READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
INTRODUCTION SOCIAL CLASSES
Long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines,
Filipinos had a civilization of their own. This civilization Three classes:
partly came from the Malay settlers and partly from ❖ Nobles – datu and their families (addressed as
their response to the new environment. Many of these Gat or Lakan among Tagalogs)
customs and traditions, government and way of life, ❖ Mahadlika/Maharlika – freemen
have come down to the present day, despite the ❖ Alipin (dependents) – acquired status by
changes brought about by westernization and inheritance, captivity, purchase, debt, or crime
modernization. This is why it is possible to know about ➢ Aliping namamahay (with house)
our distant past by simply observing some customs ➢ Aliping sagigilid (without house)
and practices that have resisted change and ➢ In Visayas: tumataban, tumarampok,
modernization. ayuey
SOCIETY STATUS OF WOMEN
Philippine pre-colonial society is both different and the ❖ Had rights: to inherit property, engage in
same as in the present. Some aspects of the trade/industry, succeed as chieftain.
pre-colonial period have survived into our time. The ❖ Exclusive right to name their children.
following is a description of the way of life of ❖ Men walked behind them as sign of respect.
pre-colonial Filipinos. MARRIAGE CUSTOMS
MODE OF DRESSING ❖ Generally monogamous
Male attire: kanggan (sleeveless jacket) and bahag ❖ Wife called asawa; concubines called “friends”
(loincloth) ❖ Courtship began with paninilbihan (servitude)
❖ Color of kanggan indicates rank: red for the ❖ Conditions before marriage:
chief, black or blue for commoners ➢ Dowry (bigay-kaya)
❖ Men also wore a turban called putong ➢ Panghihimuyat (payment for waking
(indicates social status/achievement) parents)
Female attire: baro or camisa (jacket with sleeves) ➢ Bigay-suso (payment to wet nurse)
and saya or patadyong (long skirt) ➢ Himaraw (gift to parents)
❖ Some women wore a red or white cloth (tapis) ➢ Sambon (bribe to relatives – Zambals)
over their skirt ❖ Final Arrangement: pamamalae/
ORNAMENTS pamamanhikan/ pamumulungan
❖ 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 ➢ Staying underwater
➢ Chewing rice and spitting
❖ Children of dependent mothers → given
freedom and a few belongings ❖ Ifugaos: bultong (wrestling), alaw (duel)
❖ Property of childless couples → inherited by RELIGION
nearest relatives Religious Beliefs
❖ Succession: eldest son succeeds as datu → ❖ Belief in immortality of soul and life after death
next son if first dies → eldest daughter if no ❖ Belief in gods and deities:
sons ➢ Bathalang Maykapal (Creator)
POLITICS ➢ Idinayale (agriculture)
➢ Sidapa (death)
Government ➢ Balangaw (rainbow)
❖ Unit: barangay (30–100 families; from Malay ➢ Mandarangan (war)
balangay = boat) ➢ Agni (fire)
❖ Headed by a datu (chief executive, legislator, ➢ Lalahon (harvest)
judge, war leader) ➢ Siginarugan (hell)
❖ Subjects served him (wars, voyages, planting, ➢ Diyan Masalanta (love)
harvesting, house repair) and paid tribute ❖ Respect for animals/plants (crocodile, crow,
(buwis) tigmamanukin)
❖ Alliances between barangays formalized by ❖ Idols (likha/larawan, anitos/diwatas) made of
ritual sangduguan stone, ivory, gold
❖ Conflicts settled by violence (winner is “right”) ❖ Offerings given to appease both good and bad
Laws spirits
❖ Either customary (oral tradition) or written (as ❖ Babaylan/katalona (priestess) as mediums
needed) Burial
❖ Covered inheritance, property, divorce, loans, ❖ Dead placed in coffin, buried under house with
adoption, etc. belongings
❖ Punishments: fines, death, torture (by today’s ❖ Fires under house + guards against sorcerers
standards) ❖ Professional mourners hired
❖ Society did not tolerate repeat criminals ❖ Mourning distinctions:
Legislation ➢ Morotal – for women
❖ Chief consulted with council of elders before ➢ Maglahi – for men
making laws ➢ Laraw – for chief (strict prohibitions)
❖ Laws announced by umalohokan (town crier) ❖ Relatives wore rattan bands, abstained from
Judicial Process meat/wine
❖ Individual disputes → chief + elders acted as ❖ Vengeance (balata) required for murdered kin
judges ❖ Pasiyam (9th day ritual) → play tibaw
❖ Barangay disputes → neutral elders as arbiters Divination & Magic Charms
❖ Accuser and accused faced each other with ❖ Superstitious: read omens (birds, dogs, lizards)
witnesses ❖ Pangatauhan (soothsayers) consulted
❖ Oath-taking; winner often the one with more ❖ Belief in aswang, mangkukulam,
witnesses manggagaway, tiyanak, tikbalang
❖ Chief usually sided with winner ❖ Amulets/charms: anting-anting, gayuma,
Trial by Ordeal odom/tagabulag, wiga/sagabe, tagahupa
❖ Used to prove innocence: ❖ Pagan + Christian practices blended after
➢ Dipping hand in boiling water colonization
➢ Holding lighted candle
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
ECONOMIC LIFE ❖ 17 symbols (3 vowels, 14 consonants)
❖ Wrote on bark, leaves, bamboo using
Agriculture knives/daggers/sticks
❖ 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)
