Custom of the Tagalogs

- Spanish term is Relacion de las Costumbres de los Tagalogs is a part (either chapters or
subsections) of longer monographs written by the chroniclers of the Spanish expeditions to the
Philippines during the early 16th and 17th centuries. They appeared initially in Blair and
Robertson's 55 volumes, The Philippine Islands (1903) and in the Philippine Journal of the
Sciences (1958).
- It was written on the year 1589 during the Spanish Colonial Period.
- Contains numerous information about political and socio cultural history of the Tagalog region.
-First Civil Code of the Philippines.

Juan de Plasencia
- born in the early 16th century as Juan Portocarrero in Plasencia, in the region of Extremadura,
Spain.
- one of the seven children of Pedro Portocarrero, a captain of a Spanish schooner.
- was a Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order.
- He was among the first group of Franciscan missionaries who arrived in the Islands on July 2,
1578.
- spent most of his missionary life in the Philippines, where he founded numerous towns in
Luzon and authored several religious and linguistic books, most notably the Doctrina Cristiana
(Christian Doctrine), the first book ever printed in the Philippines.
- died in Liliw, Laguna in 1590.

Importance
To put an end to some injustices being commited against the natives by certain government
officials.

Relevance to Contemporary Times

- Many of the 16th century beliefs and practices are still present today.
- It affirms that during the Pre-Hispanic period, Filipinos already have government as well as set
of beliefs and practices.
-Some of our perceptions on Filipino beliefs and practices are somehow no different from Juan
de Plasencia's point of view.

Content Analysis:

The Three Castes

1. Nobles or Maharlica- free-born, they do not pay taxes.
2. Commoners or Aliping Namamahay- They live in their own houses and lords of their property
and gold.
3. Slaves or Aliping sa Guiguilir- They serve their master in his house and his cultivated lands
and can be sold.
Worship of the Tagalogs
 no temples
 simbahan -temple or place of adoration
 pandot or a festival celebrated
 sibi
 sorihile
 nagaanitos
Idols
Distinctions Among the Priests of the Devils
1.Catalonan- was either a man or a woman. This office was an honorable one among the natives,
and was held ordinarily by people of rank, this rule being general in all the islands.
2.Mangangauay-or witches, who deceived by pretending to heal the sick. These priests even
induced maladies by their charms, which in proportion to the strength and efficacy of the
witchcraft, are capable of causing death.
3.Manyisalat-which is the same as mangagauay. These priests had the power of applying such
remedies to lovers that they would abandon and despise their own wives, and in fact could
prevent them from having intercourse with the latter.
4.Mancocolam-whose duty it was to emit fire from himself at night, once or oftener each month.
5.Hocloban-which is another kind of witch, of greater efficacy than the mangagauay. Without the
use of medicine, and by simply saluting or raising the hand, they killed whom they chose.
6.Silagan-whose office it was, if they saw anyone clothed in white, to tear out his liver and eat it,
thus causing his death.
7.Magtatangal- his purpose was to show himself at night to many persons, without his head or
entrails. In such wise the devil walked about and carried, or pretended to carry, his head to
different places; and, in the morning, returned it to his body – remaining, as before, alive.
8.Osuang-which is equivalent to ” sorcerer;” they say that they have seen him fly, and that he
murdered men and ate their flesh. This was among the Visayas Islands; among the Tagalogs
these did not exist.
9.Mangagayoma-They made charms for lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood, which would
infuse the heart with love. Thus did they deceive the people, although sometimes, through the
intervention of the devil, they gained their ends.
10.Sonat-which is equivalent to ” preacher.” It was his office to help one to die, at which time he
predicted the salvation or condemnation of the soul.
11.Pangatahojan-was a soothsayer, and predicted the future. This office was general in all the
islands.
12.Bayoguuin-signified a ” cotquean,” a man whose nature inclined toward that of a woman.

Contribution to the History

"Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos" (1589), that not only helped understand and
preserve many of the traditional ways of the local population, but also provided the first form of
Civil Code, used by local governors to administer justice.

Group 1: BSBA-D
Marisol Tapulayan
Aliyah Agustin Caasi
Mark Kevin Calixtro
Rea Gaile Lacaste
Angelyn Dona
Josh Cases