Panabas, aka Bruticus Maximus...

[Federico]

Originally Posted by Spunjer

i believe it's an umbrella...

We must go to the same church, cause I believe its a Royal Umbrella as well

Vandoo good conjecture there. A good description on the actual mechanics of a Datu's duty is in Kiefer's anthropoligical work The Tausug. Though a case study done in the 1960s, it is very consistent with more historical observations from the 19th century and earlier. Beyond executional purposes, a strong display of potential violence (at least according to what I remember from Kiefer) was the visual display of a Datu's muscle, so to speak, to enforce his decisions if there was any opposition (since they were likely armed as well), as well as the legitimacy of his rule by the strength and well equiped status of his followers/body guards.