Teaching History

16TH CENTURY PAGANISM IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

2010-10-11T07:43:00.000+08:00

“...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

2010-07-18T06:11:00.164+08:00

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

2010-07-16T13:20:00.010+08:00

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

2010-07-15T13:19:00.006+08:00

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

2010-07-14T13:14:00.010+08:00

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:

1586 and 1570 versus the Portuguese.
1578 expedition to Borneo and Sulu.
1600-1747 against the Dutch.
1626-1642 expedition to Taiwan.
Colonization of Marianas, Palaus and Carolines in the Pacific.
1574 against the Chinese Lim-Ah-Hong and subsequent Chinese revolts from 1603-1762.
1762-64 against the British.
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

2010-07-13T13:12:00.001+08:00

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

2010-07-12T13:10:00.007+08:00

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.

Changes in the Social Structure in the 17th Century Philippines

2010-07-11T12:54:00.009+08:00

Roel Cantada

Take a look at the figure above and compare the 16^th century social structure of the Philippines with that of the 17^th century. What changed? What happened to the Datu? Timawa? Alipin? Who occupied the highest and lowest social statuses?

These questions are what we will try to answer in this lesson. Notice that the highest social status is now occupied by the Spaniards and all the natives are below them. This means that wealth is not the only basis of the social classes but race as well. The implication is that no matter how wealthy a native gets he will never be equal or higher than a Spaniard in the colonial society. The racial barrier is something that will never be overcome unless the Spaniards are removed from the country.

What if a native marry a Spaniard will their children be considered Spaniards? The answer is no, the Spaniards consider only pure blooded Spaniards, and half-breeds whom will be called mestizos later on (creoles in Latin America) will not be accepted equal to Spaniards. But in the 17^th century there is not enough half-breeds to constitute a separate class.

During this time the Spaniards coined three terms to refer to the natives of the Philippines. They called the natives who had converted to Catholicism indios, the muslim moros, and the pagans of the Cordilleras in Luzon, igorots. All three terms had bad connotations and should be avoided today. Both the datu’s family and the timawa are now called indios which when translated in the native languages would be equivalent to Tagalog, Visaya, Bikolano etc. The word indio is a word used by the Spaniards to refer to the natives of Latin America, wherein Columbus I think made a mistake when he thought that he was in India when in fact he was in another continent. In English it is the same as calling the natives of North America Indians. It is also related to the terms Indonesia, East Indies (Philippines and Indonesia) , and West Indies (Cuba, Haiti etc.).

Returning to our figure, you would have noticed that the lowest class is now occupied by the timawas. What happened to the alipins? They were freed or natimawa by the Spaniards. The King of Spain issued a proclamation banning slavery (esclavitud in Spanish), and the Pope also issued a bull stating the same and even threatening excommunication for anyone keeping a native slave. But these proclamations where not automatically enforced because there was one curious thing about the implementation of Spanish laws in the Philippines: the governor general can decide which laws to implement and when given the current conditions and because of the distance from Spain. It takes months before communication with Spain arrives and consultation would have been impossible for emergencies. It probably took a hundred years before slavery dissapeared. Until the 17^th century some Pampangan datus were reported to have filed cases in Manila against their slaves who had escaped. The Spaniards being weak and under threat from Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch and muslims tribes from the south did not want to alienate their datu allies. Rather it was the next generation who had converted to Catholicism and integrated the values of Christianity taught by the church that had resulted in the freeing of slaves.

Of course for the Timawa the implication was not good, they had become the lowest class and lost prestige. In fact by the 17^th century the word timawa is no longer associated with being free or freedom, something positive, but with being destitute, poor, and always hungry. Today no one wants to be called timawa, because it has been equated with being a slave rather than being free. But as late as 1896 during the Philippine revolution Andres Bonifacio used it in his poem to mean free. Later on they would coin the new word malaya (free) to avoid the negative connotations of the word timawa.

The datus did not go unscathed by the freeing of the slaves. The power of the datus in the 16^th century was based on slavery. The slaves did the extra farm work that provided more crops and they served as rowers in the balangay boat for warfare. Without the slaves the datus lost prestige, wealth and military power. Later on we will talk about how the Spaniards substituted other institutions for datus to remain higher than the timawas.

17th Century Changes in the Writing and Speech of Natives of the Philippines

2010-07-10T12:52:00.001+08:00

Roel Cantada

When the natives of the Islands were defeated by the Spaniards, they adopted some of their conqueror’s culture. This could be explained as a form of acculturation by a subordinate culture to a dominant culture. The Spaniards had acquired the highest socio-political status in the country and the natives tried to copy them in order to reach a higher social status.

One of the most fundamental cultural element is language. We have known from our earlier studies that the natives have many languages and used baybayin to write in the 16^th century. Throughout the 17^th century baybayin would disappear due to disuse and neglect by the natives. The last time baybayin was used in the Tagalog provinces was around the end of the 18^th century. The natives would then adopt the latin alphabet of the Spaniards called Abecede that still used today.

Not only did they change their writing but also their speech. Even Tagalogs of old did not distinguish between “o” and “u”, “e” and “i” much like the Visayans today. We can still find this in words like lalake, lalaki, babae, babai. Aside from this they also did not distinguish between "d” and “r”, and they could not pronounce two or more consonants like “cr” in cruz (cross), or “gr” in gracia (grace). They would pronounce the two words ku-rus and ga-ra-si-ya because the language demands syllables made up of consonants and vowels.

The Tagalogs particularly changed the way they spoke not so much because of Spanish education but because of immitation and the teachings of dalubasa(s), or people who are good at speaking and translating two languages. Bienvenido Lumbera calls bilingual natives who worked mostly with Spanish missionaries during the early Spanish colonization ladinos. (as cited in Rafael 1988) One prominent dalubasa is Tomas Pinpin, a Tagalog from Bataan who wrote and published in 1610 the book Librong Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang uicang Castila (The book with which Tagalogs can learn Castilian). In this book he taught Tagalogs to distinguish “e” from “i”, “o” from “u”, and “d” from “r”.

Pinpin also gives us a clue why Filipinos today incorporated a lot of Spanish words in their language but cannot speak Spanish. The way they learned Spanish words is by memorizing poems that has one word in Tagalog and it’s equivalent in Spanish. This technique is still used in comedy skits with songs. Here is an excerpt of Pinpin’s awit:

...ang palad (palm), la palma, bayiqui (mumps), papera, ang bao (skull), el casco, bonbonan (pate), mollera, ang pigi (buttocks), y, las nalgas, ang tae (shit), la mierda, anopat di ang puit (ass), la parte trasera, ang Bayan (town), el pueblo... (Pinpin 1910)

The farthest any native went in learning Spanish can be seen in the pidgin Spanish language called Chavacano, which is spoken by a small group in Cavite city (Tagalog + Spanish) and Zamboanga city (Visayan + Spanish). This language is very much like Taglish today.

Why did the Tagalogs try to learn Spanish? As I have said above they consider it a prestige language like English today. They hoped it would open doors of opportunities for them to go higher in society. They would be able to understand the conquerors and be able to negotiate with them both in business and politics. In its most practical and serious use they would be able to apply and read land titles, a matter of life and death for a family during those times when agriculture was the only means of livelihood. In the book of Pinpin the first lesson was about numbers and money, something according to Pinpin the natives love to learn.

“Dito sa unang cabanata, isisilid co ang manga pagbilang nang dilan balang na, munti’t, marami; ang sa pilac at ang sa dilan tinatacal; at ang siya ngang naiibig ninyong onahing pagaralan.” (Pinpin. 1910)

(Here in this first chapter, I will talk about the numbers for counting everything, be it little or a lot; for silver and for everything measurable; for this is what you love to study first. (Rafael, 1988))

Therefore we can infer that Filipinos wanted to learn Spanish to be equal with Spaniards. So that they can not be outwitted by the Spaniards in legal and business matters, or so they can outwit the Spaniards. But the Spaniards never taught the natives their language in a systematic and enthusiastic manner like in Latin America. Why? Because the Spaniards knew from their experience in Latin America that once the natives learned their language they begin to demand equality. The Spaniards would find it difficult to use land titles to grab land, or deny natives positions in the civil service (something reserved mostly for Spaniards). The Spaniards did not want the natives to become equal with them but to remain below them in status. The natives wanted the opposite, to become equal with the Spaniards, and this will lead later on to revolution where language will again play a part.

Reference:

Rafael, V.L. (1988). Contracting colonialism. Translation and Christian conversion in Tagalog society under early Spanish rule. Quezon city: Ateneo de Manila University.

Pinpin, T. (1910). Librong pagaaralan nang mga Tagalog nang Uicang Castila. In La primera imprenta en Filipinas. Artigas y Cuerva, M. Manila: Tipo-Litografia Germania. (Original work published 1610).

SOCIAL LIFE IN 16TH CENTURY PHILIPPINES

2010-07-08T18:55:00.000+08:00

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.

The Strange Material Culture of Natives of the Philippines in the 16th Century

2010-07-05T19:30:00.001+08:00

The Strange Material Culture of Natives of the Philippines in the 16^th Century

Roel P. Cantada

We are going to look at selected material culture of Philippine 16^th century society. Culture is defined by sociologists as the patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and acting which people share and communicate to one another. It has two essential components: the non-material culture and the material culture. (McNall & McNall, 1992)

The non-material culture may include our likes, dislikes, modes of thought, systems of belief, and education. While the material culture includes as an example our houses, tools and clothes. (McNall & McNall) The material and non-material culture are tightly related. That is, our ways of thinking and feeling are reflected in our material culture. For example, the rooms in our contemporary houses have different uses and they reflect our mores, ethics and belief about what is public and private. We entertain guest in the sala, it is the room for the public. On the other hand sex is done in the bedroom because it is private. (McNall & McNall) Other cultures will have a different layout of rooms in their houses and would reflect their values and even their religious belief.

Some of the assumptions held by sociologists about culture are the following:

Culture must be learned, and therefore the material objects will also tell us what children during the 16^th century had to learn to survive.
Culture changes. Our 21^st century culture is different from the culture of our 16^th century ancestors, and we will find out in this lecture how different that is, and also how similar.
Culture is transcendent. It endures while people die. Our ancestors may no longer be here but there are still legacies that they have left behind. Some of their culture may have even survived if not in the Philippines, perhaps in our brother tribes in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Culture may also die, or parts of it may no longer be sustained. We must also realize that if some of our ancestor’s cultural practices ceased to exist, ours could also. And this is part of what were going to try to learn in this course, whether our ancestors changed their culture willingly or were they merely passive receivers of foreign cultures. Were they simply forced to give up their culture or did they voluntarily gave it up for some reason?
Culture varies. Different societies have different cultures. And in the Philippines, there are variations in the cultures of different tribes. One should not expect to find one homogenous culture in the country. Because there are 55 languages and 142 dialects, and (Pittman as cited in Zaide & Zaide, p.20) each language group represents a distinct tribe.

Okay. In this paper we will take a look at some of our ancestors’ ways of body modification, clothes, houses, and their most important means of transportation—the balangay boat. Some of these material culture and their beliefs behind its use may appear shocking to us today. But I did not select these artifacts in order to make a mockery of our ancestors but to provide an interesting but at the same time objective presentation of their culture. According to Panopio et. al. “the perception among people is that cultures with low level of technological development are inferior and nonprogressive and thus, are considered backward, while those with a high level of technology are advanced and progressive.” (1995) This IMHO is a fallacious perspective. We must always remember that we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors. We wouldn’t be here if not for them, and we build upon what they have accomplished. We should not judge their technological development by comparing their material culture with ours, because most of our so called “high-tech” devices had not been invented yet during their time, and neither did the science exist at that time. Secondly is that we should not compare them with their contemporary western societies’ material culture without reminding ourselves that our ancestors’ culture was their response to their tropical environment, while the westerners had temperate and frigid climates. The simple fact that it is hot and humid in the Philippines while it is cold in western countries would immediately tell us that there are differences in the flora and fauna of our country and the west. And the resources available to our ancestors were different from theirs. This difference would then reflect in our clothes, houses, and the belief system associated with these objects. I will speak more on this later.

Body Modification. Let us start with material objects close to the skin. I will describe seven body modifications practiced by different tribes, but mostly by the Visayans. These are skull moulding, decorative dentistry, ear piercing, circumcision, penis pins, tattooing and hair styles.

Skull moulding or cranial reformation is the reshaping of a baby’s head using a board called sipit or saop in Bikol. The Visayans use a comb like set of thin rods called tangad. They bind the board to the baby’s forehead creating a receding forehead and a flat nose (occipito frontal type). Skulls showing this practice had been found in Albay, Marinduque, Samar, Cebu, Bohol, Surigao and Davao. But it was also practiced in non-Muslim parts of Sumatra, by the Melanau of Sarawak, and the Minahasa of Sulawesi. (Scott, 1991)

This is possible because an infant’s skull has 45 separate bones as oppose to the 28 bones of an adult. As we grow up the bones fuse together and connective tissues, fontanelles, or bumbunan in Tagalog are replaced by bones. Mothers know that if a baby’s head is continuously laid in the same position it will be flattened on that side, a condition called positional plagiocephaly in medicine and talipya by Tagalogs. But the Tagalogs do not practice skull moulding.

Now let’s turn to decorative dentistry. The Visayans either file or drill their teeth and they also color the teeth black or red. Ther were two ways to file the teeth. First is that the canines are filed flat. This is done because they thought canines make a person look like an animal, like dogs. Or they file all the front teeth to make them pointed. Some suggested in a study of Bornean tribes that “pointed teeth made them warlike at times of tribal war.” (Jones, 2001)

As for the color of the teeth, Visayans didn’t like white teeth because to them it looked like animal teeth. So they chew anipay root to make them black, or apply a tar-based coating called tapul. Chewing betel nut preparation called nganga in Tagalog makes it red, or they use red lakha ant eggs. (Scott) These stains have been known to preserve the teeth and prevent caries.

They drill the front of the teeth in order to insert gold wires. They can also crown or plate the teeth. Pusad was the general Visayan term for teeth goldwork. (Scott)

These practices are common in archipelagic Southeast Asia. The Tagalogs practiced it (Scott) and it has been observed in Bornean tribes, the Mentawai tribe in Siberut Island near Sumatra, and even the Balinese. In Bali it is an important ritual ceremony called metatah. Women’s canines are filed after their first menstruation while men’s are before marriage. They consider canine teeth, caling in Balinese, [or pangil in Tagalog] a symbol of bad behavior, uncivilized behavior, and even ‘evil’. (99 Bali)

The ceremony is described this way: “The sangging, who is the expert at tooth filing, puts a small cylinder of sugarcane in the patient’s mouth, wedged between the teeth, to keep the jaws open. The sangging may joke with the participant as he works. He then take his small file, kikir (kikil in Tagalog), and with his index finger on the flat of the file, sets to work filing. The only teeth that are modified are the two canine teeth in the upper jaw and the four incisors between them, six teeth (symbolizing the sad ripu (six enemies of human’s soul): lust, greed, anger, drunkeness, confusion, and jealousy). Reducing the influence of these six will help an individual live a healthy, well-adjusted existence as part of a closely knit family and community, and this behavior will insure reincarnation into a better future life. (99 Bali) The Balinese are Hindus that’s why they believe in reincarnation. You may want to google for a metatah ceremony at YouTube.

The third type of body modification is very common, pierced ears to wear earrings. Both men and women in the Visayas wear earrings [but another source said only women do]. Its difference with ordinary piercing is that you can either insert two fingers or an entire fist into the hole. (Scott) The Tagalogs practiced this as well and called it “malambing na tainga”. Tainga is the ear and lambi is the ear lobe. Today the modern day equivalent is called “tunnel” piercing.

According to Scott the hole was produced this way. The ear was pierced with a copper needle. “The first holes in the earlobes were made soon after birth, while the rest of the holes before the second year.” They could have as many as four earrings. “A thick cotton thread was looped through the hole to keep it from closing. After the wound had healed, the thread was replaced with a series of gradually thicker bamboo or hardwood splints until the hole was as large as the circumference of the little finger. It was slowly extended to the desired size by inserting leaves tightly rolled up, spring like, to exert steady gentle pressure outward.”

Now I want to turn to the fourth type of body modification—circumcision. Circumcision is the removal of some or all the foreskin or prepuce from the penis. It comes from the Latin word circum meaning around and cædere, to cut. (Wikipedia) It is known to all Christians as a commandment of God to Abraham and his children, but scholars believe it is even older than that and may have been practiced by other tribes without contact with the Hebrews. Among the Hebrews, the ceremony of circumcision is called brit milah, which literally means “covenant of circumcision”. It is usually performed by a ritual circumciser or mohel to a baby on the eight day after birth. (Wikipedia)

In 16^th century Philippine society, it is called the same in Tagalog and Visaya, that is, tuli. The cut is done lengthwise the prepuce. But the Visayans have another method called girlo, where the prepuce is actually removed. (Scott) As is today, to be circumcised in the Philippines is a sign of manhood, but for other than the Muslims, it has lost its religious significance. Peer pressure keeps the practice alive as uncircumcised adults are teased and considered immature boys rather than men. They are taunted as pisot in Visayan and supót in Tagalog [accent on the last syllable otherwise it will mean a bag].

The Tagalog method that was probably used is known as pukpok. Since mine was done by a doctor, I would narrate to you the procedure described to me by an elder. What is interesting is that he and his friends circumcised each other at the age of eleven. They swam in the river first to soften the prepuce, and then a stake made of guava wood is used as a cutting board or pangaw. Guava is known for its antiseptic properties, so while doing the process they chew guava leaves. The upper part of the foreskin is then placed or hanged over the pangaw and a sharp knife was placed above it lengthwise. Then the knife is struck (pukpok) with another piece of wood creating a cut. The one being circumcised then spits guava leaf juice at his wound, and then jumps back to the river. Why they went back to the river with a bleeding penis is unexplained.

The more controversial circumcision is female circumcision called sonat. Today it is also called female genital cutting or female genital mutilation. According to Scott, it was practiced by the Tagalogs and the Pampangans and was similar to that practiced in Borneo. The Pampangans called it gitang.

The procedure is probably similar to that practiced by Indonesian Muslim women. It has been categorized as WHO Type I and IV. Type I means the removal or splitting of the clitoral hood with or without cutting off the clitoris. And Type IV is only a symbolic pricking of blood release using either a blood lancet or a sewing needle. (Wikipedia) It usually takes place within the first year of the baby, often on day 36 or 40 after birth, depending on local traditions. In some areas, however, it is performed on girls up to ten years of age. (US Department of State, 2001)

The symbolic pricking of blood has an interesting similarity with the Jewish “hatafat dam brit”, which means “drop of the blood of the covenant”. It is performed on male converts who had been circumcised outside of the ceremony of the brit milah. The mohel draws a symbolic drop of blood from the penis where the prepuce should have been. (Wikipedia)

It is said that female circumcision predates Islam and Christianity and its origins are unknown. Scott did not say why it was practiced by the Tagalogs and Pampangans; perhaps it came with the Indonesian brand of Islam. The Indonesian’s experience may give us a clue.

“According a study, Kemayoran community women in Jakarta believe that the practice is mandated or recommended by Islam. The more educated mothers believe the practice is sunnah (recommended or encouraged by the prophet Muhammad). The less educated mothers believe the practice is wajib (mandatory).

The rural mothers of the West Java community of Cijeruk said the procedure was performed according to sunnah and was meant to purify female babies. It was also regarded as a local custom and believed to promote good hygiene.

Some religious leaders believe that the removal or partial removal of the clitoris is beneficial to marriage because a woman would be more likely to remain faithful to her husband if she had no sexual drive. Some religious Islamic leaders consider this practice a mandate of Islam. Other religious leaders believe that this practice is recommended by Islamic teachings but not mandated.” (US Department of State)

Let us now discuss the fifth type of body modification—penis pins. This device is made of two parts. A metal pin called by Visayans and Bikolanos tugbuk. And end-pieces known among the said tribes as sakra. The sakras had been described to look like cowboy’s boot spurs or a tailors tracing wheel. One dug up in Iloilo has eight knobby protrusions with a diameter of 5 centimeters. (Scott)

Although shocking to most who have heard of it for the first time, it is a widespread practice in Southeast Asia. It is practiced by the Toradja and Sadang in Sulawesi (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online), Indonesia where it is known as Kambi or Kambiong. In southern Borneo it was Kaleng and while the Kenyah called it Aja; the Kayan called it Uttang or Oettang. (King, 2002) It’s most famous name is from the Iban of Borneo—Ampallang or Palang, which means “crossbar” (Morrison) (pahalang in Tagalog) or the tugbuk. In the Indian Kama Sutra it is called Apadravya.

Paolo Mantegazza (as cited in Morrison) described the procedure of acquisition of the tugbuk as follows (the veracity of this still needs verification): "the operation is performed only on adults. The skin is forced back; the penis is placed between two small planks of bamboo and for ten days it is covered with rags dipped in cold water. Then the glans is perforated with a sharp bamboo needle; a feather dipped in oil, is placed in the wound until it heals. Wet compresses are used all the while. When the Dayaks travel and work they carry a feather in this canal.” When they need to use the penis pin, they pull the feather out and replace it with the ampallang.

The Tagalogs have a similar device; they embed a small metal ball in the glans of the penis. It is now called by a Spanish name bolitas meaning “small ball bearings”. The Alfur of Sulawesi had been reported to do the same. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online)

The main function of these devices is for sexual pleasure. If you wish to know more about it, you may want to read Henry Scott’s book Barangay, Sixteenth Century Philippine Culture and Society.

Okay. The next type of body modification is tattooing. It is very common. The Visayans called it batuk, which may be related to the word batik in Tagalog. The Visayans were the most tattooed tribe in the Philippines, that is why the Spaniards called them “Pintados”, meaning painted people, while the Tagalogs called them Lipong because to them they looked like Li-pong Chinese Jars which had blue designs. Their bayani had batuk from head to foot. Even their faces were tattooed. Women also had tattoos but only on their hands. Other tribes also tattooed themselves except the Tagalog [and probably other Muslim tribes], who at the time of the coming of the Spaniards do not practice tattooing perhaps due to Islamic influence.

“Tattoo work was done by a skillful artist ... He began by tracing the designs on the body with an ink made from pitch soot” (Scott), perhaps collected by holding a jar or pot coated with oil over a flame. “Then he pricked them into the skin with a small tool set with a number of short needles like the teeth of a comb, and then rubbed soot into the fresh wounds.” The soot and ink was called biro. (Scott) In Polynesia the tool looks more like a toothbrush and it is placed above the design while using another small stick to repeatedly strike the other stick with needles onto the flesh. Among the Apayao the tool is called igihisi, which has 1-5 pins attached to a rattan (Casal et.al.). The operation was not performed all in one sitting but in installments, but even so, often caused a high fever and occasionally infection and death. (Scott)

Why did they do it? Because these tattoos were symbols of male valor; they were applied only after a man had performed in battle with fitting courage, (Scott) and were like the medals of soldiers today. In some literature it is said that the amount of tattoo a Visayan warrior has was equal to the number of enemies he had killed. Today people with some sort of tattoos are also feared, but they got them in jail using oddly enough the same method that was used in ancient times. I think they call the tattoos “komiks” from comics because there are lots of drawings on the inmate’s skin.

Finally we turn to hair styles. Hair styles differed from one tribe to another, and between one barangay and another. Although in one barangay perhaps there is only one accepted style. Individualism was probably very rare. But for the whole barangay, hair styles just like today could go in and out of fashion quickly. They could be hanging loose in one decade and knotted in the next.

Visayan men had long hair while Tagalogs had short hair. The Sambals of Zambales wore their hair like their contemporary Chinese, with the front half of the skull shaved while the back is allowed to grow long.

Women always had very long hair. They put them up into a chignon or pusod in Tagalog. They had combs or suklay made of wood or ivory with intricate carvings. Visayan women used fragrant flowers to perfume their hair, and sesame seed oil to encourage luxuriant growth (Scott). Even today Filipinos are aware of indigenous hair care products like gugo, a vine which is crushed and dried and then soaked in water to extract the juices to be used as shampoo. Sabila or aloe vera for hair growth and coconut oil.

Facial hair is removed with tweezers or a pair of clam shells and Visayan men and women had their eyebrows shaved into thin arcs likened to a crescent moon. (Scott) Tagalog men grow mustaches or misay, but remove beards or gumi.

Before moving on to clothing let me ask you first what you think about our ancestor’s concept of beauty and other values and beliefs that are behind their body modification. How does it compare to those of modern teenagers. Why do you do things like body piercing?

Clothing. How do you imagine our ancestor’s clothing? Do this exercise. Get a piece of paper and try to draw what our ancestors ancestors wore. After the discussion of our next topic compare what you have drawn with descriptions from historical accounts.

For this lecture I will use the Tagalog clothing as a representative of the kind of clothing worn in the Philippines in the 16^th century. But remember that there will always be variations from tribe to tribe, and barangay to barangay.

The male attire is composed of the baro, a long sleeved collarless shirt and the bahag or G-string. The Tagalog bahag is probably similar to the Visayan which is much wider than the Ifugao’s. There was also a mantle called tapi (Scott), which was wrapped around the waist like a short malong. This is familiar to Tagalogs when they say “nakatapi ng tuwalya”, wrapped in a towel. The headdress is called putong and is narrower and shorter than the pudong of the Visayans. The putong is similar to the headdress of Indonesians which is like a scarf tied around the head. The verb iputong means to put on the head. These clothes are commonly made of cotton, from the kápok tree or if imported is made of silk. Tagalog men also wear an alampay, a long scarf thrown across the shoulders. It is covered with embroidery or perhaps weaving design done by their wives. There is no known surviving sample of Tagalog textile design and we are left with the tribal designs of surviving indigenous tribes. For accessories men wore necklaces (kuwintas), bracelets (galang), armlets (kalumbiga), rings (singsing), and a sort of chainlet for the leg worn below the knee called a bitik. These alahas or jewelry is usually made of gold except the bitik which is made of brass.

Women wear the baro as upper garment and two tapis. An ankle length white one and a shorter colored one over it. Then they wore a talukbong or shawl very much like the Muslim women today. For accessories they wore the alahas mentioned above except the bitik, and they wore hikaw or earrings, which were large and dangling which accentuates their “malambing na tainga”. Women also wear makeup—tana eyebrow paint, pupól face powder, red kamuntigi nail polish, and yellow bárak (curcuma zedoaria) root to rub on the body as skin lotion. (Scott) Men and women don’t wear shoes but may have borrowed the concept of wooden clogs from Chinese, bakya. But people cannot wear that while walking on the rice fields, the forest or while fishing.

Women weave the textile using the backstrap loom.

Houses. Today people believe that Filipinos of the past lived only in bahay kubo or nipa huts. But the Tagalog word for a big wooden house is dálam. Unfortunately we have no surviving examples of this. But you may want to do some research on beautiful Maranao and Ifugao wooden houses to get an idea of the architecture of ancient people of the Philippines.

The Tagalog house like other tribes is raised on the ground by poles. The space underneath the house is called silong and is used to raise chickens or pigs. One could enter the house through a ladder that is pulled up at night. A tapayan, big jar of water was usually near the ladder for washing the feet before going up. The house was usually made up of two rooms, or if there is a daughter a third room, silid is reserved for her. Entertaining guests, eating on dulang, low tables, and sleeping on mats called banig are all done in the same room called the bulwagan. Another room called a batalan was for washing stuff and peeing as it has slated bamboo floors. The floor is called sahig, the roof is bubong or atip, and the walls are dingding. ~~It seems that there were no doors and windows because the words for these are all Spanish.~~ Cooking was probably done outside. Filipinos ate with their hands, and used locally made clay pots or imported Chinese porcelain. Defecating was done outdoors in the wide wide world.

What does the layout of these houses tell us about their attitude towards privacy and individuality?

Balangay boat. If the low land people of the Philippines were not in their homes, rice fields, or the forest they’re probably in their boats. Tagalog after all came from the word taga-ilog or river dweller, while Pampangan means beach dweller.

The best known boat of our people is the balangay or balanghai boat. The term for a village, barangay came from the balangay boat. Ancient remains of these boats had been found in Butuan, Agusan del Norte in Mindanao. One boat was carbon-14 dated to about 320 A.D. while another was dated to 1250 (Casal, et.al.).

The balangay is a flat bottomed plank boat. It could be around 15 meters long and 4 meters wide. The planks are connected by the Visayans through the use of pegs, while the Tagalogs had been reported to drill holes on the side of the planks and sew their boats. Holes and gaps are then plugged with some sort of pitch. This method of boat building is similar to those by ancient Egyptians and Vikings of Scandinavia.

The sail is made of woven nipa palm which is probably the same as sleeping mats. A common feature of Pacific boats is the outrigger called katig in Tagalog. It is attached to a long bamboo raft or wood called a batangan, which is where rowers sit.

Boats are built by specialist called pandays.

Open discussion.

Now that we’ve had a survey of some of the material culture of 16^th century people in the Philippines, let me ask you how do you think these objects relate to their non-material culture and their environment?

References:

99 Bali. Tooth filing. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.99bali.com/Update/toothfilling.cfm.

Casal, G.S., Dizon, E.Z, Ronquillo, W.P., & Salcedo, C.G. (1998) The ingenious Filipino boat. In Kasaysayan, The story of the Filipino people, Vol. 2. Hong Kong: Asia Publishing, Company Limited.

Circumcision. In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision.

Female genital cutting. In Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting.

Jones, A. (2001, July 28). Dental transfigurements in Borneo. In British Dental Journal, 191 (2). Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.nature.com/bdj/journal/v191/n2/full/4801106a.html.

King, P. (2002). History of body piercing – The Ampallang. In The Point, The Official Newsletter for the Association of Professional Piercers, 22. http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/The%20Point,%20Sept%202002.pdf.

McNall, S.G., & McNall, S.A. (1992). Sociology. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Morrison, C. Palang & Apadravya piercing aftercare and history. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.lexicon.net/andre/piercing/new_page_13.htm.

Panopio, I.S., Cordero-MacDonald, F.V., & Raymundo, A.A. (1995). General sociology, focus on the Philippines (3^rd. ed.). Quezon City: Ken.

Penis pin (ornament). In Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-449971/penis-pin.

Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library. Penis pin, Borneo, 1880-1920. Retrieved December 6, 2007, from http://www.ingenious.org.uk/See/?target=SeeLarge&ObjectID={1A6EC03A-508D-EC37-D9AE-BAEE5A8383FE}&Mode=HotBox&ArticleID={6A63A591-5EEB-480A-8609-C06B4A0779DF}&viewby=images.

Scott, W. H. (1991) Barangay, sixteenth century Philippine culture and society. Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University.

US Department of State (2001, June 1). Indonesia: Report on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or Female Genital Cutting (FGC). Retrieved, December 10, 2007, from http://www.state.gov/g/wi/rls/rep/crfgm/10102.htm.

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

Readings: Description of Tagalogs

They have better houses and buildings, more orderly, although located in swampy land or along river banks. The Moros are dressed with cotton clothes and are not naked like the Bisayans. Their clothes consist of [words not understood] and without collars; and with their sleeves and their [word not understood] they come dressed, although they wear below the waist some mantle well located, which covers the flesh up to the knees, because below that their legs protrude. From the calf of the knees they wear many chainlets often made of brass which they call bitiques; these are worn only by the men who regard them as very stylish. They also wear many golden chains around the neck, specially if they are chiefs, because these are what they value most, and there are some who wear more than ten or twelve of these chains. They wear a head-dress of small cloth which is neither wide nor long and which they wrap once around the head with a knot. They do not have long hair because they cut it as in Spain. They are not accustomed to wearing a beard, nor allowing it to grow although in general they are all hairy; what grows is carefully removed; and the Bisayans do likewise. The Moros wear only mustaches which they do not remove and allow to grow all they can. The Bisayans in no manner are accustomed to wear any shoes nor do the men wear ear holes as do the Bisayans; the women carry much gold jewelry because they are richer than the Bisayans. Men and women also wear many bracelets and chains of gold in the arms. They are not used to wearing them on the legs. Women likewise carry around the neck golden chains that men do. The Moros do not paint any part of their body.

... The dress of women are not as neat nor as elegant as that of the Bisayans, because they wrap a cotton or taffeta mantle around the body with very little polish. They wear jackets and skirts in the same way we have told as the Bisayans. They also wear their dress over the skin, gathering it at the waist and the breast because they use no chemise or shoes. The [wives of] chiefs, when going out of their houses, are customarily carried on the shoulders of their slaves and in this manner travel through the streets. All carry over their dress some small mantles which reach the waists; they are of cotton and colored, and some are of satin, and taffeta and damask obtained from China.

... Women are used to carry on their heads over their hair, which they wear loose, diadems made of gold, this if of the chief’s women; if of others, the diadems are made of tortoise or conch shell. These are very elegant.

Reference:

Customs and usages of Moros in the Philippine isles of the west. In Jocano, F.L. (Ed.), The Philippines at the Spanish contact, Some major accounts of early Filipino society and culture. Manila: MCS Enterprises, pp. 195-199.

16th Century Warfare in the Philippines

2010-07-04T10:27:00.002+08:00

I thought I'd share some of the readings I've prepared for my undergraduate Philippine History classes. Here is the first.

16^th Century Warfare in the Philippines

Roel P. Cantada

Glossary

Bagani – Bagobo, Bilaan, and Mandaya word for warrior. Bayani in Bikol, Kapampangan, Iloko, Cebuano, Tagalog, and Waray. Baganihan in Hiligaynon. (Almario, 2001)

Barangay – a village in 16^th century Philippine society ruled by datus.

Datu – the highest social class, and rulers of 16^th century Philippine society.

Timawa – the social class of free men in the 16^th century Philippine society.

Tagalog – People of southern Luzon around the Pasig River and Laguna Lake.

Visayan – People of the islands of Panay, Cebu, Bohol, Negros, Leyte and Samar.

Objectives

At the end of this lecture the students should be able to:

Evaluate the war capability of 16^th century barangays as exemplified in the Battles of Mactan [1521] and Manila [1570].

Explain the significance of institutional warfare in the core achievement approach to determining the level of civilization of a non-urban civilization.

We are going to study in this lecture the war capability of 16^th century barangays, their technology, tactics, leadership, and consequences. This topic is important not only for curiosity’s sake but because it helps demonstrate how we end up the way we are today especially in relation to our ancestor’s mentality and our contemporary popular mentality regarding history, i.e. their and our ability to learn from the past, from experience.

The people of the Philippine Islands appeared in world history relatively late compared to the founders of great civilizations like China. And when they fully [not just mentioned in passing] came out into that stage courtesy of the Spaniards it was in a bloody scene. In fact the pages of the history of the Filipinos are washed in blood. But we are not here to judge the morality of warfare, or to emphasize the blood and gore. What we are going to do is to look at warfare from what F. Landa Jocano, an eminent Filipino anthropologist, called the core achievements approach for distinguishing and judging civilized from noncivilized prehistoric societies (1998).

The core achievements approach lists ten criteria namely:

efficient technology
predictive sciences
writing
art and religion
foreign trade
big population
megalithic structures
government
laws
warfare

Of these ten, we have already discussed writing—baybayin. Jocano used this concept to address an issue that had been debated over since the time of Jose Rizal. That there is a belief “among many contemporary Filipinos, including some respected scholars ... that our ancestors were never civilized until the colonizers [Spaniards and Americans] came to do them the favor.” Jocano further said that “the term civilization has always been associated with urban phenomena”, and that this should not be the only type of civilization but there is also a non-urban type. And it is the latter that Jocano categorizes the ancient Filipino barangay. The urban and non-urban civilizations were distinguished in this way:

The urban civilization is associated with market economy and a merchandising middle class, with a greater class complexity than the non-urban civilization, with a landed aristocracy and militaristic leadership ... The non-urban civilization is linked to a redistributive economy in the hands of an aristocracy, to a social ranking system, to corporate or kin ownership of land, and to a theoretically oriented leadership. (Willey, R.G. as cited in Jocano)

I am not really going to examine Jocano work, nor am I going to tackle all of these criteria in detail but rather I will use it as a rough guideline for categorizing the historical development of Filipino culture, society, politics and economy. In most if not all of my lectures for this course I will cite Jocano as a starting point for discussion of the other criteria.

Now let us turn to warfare. “Feuding barangays often raided each other’s territory. The causes of war were many. The most common cause was to avenge the honor or the name of the kinsman who was killed or harmed by another man coming from a different barangay.” (Jocano) This would probably sound familiar with you if you’ve ever experienced gangs of youth from different barangays having a rumble because of territory. Or even more common is the pay-back rumble after being defeated in a barangay basketball competition.

Another reason for barangay feuds which led to warfare is when someone from another barangay runs away with someone else’s wife. Territorial trespass was another cause of warfare. Transgression of the barangay’s religious taboos caused many bloody and lengthened feuding and warfare. (Jocano)

Each barangay trained its own defenders—the bagani [or in Tagalog a bayani, a hero, a warrior]. These warriors were called at any time to respond to surprise attack or to anticipate raids. The warriors were led by the datu, or village chief. (Jocano) The bagani is not a separate class, but belongs to the timawa.

Peace is achieved when the other party pays a fine, ransom, or blood money. Another method is through the sandugo or blood compact. Sandugo literally means one (isa) blood (dugo). In this ceremonial contract of brotherhood, the datus of the barangays cuts shallow wounds on their forearms and drips their blood in a single bowl or glass of wine. Both datus will then drink the mixture of blood and wine and this will signify that they are now blood relatives.

Unfortunately, Jocano’s descriptions were not based on actual recorded battles between barangays. Natives of the Philippines did not write history until perhaps during the time of Jose Rizal in the late 1800’s. So this is merely based on the accounts of Spaniards and observation of cultural minorities, who has preserved the indigenous culture of prehispanic Philippines.

What we have in history are recorded [although one sided] battles with the Spaniards. We will now turn to our first event, that which introduced the people of the Philippines to the world—the Battle of Mactan. This battle occurred in April 27, 1521, Saturday morning. It was exclusively a land battle (gahat) fought with small arms in close combat (asdang). The terrain is the seashore near the houses of the barangay, and there are rocks that prevented the Spanish ships from coming near and using artillery. Below is a comparison of the warfare capabilities of the two combatants.

Table 1: Comparison of Visayan and Spanish War Capability

	Visayans (Barangay led by Lapu-lapu)	Español
Leaders	Lapu-lapu	Fernando Magallanes
Number of warriors	1,500	49
Weapons
Long Range
projectile	bamboo javelins with fire hardened wooden points and sand at the other end for balance busog (bow) and pana (arrows) stones	ballesta (crossbow)
gun	known in Visayan as luthang but they did not have any	arcabuz (arquebus) cañon (cannon)
Close Combat
spear	bankaw (spearhead could be 30 cm. long and as wide as a man’s palm)	lanza alabarda (spear with axe)
sword	kalis (60-70 cm. double edged) kampilan (90 cm. single edged) baladaw (dagger- single edged)	espada
Defensive
body armor	barote (baluti in Tagalog)	peto (corselet)
shield	kalasag (50-150 cm. long, corky wood)	escudo
helmet	made of sharkskin	morrion
Others
strategy	3 division frontal, and flanking assault traps - pit holes	2 division firing positions terrorism – arson
casualties	15 dead	8 Spaniards dead 4 natives killed by friendly fire

Source of Visayan weapons: Scott (1991)

The Visayans poisoned all of their weapons with bulit, a snake venom. Pigafetta himself was a victim of a poison arrow as he attest “...I was all swollen up by a wound from a poisoned arrow which I had received in my face.”

Although suffering more dead than the Spaniards, the Visayans won the day. They killed Magallanes and forced the Spaniards to withdraw. Their triumph would delay Spanish occupation of the Philippines for 44 years. But the Visayans would be defeated by the Spaniards when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and his men arrive in Cebu on April 27, 1565.

The Visayans from Lapu-lapu’s barangay were brave men but they were also helped by the stupid arrogance of the Spaniards. The other Visayans from Cebu, and the barangay of Zula who were allies of the Spaniards did not engage in the battle because Magallanes wanted them to stay in their balangays and watch how he displays Spanish fighting skills. Or perhaps he was afraid that they will turn against them. There were 20 to 30 balangays of warriors with them. A balangay war boat or karakoa can carry 30 warriors and 100 rowers each. They would have had between 600 to 900 native allies or more, and that could have tipped the scale of the battle. This also tells us that when the people of the Philippines unite, or those who are to fight their brothers opted to abstain then it results in the triumph of the people of the Philippines. Unfortunately, as I’ve hinted above our ancestors did not write history, and as philosopher George Santayana said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (1905)”

Okay. Now I’d like to take a look at a battle that occured in 1570. This time between the Tagalogs of Manila and the Spaniards. The barangay of Manila saw the Spaniards in May 1570. The Spaniards came from Panay, and was led by Martin de Goite. He came with two ships and fifteen paraws of Visayan or Lipong as the Tagalogs call them. Now the Tagalogs had two warfare technologies that the Visayans did not have, kutas (fort) and the lantaka (cannon). The battle was fought around the 24^th (my estimate) of May at 10:00 A.M. The people of Manila fired the first shot and it was a land and naval warfare. The terrain was in present day Intramuros, Manila. It was a delta of the Pasig River emptying out to the Manila Bay. Below is the comparison of warfare capability.

Table 2: Comparison of Tagalog and Spanish War Capability

	Tagalogs (Barangay Maynila)	Español
Leaders	Soliman	Martin de Goite
Number of warriors	15,000 estimated from 500 paraws	90 Spanish arquebusiers 20 Spanish sailors 450 Visayans
Weapons
Long Range
projectile	bamboo javelins with fire hardened wooden points and sand at the other end for balance busog (bow) and pana (arrow) stones	ballesta (crossbow)
gun	known in Tagalog as astinggal but they did not have any lantakas (Tagalogs could have owned more than 500 lantakas based on the weight of bronze confiscated by Spaniards later on throughout the barangays near Manila)	90 arcabuz (arquebus) 3 large cañon (cannon)
Close Combat
spear	sibat	lanza alabarda (spear with axe)
sword	kalis (60-70 cm. double edged) kampilan (90 cm. single edged) balaraw (dagger- single edged) katana (Japanese sword)	espada
Defensive
body armor	baluti kuta maya	peto (corselet)
shield	kalasag (long) palisay (round)	escudo
helmet	kupya or tangkulog (Chinese helmets)	morrion
Others
strategy	fort defense withdraw to upstream fort	siege naval assault allies as shock troops
casualties	100 dead 80 taken prisoner by Spaniards Manila was burned to the ground 13 lantakas lost to Spaniards	1 Spaniard drowned before battle

Source of Tagalog weapons: Scott (1991); Note that there are historians who claim that Manila was a Kapampangan stronghold, but the evidence is still sketchy.

Similarly with the Visayans, the Tagalogs also poisoned their weapons but it seems that the Spaniards are prepared for it this time. In an earlier encounter in the Pansipit River in Batangas it was reported that “...suddenly, and without them being able to see any one, many arrows came flying through the air, one of which wounded Captain Juan de Salcedo in the leg... The captain secured an antidotal herb for his wound...” (Relation of the Voyage of Luzon)

Okay. A sidelight on warfare psychology. When the Visayans fought they shouted a lot. We don’t really know what they were shouting but with the Tagalogs, Pedro de San Buenaventura said that when they attack their enemies they taunted “those who were about to be defeated” with victory chants called dayaw or tagumpay. (As cited in Scott) The Spaniards also have a war-cry which was called the “Santiago” after their patron saint, St. James. The ancient Greeks also had a war chant called the paean. So as we can see it has evolved into the cheer in sports competition.

It’s easy to see that the armaments of the people of Manila were far more impressive than those of Mactan. But at the end of the day they were severely defeated by the Spaniards. Martin de Goite’s men would return to Panay to report to Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. The people of Manila would return to Manila and rebuild their houses but a year after on May 1571, they would have to burn it again when the Spaniards returned. The Spaniards would claim Manila and the native population would be relocated to Bagumbayan (literally new town), present day Luneta. The Spaniards will stay for more than 300 years until 1898.

It may surprise us that there were less warriors in Mactan and less weapons but they won while in the Manila there were more warriors with better weapons but they lost. How come?

Open discussion

One point that may be discussed in relation to the discussion question is the fact that the development of warfare strategy among the Spaniards was greater than the native islanders within the 49 year interregnum. The firearm technology did not really change much for the Spaniards. The arquebus was still cumbersome to load and reload, and was just as inaccurate due to the smooth bore. It was also still useless in hand-to-hand combat since the bayonet has yet to be invented. So it was just used as a club in close combat. This weapon which the natives knew but did not respect won the day for the Spaniards in 1570 but lost the 1521 encounter with the Visayans. And yet the Visayans did not have lantakas while the Tagalogs did? Part of the answer is in the difference in the quality of the conquistadores who came to the Philippines. Magellan's party were armed map makers while Legaspi's were equipped conquerors. Another is that the Spaniards were the first people to perfect the technique of combining pike and arquebus to defeat an army with pike and cannon in Europe (Tercio in Wikipedia, 2010; Pike and shot in Wikipedia, 2010). They already proven its efficacy at the Battle of Cerignola in 1503 (In Wikipedia, 2010). In this battle the Spaniards formed 8,000 men with 1,000 arquebusiers, 20 cannons, and pikemen won against a French force of 32,00 men with heavy cavalry, pikemen and 40 cannons. This combined arms is what Magellan probably forgot when he refused to let Humabon's men join the fray in Mactan. Tough luck for the Filipinos in Manila whose main weapons were pike (sibat) and cannon (lantaka). The Spaniards were probably jumping for joy when they saw a familiar sight--fort, pike and cannon. The same weapons their enemies in Europe whom they've defeated used. The cumbersome arquebus was made deadly with alternating rows of disciplined arquebusiers. They did not fire at the same time, the first row fires, the second row gets ready, and the third loads. Thereby, they were able to fire continuously as a group and the pikemen do not have the time to get near because there will be no lull in the hail of bullets. The fixed cannon proved to be a sitting duck against mobile arquebusiers who would pick off cannoneers. Because of the weight of the cannons, the cannoneers could not run off with their weapons. The cannoneer is also a specialist who cannot be easily replaced in the battlefield. Snipers would just pick them off one by one and that would silence the lantakas. In Manila the Spaniards reported that they were able to capture the native lantakas and turned them against our ancestors. Even if the enemy pikemen can come near a arquebusier, all the arquebusier has to do is run behind his own pikemen for protection while loading. The Visayans pikemen in Manila must have proved to be the tipping point that favored the Spaniards. The lesson here is that the weakness of the technology was resolved by an improvement in organization and discipline, something our people are still struggling with up to this day.

Nevertheless, we should correct students' false impression that our ancestors lost because they were primitive, ignorant, and lacked weapons. Our ancestors were already equal to the Spaniards in technology in terms of its basic principles like use of gunpowder, steel, fortifications, and naval technology. It's slightly behind the Spaniards in terms of implementation e.g. the Spaniards had bigger guns and ships. But as was said this disadvantaged in technology could have been resolved by organization and discipline. We had the advantage of terrain and numbers, but that advantage was eroded by other barangays becoming pilots for the Spaniards and showing them around the islands, and fighting with the Spaniards against other Filipinos. Of course we cannot blaim the Visayans for becoming pikemen of the Spaniards in Manila against the Tagalogs. There was no concept of a Filipino nation then, and each barangay was loyal to their own barangay. The people of Luzon (probably Tagalogs) sold rice to the Spaniards when the Cebuanos were trying to starve them off their island. The counterfactual histories may be based in the following what ifs. What if the Visayans fought with the Tagalogs instead of with the Spaniards. (In fact the Spaniards will rely on the natives to maintain their hold on the Philippines throughout their history, and when that native loyalty is exhausted towards the end, Spanish power collapsed.) What if the Filipinos knew how to write history and learn from each barangays experience about the fighting techniques of their enemies? Would it have better prepared them against Legaspi after 49 years? Had our ancestors defeated the Spaniards what would we look like today?

References

Almario, V.S. (Ed.). (2001). UP diksiyonaryong Filipino. Pasig: ANVIL.
Battle of Cerignola. (2010, June 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:05, July 4, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Cerignola&oldid=367133302.

Jocano, F. L. (1998). Filipino prehistory, rediscovering precolonial heritage. Metro Manila: Punlad Research House.

Pigafetta, A. First Voyage Around the World. In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, XXXIII. Cleveland: Clark.
Pike and shot. (2010, June 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:03, July 4, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pike_and_shot&oldid=370885780.

Relation of the voyage to Luzon (1570, May 8). In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803;Volume III, 1569-1576. Cleveland: Clark.

Santayana, G. (1905). Reason in common sense. In The life of reason, Vol. 1. Charles Scribner's Sons.

Scott, W. H. (1991) Barangay, sixteenth century Philippine culture and society. Quezon City: Ateneo De Manila University.
Tercio. (2010, June 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:03, July 4, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tercio&oldid=370333650.

Primary Source 1: Battle of Mactan, 1521

by Antonio Pigafetta

On Friday, April twenty-six, Zula, a chief of the island of Matan, sent one of his sons to present two goats to the captain-general [Magallanes], and to say that he would send him all that he had promised, but that he had not been able to send it to him because of the other chief Cilapulapu, who refused to obey the king of Spagnia. He requested the captain to send him only one boatload of men on the next night so that they might help him and fight against the other chief. The captain-general decided to go thither with three boatloads.

... At midnight, sixty men of ours set out armed with corselets and helmets, together with the Christian king [Raha Humabon], the prince [Raha Tupas according to Henry Scott], some of the chief men, and twenty or thirty balanguiais. We reached Matan three hours before dawn. The captain did not wish to fight then, but sent a message to the natives by the Moro to the effect that if they would obey the king of Spagnia, recognize the Christian king as their sovereign, and pay us our tribute, he would be their friend; but that if they wished otherwise, they should wait to see how our lances wounded. They replied that if we had lances they had lances of bamboo and stakes hardened with fire. [They asked us] not to proceed to attack them at once, but to wait until morning, so that they might have more men. They said that in order to induce us to go in search of them; for they had dug certain pit holes between the houses in order that we might fall into them.

When morning came forty-nine of us leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through water for more than two crossbow flights before we could reach the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained behind to guard the boats. When we reached land, those men had formed in three divisions to the number of more than one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries, two divisions on our flanks and the other on our front.

When the captain saw that he formed us into two divisions, and thus did we begin to fight. The musketeers and crossbowmen shot from a distance for about a half-hour, but uselessly; for the shots only passed through the shields which were made of thin wood and the arms [of the bearers]. The captain cried to them, “Cease firing! Cease firing!” but his order was not at all heeded. When the natives saw that we were shooting our muskets to no purpose, crying out they determined to stand firm, but they redoubled their shouts.

When our muskets were discharged, the natives would never stand still, but leaped hither and thither, covering themselves with their shields. They shot so many arrows at us and hurled so many bamboo spears (some of them tipped with iron) at the captain-general, besides pointed stakes hardened with fire, stones, and mud, that we could scarcely defend ourselves.

Seeing that the captain-general sent some men to burn their houses in order to terrify them. When they saw their houses burning, they were roused to greater fury. Two of our men were killed near the houses, while we burned twenty or thirty houses. So many of them charged down upon us that they shot the captain through the right leg with a poisoned arrow. On that account, he ordered us to retire slowly, but the men took to flight, except six or eight of us who remained with the captain. the natives shot only at our legs, for the latter were bare; and so many were the spears and stones that they hurled at us, that we could offer no resistance. The mortars in the boats could not aid us as they were too far away. So we continued to retire for more than a good crossbow flight from the shore always fighting up to our knees in the water. The natives continued to pursue us, and picking up the same spear four or six times, buried it at us again and again.

Recognizing the captain, so many turned upon him that they knocked his helmet off his head twice, but he always stood firmly like a good knight, together with some others. Thus did we fight for more than one hour, refusing to retire further. An Indian [Visayan] hurled a bamboo spear into the captain’s face, but the latter immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the Indian’s body. Then, trying to lay hand on sword, he could draw it out but halfway, because he had been wounded in the arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that they all hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the left leg with a large cutlass [kampilan], until they killed our mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they wounded him he turned back many times to see whether we were all in the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded, retreated, as best we could, to the boats, which were already pulling off.

The Christian king would have aided us, but the captain charged him before we landed, not to leave his balanghai, but to stay to see how we fought. When the king learned that the captain was dead, he wept.

...That battle was fought on Saturday, April twenty-seven, 1521. ... Eight of our men were killed with him in that battle, and four Indians, who had become Christians and who had come afterward to aid us were killed by the mortars of the boats. Of the enemy, only fifteen were killed, while many of us were wounded.

Reference:

Pigafetta, A. First Voyage Around the World. In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, XXXIII. Cleveland: Clark.

Primary Source 2: Battle of Manila, 1570

On the eighth of May of this year, one thousand five hundred and seventy, the master-of-camp, Martin de Goite, left the river of Panay with ninety arquebusiers and twenty sailors on board the following vessels: the junk "San Miguel," of about fifty tons' burden with three large pieces of artillery; the frigate "La Tortuga;" and fifteen praus manned by natives of Çubu and of the island of Panay.

... having heard from a Moro captured in one of the tapaques that the town of Menilla was very near, all the vessels and praus set sail, taking the captured Moro as guide. In the afternoon they came in sight of a very large bay, which formed a wide gulf. It resembled a narrow sea with its entrance at that point; but the guides affirmed that the land was one, and so it proved to be when we entered the bay. We had taken with us from Panae a Moro, a native of the town of Menilla, who has had intercourse with Spaniards for many years and is well known among them; for, when the camp was in Zebu, he always came to sell them provisions. Before the master-of-camp started on this expedition from Panay, this Moro, and his wife and one son, had become Christians. He left his wife in Panay, and accompanied the master-of-camp as interpreter. He had taken with him his brother, who was likewise a native of Menilla. When we entered the bay, these men advised the master-of-camp not to cast anchor before the town of Menilla itself, for the coast was treacherous, and to enter the river it was necessary to wait for high tide. They advised him to anchor in a small sheltered port, two leagues from the port of Menilla; and thence to send word to Raxa Soliman, the greatest chief of all that country, with whom the terms of peace and friendship were to be made, and whose opinion was to be heeded.

...when we passed the bar of the river of Menila. The town was situated on the bank of the river, and seemed to be defended by a palisade all along its front. Within it were many warriors, and the shore outside was crowded with people. Pieces of artillery [lantaka] stood at the gates, guarded by bombardiers, linstock in hand. A culverin-shot from us, and close to the houses of the natives, were four Chinese ships.

... the master-of-camp immediately landed with the Spaniards, to meet him. Immediately an uncle of the ruler, who also bore the title of king, advanced with so large a following that he was thought to be Soliman himself. He embraced the master-of-camp, and appeared to be a man of good intentions. Soon after came the other ruler, his nephew Soliman, who was a younger man than he who first came. Soliman assumed an air of importance and haughtiness, and said that he was pleased to be the friend of the Spaniards, but the latter should understand that the Moros were not painted Indians [Visayans] . He said that they would not tolerate any abuse, as had the others; on the contrary they would repay with death the least thing that touched their honor. This speech having been made through the interpreter, the master-of-camp gratified the chief with kind words; then after they had embraced each other and made a friendly compact, the Moro entered his fort. The master-of-camp returned to his ship, leaving all the oared boats and most of his men on shore, less than thirty paces from the town; and gave general orders that no man should enter the town, until the Moros, who seemed quite irritated, had regained their calm.

... During the day the Moros came to look at the soldiers ashore with their arquebuses and lighted match-ropes. The Moros carried their weapons and showed a rather bold attitude. They even did things which the Spaniards not often tolerate; but in order to obey the orders of the master-of-camp, and not give the appearance of starting hostilities on our side, they overlooked all the unmeasured boldness displayed by the Moros. At nightfall the men ashore withdrew to the ships, where they slept. The next morning the Moro Mahomete returned with the same ambassador who had first come. The latter bore a message from Raxa Soliman, to the effect that he had been informed that a tribute was to be asked of him; and that, consequently, he would not allow the Spaniards to enter the river. The master-of-camp--as one desirous of peace, and in view of the orders of the governor to make peace with the said town of Menilla--in his answer, requested the messenger to tell his lord not to believe such reports, for hitherto he had not asked for any tribute from him. He added that they would see each other again, and make a friendly settlement, which would be to his taste. Thus he dismissed the messenger; and he himself, after a little thought, went ashore with only the Spanish and Moro interpreters, without notifying any one of what he was going to do. He entered the palisade, whose gates were guarded by many Moros, and was led by the Moros straightway to a small house, where he was bidden to await King Soliman. As soon as the latter heard that the master-of-camp was within the fort, he hastened to him; and both went to a house where they made a friendly compact, after the fashion of the land--namely, in this wise: the master-of-camp drew blood with the two chiefs, uncle and nephew--both called Rraxa, which in the Malay language signifies king. The Moros drank the blood of the master-of-camp mixed with wine, and the master-of-camp drank that of the Moros in a similar way. Thus the friendship was established, on the terms that the Moros of Menilla were to support the Spaniards who came to settle there; and, doing this, they should pay no other tribute. The master-of-camp asked them for a list of the neighboring towns on the bay; and they gave him the names of forty towns of those situated on the shore, besides those inland. After this friendly agreement had been made with the Moros, who promised to give some food for our men, the master-of-camp left the fort, much to our pleasure. The Moros, notwithstanding the great security given them by the master-of-camp, persisted in their hostile and warlike attitude; and, even on account of the peace made, would not lay aside their weapons--on the contrary, the number of armed men seemed to be increasing continually.

... The Moro Mahomete, who was present at this trading, and acted as go-between, told the chief notary to postpone the bargain until another day; and to return to the ship, and tell the master-of-camp that King Soliman said that, in order to celebrate the peace made that day, he was about to pass in review his people, both on sea and on land, and should fire all his artillery, at which no offense should be taken, for all was in celebration of the peace. The chief notary left the port with the message, and found the master-of-camp receiving information in the above-mentioned vessel of friendly Indian rowers; they were saying that, having relatives among the Moros, they had learned that the latter were planning to fall upon the Spaniards at the first rain, when it would be impossible for them to make use of the arquebuses. From this news, and from the preparations which the Moros were making on both sea and land for the great review they said they were about to give, we saw that they were anxious to start the affray. At this time the Moro Mahomete arrived with a message from Raxa Soliman, to the effect that King Soliman had learned that the lord of Candola, a town on the other side of the river, intended to fight the Spaniards on sea and had invited him to join in the attack; but that he, Soliman, had refused to do so. For this reason he would get in readiness, and, if the chief really came to offer battle, he would aid the Spaniards with his people, since the master-of-camp was his friend. This new message gave a full understanding of the deceitful plan of the Moros; notwithstanding all this, the master-of-camp sent his thanks to Soliman for the warning, saying that he would be pleased to fight any one who desired to fight with him. He added that if it were not so late he would immediately go to the town of Candola to fight with that chief. Having dismissed the envoy with this message the master-of-camp ordered all the men to be on the watch, and for all the crews of the praus to sleep on land.

That day the sunset was so blood-red that it presented a wonderful sight. The men said that the sun was blood-stained. All that night the men, both on land and sea, slept fully armed. The next morning two or three soldiers were going ashore in a little canoe, when, seven or eight paces from land, their small canoe suddenly filled with water and the men went to the bottom. One of the soldiers, Juan Nunez, a native of Talavera, was drowned. At ten o'clock of that same morning, some sails were seen at sea, and the master-of-camp, thinking them to be the ships of those who were coming to fight with the Spaniards, despatched a prau to reconnoiter them. As the prau came near them, these vessels were seen to be tapaques, and the master-of-camp, fearing that the prau might do them harm, called it back by firing a cannon seaward. The Moros, who were waiting an opportunity for treason--but had not manifested it because it had not rained as they had expected--therefore opened the war; and without any warning, fired three cannon-shots, one after another. One of them pierced the side of the ship, and struck the cast-room, scattering its ashes among the bystanders; the other two shots were high, passing over the ship half-way aft; and one would have killed many men had the aim been a vara* lower. The Moros had begun their treacherous work even before this; for they had seized some of the friendly Indians who had gone there to feast with their friends, had wounded the Indian slave of a soldier, beaten and frightened two or three others, and wounded another soldier with an arrow. When the effrontery of the Moros was seen, and that they could do us some injury with their artillery, it was decided to attack them. Therefore in the twinkling of an eye, the Spaniards attacked and took the palisade, hurling down the bombardiers with linstock in hand, giving them no chance to fulfil their duties. After this first artillery had fallen into their hands, they immediately took the town, and set fire to it, on account of its being large. The Moros abandoned the burning town, for they were unable to resist the attack of the arquebusiers, or rather the will of God, who had ordained it so--a self evident fact, since for every Spaniard there were a hundred Moros. The large ship was firing upon a Moro boat with long-bladed oars, which was far up the river. This vessel was said to have three or four hundred fighting men and rowers on board, with many culverins and large pieces of artillery. The cannonball struck the water, for the vessel was some distance away, surrounded by more than five hundred Moro praus and other large ships full of armed men, bowmen, and lancers. All these ships were scattered by the artillery of the large junk.

The town was rapidly burning. The master-of-camp hurriedly took the artillery from the Moros--thirteen pieces, small and large. He took care to protect the vessels of the Chinese, who had been greatly frightened. He ordered the return of the sails and helms which the Moros had taken away from them; and the Chinese, attaching the helms to

their ships as quickly as they could, proceeded to cast anchor near the junk, so that the firing should do them no harm. The master-of-camp, having captured the enemy's artillery, fired upon them with their own pieces, while they were fleeing, thus inflicting upon them severe losses, both on land and water. About one hundred dead were found on land, having been burned to death, or slain by arquebus bullets; more than eighty persons were taken captive; and many others were killed in the praus, as they fled up the river. The rain expected by the Moros came when the town was quite destroyed by fire. The loss in the town was considerable, for it was large, and carried on an extensive trade. In the town lived forty married Chinese and twenty Japanese. Of these some came to see the master-of-camp on board the ship, before the breaking out of hostilities, among whom was a Japanese with a Theatin cap, from which we thought him to be a Christian. When we asked him if he was one, he answered in the affirmative, saying that his name was Pablo [Paul]. He adored an image, and asked for some beads; but people say that he was among the Moro bombardiers.

Among the prisoners were the Chinese wives of some of the Chinese who had married and settled in the town; and although it would have been justifiable to make them slaves, because their husbands had fled with the Moros, the master-of-camp was unwilling to do so, but simply handed them over to the Chinese of the ships. One of the Chinese women wished to come with us, and we have found since that she was insane; now she is with the governor, who will send her back to her own country. Those who saw Soliman's house before it was burned, say that it was very large, and that it contained many valuable things, such as money, copper, iron, porcelain, blankets, wax, cotton, and wooden vats full of brandy; but everything was burned to the ground with the house. Afterward the iron and copper furnished gain to whomsoever wished to take it, for a great quantity of it which this house and others contained, was found on the ground after the fire. When the prisoners captured were asked why the Moros had broken the treaty of peace and friendship, they answered that the young Soliman was to blame, for he always opposed his uncle, the other chief; that he had a malicious disposition; and that it was he who gave the order to fire, and who even fired with his own hand the first shot, which struck the ship. Next to Soliman's house was another which was used as a store-room. It contained much iron and copper, as well as culverins and cannon which had melted. Some small and large cannon had just been begun. There were the clay and wax moulds, the largest of which was for a cannon seventeen feet long, resembling a culverin. The Indians said that the furniture alone lost in Soliman's house was worth more than five thousand ducats.

*Vara - a measure of length, equivalent to a little more or a little less (in different Spanish countries) than thirty-three English inches.

Reference:

Relation of the voyage to Luzon (1570, May 8). In Blair, E.H., & Robertson, J.A. (Eds.). (1903-1909). The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803;Volume III, 1569-1576. Cleveland: Clark.

Re: Importance of Philippine History Subject

2010-03-13T10:30:00.002+08:00

While surfing the Net I chanced upon a 2008 blog of history teacher Maribeth Q. Galindo that resonated in me, so much so that I had to respond. She said in her opening paragraph:

Often times, my students in Philippine history ask…”Ma’am, is the teaching of Philippine history subject still relevant in our course? Past is past, we could not change it. We could not give back the lives lost nor use the names of our hero’s, such as Jose Rizal, Emilio Aguinaldo, Andres Bonifacio and others as references when we apply for a job. If we do use their names, definitely, we will not be hired. We will not even ask what is Philippine history during the interviews. So, what is the use of studying Philippine history?

I've heard that before. And students do not even have to ask that question, you can see it in their faces...utter boredom. Unfortunately I'm dissatisfied with Ms. Galindo's answer to the above question. Her answer appeared to me the formulaic motherhood statement of nationalism, a lot of flag waving and singing the national anthem. That may resonate with self-sacrificing teachers and patriots but not with the children of the working class, whose primary objective is survival and crawling out of poverty.

IMHO it would have been better to directly confront the students question rather than unfurling the flag. Perhaps, the student can be asked, "Why do you need to look for a job?", "What are the chances of you finding a job after graduation?", and "If you were born in another country, say Japan what are the chances of you finding a job after graduation?". I bet you can link nationality with job hunting. And nationality would be the doorway for history, since it is created in history.

Furthermore why not ask, "Why do you want to apply for a job, rather than employ people?". And you can guide the conversation towards the history of the economy and how we ended up this way today, a labor exporting country.

In relation, it is not only Filipino students who find their own history boring. James Loewen in his book Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong (1995), he said:

High school students hate history. When they list their favorite subjects, history invariably comes in last. Students consider history "the most irrelevant" of twenty-one subjects commonly taught in high school. Bor-r-ring is the adjective they apply to it. When students can, they avoid it, even though most students get higher grades in history than in math, science, or English. Even when they are forced to take classes in history, they repress what they learn, so every year or two another study decries what our seventeen-year-olds don't know.

Among the reasons he cited is that textbooks on American history are boring (Loewen, 1995, p.2). I would say the same for Phillipine history textbooks in college. It appears that history writers have lost the art of the narrative. The textbooks had taken events and presented it as evidence for some social scientific fact. There is no story, it's just one damned thing after another. Like watching a pageant than looking at a story. A character, a movement, even entire nations would appear and then ... well there is no then or afterwards because you never know what happened next. They just appear and disappear from the pages. Take for instance the balangay boat, it's in every history book, but no one dared to say why it disappeared in history.

Another problem with Philippine history textbooks we have today is that they trying hard to show there were Filipinos since time immemorial in the Philippines. The truth is that of the less than five hundred years of history in the Philippines, the Filipino appeared only in the last 100 years under the Americans. The story was actually the coming together of different nations into a nation-state we call the Philippines. And not all of the nations or tribes/ethnic groups were under the Spaniards for 300+ years. The Boholanos minus 80, the Magindanaons and Ifugaos would claim never. Even Tagalogs would find it hard to know their ancestors because historians try to erase them from history in order to compromise with the other tribes. I don't think anyone would dare tell students that Bonifacio was trying to build Haring Bayang Katagalugan (Sovereign Tagalog Nation) instead of the Republic of the Philippines or Republica Filipina. They would always try to gloss over that fact with Emilio Jacinto's footnote in the Sa May Nasang Makisanib sa Katipunan Ito. What is the weight of a footnote compared to the entire document? It means what it says, they see everyone as Tagalogs because their perspective is local, they were not trying to create a new super-tribe. The context is that this was a movement of people who had never been outside their own barrio, what could we expect from them? Pedagogically speaking why not let the students argue over it rather than kill the debate with the footnote?

Each nation/tribe/ethnic group has it's own angle in the story. We should let everyone tell their version of Philippine History, and how we are coming together into a nation-state (or breaking up :-(). Perhaps it will be less boring ;-).

Reference:

Loewen, J. W. (1995). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Galindo, M.Q. (2008). The importance of Philippine history subject. Blog post available at http://societyworld.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/the-importance-of-philippine-history-subject/.

James Burke's Connections

2009-08-26T11:52:00.003+08:00

James Burke is my favorite historian of the information age. His approach in writing history as connections of what appear to be disparate events appeal to me. Someone uploaded episode 1, about of the video wherein Burke discusses the concept of the "trigger effect".

Although he did not use the term, what he used as an example in this video appear to me an example of network cascade.

There is a book entitled Connections as well.

How do students visualize their Filipino ancestors?

2009-03-18T19:07:00.002+08:00

That's one of the questions I usually ask my students in Philippine History. Here is a video I made of their visualizations before we discuss our prehispanic past.

CIV1: How to make a chinese repeating crossbow.

2008-11-18T15:49:00.000+08:00

Check out this video of how to create an automatic loading crossbow from ancient China: