Manuel "Manda" Cadwallader Elizalde Jr. (November 8, 1936 – May 2, 1997) was a Filipino entrepreneur. He was most known for claiming to discover a ' Stone-Age' tribe called the Tasadays which was later rumored as a hoax.

Personal life

Elizalde was born in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

on November 8, 1936, to Manuel "Manolo" Elizalde Sr. and Mary Cadwallader. He was married, but the couple later divorced.

Tasaday hoax

In June 1971, Elizalde claimed to discover a primitive tribe untouched by civilization, who lived in caves and survived by hunting and gathering. The " Tasadays" were found in a forest in South Cotabato,

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

. The story gained traction in international media, some complimenting him as "a visionary idealist who cared more about the hard-pressed national minorities than about his family fortune". However, all visits from foreign media and scholars were supervised by the Presidential Assistance on National Minorities (PANAMIN), which was led by Elizalde himself. Independent anthropologists were prohibited to enter the Tasaday reservation area, thus no scholarly papers were published on the Tasaday at that time. It was only after the Marcos downfall that a Swiss journalist, Oswald Iten, entered the area and found the so-called Paleolithic tribe dressed in T-shirts and living in huts. Many other local and foreign anthropologists decried Elizalde's claims, calling it an elaborate hoax.

Other controversies

Elizalde was regarded as a

crony Cronyism is the spoils system practice of Impartiality, partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations. For example, cronyism occurs ...

of former president and dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He and his brother Fred J. Elizalde became involved in many businesses, such as mining, abaca farming, sugar centrals,

tinplate Tinplate consists of sheets of steel coated with a thin layer of tin to impede rusting. Before the advent of cheap milled steel, the backing metal was wrought iron. While once more widely used, the primary use of tinplate now is the manufacture ...

manufacturing, paints, foods, distillery, real estate, rural banking, and agri-business. They both came into conflict with many of his laborers due to exploitation of sugar workers, refusing to pay livable wages and bonuses, and oppression of cultural minorities. Elizalde was the chief executive of several steel companies, which were favored and accommodated by the Marcos regime through funding and guaranteed access to lucrative markets. He monopolized sales of tinplate, and raised prices at will, which rippled in the market with price increases. In one instance, Elizalde raised the price for tinplate by 17% in 1980, and threatened to increase it with another 7.5% unless the government continued to charge tax on imported raw materials.

Death

Elizalde died on May 3, 1997, of leukemia. His family did not disclose the cause of death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elizalde, Manuel Filipino people of Spanish descent Filipino people of Basque descent Filipino people of American descent 20th-century Filipino businesspeople Harvard University alumni Businesspeople from Manila 1936 births 1997 deaths Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Merit (Philippines)