BARANGAY SYSTEM DURING THE PRE-SPANISH ERA

Before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors in the Philippines in the 16th century, Barangay is used to
be their form of government. During the pre-colonial period, it was the dominant pattern of
organization of the indigenous communities. The name barangay originated from Balangay, a Malay
word for sailboat. Balangay was use by our Malayans ancestors, for transportation when they came in
our islands.

Historically, early barangay were relatively started with 30-100 families, also known as a small
community. As what I had learned, during my elementary days, the barangay originally started with the
Malayan settlements in some coastal areas in the archipelago. In these coastal communities, it is ruled
by a datu. The datu is not the king; he was the chieftain of the barangay, a wealthiest person in the
community with “alipin” or slaves. He was the one responsible for the interests of his people. Historians
believed that the people’s commandments during pre-colonial times are the written laws the Maragtas
Code and the Code of Kalantiaw. Historians believed that Maragtas Code was written by Datu Sumakwel.
The code was first ever written law that deals and focuses on the penalty for those who are lazy, while
the Code of Kalantiaw was writtem by the Datu from Negros, Datu Kalantiaw.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF A BARANGAY IN PRE-COLONIAL ERA

In a develop Barangays in an area the Datu was on the top of all. The social order in a barangay was
divided into three classes.

1. As what I have said above the Datu belongs to the highest class in the society. The wealthiest
person of the community. He has slaves and he is the leader. In terms of marriage, they only marry their
own kind to maintain the purity of their bloodline. They search the whole community to find a deserving
woman and the datu contracted her with golds and jewelries.

2. Next, was the free man or the timawas. Term timawa refers to an intermediate social classamong
the various cultures of the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th and 17th
centuries. These groups of people do or make things according to their will. They were not paid they
work for themselves. They cannot be sold
 3. Lastly was the slaves or the alipin. Aipin has two categories,

a. Aliping namamahay – it is the slave with a higher status. They were slaves but then they were ale to
live on the house. They can’t be sold.

b. Aliping saguiguilid –it is a slaves with a lower status. They were paid and they can be sold.

BARANGAY SYSTEM DURING THE SPANISH COLONIZATION

On the 16th century, it was the beginning of the Spaniards colonization in Philippine
archipelago. Ferdinand Magellan headed the first Spanish explorer to the Philippines on 1521, meeting
untimely death in Cebu. The invasion of the Filipino did not begin in 1564; it was on the arrival of the
5thexpedition that the Spain sent. Miguel Lopez de Legazpi commanded it. During the Spanish
colonization our natives’ set of government had been affected. The Cabeza de Barangay (Spanish for
"head of the barangay") was the leader or chief of a barangay in the Philippines during
the Spanish colonial period. The Cabeza de Barangay was now their form of government. It was also
called a principalia, they were the Datu, Sultan and Lakan. The Spaniards gave the position in the cabeza
de barangay to the datu in order to help them colonize our island. They used the datu to protect their
country against the Filipinos. As the head, he promotes and collects the taxes from the community and
gave it to the Spaniards. They didn’t even get paid to the service that they’ve been giving to them. They
were just exempted of paying the tax. During the Spanish colonization the government had 2 branches
the executive and judicial. The only laws of the Philippine were the laws created by the Governor-
general who was the leader of the government.

SOCIAL STRUCTURES DE BARANGAY DURING SPANISH COLONIAL TIMES

1. Principalia - nobility class was the social and educated class in the towns of colonial Philippines
composed of the Gobernadorcillo (Town Mayor), or the Cabeza de Barangay (Chief of the Barangay) who
governed the districts and the awardees of the medal of Civil Merit. They were exempted from force
labor, can be elected to public office and allowed to vote.

2. The Ilustrados - (Spanish for erudite, learned, or "enlightened ones) constituted

the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century. They were the
middle class educated and exposed to Spanish nationalist ideals.

3. Native intellectuals

a. Indios- natives usually malays

b. Insulares-those were born in the country that their parents were pure Spanish

c. Meztisos – those were the filipinos having both Filipinos and Spaniards bloodline.

d. Peninsulares – Spaniards born in Spain

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In early Philippine history, the barangay was a complex sociopolitical unit[1] which scholars have
historically[2] considered the dominant organizational pattern among the various peoples of
the Philippine archipelago.[3] [4]

These sociopolitical units were sometimes also referred to as barangay states[4], but are more properly
referred to using the technical term "polity", rather than "state",[3][5] so they are usually simply called
"barangays",[4][1] but evidence suggests a considerable degree of independence as a type of "city
states" ruled by datus, rajahs and lakans and sultans[6]. Early chroniclers[7] record that the name
evolved from the term balangay, which refers to a plank boat widely used by various cultures of the
Philippine archipelago prior to the arrival of European colonizers.[1][3]
Datu is a title which denotes the rulers (variously described in historical accounts as chiefs, sovereign
princes, and monarchs[Notes 1]) of numerous indigenous peoples throughout the Philippine archipelago

Raja (/ˈrɑːdʒɑː/; also spelled rajah, from Sanskrit राजन् rājan-), is a title for a monarch or princely ruler in
the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia

the rank of Lakandenoted a "paramount ruler" (or more specifically, "paramount datu") of one of the
large coastal barangays (known as a "bayan") on the central and southern regions of the island
of Luzon.[1]

Belonging to the Maginoo social class, the lakan was democratically selected by other ruling Datus from
among themselves, to serve as "pangulo" (head).[2]

Sultan (/ˈsʌltən/; Arabic: ‫ سلطان‬sulṭān, pronounced [sʊlˈtˤɑːn, solˈtˤɑːn]) is a positionwith several

historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority",
"rulership", derived from the verbal noun ‫ سلطة‬sulṭah, meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to
be used as the title of certain rulers who claimed almost full sovereignty in practical terms (i.e., the lack
of dependence on any higher ruler), albeit without claiming the overall caliphate, or to refer to a
powerful governor of a province within the caliphate. The adjective form of the word is
"sultanic",[1] and the dynasty and lands ruled by a sultan are referred to as a sultanate (‫ سلطنة‬salṭanah).

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