Author: JUAN DE PLASENCIA

 Fray Juan was born to the illustrious family of the Portocarreros in Plasencia in the
region of Extremadura, Spain in the early 16th century.
 His father, Don Pedro Portocarrero, was a captain of a Spanish schooner,  who died
in Naples, Italy in 1574Juan de Plasencia died in Liliw, Laguna in 1590

Important Data
He is believed to have arrived to the Philippines in 1578, after a stopover in Mexico. As soon as
he arrived, he joined forces with another missionary, Fray Diego de Oropesa, and they both
started preaching around Laguna de Bay and Tayabas, Quezon, in Quezon Province, where he
founded several towns.

During the following years they are also credited with the foundation of a large number of
towns in the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal, such as Tayabas, Caliraya, Lucban,
Mahjayjay, Nagcarlan, Lilio(Liliw), Pila, Santa Cruz, Lumban, Pangil, Siniloan, Morong, Antipolo,
Taytay, and Meycauayan.

As a friar, Juan de Plasencia lived up to his pledge, leading a lifestyle devoid of any luxury and in
constant contact with the people he was trying to convert to Christianity.

He was also known to be a defender of the native population, looking after the poor, ill, or
neglected, and standing up for their rights on numerous occasions.

He was also very keen on creating primary schools, and requested official sanction for the
creation of educational centers where "Filipinos could not only learn Christian doctrine, but also
reading and writing, and some arts and crafts, so they would become after, not only good
Christians but also useful citizens", an initiative that was approved by Domingo de Salazar, the
first Bishop of the See of Manila (1512–1594).
CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
It was written on the year 1589 during the Spanish Colonial Period. After receiving the
Lordship’s letter, Plasencia wished to reply immediately; but he postponed his answer in order
that he might first thoroughly inform himself in regard to People’s request, and toavoid
discussing the conflicting reports of the Indians.Therefore, he collected Indians from different
districts old men, and those of most capacity; and from them he have obtained the simple
truth, after weeding out much foolishness, in regard to their government, administration of
justice, inheritance, slaves, and dowries. Customs of the 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 Sciences
(1958).

References
Panaligan, R. (2018). CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS BY JUAN DE PLASENCIA. Realyn Panaligan. Retrieved
October 9, 2020, from https://prezi.com/p/vjiz6mscj-2-/customs-of-the-tagalogs-by-juan-de-
plasencia/