MODULE 2

Content and contextual analysis of selected primary sources

In the previous module, you have learned the different sources of history as well
as the various ways how you could know whether it is credible or not. In order to have a
clear understanding of history, one must think like a historian and use skills that can help
in the task.
In the case of Philippine history, most of our sources come from written documents.
However, there are also artworks, cartoons and even speech delivered which equally
gives us a glimpse of that specific point in time. The student must know how to treat these
documents and other sources in order to arrive at a truthful interpretation.
In this module, you shall be examining five (5) primary sources which represents
different periods of our history. With these documents, the students will look into the
content and contextual analysis, identify the historical importance of the text and examine
the author’s main argument and point of view.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOME

By the end of this module, the student will be able to:

1. analyze the context, content and perspective of different kinds of primary sources;
2. determine the contribution of different kinds of primary sources in understanding
Philippine
history; and
3. develop critical and analytical skills with exposure to primary sources.

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Lesson 1
Customs of the Tagalogs
(Two Relations by Juan de Plasencia, O.S.F.)
Juan de Plasencia, Customs of the Tagalogs, (Garcia, (1979). pp. 221-234) [Friar
account]

The first document that we shall examine will give us a glimpse of how our pre-
colonial ancestors lived and their culture. This document was written by a religious just a
few years after the arrival of the Spaniards in the islands.

Guess the word by looking at the four pictures below. Write your answer on the box.

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 Let’s Read!

Let’s study the first document in this module by following these steps which could
help us think like a historian.

Background of the Author

Customs of the Tagalogs was written by Juan de Plasencia, O.S.F. He entered the
Franciscan order in early youth, and came to the Philippine Islands as one of its first
missionaries.

Fray Juan or Juan Portocarrero was born in a well-known family in Plasencia, a

Western region of Spain in the 16 th century. His father was a captain of a Spanish
schooner (sailing ship with two or more masts and with its sails parallel to the length of
the ship). Juan de Plasencia grew up in Spain’s Siglo de Oro and the many reforms during
that time inspired him to join the Franciscan order at a very young age. It was also a time
for a great desire for missionary work by the religious in all parts of the world. He left in
Seville in May 1577 and arrived at the port of Cavite on July 2, 1578.

Upon his arrival in the islands, he would find himself working in the Tagalog region
as we call it. He started around the Laguna de Bay area and eventually reached Tayabas
or present-day Quezon province. He will also preach the and convert souls in the
provinces of Bulacan and Rizal - Tayabas, Calilaya, Lucban, Mahayhay, Nagcarlang,
Lilio, Pila, Santa Cruz, Lumbang, Pangil, Siniloan, Morong, Antipolo, Taytay, and
Meycawayan

He was distinguished, in his labors among the natives, for gathering the converts
into reductions (villages in which they dwelt apart from the heathen, and under the special
care of the missionaries), for establishing numerous primary schools, for his linguistic
abilities—being one of the first to form a grammar and vocabulary of the Tagal language—
and for the ethnological researches embodied in the memoir which is presented in our
text. He died at Lilio, (Liliw)in the province of La Laguna, in 1590.

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Historical Background of the document

The Customs of the Tagalog was written by Fray Juan de Plasencia in Nagcarlán,
October 21, 1589. This was upon the request of Doctor Santiago de Vera, who arrived in
the Philippines in 1584 and became the sixth (6 th) governor general and the first to preside
over the new Audiencia in Manila. According to an account of D. Trinidad Pardo de
Tavera, Vera encountered a situation where "the state of things in which he found the
country, the injustices which were committed on every side, the violent means to which
the oppressed found themselves obliged to resort for self-defense, impressed him deeply
- above all - when in 1585 rebellion was declared by the Pampango and Tagal Indians.
That prudent magistrate comprehended that the first thing which he must do in
order to rule with justice was to understand the usages and customs of the country which
he was commissioned to rule; and it was then that, knowing the remarkable abilities of
the virtuos Fray Juan de Plasencia, Dr. Vera wrote to him, asking that he would inform
him in regard to the social and political organization of the Tagalogs."

Content presentation and analysis of the important historical information of the

document

Plasencia work gives a comprehensive and clear description of the Tagalog

society that he was very familiar with because of his missionary works in the area. He
narrates the way of life of the natives, their social classes, marriage customs, religious
beliefs as well as burial practice and concept of afterlife.
Barangay consists of 30 to 100 houses It is ascertained that this barangay in its
origin was a family of parents and children, relations and slaves inside the boat they used
to come to this land. These barangays are independent from each other, except in
friendship and relationship. They are led by the chief called the dato.
The Dato is expected to govern them and lead [were captains] in their wars. In
return, he receives the following privileges:
 If he built a house, they helped him, and had to be fed for it. The same was true
when the whole barangay went to clear up his lands for tillage.
 The chiefs in some villages had also fisheries, with established limits, and sections
of the rivers for markets. At these no one could fish, or trade in the markets, without
paying for the privilege, unless he belonged to the chief's barangay or village.

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  they obeyed and reverenced [him]. The subject who committed any offense
against them, or spoke but a word to their wives and children, was severely
punished. when the dato went upon the water those whom he summoned rowed
for him.

Land Use
Inhabited lands were divided among the whole barangay, especially the irrigated
portion, and thus each one knew his own. The lands on the tingues, or mountain-ridges,
are not divided, but owned in common by the barangay.

Social Classes
Aside from the Dato, there are three more classes which include the nobles,
commoners and slaves.
The nobles whom they call maharlica were the free-born who did not pay tax or
tribute to the dato, but must accompany him in war, at their own expense and share the
spoils
The commoners are called aliping namamahay. They live in their own houses, and
are lords of their property and gold. The children, then, enjoy the rank of their fathers, and
they cannot be made slaves (sa guiguilir) nor can either parents or children be sold.
The slaves are called aliping sa guiguilir. They serve their master in his house and
on his cultivated lands, and may be sold. The master grants them, should he see fit, and
providing that he has profited through their industry, a portion of their harvests, so that
they may work faithfully.

Intermarriage affects status of children

If these maharlicas had children among their slaves, the children and their mothers
became free; If a free woman had children by a slave, they were all free, provided he
were not her husband;
If two persons married, of whom one was a maharlica and the other a slave,
whether namamahay or sa guiguilir, the children were divided and their status starts with
that of the father
 the first, third fifth and so on whether male or female, belonged to the father
 the second, the fourth, and the sixth fell to the mother, and so on.
 If there should only be one child, he was half free and half slave.
 If there were an odd number of children, the odd one was half free and half slave.

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Justice System
The dato serves as the judge in the barangay. Investigations made and sentences
passed by the dato must take place in the presence of those of his barangay. If any of
the litigants felt himself aggrieved, an arbiter was unanimously named from another
village or barangay, whether he were a dato or not; If the controversy lay between two
chiefs, when they wished to avoid war, they also convoked judges to act as arbiters. They
had laws by which they condemned to death a man of low birth who insulted the daughter
or wife of a chief; likewise witches, and others of the same class. They condemned no
one to slavery, unless he merited the death-penalty. As for the witches, they killed them,
and their children and accomplices became slaves of the chief, after he had made some
recompense to the injured person. All other offenses were punished by fines in gold,
which, if not paid with promptness, exposed the culprit to serve, until the payment should
be made, the person aggrieved, to whom the money was to be paid.

Marriage Customs and Inheritance

As for inheritances, the legitimate children of a father and mother inherited equally,
except in the case where the father and mother showed a slight partiality by such gifts as
two or three gold taels, or perhaps a jewel.
Dowries are given by the men to the women's parents.
In the case of a divorce before the birth of children, if the wife left the husband for
the purpose of marrying another, all her dowry and an equal additional amount fell to the
husband; but if she left him, and did not marry another, the dowry was returned. When
the husband left his wife, he lost the half of the dowry, and the other half was returned to
him. If he possessed children at the time of his divorce, the whole dowry and the fine went
to the children, and was held for them by their grandparents or other responsible relatives.

Religious Belief
They have a temple or place of adoration called simbahan but they also celebrate
a festival, which they called pandot, or “worship,” in the large house of a chief.
Badhala – whose title seems to signify “all powerful,” or “maker of all things is
especially worshiped among the gods. With Badhala [Bathala] are another idols They had
another idol called Dian masalanta, who was the patron of lovers and of generation. The
idols called Lacapati and Idianale were the patrons of the cultivated lands and of
husbandry. They paid reverence to water-lizards called by them buaya, or crocodiles,
from fear of being harmed by them. They were even in the habit of offering these animals
a portion of what they carried in their boats, by throwing it into the water, or placing it upon
the bank. They also worshiped the sun, the moon, especially when it was new, the stars,

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although they did not know them by their names, with the one exception of the morning
star, which they called Tala.
They fashion images with different shapes which they lic-ha.
The Catolonan - the officiating priest, male or female of a sacrifice. The objects of
sacrifice were goats, fowls, and swine, which were flayed, decapitated, and laid before
the idol. heads [of the animals], after being “offered,” as they expressed it, were cooked
and eaten also. The reasons for offering this sacrifice and adoration were: personal
matters, the recovery of a sick person, the prosperous voyage of those embarking on the
sea, a good harvest in the sowed lands, a propitious result in wars, a successful delivery
in childbirth, and a happy outcome in married life.

Season
These natives had no established division of years, months, and days; these are
determined by the cultivation of the soil, counted by moons, and the different effect
produced upon the trees when yielding flowers, fruits, and leaves: all this helps them in
making up the year. The winter and summer are distinguished as sun-time and water-
time

Classified as “devils” or witches by Plasencia

 Catolonan - was either a man or a woman. This office was an honorable one
among the natives, and was held ordinarily by people of rank, this rule being
general in all the islands.
 Mangagauay - or witches, who deceived by pretending to heal the sick; induced
maladies by their charms, which in proportion to the strength and efficacy of the
witchcraft, are capable of causing death. In this way, if they wished to kill at once
they did so; or they could prolong life for a year by binding to the waist a live
serpent, which was believed to be the devil, or at least his substance. This office
was general throughout the land.
 Manyisalat - the same as magagauay. These priests had the power of applying
such remedies to lovers that they would abandon and despise their own wives,
and in fact could prevent them from having intercourse with the latter. If the woman,
constrained by these means, were abandoned, it would bring sickness upon her;
and on account of the desertion she would discharge blood and matter. This office
was also general throughout the land.
 Mancocolam - duty was to emit fire from himself at night, once or oftener each
month. This fire could not be extinguished; nor could it be thus emitted except as
the priest wallowed in the ordure and filth which falls from the houses; and he who

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 lived in the house where the priest was wallowing in order to emit this fire from
himself, fell ill and died. This office was general.
 Hocloban, greater efficacy than the mangagauay. Without the use of medicine, and
by simply saluting or raising the hand, they killed whom they chose. But if they
desired to heal those whom they had made ill by their charms, they did so by using
other charms. Moreover, if they wished to destroy the house of some Indian hostile
to them, they were able to do so without instruments. This was in Catanduanes,
an island off the upper part of Luzon.
 Silagan, if they saw anyone clothed in white, to tear out his liver and eat it, thus
causing his death.
 Magtatangal, and his purpose was to show himself at night to many persons,
without his head or entrails. In such wise the devil walked about and carried, or
pretended to carry, his head to different places; and, in the morning, returned it to
his body—remaining, as before, alive.
 Osuang, which is equivalent to “sorcerer;” they say that they have seen him fly,
and that he murdered men and ate their flesh. This was among the Visayas
Islands; among the Tagalos these did not exist.
 Mangagayoma made charms for lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood, which
would infuse the heart with love.
 Sonat, which is equivalent to “preacher.” It was his office to help one to die, at
which time he predicted the salvation or condemnation of the soul.
 Pangatahojan, was a soothsayer, and predicted the future.
 Bayoguin, signified a “cotquean,” a man whose nature inclined toward that of a
woman.

Burial Practices

The deceased was buried beside his house; and, if he were a chief, he was placed
beneath a little house or porch which they constructed for this purpose. Before interring
him, they mourned him for four days; and afterward laid him on a boat which served as a
coffin or bier, placing him beneath the porch, where guard was kept over him by a slave.
In place of rowers, various animals were placed within the boat, each one being assigned
a place at the oar by twos—male and female of each species being together—as for
example two goats, two deer, or two fowls. It was the slave's care to see that they were
fed.
If the deceased had been a warrior, a living slave was tied beneath his body until
in this wretched way he died. In course of time, all suffered decay; and for many days the
relatives of the dead man bewailed him, singing dirges, and praises of his good qualities,
until finally they wearied of it. This grief was also accompanied by eating and drinking.
This was a custom of the Tagalos.

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 The Aetas, or Negrillos [Negritos] inhabitants of this island, had also a form of
burial, but different. They dug a deep, perpendicular hole, and placed the deceased within
it, leaving him upright with head or crown unburied, on top of which they put half a cocoa-
nut which was to serve him as a shield. Then they went in pursuit of some Indian, whom
they killed in retribution for the Negrillo who had died. To this end they conspired together,
hanging a certain token on their necks until some one of them procured the death of the
innocent one.
Afterlife

They know that there is another life of rest which they call Maca and those who
could come here are those who were just, and the valiant, and who lived without doing
harm, or who possessed other moral virtues.
Casanaan, which was “a place of anguish;” They said also that in the other life and
mortality, there was a place of punishment, grief, and affliction
Heaven is only for Bathala, the maker of all things, who governed form above
There were also ghosts, which they called vibit; and phantoms, which they called
Tigbalaang. They had another deception—namely, that if any woman died in childbirth,
she and the child suffered punishment; and that, at night, she could be heard lamenting.
This was called patianac.

Contribution and relevance of the document in understanding the grand narrative

of Philippine history

Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalog is one of a few documents that give us a

glimpse of how the early Filipinos lived in the sixteenth century. This was written in 1589,
only eighteen years after the arrival of the Spaniards in Manila.
With this narrative, one could surmise the following:
1. The early Philippine society is patriarchal.
2. Women have more freedom compared to the present like having children out of
wedlock.
3. While they have different social classes, it is not strict like the caste system of
India.
4. Children are loved and well taken cared of as seen in the inheritance system.

The document also shows us how effective Catholicism is in the early years of the
Spanish colonization. After describing in detail the different “devils” or “witches” as he

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calls the catalonans, he concluded… “May the honor and glory be God our Lord's, that
among all the Tagalos not a trace of this is left; and that those who are now marrying do
not even know what it is, thanks to the preaching of the holy gospel, which has banished
it.”
Learning experience
While reading the document, I leaned that our ancestors have a semblance of
civilization and a life of their own even without the Spaniards. The influence of the
colonizers has caused the natives to abandon their own culture and adopt the new ones.

What I can Do

Activity 1
Let’s see if things have changed or stayed the same with the way we do things
then and now. Fill the matrix below by describing the given words in the 16 th and the 21st
century. Send your answer in the LMS.

16th century Philippines 21st century Philippines

Barangay

Selection of Leader

Marriage customs
 dowry

Credit / Loan
settlement

Catalonan

Burial practices

Social Classes

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 Let’s try
this!

Let’s see if you remember something from the lesson. Read the sentences and write your
answer on the blank.
____________________1. Is consist of 30 to 100 families and ruled by a dato
____________________2. They have no houses of their own but live with their master
and can be bought or sold
____________________3. This is given to the parents of the girl before marriage.
____________________4. The highest among the gods of the Tagalogs
____________________5. he wrote the document describing the pre-colonial Tagalog
society

Assessment

Answer the online quiz that will be sent in the LMS.

Resources

Customs of the Tagalog. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/13701/13701-h/13701-

h.htm#d0e1500 The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7,
1Title: The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, V7, 1588-1591 Author: Emma Helen Blair
Release Date: October 11, 2004 [EBook #13701] Language: English Character set
encoding: ISO-8859-1588-1591, by Emma Helen Blair
Pardo de Tavera, "Las costumbres de los tagalos de Filipinas seg_n el P.
Plasencia," Revista contempor_nea, ano XVIII, num. 397, 15 de junio de 1892, pags.
450-451. Quoted by Perez-Plasencia, p. 55. in Fr. Jose "Long" D. Gutay, OFM. Life And
Works Of Fray Juan De Plasencia http://ofmphilarchives.tripod.com/id8.html
Babaylan, ang manggagamot. Detail of Mural “History of Philippine Medicine” by Carlos
“Botong” Francisco. Image credit: XiaoChua in
nethttps://filipinawomensnetwork.org/epahayagan/did-you-know-pre-colonial-
philippines-longstanding-tradition-of-women-leadership-and-mysticis

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