text: The extensive use of gold during early Philippine history is well-documented, both in the archeological record and in the various written accounts from precolonial and early Spanish colonial times. Gold was used throughout the Philippine archipelago in various decorative and ceremonial items, as clothing, and also as currency.
  Gold was readily available throughout the Philippine archipelago, and gold items were valued as symbols of power and markers of elite status, although studies of grave artifacts suggest that these items were not as valued in precolonial Philippines as traded ornaments were. Gold was plentiful enough that local elites did not feel the need to acquire large amounts of it, and only sought it as the need arose, by trading with settlements which produced it through low intensity mining.
  Among the most prominent sites for gold mining in early Philippine history were Aringay-Tonglo-Balatok trade route covering the Cordillera Mountain Range and the Lingayen gulf towns of Agoo and Aringay; the mines of Paracale on the Bicol Peninsula which were a major source of gold for the trading centers of the Visayan islands, particularly Panay and Cebu; and the Butuan-Surigao area, particularly along the Agusan river on the island of Mindanao, which made Butuan (historical polity) an important trading center.