Pila is a settlement on the south shore of Laguna de Bay, excavated and found to be occupied through this period, with imported ceramics and iron-working (the campaign board's note; we could not check the excavation reports).
It is read by Tiongson as the Pailah of the Copperplate of 900, whose Lord Minister (named Jayadewa in Postma's reading) pardoned a debt; Postma instead placed Pailah in Bulacan. The lake is a highway, and its shore villages are the hinterland that feeds the Pasig mouth. The datu of 1200 is not known.
Who he is
- Title
- Chief of Pila (the Lord Minister of Pailah of the Copperplate, if Pila is Pailah)
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source names the chief of this place for 1200. The word datu (and barangay) is recorded by the Spanish from the 1560s; the Copperplate of 900 uses Sanskrit-Malay titles instead. Everything about 1200 is inference from archaeology and later accounts.
What it holds
- The lakeshore landing and the iron-working
- The paths to the Sierra Madre foothills
- Fish and rice
Allies and rivals
Tied to its neighbours by marriage, debt, feud and raid; nothing above it.
How things stand that morning
Not described for 1200.
Wealth
Iron goods, rice, fish, imported ceramics; no figures.
Military
War boats and raiding parties in the later record; no numbers.
Threats
- Raiders from the next coast
- Typhoon and flood
- A change in the Chinese trade
Places of note
- Pila: Excavated settlement on the south shore of the lake (board).
Where the sources disagree
- Wikipedia ('Laguna Copperplate Inscription') reports the Pila Historical Society Foundation's side in the dispute over Pailah; the identification is argued and the campaign board's confidence is its own.
Evidence: The Copperplate reading is disputed; the excavated settlement is board-reported.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A river mouth community's near land, drawn as a seeded block.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, 'Laguna Copperplate Inscription' (read in this pass): Saka 822, 21 April 900, the places and titles, the find at Wawa, Lumban
- The OMNIA board (September 2026) note for this place: a lead only, not a source
- Background knowledge of Southeast Asian history (Wolters; Hall; Bellwood; Scott; Junker; Reid), recalled and not re-read in this pass
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.