By the 18th century, Augustinian historian Antonio Mozo discovered that early Visayan and Mindanaoan warriors didn’t exclusively use opium to get high. For instance, a root crop, known in Kapampangan as “sugapa,” could provide even the meekest warrior with the reckless courage needed in war.
As reported by Mozo, “he who eats it is made beside himself, and rendered so furious that while its effect lasts he cares not for dangers, nor even hesitates to rush into the midst of pikes and swords.”
He added that “by eating it at the time of the attack, they enter the battle like furious wild beasts, without turning back even when their force is cut to pieces; on the other hand, even when one of them is pierced from side to side with a lance, he will raise himself by that very lance in order to strike at him who had pierced him.”
