Datu Pugawang

Datu Pugawang (colonial name, Luis Daniel ‘Dann’ Alba Pantoja, and also known as Lakan Sumulong), whose name means MindSetter, was entrusted by the Bagobo Tagabawa tribal council with the role of mentoring the next generation of Indigenous leaders to navigate modernity and globalization without losing their roots. While the elders continue to safeguard and deepen the community’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP)—its spirituality, worldview, values, and customary laws—Pugawang helps harmonize these ancient foundations with the realities of the 21st century. He guides young leaders to see technology as a means to preserve culture, to engage in the economy for community well-being rather than profit, and to participate in politics as bearers of ancestral wisdom. For him, Indigenous values are not relics of the past but prophetic voices urgently needed in today’s pursuit of peace, justice, and ecological balance. In this shared work, the elders nurture the roots, and Pugawang shapes the branches—helping the youth grow deeply grounded yet outward-reaching toward the wider world.