Editing Lakandula (section)

==Life before the arrival of the Spaniards==
Little is known about the early life of Bunaw, Lakan Dula, before the arrival of Legazpi. According to National Artist Nick Joaquin "''he is presumed to be of native birth''," with mixed Sinaunang Tagalog (Dumagat) and Kapampangan ancestry.  Joaquin adds that "''He was said to be a descendant of King Balagtas.''"<ref name="JoaquinManila"/>

Joaquin further speculates on the Lakandula's religious beliefs:<ref name="JoaquinManila"/> <blockquote>"''Tondo's Lakan Dula may have been unusual in being neither foreign nor Muslim. This was indicated by his use of the native term Lakan instead of the foreign [Muslim] title Rajah. Lakandula can be presumed . . . to have been reared in the anito cults. One guess is that he converted to Islam, then changed his mind and returned to his native faith.''"</blockquote>

Joaquin also expounds on the economic context of the Lakandula's reign over Tondo:<ref name="JoaquinManila"/> <blockquote>"''Tondo had replaced Namayan as the chief port of entry on Manila Bay. Tondo was right on the seaside. This was the advantage it had over Namayan, which was upriver inland. So the merchant ships that came into the bay preferred to unload their goods at the port of Tondo. And now it was the king of Tondo who was responsible for sending the merchandise upriver to the lakeside communities, there to be traded for local products. Tondo was thus the distributing center, or entrepot, on the delta... At the time of [the last] Lakan [in the 1570s], Tondo was at the height of its career as an entrepot….''"</blockquote>

According to Scott (1982), when ships from China arrived at Manila Bay, the Lakandula would remove the sails and rudders of their ships until they paid him duties and anchorage fees, and then he would then buy up all their goods himself, paying half its value immediately and then paying the other half upon their return the following year.  In the interim, he would trade these goods with peoples further upstream, the end result being that other locals were not able to buy anything from the Chinese directly, but only through the Lakandula, who made a considerable profit as a result.<ref name="scottparchment">{{cite book|last=Scott|first=William Henry|title=Cracks in the Parchment Curtain and Other Essays in Philippine History|publisher=New Day Publishers|year=1982|location = Quezon City|isbn= 978-971-10-0000-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XyVyAAAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref name="Santiago"/><ref name="Sevilla" />

William Henry Scott notes that Augustinian Fray Martin de Rada Legaspi reported that the Tagalogs were "''more traders than warriors''", and elsewhere notes that Maynila's ships got their goods from Tondo and then dominated trade through the rest of the archipelago. People in other parts of the archipelago often referred to Maynila's boats as "Chinese" (Sina or Sinina) because they came bearing Chinese goods.<ref name="scottparchment"/>