ILIGAN CITY: Ever since the Constitution had cauterized the political function of the datus and sultans, which ushered in the Philippines as a modern nation, most of the royal houses in the southern part of the country that depended on the centuries-old setup had closed shop for good. Unlike other countries of Southeast Asia that still pay homage to their ancient royalties, the Philippines found it convenient to dislodge what little was left of the chieftain system. But this did not altogether spell the demise of royalty altogether. At least in the southern part of the country, a dogged few had maintained the barest semblance of existence for form’s sake. Others had ingeniously reinvented themselves into the emerging political system to augment the survival of their royal household from the Commonwealth down to the present.
