WENDI DEOCARES SS 110 CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS MA’AM COLON

Fr. Juan de Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs

1. How did Fr. Juan de Plasencia describe the hierarchy of people in the
barangay? Cite at least two examples and explain.

Fr. Juan de Plasencia classified the hierarchy of the people of the barangay
into the datos, maharlica, aliping namamahay and the aliping sa guiguilir. The
name barangay was derived from what the tagalogs call a boat in their language.
The head of the barangay or its chief was called a dato that governs over the land
encompassed by the barangay and leads the warriors during war, Fr, Placensia
compared them to the knights in his culture.
Fr. Plasencia observed that including the dato, the tagalog people were
separated in castes. The free people or the maharlika, they are the nobles and
who do not pay taxes but accompanies the dato in war. The alipins are the
commoners and slaves that are at the bottom of the hierarchy. The aliping
namamahay are commoners who work for the dato that were illegal to be sold,
commonly mistaken by the alcades-mayor as aliping sa guiguilir who are akin to
slaves that can be sold legally.
In the cases where marriage happens between different castes, there are laws
established on what classification the children would belong to. For example, if a
maharlica marries either an aliping namamahay or aliping sa guiguilir, the odd
numbered among their children in the order of their birth will belong to the father’s
classification and the even would belong to their mother’s.

2. Which particular precolonial policy or rule stood out to you? Why?

The rules of dowry for the precolonial people are very fascinating in my
opinion. Dowries are property or money that the man gives to the woman and her
family when they are to be married.
Included in the part of the excerpt that Fr. Juan de Plasencia wrote about the
rules about dowry, it was mentioned that women are not allowed to own property,
land or dowry for it was in the culture that all the fruits of their labor are given to
their parents. It stood out to me as one of the early examples of how the patriarchy
have always found a way to deprive women of their rights and it has persisted
throughout the years.
It is not a surprise that it’s apparent in Fr. Plasencia’s written accounts about
the customs of the precolonial tagalog people, that women are mainly expected to
be wed and be mothers, as it was the custom of many cultures in history. Even in
this day and age, there is an underlying social expectation for women that is
similar to historical customs, more prevalent in some countries than others, to bear
children and be housewives. Although it has become subtle, the notion that
WENDI DEOCARES SS 110 CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS MA’AM COLON

women’s ultimate purpose and goal should be becoming a mother and a wife and
it is egregious to want anything other is still a widespread societal issue.

3. What does Fr. Plasencia’s account reveal about the religious and spiritual
beliefs of the early Filipinos? Cite specific examples and explain.

Fr. Juan de Plasencia accounts the many beliefs the people had. His writings
revealed that the tagalogs were very superstitious people and had their own
established beliefs even before Christianity came to the country.
Even with the absence of temples or shrines that are typically consecrated, the
tagalogs still worshipped many idols like their Badhala, which was considered the
“all powerful”, the sun, the moon and even the stars. Some of their other idols
include Lic-ha, Dian masalanta, a patron of lovers and generation, and Lacapati
and Idianale, the patrons of cultivated lands and husbandry. They also believed in
the afterlife or another life of rest which they call maca, where they believe the
good and moral people go to and casanaan, a place of punishment where the
wicked goes. Heaven, as they believed, was separate to these two places, as it
was only inhibited by the Badhala or the all-powerful maker of all things.
The early Filipinos also had partaken in burial rituals as well as offering
sacrifices in the form of animals like goats, fowls, and swine. When, for instance, a
person is sick or the barangay is hoping for safety or prosperity, they will offer
these sacrifices lead by the catolonan to their idols and perform a ceremony where
they cook rice in a jar, then break the jar leaving the rice intact and put a few
buyos or fruits wrapped in leaves with lime. Another ritual done by the catolonan,
is the blindfolding of young women who are on their menstrual period in order to
ensure that they find a desirable husband who won’t die early and have children.
There were also those who the tagalogs considered as priests of the devil,
namely, as mentioned before the catolonan, the mangagauay, the manyisalat, the
mancocolam, the hocloban, the silagan, the magtatangal, the osuang, the
mangagayoma, the sonat, the pangatahojan, and the bayoguin. They also
believed in ghosts and phantoms called Vibit and Tigbalaang respectively, and a
supernatural creature patianac, the soul of a mother crying in grief over their child
that both died During childbirth.
Another instance where it shows that the tagalog people are spiritual people in
Fr. Plasencia’s accounts would be the various omens they believed in such as the
serpent or rat being a sign that something bad is going to happen, a sneeze is
also considered as a sign, and a bird singing called tigmamanuguin on a tree. The
song of this bird could even be a good omen depending on the form of the song it
is singing.
Fr. Plasencia believed the Filipinos to be infidels who were in need of
evangelizing and conversion. He laments over the spiritual beliefs of the natives
and prays that they will be forgotten and be overtaken by Christianity.