Social Organization them now, who give them orders and

whom they respect and obey and who

Juan de la Isla (1565, 232) described among them are like our titled lords in
Visayan social structure in 1565 in one Spain; they call them datos in their
simple sentence: “They have three language. From those who remained in
classes: they call the chief'est, datos, the main sala of the house come the
who are like knights, and those like knights and hidalgos among them, in as
citizens, timaguas [timaivas], and the much as these are free and do not pay
slaves, oripes [oripunj.” Visayans anything at all: these they call
themselves considered this three-tiered timaguasin their language. From those
structure so normative they extended it who got behind the walls of the house,
figuratively to the animal kingdom. Little they say, come those considered slaves,
green parrots were kusi nga olipun and whom they call oripes in their language.
green ones with red breasts were kusi Those who went into the kitchen and hid
nga timawa, but those with resplendant in the stove and among the pots they
red and green plumage all over were say are the negroes, claiming that all the
kusi nga datu. It was a structure negroes there are in the hills of
canonized by a well-known Visayan Philippine Islands of the West come
origin myth: all three classes were from them. And from the others who
offsprings of a divine primordial pair, went out of the house, they say, come to
who fled or hid from their father’s wrath. all the other nations there are in the
According to the Boxer version, they world, saying that these were many and
scattered where best they could, many that they went to many and diverse
going out of their father’s house; and places. (Boxer Codex 1590b, 351-52)
others stayed in the main sala, and
others hid in the walls of the house Datu
itself, and others went into the kitchen The head of a Visayan community was a
and hid among the pots and stove. So, datu, what the Spaniards called
the Visayans say, from those who went principal, chief or “a lord of vassals,” and
into the inner rooms of the house come kadatoan were those datus regarded as
the lords and chiefs they have among autonomous. The word meant both a
political office and a social class, both precedence. The celebrated Si Katuna
an incumbent ruler and all members of of Bohol had vassals in Leyte but was
the ruling class of either sex. The right himself junior to Si Gala, and both were
to rule depended on direct descent from ranked by Dailisan of Panglao.
former rulers, so members of the datu
class jealously guarded their lineage: a There was no word for a primary datu or
man who became a datu simply by paramount chief, but those recognized
marrying one was called sabali. They as primus inter pares were known as
married within their rank, either at home pangulo, head or leader; kaponoan,
or abroad, limited their heirs by birth most sovereign (from puno, root or
control, and kept their daughters trunk); or makaporos nga datu, a
secluded as binokot princesses— even unifying chief. Those who controlled
their young sons, according to the epic seaports with foreign trade generally
of Humadapnon. The rulers of Butuan, took Malay-Sanskrit titles like Rajah
Limasawa, Cebu, and Maktan in (Ruler), Batara (Noble Lord), or
Magellan’s day were all related. “Sarripada” (His Highness). Magellan
met three chiefs called “rajah”—Awi of
But datus also took secondary wives Butuan, Kolambu of Limasawa, and
(sandil) who produced a lesser order of Humabon of Cebu—a title Spaniards
nobility called tumao if they were of high always translated as king, though
rank themselves, or timawa if they were Magellan learned too late that they had
slaves or commoners. Potli or lubus nga neither kingdoms nor power over other
datu meant one of pure or unmixed datus. Sarripada, or its variants
ancestry, and kalibutan (“all around”) Salipada, Sipad, and Paduka, came
meant pedigreed on all four sides—that from Sanskrit Sri Paduka, and was used
is, all four grandparents. Brothers who by Humabon and at least three of his
were potential competitors often married contemporaries—Rabungsuwan’s son
into royal families in other islands, or Makaalang of Maguindanao, Dailisan of
hived off locally, so to speak, to found a Panglao, and the sultan of Brunei.
new swarm. Alliances, especially Humabon’s brother was his Bendahara
marriage alliances, recognized rank and (Prime Minister), whose son Tupas was
married to Humabon’s eldest child and others. Philippine chiefdoms were
was his heir; one of his fellow datus was usually located at river mouths where
a Batala, and Humabon himself was they could facilitate the sort of
married to Lapulapu’s niece. We do not highland-lowland exchanges described
know what title Lapulapu claimed, but by Loarca (1582, 120) in Panay:
Maktan’s location put him in a position to
intercept shipping in Cebu harbor. When Those of the mountains cannot live
Magellan tried to force him to without the fish and salt and other things
acknowledge Humabon as overlord, he and jars and plates which come from
replied that “he was unwilling to come other parts, nor can those on the coast
and do reverence to one whom he had live without the rice and cotton which the
been commanding for so long a time” mountaineers have.
(Anon, n.d.a, 21). None of these titles
appear in Spanish lexicons, but old A datu’s authority arose from his
Javanese hadi is listed as king—though lineage, but his power depended upon
no Visayan chief was named with this his wealth, the number of his slaves and
title—and mantili (minister) as “a rich subjects, and his reputation for physical
timawa” or “one who is like a king in a prowess. Some were therefore
town” (Mentrida 1637, 264). autocratic and oppressive: a
courageous, frightening datu was called
These datus were part of what social pamalpagan from palpag, split and
anthropologists call a chiefdom— a flattened bamboo. Others were not,
loose federation of chiefs bound by those whose subjects were followers
loose ties of personal allegiance to a rather than vassals—“very free and
senior among them. The head of such a unrestricted,” as Juan Martinez said. A
chiefdom exercised authority over his ruling datu boasted heirloom wealth
supporting chiefs, but not over their called bahandi—goldwork, imported
subjects or territory, and his primacy porcelain, and bronze gongs— but not
stemmed from his control of local or real estate. Bahandi was required for
foreign trade, and the ability to status display, exchanged in marriages,
redistribute luxury goods desired by the shared among close relatives, held as
collateral for loans, and loaned out itself among the datu's relatives, retainers,
to men who mortgaged themselves into and house slaves, as well as allocated
bondage to obtain the bride of their or them for work gangs or public feasts.
their family’s choice. Bahandi was His sheriff or constable was bilanggo,
originally acquired through raids, the whose own house served as a jail,
sale of local produce, and the control of bilanggowan. These officers were
trade—including honos, anchorage fees; generally tumao, either from the datu’s
bihit, tariffs on both domestic and foreign own clan or the descendants of a
imports; and lopig, discounts on local collateral ancestor, and tumao in
purchases running as high as 75 general were called sandig sa datu,
percent. It was this commerce which supporters of the datu. A kind of town
enabled a datu to win and retain the crier, paratawag, however, was a slave.
loyalty of subordinate datus. When He announced proclamations, mantala,
Tupas lost control of Cebu harbor to either by shouting them out from the top
Legazpi, his brothers quickly undercut of a tall tree, or by delivering them to the
his authority, and within one year, datus persons concerned—for example,
from Leyte to Panay were paying timawa being summoned for a hunt or
Spanish tribute and exchanging rice sea raid. Both tumao “supporters” and
directly for European manufactures and timawa “citizens” served as the datu’s
Latin American silver. military forces, armed at their own
expense.
A datu was expected to govern his
people, settle their disputes, protect In return for these responsibilities and
them from enemies, and lead them in services, a datu received labor and
battle. He was assisted by a tribute from his people. They harvested
considerable staff. His chief minister or his fields, rowed his boats, and built his
privy counselor was atubang sa datu— houses, and joined his hunting parties or
literally, “facing the datu”—and his fishing crews. They gave him a share of
steward or majordomo was paragahin, their crops, either as regular seasonal
dispenser, who collected and recorded tribute or in lieu of personal labor, and a
tribute and crops, and distributed them variety of “gifts”—for example, himuka
from a timawa for permission to marry, trade were captained by datus with the
or bawbaw from any litigant to whom he necessary seafaring skill and
had awarded the decision in a lawsuit. experience. Their ladies wove the
Takay was to divide his palay among his elegant textiles with ornate borders
people to be milled for him, cotton to be which were the distinctive marks of their
spun, or chickens to be raised. class. Butuanon King Awi’s silk kerchief
was no doubt a Chinese import, but his
Sixteenth-century datus seem to have cotton G-string decorated with silk
exercised no control over agricultural thread was probably produced in his
land—that is, swiddens—beyond own household.
settling disputes between rival
claimants; but their prerogatives Timawa
included control, or personal use, of Spanish dictionaries always define
communal resources. Balwang decrees timawa as freemen (libres) or freed-
or interdicts restricted hunting and men (libertos). They were originally the
fishing grounds or limited access to offspring or descendants of a datu’s
public forest, and hikun was a lion’s commoner wives or slave concubines,
share in making any division of property. and they were technically free because
their progenitor had granted it. But
Datus had these advantages which slaves could also be freed (matitimawa),
enabled them to specialize their so Loarca, in describing this social
activities, perfect professional skills, and class, found it necessary to call them
accumulate wealth; but they did not “true” or “recognized” timawa. All
constitute an unproductive leisured persons liberated by their own master
class. They could afford the best hunting were called ginoo, and might be chided,
dogs and were proud of their dexterity in “Dika magpadayaw, kay akun ka ginoo
handling casting nets, and among them [Don’t put on airs, I’m the one who made
were skillful blacksmiths working you ginoo]” (Sanchez 1617, 204).22 In
imported metal. They owned cargo English, “freedmen” has little meaning
vessels and war cruisers, and all today: in modern societies, all citizens
maritime expeditions whether for raid or are free. But when Isla referred to
timawa as “citizens,” he meant a his emissaries to open marriage
privileged class, not ordinary people. In negotiations for his sons, and at the time
sixteenth- century Spain, citizens of his death, acted as bailiffs to enforce
(ciudadanos) were the nonslave his mourning tabus, and three of the
residents of chartered cities (ciudades) most renowned among them would
who enjoyed its special laws and accompany his grieving womenfolk on a
exemptions. They were not peasants, ritual voyage in which they boasted of
peons, serfs, tenants, or farmhands—all their personal conquests and bravery.
of whom would have been called oripun
in the Visayas. Timawa were therefore men of
consequence in the community. But they
Timawa paid tribute called buhis or were not often men of substance: if they
handug and, in theory at least, were free were wealthy enough to behave like a
to transfer their allegiance to some other datu, they were belittled as timindok, a
datu. But those attached to their lord as big banana. They had no right to booty
personal vassals paid no tribute and beyond what their datu gave them, and
rendered no agricultural labor: thus the they were held accountable for
Boxer Codex called them “knights and wounding or killing any captives.
hidalgos.” They won their tattoos beside Though they could lend and borrow
him in battle, rowed and manned his money, enter business partnerships, and
warship, received his favors, and shared acquire slaves of their own, their
in the public accolade for his victories. children inherited only at their datu’s
Their datu was obligated to defend or pleasure.23 As Loarca (1582,158) said
avenge them at the risk of his own when speaking of weddings, “the
person if need be, and to share booty timaguas do not perform these
and captives with them. They attended ceremonies because they have no
his feasts as retainers and familiars, estate.” This right to restrict timawa—or
acting as his wine tasters, and were oripun—inheritance enabled a datu to
sometimes honored by receiving a cup reward and indebt his favorites, and
from his own hand from which he had leave others under threat of the sort of
already taken a sip. They were sent as economic reversal which set downward
social mobility in motion. A 12-peso debt rewarding them, nor a fresh supply of
could plunge a man into the depths of captives for their own use or sale.
domestic slavery, with the high Worse, timawa were now paying tribute
probability of transmitting that status to to the colonial government just like
his offspring because any children born datus. These were conditions which no
during his bondage became the property doubt gave added incentive for reducing
of his master. timaw'a to slave status by usurious
loans or arbitrary fines. Father Sanchez
These warrior roles of both datu and (1617, 334) said, “For anything at all,
timawa were destined to disappear the datus would fine the timawa heavily
under colonial pacification, of course. .. . and if they had no bahandi to give,
Fray Rodrigo de Aganduru Moriz (1623, make them slaves.” By the seventeenth
452) described the changes that had century, timawa were being referred to
taken place by 1623 as follows: as commoners (plebeyos) or tungan
tawo, “people in-between,” and in
The indios of the Bisayas say that Alcina’s day, the pre-Hispanic timawa
before they gave obedience to the King were being fondly recalled as a “third
our I.ord, and became Christians, not rank of nobility.” And even that memory
only did the Mindanaons not make raids was fading. “Today they call everybody
in their territory, but that, on the contrary, timawa who are not slaves,” Alcina
they would go to Mindanao where they (1668a, 4:59) said, a practice which
took many captives, and terrified them; ultimately led to the modern Visayan
and now it is the opposite, because word which means “poor, destitute.”
since they are Christians and it is not
licit for them to make those raids, and Oripun
they are disarmed, they are paying for The word oripun appears to be a
what they did then. transitive form of an archaic root udip (to
live) meaning “to let live”—for example,
These changes meant that datus no to spare life on the field of battle, to
longer had need of their timawas’ ransom a captive, or to redeem a debt
Viking-like services or means of equivalent to a man’s price. The market
for these exchanges was provided by a merchandise like bahandi porcelain and
shortage of labor for exploiting a rich gongs, or ships and houses. Oripun who
natural environment; and debt slavery lived in their master’s house were
was prevalent because agriculture was hayohay or ayuey, and those with their
undeveloped, goods limited, and interest own house and field were luhay or
rates high, so debtors had little collateral mamahay. Like datus and timawa, they
except their own persons. The oripun bore children of their same class; or in
produced by these conditions were the case of mixed marriages, their
legally slaves: they could be bought and children became half- or quarter- slaves
sold. But that was all they had in who served their masters half time or
common. Some were foreign captives or quarter time. Half-slaves were called
purchases who served as victims for bulan (month) if their owners divided
human sacrifice; some were members their time by the month. Debt slaves,
of their master’s household and suckled too, only served their creditors part time
at the same breast as his own children; in proportion to their debt. Their owners
some were householders who gave their often paid such partial slaves the
masters or creditors a portion of their balance to take full possession of them.
crops or labor; and some were hardly As for householding oripun, they
distinguishable from freemen. supported themselves, giving their
Sociologically, therefore, they masters only a share of their labor or
constituted the class which in crops. With opportunity and enterprise,
contemporary European society would they could earn enough to decrease
have been called commoners. their debt or even pay it off in full.

Individual status within the oripun class Hayohay were at the bottom of the
depended on birthright, inherited or oripun social scale—those “most
acquired debt, commuted penal enslaved,” as Loarca (1582, 142) put it,
sentence, or victimization by the more “the ones they mostly sell to the
powerful. Outright captives were bihag, Spaniards.” They were domestics who
and they were marketed by dealers in lived in their master’s house, received
along or botong as expensive their food and clothing from him, but
were given one day out of four to work famine, men sold themselves or their
for themselves. Their children born or children, or attached themselves to a
raised in his house were gintubo, who datu as kabalangay (“crewman”?) for a
might become favorites called sibin or loan. Datus themselves went into
ginogatan, treated like his own children bondage for the loan of bahandi to use
and set free on his death. If both parents as bride-price, or became their
were house-born slaves like father-in-law’s legal dependent. Debt
themselves, or actual purchases, they was commonplace as evidenced by the
were ginlubos, and if of the fourth fact that rice was loaned at 100 percent
generation of their kind, lubos nga interest compounded annually, and
oripun. But if only one of their parents crimes were punished by fines.
was hayohay, they were half-slaves
(bulan or pikas), or if three of their A man became tinubos (redeemed or
grandparents were nonslaves, they ransomed) to any creditor who
were quarter-slaves (tilorox sagipat). underwrote his debt, and could be
Hayohay married off from their master’s transferred from one to another for
house assumed householding ttihay profit, and his obligations varied with the
status, owing him only two days out of value of the bond. In Iloilo, a tumataban
five. He still had claim to their children, slave could be bonded for 6 pesos in the
however, though his raising them was 1580s, his creditor then enjoying five
often seen as a favor rather than an days of his labor per month, while a
imposition: a grown gintubo, Sanchez tumaranpok was valued at 12 pesos, for
(1617, 529v) said, “is like a freedman which he rendered four days’ labor out
who lives on his own.” It was normal for of seven. Both occupied their own
offspring of slaves to take over their houses with their families but their wives
parents’ obligations, who could then were also obliged to perform services,
move into some more favorable status namely, spinning cotton their master
like tumaranpok. supplied them in the boll. However,
either could commute these obligations
Debt slavery ranged from outright sale to payment in palay—15 cavans a
to contractual mortgage. In times of harvest for the former, 30 for the latter.
 demand on labor, and the size of the
Some oripun were hardly datu-tumao-timawa population. They
distinguishable from timawa. Horohan also suggest that the majority of
performed lower-echelon military Visayans prior to Spanish advent were
services as mangayaw oarsmen or oripun.
magahat warriors, and, as the author of
the Boxer Codex (1590b, 362) remarked
with some surprise, “they were taken Debt and Dependence
into their [datu’s] houses when they give Visayan social fabric was thus woven of
some feast or drunken revel to be debt and dependence-that is,
received just like guests.” Other tuhay or relationships in which one person was
mamahay might also participate in raids, dependent on the decisions of another,
though receiving a smaller portion of the the one exercising choice, the other not.
booty than timawa. Indeed, if they The slave did not choose to work for his
distinguished themselves regularly master, but his master might choose to
enough by bravery in action, they might grant him a favor— for example,
attract a following of their own and tagolaling were the days given a slave
actually become datus. Although they to work for himself. Parents chose their
were obliged to come at their datu’s children’s mates as a normal act of
summons for communal work like house social order, just as datus had the right
building, they paid a vassalage fee to choose the booty their timawa
called dagupan instead of field labor. comrades received. One’s position in
But, like the timawa above them and the the social scale was therefore
hayohay below, their children could measurable by the amount of control he
inherit their property only at the pleasure exercised over his own time and
of their datus. labor—the hayohay at one extreme and
the timawa or tumao at the other, where
These variations in oripun status and they could transfer their whole service to
opportunity for upward social mobility no another person. Among oripun, such
doubt reflect local differences in dependence was expressed in frank
economic conditions—crops, markets, terms of debt.
 A datu’s following was his haop or
The high interest rates which created dolohan, Visayan terms to which
these debts were based on the natural Tagalog barangay was added after
increase of crops or livestock. Sulit Manila became the colonial capital.
meant a debt without interest, a sale These terms all referred to the people
without profit, or a crop without increase; themselves, not the place where they
the loan of an inanimate object like a lived—for example, “Nahaop ako kan
knife or boat was huram and did not Koan [I belong to So-and-so’s barangay]
incur utang (debt). A debtor’s children ”—and they ranged in size from thirty to
were born in debt, his first-degree kin a hundred households (Sanchez 1617,
were also liable, and any favor received 225v). Haopappears to be cognate with
incurred debt. Captured timawa rescued sakop, any inclusive group, but
by their datu became his personal especially one supportive of a person on
debtors— unlike the Spaniards whom they were dependent, like
ransomed or purchased from Filipino children on their parents or slaves on
captors by Saavedra in 1528 or Torre in their master. Alms called palos or
1544. In convictions for grand larceny, a hinapot were given by the community to
whole family could be enslaved: Alcina one released from captivity, or to the
had oripun parishioners whose poor by anybody selling food.
ancestor’s crime had been to break a
borrowed bahandi gong. Gaon was a The villages and towns where one or
kind of involuntary collateral seized until more haop lived were bongto or
the debt was paid, and tokod, “to make lungsod; and hamlets or neighborhoods
sure,” was to collect a debt from were gamuro, a cluster of houses within
somebody other than the debtor, who earshot. Community decisions affecting
thus effectively acquired a new creditor more than one haop required datu
who then had to collect as best he consensus, and so did alliances
could. between settlements. But there were no
formal confederations, for which reason
Community Spanish explorers always made blood
compacts with more than one chief,
from chiefs of Samar hamlets too small with luxurious edging, and non-datus
to be seen from the coast to those of who affected gold teeth were mocked as
large communities like Cebu spread out being yabyab, spread out like a mat.
for several kilometers. Datus strode around with loose clothes
flowing or with slow measured tread in
Members of a haop were usually processions, and their binokot
related—a parentela, or kindred. The daughters were carried on men’s
Boxer manuscript (1590b, 357) says shoulders so as never to touch the
that datus were obeyed because “those ground. Competition from peers and
in the settlement who are not [their relatives was discouraged by restrictions
slaves] are the relatives of the datus.” on the size and ostentation of their
Indeed, blood relationship, either real of houses. Lower-class persons entered
fictive, was considered essential for their presence with head bowed,
personal security. Men became ritual twisting and wriggling their bodies, and
brothers, sandugo, by imbibing a few addressed them in the third person
drops of each other’s blood in wine or while squatting down, and nobody dared
betel nut, swearing to support and to spit in their presence. (Belching and
defend one another until death. They breaking wind were socially acceptable,
might also take a common name, like however.) Women hung back before
some ring they exchanged or banana passing in front of them, and then
they ate, to become kasungar or gathered up a fold of their skirt as if to
katawagan, or share the same clothes assure that their private parts were
or sweetheart as ubas, comrades. And if doubly covered. And everybody
they had to be separated from one addressed seniors or respected persons
another, they would swear a balata oath with polite tabi expressions like “Tabi sa
not to partake of a certain food or drink iyo urnagi ako [With your permission, I
till they met again. will pass]” (Mentrida 1637a, 365).

Proper community conduct reinforced Kinship

social structure. Members of the datu Early Spanish dictionaries of Visayan
class were privileged to wear garments languages often list Cebuano,
Hiligaynon, or Samareho variants under ig-agaxu, and second cousins in
a single entry. This is especially true of Kiniray-a as igkampor, while bogto or
kinship terminology. Thus the word for boggong tinay, “gut brothers,” meant
father is given as amahan, amay, and children of the same parents—“like a
anduyon without distinction, though with piece of the same cord.” But siblings
a Cebu variant of amba or ambuyon; related through only one parent were
and mother as inahan, indayon, and mabaw, and stepchildren or ones
Hoy, with a Kiniray-a variant, inang. Ama adopted were hablus.
and Ina or Inda were terms of special
respect used as proper nouns (for Grandparents of either sex, together
example, si Ama), and often extended to with their brothers and sisters and their
nonparents for that purpose, while spouses, were all apuy, apohan, or
“Mama” was what people called their owang, or more respectfully, “Laki” or
own father. Fathers were also “Bai,” sometimes with “Gurang” (mature)
addressed affectionately as “Baba,” thus added. Great-grandparents were apo, or
himaba was a gift to a go-between by a “Bata” with or without laki, bai, or gurang
suitor who wished to establish such a attached. A prudent person therefore
relationship with his prospective muttered “Laki-laki” or “Apo-apo” when
father-in-law. leaving the house in order to invoke his
ancestors’ protection against harm or
Parents’ brothers and sisters were also accident—a custom continued by
differentiated by sex: uncles were yoyo, Christians, Father Mentrida said, “or
oyo-an, or bata, and aunts were iyaan or they say, ‘Jesus.’” Grandchildren were
dada. But sons and daughters were apo, and they and all their descendants
simply anak, offspring; and so, too, were kaapohan, though a
brothers, sisters, and cousins of either great-grandchild might be distinguished
sex were igkaanak, igsoon, igmanhod, as apo sa tohod just as a
igtotood, or otod. (Otod was a piece- cut great-grandparent was apuy sa
off something; hence, kaotoran, relatives tohod—sa tohod meaning literally “at the
of one lineage.) Cousins could also be knee.”
distinguished from siblings as patod or
Husband and wife were both called family, there were courteous forms of
asawa in Leyte and Samar, but in Cebu address which made this distinction.
and Panay the term was restricted to the Sisters called their brothers oyo or titi;
wife (the man was band)— or, more brothers called their sisters akay; and
accurately, the chief wife: any others older brothers were addressed as
were sandil, whether of slave, timawa; magulang, ubo, or aso, older sisters as
or datu stock. A son-in-law was nugang umbo. (Oyo was really a polite term by
and his parents-in-law, ugangan; and which an older man addressed a
numigang was for him to render younger, including a father his son or an
bride-service to them prior to marriage. uncle his nephew.) Parents, especially
Both son- and daughter-in-law were mothers, also addressed their daughters
umagad, a term which emphasized their with terms of endearment like owa,
role in uniting their two families into one: wawa, or paki; in Cebu, mothers called
agad were the thwarts between the two their daughters bubu (actually,
sides of a boat, and alagadun was to “madame”) or ipi. in Candaya, and
adjust or conform. Bayaw was a umboy, idi, or dull in Samar, with titi
brother-in-law, hipag was sister-in-law. If being a local Giwan word. And between
two men were married to sisters, they man and wife, oto or otoy was an
called each other bilas, while women affectionate name for the husband; while
married to brothers called each other an only son was fondly called boto
idas. Parents who married their children (penis).
off to one another’s children were
balaye. Law
Laws were part of the customs and
With the exception of brothers- and traditions handed down from one
sisters-in-law, therefore, and honorifics generation to another: they were not
like laki and bai, Visayan kinship terms considered products of legislation but
only distinguished sex in the parental part of the natural order of things.
generation. Conversely, there was no Kabtangan were customs, but
term for a parent of either sex; parents kahimtang was nature or condition, both
were simply manyanak. But within the words derived from butang, to put
something in its place. The origin myths ordeal—for example, retrieving an
make it clear that class differences were object from a pot of boiling water with
just as natural as color of skin, and the least injury, or staying underwater
mestizos (kalibugan) were the children longest. Recognized crimes were theft,
of a datu and timawa or of unmarried defamation, murder, witchcraft, lese
parents, as well as of a Spaniard and a majesty (that is, offense to a datu’s
Visayan. Alagag was the natural awe authority), and malicious vandalism like
which juniors felt in the presence of poisoning livestock.
seniors; hilas was ingrained reluctance
to contradict parents or superiors; and Penalties were fines set in accord with
naga kahilas'wa.s for an ancestor spirit the litigants’ standing: crimes against
to keep a disrespectful descendant upper-class persons were fined more
awake with a guilty conscience. A heavily, and an oripun who murdered a
synonym for kabtangan was kagawiyan, datu was simply killed outright. Killings
from gauii, to keep or preserve (for among high-ranking datus could not be
example, paragawi, a steward, or settled until a blood feud had run its
gawiyunan, propertied people.) But course, and wergeld (man-price) was
batas or batasan was a decree argued as hotly as bride-price. All fines
regulating commerce—for example, were imposed in terms of bahandi
“Sino in nagbatas sining iyo ipapalit valuables, too high to be met by
[Who assessed this merchandise of agricultural products or handicrafts.
yours]?”—and batas-batas was tariff
(Sanchez 1617, 70v). In theory, nobody was condemned to
slavery: they became slaves for inability
A datu acted as judge (hukom) in both to meet fines. There were no sentences
civil claims and criminal cases, like imprisonment or deportation which
sometimes in consultation with an would take labor out of production;
expert in custom law, by hearing rather, punishments realigned labor
testimony of sworn witnesses. If the forces within the community. The only
results were inconclusive, he might exception was the death penalty for
order the litigants to submit to trial by convicted witches or sorcerers.
 he was selling to a Spanish soldier in
The most common thefts were of 1544, the soldier punched him and said,
foodstuffs—for example, dangpas was “You dog! Did I not give you what you
for theft of root crops; ugnas for fallen asked? Why do you ask for more!”—and
fruit; sorok for bananas, sugarcane, or the soldier was stabbed to death that
coconuts—and sneak thieves crept into evening with his own dagger (Grijalva
houses naked and oiled so as to be 1624,56).
slippery if caught. The stealing of Adulter)' was not considered a crime but
valuables, however, was associated with a personal offense, and was settled by
raiding and so was rare within the the adulterer indemnifying the offended
community and punished severely: husband; the wife was not punished at
first-generation missionaries were all. Premarital sexual mores were lax:
always struck by the absence of locked contacts between single men and
doors and coffers in the homes of the women went unremarked unless the
wealthy. girl’s relatives demanded hingulaw, a
shame payment. Some liaisons were
Any altercation that resulted in publicly known and long-lasting; that
wounding had to be compensated with they were a substitute for marriage to
hilugo, blood-price, and insult was also avoid the formal expense is suggested
valid grounds for litigation. The most by the term kubot, which meant for
serious was an accusation of witchcraft, longtime lovers to marry. There appears
but there were also violent curses like to have been no specific term for
“Binaliw ka [Be changed]!” (that is, virginity. Dalaga was a young woman of
become crippled or deformed), marriageable age whether virgin or not,
“Ginanitan ka [Be flayed]!” (like an but women were admired as bugus,
animal hide), or “Nahahaan tinay mo complete, or bingil, chaste, both for
[Get your guts]!” (from haha, to remove virginity and for faithfulness to one man.
marrow, or meat from shells). But insults However, women who gave their favors
reflecting on a man’s virility required freely to many men were considered
personal satisfaction. When a Leyteano kiral, lewd or prostitutes, and compared
tried to change the price of something to animals available to any male of the
species. Thus the virginity of those price and sealed the bargain, including
secluded binokot, who were only the bride’s brothers-in- law if she was a
glimpsed by men when surrounded by widow, and redistributed to meet their
attendants, was part of their allure and own future needs for bride-price. And
mystery. since it had to be returned in case of
Marriage divorce, it gave the wife’s family a
Weddings between people without vested interest in the permanence of the
property to share by bequest were union; indeed, a share called kukod wen
simple ceremonies in which the couple t to the bride’s brothers specifically to
partook of the same cup or plate, and guarantee her return in the event she
hayohay were simply married off by their ran home after a marital squabble.
masters and given a few pots. But the
weddings of datus were the most The engagement required a relative or
important social events in a Visayan friend of the suitor to obtain permission
community. Since they were contracts from the girl’s father to open
between families rather than individuals, proceedings. The man’s relatives then
they were also political events creating went to the girl’s house with a respected
new alliances. (They were often made timawa bearing his spear. There they
when the man and woman concerned were received with gongs sounding to
were still children, or even before their assemble her relatives and give public
birth.) Their importance depended on notice, but not admitted until they
the size and ritual settlement of a bargained with the girl’s grandmother to
bride-price called bugay—“brideprice” let down the house ladder. Then, with a
rather than “dowry” because it was set fine Freudian gesture, the spear bearer
by the girl’s father, bargained down like drove the weapon into the house ladder
goods in a marketplace, and was not and invoked the ancestors on both sides
conjugal property. Spanish dowry (dote), for fertility. They then entered, presented
on the other hand, was property a bride a gift, and fixed the date for negotiating
brought into her marriage to be enjoyed the marriage contract. The father’s
by her husband. Visayan bugay was acceptance of the gift was his pledge of
shared within the kin group that set the his daughter’s hand.
 girl was of much higher rank than the
On the date set, the marriage contract man.
was negotiated in the girl’s house. The The girl’s father usually asked for the
man’s relatives were accompanied by same bugay as he had given for her
two or three mediators (kagon), who mother; and if the father were a proud
placed a porcelain plate in front of the datu who refused to lower his demand,
father containing a number of little the match would be canceled unless the
sticks—the ordinary counters used in suitor agsreed to enter his father-in-lawT
Visayan calculations. The father tossed ’s household for a number of years or
a betel nut quid in die bowl to signal the even a lifetime. (It was normal for a man
opening of the discussion. This began to serve his father-in-law for one year
with painful formality, but became less before his wedding, a period of
inhibited as drinking continued, and adjustment and trial, or actual training in
often had to be broken off and resumed the case of a young boy.) Once the
another day. As each item was agreed contract was settled, the mother came
on—slave, porcelain, or gold—one forward to ask for himaraw, a
counter was placed on top of a gong on compensation in gold for all the sleep
the floor. As agreement was reached on she had lost while the bride was an
the schedule of payment, the counters infant.
were moved from one side to the other.
Part of the bugay had to be paid During the wedding celebration, the
immediately as a kind of down payment, bride and groom were seated beside
but the rest was deferred until later, and one another— after her shyness was
some even held in abeyance and only overcome with suitable gifts. They were
demanded in case of connubial conflict. tied together by the hair for a short time,
Still another part of the bugay was really then served a plate of rice, from which
not intended to be paid in the first place: they each took a handful and squeezed
it was only agreed to for the sake of the it into a ball. She tossed hers down the
lady’s prestige. Conversely, the house ladder, the symbol of his coming
hingusul, a fine if either party withdrew, and going to support his new family, and
might be demanded in advance if the he threw his out the window to indicate
that her place was in the home looking prestige feasts were public celebrations
out. Then, as they drank together, an old and might last as long as ten days.
man rose and made public
announcement of the match, stated the When it came time to fetch the bride,
conditions pertaining to the bride-price she required another round of
in the case either one went astray, and gifts—before crossing a river, climbing
called on those present to act as the house ladder, or entering a crowded
witnesses. He then united their hands room. Her father contributed bantal to
over a bowl of raw rice, which he then the new household—a number of slaves
threw over the guests. equal to, or even double, the number
included in the bugay, but only for the
When the newlyweds finally retired to newlyweds’ use, not their possession:
the bridal chamber—that is, the bohot they remained his own property. Any
where she had spent her days as slaves the wife brought along remained
binokot—her brother would bar the her personal property just like her gold
groom’s entrance until he gave them and jewelry, and if she and her husband
something; slaves would ignite a quarreled, they might refuse to obey
smouldering fire underneath until him. A wife’s paramount housekeeping
receiving a gift; and others would enter duty was to keep her husband well
the chamber with bright torches and had clothed by weaving, sewing, trade, or
to be paid to leave. Meanwhile, the party purchases—just as unmarried women
went raucously on, and if the were expected to clothe their lovers, as
bridegroom’s father was a man of Bubung Ginbuna does for epic hero
sufficient rank and means, he presented Kabungaw. As Alcina (1668a, 4:218)
gifts to all his new in-laws, perhaps even said, “Both husband and lovers are
their slaves. Guests playfully snatched accustomed to leave their women if they
off one another’s pudong to be returned do not do dapi or darapi, which is to give
only on payment, and slaves were them the clothes they need.’’
permitted to keep anything they could
grab from the bridegroom’s party. These Marriage was forbidden between
first-degree kin, but a niece could marry
her uncle. (In a Panay origin myth, preference in a will (bilin). Illegitimate
Lupluban, granddaughter of the children inherited only at the pleasure of
primordial pair, married her mother’s the legal heirs. But heritage strictly
brother, Pandagwan.) Spanish followed bloodline: stepchildren
references to polygamy differ, perhaps inherited only from their actual parents,
because of confusion between and spouses did not inherit from each
secondary wives and concubines: other. A man and wife might bequeath to
Legazpi said Visayan men took two or each other conjugal property which they
three wives if they could afford it, but had accumulated together, but not what
Chirino said the practice was very rare. they had inherited. It was a principle of
Father Chirino also said that husband which Spanish justices were often
and wife separated “for the least reason unaware when trying lawsuits over
in the world”—actually, for contested inheritance. Two cases
incompatibility, neglect, or recorded by Alcina will illustrate.
misconduct—and a man or woman who
had been married only once was rather An unmarried girl died who was the only
the exception than the rule. Pangoli was child of a widowed datu, leaving six
a gift to attract back a wife who had fled slaves she had inherited from her
to her relatives, and legal divorce was deceased mother. Her father had no
often avoided only because of the claim to those slaves, but some fifty of
difficulty of restoring a bride-price that her mother’s kin gathered around to
had already been “spent.” Moreover, if claim their share. “Since there would not
divorce was common, the premature have been even a finger for each,” as
death of one partner was by no means Father Alcina (1668a, 4:227) said,
uncommon, so remarriages filled search had to be made for the “trunk”
families with half-siblings and adopted (puno)—that is, the ultimate source of
nephews, nieces, or foundlings. the slaves. This proved to be the girl’s
maternal grandfather, who had had
Inheritance three children—her mother and two
Children of both sexes inherited equally sons—each of whom had inherited an
unless their parents specified some equal number of slaves, and all of whom
were dead. Since the girl was the last in grandmother’s expenses in raising the
her mother’s line, it was the girl, a claim which he refrained from
descendants of her two uncles who had pressing only because of Father Alcina’s
the best claim. These were more than intervention.
twenty in all, so each was awarded a
quarter-slave.

In the other case, a childless woman Property and Labor

adopted the daughter of her brother, The property mentioned in bride-price
raised her as her own daughter, and exchanges or inheritance disputes was
eventually married her off in another always slaves and bahandi—imported
town. She then took in a foundling that porcelains and gongs and gold,
had been abandoned in the forest, especially ornate gold ornaments whose
whom she also raised as a daughter but value greatly exceeded their gold
could not legally adopt because the content. Slaves were readily
parents were unknown. When the transferable, but bahandi was alienated
woman was dying, the foundling only in case of dire family emergency
obtained a certificate from the parish (an inaccessibility which made it a
priest stating that she was the woman’s particular target of raiders), though it
heir. The legally adopted daughter had was sometimes loaned out in exchange
by this time died but her son appeared for servitude.
to claim his grandmother’s property,
which included three slaves from her But all property of whatever
original bride-price. But because of the value—houses and boats, household
existence of the anomalous Spanish furnishings and livestock, even raw
paper, the case dragged on for twelve materials and the contents of
years. It was Finally settled in the son’s granaries— must have been inheritable.
favoV, leaving the foundling only her Most houses were built of light
foster mother’s personal possessions, materials, highly inflammable, and
not what she had inherited, and even readily abandoned in case of enemy
from this the son could claim his attack or an occupant’s death, but they
could be bought or rented. The stately collect all turtle eggs in a restricted
dwelling of ranking datus, however, stretch of beach. Datus could also lease
standing on tall hardwood pillars and such resources to outsiders: Legazpi
walled with intricately carved planks, (1569b, 22n.63) reported of Visayan
often survived from one generation to gold production in 1569,
the next, but were surely never sold.
In some place where we know there are
All products of human labor were mines, the natives are not willing to work
alienable property which could be them and do not, but when foreign
bought and sold, not excluding children. vessels come, in exchange for what
With the notable exception of fruit trees, they bring, they agree to let them work
most of them were movable: lumber or in the mines for the days or period
rice could be sold, even vegetables still contracted.
in the ground or unharvested grain, but
not the forest or fields which produced Labor, of course, was itself a commodity
them. Cleared swiddens were also sold that could be bught and sold— or, in the
or rented— though the terms “sold” or case of bonded tinubos, rented. Indeed,
“rented” are rather inappropriate it was the commodity in which creditors
because the land itself was not owned. were investing when they underwrote
Manufactured goods were often jointly somebody’s debt: lito was resale, and
owned: women might pool their efforts to linilito pagtubos was a person whose
strip abaca or weave textiles, for debt had been transferred many times
example. Trees in the forest could be from one speculator to another. Oripun
blazed to ripen fruit or for beehives, but were not bondservants working off their
the claim was only good for one season. debt: lowas was the payment liquidating
slavery, made either by the slave himself
All these natural resources were or somebody on his behalf, and tubas
themselves public domain although was a payment which transferred title to
subject to a datu’s regulation. He could the one who paid it.
build fish dams, obstruct river traffic,
claim a share of hunters’ catch, or
Namomoo was to work in somebody mortgaged with Spanish title deeds as
else’s house, most frequently weaving. early as the 1590s. We do not know
Lihogwere hired hands compensated when this process began in colonial
only with meals and with a feast when centers like Cebu and Iloilo, but in the
the project was completed. Himakdul rural Visayas it was just beginning a
was compensation given to an agent or century after Legazpi’s arrival. Alcina
messenger for difficult sendee, and (1668a, 3:75-76) has left the following
hinguli was a kind of hazardous duty lucid description of indigenous land
pay on expeditions like those called rights in his day:
moro-rnoro after the Spaniards
introduced the concept. Regarding land, here there is no
difference between mine and thine as in
In the practice of agriculture, terms other parts, or the usual lawsuits in
distinguished the division of labor, not of almost all of them over its dominion and
property. Lano or tagolalingv,7 as the possession; because it is so great, so
work a slave did for himself, and tampok extensive, and in almost all places so
(literally, “a precious stone”) was what good, in all islands, that it is not only
he did for his master; and if he made a more than enough for all their
surabi field for himself by stealth inhabitants, but could be given to
alongside his master’s, what he was thousands of farmers of those in other
stealing was time, not land. parts who are begging for it and
sometimes cannot farm for lack of land,
Householders had the right of usufruct while here, on the contrary, there is
to the land on which their houses and more than enough and very extensive
fruit trees stood, but it was not property land but a shortage of those to cultivate
held in fee simple. Under colonial law, it. And although it is true that every town
however, such occupation eventually or vicinity has its own boundaries and
became the basis for legal title, while they are like their own lands and not
datus laid claim to unoccupied land those of other towns, nonetheless, to
where they had exercised jurisdiction. In anybody who comes and settles among
Manila, land was being sold and them, even if he was never seen before
and is unknown, they give option to
choose as he will, all and as much land
as he wants without giving a penny for it
or any contract, so long as it is
uncultivated.

Regarding farming or cultivating it, the

one who farms or cultivates it is the
owner, and even more so if he planted
coconuts or fruit trees, which are always
his, without there ever having been
disputes or lawsuits among them over it
until now. God grants that this sincerity
and goodwill might always endure
among them, because these days it
appears there have been some who
wish to disrupt it somewhat, some who,
by bringing in modern ideas [ladinecer],
are spoiling it with swindling. So the
ancient goodwill and trust is being lost
with which they used to live without
grabbing from one another, but readily
giving way to the one who made first
choice, and much more so to the one
who first planted coconuts, fruit trees,
abaca or other things, to which they
always had right and dominion, even if
they only swear to it and then go live in
another town.