their faith centered on the creator Malayari, served by shamans called bayoc.

Under Spanish rule the Sambal were gathered into towns and gradually Christianized. In 1660 the Zambales chieftain Pedro Gumapos led six thousand men in Andres Malong's war, sacking Vigan before he was captured and hanged. They shipped timber to Manila, but Moro pirate raids kept Zambales poor through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.