rph

• Seeking more territories and subjects during the fifteenth century "Age of Discovery", primary Western powers sailed through oceans to tierras incognitas (uncharted lands)
• Through the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the Spanish thalassocracy circled farther west to arrive in the Philippines in 1521 and colonize it in 1565
• Upon contact and establishment of colonial rule, differences between Spanish and Philippine races, cultures, and "ways of doing things" amplified
• Filipino responses to Spanish colonization

  • Indios, inhabitants who were Christianized
  • Moros, those who were Islamized in the late fourteenth century
  • Lumads, those neither of the two and were mostly able to retain their traditions as they choose to move away from Spanish reducciones
• The Spanish drastically changed the political, economic, and socio-cultural landscape of the archipelago
• Juan de Plasencia's Customs of the Tagalog

  Account of Juan de Plasencia due to his missionary works in the Philippines, written about the culture and society of the people in Luzon
• The account was not thorough since the customs were new to the Spaniards, leading to misconceptions and prejudice against our ancestors
• "Customs of the Tagalogs" is written through the eyes and hands of a Spaniard, who did not fully comprehend the socio-political status of the Luzon
• The author's work gave descriptions of our ancestors at that time, mostly through our culture, which they think are exotic, mostly for the advantage of the Spaniards to exploit our ancestors
• Datos

  Chief leading the barangays
• Social classes of the barangays

  • Nobles
  • Commoners
  • Slaves
• Maharlika


  Highest of the social classes, free-born, did not pay tax, and a warrior of the barangay
• The text emphasized the superiority and control of the Dato wherein, when the dato went upon the water whose whom he summoned, rowed for him and if he built a house, they helped him, and had to be fed for it
• For Juan de Plasencia, there were customs among barangays that when a Maharlika gets married to a slave the first, second, third, and fifth children belonged to the class of their father. While the fourth and sixth children would be like their mothers. However, if there is only one child he will be a half free and half slave
• Types of slaves


  • Aliping Namamahay
  • Aliping Sagigilid
• The datos imposed fines on married people of another barangay that comes or moves to their territory. The amount was dependent on the demand for different datos. Failure to pay will lead to war and conflict between the barangay where one originated and the barangay where he went
• When the chieftains started to affect their decision through the religious fathers, people started to doubt the leadership and went to different barangays where they think they are served well, for they believe that datos are spiritless and faint-hearted
• Slavery was just a means of paying the debt that he has failed to fulfill
• The Philippines at that time was just a nation and there was no formal government present. Also, the only informal government that was present was the barangay which came from the people of the balanghays
• Juan de Plasencia, in his accounts, based the pre-colonial government of the Philippines on customs and practices. Most of the customs were regarding inheritances and marriages
• During that time judicial system was also informal. The author observed that datos and some respected men served as judges of disputes
• It was evident that datos have most of the control in the barangay which makes him the head of the tribe
• Villages or barangays were not related to each other, meaning there was a gap between them and separates one from the other
• Slaves were also present at that because of their debts and not because there was any prejudice. This is because our ancestors were against slavery but it was used for payments of the credits that some can't pay
• Marriages also played a vital role in the society, since the wife and husband were bound to the village where they live. Also, marriage and divorce will dictate the inheritances of their children
• Relationships among maharlika, commoners, and slaves were also evident at that time since the author observed rules with regard to the marriage of a slave and a free man. There were also rules that involve the inheritance and/or the dowry of a deceased man or woman
• Society also gave importance to the fiancée of any man. Dowries were also a tradition back then. The dowry serves as a promise and appreciation to the family of the woman
• Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas


  Classic account of the first decades of Spanish expansion into the Philippines—the only such account written by a Spanish layman until the nineteenth century
• Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas


  • Truthful, straightforward, and fair account of the early colonial period from the perspective of a Spanish colonist
  • Morga was critical of his fellow colonists at times, the missionaries in particular
• Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas is composed of eight chapters: the first is on Magellan's and Legazpi's seminal expeditions, the second to seventh is a chronological report on the government administration under several Governor-Generals, and the final eighth provides a general "account of the Philippines Islands, the natives there, their antiquity, customs, and government, both in the time of their paganism and after their conquest by the Spaniards; and other particulars"
• Morga's main purpose for writing the book is to commemorate the "achievements of our fellow Spaniards in these days, in their discovery, conquest and conversion of the Philippine Islands and the varied adventures they have had at the same time in the great heathen kingdoms surrounding these islands"
• Francisco de Sande's Letter to Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa


  De Figueroa was born to Portuguese parents in North Africa, eventually made his way to the Spanish colony of Mexico, and came to the Philippines as a penniless young adventurer as part of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi's 1565 expedition to plant Spanish colonies in the Philippines
• Francisco de Sande


  Third Spanish governor and captain-general of the Philippines from August 25, 1575 to April 1580, established the Royal City of Nueva Cáceres or now known as Naga City, a native of Cáceres and a relative of Álvaro de Sande, served as attorney, criminal judge, and auditor in Mexico, appointed by King Philip II of Spain as the governor-general of the Philippines in 1575
• Early Spanish texts in the Philippines always recounted the presence of what they called "Moros" in the islands, describing not only the Moro people (sometimes called Mahometan), but also their religion as unfavorable and that these Moros were indigenous inhabitants who adopted the religion of Islam, which flourished and arrived in the Philippines by way of trade in the fourteenth century
• The Spanish had the most challenging time in subduing Mindanao, and the foreigner almost made their mantra the promise to crush these Moros of the south throughout their 333 years in the country
• The Spanish were determined to subdue Jolo and Mindanao for their strategic location for trade as well as natural materials that could be developed to become expensive trade products
• The purpose of Governor-General Sande was to further the Spanish hold into Mindanao for potential revenues to add to Spanish coffers
• In the letter, Sande spells out that the Moros' belief (Islam) is evil, and Christianity alone is good. Thus, the Spaniards had the moral ascendancy to stop the spread of Islam and convert the inhabitants to Christianity
• The Spanish goal was mainly economic: to collect taxes from Jolo, to make them cultivate their lands and produce raw materials, to make them more serious in diving for pearls and selling those to the Spaniards, that they should not trade with neighboring countries but only with the Spaniards
• The Spaniards would later send more expeditions to Mindanao, with the Corcuera expedition in the 1630s being the first of many small advancements made by the Spaniards