CUSTOM OF THE TAGALOG upon his arrival, bought with his own gold, and therefore the members

his own gold, and therefore the members of his

By: Juan Plasencia 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
 is a narrative on the established culture of the Tagalog in Luzon written by divided.
Juan de Plasencia.
 This document was written as an answer to the request of the monarchy in  The chiefs in some villages had also fisheries, with established limits, and
Spain which was to provide pieces of information about the Government, sections of the rivers for markets. At these no one could fish, or trade in the
administration of justice, inheritances, slaves, dowries, worship, burials, and markets, without paying for the privilege, unless he belonged to the chief's
superstition of the "Indians" in the colony. In addition, the document is to barangay or village.
rectify previous reports about the people's way of life in the region  Those to whom a debt was owned transferred the debt to another, thereby
 A Franciscan missionary in the Tagalog region since 1578 until 1590. themselves making a profit, and reducing the wretched debtors to a slavery
 A Spanish priest of the Franciscan Order, spent most of his missionary life in which was not their natural lot. If any person among those who were made
the Philippines, where he founded numerous towns in Luzon and wrote slaves (saguiguilir) - through war, by the Trade of goldsmith, or otherwise
several religious and linguistic books. happened to possess any gold beyond the sum that he had to give his
 Plasencia is reported to have arrived in the Philippines in 1578 and joined master, he ransomed himself, becoming thus a namamahay, or what we call
forces with another missionary, Fray Diego de Oropesa. They both started a commoner.
preaching around Laguna de Bay and Jayabas, Quezon where he founded  The difference between the aliping namamahay and the aliping saquiquilir
several towns. The following years, they also put up a large number of towns should be noted; for, by a confusion of the two terms, many have been
in the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal including Caliraya, Majayjay, classed as slaves who really are not. The Indians seeing that the alcaldes-
Nagcarlan, Lilo (Liliw), Pila, Santa Cruz, Lumban, Pangil, Siniloan, Morong, mayor do not understand this, have adopted the custom of taking away the
Antipolo, Taytay, and Meycauayan. children of the aliping namamahay, making use of them as they would of the
 He wrote a number of books intended to promote the understanding of both aliping saguiguillir, as servants in their households, which is illegal and if the
the Spanish language among the natives, and the local languages among the aliping namamahay should appeal to justice, it is proved that he is an aliping
missionaries, to facilitate the task of spreading Christianity. as well as his father and mother before him and no reservation is made as to
 Plasencia is believed to have authored the first book printed in the whether he is aliping namamahay or aliping saguiguilir,
Philippines, the Doctrina Cristiana, which was not only printed in Spanish but
also in Tagalog, in both Latin script, and the commonly used Baybayin script  In these three classes, those who are maharlicas on both the father's and
of the natives of the time, and it even had a version in Chinese. mother's side continue to be so forever; and if it happens that they should
become slaves, it is through marriage,
PLASENCIA WROTE: -If these maharlicas have children among their slaves, the children and their
 This people always had chiefs, called by them datos, who governed them mothers became free; if one of them had children by the slave women of
and were captains in their wars, and whom they obeyed and reverenced. another, she was compelled, when pregnant, to give her master half of a
The subject who committed any offense against them, or spoke but a word to gold tael, because of her risk of death, and for her inability to labor during
their wives and children, was severely punished. the pregnancy. In such a case half of the child was free-namely, the half
 These chiefs ruled over but few people; sometimes as many as a hundred belonging to the father, who supplied the child with food. If he did not do this,
houses, sometimes even less than thirty. This tribal gathering is called in he showed that he did not recognize him as his child, in which case the latter
Tagalog a barangay. was wholly a slave.
There were three castes: - If a free woman had children by a slave, they were all free, provided he were
 nobles not her husband.
 commoners
 slaves  If two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave,
whether namamahay or sa quiquilir, the children were divided: the first child
NOBLES , whether male or female, belonged to the father, as did the third and fifth,
 The nobles were the free-born whom they call maharlica. They did not pay the second, the fourth, and the sixth fell to the mother, and so on. In this
tax or tribute to the dato, but must accompany him in war, at their own manner,
expense. -if the father were free, all those who belonged to him were free;
COMMONERS -if he were a slave, all those who belonged to him were slaves; and the same
 The commoners are called aliping namamahay. They are married, and serve applied to the mother.
their master, whether he be a dato or not, with half of their cultivated lands,  Of these two kinds of slaves the saquiquilir could be sold, but not the
as was agreed upon in the beginning. namamahay and their children, nor could they be transferred. However, they
SLAVES could be transferred from the barangay by inheritance, provided they
 The slaves are called aliping saquiquilir. They serve their master in his house remained in the same village.
and on his cultivated lands, and may be sold. The master grants them,  The maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village to another,
should he see fit, and providing that he has profited through their industry, a or from one barangay to another, without paying a certain fine on gold, as
portion of their harvests, so that they may work faithfully. 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
 The lands on the tingues or mountain ridges are not divided. But owned in banquet to the entire barangay. Failure to pay the fine might result in a war
common by the barangay. Consequently, at the time of the rice harvest, any between the barangay which the person left and the one which he entered.
Individual of any particular barangay, although he may have come from some  This applied equally to men and women, except that when one married a
other village, if he commences to clear any fand may sow it, and no one can woman of another village, the children were afterwards divided equally
compel him to abandon It. There are some villages (as, for example, Pila de la between the two barangays.
Laguna) in which these nobles, or Maharlicas, paid annually to the dato a LAWS:
hundred gantas of rice. The reason of this was that, At the time of their
settlement there, another chief occupied the lands, which the new chief,
 They had laws by which they condemned to death a man of low birth who  In the case of a divorce before the birth of children, if the wife left the
insulted the daughter or wife of a chief, likewise witches, and others of the husband for the purpose of marrying another, all her dowry and an equal
same class additional amount fell to the husband: but if she left him, and did not marry
 They condemned no one to slavery, unless he merited the death- penalty. As another, the dowry was returned. When the husband left his wife, he lost
for the witches, they killed them, and their children and accomplices became the half of the dowry, and the other half was returned to him.
slaves of the chief, after he had made some recompense to the injured -If he possessed children at the time of his divorce, the whole dowry and the
person. All other offenses were punished by fines in gold, which, if not paid fine went to children, and was held for them by their grandparents or other
with promptness, exposed the culprit to serve, until the payment should be responsible relatives.
made, the person aggrieved, to whom the money was to be paid.  In one case, upon the death of the wife who in a year's time bad borne no
 In what concerns loans, there was formerly, and is today, an excess of usury, children, the parents returned one-half the dowry to the husband whose
which is a great hindrance to baptism as well as to confession; for it turns out wife had died.
in the same way as I have showed in the case of the one under judgment, - In the other case upon the death of the husband, one-half the dowry was
who gives half of his cultivated lands and profits until he pays the debt. The returned to the relatives of the husband, I have ascertained that this is not a
debtor is condemned to a life of toil; and Thus, Borrowers become slaves, general practice; for upon inquiry I learned that when this is done it is done
and after the death of the father the children pay the debt. Not doing so, through piety, and that all do not do it.
double the amount must be paid. This system should and can be reformed.  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,
DIFFERENT KINDS OF INHERITANCE: even when they are only children, there is a great deal more complexity.
 The legitimate children of a father and mother inherited equally, except in  The above Is what I have been able to ascertain clearly concerning customs
the case where the father and mother showed a slight partiality by such gifts observed among these natives in all this Laguna and the tingues, and among
as two or three gold taels, or perhaps a jewel. When, the parents gave a the entire Tagalog race, the old men say that a dato who did anything
dowry to any son, in order to marry him to a chief's daughter, the dowry was contrary to this would not be esteemed; and, in relating tyrannies which they
greater than the sum given to other sons, the excess was not Counted in the had committed, some condemned them and adjudged them wicked.
whole property to be divided.  Simbahan
 If one had a children by two or more legitimate wives, each child received  which means a temple or place of adoration; but this is because, formerly,
the inheritance and dowry of his mother, with its increase, and that share of when they wished to celebrate a festival, which they called pandot, or
his father's estate which fell to him out of the whole, a man had a child by "worship," they celebrated it in the large house of a chief.
one of his slaves, as well as legitimate children, the former had no share in  Sibi
the inheritance, but the legitimate children were bound to free the mother,  Is called to a temporary shed on each side of the house, with a roof, to
and to give him something a tael or a slave, if the father were a chief, or if, protect the people from the wet when it rained.
finally, anything else were given it was by the unanimous consent of all.  On the posts of the house they set small lamps, called sorihile; in the
 The child by the unmarried woman should have been begotten after his center of the house, they placed one large lamp, adorned with leaves of the
marriage. Such children did not inherit equally with the legitimate children, white palm, wrought into many designs. They also brought together many
but only the third part. For example, if there were two children the legitimate drums, large and small, which they beat successively while the feast lasted,
one had two parts, and the one of the inaasava one part. Where there were which was usually four days. During this time the whole barangay, or family,
no children by a legitimate wife, but only children by an unmarried woman, united and joined in the worship which they call nagaanitos.
or inaasava. The latter inherited all.  Badhala
 A child by a slave woman, that child received his share as above stated. If  whom they especially worshiped. The title seems to signify "all powerful," or
there were no legitimate or natural child, or a child by an inaasava, whether "maker of all things".
there was a son of a slave woman or not, the inheritance went only to the  They also worshiped
father or grandparents, brothers, or nearest relatives of the deceased, who  the sun, which, on account of its beauty, is almost universally respected and
give to the slave-child as above stated. honored by heathens.
 A child by a free married woman, born while she was married, if the  the moon, especially when. These natives had no established division of
husband punished the adulterer this was considered a dowry, and the child years, months, and days; these are determined by the cultivation of the soil,
entered with the others into partition in the inheritance. His share equaled counted by moons, and the different effect produced upon the trees when
the part left by the father, nothing more. If there were no other sons than he, yielding flowers, fruits, and leaves: all this helps them in making up the year.
the children and the nearest relatives inherited equally with him. The winter and summer are distinguished as sun-time and water-time-the
 latter term designating winter in those regions, where there is no cold, snow,
 Adopted children, of whom there are many among them, inherit the double or ice...
of what was paid for their adoption. For example, if one gold tael was given  Their manner of offering sacrifice was to proclaim feast, and offer in the
that he might be adopted when the first father died, the child was given [in devil what they had to eat. This was done in front of the idol, which they
inheritance] two taels. But if the child should die first, his children do not anoint with fragrant perfumes, such as musk and civet, or gum of the storax-
inherit from the second father, for the arrangement stops at that point. tree and other adoriferous woods, and praise it in poetic songs sung by the
Dowries officiating priest, male or female, who is called catolonan, the participants
 are given by the men to the women's parents. If the latter are living, they made responses to the song, beseeching the idol to favor them with those
enjoy the use of it. At their death, provided the dowry has not been things of which they were in need, and generally, by offering repeated
consumed, it is divided like the rest of the estate, equally among the healths, they all became intoxicated.
children, except in case the father should care to bestow something  The devil was sometimes liable to enter into the body of the catolonan, and,
additional upon the daughter. If the wife, at the time of her marriage, has assuming her shape and appearance, filled her with so great arrogance he
neither father, mother, nor grandparents, she enjoys her dowry which, in being the cause of it that she seemed to shoot flames from her eyes; her hair
such a case, belongs to no other relative or child It should be noticed that stood on end, a fearful night to those beholding, and she uttered words of
unmarried women can own no property, in land or dowry, for the result of all arrogance and superiority. In some districts, especially in the mountains,
the labors accrues to their parents. when in those idolatries the devil incarnated himself and took on the form of
 his minister, the latter had to be tied to a tree by his companions, to prevent
the devil in his infernal fury from destroying him.
 In the case of young girls who first had their monthly courses, their eyes
were blindfolded four days and four nights; and, in the meantime, the
friends and relatives were all invited to partake of food and drink. At the
end of this period, the catolonan, took the young girl to the water, bathed
her and washed her head, and removed the bandage from her eyes. The old
men said that they did this in order that the girls might bear children, and
have fortune in finding husbands to their taste, who would not leave them
widows in their youth.
 Their manner of burying the dead was as follows:
 The deceased was buried beside his house.
 If he were a chief, he was placed beneath a little house or porch which they
constructed for this purpose.

 Maca
 infidels said that they knew that there was another life of rest just as if we
should say "paradise," or, in other words, "village of rest."
 Casanaan
 A place of punishment, grief, and affliction, which was "a place of anguish,"
 They said that all the wicked went to that place, and there dwelt the demons,
whom they called sitan.
 There were also ghosts, which they called vibit; and phantoms, which they
called Tigbalaang They had another deception-namely, that if any woman
died in childbirth, she and the child suffered punishment; and that, at night,
she could be heard lamenting. This was called patianac.