The T'boli, according to their myths, are descendants of La Bebe and La Lomi, and Tamfeles and La Kagef, two couples that survived a big flood after being warned by the deity Dwata to take precautions. Taking a huge bamboo that could accommodate countless people; they filled the vessel with food. When Mt. Hulon was inundated, the four got into the bamboo while the rest of the population drowned in the swollen waters. When the floods subsided and the days grew warm, the fortunate couples split the bamboo open and emerged into the sunlight.
La Kagaf and Tamteles begot 12 sons and daughters. Sodot Henok and Nayong who begot the Tausequil (lowlanders);Dodom and Eva who begot the Tau mohin , the sea- dwellers from Kiamba; Bou and Umen who begot the Tau sebu, the uplanders of Lake Sebu and Sinulon; La Bila and Mooma who begot the Bilaan of Tupi; Dugo and Sewen who begot the Ubu(manobo); and Kmanay and Sodi who begot the people who became Muslims. From the loins of La Bebe and La Lomi sprang the Ilonggo and other Visayan groups, the Ilocano , and the Tagalog.
Anthropologist says that the T'boli could be of Austronessian stock. It is believed that they were already, to some degree, agricultural and used to range the coasts up to the mountain with the arrival of later groups , however these people were gradually pushed to the uplands.
There is reasonable speculation, however that the T'boli, along with the other upland groups, used to advent of Islam in the region, starting in the 14th century .The T'boli and there Ubo (Manobo) and Bilaan neighbors resisted the aggressive proselytizing of a succession of Muslim warrior-priest, the greatest of whom was Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuan from Johore in present day Malaysia,who subsequently establish the sultanate of Maguindanao during the late 15th and early 19th centuries.
Muslim oral accounts called tarsila claim that those who accepted the new faith remained in the Cotabato Valley, while the others retreated to the relatives safety and isolation of the mountains (Saleeby 1974:184 193).
Conflict between the Muslims and the noon Islamized tribes continue with constant slaving raids by the former upon the latter. It is no wonder then that in
Folk literature, the muslims figure as perennial villains. Nevertheless, a regular volume of trade emerged despite the strained relations.
The fierce resistance of the Muslims against Spanish incursions served to insulate the T'boli from contact with Christianity and Spanish colonization. Only when the Americans were able to bring the Muslims under their sway, through a combination of military prowess and civil and religios accommodation, did the Christians elements penetrate Cotabato and subsequently the hinter lands. Instrumental in the development was the collaboration of Datu Piang of the Maguindanao, whose family was to exercise considerable political power over the region during the American regime.
In 1913 13,000 ha of the Cotabato Valley were opened up for settlement and the first waves of Christians arrived. The trickle of immigrants gradually increased into major streams of Christian, especially from the Ilocano,Tagalog,and Visaya region when the Philippine government,in an effort to alleviate land pressures and arrest the concomitant rise of revolutionary movements in Luzon and the Visayas, opened up 50,000 hain Koronadal Valley for homesteading in 1938. From February 1939 to October 1950, 8,300 families were resettled by the National Land Settlement Agency.
These migration adversely affected the T'boli in the wake of homesteaders came commercial ranching, mining, and logging interests. Armed with land grants and timber licenses, these entities increasingly encroached upon the T'boli homeland and disenfranchised those who had resident on the land since time immemorial, but who not having access to the Philippine government, did not obtain legal protection from the latter.
