GEN 004 - SAS # 3

• 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 take note always 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. The term did not actually refer to a specific place, just like barangays nowadays. It is referred 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.
• 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. His primary duties were to protect the barangay and promote its welfare and interest. He had executive, legislative, and judicial powers. In short, his role was to govern the barangay.
• A datu has 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. In return for a datu's services, a datu received respect, labor, and tributes from his people.
• Despite his 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. He can also be replaced by a better and stronger datu who can protect better the barangay.
• 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.
• Barangays were composed of three groups of people: the nobles, the freemen, and the dependents.
• The nobles consisted of the datu and his relatives who belong to the noble lineage.
• In Visayas, this group was called also as datu while in Tagalog communities, they were collectively called as maginoo.
• 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 though birth control and kept their daughters and sons secluded.

  Nobles/Datu/Maginoo
• 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 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.
• The dependents were generally composed of people who were not able to pay their debts, cannot pay their legal fines, 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.
• 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 of rivers and lakes, the main means of transportation were boats. There has been no evidence of wheeled vehicles or the usage of domesticated animal to draw heavy loads.
• Road systems only started to exist during the Spanish period. Even though the geography was archipelagic, it was actually the rivers and seas that connected the barangays to each other. It was through water that people transported trades, communicated, and expanded their population.
• In fact, it was also the seas that connected the communities of the archipelago with other civilizations abroad. There was rich maritime trading between the barangays and other major communities located within Southeast Asia.
• The Chinese and Japanese were 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.
• The first ones were permanent wooden structures that can be considered as sort of town houses. These houses were occupied by datus.
• The second ones were cottages made of light materials occupied by ordinary people.
• Lastly, there were tree houses that were only used during wars. All of these houses were elevated off the ground on the posts and had steep roofs.
• 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.
• Aside from customary laws, there were also written laws that 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 would 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 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.
• For women, the upper part is called baro or camisa. 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.
• 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 a man have it, 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 Visayan communities.
• Even before the arrival of the Christianity, pre-colonial people also had their system of religion. They believed in polytheism, which means that they had more than one god to worship to.