BARANGAY AS AN

ANCIENT
COMMUNITY

prepared with love and care by:

Mr. Louie Guzman Yambao
 ORIGIN OF THE WORD
‘BARANGAY’

• The unit of government during

the time of our forefathers was
called ‘barangay’, a derivation
from the Tagalog word
balangay meaning “sailboat.”
• The Malays used the same term to
identify the settlements they
established near a river or a sea.
• Each barangay consisted of 30 to 100
families
• The barangays did not exist under the
authority of other barangay but lived
independently in harmony and in
relation with one another.
SOCIAL HIERARCHY IN LUZON

1. Maginoo
2. Maharlika
3. Timawa
4. Slaves
a. Aliping namamahay
b. Aliping saguiguilid
 1. MAGINOO
• This class was the highest among all
classes.
• This was composed of datus and their
families
• The babaylanes were also members of
this prestigious class.
• The datu was the
political and economic
leader
• The babaylan or
katalonan was the
spiritual leader

• Babaylan was the

Visayan term for the
spiritual leader while
katalonan was the
Tagalog conterpart
 DATU
• He was the one who implemented the
laws
• One of the traits that he needed to posses
was knowldege of the adat or customary
laws in his barangay
• In cases where new laws need to be
formulated, the council of advisers (usually
the elders) were consulted by the datu
• Whatever was agreed upon
was announced to his subjects
through an umalohokan, the
one who announces the edicts
of the datu.
 DUTIES OF DATU
• The datu was responsible for political
administration, military duties and the
economy of the barangay in general.
• The datu was not merely a political leader
but more of an administrator of the
barangay as an economic unit since
economic activities during that time were
done in the level of barangays
• He also served as mediator in cases of
conflicts among members of the barangay.
BABAYLAN OR KATALONAN
• She was the spiritual leader in a
barangay
• This position was usually held by an
elderly woman, a proof that women
held important status in pre-Spanish
Philippine society.
What if a man
wants to be a
babaylan?
• If a man wished to be a babaylan or
katalonan, all he had to do was to act,
dress, and speak like a woman.

• In Visayas, male babaylanes were called

bayog or bayoguin.
 DUTIES of BABAYLAN
• The babaylan presided over
different rituals such as the rituals
done before planting and after
harvest. The destruction of crops
due to calamities was interpreted
as the work of angry gods that
must be appeased.
 DUTIES of BABAYLAN
• The babaylan also served as healer;
• Mediator between the gods and the
people as well as between the dead and
their relatives;
• Keeper of oral tradition such as
legends, epics, and songs of the
barangay.
 2. MAHARLIKA
• The maharlika class was next to the
maginoo class
• This class was composed of warriors
who served as protectors of the
barangay from its enemies.
 DUTIES OF MAHARLIKA
• It was the duty of the maharlika to keep
peace and order in the barangay by
killing their enemies
• The maharlika did not pay taxes but
they were obilged to accompany the
datu in times of war.
• Before they went to war, the datu
usually held a festivity for them
• After winning a war, the datu and the
maharlika divided among themselves
the spoils of war which they acquired
from the vanquished.
• When a datu had to build a house, the
maharlika helped him. In exchange for
their help, the datu would feed the
maharlika.
• The maharlika also rendered military
services to the datu.
• When a datu went on a maritime trip, he
could summon the maharlika to row the
boat for him as comrade-in-arms. In
general, the maharlika enjoyed
numerous privileges in exchange for all
the support he rendered to the datu.
 3. TIMAWA
• The free men or free people.
• They composed the main bulk of the
population.
• They engaged in different economic
activities such as agriculture, fishing,
basket-making, pottery, weaving, and
other activities
• Since they derived profit from these
activities, they had the obligation to
pay taxes to the datu.
 4. SLAVES
• The slave class was the lowest
class in early Philippine
society.
• They were divided into two:
1. aliping namamahay
2. aliping saguiguilid
 aliping namamahay
• They lived in their own houses and
was called only by the datu to help
in building a house or in farming
 aliping saguiguilid
• They lived in the datu’s house because
of a large debt he had incurred which
was payable by serving the datu
• They can be summoned anytime and be
made to do any kind of work. But they
can be aliping namamahay when they
have already paid for a certain period of
time.
• Anyone could be made a slave as
punishment for a grave crime such as
adultery, disobeying the datu’s orders,
theft, prisoners of war, failure to pay
debt, or if born to parents who were
slaves.
 SOCIAL CLASSES IN THE
VISAYAS

• The social hierarchy in the Visayas

was very similar with that of the
Tagalogs. There were only some
differences in terms and in types of
slaves.
• There were three social classes in Visayan
societies:
1. datu
2. timawa
3. oripun
 1. DATU
• The highest class was the datu.
• The datu refers to the position of the
leader and also to the highest social
class.
• The leader of the barangay is the datu.
The authority of the datu emanates
from his family and ancestry. But his
power depended on his wealth, number
of subjects or slaves and physical and
intellectual prowess.
 2. TIMAWA
• In the Visayas, the timawa
accompanied the datu during war,
served as the datu’s representative
in arranging the wedding of the
children of the datu and the food
taster who sampled the datu’s wine
first.
 3. ORIPUN
• The lowest class
• They could be bought and sold
• There were many kinds of oripun
• There were those who served the
families of their lords
• Some were engaged in farming and
were given their share of the profit
• The oripun who lived in their own houses
and farms were called namamahay or
tuhay while those who lived in their lord’s
house were ayuey.

• The lowest oripun was called hayohay or

those who lived in their lords houses,
received clothing and food from them and
had one out of four days allotted for
themselves only.
 SOCIAL MOBILITY IN
SOCIETY
• One could be promoted or demoted in
terms of social status due to some
factors.
• For instance, an aliping saguiguilid
could become aliping namamahay if the
aliping saguiguilid had already paid his
or her debt to the datu.
• The aliping namamahay could become
a timawa after marrying a maharlika.
• On the other hand, a datu could
become a slave if captured by another
datu during a war or if the datu
commited a serious crime and he was
not able to pay the penalty for it.
• The nature of the ancient social classes
encouraged the people to strive harder
and be promoted to a higher class or
maintain their dignity in order to retain
their social class.