The Taiwan Connection

The migration from Taiwan (the Austronesian Expansion) brought the foundational "Outrigger" technology to the northern Philippines (Luzon) roughly 4,000–5,000 years ago.

It is interesting to note the characteristics of the Filipino vessels found on lake Taal which resemble those built by the Tao people, or Yami, an indigenous Austronesian ethnic group of people native to Orchid Island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, which are historically and linguistically linked to the Ivatan people of the Batanes Islands in the Philippines.

The Tao people are renowned for building traditional, intricately decorated plank canoes, with their rising stern and bow, a type also found in the Moluccas (the orembai) and the "mon" class in the Solomon Islands.