CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS

From the Two Relations by Juan de Plasencia, O.S.F.

After receiving your Lordship's letter, I wished to reply immediately; but I postponed my
answer in order that I might first thoroughly inform myself in regard to your request, and to
avoid discussing the conflicting reports of the Indians, who are wont to tell what suits their
purpose. Therefore, to this end, I collected Indians from different districts - old men, and those of
most capacity, all known to me; and from them I have obtained the simple truth, after weeding
out much foolishness, in regard to their government, administration of justice, inheritances,
slaves, and dowries. It is as follows:Customs of the Tagalogs This people always had chiefs,
called by them datos, who governed them and were captains in their wars, and whom they
obeyed and reverenced. The subject who committed any offense against them, or spoke but a
word to their wives and children, was severely punished. These chiefs ruled over but few people;
sometimes as many as a hundred houses, sometimes even less than thirty. This tribal gathering is
called in Tagalo a barangay. It was inferred that the reason for giving themselves this name
arose from the fact (as they are classed, by their language, among the Malay nations) that when
they came to this land, the head of the barangay, which is a boat, thus called—as is discussed at
length in the first chapter of the first ten chapters—became a dato. And so, even at the present
day, it is ascertained that this barangay in its origin was a family of parents and children,
relations and slaves. There were many of these barangays in each town, or, at least, on account of
wars, they did not settle far from one another. They were not, however, subject to one another,
except in friendship and relationship. The chieves, in their various wars, helped one another with
their respective barangays. In addition to the chiefs, who corresponded to our knights, there were
three castes: nobles, commoners, and slaves. The nobles were the free -born whom they call
maharlica. They did not pay tax or tribute to the dato, but must accompany him in war, at their
own expense.
The chief offered them beforehand a feast, and afterward they divided the spoils.
Moreover, when the dato went upon the water those whom he summoned rowed for him. If he
built a house, they helped him, and had to be fed for it. The same was true when the whole
barangay went to clear up his lands for tillage. The lands which they inhabited were divided
among the whole barangay, especially the irrigated portion, and thus each one knew his own. No
one belonging to another barangay would cultivate them unless after purchase or inheritance.
The lands on the tingues, or mountainridges, are not divided, but owned in common by the
barangay. Consequently, at the time of the rice harvest, any individual of any particular
barangay, although he may have come from some other village, if he commences to clear any
land may sow it, and no one can compel him to abandon it. There are some villages (as, for
example, Pila de la Laguna) in which these nobles, or maharlicas, paid annually to the dato a
hundred gantas of rice. The reason for this was, at the time of their settlement, another chief
occupied the lands, which the new chief, upon his arrival, bought with his own gold; and
therefore the members of his barangay paid him for the arable land, and he divided it, among
those whom he saw fit to reward. But now, since the advent of the Spaniards, it is not so divided.
 The chieves in the villages had also fisheries, with established limits, and sections of the
rivers for markets. At these, no one could fish, or trade in the markets, without paying for the
privilege, unless he belonged to the chief's barangay or village.

The commoners are called aliping namamahay. They are married, and serve their master,
whether he be a dato or not, with half of their cultivated lands, as was agreed upon in the
beginning. They accompanied him whenever he went beyond the island, and rowed for him.
They live in their own houses, and are lords of their property and gold. Their children inherit it,
and enjoy their property and lands. The children, then, enjoy the rank of their fathers, and they
cannot be made slaves (sa guiguilir) nor can either parents or children be sold. If they should fall
by inheritance into the hands of a son of their master who was going to dwell in another village,
they could not be taken from their own village and carried with him; but they would remain in
their native village, doing service there and cultivating the sowed lands.

The slaves are called aliping sa guiguilir. They serve their master in his house and on his
cultivated lands, and may be sold. The master grants them, should he see fit, and providing that
he has profited through their industry, a portion of their harvests, so that they may work
faithfully.
For these reasons, servants who are born in the house of their master are rarely, if ever, sold.
That is the lot of captives in war, and of those brought up in the harvest fields.

Those to whom a debt was owed transferred the debt to another, thereby themselves
making a profit, and reducing the wretched debtors to a slavery which was not their natural lot. If
any person among those who were made slaves (sa guiguilir)—through war, by the trade of
goldsmith, or otherwise—happened to possess any gold beyond the sum that he had to give his
master, he ransomed himself, becoming thus a namamahay, or what we call a commoner. The
price of this ransom was never less than five taels, and from that upwards; and if he gave ten or
more taels, as they might agree, he became wholly free. An amusing ceremony accompanied
this custom. After having divided all the trinkets which the slave possessed, if he maintained a
house of his own, they divided even the pots and jars, and if an odd one of these remained, they
broke it; and if a piece of cloth were left, they parted it in the middle. The difference between
the aliping namamahay and the aliping sa guiguilir, should be noted; for, by a confusion of the
two terms, many have been classed as slaves who really are not. The Indians seeing that the
alcaldes-mayor do not understand this, have adopted the custom of taking away the children of
the aliping namamahay, making use of them as they would of the aliping sa guiguilir, as
servants in their households, which is illegal, and if the aliping namamahay should appeal to
justice, it is proved that he is an aliping as well as his father and mother before him and no
reservation is made as to whether he is aliping namamahay or atiping sa guiguilir. He is at once
considered an alipin, without further declaration. In this way he becomes a sa guiguilir, and is
even sold. Consequently, the alcaldes-mayor should be instructed to ascertain, when anyone asks
for his alipin, to which class he belongs, and to have the answer put in the document that they
give him.
 In these three classes, those who are maharlicas on both the father's and mother's side
continue to be so forever; and if it happens that they should become slaves, it is through
marriage, as I shall soon explain. If these maharlicas had children among their slaves, the
children and their
mothers became free; if one of them had children by the slave-woman of another, she was
compelled, when pregnant, to give her master half of a gold tael, because of her risk of death,
and for her inability to labor during the pregnancy. In such a case half of the child was free -
namely, the half belonging to the father, who supplied the child with food. If he did not do this,
he showed that he did not recognize him as his child, in which case the latter was wholly a slave.
If a free woman had children by a slave, they were all free, provided he were not her husband. If
two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave, whether namamahay
or sa guiguilir, the children were divided: the first, whether male or female, belonged to the
father, as did the third and fifth; the second, the fourth, and the sixth fell to the mother, and so
on. In this manner, if the father were free, all those who belonged to him were free; if he were a
slave, all those who belonged to him were slaves; and the same applied to the mother. If there
should not be more than one child he was half free and half slave. The only question here
concerned the division, whether the child were male or female. Those who became slaves fell
under the category of servitude which was their parent's, either namamahay or sa guiguilir. If
there were an odd number of children, the odd one was half free and half slave. I have not been
able to ascertain with any certainty when or at what age the division of children was made, for
each one suited himself in this respect. Of these two kinds of slaves the sa guiguilir could be
sold, but not the namamahay and their children, nor could they be transferred. However, they
could be transferred from the barangay by inheritance, provided they remained in the same
village. The maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village to another, or from one
barangay to another, without paying a certain fine in gold, as arranged among them. This fine
was larger or smaller according to the inclination of the different villages, running from one to
three taels and a banquet to the entire barangay. Failure to pay the fine might result in a war
between the barangay which the person left and the one which he entered.

This applied equally to men and women, except that when one married a woman of
another village, the children were afterwards divided equally between the two barangays. This
arrangement kept them obedient to the dato, or chief, which is no longer the case—because, if
the dato is energetic and commands what the religious fathers enjoin him, they soon leave him
and go to other villages and other datos, who endure and protect them and do not order them
about. This is the kind of dato that they now prefer, not him who has the spirit to command.
There is a great need of reform in this, for the chiefs are spiritless and faint-hearted.
Investigations made and sentences passed by the dato must take place in the presence of those of
his barangay. If any of the litigants felt himself aggrieved, an arbiter was unanimously named
from another village
or barangay, whether he were a dato or not; since they had for this purpose some persons, known
as fair and just men, who were said to give true judgment according to their customs. If the
controversy lay between chieves, when they wished to avoid war, they also convoked judges to
act as arbiters; they did the same if the disputants belonged to two different barangays. In this
ceremony they always had to drink, the plaintiff inviting the others. They had laws by which they
condemned to death a man of low birth who insulted the daughter or wife of a chief; likewise
witches, and others of the same class. They condemned no one to slavery, unless he merited the
death-penalty. As for the witches, they killed them, and their children and accomplices became
slaves of the chief, after he had made some recompense to the injured person. All other offenses
were punished by fines in gold, which, if not paid with promptness, exposed the culprit to serve,
until the payment should be made, the person aggrieved, to whom the money was to be paid.
This was done in the following way: Half the cultivated lands and all their produce belonged to
the master. The master provided the culprit with food and clothing, thus enslaving the culprit and
his children until such time as he might amass enough money to pay the fine. If the father should
by chance pay his debt, the master then claimed that he had fed and clothed his children, and
should be paid therefor. In this way he kept possession of the children if the payment could not
be met. This last was usually the case, and they remained slaves. If the culprit had some relative
or friend who paid for him, he was obliged to render the latter half his service until he was paid -
not, however, service within the house as aliping sa guiguilir, but living independently, as aliping
namamahay. If the creditor were not served in this wise, the culprit had to pay the double of what
was lent him. In this way slaves were made by debt: either sa guiguilir, if they served the master
to whom the judgment applied; or aliping namamahay, if they served the person who lent them
wherewith to pay. In what concerns loans, there was formerly, and is today, an excess of usury,
which is a great hindrance to baptism as well as to confession; for it turns out in the same way as
I have showed in the case of the one under judgment, who gives half of his cultivated lands and
profits until he pays the debt. The debtor is condemned to a life of toil; and thus borrowers
become slaves, and after the death of the father the children pay the debt. Not doing so, double
the amount must be paid. This system should and can be reformed. As for inheritances, the
legitimate children of a father and mother inherited equally, except in the case where the father
and mother showed a slight partiality by such gifts as two or three gold taels, or perhaps a jewel.
 When the parents gave a dowry to any son, and, when, in order to marry him to a chief's
daughter, the dowry was greater than the sum given the other sons, the excess was not counted in
the whole property to be divided. But any other thing that should have been given to any son,
though it might be for some necessity, was taken into consideration at the time of the partition of
the property, unless the parents should declare that such a bestowal was made outside of the
inheritance. If one had had children by two or more legitimate wives, each child received the
inheritance and dowry of his mother, with its increase, and that share of his father's estate which
fell to him out of the whole. If a man had a child by one of his slaves, as well as legitimate
children, the former had no share in the inheritance; but the legitimate children were bound to
free the mother, and to give him something - a tael or a slave, if the father were a chief; or if,
finally, anything else were given it was by the unanimous consent of all. If besides his legitimate
children, he had also some son by a free unmarried woman, to whom a dowry was given but who
was not considered as a real wife, all these were classed as natural children, although the child by
the unmarried woman should have been begotten after his marriage. Such children did not inherit
equally with the legitimate children, but only the third part. For example, if there were two
children, the legitimate one had two parts, and the one of the inaasava one part. When there were
no children by a legitimate wife, but only children by an unmarried woman, or inaasava, the
latter inherited all. If he had a child by a slave woman, that child received his share as above
stated. If there were no legitimate or natural child, or a child by an inaasava, whether there was a
son of a slave woman or not, the inheritance went only to the father or grandparents, brothers, or
nearest relatives of the deceased, who gave to the slave-child as above stated. In the case of a
child by a free married woman, born while she was married, if the husband punished the
adulterer this was considered a dowry; and the child entered with the others into partition in the
inheritance. His share equaled the part left by the father, nothing more. If there were no other
sons than he, the children and the nearest relatives inherited equally with him. But if the adulterer
were not punished by the husband of the woman who had the child, the latter was not considered
as his child, nor did he inherit anything. It should be noticed that the offender was not considered
dishonored by the punishment inflicted, nor did the husband leave the woman. By the
punishment of the father the child was fittingly made legitimate. Adopted children, of whom
there are many among them, inherit the double of what was paid for their adoption. For example,
if one gold tael was given that he might be adopted when the first father died, the child was given
[in inheritance] two taels. But if this child should die first, his children do not inherit from the
second father, for the arrangement stops at that point.
 This is the danger to which his money is exposed, as well as his being protected as a
child. On this account this manner of adoption common among them is considered lawful.
Dowries are given by the men to the women's parents. If the latter are living, they enjoy the use
of it. At their death, provided the dowry has not been consumed, it is divided like the rest of the
estate, equally among the children, except in case the father should care to bestow something
additional upon the daughter. If the wife, at the time of her marriage, has neither father, mother,
nor grandparents, she enjoys her dowry - which, in such a case, belongs to no other relative or
child. It should be noticed that unmarried women can own no property, in land or dowry, for the
result of all their labors accrues to their parents. In the case of a divorce before the birth of
children, if the wife left the husband for the purpose of marrying another, all her dowry and an
equal additional amount fell to the husband; but if she left him, and did not marry another, the
dowry was returned. When the husband left his wife, he lost the half of the dowry, and the other
half was returned to him. If he possessed children at the time of his divorce, the whole dowry and
the
fine went to the children, and was held for them by their grandparents or other responsible
relatives. I have also seen another practice in two villages. In one case, upon the death of the
wife who in a year's time had borne no children, the parents returned one-half the dowry to the
husband whose wife had died.

In the other case, upon the death of the husband, one-half the dowry was returned to the
relatives of the husband. I have ascertained that this is not a general practice; for upon inquiry I
learned that when this is done it is done through piety, and that all do not do it. In the matter of
marriage dowries which fathers bestow upon their sons when they are about to be married, and
half of which is given immediately, even when they are only children, there is a great deal more
complexity. There is a fine stipulated in the contract, that he who violates it shall pay a certain
sum which varies according to the practice of the village and the affluence of the individual. The
fine was heaviest if, upon the death of the parents, the son or daughter should be unwilling to
marry
because it had been arranged by his or her parents. In this case the dowry which the parents had
received was returned and nothing more. But if the parents were living, they paid the fine,
because it was assumed that it had been their design to separate the children. The above is what I
have been able to ascertain clearly concerning customs observed among these natives in all this
Laguna and the tingues, and among the entire Tagalo race. The old men say that a dato who did
anything contrary to this would not be esteemed; and, in relating tyrannies which they had
committed, some condemned them and adjudged them wicked.
Others, perchance, may offer a more extended narrative, but leaving aside irrelevant
matters concerning government and justice among them, a summary of the whole truth is
contained in the above. I am sending the account in this clear and concise form because I had
received no orders to pursue the work further. Whatever may be decided upon, it is certainly
important that it should be given to the alcal-des-mayor, accompanied by an explanation; for the
absurdities which are to be found in their opinions are indeed pitiable.
 May our Lord bestow upon your Lordship His grace and spirit, so that in every step good
fortune may be yours; and upon every occasion may your Lordship deign to consider me your
humble servant, to be which would be the greatest satisfaction and favor that I could receive.
Nagcarlán, October 21, 1589.

Fray Juan De
Plasencia