RHIST BA 1 – D
Blessy Grace B. Dollete BABA 1 – D
Content and Contextual Analysis: Customs of the Tagalogs
1. Author’s Background
2. Historical background of the
document
Customs of the Tagalogs
Miguel 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 born in the early 16th
century as Juan Portocarrero in Plasencia, in the region of Extremadura,
Spain. He grew up during the period known as the Siglo de Oro, a
Golden Age when arts and literature flourished in many parts of Spain,
among them his native Extremadura.
Juan de Plasencia 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. He was 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. Juan de Plasencia wrote a number of books
designed primarily to promote the understanding of both the Spanish
language among the natives, and the local languages among the
missionaries, to facilitate the task of spreading Christianity.
Upon the arrival of Spanish expeditions, monographs were
written by the Spanish chroniclers and the Customs of the Tagalogs was
part of the longer monographs written. Juan de Plasencia was tasked by
the King of Spain to document the customs and traditions of the
Tagalog natives, based on his own observation and judgment. The
Customs of the Tagalogs was purposefully written to give an eroticized
portrait of the natives, which was undoubtedly influenced by politics

3. Content Analysis:
Understanding the historical
information.
Identify and describe the
customs and traditions of the
Tagalogs mentioned in the
document.
and propaganda. Through his work, the Spanish government was able
to gain knowledge about the customs and culture of the Filipinos in
Luzon which was useful in spreading Christianity at the expense of the
Western biases to the Tagalog natives’ culture.
This account was written to describe the customs, traditions,
social and government systems of native Filipinos. The unit of their
government is called a Barangay, Barangay, which is a tribal gathering
gathering governed and ruled by the Dato, the chieftain of the people,
and consists of less than thirty to as many as hundred families or houses
together with their relatives and slaves. After the Dato, there are nobles,
commoners and slaves.
The nobles were the free-born whom they call Maharlica. They
do not pay tax or tribute to the Dato, but must accompany him in war,
at their own expense. The commoners who are called Aliping
Namamahay have their own houses, and are in charge of their property
and gold but lived with the lands or properties of the Datos or Maharlika
whom serve as their master. Aliping Saguiguilid or slaves occupy the
lowest social class and whose existence was completely dependent on
the graces of their masters.
Before the marriage between individuals of the same or
different classes, dowries must be given by men to the parents of the
female. Children of individuals coming from different classes must be
divided according to the number of children. Children born in odd
numbers belongs to the father while children born in even numbers
belong to the mother. The Maharlicas could not, after marriage, move
from one village to another, or from one barangay to another, without
paying a certain fine in gold, as arranged among them.
 Other than rules in marriage, natives also have laws regarding
the divorce. If the wife left the husband for the purpose of marrying
another, all her dowry and an equal additional amount fell to the
husband; but if she left him, and did not marry another, the dowry was
returned. When the husband left his wife, he lost the half of the dowry,
and the other half was returned to him. If he possessed children at the
time of his divorce, the whole dowry and the fine went to the children,
and was held for them by their grandparents or other responsible
relatives.
The Dato is the administrator of justice and he himself conducts
investigations and pass sentences but must take place in the presence of
all citizen in his barangay. If any of his litigants is aggrieved, an
anonymous arbiter from another barangay is called to settle the dispute.
Native Filipinos had laws by which they condemned to death a man of
low birth who insulted the daughter or wife of a chief, likewise witches,
and others of the same class. They condemned no one to slavery, unless
the person merited the death penalty. Other offenses are punished by
fines in gold but if not paid, must be paid through service.

In terms of debt, the debtor is condemned to a life of labor; as a

result, borrowers become slaves. Upon the death of the father, the
children are responsible to pay the debt and no doing so will double the
amount that must be paid. As for inheritance, all legitimate children
must inherit equal wealth but if a man had a child by one of his slaves,
slaves, as well as legitimate children, children, the former had no share
in the inheritance but the legitimate children were bound to free the
mother.
The Worships of the Tagalogs
The natives are pagans and do not have any religion but believes
in the presence of an almighty whom they called Bathala. Natives have
no established division of years, months, and days; only the

4. Contextual Analysis:
What are the factors that could
have influenced Juan de
Plasencia in the writing of the
document? Explain.
recognition of sun-time and water-time. Time could only be determined
through land cultivation by phases of the moon, seasons of fruits,
flowers, and leaves they are yielding.
They have simbahan, a temple or place of worship for gods,
goddesses, and their idols. Pandot is also called as worship. It is the
festival celebrated in the large house of a chief. Nagaanitos is a kind of
worship where the whole barangay or the entire family are united and
joined in the worship together at this particular time. Even before, they
already have a concept about the Life after the Rest which they call
“maca” or “the paradise for the just, valiant, and morally upright” and
“casanaan” or “the place of punishment, grief, affliction, and a place of
anguish for the wicked.”
Natives believe in ghosts called vibits, phantoms called
Tigbalaang, and Patianac. They have a manner of in adoration, sacrifice
and offering which could come from a lot of reasons. Catalonan,
mangagauay, manyisalat, mancocolam, hocloban, silagan,
magtatangal, osuang, mangagayoma, sonat, pangatahojan, and
bayoguin are the entities that the natives believed to have acquired
supernatural powers but Plasencia named as the priests of the devils.
The manner of burying the dead was varies according to their social
status. Other inhabitants of the island such as Aetas and Negrillos have
a different form of burial.
Juan de Plasencia was tasked by the king of Spain to document
the customs and traditions of the Tagalog natives, based on his own
observation and judgment. This could only mean that Plasencia’s
biases, culture, and beliefs may have influenced how he understood the
customs and traditions of the native Filipinos. Since the document was
purely written for politics and propaganda, he made the natives looked
uncivilized considering how he described their habits and belief system.
 They way he called the natives’ spiritual entities as “priests of the
devils” conveyed a message to the king of Spain about how urgent it
was to baptized and spread Christianity since it was different from the
religion they knew. The biases he had as a colonizer affected how the
whole narrative was written and portrayed.
5. What is the relevance / Plasencia’s account is another essential element in knowing the
contribution of the document in
pre-colonial culture of the Filipinos. Although the foreign tongue made
Philippine history?
a negative description about the ways of the early Filipinos, this can
give us an insight that even before colonizers came, they already have
an established form of political, social, economic, and belief system.
Most of the pre-Hispanic traditions must have been wiped out due to
the massive expansions of Christianity. Surviving customs and
superstitions from early Filipinos are still applied in modern days but
are only used in provinces and far-flung areas. The barangay still
serves as the smallest unit of government in our country today, which
is also lead by barangay captains equivalent to Datos in the past.
Overall, if you look at Plasencia’s document in the point of view of a
Filipino, it disagrees and disapproves the claims of the Spaniards that
the natives were uncivilized.
6. What are the author's main The author’s main arguments are: (1) the Philippines already
arguments?
have a rich culture even before the Spaniards came; (2) the natives act
accordingly to the society’s rules; (3) the religious beliefs of the people
in Luzon were entirely different from the western beliefs.
7. Your own overall observation After reading the whole narrative, I could say that Juan de
and insights on the primary
Plasencia dedicated a lot of his effort and time in gathering information
source.
about the natives. He gave a depiction of the customs and traditions of
the early Filipinos even if he eroticized the image of their beliefs.
Knowing that the narrative was written for politics and propaganda and
considering the writer’s own biases, we can infer that what is
uncommon to the foreign tongue could result to misunderstanding and
exaggeration.
 The document is also a proof that even before colonizers came,
Filipinos already have a rich culture and an established socio-political
system. It contains a wealth of information that historian could use in
reconstructing the political and socio-cultural history of the Tagalog
Region which is essential in tracing down our roots. The 300 years of
colonization has left a deep mark in our own culture and identity and
has wiped out most, if not all, of our pre-hispanic culture. Although the
document had delivered numerous information to modern Filipinos, we
could not deny that it eroticized the image of the natives and was only
beneficial to the Spaniards during that time.