Republic of the Philippines

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY

Lingayen Campus
COLLEGE OF COMPUTING SCIENCE
MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT
Second Semester, 2019-2020
__________________________________________________________________

HISTORICAL GLIMPSE TO TAGALOG CUSTOMS

A Term Paper Submitted to

the Faculty of General Education Department

Pangasinan State University

Lingayen, Pangasinan

In Partial Fulfillment

of Requirements for the Subject

Readings in Philippine History

By:

Monica C. Burbano
Janry C.Caagusan
Angelic C. Cabarles
Roderick DC. Valdez

May 2020
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1

Introduction --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 1

Customs of the Tagalogs

A. Juan de Plasencia’s Life
B. Historical Context
C. Content of Customs of the Tagalogs
i. Political System
ii. Social System
iii. Economic System
iv. Cultural System
D. Relevance to History
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Conclusion --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 5

References --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 6
 HISTORICAL GLIMPSE TO TAGALOG CUSTOMS, 2020 |

ABSTRACT

Customs of the Tagalogs is an archaeological proof which contains extensive information

reconstructing the political and socio-cultural history of the Tagalog region (Junker, 1998). It is a first-hand
account of Plasencia’s experiences and observations among the natives in Laguna and the tingues, and
among the entire Tagalog race. This paper aims to discuss the content and contextual analysis of ‘Customs
of the Tagalogs’ by Juan de Plasencia. It will focus on author’s background, historical context, content of
the primary source, and the relevance of the Customs of the Tagalogs in history in general. It will reveal
the practices and customs of the Tagalogs and the type of community that Filipinos had prior to the arrival
of Spaniards, show the similarities and differences the pre-Hispanic customs of the Filipinos to the practices
that the Spaniards introduced, explain the importance of the Customs of the Tagalogs to the grand narrative
of Philippine history and assess the relevance of the document in the present.

I. INTRODUCTION

In the present time, Filipino society and culture can be best described as a mixture of various
cultures that has been evolved over time. Our country is known to have a rich cultural background and
history since ancestral times. There were claims that the Philippines was civilized by colonizers especially
the Spaniards. In contrary with those claims, according to different scholars studying “Sinaunang Bayan”,
it has its own economic, social, cultural and political system prior to the colonization period. Different
archaeological evidences and accounts of Chinese, Spanish and Muslim scholars, such as letters and
manuscripts, revealed that the Philippines had what one could consider a culture untouched, unattained of
forced outside influences. One of these evidences is the Customs of the Tagalogs. The Customs of the
Tagalogs (Relacion de Las Costumbres de los Tagalogs) was written by Fray Joan de Puerto Carrero, del
convent de Villanueva de la Serena (commonly known as Juan de Plasencia) in 1589 during the Spanish
Colonial Period.

II. CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS

A. Juan de Plasencia’s Life

Fray Juan de Plasencia was born in 1520 as Juan Poetacarrero in Extremadura, Spain. He was one
of the seven children of a captain of a Spanish sailing vessel called Schooner (Barrantes, 1875). He grew
up during the period of Siglo de Oro, a Golden era when arts and literature thrived in many parts of Spain
(Panaligan, 2018). De Plasencia became a Spanish Friar of the Franciscan Order who was among the first
 HISTORICAL GLIMPSE TO TAGALOG CUSTOMS, 2020 |2

group of Franciscan missionaries that got through in the Philippines on July 2, 1578 (Fernandez, 2017). He
was assigned by the King of Spain to document the customs and traditions of the colonized country based
on his own observations and judgement (Cuyco, 2017). He spent most of his missionary life in the
Philippines where he founded numerous towns in Luzon and wrote several religious and linguistic book.
He wrote a lot books designed primarily to promote the understanding of both the Spanish language among
the native and the local language among the missionaries to ease the task of propagating Christianity. Aside
from his literary work "The Customs of the Tagalogs", he also authored the "Doctrina Christiana", an early
book on catechism. Doctrina Christiana is the first book ever printed in the Philippines (Jawa, 2019). He
lived up to his pledge leading a lifestyle of devoid of any luxury and in constant contact with the people he
was trying to convert into Christians. He was a defender of the native people, keeping his eyes to the poor,
ill or neglected, and standing for their rights (Fernandez, 2017). Juan de Plasencia died in Liliw laguna in
1590.

B. Historical Context

During Spanish colonialization, Filipinos were allowed to hold the position of gobernadorcillo
(municipal judge or governor) of pueblos. The activities of the gobernadorcillos were supervised and
monitored by friars. Hence, the friars became the most influential and knowledgeable figure in the pueblo.
Friars were assigned in the parishes to perform administrative duties in the local level. They have to
frequently report to their supervisors of what was happening in their respective parishes and to tell the
number of the converts, the people’s practices, their socio-economic situations and the problems they
encountered. Short letters were submitted by some friars while others who were good observers and gifted
in writing wrote longer dispatches. An example of a friar account is Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs.
The original text of Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs is currently kept in Archivo General de Indias
(ACL) in Seville, Spain. There is also a duplicate copy in the Archivo Franciscano Ibero-Oriental(AFIO)
in Madrid, Spain. In the Philippines, an English version appeared in Volume VII of Blair and Robertson’s
collection of Spanish documents. Another English translation was published as part of the volume for pre-
Hispanic Philippines of the Filipiniana Book Guild series.

C. Content of Customs of the Tagalogs

Customs of the Tagalogs reveals practices and customs, in terms of political, social, economic and
cultural system, of the Tagalogs. During his time, Plasencia postponed to respond to the Lordship’s letter
for him to first thoroughly know in regard to people’s request, and to avoid discussing the conflicting reports
of the Indians. He gathered Indians from different districts, and from them he has discovered the simple
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truth about the Tagalog’s government, administration of justice, inheritances, slaves and dowries. It is as
follows:

i. Political System

In Tagalog’s political system, the unit of government is called barangay which is ruled by a dato and
consists of 30 to 100 families together with their relatives and slaves. The dato is the chieftain, captain of
wars, whom governed, obeyed, and reverenced. The dato’s executive function includes implementing laws,
ensuring order and giving protection to his subject. The subject who committed any offense against them,
or spoke but a word to their wives and children, was severely punished. Disputes between individuals were
settled by a court made up of the chieftain and council of elders. Inheritance of dato’s position is given to
his first son. If the first son dies, the second son succeeds their father. In the absence of male heirs, it is the
eldest daughter that becomes the dato.

ii. Social System

In the social system, Tagalogs have different social classes, form of slavery and administration of
justice. They were divided into three social classes: nobles, commoners and slaves. The nobles or
maharlicas are the free-born. They do not pay taxes. However, they must accompany the dato in times of
war. The commoners or aliping namamahay live in their own houses and lords of their property and gold.
They are married and serve their master whether they are with the dato or not, as long as they share half of
their cultivated lands. The slaves or aliping saguiguilir serve their master in his house and his cultivated
lands. Enslavement has different causes and emancipation. A person becomes slave (aliping saguiguilir) by
captivity in war, reason of debt, inheritance, purchase, and committing a crime. Slaves can be emancipated
through forgiveness, paying debt, condonation, and bravery (where a slave can possibly become a dato) or
by marriage.

iii. Economic System

Tagalogs have different types of livelihood and were mandated by agricultural rules. The whole
barangay clears up their lands for farming. The lands which they inhabited were divided among the whole
barangay, especially the irrigated portion. Since the dato owns the land, the members of the barangay and
maharlicas have to pay annually a hundred gantas of rice to the dato at the time of rice harvest. Meanwhile,
some people hunt in high lands and fish in river banks and sea. However, if you don’t belong to the chief’s
barangay, it is required to pay for privilege in order to fish or trade in the markets.
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iv. Cultural System

Tagalogs have a diverse culture in terms of inheritance, marriage and death rituals, religious and
superstitious beliefs. People use different ornaments such as sorihile (small lamps) to decorate their houses.
Inheritance of children depends on their mother’s status. If one had children by two or more legitimate
wives, each child receives the inheritance and dowry of his/her mother. If a man had a child by one of his
slaves, the former had no share in the inheritance, but the legitimate children were bound to free the mother
and give him/her a tael or a slave. If besides his legitimate children, he had also some son (natural child)
by a free unmarried woman, only the third part of the inheritance will be given to the child. If there is no
child by the legitimate wife, but only children by an inaasava (unmarried woman), the child will inherit all.
However, if there were no child by legitimate wife, slave and inaasava, inheritance went only to the nearest
relative of the deceased. Adopted children inherit double of what was paid for their adoption. There are also
marriage rituals and bylaws needed to follow by couples. Prior to marriage, the man requires to give a
dowry (a piece of land or gold). Marriage between couples belonging to different social classes were not
common. Several grounds of divorce are adultery, abandonment on the part of the husband, cruelty, and
insanity. Tagalogs have also death rituals to honor the deceased. They dig a deep, perpendicular hole, and
place the deceased within it. They leave him/her upright with head or crown unburied. On top of it, they
put half a cocoa-nut to serve him as a shield. They also believe in places afterlife which are called maca
(paradise/heaven) and casanaan (place of anguish/hell). Filipinos have different religious beliefs. Tagalogs
celebrate pandot (festival to worship) in the large house of chief. They nagaanitos unite and join the worship
in the temple. People worship many gods and goddesses such as Badhala (supreme being), Idayanale (god
of agriculture), Sidarapa, (god of death), Agni (god of fire), Balangaw (god of rainbow), Mandarangan (god
of war), Lalahon (god of harvest) and Siginarugan (god of hell). They also worship the sun, moon, stars,
sacred animals and trees. Filipinos also believe in superstitions including belief in supernatural beings such
as aswang, dwende, kapre, tigbalaang, patianac/tiyanak, vibit. They also believe in different infernal
ministers such as sitan, catolonan, sonat, mangagauay, manyisalat, mancocolam, hocloban, silagan,
magtatangal, osuan, mangagayoma, and pangatahoan. They also believe in magical power of amulets and
charms such as anting-anting, kulam and gayuma or love potion.

D. Relevance to History

The Customs of the Tagalogs yielded a momentous contribution to Philippine history. It has abided
to serve as a keystone for historical reconstructions of Tagalog society. It asserts that during the “Sinaunang
Bayan”, Filipinos already have a government as well as set of beliefs and practices opposite to the claim
 HISTORICAL GLIMPSE TO TAGALOG CUSTOMS, 2020 |5

that the colonizers civilized us. It aids in understanding and preserving many of traditional ways of the local
population. It provides the first form of Civil Code used by local officials in governing and administering
justice. It contributes in gaining knowledge and information on the Filipinos’ culture and belief during
ancestral times.

III. CONCLUSION

Within more than three hundred years of colonization, the Spaniards influenced the Filipinos into
the attachment of Western culture. Filipinos have adapted their philosophy, as well as their habits, language,
clothing, religion and ways of amusement. Behind these changes, archaeological proofs such as Customs
of the Tagalogs validated that early Filipinos had already their own style of governing their people and
judgement system even before the conquerors came into the Philippines. Customs of the Tagalogs was
intentionally made to provide an exoticize description of the Tagalog natives, clearly fed by politics and
propaganda and operated with the Western-outsider’s gaze, that would be appealing to them. It unveils the
everyday living of ancient Filipinos, their system of government, social statuses, economic system, culture,
beliefs, and tradition. The document showed that during the Pre-hispanic era, Filipinos had already a form
of government led by a Datu, a social system divided into maharlica, aliping namamahay and aliping
saguiguilir, a form of living which is agriculture, and a set of traditional beliefs and rituals. With this fact,
even without the Spaniards, Filipinos can stand by their own. Therefore, Customs of the Tagalogs is one of
the greatest archaeological record in Philippine History. This document proves that Filipinos has unique
practices and customs amongst the world. It reflects our rich historical background and culture. Indeed,
cultures are under constant change and they must adapt the environmental changes. It serves as an eye
opener to every Filipino citizen that they should be proud on what and who they are. Every country, city or
town has distinct and unique norms that they should respect and treasure. So we as Filipinos, preserving
and understanding our old customs is one of our accountability. Even that cultures are learned, shared or
integrated by our past leaders we should accept and be proud of it. In addition, accepting every culture will
lessen the cultural gap and will serve as a new knowledge that can avoid ignorance.
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IV. REFERENCES
A. Books

Plasencia, J. d. (1589). Customs of the Tagalogs. In N. Asuncion, & G. R. Cruz, Readings in Philippine
History (pp. 46-49). Retrieved 2019

B. Internet Sources
Barrantes, V. (1875). Narraciones extremeñas. Madrid: Imp. de J. Peña.

Cuyco, R. (2017). Analysis of Customs of the Tagalogs. Prezi. Retrieved February 7, 2017, from
https://prezi.com/9i5yehdidr1t/customs-of-the-tagalogs/

Fernandez, J. (2017). Juan de Plasencia, OFM-Tatay ng Taytay ni Juan (Part 3). Retrieved August 28,
2019, from https://www.academia.edu/38814605/JUAN_de_PLASENCIA_OFM_--
_TATAY_ng_TAYTAY_ni_JUAN_Part_3_

Jawa, R. (2019). Analysis of Juan de Plasencia's Writings. Retrieved 2019, from

https://www.scribd.com/presentation/397410100/Juan-de-Placencia-s-Writings

Junker, L. L. (1998, December). Integrating History and Archaeology in the Study of Contact Period
Philippine Chiefdoms. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2(4), pp. 291-320.
Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20852912

Panaligan, R. (2018). Analysis of Customs of the Tagalogs. Prezi. Retrieved October 15, 2018, from
https://prezi.com/p/vjiz6mscj-2-/customs-of-the-tagalogs-by-juan-de-plasencia/