SOCIAL LIFE IN 16TH CENTURY PHILIPPINES

by

Roel Cantada

In this post I will try to reconstruct the everyday life of the timawa in the barangay society. Then I will discuss the social structure.

Timawa Life

In a small barangay near a river there is a small cluster of nipa huts. It is early in the morning and the cock crows. In one of these huts live a timawa family. The mother Inanibakal is slowly waking up in the only family room. She sleeps with his first born son Bakal on a banig (sleeping mat). She gets up and wakes up the child. They roll the mat (lulon) and put it in one corner of the hut. The hut is made up of two rooms. The main living room and the batalan. The mother goes to the batalan to wash her face. Then she gets some tuyo (dried fish) and unhusked rice for breakfast. She goes out of the hut and is greeted by her aliping sagigilid Anakdalita.

The mother tells the slave to start a fire in the clay stove. She then pounds the unhusked rice in a lusong (big wooden mortar & pestle) to remove its husk. She puts the clean rice in a palayok (clay pot) lined with pandan leaves. After the rice is cooked, she throws the dried fish on the coals until they are roasted. Ginger is pounded and boiled to serve as a drink called salabat. The father has not returned yet because he went out fishing by moonlight.

The table is set inside the hut, in the same place they slept in. A dulang (low table) is in the middle of the room. A piece of banana leaf is placed on the dulang to serve the food in. The child and the slave eat on clay plates but the mother eats on a chinese porcelain plate which they got from last year’s trading. They eat with their hands. The meal is finished off with bananas.

The family then goes to the small bukid (farm) to weed their gabi (taro) and rice. The work is back breaking so Inasibakal feels so envious of the datu’s family that has lots of timawang namamahayto help them. Because of the hard times they fell into they would even have to sell their one and only timawang sagigilid to pay off debts. They are greeted by the father Amanibakal who just came in with some bangus (milk fish). The mother pulls some gabi for the sinigang and tells the son to get some sampalok (tamarind).

Lunch is a simple sinigang (sour soup). Afterwards the father chops wood with the help of the alipin. The mother decides to continue her looming and brings out the habihan (backstrap loom) to finish the bahag of her husband. The son goes with his friends to the river to play. The other women in the barangay joins her and some are making clay pots. They sing traditional songs to while away the time.

Before sunset the son returns with a hito (catfish) and it is immediately roasted. The family eats it with the left overs from lunch. As the sun sets some of the old men would talk about the past and far away places. And it is time to sleep again, the mat is unrolled and the kingke (oil lamp) is lit. It slowly burns out and the entire barangay is enveloped in darkness. The sound of frogs and crickets lulls young Bakal to sleep.

Social Structure

The datu or datus along with his/their families are at the highest level of society as shown above. I say datus because there can be more than one datu in a barangay. The greatest datu is usually he who is the wealthiest, he who can satisfy the demands of people in times of need. Whenever he cannot do this, then the people will follow another datu. Social status is inherited so the children of the datu belong to the datu’s class.

The datu is not a king. In barangays with Muslim rulers like Manila, their hari (king) can be considered the Sultan of Brunei. The datu is more of clan leader. He is a person who oversees the common farms of the barangay. He is a person who sees to it that people have food during times of famine. He is a leader in warfare. The greatest datu is at times legislator and judge. But as we have said above he is not a king. He must consult with other datus and at times even the timawas. Today the descendants of Tagalog datus are known by their surname that starts with the affix Gat, like Gatdula, Gatpandan, Gatlabayan, Gatchalian, Gatbonton, and Gatmaitan.

The timawas are free men. They serve as warriors under the command of the datu. They have their own farm and they can pass their property as inheritance to their children. The children of timawas will be timawas.

The slaves or alipins are of two kinds. The higher status is aliping namamahay. Literally means slave living in his own house. These people are more like serfs than slaves are because they cannot be bought or sold. They are usually used as farm hands. The lowest social status is that of the aliping sagigilid. Literally slave who lives at the side of the master’s house. Sagigilids can be bought and sold. They usually do household chores but will do whatever their master’s bid them to do. Slaves serve as rowers in balangay boats especially during times of war.

How does one become a datu, timawa and slave? Well usually one is born into such a status especially the datu. Datus come from a family with a long line of remembered descent. Ancestry of a person was probably remembered by old people or with Muslims kept in a tarsila (geneological record). Just like in today's society going up to this level of the society is difficult. Going down the social ladder is easier.

If one is captured by another barangay in war, and he/she is not ransomed he/she will end up a slave no matter what his/her status was in his old barangay. The most common form of slavery is debt slavery. There are a lot of laws dealing with the enslavement of people who cannot pay their debts. But if one is able to pay his/her debt then he or she will become a timawa. Slavery is also a punishment against criminals.

Children of the enslaved before their enslavement maintain their status. If they are timawa, they will remain timawas. But the children after enslavement of the parents become slaves. And the parents would have to pay extra for freeing their later children.

Usually the children of datus to a slave are timawa. But one account curiously states that children of mixed marriages get alternating statuses. That is if you are the child of a timawa and an alipin, your first born child is timawa, the second is alipin and so on. If there is an odd child i.e. third, fifth, seventh etc. that child is considered half alipin and half timawa.

Let me emphasize at this point that the social structure of the barangay may at times be strict but only as far as tradition is maintained. And the status of a person is only known within his barangay. If he moves to another barangay where he/she is not known his status may changed. The statuses are never recorded and are left to the memory of members of the barangay.

The social structure affects the pattern of life of people. For example let us take a look at three development stages in human life namely, birth, marriage and death.

When women give birth they usually hold a maganito which is very costly because you have to hold a feast and kill a pig. You would also have to pay the midwives handsomely supposedly so that the child would not grow up a cry-baby. (Jocano, p.211) Slaves, and timawas do not have the means to do this and they probably just have the baby without fanfare.

Although everyone must pay a dowry to the women’s family, which the new couple would get when they have a baby there is difference in the ceremony itself. In marriage the datus hold a more elaborate celebration. The woman is fetched by the grooms family and brought to the groom’s house. And along the way she is bribed with gifts to proceed with the ceremony. During the feast an old man would say “So-and-So marries so-and-so, but on the condition that if the man should through dissolute conduct fail to support his wife, she will leave him, and shall not be obliged to return anything of the dowry that he has given her; and she shall have freedom and permission to marry another man. And therefore, should the woman betray her husband, he can take away the dowry that he gave her, leave her, and marry another woman. Be all of you witnesses for me to this compact.” When the old man (Jocano, p.96) has ended his speech, they take a dish filled with clean, uncooked rice, and an old woman comes and joins the hands of the pair, and lays them upon the rice. Then, holding their hands thus joined, she throws the rice over all those who are present at the banquet. Then, holding their hands thus joined, she throws the rice over all those who are present at the banquet. Then the old woman gives a loud shout, and all answer her with a similar shout; and the marriage contract or ceremony is completed. The old woman is probably a babaylan.

Timawas do not observe the ceremony of joining hands because it is reserved for the datus. Instead they drink wine from the same cup. Then they give a shout, and all the guests depart and they are considered married. (Jocano, p. 97)

With aliping sagigilids who are poor they marry each other without drinking and without any go-between. They observe on ceremony but simply say to each other, “Let us marry.” Slaves of different masters can be arranged by their masters. The master gives them an earthen jar or three or four dishes. The children will be divided between the masters as slaves.

Even in death there are differences. Datus are buried with lots of ceremonies and with many artifacts. They are even buried in balangays. Timawas have less. The slaves are sometimes buried alive with the datus.

Reference:

Jocano, F.L. (Ed.). (1975). The Philippines at the Spanish contact, Some major accounts of early Filipino society and culture. Manila: MCS Enterprises.