"Tagalog Customs" is primarily concerned with the government.

Slavery,
inheritance, and dowries are all aspects of justice administration. In the
conflict and resolution processes, The dato's investigations and sentences
must be carried out with the presence of the members from his barangay. An
arbiter from another village was agreed or supported by everyone to render
true judgment in accordance with their customs, (known as fair and just men )
whether he is a dato or not. They had set of laws and one of them includes - a
man of low birth being condemned to death for insulting a chief's daughter or
wife, as well as witches and others of the same class- . In resolution to all
other offenses were punished by gold fines, which, if not paid promptly,
subjected the offender to imprisonment until the money was paid to the
person who was wronged.; This was done in a way that The master provided
food and clothing to the culprit and his children until the father paid his debt,
claiming that he had fed and clothed them.

Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalos (1589) - helped

understand and preserve many of the traditional ways of the local population
5.3.2. provided the first form of Civil Code used by local governors to
administer justice
What was the author’s main argument? What was he trying to say
about the customs of the Tagalogs?
The main argument talks about Juan de Plasencia's observation about the
customs of Tagalogs before the colonization of Spaniards. If we are to look at
it, we can perceive that Filipinos in the pre-colonial period are highly civilized
and already have a government system, and enjoys a rich culture.

 Aliping Namamahay are those who serve their masters however,

they can have their own properties
 Aliping sa Guiguilir are thoseconsidered to be slaves who serve
their masters or can be sold off.

Juan de Plasencia was a Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order. He was

among the first group of Franciscan missionaries who arrived in the
Philippines on July 2, 1578. He was tasked by the King of Spain to
document the customs and traditions of the colonized (“natives”) based
on, arguably, his own observations and judgments. He 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. Customs of the Tagalogs is a part 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)”

The Customs of the Tagalogs'' mainly focuses on the government,

administration of justice, slaves, inheritance and dowries. Juan de
Plasencia mentioned in his account that every Barangay, a tribal
gathering consists of 30-100 families together with their slaves, have their
own Dato, at the top of the social status, who governed the people and was
the captain in their wars, followed by the Maharlikas, commoners and
slaves. Plasencia described how children were divided between the married
Maharlika and slaves (Namamahay or SaGuiguilid). Plasencia also noted
the dowry system that was practiced by the native Tagalogs—dowries were
given by the men to the women’s parents before marriage. Moreover,
Plansencia mentioned the worships of the tagalogs noting that the
Filipinos have no temples but they have what they call Simbahan which
means “a place of adoration” because this is where they gather when they
wish to do a feast, called Pandot or Worship. He also mentioned that
Filipinos worship idols and one of them is what they call Bathala which
signifies “all powerful” or “maker of all things”. They also worship the sun,
the moon and even the stars. They have idols such as LIC-HA, Dian
Masalanta (the patron of lovers), Lacapati and Indianale (patrons of
cultivated lands), they also paid reverence to Buayas. He commented that
Filipinos are very liable to find auguries in things they witnessed and also
practiced divination. In addition, the manner of burying also di ers based
on the status of the deceased as what Plasencia described. They also have
distinctions among the priests of the devils such as: Catolonan, Sonat,
Mangaguay, Manyisalat, Mancocolam, Hocloban, Silagan, Magtatangal,
Osuan, Mangagayoma, Pangatahojan. Filipinos also believe in ghosts
which they call Vibit, Tikbalang and Patianac. However, he noted here that
such beliefs were already erased through the teaching of the holy gospel.

This account of Juan de Plasencia strengthens the claim that even before
the Spaniards colonized the Philippines, Filipinos already had their own set
of traditions, customs, practices, beliefs and government that they abided
by. He provided information that is helpful for today’s generation in
understanding our history and in discovering practices that are no longer
practiced today. Even now, it is noticeable that some of the practices
during the 16th century are still practiced by some ethnic groups here in
the Philippines; the Bagobo system for example which requires the
bride-to-be’s father to make a return present equivalent to one-half of
whatever is agreed upon as dowry and there are still people, especially the
elders, that believes in the existence of tikbalang and tiyanak. Even the
concept of Barangay is still evident in today’s generation. It is undeniable
that our customs and practices changed along with time; however, there
are still fragments of our past that remain and will continue to remind us
of our origin. It is such an honor knowing about our history and being able
to discover how rich the Philippines was in terms of our customs, beliefs
and practices

PUNISHMENTS WERE DONE IN THE FOLLOWING WAY:

· • Half the cultivated lands and all their products belonged to the master. The
master will provide the culprit with food and clothing thus enslaving him and
his children.
· • The master will have the possession of the children if ever the payment
could not be met by the father.
· • Aliping Saguiguilid -service within the house; serve the master to whom
the judgement applied.
· • Aliping Namamahay -living independently; served the person who lent
them wherewith to pay.
LOANS – The same way goes to a debtor concerning loans wherein he will
give half of his cultivated lands and profits until the debt has been paid or else
he's condemned to a life of toil and becomes slave. After the father's death,
the children will continue to pay the debt or the payment will be doubled.
INHERITANCES – Legitimate children of a father and mother will be inherited
equally not unless the father and mother showed a slight partiality by gifts
such as 2 to 3 taels or a jewel.
DOWRY -should be greater than the sum given to the other sons.
TWO OR MORE LEGITIMATE WIVES – If one had children by two or more
legitimate wives, each child will receive the inheritance and the mother's
dowry with its increase and share of his father's estate.
SLAVE WOMAN – If a man had a son from one of his slaves as well as
legitimate children, the former will have no share in the inheritance. If he had
a child with a slave woman, that child will also receive some of his share.
UNMARRIED WOMAN (ISAANAVA) – If ever he had children by an
unmarried woman, she will still receive a dowry but is not considered as a real
wife and her children are said to be natural children. If the father has a
legitimate wife but did not have a son but had children to the unmarried wife
called Inaasava, the latter will inherit all.
FREE MARRIED WOMAN – In case of a child of a free married woman which
was born while she was married, if the husband punished the adulterer and
was considered a dowry, that child will also have a share in the inheritance.
ADOPTED CHILDREN'S INHERITANCE
Dowry:
· • Upon divorce before the birth of the children
· • Upon the death of the wife/ husband
· • Upon engagement
· • Arranged marriage