PRE-COLONIAL CULTURE *Clothing For the Male: ---Composed of: Upper: Kanggan = collarless jacket with short sleeves.

The color depends on their ranking in society (red for the chiefs, blue or black for men under the chief) Lower: Bahag = trip of cloth wrapped around the waist, passing down between the thighs. Headgear: Putong = color showed the manliness of a man (red signified the wearer had killed a man in war, embroidered putong signifies a man who has killed at least seven men)

For the Female: ---Composed of: Upper: Baro or Camisa = jacket with sleeves Lower: Saya (Tagalogs), Patadyong ( Visayans) = loose skirt Tapis = red or white cloth which is usually wrapped around the waist.

*Ornaments (all made from gold) Kalumbiga = trappings as armlets Pendants Bracelets Gold rings Earrings Leglets Tattoos = form of ornament to enhance beauty. For the Male: to exhibit a mans war record. *System of Writing ---Considered tagalog as the richest among the other languages by Father Pedro Chirino. ---Baybayin The term Baybay literally means to spell in Tagalog. Baybayin was extensively documented by the Spanish. Some have attributed it the name Alibata, but this name is incorrect. (The term Alibata was coined by Paul Rodriguez Verzosa after the arrangement of letters of the Arabic alphabet alif, ba, ta (alibata), f having been eliminated for euphonys sake. ) Versozas reasoning for creating this word was unfounded because no evidence of the baybayin was ever found in that part of the Philippines and it has absolutely no relationship to the Arabic language. Furthermore, no ancient script native to Southeast Asia followed the Arabic arrangement of letters, and regardless of Versozas connection to the word alibata, its absence from all historical records indicates that it is a totally modern creation. The present author does not use this word in reference to any ancient Philippine script (Source: http://mandirigma.org/?p=423)