16TH CENTURY PAGANISM IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

“...if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:...

The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the corps of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the LORD your God is giving you. ...”

Deuteronomy 28:15 & 49-52

This lecture will be about paganism as observed during the early Spanish occupation of the Islands. Paganism is a label we give to any non-monotheistic religion, therefore polytheist or worshiping many idols. What we know of paganism comes from two main sources. The descriptions given by Spanish chroniclers most of whom are priests and the contemporary practices of cultural communities. We believe that some of the old religious practices are still practiced by tribes today, and we are able to observe it. The first source is the arena of the historian while the second is generally that of the anthropologist.

In this paper I will focus on the observations made by Fray Juan de Plasencia, a Spanish missionary around 1580’s. His observation is that of the Tagalogs. But I assume that the practices described are more or less similar to that practiced by other tribes in the Islands. But I will not restrict myself with this source and state things that are based on other readings despite the fact that I will mention it at the top of my head. What I will try to answer here are the following questions:

1. How do they worship?

2. Why do they worship?

3. What do they worship?

4. Do they believe in an afterlife?

The first thing that we must keep in mind is that pagan religion does not have a written code like the Bible of how to and why people worship. It's basically based on traditions passed down from generation to generation, especially down the line of religious specialists like the Visayan Babaylan whose equivalent is the Tagalog Catalonan. So what we state about paganism here would be expected to vary from tribe to tribe, from barangay to barangay and even from one generation to the next. There are no strict rules, and it is even subject to outside influence, through acculturation e.g. the adoption of a Hindu idol for instance.

The religious leader of a barangay as I have mentioned is the catalonan/babaylan. The office is not something you study for but is most likely handed down from generation to generation. Most catalonans are old women but sometimes homosexuals called bayogin perform the task. The bayogin wear female clothes, a cross dresser. Another thing to remember is that there is no church hierarchy, there is no bishop of the catalonans. The catalonans of one barangay rule over the spiritual life of that barangay.

There is no building reserved for worship in a barangay. They usually worship at people homes during the nag-aanito, which is equivalent to our pagsisimba today. Sometimes caves are used. So the simbahan is wherever the worship is done, and is called so only during that time. But do not be mistaken that pag-aanito and pagsisimba are the same. Today we have scheduled worship services which we do every week or more. The pag-aanito is done on an occasional basis.

When do they do it? It is done for the following reasons:

1. the recovery of a sick person

2. the prosperous voyage of those embarking on the sea

3. a good harvest in the sowed lands

4. a propitious results in wars

5. a successful delivery in childbirth

6. a happy outcome in married life

7. whatever personal matter

One special pag-aanito is called the pandot. The pandot is a feast/worship that usually last for four days. But it was reported that among the datus it could last for thirty days. The pandot is performed in the large house of the chief, or dalam. The dalam would be the largest house, but is also extended by putting temporary roofs or sibi on each side of the house. So the dalam becomes the simbahan during these four days. The posts of the house or haligi are decorated with lamps called sorihile, and in the center is one large lamp, adorned with leaves of the white palm or what we now call palaspas. In the center will also be the likha or statue that represents the anito or spirit to be worshipped that day. Later on we will identify some idols that they worship, but for the mean time let us concentrate on how they worship.

The entire barangay or family will join the worship. During the four days they will have drums that will be beaten successively. Throughout the pandot the catalonan will offer food—goats, fowl, swine, rice and buyo, a palm fruit which we use in nganga, and fragrant perfumes. The offering of rice was done by having the entire pot broken in front of the likha. The catalonan would perform songs or awit which is responded to by the participants. They would beseech the anito to favor them with those things which they need. The food offered would actually be eaten by the worshipers aside from drinking alcoholic beverages.

So you can imagine this at night. Your lit by the lamp, you have drums beating, the singing of poems, and your intoxicated. While this is happening the catalonan will suddenly be possessed by the anito, or so it seems. We call this sapi. And she will be wild eyed (nanlilisik ang mga mata), her hair will stood on end, (nangangalisag ang balahibo), and she will utter words of arrogance or superiority. Her voice will probably change as well. Sometimes she will act into a frenzy and the worshippers will tie her to a tree to prevent her from being harmed, supposedly by the anito.

This is why the catalonan is called as such. Katalo ng anito, or one who talks or argues with the anito. The catalonan is therefore a person who knows magical knowledge that can be used to influence supernatural beings, and therefore events. The object of the pag-aanito is sort of bribing the anito to do certain things for the villagers.

But what is the anito? The anito is the spirit of the dead ancestors. To the Tagalogs, they believed that the spirit of their ancestors lived with them. Sometimes even residing in objects like the balete tree. They probably create the likha so that the anito will have a place to reside in. This practice of creating likhas and worshiping dead ancestors is something we share with other peoples in Indonesia, particularly the Toradja of Sulawesi who call their likhas tau-tau, which is to us tau-tauhan.

The Tagalogs also believe in a supreme deity called Bathala. But for them Bathala lives in heaven or langit and is so far away that he doesn’t bother talking or dealing with people. Instead when someone dies and become anito, they served Bathala as some sort of messenger. They also believe in special messengers of Bathala called alagads. These include Dian Masalanta – the patron of lovers and generations, or something like the Tagalog Aphrodite or Venus, Lacapati – patron of cultivated lands, and Idianale – patron of husbandry. But there more like LakanBakod, the patron of fences whose likha has a very long penis, which reminds us of lingham in Hinduism although symbolizing different things.

Related to the anitos is the buwaya or crocodile whom the Tagalogs rever and even called Nuno. Now nuno to us today means an ancestor. They would usually give some part of their cargo to the buwaya before they travel by river. Take note that most travel is done in the river. And this probably proved effective in distracting the buwaya from attacking the bangka or boat. The other animal is related to the alagads, and is called Tigmamanukin. I don’t know what this bird looks like but it is believed to be a messenger of Bathala since it resides in langit. Supposedly when they hear this bird sing, the type of song it sings will tell them whether they will have good or bad luck. If they are going to war and they hear the bad luck song they will just go home.

So generally, instead of worshiping Bathala, the Tagalogs will worship the alagads instead as some sort of intervenor with Bathala. Or more often they try to bribe bad anitos whom they believe are causing illness in the family. This echoes in the belief that some ancestors will try to pull your feet towards their grave (hinahatak ang paa mo papunta sa libingan nila).

The Tagalogs also adored stars like Tala or the morning star, which is not a star but is the planet Venus. Aside from this Mapolon or the Pleidas, and Balatic or the Greater Bear.

So people in the past lived like this. Their lives were ruled by superstitious beliefs. Remember the good luck—bad luck I’ve mentioned? This usually comes in the familiar form of the pamahiin which others call folk beliefs or superstitious beliefs. Can you give us an old pamahiin of your family? Are you familiar with the pamahiin that one should not sleep with your feet pointed at the door because you may die, probably of bangungot. This pamahiin is related to the fact that among Tagalogs a coffin is always brought out of the house feet first.

The Tagalogs also believe in monsters or lower beings. Some of which are familiar to you like the tiyanak, manananggal and the aswang. The tiyanak was called patiyanak before, which is closer to the Malay term, pontianak. And they didn’t believe it was a baby but a woman who died in childbirth heard lamenting at night. The mananangal was believed to walk about without head or entrails and not the half bodied, bat winged woman we see in the movies. The aswang is believed to be male, can fly and ate peoples flesh it murdered. In the past the Tagalogs did not believe in the aswang, it was only believed by the Visayans. So we can see that this belief had spread throughout the Islands from the Visayans.

Folk beliefs change over time. One interesting change is with the belief in mangkukulam. Today people imagine it as a female witch with pins to poke a doll. But according to Plasencia the Tagalog believed that the mangkukulam was male whose duty it was to emit fire from himself at night, each month or oftener. He would crawl under the house of his victim and wallow in the filth, probably under the batalan, where people’s pee and what have you drop from. After being covered in crap he would emit fire and the occupants of the house will become sick and die. The illness is probably fever which is associated with some kind of fire. This is one of the bad spiritualist, while the good spiritualist for the Tagalogs was the catalonan.

Finally let me point out that we still believe in charms like gayuma and agimat. Gayuma is some charm or potion you use to make a man or woman fall in love with you. While an agimat could either make you invincible, bullet proof or even invisible as in the case of tagabulag. An agimat is usually a small stone, a necklace or even some cloth with unreadable characters.

Now I am not discussing these things to tell you that they are true or real. What I am telling you is that our ancestors believed in them. And probably some of us still believe in them after more than 500 years. We can therefore say that history is still alive and that structures such as this persists for a long time – Paganism.

Please try to reflect on the quote from Deuteronomy above, and think about this in relation to the lecture on Wars and Warfare 16^th century earlier.

Reference:

De Plasencia, J. Customs of the tagalogs. In The Philippines at the Spanish contact. (1975) Jocano, F. J. Manila: MCS Enterprises.

A lot of hot air in the Philippine Revolution of 1896-1898

I'm a fan of James Burke's approach to writing history. He traces connections among events, people, places and objects in the past. The connections are not always causal, they could be associations or you could say coincidences.

This is the first time that I would try using this connectionist historical perspective in writing a historical essay. I am going to look at the weak connections that link the Philippine Revolution of 1896-1898 with the technological discoveries of that century. This link is rarely discussed in traditional Philippine history books that focused on politics.

The revolution was led by the Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Katipunan) in 1896. The Katipunan is a secret society whose organization is patterned after the freemasons. Its primary objective was to establish an independent Philippine state which they referred to as Haring Bayang Katagalugan. That is, independent from the Spanish Empire that colonized the country beginning 1565. The Katipunan was established in 1892 and was led by Andres Bonifacio until 1897. Bonifacio (1863-1897) at the age of 29 helped organize the society from a handful of individual to thousands by the start of fighting. They were able to keep this organization secret for four years in a repressive regime which had a network constantly watching every move of the common Indios. That's what the Spaniards called the natives of the land--Indios. At the age of 34 Bonifacio led the people to arms against the colonizers but suffered a series of military setbacks. Bonifacio like most of his Indio generation never had any military training, never revolted before, and never handled a Mauser in his life. What he did have, was a lot of books about a revolution. In particular one that took place 100 years ago in France. He read the history of the French Revolution.

During the French Revolution (1789-1799) the French tried to do away with the monarchy and replace it with a republic. They did this by cutting off their king and queen's heads with a brand new invention; a humane execution machine called the guillotine. The unfortunate king and queen were Louis the 16th and Marie Antoinette. The republic was then led by a committee of citizens, dominated by Citizen Robespierre. No sooner were they in power that they had more people guillotined. Not only the royalists, anybody accused of being enemies of the revolution including ordinary people and even among the leaders of the revolution. Merely speaking against Robespierre was considered treason and would likely make him/her a candidate for beheading. Of course not everyone was happy with the revolution specially a former member of the royal French navy named Marc Isambard Brunel, a royalist. He even publicly predicted the death of Robespierre, which of course came to pass. But Marc Brunel had to run for his life, and he ran off to the United States of America. He left his sweetheart, a British maiden named Sophia Kingdom who was in turn threatened to be guillotined.

Marc Brunel happened to be a brilliant engineer. Thanks partly to French education and drawings. Technical drawing was now an accepted way of planning or simulating a design of architectural and engineering works in France and was part of technically minded people's education. While in the US he chanced upon a contract to mass produce pulley blocks for the British who needed it to run their ships; to fight the French led by Napoleon Bonaparte. Bonaparte replaced Citizen Robespierre who lost his head to the guillotine. 

So Brunel went to the Great Britain where he found Sophia alive. They got married and had three children. The third child was a boy named Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Isambard Brunel grew up to be an even greater engineer than his father. He is well known for building things made of iron. He engineered the Great Western Railway in Britain. He designed a system of iron tracks and iron bridges, and tunnels to link the tracks. Of course he designed locomotives powered by steam to run on those tracks. At the end of those iron tracks he designed iron steamships. Bigger than anyone had seen these ocean going vessels saw its highest technical achievement in the S.S. Great Britain which combined the propeller, steam engines and iron ships. Before the steamship, ships were made of wood, and steam engines used paddle wheels on the side. The railway reduced travel time on land; and the steamships reduced travel time on water. Now the British could travel across the Atlantic comfortably drinking tea. But there is something Filipinos will find curious about how the British drink their tea. They put sugar in it. Britain did not produce tea or sugar. For sugar they sent their ships to their colonies in the West Indies that plant sugarcane. Sugarcane is difficult to grow and these colonies used slaves from Africa to grow them. But the British had a belated attack of conscience and decided to set all slaves free in 1833. It may be that the slaves no longer want to plant sugarcane, or that their former masters did not want to pay them salaries, or they have already exhausted the soil. The supply of sugar was threatened in Britain, so much so, that they had to find some other source of sugar, which is planted with free labor. That is, not slaves just treated like slaves.

They looked for it in the East Indies...the Philippines. So off their ships went to what to them is the Far East. This is not the first time; in 1762-1764 the British sent their ships from India to Manila and actually conquered it. But they gave it back to the Spaniards for some French colonies in India. The French and the Spaniards were allied against Britain if you want to know. That war was known as the Seven Years' War in Europe, the French and Indian War in the US, and the British Occupation of Manila in the Philippines. The British sent John Farren as consul to Manila in 1827 to encourage the development of the sugar industry in the country. Most likely they also brought the steam powered sugar mill that used the refining method invented by the British chemist Edward Charles Howard in 1813.  Before the 1800s, sugar was being produced only in small quantities because the main crop of the islands was rice. Rice land in Southern Luzon and the Visayas were transformed to sugar land. And a new way to get rich was available for the foreigners and inhabitants of the islands. Before the development of the export crop economy only the Spaniards and the Chinese were able to get rich through the Galleon Trade (1565-1815). Now even Indios can benefit from what trickles down from the crop economy. As for Farren, he died in the Philippines and his body is buried in Manila Memorial Park at Paranaque.

The British did not only buy stuff from the Philippines they also sold stuff, particularly textile...cotton. Of course they did not plant cotton in Britain, they got it from the same place they got tea--India. This is probably the reason why they traded it for the Philippines in 1763. They brought their steam powered cotton gins (machine to separate cotton fiber from the seeds), spinning mules and power looms which they developed producing woolen textile from sheep in their home country. India became one of the biggest producers of cotton until today. But the British did not retail the cotton textile, they dropped it off to the Chinese, and it was known as Chinese cotton in the Philippines. So when you see pictures of common people in Philippines in the 1800s they're usually wearing katsa (cotton textile). The cotton gin was actually invented in another former colony of Great Britain, the United States of America. There it spurred the growth of cotton plantations in the Southern US states. Like sugarcane, cotton is difficult to grow and they used Black slaves. In the northern US immigrants from Europe were manning the looms. The US is one of the biggest producers of cotton along with India. But slavery was not accepted there and it divided the US. One woman from the northern US named Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) wrote a book against it entitled Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Eventually slavery became an issue during the time of Abraham Lincoln and it resulted in the American Civil War (1861-1865). 

Stowe's book was read by an Indio in Europe. The Indio was inspired by it and he wrote Noli Me Tangere. While Jose Rizal was writing that novel in the winter of 1886 in Berlin, Germany he was broke. He can't pay his rent, and had to eat one meal a day. His poverty is partly because the prices of sugar went down. Huh? You see Rizal relied on an allowance he gets from his family in Calamba, Laguna in the Philippines. His family rented farm land from the Dominican Friars and planted among other things--sugarcane. You could say Rizal was able to study abroad, because the British likes their tea with sugar.

The British not only bought sugar from the Philippines but they also bought rope made from Abaca. They needed a lot of rope for ship rigging. Steamships then still had sails. That's because coal which was used as fuel for the steam engines was costly. The best place to plant abaca is in Bicol. Of course when they converted rice land to abaca plantation, or removed rice farmers to farm abaca, they needed to import rice. Every town that planted export crops like sugar cane and abaca had to import rice. That encouraged people to expand rice production in Central Luzon. So they needed to move tons of abaca to Manila's ports, and tons of rice to Bicol from Central Luzon. There were no highways then, and no diesel powered automobiles to move them. So the Spaniards decided to build a railroad from Central Luzon to Bicol going through Manila. But it seems the Spaniards did not have the technology to do that. They bid it out in 1887, and guess who won? The British of course. Remember Brunel and the Great Western Railway above. They had the technology. The Manila Railway Company, Ltd. (limited), which was incorporated in London, built the railway. Only part of it exists under the Philippine National Railways. Of course their trains ran on steam.

The Manila Railway Company built a station in Tutuban, Tondo and had to have another British firm demolish one of houses of the latter firm's employee. The British firm was Fleming and Company. The employee is Andres Bonifacio. Remember him? Bonifacio's work appears to be related to the railway. He even got his brothers Procopio and Ciriaco a job there. Ciriaco was a train conductor. They were born in Tutuban, Tondo.

In July 3, 1892, Sunday, Andres attended a meeting in Tondo, Manila. It was attended by a very famous Indio who travelled by steamship to and from other countries. The man whose family planted sugarcane in Laguna--Jose Rizal. The meeting was about the founding of La Liga Filipina. On July 6, Wednesday Rizal was arrested. July 7, 1892 everyone including Andres found out about his arrests in a newspaper. That night, a group of men including Andres founded the Katipunan. On July 14, 1892 Rizal boarded the steamboat Cebu and sent to Dapitan, Zamboanga. Four years later, on August 30, 1896 Andres will be leading an attack on a Spanish powder magazine in San Juan del Monte. Bonifacio will eventually find himself in Cavite on December 30, 1896 while Jose Rizal was being executed in Bagumbayan (Luneta). For the next decades, at the turn of the century the land will be at war. The 1800s was a world of steam, iron, and sugar...mixed with blood.

References

Agoncillo, T.A., & Guerrero, M.C. (1977). History of the Filipino People. Quezon City: R.P. Garcia.

Andres Bonifacio: His great life. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/World/Andres-Bonifacio-His-Great-Life-137730.html.

Brief history of PNR. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://www.pnr.gov.ph/history.htm.

Great Western Railway. (2010, July 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:56, July 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Western_Railway&oldid=372572865.

History of the steam engine. (2010, June 11). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:54, July 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_the_steam_engine&oldid=367425434.

History of sugar. (2010, July 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:07, July 15, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_sugar&oldid=372806051.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel. (2010, July 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:45, July 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Isambard_Kingdom_Brunel&oldid=372393954.

Mahoney, D.W. (n.d.). The British (Protestant) cemetery at San Pedro, Makati, Manila, Philippines. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/44/4401613.pdf.

Marc Isambard Brunel. (2010, June 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:46, July 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marc_Isambard_Brunel&oldid=365644069.

National Historical Commission of the Philippines. Procopio C. Bonifacio (1873-1897). Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://www.nhi.gov.ph/index.php?id=200&option=com_content&task=view.

Overview of Philippine-British bilateral relations. Retrieved July 11, 2010, from http://www.philembassy-uk.org/rpRelations_RPUK.html.

Slavery in the British and French Caribbean. (2010, June 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22:06, July 15, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Slavery_in_the_British_and_French_Caribbean&oldid=368838144.

SS Great Britain. (2010, July 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 23:50, July 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SS_Great_Britain&oldid=372667917.

Zaide, G.F., & Zaide, S.M. (1984). Jose Rizal: Life, works and writings of a genius, writer, scientist, and national hero. Metro Manila: National Book Store.

Conversion to Roman Catholicism 17th Century

by

Roel Cantada

A Spanish priest named Pedro Chirino (1604) narrated that a former catalonan named Diego Magsanga (Unabia, 2000) converted to Roman Catholicism and was teaching children cathechism (Doctrina Christiana or Christian Doctrines) in Silang, Cavite. He also reported that a lot of people followed this former catalonan. We can surmise that the catalonan was more convincing than the friars because he was the religious leader of the barangay. Although he was not a priest the likely role the Spanish priest gave him in the church is that of a laity or hermano. We will talk more about this later on.

Not all of the native priests accepted the new religion. In the Visayas it has been reported that in 1621 a babayalan named Tamblot led hundreds of Boholanos in revolt in order to restore the old religion. This was suppressed by 50 Spanish soldiers and 1,500 indios. (Agoncillo & Guerrero 1977, p.119) The chief of Limasawa, Leyte who had converted to Christianity also led a revolt in 1622 to restore the pagan religion but was defeated by again a combined Spanish-indio force. (Agoncillo & Guerrero) We can see that conversion especially for the adults was not an easy thing. It took hundreds of years, a change in generation before the new religion was integrated. Some catalonans were arrested, imprisoned or even executed as witches. Pag-aanitos were raided by the Spanish priests, the likhas wer confiscated and burned. The Spanish priest could force people to stop practicing the old religion because in the Spanish colonial government the church and the state was one. The priest can call soldiers to arrest and punish heretics, sometimes priest even carry swords and went to war. Generally it was the children who were taught by people like Diego Magsanga that trully accepted the new religion. But even then the understanding of the Latin rites of Roman Catholicism and Christianity was generally shallow and mixed with paganism. The form reminds us of the concept of Abangan muslims, which current anthropologist now call Folk-Christianity, a mixture of Christian and pagan beliefs. Even today a lot of nominal Christians believe in aswangs, tiyanaks, and agimats. Some also believe in cult leaders practicing the babaylan/catalonan ritual of possession and healing the sick. Although it is no longer an anito that is said to possess the catalonan but Roman catholic figures like the Virgin Mary, Sto. Niño (child jesus), saints and even dwarves.

What then is Roman Catholicism and where did former catalonans/babaylans fit into this new religion?

The Roman Catholic church believes that it was founded by Jesus and its bishops are successors of the first apostles. The Pope (Papa, or father) is the highest authority and is believed to be the successor of St. Peter. The church’s headquarters is in the Vatican city, Italy.

The RC’s faith can be summed up in the Nicene Creed (or Apostle’s creed) which is shared with other Christian churches. It teaches that the Holy Spirit reveals God's truth through Sacred Scripture (Bible), Sacred Tradition (from the apostles) and the Magisterium or the teaching authority of the Church and includes infallible pronouncements of the pope. They believe that the Pope is guided by the Holy Spirit and cannot be wrong. (Roman Catholic Church in Wikipedia)

The following chart is a simplified diagram of the RC organizational structure in the 17^th century.

There were five regular orders in the Philippines namely the Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominicans, Recollects, and the Jesuits. These were all called friars by the indios and they would become powerful in the 18^th century. Notice in the above chart that indios occupy the lowest levels of the church hierarchy. Cofradias are lay organizations inside the church. Their original role is to teach cathecisms, prevent backsliding, report to the priests, and finance feasts and masses.

To the eyes of the native RC latin ritual is not too different from pagan beliefs in the use of statues and prayers for the dead. The Catholics pray for the dead because they believe in a place called purgatory where souls wait for judgement. Supposedly if the living prays for the dead he/she could go to heaven faster. The Catholic heaven is a place filled with clouds and angels that look like human beings dressed in white and having halos and wings. St. Peter is supposed to guard the gate and anyone who is to enter is looked up first in the book of life. If your not listed you go to hell. Catholic hell in the middle ages is a terrifying place. Popular belief is that it is ruled by the devil very much like the idea of hades in Greek mythology. There is fire everywhere and the souls are tortured by demons based on their sins. The devil is imagined by Catholics to have horns, pointed tail, and carrying a pitchfork or trident. Of course this is popular belief and the theology of priests could be more sophisticated. But in Catholicism in the past, reading the Bible is not encouraged because it is believed that only the church has the right to interpret the bible, there is no room for personal interpretations.

Obiter dicta:

My reading of the bible does not provide the above visual descriptions of heaven and hell. There is no mention of purgatory either. Most descriptions are prophetic and symbolic. Hell is mentioned only as a lake of fire where even the devil will be punished along with sinners. There is no mention of the devil ruling hell. There is a danger to this belief in that the devil is being equated with God. In my opinion God rules everywhere whether heaven or hell. In fact God is the one who will punish sinners not the devil. It is from God’s punishment that we are saved by him through Jesus Christ because He is merciful. It’s like a father who is about to punish his children who had sinned, but rather than punish the children he asked the eldest child (Jesus) to take all the punishment of the other children. That is why the other children will no longer be punished.

Reference:

Agoncillo, T.A., & Guerrero, M.C. (1977). History of the Filipino people. (5^th Ed.). Quezon city: R.P. Garcia.

Chirino, P. (1604). Relación de las Islas Filipinas (concluded). In Blair and Robertson. The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803,Vol.13.

Unabia, T. P. (2000, Agosto). Silang, kasaysayan at pananampalataya. Cavite Historical Society, p.186-187.

Native Economy 17th Century

by

Roel Cantada

Antonio de Morga, a Spanish governor general in the early part of Spanish colonization lamented that only thirty-two years after the conquest of the Philippines, due to an unenlightened economic policy, the enterprising indios abandoned their trade and industry, forgetting “much about their farming, poultry and stock-raising, cotton growing and weaving of blankets as they did when they were still pagans.” (As cited in Agoncillo & Guerrero)

Who can blame the indios? The Spaniards did introduce new agricultural technology. They brought new crops like the camote, potato, tobacco, papaya, cocoa etc. from Latin America. They probably encouraged the use of the Chinese plow, and the carabao. They also probably encourage the construction of large stone irrigation systems which included dams, although the Banaue rice terraces tells us that our ancestors were knowledgeable in such matters. But despite the fact that these technologies may have improve agricultural production particularly rice, the natives did not benefit from them. Instead it only increased their labor as they have to feed more non-farming people like the Spaniards, the former datus who now ape the Spaniards and no longer till the soil, the indios whom the Spaniards removed from the fields like the laborers (polistas), native soldiers (regular army), and domestic servants.

It was the timawa who has to bear the brunt of these mouths to feed. And the Spaniards instituted a confiscation system for agricultural crops particularly rice known as the Bandala. “It consisted of the assignment of annual quotas to each province for the compulsary sale of products to the Spanish colonial government. To compound the abuse the prices the government set were lower than the market prices, so that a person who could not fill his quota with his own produce had to buy at a higher price in order to sell at a lower price to the government. And the government seldom pay, they just hand out worthless promissory notes that the government itself will not accept as payment for tributo (tax).” (Constantino 1975) Of course this system of technical confiscation led to the native’s revolts.

This is on top of the tributo (taxes) which was abused by the collectors—cabeza de barangays, gobernadorcillos and alcalde mayors. They usually collected more than required to put in their pockets. In the early part of the Spanish colonization such tribute can be paid in kind. One form of tribute is cotton cloth which was used by the Spaniards for the large sails of their galleons. So instead of the women weaving cloth for their own families, they had to weave cloth for the Spaniards. This definitely discourage native weaving.

Despite all these abuses the Spaniards could not get rich enough from the natives. Initially they confiscated all the gold and bronze of the natives, even the ones buried in ancient graves. When these were all gone they relied on the Galleon Trade to get rich. The galleon trade is exclusive to the Spaniards. They buy Chinese goods, put them in galleons in Manila and send them to Mexico for sale. It is paid for in Mexican silver. The indios only took part in this trade as sailors and slave labor to build the galleons. And they forbade the indios from trading with their neighbohrs unlike in the 16^th century. The large balangay boats were also gone. So most of Spaniards did not encourage industry or large scale agriculture, they were all in Intramuros, Manila waiting for their profits so that they can return to Spain rich. The indios remained poor and exploited by the Spaniards. The Spaniards particularly the friars later on will even have the gall to blame the poverty of the country on the laziness of the indios. An insult on top of injury.

Reference:

Agoncillo, T.A., & Guerrero, M.C. (1977). History of the Filipino people. (5^th Ed.). Quezon city: R.P. Garcia.

Constantino, R. (1975). The Philippines: A Past Revisited, Pre-Spanish-1941. Philippines: Renato Constantino.

Warriors became Soldiers 17th Century Philippines

by

Roel Cantada

The bayani used to be a hero, a volunteer fighter for the barangay. He had prestige and he fought for his family willingfully, bravely and gallantly. When the Spaniards came they used our warriors to fight their wars. In fact the indios were usually more numerous than the Spaniards in their wars and undoubtedly suffered more casualties.

Zaide reports the following number of indios who fought in the colonization of the Moluccas islands by the Spaniards.

Date	No. of Ships	No. of Filipinos	Spaniards
1580	3	1,500	300
1585	24	600	300
1593	100	8,400	1,000
1606	36	1,643	1,400
1616	42	3,000	2,000

Source: Zaide 1994 p.,142.

If you remember this has been a strategy of the Spaniards since their attack on Manila in 1570 when they brought Visayans with them to fight the Tagalogs. Later on the warrior would dissapear because of the lost of pandays and their metal weapons and balangay boats. They would be replaced by the draft of soldiers for the Spanish army. They would serve as regulars under Spanish officers. Some of them as Guardia Civil (Civilian Guards equivalent to the police). As salaried soldiers they did not have the same prestige as the bayani.

Here are some of the Spanish wars were the indios served aside from the Moluccas expedition mentioned above:

1. 
   
   1586 and 1570 versus the Portuguese.
2. 
   
   1578 expedition to Borneo and Sulu.
3. 
   
   1600-1747 against the Dutch.
4. 
   
   1626-1642 expedition to Taiwan.
5. 
   
   Colonization of Marianas, Palaus and Carolines in the Pacific.
6. 
   
   1574 against the Chinese Lim-Ah-Hong and subsequent Chinese revolts from 1603-1762.
7. 
   
   1762-64 against the British.
8. 
   
   1858-1863 colonization by French of Indochina. 1,500 Filipino soldiers participated.

In all of these wars the indio warrior and later soldier were fighting not for their barangays but for Spain. Later in 1892 the Katipunan will resurrect the idea of a bayani in a different context.

Reference:

Zaide, S.M. (1994). The Philippines: A unique nation. Manila: All-Nations.

Death of the Pandays 17th Century Philippines

by

Roel Cantada

The panday played an important role in the 16^th century barangay. The panday is any craftsman who specialized in metals e.g. gold, silver, steel; and wood i.e. a master carpenter. He is the person who produces weapons, farm implements, boats, wooden houses, and even jewelry. Without the panday these material culture would not be produced, at least not in the same scale as in the 16^th century.

What happened to them in the 17^th century. Why do we, the forbears of the converted Christians or indios no longer possess kalises, lantakas and the balangay boats? Why have these technologies been lost? The answer lies in the way the Spaniards treated the pandays. One clue can be found in the narration of a Spaniard named Sebastian de Pineda in 1619. He said the pandays and other carpenters were employed by the Spaniards to build ships for the Spaniards in Cavite. He also said that although they were supposed to be paid, they were not paid for five years, so many have fled and left the land. Others had been caught in the crossfire of the so-called “moro” wars. His report show how much damage this forced labor wrought on the pandays when he said in 1616 there were 1,500 pandays in Cavite. Then in 1617 the moros captured 400 workmen and killed more than 200 others. Many have died through the severe work and in 1618 there were no more than 200 pandays. (De Pineda 1619) There could be around one panday in a barangay, so imagine how many barangays lost their pandays during the Spanish colonization if in only three years 1,300 of them had perished or disappeared.

The system of forced labor imposed by the Spaniards is known as polo y servicios. Men from 16 years old to sixty except datus and their eldest sons were required to serve for forty days each year starting in 1580. (Constantino 1975) Most of them were used by the Spaniards to build ships due to the Dutch wars (1600-1747), the Moro wars (1570-1898) and the Galleon Trade (16^th century to 1815).

According to Agoncillo and Guerrero (1977) the implementation of the polo y servicios disrupted the village economy. The population of many villages were drastically reduced and farm lands were laid waste. There was starvation in may barangays. And some indios revolted like the revolt led by Francisco Maniago in 1660 in Pampanga. This was followed by the Pangasinenses led by Andres Malong and Ilocanos led by Pedro Almazan. All these were suppressed by the Spaniards with the help of other indios. (Agoncillo and Guerrero)

Reference:

Agoncillo, T.A., & Guerrero, M.C. (1977). History of the Filipino people. (5^th Ed.). Quezon city: R.P. Garcia.

Constantino, R. (1975). The Philippines: A Past Revisited, Pre-Spanish-1941. Philippines: Renato Constantino.

Report of Sebastian de Pineda. 1619. Blair and Robertson. The Philippine Islands.Vol. 18.

Politics in the 17th Century

by

Roel Cantada

In the 16^th century the datus generally exercised the legislative, judicial and executive power. In the 17^th century these powers would be exercised by the Spanish governor general. He had executive power in the Philippines as representative of the King of Spain. He was also the president of the Royal Audiencia which stood as the Supreme court of the colonial government in the country. And as we have stated in a previous lecture he had the “power to suspend the implementation of any royal order if, in his opinion, the conditions in the colony did not warrant its implementation.” This power is called cumplase and is stated as Obedezco pero no cumplo (I obey but I do not execute). (Agoncillo and Guerrero 1977)

Political Stucture of the Spanish colonial government

The former datus were given the title cabeza de barangay (head of the barangay) whose prime duty was to collect tributo (taxes) for the encomendero. Later the Spaniards formed larger local units composed of many barangays into the pueblo centered around a Catholic church. Sometimes the Spaniards used force to relocate entire barangays in order to form the larger unit in a process called reduccion (reduce the number of pueblos). In these pueblos they created the position of gobernadorcillo (little governor) who were elected by a board composed of outgoing gobernadorcillos and twelve members of the principalia. the principlia was a body of prominent land-owining and propertied citizens of the village who could read, write and speak Spanish. (Agoncillo and Guerrero) This is the highest political office an indio could aspire to.

What did they got out of this? They remained higher than the ordinary timawa at least ceremonially. They acted as a padrinos (middle man) between the Spaniards and Timawas. Their families were exempted from tributo (taxes) and forced labor. They were also given a small salary, but they could use his position to enrich themselves by taking some of the collected taxes and other means.

Not all datus accepted this situation but the pattern of their struggle can be illustrated with the revolt of Lakandula in 1574 during the siege of Manila by the Chinese Limahong. He led a revolt for personal grievances but was easily dissuaded and even fought with the Spaniards. Later in 1587 datus from Tagalog barangays around Manila plotted to overthrow the Spaniards but was betrayed by another datu. The plotters were executed, exiled to other islands and their properties confiscated. The datus from the conquered barangays would not be able to lead revolts again.

Reference:

Agoncillo, T.A., & Guerrero, M.C. (1977). History of the Filipino people. (5^th Ed.). Quezon city: R.P. Garcia.