GEN 004 – READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY

LESSON NO. 3: THE PRE-COLONIAL WAY OF LIVING: ITS STRUCTURE AND WAY OF LIVING
 Before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1521 and their subsequent invasion in 1565, the people
living in the archipelago had already established their own civilization. 
 During this time, we should always take note that there was no “Philippines'' yet. There was no
label to the entire archipelago before the Spaniards arrived. 
 In fact, the archipelago was composed of several forms of communities that had differing
social and political practices. For those communities located in lowland areas near riverbanks
and seashores, the dominant form of community was called barangay. That term did not
actually refer to a specific place, just like barangays nowadays.
 Barangay refers to the people themselves living together in a community. 
 While barangay was widely used in Tagalog pre-colonial communities, haop or dolohan were
its equivalent terms in Visayan communities. 
 The word barangay came from the word balangay, which referred to the boat that transported
the inhabitants to their settlements.
 A single barangay was usually composed of thirty to a hundred households whose
inhabitants were closely related by blood. 
 A barangay was headed by the datu or chieftain. 
o His primary duties were to protect the barangay and promote its welfare and interest. 
o A datu had executive, legislative and judicial powers. In short, his role was to govern the
barangay. 
o He had a staff to assist him in his duties, composed of various ministers assigned to
different tasks such as collection of tributes, maintenance of jails, and communication
with the barangay residents. 
o In return for a datu’s services, a datu received respect, labor and tributes from his
people. 
o Despite these wide powers, the datu did not act as if he was an absolute ruler. They
were not considered as “kings” from a European perspective. His powers were checked
by the customs and laws of the barangay. 
o He can also be replaced by a better and stronger datu who can protect better the
barangay.
 Each barangay was independent, which means that there was no central government within
the archipelago.
 Despite this independence, some barangays formed a network of alliances with nearby
barangays or sometimes with bigger political entities outside of the archipelago such as
chiefdoms located in Borneo.
 In some areas within the archipelago, multiple nearby barangays live together to form a larger
community. For these larger communities, datus leading each barangay formed a sort of
counsel to unify their decisions for the community. In cases of these networks or alliances, the
datus were usually led by a more economically powerful datu, commonly called as
pangulo, kaponoan, rajah and lakan, who controlled trading ports in the archipelago.
 Subordinate datus pay their respects and tributes to the more powerful datu in order to gain
personal favors and most importantly, access to trade. Despite this arrangement, each
barangay remained politically independent since the more powerful datu only had authority
over the datus supporting him on the basis of personal patronage and not on their respective
communities.
 Barangays were composed of three groups of people: the nobles, the freemen and the
dependents.  
o The nobles consisted of the datu and his relatives, who belong to the noble lineage. 
 In Visayas this group was also called datu.
 While in Tagalog communities, they were collectively called as maginoo.
GEN 004 – READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
LESSON NO. 3: THE PRE-COLONIAL WAY OF LIVING: ITS STRUCTURE AND WAY OF LIVING
 This group was considered as the ruling class of the barangay who wielded vast
influence. 
 Due to their high position in society, they guarded their lineage by making sure
that they only marry only those who belong to their rank. 
 They also limited the number of heirs through birth control and kept their
daughters and sons secluded.
o The freemen were composed of offspring of inherently free people, descendants of
mixed marriage of nobles and commoners, and dependents who earned their freedom.
 They were personal power followers of the datu whose role was to help him in
activities that involve the welfare of the barangay.
 These activities included agricultural labor, building of houses, and fighting wars. 
 They were either called timawa or maharlika.
o The dependents were generally composed of people who were not able to pay their
debts, cannot pay their legal fines, were captured in battle, or born to dependent
parents.
 In Visayan communities, they were referred to as oripun.
 For Tagalog communities, they were called alipin and had two primary types,
namamahay and sagigilid. 
 There were instances that a dependent could be sold to other owners, especially
in the case of the bihag or those who were captured during battles.
 Most of the time, dependents were those who cannot pay their debts or fines
that they can only give their labor or service to the creditor as payment.
 They served the members of the barangay, specifically their creditors, as a sort
of payment for their freedom. While they were often referred to as slaves, it is a
misconception to equate the dependents as slaves from a Western point of
view
 The status of being dependent in a barangay was not permanent and could end
once the service rendered to the creditor was already equivalent to the debt
owed. 
 In other words, the social stratification during pre-colonial period was not strict. It
means that members of a group could move from one group to another given a
certain circumstance. 
 Since barangays were located on seacoasts or banks or rivers and lakes, the main means of
transportation were boats. 
o There has been no evidence of wheeled vehicles or the usage of domesticated animals
to draw heavy loads. 
o Road systems only started to exist during the Spanish period.
o Even though the geography was archipelagic, it was actually the rivers and seas that
connected the barangays to each other. 
o It was through water that people transported trades, communicated, and expanded their
population. 
o In fact, it was also the seas that connected the communities of the archipelago with
other civilizations abroad.
o There was rich maritime trading between the barangays and other major communities
located within Southeast Asia. The Chinese and Japanese are also leading trading
partners of the barangays even before the arrival of the Spaniards. This reflected the
rich maritime culture that our ancestors had in common with other Austronesian-
speaking people in Southeast Asia and Pacific islands.
 In the communities, there were three types of houses. 
GEN 004 – READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
LESSON NO. 3: THE PRE-COLONIAL WAY OF LIVING: ITS STRUCTURE AND WAY OF LIVING
o The first ones were permanent wooden structures that can be considered as sort of
town houses. 
 These houses were occupied by datus. 
o The second ones were cottages made of light materials occupied by ordinary
people. 
o Lastly, there were tree houses that were only used during wars.
o All of these houses were elevated off the ground on the posts and had steep roofs. 
 The people in the barangay did not act according to what they wanted. 
o They were not “uncivilized” people who did not follow rules. 
o As a matter of fact, they had their own laws. Laws were either customary or written.
 Customary laws composed the majority of laws in a barangay. 
 These laws were passed down orally from generation to another. 
 One notable customary law observed during pre-colonial times was the
unique position given to women in the barangay. 
 Before the arrival of the Spaniards, women were considered by the
barangay as equal of men since they could own and inherit property and
take an active role in trading and other industries.
 Women could even succeed as the datu in instances wherein there was
an absence of male heir.
 Written laws were written by the datu and his advisers when there was a
necessity for it.
 In times that there were criminal or civil cases, the datu would act as the
judge or hukom.
 He could consult with the experts of customary laws and listen to the sides
of the parties involved as well as the witnesses before giving his verdict.
 If the datu could not arrive into a definitive decision, he would sometimes
order the parties involved to undergo a trial by ordeal to determine who
was guilty or not.
 For example, he might order the individuals involved to retrieve an
object from a pot of boiling water and the one with least injury
would be deemed innocent.
 Theft, defamation, murder witchcraft, attacking the authority of the datu
and vandalism were some of the recognized crimes.
 Pre-colonial people also had a sense of fashion which varied according to social standing,
current fashion trends and occasion.
o For males, the basic attire was composed of upper and lower parts. 
 The upper part is called kanggan, which was a collarless jacket with short
sleeves. 
 The lower part is called bahag, a strip of cloth wrapped in the waist, passing
down between thighs,
 The color of the attire had meaning.
 The datu wore red kanggan, while those below him wore blue or black. 
 Men also wore headgears called putong, which was a cloth wrapped around the
head. 
 A red putong entailed “manliness” or bravery.
 In Visayas, the common male attire was only the bahag since walking bare-
chested to expose the tattoos was a symbol of masculinity.
o For women
 Upper part is called baro or camisa. 
GEN 004 – READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
LESSON NO. 3: THE PRE-COLONIAL WAY OF LIVING: ITS STRUCTURE AND WAY OF LIVING
 It was a jacket with sleeves. 
 The lower part was called saya, which was a loose skirt.
 A tapis, a long cloth, was usually wrapped around the waist.
o There were no slippers or shoes during the pre-colonial period.
 They all walked barefooted.
o Since gold was abundant before, both men and women filled their bodies with golden
ornaments and jewelries.
o Tattooing was a common practice. For both men and women, it was a symbol of beauty 
 For men, it served as a proof of bravery and skill in battle. The more tattoos a
man had, the more men he killed in battle. 
 Tattoos were only seen on the residents from Visayas, which was why Spaniards
called Visayans as pintados. This was the only major difference in terms of attire
between Tagalog and Bisayan communities. 
 Even before the arrival of the Christianity, pre-colonial people also had their system of religion. 
o They believe in polytheism, which means that they had more than one God to worship
to.
 For the Tagalogs, they consider Bathala as the creator of the Earth and all living
beings. 
 He was the superior deity compared to other gods.
 The population adored animals, plants, and all objects of nature as something to
be respected. 
 Babaylans were considered as religious or spiritual leaders. 
 It was a highly crucial role in the barangay as they served as the channel
to which the people could communicate with spirits and gods. 
 They were of either sex but were usually women from wealthy
families. Male transvestites could also be a babaylan.
 Transvestites are usually people who wear attire designed for the
opposite sex or simply called as crossdressers. 
 The giving of the role of babaylan to male transvestites indicate the
level of respect and inclusivity to homosexuality during pre-colonial
era.
CALL TO ACTION
 One of the key features of Philippine Pre-Colonial society is its attempt to foster gender
equality and empowerment 
 During pre-colonial period, women were highly revered and respected. They had a significant
role in shaping society. 
o Moreover, they exemplified notions of being strong and independent women.
o One of the best examples to show the status of women was the role of babaylan in the
barangay.
o The babaylan mainly served as the spiritual leader who perform rituals for the
barangay. 
o The babaylan was not only a religious leader, but also an expert in terms of culture,
science, history, law and medicine. In other words, the babaylans were considered as
the intellectuals, doctors, teachers and astrologists of the pre-colonial society. 
o This position was commonly given to women, but it was also available for male
homosexuals.
o Even if the datu served as the leader of the barangay, the babaylans were not
subservient to him. In fact, the datu and babaylans work together for the welfare of the
barangay.
GEN 004 – READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
LESSON NO. 3: THE PRE-COLONIAL WAY OF LIVING: ITS STRUCTURE AND WAY OF LIVING
o Unfortunately, the arrival of Spaniards led to the diminishing of women's role in society.
Patriarchal values have been instilled by the Spaniards in our society, resulting to the
loss of women's former position.
o To add, the imposition of Christianity led to the notion of homosexuals as undesirable
individuals.
o Today, the legacy of colonialism is still alive, as seen in the various gender-based
crimes, which are crimes that are directed to an individual on the basis of their genders. 
 Examples of these crimes are rape, sexual harassment, stalking and other forms
of physical violence. 
 Most of the victims were women. Members of the LGBTQ+ community, and
children 
o We are already living in the 21st century. This is a period wherein all forms of gender-
based violence and discrimination should not exist. Take note, the women and LGBTQ+
rights are all human rights.