HISTORY

(PRE-SPANISH PERIOD
AND
SPANISH PERIOD)
 PRE-COLONIAL

BARANGAY

from Malay word BALANGHAY

 The inhabitants of the of the Philippines
originally consisted of disparate tribes
scattered throughout its more than
seven thousand islands.
 These tribes were generally free and
were each governed by a system of laws
promulgated by the datu or a council of
elders.
 Their government is called barangay
which was composed of 30-100 families.
 The three important powers of the
government were vested in one person,
the datu.
Three important powers of the government
 Executive
 Legislative

 Judicial
 How laws were made?

 The chieftain made the necessary rules

with the consultation of the elders of the
barangay.
 A public announcer called umalohokan
was summoned and ordered to go around
the barangay to announce the
promulgation of the new rules.
 KINDS OF LAWS

 CUSTOMARY
 WRITTEN
 SUBJECTS DEALT WITH THE CUSTOMARY AND WRITTEN LAWS

 Inheritance
 Property rights

 Divorce

 Family relations

 Adoptions

 Usury

 Partnership Loans

 Crime & punishment

 Kinds of crimes

 Major
 Minor
 KINDS OF MAJOR CRIMES
 Rape
 Insult
 Incest
 Trespassing
 Murder
 Sacrilegious act
 Witchcraft
 Larceny
 KINDS OF MINOR CRIMES
 Adultery
 Cheating
 Petty theft
 Perjury
 Disturbance of the peace of the night by
singing
 Destroying documents own by the chief.
 Kinds of penalties
 Death
 Heavy fine

 Exposure to ants

 Small fine

 Flogging

 Cutting of fingers

 Swimming for a certain number of hours

 JUDICIAL PROCESS
 Every dispute will be resolved by the
“court” which is composed of the
chieftain as the judge and the barangay
elders as the jury.
 Trials were held publicly and decisions

were rendered promptly.

 The accused and the accuser faced each
other with their respective witnesses.
 The witnesses must show their honesty
and sincerity, took an oath to this
effect: “May the crocodile devour me if I
tell any falsehood”, May the lightning
strike me if I don’t tell the truth and
nothing but the truth”
 “May I die here and now if I tell a lie”, “May
the sun and the moon frown upon me”.
 Conflicts arising between subjects of different

barangays were resolved by arbitration in

which a board composed of elders from
neutral barangays acted as arbiter.
 Trial by ordeal

 It is practiced to determined the

guilt of a person. It was resorted to
in order to show that God in his
infinite wisdom always took the side
of the innocent.
 Examples of trial by ordeal
 The suspects were ordered to place a
stone in a vessel with boiling water and
compelling them to dip their hands into
the vessel to take out the stone. The
suspect who refused to obey the
command was regarded as the culprit.
 The man whose hand was scalded
the most was considered the guilty
one.
 The second consisted in giving
lighted candles to the suspects. The
man whose candle unfortunately
died out first was regarded as the
guilty party.
 The third consisted of ordering the
suspects to plunge into the river or lake
with lances. He who came to the surface
first was considered guilty.
 The fourth consisted of ordering the
suspects to chew uncooked rice. Each of
them spat his saliva and the one whose
saliva came out the thickest was
adjudged the culprit.
 Filipino Values/Traits
 Hospitality
 Close Family Ties

 Respect for the elders

 Fatalistic

 Tendency to be indolent

 Regionalistic

 Curious