READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
INTRODUCTION SOCIAL CLASSES
Long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines, Three classes:
Filipinos had a civilization of their own. This civilization ❖ Nobles – datu and their families (addressed as
partly came from the Malay settlers and partly from Gat or Lakan among Tagalogs)
their response to the new environment. Many of these ❖ Mahadlika/Maharlika – freemen
customs and traditions, government and way of life, ❖ Alipin (dependents) – acquired status by
have come down to the present day, despite the inheritance, captivity, purchase, debt, or crime
changes brought about by westernization and ➢ Aliping namamahay (with house)
modernization. This is why it is possible to know about ➢ Aliping sagigilid (without house)
our distant past by simply observing some customs ➢ In Visayas: tumataban, tumarampok,
and practices that have resisted change and ayuey
modernization. STATUS OF WOMEN
SOCIETY ❖ Had rights: to inherit property, engage in
Philippine pre-colonial society is both different and the trade/industry, succeed as chieftain.
same as in the present. Some aspects of the ❖ Exclusive right to name their children.
pre-colonial period have survived into our time. The ❖ Men walked behind them as sign of respect.
following is a description of the way of life of MARRIAGE CUSTOMS
pre-colonial Filipinos.
❖ Generally monogamous
MODE OF DRESSING ❖ Wife called asawa; concubines called “friends”
Male attire: kanggan (sleeveless jacket) and bahag ❖ Courtship began with paninilbihan (servitude)
(loincloth) ❖ Conditions before marriage:
❖ Color of kanggan indicates rank: red for the ➢ Dowry (bigay-kaya)
chief, black or blue for commoners ➢ Panghihimuyat (payment for waking
❖ Men also wore a turban called putong parents)
(indicates social status/achievement) ➢ Bigay-suso (payment to wet nurse)
Female attire: baro or camisa (jacket with sleeves) ➢ Himaraw (gift to parents)
and saya or patadyong (long skirt) ➢ Sambon (bribe to relatives – Zambals)
❖ Some women wore a red or white cloth (tapis) ❖ Final Arrangement: pamamalae/
over their skirt pamamanhikan/ pamumulungan
ORNAMENTS ❖ Wedding officiated by priestess (babaylan)
❖ Both men and women wore ornaments: ❖ Rice thrown after wedding
kalumbiga, pendants, bracelets, leglets (often Muslim Customs:
made of gold) ❖ Pananalanguni (betrothal) → consultation with
❖ Some wore gold fillings between the teeth parents → decision by village chief
❖ Tattoos were fashionable; showed a man’s war ❖ Dowry (pedsungud) of seven kinds (e.g.,
record kawasateg, siwaka, enduatuan, pangatulian,
❖ Spaniards called the Visayans Islas del tatas, langkad, lekat)
Pintados (Island of the Painted Ones) ❖ Wedding called pegkawing, officiated by hadji
HOUSES ❖ Festivities lasted six days; couple slept
❖ Built to suit tropical climate; generally called together only on seventh
bahay kubo (made of wood, bamboo, nipa MIXED MARRIAGE, INHERITANCE & SUCCESSION
palm, built on stilts with ladders) ❖ Mixed marriages allowed; children’s status
❖ Some (Kalingas, Mandayas, Bagobos) built depended on parents
houses on treetops ❖ Single children = half-free, half-dependent
❖ Badjaos built their houses on boats ❖ Legitimate children → equal inheritance
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
❖ Natural children → 1/3 of legitimate share ➢ Chewing rice and spitting
❖ Ifugaos: bultong (wrestling), alaw (duel)
❖ Children of dependent mothers → given RELIGION
freedom and a few belongings Religious Beliefs
❖ Property of childless couples → inherited by ❖ Belief in immortality of soul and life after death
nearest relatives ❖ Belief in gods and deities:
❖ Succession: eldest son succeeds as datu → ➢ Bathalang Maykapal (Creator)
next son if first dies → eldest daughter if no ➢ Idinayale (agriculture)
sons ➢ Sidapa (death)
POLITICS ➢ Balangaw (rainbow)
Government ➢ Mandarangan (war)
❖ Unit: barangay (30–100 families; from Malay ➢ Agni (fire)
balangay = boat) ➢ Lalahon (harvest)
❖ Headed by a datu (chief executive, legislator, ➢ Siginarugan (hell)
judge, war leader) ➢ Diyan Masalanta (love)
❖ Subjects served him (wars, voyages, planting, ❖ Respect for animals/plants (crocodile, crow,
harvesting, house repair) and paid tribute tigmamanukin)
(buwis) ❖ Idols (likha/larawan, anitos/diwatas) made of
❖ Alliances between barangays formalized by stone, ivory, gold
ritual sangduguan ❖ Offerings given to appease both good and bad
❖ Conflicts settled by violence (winner is “right”) spirits
Laws ❖ Babaylan/katalona (priestess) as mediums
❖ Either customary (oral tradition) or written (as Burial
needed) ❖ Dead placed in coffin, buried under house with
❖ Covered inheritance, property, divorce, loans, belongings
adoption, etc. ❖ Fires under house + guards against sorcerers
❖ Punishments: fines, death, torture (by today’s ❖ Professional mourners hired
standards) ❖ Mourning distinctions:
❖ Society did not tolerate repeat criminals ➢ Morotal – for women
Legislation ➢ Maglahi – for men
❖ Chief consulted with council of elders before ➢ Laraw – for chief (strict prohibitions)
making laws ❖ Relatives wore rattan bands, abstained from
❖ Laws announced by umalohokan (town crier) meat/wine
Judicial Process ❖ Vengeance (balata) required for murdered kin
❖ Individual disputes → chief + elders acted as ❖ Pasiyam (9th day ritual) → play tibaw
judges Divination & Magic Charms
❖ Barangay disputes → neutral elders as arbiters ❖ Superstitious: read omens (birds, dogs, lizards)
❖ Accuser and accused faced each other with ❖ Pangatauhan (soothsayers) consulted
witnesses ❖ Belief in aswang, mangkukulam,
❖ Oath-taking; winner often the one with more manggagaway, tiyanak, tikbalang
witnesses ❖ Amulets/charms: anting-anting, gayuma,
❖ Chief usually sided with winner odom/tagabulag, wiga/sagabe, tagahupa
Trial by Ordeal ❖ Pagan + Christian practices blended after
❖ Used to prove innocence: colonization
➢ Dipping hand in boiling water ECONOMIC LIFE
➢ Holding lighted candle Agriculture
➢ Staying underwater
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
❖ Main livelihood; crops: rice, coconuts, ❖ Ink: colored saps of trees
sugarcane, cotton, hemp, bananas, fruits, ❖ Spanish missionaries destroyed many
vegetables manuscripts
❖ Two systems: kaingin (slash-and-burn), tillage, Literature
and irrigation (e.g., Ifugao terraces) ❖ Tagalog: bugtong, suliranin, sabi, sawikain,
Livestock talindaw, diyuna, kumintang, dalit, uyayi, hele,
❖ Raised chickens, pigs, goats, carabaos, ponies ihiman, tagulaylay, tigpasin, tingad,
Fishing kutang-kutang
❖ Thriving industry for coastal/inland people ❖ Maranaw: tutul, tubad-tubad, pananaro-on,
❖ Tools: nets, spears, baskets, hooks, corrals, sowa-sowa-i, antoka, darangan
fish poisons ❖ Ilocano: dal-ot, badeng, dung-aw
❖ Pearl fisheries in Sulu ❖ Epics: Hudhud, Alim, Biag ni Lam-Ang,
Mining Bantugan, Indarapatra at Sulayman, Bidasari
❖ Developed before Spaniards arrived ❖ Dramas: pagbati, karagatan, tagayan,
❖ Gold mining widespread; traded locally and pananapatan, sabalan, tibaw
internationally ❖ Karagatan → duplo (Spanish era) →
Lumbering & Shipbuilding balagtasan (American era)
❖ Flourishing industries; Filipinos skilled in Music & Dance
ocean-going vessel construction ❖ Musical instruments: kudyapi, bansic, gangsa,
❖ Built banca, balangay, lapis, caracoa, virey, abafi, gongs, bamboo flute, kutibeng, kalaleng,
vinta, prau diwdiw-as
Weaving ❖ Dances: Potato Dance, Torture Dance, Duel
❖ Home industry, usually women; crude looms Dance, Lovers Dance (Negrito); macasla
used (Tagbanua); kinnotan, kinnallogong (Ilocano);
❖ Textiles: sinamay (hemp), medrinaque balitaw, dandansoy (Visayan); balatong, dalit,
(banana), cotton, linen, silk hiliraw, kutang-kutang, kumintang, tagulaylay,
Trade subli, tagayan (Tagalog)
❖ Conducted among barangays and islands Art
❖ International trade with China, Siam, Japan, ❖ Primitive tools, weapons, beads, amulets,
Cambodia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Malaysia bracelets, jade, cornelian
❖ Used barter (no currency); sometimes priced ❖ Barkcloth dyed with colors, incised pottery,
goods in gold/gongs carvings in wood, ivory, horn
❖ Chinese noted Filipinos’ honesty ❖ Tattoos as body art
CULTURE ❖ Influences:
Languages ➢ Negrito: zigzag lime tube carvings,
❖ 100+ languages; 8 major: Tagalog, Iloko, comb designs
Pangasinan, Pampangan, Sugbuhanon, ➢ Indonesian: apparel of Kalingas,
Hiligaynon, Samarnon, Magindanao Maranaos, Manobos, Bagobos
❖ Descended from ➢ Malay: wood carvings on utensils,
Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian boats, shields
❖ Many derived from Malayan ➢ Islamic: geometric & plant motifs (no
System of Writing icons)
❖ Pre-colonial syllabary (likely Sanskrit/Arabic ➢ Ifugao: human/animal representations
origin)
❖ 17 symbols (3 vowels, 14 consonants)
❖ Wrote on bark, leaves, bamboo using
knives/daggers/sticks
