Pentiano, Darlene C.

GHIST-1718

Part 1. Describe the Main Customs of the Tagalog

A. Differentiate the 2 classifications of slaves

There are two classifications of slaves namely the aliping sa guiguilir and the aliping namamahay. The aliping
sa guiguilir are those who are staying inside the houses of their masters and they are the ones being sold to other
people while the aliping namamahay are the slaves who serves their masters but have their own houses and has the
right to own a property.

B. What Constitute a common property?

The lands on the tingues, or mountain-ridges constitute a common property because they are not divided,
instead it is owned in common by the barangay.

C. Describe the relationship between debt and slavery

A person can become a slave by captivity in war, by the reason of debt, by inheritance, or by committing a
crime. Thus, the relationship between debt and slavery can be said as the so-called directly proportional for the reason
that if you have a debt yet you were unable to pay it, you will serve as a slave to your debtor. Once you pay your debt,
you can be emancipated. For instance, if the culprit had some relative or friend who paid for him, he was obliged to
render the latter half his service until he was paid—not, however, service within the house as aliping sa guiguilir, but
living independently, as aliping namamahay. If the creditor were not served in this wise, the culprit had to pay the
double of what was lent to him. In this way, slaves were made by debt: either sa guiguilir, if they served the master to
whom the judgment applied; or aliping namamahay, if they served the person who lent them wherewith to pay.

D. Cases of Marriage between Social Classes

1. If maharlica will marry another maharlica, their child will be a maharlica too.
2. If a maharlica marries and had a child on his slave, the children and their mother will be free.
3. If a maharlica marries the other slave-woman, their child will be half free and half slave. The maharlica is
then compelled to give the master half of a gold tael because of the risk of death and inability to do work while
pregnant. If the father will not recognize the child as his own, he will be a wholly slave.

E. Describe the practice of usury

The practice of usury has something to do with the concern of loans. It is said to be a great hindrance to
baptism as well as to confession. The borrower gives half of his cultivated lands and profits until he pays the debt.
Moreover, the debtor is condemned to a life of toil; thus borrowers become slaves, and after the death of the father,
the children will continue to pay the debt. Double amount must be paid if they fail to do so.

F. Describe mode of Inheritance

As for the inheritances, the legitimate children of a father and mother will inherit equally, except in the case
where the father and mother showed a slight partiality by such gifts as two or three gold taels, or perhaps a jewel.
Additionally, the 1st son of the barangay chieftain inherits his father’s position; if the 1st son dies, the 2nd son succeeds
their father; in the absence of make heirs, it is the eldest daughter that becomes the chieftain.

G. Describe the practice of Dowry

Dowries are given by the men to the women's parents. If the parents are living, they enjoy the use of it. If the
wife, at the time of her marriage, has neither father, mother, nor grandparents, she enjoys her dowry—which, in such
a case, belongs to no other relative or child. Other than that, the man should give a greater dowry if he will marry a
daughter of a maharlica or dato. At their death, provided the dowry has not been consumed, it is divided like the rest
of the estate, equally among the children, except in case the father should care to bestow something additional upon
the daughter. It should be noticed that unmarried women can own no property, in land or dowry, for the result of all
their labors accrues to their parents.
Part 2.

Topics Covered Specific rule

Marriage
Division of the Land
Rules for the Nobles (maharlica)
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. This fine was larger or smaller according to the
inclination of the different villages, running from one to
three taels and a banquet to the entire barangay. Failure
to pay the fine might result in a war between the
barangay which the person left and the one which he
entered. This applied equally to men and women, except
that when one married a woman of another village, the
children were afterwards divided equally between the
two barangays.
The people on the barangay would divide the land and
each would respect their ownership. No outsider on the
barangay could use the land unless it was sold or
inherited. The land on the tingues is open to all and
could be used by any of the members on the barangay;
the one who planted there could harvest it without being
punished. Even though Maharlicas do not pay tax, they
should give 100 gantas of rice.
They do not pay taxes or tribute to the dato, but must
accompany him in war, at their own expense.
Furthermore, the lands which they inhabited were
divided among the whole barangay, especially the
irrigated portion, and thus each one knew his own.