Customs of Tagalog

Historical Context
In the first century of the Spaniards colonization, the Spaniards tried to reach out to
local politics through allowing Filipinos to become gobernadorcillo. In order to make sure
the newly assigned gobernadorcillos stay loyal, the Spaniards send out friars or priest.
These friars ended up being the ones to administer the localities. They supervised
elections of local executives, collection of taxes, educating the youth, and other civic
duties.
The friars prepared reports about natives whom they changed their way of living,
socio-economic situation, and other problems the natives may or have encountered.
Plasencia’s Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalogs (Customs of the Tagalogs, 1589
contains numerous information that tells us all about the history of the Tagalog region in
terms of its political and socio-economic history. Another example of this is Miguel de
Loarca an encomendero of Panay wrote Relacion de las Islas Filipinas (1582). He described
the Filipinos way of life in Western Visayas areas.
About the author
Fray Juan de Plasencia (Joan de Portocarrero, real name) was a member of the
Franciscan Order who came together with first batch of missionaries to the Philippines in
1578. He and a fellow Franciscan Fray Diego de Oropesa, were assigned to do mission
works in the Southern Tagalog area. Plasencia also helped in the foundation and
organization of numerous towns in Quezon, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan. His continuous
interaction with the people he converted to Christianity enabled him to write a work titled
Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalogs (Customs of the Tagalogs, 1589) where he
vividly described the political, social, economic, and cultural practices of the Filipinos
before they were Christianized.
Plansencia’s biggest challenge at the time was how to make Filipinos understand the
articles of faith. How people could comprehend Christ or the Catholic Church. He wrote the
Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Espanola y Tagala which later became the first printed book
in the Philippines in 1593. He used it to as a reading material for Filipinos who wished to
deepen their faith in the newly-accepted religion.
About the Book
The original document of Customs of Tagalog is currently kept in Archivo de Indias
an archive in Seville, Spain. A duplicate is kept in Archivo Franciscano Ibero-Oriental, in
Madrid, Spain. Two english translations appeared in Volume VII of the Blair and Robertson’s
The Philippine Islands and a part of the volume for colonial Philippines in the second series
of the Filipiniana Book Guild.
Relevance
Customs of the Tagalog is a very popular primary source on how life was for
Filipinos before Spanish and Cristian influences. It includes a lot of information regarding
the social classes, political stratifications, and legal system of the Tagalog region. Many of
what we know about the duties and responsibilities of the datu, maharlika, and alipin
came from Plasencia’s account. It touches upon the property rights, marriage rituals,
burial practices, and justice system. It preserves the unwritten customs, traditions, and
religious and superstitious beliefs of the Filipinos.
Customs of Tagalog was also read by priests and missionaries because it provides
insights that help and inspire them to become effective evangelizers. It also provided an
insight in which the need to master the local language and culture of the people in order to
be a successful missionary. They also learned from Plasencia that contain the basic
elements of faith.
Plasencia’s historical writings disproved Spaniards claim of Filipinos still being
uncivilized and lacking in culture. By the time Plasencia was assigned in the Tagalog Region,
Filipinos were already politically and economically organized. Moreover, they had a concept
of a supreme being called Bathala, practiced burial customs and believed in life after death.
Lastly, Plansencia mentioned that Filipinos wear garments and gold ornaments and that
houses were decorated with idols.

((All of these lead to the conclusions that prior to the coming of the Spaniards, Filipinos
were already civilized and maintained a lifestyle that was on a par with or even better than
that of the people from other countries in Southeast Asia.))
 The gobernadorcillo (locally [ɡoβeɾnaðoɾˈsiʎo], literally "little governor") was a
municipal judge or governor in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period, who
carried out in a town the combined charges or responsibilities of leadership, economic,
and judicial administration.
 The "encomendero", or recipient of the "encomienda", extended privileges to "de facto"
control of the land designated in his grant. In effect, the "encomendero" was a deputy
charged by the crown with responsibility for the support of the indigenous people and
their moral and religious welfare.