BY: Juan de Plasencia

Who is the Author? (Give a short biography)

Juan de Plasencia was a Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order. He was among the
first group of Franciscan missionaries who arrived in the Islands on July 2, 1578. Fray Juan
was born to the illustrious family of the Portocarreros in Plasencia in the region of
Extremadura, Spain, in the early 16th century. He spent most of his missionary life in the
Philippines, where he founded numerous towns in the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, and
Rizal. He authored several religious and linguistic books, most notably the Doctrina Cristiana
(Christian Doctrine), the first book ever printed in the Philippines. Juan de Plasencia passed
away in Liliw, Laguna, in the year 1590.

How do the author’s gender and socioeconomic class compare to the people about whom he
or she is writing?

The author writes about his narrative story given the plethora of biases and to a
great extent, inaccurate judgments and pretensions of the author, the text was clearly not
written for local consumption, but for Western readers. Customs of the Tagalogs, just like
any other colonial texts written during the Spanish colonial period, was intentionally made
to provide an exoticize description of the Tagalog natives, clearly fed by politics and
propaganda and operated with the Western-outsider's gaze, that would be appealing to
them.
Why did he write the source?

Fr. Juan de Plasencia was a Spanish friar of the Franciscan Order and was assigned
in Tagalog Region. After he spent missionary in the Philippines, the King of Spain tasked
him to document the customs and tradition of natives based on his observation and
judgment. He collected information through people who has great knowledge of
colonized native. Which he found out the style of the government, administration of
justice, slaves, inheritance, and dowries.

Who was the intended audience?

It is obvious that the content of this book is not for Tagalogs or for any local
consumption. The Customs of Tagalog was documented for Western People and Spanish
regime to understand the lives and culture of Tagalogs and allowing the Spaniards to not
only govern, but also to reconfigure and reconstruct Philippine society.

What is your overall analysis and critique of this source?

The content of the Customs of Tagalog gave us an extraordinary insight of what

are our ancestor beliefs, culture, and social classes act before. Which still became part of
our practices even today. Even the description of mythical creature and superstitious
happenings was observed. And may this help Filipino realized that our cultural identity
was not totally just an offspring of Spaniards but solely Filipino itself which the narrative
gave as unquestionable connection of the past of who we are.

Are their detectable biases in the source?

Base what we understand in the document of” The customs” there will be a bias
when it comes of the resources of this document. At the first places Juan de Plasencia is
not a Filipino, He is a Franciscan missionary in the Tagalog region . When you read their
document, he said that” this document written as an answer to the request of the
monarchy in Spain”. So, in that case there should be a spying happened about the people
culture. Because base of my research Philippine invaded in May 1, 1898 of Spain and the
author of this document is a missionary in Philippines since 1578- 1590. There for a
concluded that Juan de Plasencia is an asset of the Spain before they invade Philippines.
When was the source composed?

The customs of Tagalog were written on the year 1598 during the Spanish Colonial
Period.

What is the historical context in which the source was written and read?

Customs of the Tagalog, just like any other colonial texts written during the Spanish
colonial period, was intentionally made to provide an exoticize description of the Tagalog
natives, clearly fed by politics and propaganda and operated with the Western-outsider's
gaze, that would be appealing to them.

Are there other contemporary source to compare against this one?

Discovery of the archipelago by Magellan. Naming of las Islas Pilipinas by the

Villalobas expedition. The establishment of the first permanent settlement in the country by
the Legaspi expedition. Spain sent the Spanish missionaries to the Philippines. Fr. Francisco
Alsina was assigned in the Visayas, and Fr. Juan de Plasencia was set in tagalog region
through a letter the king of Spain tasked Juan de Plasencia the document the customs and
traditions of the colonized (natives) based on his observation and judgment

He collected Indio’s from different district, old men, and those of most capacity. He
has obtained the simple truth from them after weddinging out much foolishness regarding
their government, administration of justice, inheritance slaves, and dowries. “Customs of the
Tagalogs” is a part (either chapters or subsection) of longer monographs written by the
chroniclers of the Spanish expedition to the Philippines during the early 16th and 17th
century. Given the significant number of biases and, to a great extent, inaccurate judgment,
and pretension of the authority of the Customs of the Tagalog, the text was not for local
consumption but Western readers. The customs of the Tagalog were intentionally made to
provide an eroticize description of the Tagalog natives clearly fed by politicians.

What is your overall analysis and critique of this source?

The content of the Customs of Tagalog gave us an extraordinary insight of what are
our ancestor beliefs, culture, and social classes act before. Which still became part of our
practices even today. Even the description of mythical creature and superstitious happenings
was observed. And may this help Filipino realized that our cultural identity was not totally
just an offspring of Spaniards but solely Filipino itself which the narrative gave as
unquestionable connection of the past of who we are.

Furthermore, the book allows us to understand how our forefathers created this
framework, and we can speculate on what might have happened if the Spaniards had not
colonized the Philippines. The writer stated that the Philippines has a rich culture, but that
the locals' culture was vastly different from theirs. He describes customs that are unfamiliar
to him in his accounts. In addition, he employs adjectives that portray Tagalog culture as
strange to the rest of the globe. He suggests cultural distinctions between the present and
the Western culture.