READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY ● When we trace back our history we always remind ourselves that this

(FIRST SEMESTER, SECOND YEAR) was done to us way back. There may be changes in representation
because history varies from appreciation.
● It affects us all on a personal level
WHAT IS HISTORY?
● Series of happenings TYPES OF HISTORICAL SOURCE
● Record of the past made available for the present ● PRIMARY SOURCES
● Field of study which traces man’s development ○ Most credible
○ Documented record of man and his society ○ Directly point or discusses the subject matter
● List of events as they happen ○ As long as they come from the period being discussed
○ Should show a pattern on how man and his society has evolved ○ Written/produced by someone with first hand experience of the
from the primitive form to the present; event
○ Showing his ability to cope with obstacles and challenges that he ○ EXAMPLES:
himself or nature has placed throughout his existence ■ Autobiographies
● ETYMOLOGY (During Discussion) ■ Speeches Essays by persons expressing his own view
○ Greek “Histor” ■ Receipts
■ A learned, wise man ■ Letter to the Editor expressing the writer’s view
○ Greek “Historia” ■ Laws, ordinances, letters of instructions, decrees
■ Latin ■ Maps and atlases
■ Finding out, narrative, history ■ Books containing direct quotations of the events
○ Late Middle English “History” ■ Newspaper articles reporting directly about the event
● DEFINITION (During Discussion) ■ Diaries and journals
○ To be considered as history, it must be documented, the record of ■ Reports
events that trace the development, the rise, and fall ■ Eyewitness accounts
■ Letters
RELEVANCE OF HISTORY ■ Editorials
● Helps us understand people and societies ■ Transcripts of records
● Contributes to moral understanding ● SECONDARY SOURCES
● Provides identity ○ Made by individuals not direct participants
● Studying history is essential for good citizenship ○ Got the information from somebody else or from primary
● Useful in the world of work sources
○ Supports primary sources
WHY DO WE STUDY HISTORY? (During Discussion) ○ Comments and Analyze - adding value to the primary source
● Tracing back the situation from the present through history, that is why it ○ EXAMPLES:
is important and we try to understand this particular characterization ■ Textbooks
before ■ Encyclopedia entries
● For universal understanding ■ Magazine articles about a topic
 ■Teachers’ reports on student behavior as reported to ○ Official goivernment publication
school counselors ○ Contains
■ Reports from a person talking about the subject matter ■ Laws
● TERTIARY SOURCE ■ Decrees
○ General References ■ Letters of instructions and resolutions
○ Help point to the reader a primary or secondary source ■ SCRA (supreme court reports annotated)
○ Provides a quick rundown of what to expect on a particular ■ Legislative bodies (collective name = congress)
reading composed of lower and upper house
■ Summarizes the documents ○ May not be timely in publishing
○ EXAMPLES ● CONGRESSIONAL RECORDS
■ Card catalog ○ Of the horse of representatives and the senate
■ Directories ○ Actual deliberations and debates
■ Guidebooks ● RARE BOOKS
■ Abstract of thesis ○ Publications in book form
○ At least 50 years old
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR US TO IDENTIFY THESE RESOURCES? ■ And is no longer published
● When we read something, we have to make sure it is legitimate ○ Containe both primary and secondary information
○ To fact check ○ Requires access
○ Documents are delicate
SOURCE MATERIALS ■ Therefore at times only the librarian have the access to it
● Usually found in the special sections of the library ● ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS
● The historical sources ○ Public records, paprs, periodicals, books or other items, articles
or materials
● CONTEMPORARY SOURCE MATERIALS ■ In form of lectronic audio visual or print
○ Concern events (current or recent) ■ By their value and characteristics have enduring archival
○ From present up to 35 - 49 years value that has been selected for permanent preservation
■ Purpose of academic exchange ○ PHILIPPINE NATIONAL ARCHIVES
● Allows the public to examine your works ■ Main archives
● Challenge of creating another thesis on the topic ■ Consists of old document
and the following recommendations ■ The old documents makes it hard to access
■ Official Gazette ■ Collection is richest in Asia
● Official newspaper of the Philippines ■ Most important part
● May not be timely in publishing ● Spanish Collection
● VERTICAL FILES ○ 13 million manuscripts from 16th to
○ Special section in certain libraries 19th century
■ Which the brochures and souvenir programs were stored
in boxes
● OFFICIAL GAZETTE
APPRECIATING HISTORICAL SOURCES BATIS
● EXTERNAL CRITICISM ● In philippine history, sources are characterized as
○ Examines if the document is genuine or authentic ○ Spring of historical information
■ Genuity of the document
○ Studies who made the document and when did he do it EARLY PHILIPPINE WRITINGS
■ If the date correlate with the materials used ● THE ANGONO PETROGLYPHS
■ Examines the writter ○ Pictograms or Crude Drawings
○ Determines the purpose ■ Animals and other objects
■ for what purpose was the document written ■ Other mediums (leaf or rock)
■ Is there a premise of the document ● Depending on the region they belong to
● If there is a prize reward - it can be considered ■ Way of expression
as a hearsay and not a source ○ Angono Rock Shelter
● Ulterior motives - different from prize reward, ■ Found in the hills of Angono, Rizal
this matter to your own volition ■ Rock overhangs
● INTERNAL CRITICISM ■ Rock formations - Not a way of writing
○ Method of determining whether the contents of historical ● Place or home of ancient filipinos
information is accurate ● Formed made out of volcanic tufa, compacted
○ Presents what the document says volcanic ash or adobe
○ Tests the document ■ Provide shelter back in 5000BCE
■ Accuracy ● BAYBAYIN
■ Basis (to test if it is a hyperbole etc.) ○ Developed with the entry of Indian influence from contacts with
■ Context of the contents certain states
■ Are the portrayal of the people at the time accurate ■ Indian empires: Champa empire and srivijayan empire
■ Is the author the major participant of the event? Minor or ■ Cavi or Cawi influenced from java or indonesia
observer? (to identify the perspective) ○ Visayan and Sacred
■ Credibility of the author ■ Informs the reader that the vessel is a sacred item
■ Was the author emotionally attached to the event ● Used in communicating with the spirit world
■ The reader was allowed (required) to read the whole ○ BITUAN SILVER STRIPS
document (in order to criticize the paper accurately) ■ Ancient Filipino writing
■ Culture of the book, the author; remember these sources ■ Found inside a coffin
can be used as a guide/learnings ■ 1000 AD
■ Terminology : hindsight (is the document offering from ■ Different interpretations how the archeologosts interprets
hindsight) - possible that the standards are applied in the it, historian jess tirol
past versions (the relevance is not matching) ● Shown the journeys of kings of Butuan
● Historical error in which the past is judged from ● King would send boats with people to china
the standards of the present ● Negotiations
● Honors china’s existing dynasty
● Recognition from china
○ BUTUAN IVORY SEALS
■ Found in a Swidden pile in Butuan
■ Used for trade or to show ownership of items
■ An area of land cleared for vegetation, ownership
● Symbol of ownership
● Part of history
○ LAGUNA COPPER PLATE
■ Found on a river bed in Lamban, Laguna
■ Revealed the person forget the death about the minister
of endan
● Old malay
● Proclamation
● Official is relieved from his dept (or the
descendants exempted of slavery/death)
● Other interpretation: Namrawan may have the
connotation of Namrawa
(they do not use the name of the person for
respecting the dead), refer to a death person by
visayan
○ Spanish colonizers arrived like Fr. Francisco Colin who noted
most of the population were literate and can read and write in
baybayin
■ Baybayin continued to be used in the religious text like
Doctrina Christiana which was published by the
Dominicans in Manila in 1593 (First religious text)
○ Myth about Baybayin
■ It is only used for short messages (has been debunked)
■ It is not only for the upper-class natives
■ Known to be inclusive
■ Spaniards did not destroy eerie Filipino writing
○ USES
■ Official transaction (deed of sales)
■ Religious writings
○ Characterized as complicated and intricacy
■ Superceded
■ Roman texts are easy to read and memorized
○ AMBAHAN
■ Still used by natives, such as the Buhid and Hanunuo
Mangyans of Mindoro, written on bamboo slate
○ With the birth of Filipino nationalism, Baybayin came to signify
the longing of the Filipinos of their glorious past and to remind
the people that they were not uncultured or uncivilized
barbarians as claimed by the Spaniards.
○ JAWI SYSTEM OF WRITING
■ Adopted by the Moros in southern Philippines
■ Choice of writing among Tausug and Maguindanao
royalty as well as of kings, nobles and religious scholars
HOW THE PHILIPPINES SEEN BY FOREIGNERS
● PHILIPPINE ISLANDS (Chau Ju Kua)
○ Earliest written account about the natives of the Philippines
○ Narrated about the island of Ma-I which was proven to be the
island of Mindoro
○ “The country of Ma-I (Mindoro) is to the north of P’oni
(Borneo). Over a thousand families are settled together along
both banks of a creek (or gully). The natives cover themselves
with a sheet of cotton cloth, or hide the lower part of the body
with a sarong. There are bronze images of gods, of unknown
origin, scattered about in the grassy wilderness. Pirates seldom
come to this country.”
○ “Custom of the trade is for the savage traders to assemble in
crowds and carry the goods with the in baskets”
○ There are bronze image of God
■ Origins are unknown
■ Images seen are ganesha and veruda
○ ISLANDS OF CALAMIAN, BUSUANGA, PALAWAN
■ San-su (Three islands)
● Belong to Ma-I
● Names are Kia-ma-yen, pa-lau-yu and pa-ki-ung
● Each has own tribes - scattered over the islands
● Customs are the same as those of Ma-I
■ Hai-tan
● Another tribe in remotest valleys
● Small in stature
● Eyes are round and yellow (brown)
 ● Curly hair, teeth show (between their lips)
● TAO-I-CHIH-LIO (Wang Ta-yuan)
○ San-tao (Three islands)
■ “They are trebly divided like a tripod. There are range
upon range of mountains and ridges. The people live
along the land. The soil is poor and the crops sparse. The
general custom is simple. The climate is rather warm.
Among the males and females some are white. The male
knots his hair like a fist on the top of the head; the
female does it up in a mallet-like tress. All wear a single
garment. The men frequently get on board junks and
come to Chuanchou for business: They often spend all
the money.”
○ Ma-yi or Mo-yi (Mindoro)
■ “When any woman is burying her husband, she shaves
her hair and fasts for seven days, lying beside her dead
husband. Most of them nearly die. If any seven days they
are not dead, their relatives urge them to eat. Should they
get quite well they cherish their chastity by not marrying
again during their whole lives. Should they get quite
well they cherish their chastity by not marrying again
during their whole lives. There are some even, who,
when the body of their dead husband is burning, get into
the funeral pyre and die. At the burial of a great chief,
two or three thousand (sic. Twenty or thirty) male or
female slaves are put to death for burying with him.”
○ Min-to-lang (Mindanao)
■ “Adjacent to the sea, this place is the important
gateway. This is a stream connecting with the sea. The
water is not salty. The soil is very fertile. The rice and
corn are plentiful. The weather is hot. In their customs,
they esteem thriftiness. Both men and women do up their
hair in a mallet-like tress. They wear short black shirt,
and the blue petticoat. The people dig wells for drinking
water. They boil sea-water to make salt, and ferment rice
to make liquor. They have a chief (or chiefs). They
prohibit robbery which is punished by putting the
robber’s family to death. The natural products are “wull
mood”, musk, sandal wood, cotton, and niu-jii leather.
The Chinese goods are lacquered-ware copper caldron,
Djava (java) cloth, red taffetas, blue cloth, “tou”, tin,
wine, and the like.”
○ Mal-li-lu (Manila)
■ “To reach this place, one has to sail a long a way through
a harbor. The mountain is high, and the jagged rocks
with salted mud are plenty at seaside. There are very few
forests. The fields are in the high land and their soil is
lean. The people often cultivate potato or taro. The
climate is hot. In their customs, they esteem uprightness.
If a barbarian official is dead, his wife will not again
marry an ordinary person. She can be matched only to
someone who is the descendant of some barbarian
official of rank and position of another country.
Otherwise she will cut off her hair and read religious
books for the rest of her life. Both men and women do
up their hair in a flat trees. All wear short shirt of blue
cloth, and tier around them a red cloth turban. The
people boil sea-water to make salt, and ferment sugar
cane juice to make liquor. They make beds by weaving
up pieces of bamboo and burn raw wax for light. The
natural products are tortoise-shell, yellow beeswax,
la-ka, “Jwu-buh”, and kapok. The Chinese goods used in
trading are “ting” in standard weight, blue cloth,
porcelain water jar of Chu-chou, big pot, iron caldron,
and the like.
○ Pi-sho-ye (Visayas)
■ “It lies in seclusion in a corner to the east of the sea. The
mountain is flat and wild. Fields are scarce. Cultivation
is not so much. The climate is doubly hot. Robbery is
customary with the people. Both men and women knot
their hair in a tress. They use black ink to tattoo their
body. They carve on themselves up to the center of the
neck. They dress themselves by binding red taffetas and
tying around yellow cloth. There is no chief in this
country (or state) in their custom, The land produces
nothing. The people often wrap up some dry food, and
 then pole a small boat nobody is there, if they meet any
fisher or woodchopper, they frequently catch him alive
and bring him home. They sell them to the other
countries at the price of two taels’ gold for each person.
The people of this country copy each other’s doing and
therefore eventually treat this a kind of occupation.
Therefore the people of the “East Ocean” are all afraid
of them and run away when they hear the name of
Pisho-ye.
○ Su-lu (Sulu)
■ “The Su-lu pearls, which are better than those produced
at Shali-pa-chou, Ti-san-kan, and other places, are white
and round. Their price is very high. The Chinese use
them for head ornaments. Their color never fades, and so
they are considered the most precious rarities. There are
some about an inch in diameter. Even in the place of
production the large pearls cost over seven or eight
hundred “ting”. The medium ones cost two or three
hundred “ting”. The small pearls which are worth ten
thousand taels and upwards, or from three or four
hundred to one thousand taels, come from Tissan-kan of
the West or “Western Ocean”; there are none here. The
Chinese goods used in trading in here are pure gold,
unpure trade silver, Patu-la cloth, blue beads, Chu
earthenware, iron bars, and such like things.”
● PHILIPPINES EMBASSY TO CHINA IN 1417
○ The Tausugs sent an embassy to Yung Lo’s court composed of
three Sulu Kings: (a) Paduka Batara, the King of the Eastern
kingdom of Sulu; (b) Paduka Prabu, the King of the Mountain
Ka-la-ba-ting; and (c) Mahala Chi-h, the King of the Western
kingdom
○ This embassy paying tribute to Yung Lo was recorded in the
Annals of the Ming or the Ming Shih
■ Emperor thought that China is the superior civilization
■ Recognizes superiority by paying tribute
■ The reason why there is contact between China and
Philippines
■ In order to spread the word that China is superior - fleet
dispatched
○ The Sulu leaders found the missions to be highly profitable as
the Chinese Emperor had to at least double the value of the
tribute given by the embassy in order to demonstrate the
superiority of the Chinese civilization
○ The new emperor Hongxi thought the missions were draining
China’s finances, stopped receiving the foreign tribute missions.
○ He was advised to burn down Zheng He’s grand fleet and destroy
whatever records. China being the center of the universe had no
need for trade as it was self-sufficient and to protect its superior
civilization
○ Emperor Xunde succeeded Hongxi and continued his father’s
policy of isolating China from the rest of the world
THE PHILIPPINES AT THE TIME OF SPANISH CONTACT
● CAPTAIN MIGUEL DE LOARCA’S RELACION DE LAS YLAS
FILIPINAS ACCOUNT OF THE FILIPINOS AND THEIR
PRE-SPANISH CIVILIZATION (1582)
○ According to Loarca, the chief settlement at the time of
Spaniards would be the islands of the city of Manila and the
island of Luzon. But, he discovered more in terms of inhabitants
in Cebu and neighboring places like Pintados or Visayan island.
○ Took account primarily of the Indians and Moro’s practices or
customs in the Philippine Islands.
○ Described two kinds of people who peacefully live there are
dependent upon each other for their necessities of life: one class
includes those who live along the coast and the other those who
live in the mountains.
■ These two sets of people live peacefully in such a way
they actually depend on each other and they have their
own set of staples.
■ Loarca noticed that those inhabitants in the mountains
cannot live without fish, salt, and other articles of food.
And also jars and dishes of other districts are kind of
staples that they usually use in terms of food.
○ Larao - this rule requires that when a chief dies all must mourn
him, anc must observe the following restrictions.
 ■ No one shall quarrel with any other during the time of
mourning and especially at the time of the burial. Spears
must be carried point downward, and daggers be carried
in the belt with hilt reversed.
■ No gala or colored dress shall be worn during that time.
■ No singing on board a barangay when returning to the
village. Strict silence shall be maintained.
○ Wars - known for hostilities that were handed down from father
to son.
○ Panas - the son of Anoranor, first man who waged war against
Mangaran on account of an inheritance.
○ Three cases in which natives regard war as just:
■ When an Indian goes to another village and is there put
to death without cause.
■ When their wives are stolen from them; and,
■ When they go in friendly manner to trade at any village,
and there, under the appearance of friendship, are wrong
or maltreated.
○ Laws of Slavery - No Indian in this country is made a slave or is
put to death for any crime which he commits, even if it be theft,
adultery, or murder - except that for each crime there is san
established fine paid in jewels or gold, and if the culprit is unable
to pay the fine, he will borrow the money and pledge himself to
become a slave for whom he borrows until he shall repay.
○ There are three classes of slaves in these islands:
■ Ayuey - most thoroughly enslaved and served his
bondsman in his own dwelling;
■ Tumaranpoc (or tumaranpuk) - live in their own
houses and obliged to work to their master for a day.
Three days for themselves are attributed to cultivate their
own fields and give their master a portion of their yield.
■ Tomatabans (or tumatabang) - work for the master
only when there is some banquet or revel
○ Timaguas - are freemen of these islands; they are neither chiefs
nor slaves. They live in security and are free to pass from the
service of one chief to that of another, whenever they so desire,
and without any obstacle being placed in their way.
● FR. JUAN DE PLASCENSIA’S CODE ON THE ANCIENT
CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOG (1589)
○ Aside from the early Spanish officials, Spanish missionaries
described in their writings the customs and traditions of Filipinos
at the time of Spanish contract.
○ Fr. Juan de Plascencia - a Franciscan missionary, linguist and
writer. He documented the ancient customs of the Tagalogs.
○ Datu - is the Chief who governed the people of the islands and
led the wars. The subject who committed any offense against
them, or spoke but a word to their wives and children, was
severely punished.
○ Barangay - tribal gathering of people and their houses headed
by the Datu
○ Three other castes in the Philippine Islands:
■ Maharlica - or the nobles who were free-born. They do
not pay tax or tribute to the Datu, but must accompany
him in war at their own expense.
■ Aliping namamahay - they serve their master, whether
he be a datu or not, with half of their cultivated lands, as
was agreed upon in the beginning. They accompanied
him and rowed for him whenever he went beyond the
island.
■ Aliping saguiguilid - servant of their master, his house
and his cultivated lands, and may be sold. The master
grants the, should he see fit, and providing that he has
profited through their industry, a portion of their
harvests, so they may work faithfully.
■ Law and Order - Investigations made and sentences
passed by the datu 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 a datu or not. If
the controversy lay between two chiefs, 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.
■ They had laws by which they condemned to death a man
of low birth who insulted the daughter or wife of a chief,
 witches and other of the same class. But they condemned
no one to slavery, unless he was merited 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 be made to the person aggrieved.
● ON THE WORSHIP OF THE TAGALOG, THEIR GODS AND
THEIR BURIALS AND SUPERSTITIONS
○ In all the villages, or in other parts of the Filipinas Islands, there
are no temples consecrated to performing of sacrifices, the
adoration of their idols, or the general practice of idolatry.
○ They have the habit of offering these animals a portion of what
they carried in their boars, by throwing it into the water, or
placing it upon the bank. The reasons for offering these sacrifices
are the following.
■ Recovery of a sick person
■ Prosperous voyage
■ Good harvest in the sowed lands
■ Propitious result in wars
■ Successful delivery in childbirth
■ Happy outcome in married life
■ Other personal matters
○ Simbahan - this means a temple of place of adoration, but this
was formerly considered as a large house of a Chief for
celebrating a festival or pandora (“worship”)
○ Bathala - is among the idols they worshipped; signifies “all
powerful” or “make of all things”
○ Mapolon - how they call the change of seasons
○ Dian masalanta - the Patron of lovers and of generation
○ Lacapati and Idianale - the Patrons of the cultivated lands and
of husbandry
● ABOUT CATALONS, MANGKUKULAM AND ASWANGS
○ Catalonan - a priest of the devil that is either a man or a woman
○ Mangagauay - or witches, who deceive others by pretending to
heal the sick. They even induced maladies by their charms,
which in proportion to the strength and efficacy of the witchcraft,
are capable of causing death.
○ Manyisalat - they had the power of applying such remedies to
lovers that would abandon and despise their own wives, and in
fact could prevent the from having intercourse with the latter.
○ Mangcocolam - or mangkukulam, whose duty was to emit fire
from himself at night, once or oftener each month.
○ Hacloban - or hukluban is another kind ,of witch of greater
efficacy than the mangangauay. Without the use of medicine, and
by simply saluting or raising the hand, they killed whom they
choose. The cure of those made ill be their charms can be done
through other charms.
○ Magtatangal - or manananggal whose 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 protected to
carry, his head to different places; and in the morning, returned
to it to his body - remaining as before, alive.
○ Osuang - or aswang, which is equivalent to “sorcerer”; seen to
have him fly, and that he murdered men and ate their flesh.
○ Mangagayoma - mangagayuma were those who made charms
out of herbs, stones, and woods for the purpose of love.
○ Sonat - his office was to help one die, at which time he predicted
the salvation or condemnation of the soul.
○ Pangatahojan - a soothsayer or one who predicted the future by
magical, intuitive, or more rational means
○ Bayagouin - signified “cotquean”, a man whose nature inclined
toward that of a woman
○ Their manner of burying the dead was as follows: The deceased
was buried beside his house; and, if he were a chief, he was
placed beneath a little house or porch which they constructed for
this purpose. Before interring him, they mourned for four days;
and afterward laid him on a boat which served as coffin or bier,
placing him beneath the porch, where guard was kept over him
by a slave. In place it rowers, various animals were placed within
the boat, each one being assigned a place at the oar by two’s -
male and female of each species together. It was the slave’s care
to see that they were fed. If the deceased had been a warrior, a
living slave was tied beneath his body until in this wretched way
 he died. In the course of time, all suffered decay; and for many
days the relatives of the dead man bewailed him, singing dirges,
and praises of his good qualities, until they wearied of it. This
grief was also accompanied by eating and drinking.
● FR. JUAN DE PLACENCIA’S ACCOUNT OF THE PRE-SPANISH
FILIPINOS AND THEIR CIVILIZATION (1604)
○ Of Baths in the Philippines
■ Islanders (Filipinos) are brought up in the water and they
swim like fishes, even from childhood, and have no need
for bridges to pass over rivers.
■ Bathed themselves at all hours for cleanliness and
recreation.
■ Most general hour of bathing is at the setting of the sun
after finishing their labors and on the way, they usually
carry some vessel for bearing water to use in theri
domestic duties.
■ They keep a vessel full of water before the door of every
house for anyone who enters the house should take a
water from the jar and wash first their feet.
■ They also employ the baths as a medicine such as those
springs of hot water.
○ Of the Languages of the Filipinos
■ No single or general language of the Filipinos extending
throughout the islands; but all of them, though there are
many and different tongues, are so much alike that they
may be learned and spoken in a short time.
■ Bisaya in use through all the island of the Pintados,
although in some of the villages therein the Harayan os
spoken. Of all those languages it was the Tgal has
pleased and being admired by the Spaniards, i.e., the
language has four qualities of the four greatest languages
of the world: the abstruseness and obscurity of the
Hebrew; the articles and distinctions in proper as well as
in common nouns of the Greek; the fulness and elegance
of the Latin; and the refinement, polish and courtesy of
the Spanish.
○ Of the Letters of the Filipinos
■ All these islanders are much given to reading and
writing, and there is hardly a man and much less a
woman, who does not read and write in the letters used
in the island of Manila-which are entirely different from
those of China, Japan, and India.
■ With the character, the language are easily understood
and ideas are marvelously conveyed.
■ Unlike before that writing is on reed and palm-leave
with the use of iron point, they now write their letters
with a sharpened quill on paper.
○ Of the Civilities, terms of Courtesy, and Good Breeding
Among the Filipinos
■ “The Filipinos are not so ceremonious in their actions as
are the Chinese and Japanese; yet they have their
politeness and good breeding, especially the Tagalogs,
who are very civil and courteous in word and action.”
■ Made of salutation upon entering or meeting anyone:
removing with the head gear before the person they
respect; draw the body together and make a low
reverence, raising one or both hands to the face; and
placing them upon the cheeks; next sit dow waiting for
the question that may be put to them for it is considered
bad manners to speak before one is spoken to.
■ Acknowledging the courtesy due to the person whom
they respect or superious by seating themselves upon the
ground, or rather on their heel-bones.
■ Address letters to each other in terms of elaborate and
delicate expressions of affection and neat turns of
thought; manifested through musical practice through
kudyapi.
○ Concerning the false Heathen Religion, Idolatries, and
Superstitions of the Filipinos
■ The author felt the need to address the issues on false
heathen belief that they hold concerning the divinity of
their idols; of their priests and priestess; and of their
sacrifices and superstitions, as all of which involved
 infinitude of loathsome creatures, foul, obscene, truly
damnable.
■ These concepts were manifested on their deed,
government, songs, and writings.
○ Of Marriages, Dowries, and Divorces Among the Filipinos
■ There was a customs that any man may marry several
wives.
■ The Bisayans always try to procure a wife from their
own class, and closely connected with them in
relationship, while the Tagalogs do not insist so much on
this latter points as they are satisfied if the wife be not of
inferior rank.
■ Dowry is the amount agreed upon or fixed with his
means for the husband to get the consent of the family
and get his present.
■ The marriage lasted no longer thandid peace between
them for they are divorced on the slightest occasion.
○ The Manner Which the Filipinas Had of Shrouding and
Burying their Dead
■ Offering of some sacrifices to their anitos, or diwatas,
which their gods in cases of sickness coupled with
dancing to the sound of bell.
■ In the event of the death of the sick, the catalona was
exerting force and all at once she stopped. After the
death, there followed a new music accompanied by
weeping by the mourners on account of their sorrow and
grief and others for wages and profits.
■ To the sound of the sad music, they wash the body of the
dead person with the gum of the storax-tree and other
aromatics, cloth with best garments which the dead man
possessed, and mourn over it for three days. They bury
the same thereafter.
■ The bodies were found uncorrupted after lapse of many
years as they were appointed with aromatic balsams,
properly enclosed in coffins of the hardest word,
incorruptible, with the cover so fitted that it was
impossible for the air to enter. Moreover, golds were
placed in the mouths of the corpses.
■
After the burial, mourning ceased, but not the feasting
and intoxication, which lasted for more or less time
according to the rank of the deceased. The widow or
widower, and the orphans and other relatives who felt
most keenly their grief, expressed their sorrow by
fasting, abstaining meat, fish, and other viands - eating
during this periods only vegetables, and those in very
small quantities.
■ Upon the death of a chief, silence must be observed in
the village during the period of mourning until the
interdict was raised - this observance depends on the
deceased’s rank.
○ Of Feasting and Intoxication Among the Filipinos
■ Islanders ate and drank to excess upon occasions of
illness, death, and mourning, but more emphasis on
custom at betrothals, weddings, and sacrifices, with the
guests and visitors.
■ Upon all these occasions there was not a door closed
against anyone who might desire to go to drink with
them.
FILIPINO REACTION TO SPANISH COLONIALISM
● FIRST VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD
○ (Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo, 1519-1522)
■ BY: Antonio Pigafetta
● The chronicler of the voyage of Ferdinand
Magellan; recorded information regarding the
geography, climate, flora, fauna and the native
inhabitants of the places
● Born in a noble Italian family (City of Vicenza)
● Studied cartography, geography and astronomy
and served on the ships of the Knights of Rhodes
in the early 16th century
● Provided an account of the Magellan
expedition’s first setting foot in the island of
Homonhon (Humunu)
● Took into account the arrival of the Spaniards,
welcomed by riding in a boat and there were 9
of them
○ There are visible joy in them
○ Seen they are reasonable men