10 Facts About Eskaya

Some journalists argued that the Eskaya were historically displaced from the Middle East, while others suggested that the community was a cult speaking an invented language.

Today, the Eskaya are officially classified as an Indigenous Cultural Community under The Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.

Significant Eskaya populations are now found in the nearby townships of Canta-ub, Lundag, Tambongan, Cadapdapan, and Fatimah.

In 1996, the Eskaya community was awarded a certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim by President Fidel Ramos.

The Eskaya retain spiritual traditions once widespread in lowland Boholano rural communities.

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Until recently, the Eskaya practised a form of communal farming in which a portion of land was tilled for the benefit of the whole community.

Eskaya literature was first dictated for transcription by Mariano Datahan whose words were recorded by personal scribes.

The Eskaya stories are fundamental to the community's understanding of itself, particularly its origins, belief systems, and practices.

Eskaya writings mentioned by researchers are as follows: Abedeja, Ang Alpabeto sa Katsila, Ang Damgo ni Hurayhaber, Ang Lingganay na Ugis, Ang mga hiyas ug Caague ni Mariano Datahan, Ang pagtulun-an sa Bisayas, Aritmetica, Askormos Meneme, Atekeses, Bisayan Declarado, Daylinda, Grinada, Kwadra, Pamatasan, Pinay, Pinulungan, Rangnan, Simplet, Suno, Tumao and Unang Tao sa Bisaya sa Bohol.

Some of the more unusual proposals are that the Eskaya people are a Semitic proto-Christian tribe; that they possess the lost book of Enoch; that they are descended from the builders of King Solomon's temple; that their existence proves the imminence of a second Messiah in Bohol; or that they guard esoteric secrets.