Module 3

• Before the Spanish colonization, "the Philippines" did not exist
• The archipelago was comprised of hundreds of territories occupied by different tribal groups who fought and traded with one another
• The present-day Filipinos is very different from their predecessors
• Some traits (e.g. body tattooing) are now less familiar
• Some social features such as strong family ties and reliance on sea remain up to this day
• Visayans


  The most tattooed people among the ancient Filipinos, compelling the early Spanish writers to call them the Pintados
• There's a longstanding belief that the Philippines was once isolated from the rest of Southeast Asia and largely unaffected by foreign influences
• Evidence of its economic, linguistic, and political connections within maritime Asia suggests that the archipelago was not isolated
• Austronesian family of languages


  Stems from people from today's southern China (Taiwan) who became the ancestors of most Southeast Asians
• Many vocabulary words in Philippine languages show similarities to languages spoken in Taiwan and other Austronesian regions, suggesting historical contact and potential borrowing
• Cognatic kinship


  Families trace descent through both the male and female lines
• Animistic


  Seeing and worshipping divinity in the surrounding environment, which had the power to give life or bring harm
• The archipelago is composed of tribes, groups, and communities, each with its own economic and political system
• Barangay


  Early settlements, originally meaning "boat", ranging from 30-100 households, commonly found near rivers and along the coasts, led by a datu
• Basic economic activities


  • River-based settlements obtaining food source from the waters
  • Upriver settlements growing rice and having access to forests
  • Simple mining of metal like gold, silver, and gem stones
  • Women engaged in weaving
• Baylan (Visaya) or Catalonan (Tagalog)


  The spirit ritualist, typically an elderly woman of high status or a male transvestite, who cultivated contacts among the friendlier spirits and interceded for the community, family, or individual who sought her services
• Social stratification


  • Datu/Maginoo
  • Timawa/Maharlika- warror-supporters
  • Tao- common people
  • Alipin- Slaves
• Datu


  From a hereditary class, married endogamously, possessed military, judicial, religious, and entrepreneurial roles, the wealthiest, used to attract and support more followers, distinguished by the way they lived, looked, and dressed
• Tao


  Mass of society, common people, farmers, fishers, and artisans, who owed tribute to the datu and service in general to the upper classes
• Maharlika and Timawa


  Warrior-supporters, the people who formed the datu's entourage, served him as aides and bodyguards, fought with him as warriors and oarsmen, and surrounded him at feasts
• Alipin


  Slaves, who could move into and out of servitude through birth, captivity in wars, indebtedness, purchase, or punishment for crimes
• The barangay has a system of laws, which were either written or those that formed part of the barangay's tradition, passed on from one generation to the next through oral means
• The datu, in consultation of the elders, make up the laws, and the umalohokan (village herald) is called to announce the new law to the people
• Early Filipinos have their own unique system of justice, where the datu serves as the judge, the elders assist him, the trial is open to all members of the barangay, and the accused have the chance to face their accuser
• More than 100 languages and dialects exist, and the baybayin is the ancient writing system
• Islam arrived in the Philippines in the late 14th century with Arab and Malay merchants following Southeast Asian trade networks
• Sultanate


  A political system which covers up to 20,000 people and a more extensive territory, where the sultan and their clan make up the ruling class, and the sultan may rule over some datus, administer the communal land, and regard their rule as a "divine right"
• There is an active internal and external trade in the islands, with commerce being vibrant between barangays and islands
• Our ancestors developed a relatively high level of civilization, with self-reliant economy, defined political structure and laws, and widespread socio-cultural system, before being called "Filipino" by Spanish colonizers