Instructions: Choose one custom of the Tagalogs from Plasencia’s account.

Compare it to the
contemporary practices in Philippine society. Note the changes and explain in 300 to 500 words the
factors that can account for these changes (e.g., slavery, concept of marriage, concept of death, and
burial practices).

One of the customs of the Tagalogs that were cited was slavery. As we all know, in our current
times, slavery isn’t accepted anymore in our society. Before, they were treated as a property of Datos
and Maharlicas either because they were inherited, committed crimes, debt, or by marriage. Slaves
usually can own properties or called Aliping Namamahay, which is above the lowest social hierarchy
during this time, which is the Aliping Saguiguilid where they were treated as properties and can be sold
to any Maharlicas. Slavery during those times was quite different compared today since we now have
laws regarding this kind of activity being illegal, such as selling a person in exchange for money.

Aliping Saguiguilid and Aliping Namamahay doesn’t exist in the present times, but they do have a

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counterpart that can be associated with what we call today as Kasambahay or Maids as they serve their

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master or Amo during their stay in their home. They have their liberty to own any property, they are not

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a punishment for anything, but instead, a means to earn for a living; they can quit anytime they want.

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Neither can be labeled as someone’s property nor sold in monetary exchange. They provide home

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service for people who can afford to purchase such a service. However, there is a vast difference since
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then. They are now treated with dignity and respect as any human would be. Some slavery still exists
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until now. Some people abuse their power towards their employees, resulting in cases where workers
are not paid according to their quality of work or according to their contract and were mistreated in their
workplace. Slavery before is unescapable (depends on grievances) and much more complicated than
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today. Any can escape mistreatment or unlawful violations regarding someone’s human rights during
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their employment without any punishment in return.

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Instructions: Give three (3) reasons why Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs is important to the grand
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narrative of Philippine history

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1. The first reason why Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs is important to the grand narrative of
the Philippine history is because it mainly accounts the life system of the Filipinos during the pre-
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hispanic period. These facts opens up the idea of the current Filipino people that the life system
nowadays is not much stricter compared to the system before. For example, there were four
castes during that time which are called the datu, nobles or maharlica, the commoners or aliping
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namamahay, and the slaves or aliping sa guiguilir. In Plasencia’s document, he gave us an idea
what are its functions in the society. Maharlica are those who do not pay tax or tribute to the
datu (chieftain) but accompany him at their own expense. The aliping namamahay are those
commoners who are married and serve their master whether he is a datu or not, with half of
their cultivated land, as what agreed upon in the beginning. On the other hand, an aliping sa

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 guiguilid are those slaves that serve their master in his house and on his cultivated lands and
they can be sold.
2. The second reason is the idea of Filipinos in religious systems before. They have “Badhala”
which they worshiped. Catalonan or Priest fights evil person like manganguay, mancocolam,
hocloban etc. Burial is quite different during pre- Hispanic period wherein the deceased must be
buried beside their house, If the deceased were a chief, a porch or a little house would be his
laying ground. If the deceased were a hero, then the deceased would be accompanied by its
slave in the burial until the slave dies in honor of its master.
3. The third reason is that the document itself serves as the primary source of what pre-hispanic
society looks like. Accounts of slavery, marriage, priesthood were mentioned but readers should
be cautious hence it is neither complete nor always accurate. Without the accounts of Plasencia,
we aren’t able to compare and distinguish today’s customs to its past and how it transformed
through time.

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