Barangay, Crescent, Cross: Excerpts By: Onofte D. Corpuz ‘The Barangay The community life in the old barangays that had traded with the Chinese on a more or less regular basis by the thirteenth century would not have differed significantly in the early sixteenth century. Overall, life was essentially subsistence but not harsh, The environment in the: settlement sites that the barangay people had chosen for their homes was benign. Food gathering and hunting would become supplementary. Cultivation of the soil and fishing became primary livelihood activities. Fox notes the existence of specialization: “smith, potter, midwife, trader, but this specialization clearly would almost all of the early religious functionary and oth Spanish accounts avidly spun fantasies about this metal and proposed its extraction not only from the supposed placers and mines but also from the natives, who wore it as oraments, A_1640 account reports how the natives regarded gold differently: “There are gold mines in the island ‘of Manila [i.e., Luzori], and on the river of Butuan in the island of Mindanao. Truly there is not sufficient [gold] to satisfy the desire of the Spaniards; but the little that there is of it sufficed the Indians, who value it only for the little use that they make of it, since it does not enter at all into trade. Pigafetta had the following as products of Cebu island: swine, goats, dogs, cats, rice, millet, panicum, com, ginger oranges, lemons, sugarcane) garlic, honey, coconuts, jackfruit, gourds, palm wine, and “much gold.” We see from this that generally the same fruits of the Jand were common, to the places visited by the Magallanes expedition. Pigafetta predictably took note of the different liquors: palm wine or brandy drunk by Colambu, chief of Limasawa/Butuan—he was visibly a {jovial imbiber; in Palawan, besides the usual products, there was rice wine which was “better and Stronger” than palm wipe. The people of Palawan entertained the visitors with a cockfight; the Iatives raised large cocks for this special purpose; there was betting on the results. The betel and betel nut chewing were widespread. According to Fox, the following were not native to the archipelago, havin; duced later from America by the Spaniards: the sweet poiato, com (mentioned by Pi esent in Limasawa), cassava, beans, tobacco, tomato, squash, pepper (also mentioned by in Suluan), peanut, pineapples. Loarea wrote (1582) that ducks and geese were brought into the archipelago from China, Fox also writes ofthe importance of “introduced and cultivated bamboos” in the daily life of the people. He may or may, not have meant that the bamboo was indigenous to the islands. In any case the native houses were ‘of bamboo and thatch and their boais were fitted with bamboo outriggers. The other Spanish era listings of other native products become inconclusive at this point, since many animals and plants ffom the mainland, but especially China, might have already been introduced into the archipelago. “Trade among the barangays involved the products of their local craftsmen: pottery woven mats, tools and utensils, as well as fish. Morga added to these a list of items, some of which were obviously of high value: various kinds of provisions, woven blankets, cattle and fowls; land, ses, and laves; fishing, coconut, nipa, and forest tracts or lands. Morga wrote that the common hou; jn the transaction, it was price agreed ure? eae foreign traders, Pigafeta Neonat nan atively developed and ad del Seg oF he seen Diane Fe cases that balancing seales were in use. Suspended °°” 1 was a lead piece of the Gatien observed tht ile tobe weighed at OCT. ie ibras, and libres, Fae arr ri nant the later were added weighs OF AUB -pedition leader in See ei an cin te pan was shown 2ccurtly. TMT cruputous these {Cobu sent the Spanish king a set of these scales in 1567. 19 show people are in their dealings.” Barter in the more valus because these were not objects of ordinary sale : payment nsxiordinaryorstaitened circumstances, such orto pay off large debis. Lending was common in the old barate's servitude. Forest products such as wax; also local cloths, mats, Dele such as pearls and tortoise shell, were bart ‘The widespread homogeneity of the barangay of early thirteenth centuries, when the South China trac We have already noted tire accounts about this trade; they customs, and character ofthe people, as ‘well a to trad the archaeological finds of Chinese trade goods such as pott in the late ninth to early twelfth centuries would not be conclusive ‘This is because the artifacts could have been brought to the archipelag: The only other written accounts about the arter but that, when there Was js from China - .d had dealing: sh as land and houses could not have Deen comma bl items such a and a re pO asi neonnection with wedding dowries, ys; nonp ist culture already ¢ arter to the ish .ders would come for b: tery and porcelain Wa > in much later times. ‘eeniury and the first years of the next. From these material area, itis the origin of Lanao, Maranao, Mindanao, Maguindanao. The ‘Tagaloos ' theriver, after log. Sug or ocean current is the origin of Sulu: the ite bl g : thus . the incompar Sea Warriors wino fought the Spaniards for three hundred years, are people of th es Beans shore or beach; it was thename of seer coasal villages in various islands: wen ol oy * of the old names of Leyte Province. : mau The reason for the prevalence of water-related sites i< eles thousand islands in te archipelago; the water vce ene Provided abundant and protein-rch food; and ttansporiation nS ‘movement as well as for light from enemies. The 1514 ens natives hardly travelled by land. enc Cited ab ably sold or used in payment usually led to 1 nut; as well as special items jered with foreign traders. wean lands, provide terse references to terrain, soil, ods, We have to rely on these accounts; e manufactured on the timing of the contacts” hipelago and its people come much later: the Tecord ofthe Magallanes expedition and then the Spanish reports and accounts of the latter sixteenth nformation and insights about barangay settlement patterns and cultural features. Settlement patterns, as if by design, exhibited a common typ forefathers located their Settlements along river, lakeshore, and seacoast. Even in the hinterland the settlements tended to Parallel mountain streams; the houses were strung out like a ribbon along a body of water, This explains the prominence of water-related terms in Filipino place n umpang means river bank, and from this is derived the name of Pampanga Province. Cebu its name to sughu, Which also means river bank. Agusan means “where the water flows”: it is the name of Agusan Province. Catanduanes Province is named after the river Catanch gan City in northem Mindanao owes its name to iligan or ilidan, which means coast means lake or flooded re people from are more than seven 1g; Sea, lake, and river easy, both for normal ove also noted that theeter the coast and along rivers rice and tended their groves of coconut, nipa, banans jonary work in Samar in the 1590s also states that coast, The woodlands of the interior were reported in the au € inhabitants of these hinterland sites were called Tinguianes. Morga wrote that sites by rivers and streams.” A Franciscan account of mission work in Tayabas | erved that the people loved their mountain settlements “because of the many. ee The uatve houses were of two types, although both were ree th iwellings were supported by poles or posts. The living area in the commoners’ _ Was small. Everybody roomed together. The area under the tise oa gencaly one ee ‘women pounded the rice, and here also the chickens and pigs and probably also goats were: kept. ty means ofa bamboo [ates which would be raised when the residents Were out. This “security” Teature still marked Philippine rural dwellings in modem times. ‘The houses of the chiefs were more heavy and substantial, with several rooms ‘posts, and were featured by claborately wrought timber and furnishings. The house of Chief Colambu in 1521, described by Pigafetta as a “palace.” was quite rudimentary. He wrote that the structure looked like a haystack, thatched with banana or palm leaves; it was raised above ground. and supported by four posts; one had to go up by ladder to enter the house, Living close to water, our forefathers had well-developed boats or water craft. Among. these were dugouts made from large hollowed out tree trunks, or large bancas fashidned from ‘timber and furnished with benches, for inland travel by river or stream. There were larger craft, the arangays, as slender at the bow as they were astern, lying low in the water light and fast. These vessels had no deck but they had platforms for fighting men; the larger ones had as many as one Thundred rowers with blade on-each side. They had masts and sails. The fact that these vessels mever sank, even if the hull would fill with water, in heavy seas or wind, impressed Morga. This was due fo bamboo outriggers on both sides, skimming the water and balancing the boat without fnterfering with the rowing. Morga noted that the natives throughout the islands had used these ? craft since ancient times. Other vessels w or at least roomier, flat bottomed and drawing Py itle water, for carrying merchandise, but these were not for the open sea. The barangay was the ‘most commonly used craft. Of language, there was a proliferation then as now of spoken dialects. However Gommonalities among the principal dialects were obvious. Morga, presumably aware of the Wifferences between the Visayan dialects of Cebu and Panay. nevertheless wrote that the language _ of “all the Pintados and Visayas is one and the same, by which they understand each other when talking, and when writing...” Atjust the same time as Morga, the Jesuit Chirino noted the similarity lanione the dialects: “within a few days they can understand and converse with each other.” Morga that Tagalog could be understood as far as Camarines in the Bicol region, and even in the ns, we can tely On ‘not adjoining Luzon. Beyond the authority of these recorded observatior long list of 132 Cebuano words, n the Magallanes expedition. Pigafetta assembled a I : cgi their similarity to the words in other dialects from Luzon to Mindanao 1s m would be understood by modern non-Cebuano Filipinos.i are explained easily. According song nec ne pl oe als NE Tanguages aration of dialects even among people living on one als Pease - erie rs “The basic language was shaped and eee ‘ y the . i to ieee filets we cording to local conditions, and the dialects became in Be crctoe i ematic. The Jesuit Chirino’s Catan i Te cari ncn nome wing 5 . dat ‘teportonilpinas as of 1600, published in Rome in 1604, carne on appears in the _ -d in Philippine history textbooks. A simi e ee oii by te ae alctinnistator Morga, written in 1603 and published! in Mexico “in 1609; its cited as frequently as Chirino’s. The gist of modern panne ca ae a 7 these two sources, is that the art of writing among the natives during the p! virtually universal, at least widespread. om: There is a need to ae this opinion because the assertions of Chirino and Neti Which are not supported by evidence are themselves considered to be the evidence. Chirino. rote that there was scarcely a man or woman who did not write; and Morga wrote that the people throughout the islands wrote very well. However, neither mentioned the existence of any Collections of writings by any natives; nor did they ever refer to any native written materials to © be found anywhere in any island or barangay: nor a single specimen of any native writing on any Subject, by any person, anywhere. It is exactly as if, for instance, the proof of the Spaniards’ ability “to write lay solely in the testimony of two French chroniclers, without direct evidence of any ‘Spanish written materials or specimens. It is therefore proper to consider this matter. A quick look at the principal possible and actual sources of data will be useful ‘The Chinese traders, who preceded the Spaniards and had been visiting some of the islands Centuries earlier, did not note the art of writing in the archipelag The Magallanes expedition of 1521 also recorded nothing of native writing, In fact, when ithe remnants of the expedition were in Borneo in July, Pigafetta noted that the sultan, a Muslim, had [) etcourtseribes whose soe function was o record his afcirs, writing on thin too bark. Pigateta’s | Roles for Massava Island the previous March were different. He was with Chief Colambu and the j) Tatiet's men; he asked them for the local names of diverse objects, he wrote these down and th ead them out aloud to his hosts, and the latter were all astonished — pear eens 1565 expedition, counting the command Wve friars, numbered some 350 men upon arrival in Cebu, Not F h ; Qe n Cebu. Not one of them ever de eat Ming about native writing. They stayed in Cebu until 1569, From there they a oe - Spain me me siisse Teports and letters covered a wide range of subjects: their contacts with °| op Es a customs, beliefs, social conditions, and governance; their trade, products, zens fe on other ees the transactions between the people and the Spaniards for ‘Supplies; the preparations for baptism into Christianity i 'y of some Cebu notables; and of e the peace agreements with Tuy , the chief ee. Pete cuie Ipas, lief of Cebu. Not one of those letters and reports. the Spanish officials, friars or pri i h h , Priests, soldiers, and others who came to the i the islands 5, not one is known to have observed and recorded, whether upon arrival cata exception. Thus, the tomes of Blair and his officers, crew, and men, 8 about native writing-with only one‘covering much of the events and conditions i ne n anything relative to the practice or existence of te E siadors and seers.” . E panish descripti reports, ‘of events and conditions in Filipinas after the initial accoun: oe __canno be denied.” he wrote, “that the men who have come to this country havi a "for investigation, since neither ecclesiastics nor laymen have undenaken io ae Sea in this land at the time of its conquest ..” It was this absence of reports that prompted the Spanish King to require that he write his Relacidn. As will be seen later, what Loarca set down relative to writing will negate the later accounts upon which present-day opinion is based. The bishop’s 1588 letter to the Spanish king reported thet Mustim preachers from Borneo and Temate were active in Maguindanao: they had built and were “building mosques, and the— ‘BoySare being circumeised, and there 1s school where they ate tau the Alcon i goo Tslamic schooling indicates that the teaching of reading and writ ng thug Tae ‘was going, 6nrin Maguindanao. There ¥s no mention ever in the Spanish accounts of native schools anywhere else in the archipelago. Chirino arrived in Manila in 1590. This was more than twenty years after Loarea. In his book on conditions in Filipmas as of T600 he wrote the following words, which have shaped modern opinion on writing among the natives II these island people to writing and reading, that there is scareely aman, and So given are a .¢ characters used in Manila. = much fess a woman, who does not read and write in th They have copied us. writing horizontally ftom left to right. Formerly they used to write from top to bottom, putting the first vert lie on the eft and side (i semen amteey) continuing towards the ‘They write on bamboc 1m leaves, using an iron point for a pen. At present they write | cut pen and on paper, like ourselves. They have aswell as we do, and even betes eSRIEETE) not only their letters, but also very well and write th the greatest ease, —_——o—o Morga arrived in Manila in 1595, He left for Mexico in July 1603; there e Sucesos or account of Filipinas, that he had beet working on fe of the people o} age: the same, by which they understand one another when talk + own which they possess. These resembl the natives is on the leaves of trees, and on b The administrator is internal evidence in his book, th the book during that year. Morga wro! ing, or when writing with le those of the Arabs. The amiboo bark. is one and ic the letters and characters of thei common manner of writing among{shat the people of Luzon and its nearby islands had a language different from Then he wrote, almost like vente very ll in characters that are alos ke the Gres oF eo. and now on paper, the lines running ffom The Tight bo Pare manner RTesall he natives, rh men aid women, writ in his anguaees tnd there are ver Tew who do ot write it well, and correct . "Meanwhile, in 1593, the Doctrina Christiana was printed in Manila in Spanish and in. log. The text of the Tagalog portion was prepared by Plasencia and was printed in the native GAGE woodblocks. Scott says that the book was printed because the Manila Bay area people Ha terate” inthe native script, which he says was called “baybayin.” From the root of this, "Word, which denotes coast or beach, no evidence can be adduced on the literacy issue-anyway, was already the 1590s. The earliest printed book in Ilocano, also of the Christian doctrine, ‘came out in Manila in 1620. It was by a Franciscan friar, Francisco Lopez. It was in the Tagalog Icript, presumably because, as affimmed by Pardo de Tavera, the Tatter script “did not differ in any “Appreciable manner from that of the Hocanos.” The translation into Hocano took more than ten in is prologue Lopez acknowledged the translation assistance given him by a blind Ilocano ative named Pedro Bucaneg, Pardo de Tavera states in his notes on the 1621 edition of this ook that Lopez modified the native syllabary to make it as “adequate and perfect as Castilian.” Nevertheless, the natives “began to write their language in the alphabet of their civilizers as soon as the characters used by the Spaniards was introduced.” ‘That there existed a pre-Spanish native script need not be questioned. There are post-1565 Tepreseniations of a syllabary notably that in Chirino, although from which sources or originals lor specimens, if any, are not known. Pardo de Tavera states that the native scripts belonged toa ‘common paleographic tradition. Scott has reported that more than one hundred specimens of old ative signatures are to be found in the archives of the University of Santo Tomas-but all belong the era between 1603 and 1645. In his annotation of Morga Rizal referred to Alfred oo y the Tagbamua tribe, but thi Tavera states that he had been informed, after he had written a s the Tagbanuas and the Mangyans of Mindoro were using a modern times. All these are relevant evidence, altho: question we are examining. was nd Pardo de fy of the old scripts (1884) that 1d seript. This use continues into too late a date to be decisive on the There is a one-line inscription around the mouth of on in 1961; the pot was recovered along with Chinese and Siamese Ce GhIbe Tourteentit {nd fifteenth centuries. It is probable that more archaeological evidence of this kind will come “to light in the future. Francisco (1967) analyzes this find and is of the opinion that the script was “introduced into the archipelago between the twelfth and fourteenth centyries. Francisco's analysis vative pot dug in a Batangas site Ftheories of the origin of Philippine'scripts leads him to the conclusion not only that the seript eee hi jot only that th i ep y were introduced into the ar he scripts chipelago, but that they have a South Indian Pallaya-Grantha. 5 it tha a provenance “through Sumatra. Meanwhile, the one-line inscription on the pot has not been deciphered. be Chirino noted that the characters in the native script or syllabary, which is exhibited in his Giffered from those used in China, Japan, and India. He waxed eloquent about the Tagalog e, which he thought had the abstruseness and pregnant subtleties of Hebrew: the articles and tions in proper a vl as common nouns of Greek; the elegance and fullness of Latin; and I /, and court 5 f co ehictaterial esy of, naturally, Spanish, But he did not provide any indication‘Feport which, although rather late must be considered because it is cited very. Pe eee is that ofthe Jesuit Colin (1663). It affirms that the characters of the accep Spanish natives “were evid jently taken from that of the Muslim Malay from Arabic. Colin repeated Chirino’s early account on the manner of writing, that Be iavention since, eas a ne ask; how about the bamboo? This ie ie ee ashion, iis tricky to fold and sal palm ee ioivinne inane Sn Colin continued, “they all cling fondly SESSA Ie piege paa id not explain what other methods of raging Be ec eet of and how the people read what they wrote: But he claimed ee a woman,” who didnot wait in that manner, although te noted thatthe natives made prayer Books and manuscripts of the saints, ee em ld be asking two obvious questions at this poi Bie os efore 600 about writing among our ancestors, except only that by arca indeed stated that none of the Spaniards who came to Filipinas had the desire for igation or research. But if, as Chirino and Morga say, virtually all the people, the women. ethan the men, not only knew how to write, but also loved 0 do so; and if the language in ich they wrote had the favorable features of Latin and Hebrew and Greek and Spanish, but that Sas written on bamboo and palm leaves-would not such an extraordinary and wondrous thing Wve moved Spaniards before Chirino and Morga to record the matter and gather evidence oF it for ing to Manila and forward notice of it to Spain and to Rome? body knew how to write, and loved to write, and free (bamboos and palm leaves), why is it then that Ere is no known collection, or a single specimen, or even just a reproduction of a proven original, fh accounts to anything written by the pre-Spanish Filipinos Bare orby 1565?,All thatthe sources refer to is the supposed script but neverto any actual writing. he Franciscan San Antonio partly answered both questions. Tt would seem that, after all, ppre-Spanish Filipinos did not atually write much Up to the present,” San Antonio recorded ie \Chronicas (1738), “n0 writ ave been found” on the natives’ religious beliefs or ons. if anything was known of these matters, it was tions, ballads, “and other things.” ‘ous beliefs and community history and ounts, did our ancestors write about? people were given to writing and reading and thet _Chirino reported a peculiar situation: there were and institutions, nor on theireivie affairs and systems d, “they never made use of writing except for int. First, why The second question would be: If eve ice Writing materials were plentiful and for ied that s' oral tra bout their reli Well, if the natives did Deial institutions what, then, acco! © Four chapters after asserting that al the reely a man or woman did not read and tive writings on their religious concepts nee, This was because, Chirino explaine Hypal letters to each other, as we have said.” a is truly very odd. Most of the barangays were small; the people in wee ba ne large family. Outside of the sultanates © Sulu, Maguindango, the Mati te fy also Cebu, and possibly 9 handful of other places, the barangay ©! ae 5 tom each other. Under this ci dence oF P ding to the Spanish ac sacle separate from ac! ondition written ponthat they did not reco! ut it appears that they dis if seri not meditate on matters of adoration and worship, nor ic Jlue their traditions enough to write any: of them: ise ee eee exhausted their energies and imagination in Bertier “with uimost sensitivity, refinement, and exquisite niceties Tareas and areas where the alleged writing abilities and propensities of our ncestors could have been put to use, but were not. They could have recorded ee ents in their lives, Loarca noted that the Pintados had a lunar year of twelve months’ aaided thei contracts-San Antonio noted that they had business agreements i featured installment payments, guarantors, and-interest. They could have written on their redding and mouming rituals. They could have writen on their disputes and triumphs, sion to power oftheir chiefs andthe legends oftheir communities. But they did not. For Tito the 1600s, according to accounts ofthe Recollect missions, the people of Mariveles nd of Caragua in eastern Mindanao conducted their suits verbally and “without writing hing. This was because “their laws were only traditions and-very old customs.” "The view of language and writing that emerges from the Chirino and Morga reports divests [social arts of their essential character. Language is a product of the social nature of human 0 that language is both a root and a product of their community life. Writing in turn is the and use, in physical form, of language. Thus, if language in this physical form, writing, is said to have been used only by individuals for their private purposes, and was not placed in the gige of community concems even when this art was already widely spread, it suggests that nish Filipinos were an exception to the rest of humankind. This is not impossible, but "neither is it credible. [a The Chirino-Morga reports, one of which must have been copied from the other, superficially if the native culture in a flattering light, but in fact brand it as a grotesque culture. The basic sPioposition in these reports was patently impossible: that the people of the archipelago had attained 7 What was tantamount to universal literacy by the sixteenth century. Such a cultural attainment was ‘Rot then achieved by even the peoples of the great civilizations-in China, India, Egypt, Persia, IGreece-about whom no one has ever suggested that every 1 ‘write, and was fond of doing so. SEM Moreover, in these civilizations, where writing was certainly not universal, there was ence galore of manuscrips, scrolls tablets, and engraved materials: there were libraries and Was recorded in ther rich writings and records on thcolow, p niearyhy ee ad rae How it more easy, then, ought it to have bee llestions of the writings of the pre-Spanish Filipinos, since everyone, exc i Horie! But since San Antoni recorded that no writings ata hag crea ao nh ey demanding subjectsby the 1730s, and since Chtino had affirmed thot ved to pen on ly personal letters to each other we ought to finda richness of spec ad exquisite epistolary literature ofthe pre-Spanish era, See But alas, none exists. Failing this, xi cimen, or one authenticated reproduction of it, o ly an unimpeac ference r simp! inimpeachable refe an and woman knew how to ilosophy, science, history, n to locate depositories ornone exists 10-Morga assertion jn the face of a total absence of evidence TS bora nee: ‘This explanation is, that there are no ae Bieta nme a have all disappeared. They have disappeared because stroyed. This explanation is obviously a deu eee ene nealty Clee ae WEE aly icy os machina. The fragility argument cannot stand SUM er micusgen knew how to write and loved to do so, it does not Oe dicts ay degraded biologically. This is because those OO teitbicnncc est disappear during the Spanish era. In fact they were Eat eee = coconut and the banana are items of Philippine Gis ame disappeared through decay, but the people all loved v Peco acon te ig supply of palm and banana leaves waiting to be written on. ee see tt, eas the availability of paper during the Spanish era, the people who pee ey 2 bed bom co lonized would have shifted to this material. But then this would in an abundance of specimens of writings, as well as their convenient collection, and the lack of specimens would be even more difficult to explain. The fragility argument, therefore, is both faulty and inadequate. Ifall the people knew how to write, and loved writing, it matters not that their materials were fragile-specimens of their latest writings would abound. The inexplicably stopped writing with the onset of the Spanish era so that what they had already written on fragile ‘materials eventually deteriorated; or that they were made to stop writing, with the same result; or that they continued writing during the Spanish era, but abandoned their old scripts and shifted to the Castilian alphabet The bigotry argument is just as futile. If, as Chirino claimed, the pre-Spanish Filipinos ther, what was there to be bigoted about? Nevertheless even s resolutely sought to destroy all native writings, they would accompanied by an in, ‘Spanish native writis to each wrote enly personal lette ifit be imagined that all the Spaniard not have succeeded. It is a simple maite s, The native population was at a level of 1-1.25 million in 1565. The Appendix provid uumbers of natives and Spaniards from 1565 to 1600 and thereafter. @bviously, the S destrey the written materials of the people whom hey had brought under the regime, and we may grant that they could also have destroyed part of the written materials, if any, of even se of the barangays that they did not rule but which they hhad ravaged. But there were only 8 ‘ards in the archipelago in 1588, and only some 587,000 Fetives bad been brought under the regime by that time. On the basis of these numbers, if it were Speers the natives had attained virtually universal writin ability and everyone loved to write, it impossible for the Spaniards to have destroy ed all their writings. f Buteven considering only the people who were claimed by the regime as subjectto it, there were at least 285,000 natives 0 1594 who, on the basis of the data, had not yet seen @ Sema Hoy, then, could the writings of such a large population, distribute d among thousands of is a many of whom had never yet had contact with the Spaniards since 1565, have been so cOmPiEs ” extirpated as to disallow the admiring Spanish chroniclers from providing just one specimen by he end of the century? The whole explanation should be ruled out as a nice and vain the flattering but improbable Chirino and Morga reports. a oe > We will now consider the Loarca report is testimony an Wi amg te ay Fins scatantal and without qualifications Is also more valuable than Chirino’s, since Loarca1 readers: itions. On the matter of writing he was ting, they preserve their ancient — ‘owing, being island people, and their drinking feasts they have singers, also of good voices, who chant the exploits mes, and thus they always have a knowledge of the past. ; > Chirino kept his readers guessing why the natives had no writings on their ae nmunity governance, Loarca was forthright: he simply observed that the Visayans did not have art of writing. On the laws of the Visayans, Loarca reported that “they say" tha their laws were 1to them by Lubluban, granddaughter of the first man Sicalac [/alake] and the first woman [abae}, and daughter of Sibo [Cebu] and Samar. Their chiefs were merely the guardians @Xeeutors of these laws. This Visayan formulation-that itis the gods who make law and who @it to’ men, and that human leaders merely speak out the law and give effect to it-is a precise id economical way of expressing the concept of god-given law. It is well known to studenss of aw inl early societies, and is akin, among others, to the Homeric Greek concept in which “Themis* “Themistes” are important elements. Law in this concept is of course unwritten law, and since “Visayans did not have the art of writing and not because they only wrote personal letters- their Shad to be unwritten, This is why the Limasawa chief, Colambu, and his men were astonished Pigafetta read out their own words, after he had written them down. The culture of the pre-1565 Visayans was one where sin; acipal means for preserving and transmitting the history and iF Socializing the youth of the barangay. Such a cultu is one where writing has become the principal me Pmeans for maintaining the community's institut ; even before practically all its members have ac Collections of inscribed materials about its yand its leaders. These collections would normally consist of or include records on durable uch as stone ‘r wood or even cloth, certainly not banana or palm leaves in close to their fate. This is because the collections constitut collective memory of the society and e where both the singing/chanting and idences that the Visayans by 1582 were still ig and chanting were still the traditions of the community, and normally predates a writing culture. edium for preserving traditions and a When society has developed a writing ired the ability to write, the community rily its religious traditions, itst arrived ; he had some familiarity with the native culture. tt therefore ‘some significance that he had ton ts sort 10 old men as sources of data; this was because he could ot find written materials to consult, a We will have one more citation from Chirino, We have already his extraordinary assertions sist practically every man and woman knew and loved to writ; but that they wrote only personal Bee = 12°C other; So that their traditions and important customs were neves written down. These ~ assertions are not only extraordinai iy. They require that all of Chirino must be read before he is ited. And then be wrote of the Visayans, comparing them with the Tagalogs: the formes Unaffected and simple, because their language is crude and less developed. They do not have ee many words of refinement, because they did not have the art of writing having adopted it from the Tagalogs only a few years back.” (Emphasis supplied) Chirino’s observation was current for 1600; it only (1582) that the Visayans had no writing, We may as well eit writing in general. The Franciscan Marcelo de Rivadeneira’s Historia was published in Barcelona in 1601; it antedates Chirino’s Relacion. Rivadencira limited his account to the Tagalogs, noting that they had a distinct mode of writing in a different script from that of the Spaniards, and thatthe Tagalogs had no science, making no formal inquities into the secrets of the natural world. A later Jesuit account of 1640 cited Chirino and then reported, without Clarification: “They have leamed fo write from us by making their lines from left to right instead of their former way of writing from fop to botiom.... They use their writing only to write letters from one to another, for they have no Bases oflearning.” These accounts seve to reenforoe Loar’ exotic gaaated Seeioativingin the Visayas in the 1590s, say that the Visayans did not have the art of writing Eiiys few years” before 1600, and then that virtually all men and women knew the art, and loved to write, by 1600? The second part of the sd aspect i Manila or Tavalog area ges broress in fhe zovernment of the community, the principal chief, ben I convoked theater nis hose He thn spoke, ecaring that node eee il the othe : ing committed, it Was necessary to prescribe penalties Seger the Yariou ; + in peace. The Pintados do not have ths system 2 per in pe sm anid make regulat ald mize another as his superior. Then the : sicing laws hem would eee ee { vod and proper to them, and that since he was the paramount Boerne ano do-what was to bimjut and proper and they wuld aro wh eS w Lcbiet made the laws that he deemed necessary, because these Ler aaa ee chal he oer naivs of thesland id not have. ees hhad-the art of writing, which allt ay wae chief or datu had decided, the public erier would go After the paramore oclaiming in each plce the new avs that bad been a= E a bell, proclaiming : 5 "barangay or barangays with a bell, p ection between writing and —__Loarea’s last sentence i ig extremely important. It provides.a cont i ative writ king, as well as a link between m: ‘are more confirms Loarca, who was positive two more observations on the issue of account is even more crucial. It will later lead to an re-Spanish natives. This part described the he status of writing among tI i ing of laws iting and Islam. Lawmaking-the making‘beyond tril superstition. a ey oftheir Reaue Ey proper that writing ina society where the artis to have us believe, limited d with lawmaking and is not, as Chiring seer’ tvs in the Manila area presence of writing and the making of writt at the time of the niki ot abit native communities in political development ith Free gion only of the Sulu and Maguindanao areas. thereat... os, Manila before 1565 is confirmed by the preceding q _ Cee ee Ton y converted to Islam. Loarca elsewhere not Sea et seiner Tondo had cen Burney.” When he stated further Near eee acre eet allie other naives of these islands do not Neen eee ee nag ia theca of writing among te Manila, tisnevitable tht Islam as tobe directly linked tothe status of wrtingamongithe Manila ioe ly the art of writing in their own script; their chiefs certainly nye he Muslim missionaries distributed ‘ bic writing. This was because the Mus s : “knew either some Bornean or Aral id Manila ee payer books to prospective converts in the couse of ther proseytizing work in Mania, such asthe Spaniards would do later with catechism. Muslim missionaries began their work in Sut nai {ate fourteenth century. Islam arrived in Maguindanao around a century a ‘Manila-Tondo, Batangas, Palawan, and Mindoro some time before the Spaniards are i, Thenoton that writing was widespread or universal among the pe-Spanish Filipinos must Bel torest. The usual casi that, when writing appears in a society, the members of the uppe Fa Peeinod would beamong the fist tohave te at. Let us consideraconeree case, that of Nicolas Ramos, the governadorcilfo or native head of the pucblo of Lubao, Pampanga, who ‘asa deponent in a 1591 court case, The notarial record ends with the entry that “he does not sign his name, as he cannot write, and appears to be about forty years old.” So here was a member of © the native upper class, born around 1550, reaching adulthood when the Spaniards reached Manila, Who Would have known how to write if the Chirino-Morga accounts were reliable, and could mot have forgotten this skill when he became head of his pueblo. Yet this member of the native |) Principalia or ruling class was unable to sign his name to his own deposition, either in Spanish or in the Old pre-Spanish script-this, just before Chirino and Morga wrote th man and woman knew how to write, and did it well The link between Islam and writing, on the other hz eading Maguindanao chief, presumably Dimansancay, wro ‘Spaniards in 1574. The man Magad - china, native of Bala 2 with a 1578 expedition to Borneo, stated thatthe people 2yan, Mindoro, and Bombon _ Teamed Islam from Bornean missionaries. More specifica! nicestors were taught Islam by _ Maislims from Borneo. He himself had seen the Koran and t preached by a Muslim in his ip wsalse- Of Balayan. He had been to Borneo, and had to stay therefor eight to nine years. He ‘heard that the sultan there wrote letters to Raja Soliman, chief of Manila, and to Lakandula, chief f , urging them to revolt against the Spaniards and assuring them of his protection. Magad- ‘Was about thirty-one years old, so that he was born al ¢ bout 1547, turning twenty just after the igned the notarized copy o if ards arrived in Cebu. He si r : S f his testimony, accor ‘ding to the record, - de at almost every native repeatedly documented. The fra, chapter 3) to the s, testifying in connection Magad - china to deliver two letters to e, the other “in that of Manila.” Magat {as “an Indian : Dimansancay for the einen, mes He wrote a Jeter “in the moro language” to Chief _ moro” to refer also to the people NEM ler. The Spaniards of the time often used the term “Indian (1588) about the Muslim sehools sy a Finally, we have the report of the bishop of Filipinas Br Berra Gitene « Heat ‘where boys were being taught the Koran, Be eteiccs up tothe cargy ene, “eablsbes that among all the inavidals efons ee consistently - A tur-of-the- ‘ Pave writing me ie Cao (1904) indicates the opinion a the time about an aspect of . Bo irc lands that the povecmmear nn engaged by the new American regime to examine IBishow their deeds of ownership tn nares buying. The vendors of the estates were required eee letailed report, the lawyers said that the deeds shown: f Ee imiciaisic cook oe re toe geal ‘of paper in ink, .. and in characters now obsolete. h - example we may state that in one ofthe documents pertaining tothe ttle deeds of tehaenin of ian Laan] Webel wck ock othe eres day ofthe eee _We must discount the passage dating the documents tothe “earliest days ofthe Spanish dominion.” Bian, either under this name of any ots earlier names (e.g. Viiang), doesnot appeat in the lists of native barangays assigned to the earliest Spanish encomenderos, nor is it listed as & ‘crown encomienda. Moreover, the documents were of paper and ink, which were not in use among, the pre-Spanish natives. But the whole statement is good evidence of a pre-Spanish indigenous script in the Tagalog region close to Manila and Batangas. Tn conclusion, the existence of the art of writing in the archipelago before the Spanish era is evidenced by the obviously pre-Spanish syllabaries and Loarca’s indisputable testimony. But Writing was not widespread. Writing developed among the Visayans with the use of the Tagalog crip, before 1600 but after 1565. The Tagalogs in the Manila area, Batanges, Laguna, Tayabas, and probably also in Mindoro and Bulacan, had the art of writing ‘The Hocanos had a script. Laws were nade and written in the Manila area. The chiefs of Manila were in written communication with the sultan of Borneo. Writin y in the Arabic script, was linked to Islamic conversion work: in Manila and Batanges ng in Maguindanao and Sulu. No indisputably authentic ve writing has come to light. specimen of pre-Spanish The testimony of Chirino and Morga 1s flawed. They might or might not have been aware pf Loarca’s 1582 report. In the case of Chirino, the Janguage of his report on the natives’ singing BP hd chanting is very similar to Loarca’s. Chisino and Morga were both bureaucrats who were publishing their reports ™ their respective capitals, in Rome and Mexico. It will ot ne to say that they were indulging in exaggeration, which is not unusual in the behavior of some hel personne! when reporting their experiences and performance to the head office. ‘ ee The native scripts were superseded by the Castilian alphabet. in colonized x a the Te area the Arabic soript, which might have displaced the native script at Ie a oe Iso superseded by the Castilian. Islamic influences were present in. sap in om ee 565; the barangays in the interior that preserved their independence o! a : 2, presumal There was writinos their old writing. nity preserved their wrials in modern times is due to the fact Fee pe wins since writing was not widespread 1s onl) wader en sete ee ey lay tar to ters shite from the od seri othe Cas lias sibel ona Gidea ta the nue’ ing sills could not progress during the ensuring colonial era when the Pee teed from their old barangays and mathe Eee ce come rile bythe ars ifr, chapter), Later on, the people who could wie 0 enrages th brary ciency sae itis equally shown in those aspects of culture whose absence was common to most of them, by the sixteen century. In the economic realm there was no coinage since trade was generally by barter. There were no roads, Transport was mainly by water; the wheel was probably not known, Indigenous constuction technology didnot produce lage eifces or stuctres, The visiting, Frenchman La Perouse (1787) wrote, doubtless with Some exaggeration, that “the materials o} @ native house weigh less than two hundred pounds.” That could not be said of the magnificent mountain rice terraces of the Ifugao people of northem Luzon, in continuous use since they were built some 800-1,000 years ago. On the basis of their achievement, the Ifugaos have to be the {greatest native engineers in our early history. Their technology for carving out kilometer after Kilometer of mountainside; for moving and joining stones and boulders in place to form the unbroken snaking embankments; and their social organization for decision making, manpower mobilization, project management, and project implementation, on an epic scale and over such a Jong period of time, have not yet been described There wereno temples or churches for public worship. Thisis characteristic ofearly societies, especially those that believe in nature spirits (the early Filipinos’ anitos). If the spirits and deities that are revered or supplicated for guidance and inspiration dv Everywhere, so that it is unnecessary to erect shrines and temples to them, It is when the object of worship and adoration is deemed remote or ina mafuravand ie God, or of the spirits of those who have departed fiom that shrines Provide a venue for contact or mediation with v about the creation; in a supreme deity (called Bath inn then they are literally fashioned to he spirits. Our forefathers had beliefs r some variant among the Tagalogs, Laon among the Visayans); in an afterlife which was akin ell; and in spirits and deities, The 1640 Jesuit account cited earlier noted of the Ta an efs: “They are not far from our belief on the point of the creation of the wor a first man, the flood, and Paradise, and the punishments of the future life Although they did not build temples or churc} According to Plasencia the Tagalogs called these A simbahan often consisted of a temporary shed on of the Tagalogs in Taytay near Manila, who had little huts were secretly dedicated to the anitos, but the wom and tall, in order to conceal their true purpose from th to the village was marked by a humble shed which deity the barangays had no churches whatever. Rizal the universe, had no need for any. It must be said, fin I places for sacrifice Filipino for church), house. Chirino wrote nnexed to their houses; these gather there ostensib bamboo huts nen woul e Sp ly for sewing niards. In Visayan villages the entrance was a place for sacrifice, For the supreme observed approvingly that God, Creator of ally, that our forefathers never practiced ororganization above and beyond the kinship principle Assated eaten etree et pelt a family-based community, The family hase of baeaneay wenberkif mele ea, and governance worked to splinter the population of he sands no merce ee ee ee jon of the islands into numerous small and separate ion of the population into separate settlements over the centur more than a hundred dialects from the orginal language. Fox, in an article on eontac of the inhabitants with the great traditions, says of the 5 2 h ta way ace . Betta politcal organization per se” Because the valves of he Cowied Kin preva heme : sas no poll orzanization pers” Bests he values ofthe isolated kin group arte most s , they are also the most difficult to share with outsiders. The small size of the barangays suited them perfectly for the prepolitical system. There are records of the first encounters between the Spaniards and the people of the region between the old provinces of Pampanga and Nueva Segovia in Luzon, This was an extensive country the plains, rivers, and mountains. The barangays there differed in size: one had twelve houses; two had thirty each; two had forty; two had sixty: one barangay had seventy houses and another eighty; three large barangays had from 112 to 180 houses each; the largest community had more than five hundred houses, but this was actually made up of two adjoining barangays. These were interior barangays, it is true, but accounts of settlements reached by the Spaniards in other parts of the archipelago indicate even fewer houses in many of the coastal setlements. When the Spanish regime reorganized the native settlements into pueblos and barangays, the number of families per barangay was fixed at forty-five to fifty, which was regarded asthe size, bf the average barangay of the time. In other words, the size of the “average” barangay was sil. Gnfiuenced by the original kinship base of its beginnings, although doubtless this principle was no hho smallness of the barangays was not due to the fact that the longer intact in many act people lived on so many ands —although this was a contributory factor. Even on the big island of Luzon, the barangays were numerous; Plasencia’s report shows that they were small. On the islet of Mactan, across the narrow channel from Cebu, in 1521, there were at least two chiefs; the two were rivals, and one of them asked M agallanes for help to enable him to conquer the other—Lapulapu. Jele, Maguindanae, Cebu, and Manila ; anes i The pre-Spanish settlements that were to attain political preeminence and tog a significance through contact with the great traditions were not accidental choices of history. Baer ea : “critical factor in their development was location." This meant being a oe re ae ‘Jands and peoples to the south an This was d southwest of the archipelago. i They were, moreo : belt. In the north, where the danao. They were, wer, located bellow the typhoonTe ee of the mountain ranges. A coastal : r mout ay, was an advantage, These would mean that the settle development, so that population size would be larger ddition, the settlement would at least be a local market or trading center, mits upational differentiation, as well as some degree of intensifying land e population built houses near and around the trading area, the old lineal settlement and. began to break down, and the settlement took on the shape and importance of an izing community. first exception to the essentially prepolitical barangay system was Jolo. It was located ‘the largest in the long chain of islets which from south of Basilan Island down to the i Tawi group, link Mindanao to Borneo and to the rest of the island world of Southeast Asia, } became the seat of the first Muslim sultanate in the archipelago- This sultanate was founded century before the establishment of the Spanish regime. The sultanate was a suprabarangay institution; the sultan was invested by Islam with a political status superior to that of f ‘other datus. The political institutions of the early sultanate are not known. However, it may | be presumed that they would take after those of the sultanate in Borneo. ‘The remainder of the expedition was in Borneo in July 1521 after its disastrous defeat at the hands of “Lapulapu in Mactan in April. Figafetta recorded that the scat of the sultan, whose name he reports / #5 Raja Siripada, was a fairly developed town with streets. His reception hail was richly decorated with silk hangings and brocade curtains. Court protocol was advanced, and the Spaniards could inot speak directly to the Sultan, Raja Siripada was a son-in-law of the Sultan of Sulu, The ties with j) Bomieo endured. In 1578 the Sultan of Borneo, Seif-ur-Rijal, and the Sultan of Sulu, Raja Iro, were brothers-in law; the latter’s wife was Seif-ur-Rijal’s siste ‘The second exception was in Maguindanao. The Spaniards calle ‘was near the mouth of what they called the Rio Gr In time the political center of the Maguindan of modem Cotabato City. Pigafetta’s account of (October 1521) significantly did not refer to the place readily described those of Borneo at that time as Mu: Muhammad Kabungsuwan, the founder of Islam in t! Soon after the fall of that city to the Portu: local women issued descendants who be _ these we have the noted triumvirate of Dimons | chief Maguindanao datus from the late 1570s to the se 0 nce if not in form, the Maguindanao sultan: ause of the rival power of the datus of Buayan i forks into its northern and southern brane! __ the Britisher William Dampier’s account of hi ibed the house of the sultan. It was built lim Chief Colambu' dit “Mindanao” because it ande de Mindanao-the natives’ Pulangui River. a came to be located approximately at the site or people as Muslim, although he Maguindanao tradition has it that Sharif came from Malacca, presumably From Kabungsuwan’s marriages to s within the framework of Islam. Of Salik and Buisan, half,-brothers, the nd decade of the seventeenth century. In © evolved curing this half-century, delayed only (sometimes Buhayen), upriver from where the into Ilana Bay. sit to Mindanao in 1686 had an i ton 180 great posts, Thi “palace” by Pigafetta but ai interesting should be compared 5 the saker with a slightly larger bore. The : as well as its upkeep, could never have been within the Tesources ofbarangay iy datu. The ite indi oa procured eee ) suns bespoke power. Had they b would tion of a high order. Had they bat ee trading relationships, and status visteie & vis foreigners, Limasawa/Butuan and the chief of Cebu ki ee the former, was so ee he noted that the latter wa Fenton Sve te an Ot th ep of th Spain ene In at Chi serves aides o staying vistors, lanes expedition as guide to Ce chiefs, not kings. However, Humabo igafetta also referred to the other leader in 4o not normally to recognize him as their super n of Cebu told Magallanes tha am the Cate Reet at there Betting the others to acknoviledge fogallanes now meddle in he stir of eke ee eet ene thes ibn tee an Maian Benue peopl fused eognton ituneten Sous ota of Buia ee of thir chiefs were: the cieis Cli, Cigar Caan es GEReGasys of Chibhapole: Aveo mene Cigibwan, Cinaning, Beare ae an: 2 ilumai of Lubuci af : jandaui; Teten of Li Beret gs part of the names) icin. (Pigafetta thought that the native demonstrative ae On M: S| < Pie and 1 ae Island the principal village was named Mactan. Thet Mee ee There were a least two chiefs, DORs cos is ts i ot Soin foals revel a message from Zula Lapulapu. But Magallanes, until this time Se ea ae sa ee Feitisel Tht midnight he led a foe mn eae land, decided to do the ‘Mactan three hours before dawn, He notified L ae corset on eee the Spanish king as their sover ee oe on ee Ne ey would ions pen art aptized, with the name Carlos), and aie scan tise would lear the power ofthe Spanish lances ae ple dd not accep this manne of offering friendship. So the proud Spaniard is soldiers waded through the shallow water to do battle E : : low wa > battle with the natives. The attackers had uskets and crossbows, but the cannon fire from their boats was useless b eat their boats was useless because the reef kept the ae e rang = armed with bows and arrows and spears protected themselves w hhe contest going against them, the Spaniards tried to confound the natives b fire to some twenty or thirty of their houses. This only angered them more. The fight last as slain the Spaniards retreated to their our, When their leader w: oats. Lapulapu’s victory was tory in battle against the invaders. It would be the Jast until the Spaniards would in ter in the century, where their losses inaugurate the Muslim wats. In Luzon there was anot the first native vi ¢ Maguindanao territory la her community which, around 1565, was an incipient sultanate, but its development as such was arrested by the Spaniards’ arrival. This was Manila-more precisely, Manila south of the Pasig River together with Tondo which was orth, It had the best harbor of all the settlements in the archipelago. We will recall that Loarca called the ‘Manila Tagalogs Moros * and that the inhabitants ‘of Manila had been proselytized by missionaries from ‘Borneo. The Manila ‘ 1521 the son of the chief of Manila hhad been seized chiefs were recent converts to Islam. In July i i off Borneo; he was then an officer in the service the Manila chief ‘was a grandson ofthe n by the Magallanes expeditio a Borneo. Accordin: to Majul, «it is believed” that this sono ’ e ‘4 he Raja Matanda of Manila at the time the Spaniards asived in STL appellation “ sultan, and he was ty years old, thus the this is true he would have een around seventnntly institutionalized unity where there was an apparet Themaking of by delbeate human acto crucial stage inthe procs i The earliest conception of li that it emanates from the gods or divine a ities make this law. ‘that neither human rulers nor communities . a i ‘ful idea that the community owed its ‘human societies next arrived at the power! to the people’s ancient and continuing customs and traditions. These were seen as pes “the community’s survival, the foundation of the people's way of life; Bet au ‘were therefore fo be revered and observed as law. This body of law, custom law, predat of writin Communities that are governed under god-given law or custom law tend a ae Societies, Because these laws are difficult to change. It is only when laws are made, as indica terms like “lawmaking,’ or “lawmaker” or “Icgislator” or “enactment whether by the people } difeetly or throvgh their agents, that the community achieves dynamism, becomes much more ‘capable of change. This is because, when the people make their laws, they take the shaping of their destiny into their own hands. Sevondly, it was only in the Manila area where there was evidence of a superordination fei suboxdination of leaders and authorities. This was not the case with the Visayans, by Loarea’s Account. But Loarca notes that the chief of Manila was rec« ‘who deferred to him and entrusted him with the promule: ‘Would live in peace and harmony. When this hi besaid that a community is a politically organized socicty = Inlate June 1565, the camp of the Spanish exp. ofseven or eight natives who came by boat. They said that t Wasnamed Mahomat, so that he was presumably a Muslim, They in Cebu from a native who had been sent by the former to bur themselves were traders, doing business in the various islands. TI Wath Luzon, on boats carrying “much merchandise.” The S¢ message to “the king of Luzon”, that is, the c | Biesence in Cebu, and to request him to allow nized as superior to the other datus, ation of penalties and remedies so that all es chy of political authority does not exist it cannot ion in Cebu was approached by a group the e natives of Luzon. Their leader ‘d heard of the Spaniards” being in Panay. This means that they offered the Spaniards trade eader asked the group to deliver notify the latter of the Spaniards, T to send an envoy to the Manila "chief Nothing, apparently, was to result from this, But the Spaniards and the Manilans g between the Spaniards and Raja Soliman, c heard of him before the meeting he was “tho @ i Of peace and friendship were to be made. and » hose ¢ of wont to meet foreigners at thei convenier of Limasawa and Cebu. He dealt with inquiries to the newcomers, He was Tatter’s practice of rushing from were fated tc There is a record of the first nila, in May 1571, The Spaniards ef of all that country, with whom the pinion was to be heeded.” This leader °¢ as soon as they arrived. Soliman was not like an envoy who expressed his 4 greater chief than Colambu or Humabon. Not their houses to greet foreigners as soon as their reatest chi foreigners throughTeens on the beach. Soliman’s uncle arrived first, “with so large Pee te me be Soliman himself." The Spaniards’ first impression, when tand that he wes olen a'y, tad "8® air of importance and haughtines.” He gave them bute to anyboda pen (9 make their friendship, But there should be no thought of is Rticea i ane liman stressed that he and his people were not Visayans: there were Perce s and Pintados with the Spaniards-his words were a reference to the -submiss people to the foreigners. Physically, Manila was the center of a developed region: ‘The town all around this bay FTERSS slopes was really marvelous. I appeared to betlled and cultivated. cs, a ee ene, with but litte herbage. In fact, so excellent indications have not been Fe a at The town was stated onthe bank ofthe river, andscemed to be defended by 8 earn le Coe ont Within it were many wariors, and the shore outside was crowded with + people Pieces of artillery stood atthe gates, guarded by bombarders,linstock in hand. __ Around Manila were forty neighboring villages along the bay: There were four Chinese trading junks in the harbor on the day the Spaniards arrived. Inthe town of Manila itself lived forty married Chinese residents, and twenty Japanese. When Manila fell to the Spaniards in May, it was largely because the town was set on fire. Soliman’s house was bigger than the others and in it were “many valuable things, such as money, copper, iron, porcelain, blankets, wax, cotton, and wooden Wats full of brandy.” Manila had war vessels with culverins and cannon. One building adjoining Soliman’s house was a storeroom with clay and wax molds for cannon, the largest of which was for | apiece more than five meters long. Artillery was apparently to be found only in areas where there ‘was Muslim presence or influence Crescent and Cross The coming of two of the great world religions to the archipelago is an epic story. Islam came from the southwest, reaching out through its branches that had prospered in Southeast ‘Asia. Christianity came from far across the oceans to the east, with the fire of its fanatic Hispanic branch, Each was received by some of our forefathers. Christianity came to the islands as part of ln aggressive mission of conquest; it carried the Roman pope’s blessing; it was driven by a hubris of the Spanish spirit and fuelled gy of a dynamic nation, Islam was brought by the Gndividual efforts of men who came looking for a new home and, because they could not live well Without their religion, they introduced it and its supporting institutions in their new homeland. The ” Wars between the Muslims and the Christians in the archipelago lasted for more than three hundred 5 *The Muslim-Christian confrontation in the archipelago was part of a long conflict played SGutona global scale. It began in Europe, when the Mussulmans completed their conquest of most D oFlberia in 711 A.D. The Moorish occupation was to last for almost eight hundred years, and not gid, and everybody shared in the family’s economic tasks. Land preparation, planting and sting, hunting, and house building were done cooperatively by the families. This is the origin 1 bayanihan, or cooperative labor among neighbors and kinfolk in modem rural Philippines. “always ended in the afternoon, followed by feasting and drinking. The family whose ‘plowed, or house built, hosted everybody. Thus an early fiesta tradition predated the ra, although the Spanish Christians’ saints eventually overshadowed the early economicfish, and bananas. There were cultivated fields on Li sre I ook two days to harvest the chief's rice crop here, some crew it ¢ rice-but it required that — spt and Chet lambs en were sing reviou Rs ae aating Iv the 1570s rice culture in Luzon already included , of seedlings. packet fees! ‘grain was placed in the stream to ma oe ered the grains that filed to sprout being thrown away: the rest wer bo matting with some soil and kept moist; when germination was complete the Bective ne by one into holes made into the soil with iron-tipped stick or rods, v 9, but it yielded less than the first. Fe ies fre high or low is relative. A hae pees (ase aoe i haryests-this chronicler Chirino, te om ae ae in the village of Taytay by the lake of Bai, a Son not m the pre-Spanish town of Manila, the rice fields were inundated every year and the fre "liad to paddle or row their boats among the rice stalks to reap the grain. They were practicing moder rice scientists call deepwater rice technology. But since most of the barangays a "Small, there was no need for large harvest” Fox say that the carabao was not used in ae irs “during pre-Spanish era. The Jesuit Delgado, writing in the mid-eighteenth century, affirmed that “Carabao at that late date was used for plowing only in Luzon and Panay. Elsewhere in the "Oe reason why rice was in abundance only in Luzon and Panay. After the Spanish expedition had “Tavaged Cebu it was to Panay that it proceeded (1569) because of the latter’s reported abundance |) Oftice and other food supplies. Fish was of course literally everywhere. On Suluan, an islet south |) of Samar the natives used fish nets in 1521. Fish corral technology in modern times does not seem “tohave improved much over that of the sixteenth-century fis Taal) in Batangas. The people fashioned rattan canes or ster men of Lake Bombon (now Lake nto corrals anchored to posts driven Kets and nets and fishing lines. the lake bottom, and the fish was caught with wicker b: __ The Samar islanders gave gifts of bananas of variou Some of the bananas were cooked. The coconut was then al | fechnologies were employed for its many uses. Its trunk was 1 |) Mut was made into coir and rope for boats. The sap w Magallanes expedition. ready widespread and various sed for house posts; the husk of the : 1 for tuba, fresh or fermented for tie water in the nut was made into vinegar. The sheil was polished for use as drinking or ‘eating vessels and the meat was taken fresh as food or prepared into oil. Chickens and fowl, pigs, , cats, and carabaos were domesticated. Pigafetta listed the following products and domestic animals in Limasawa island: tice, bananas, com, millet, citrus, coconuts, wax, goats, chickens, dogs, cats and Pigs. Inhabitants anshowed the Spaniards their cinnamon, pepper, nutineg, mace. and gold. These were trade ‘that attracted the Spaniards, who were in search of spices, These Spice products originated ther south, since the name “Suluan” meant “the place of men from Sulu,” or Jolo. As almost all of the early Spanish accounts avidly spun fantasies about this metal and extraction not only from the Supposed placers and mines but also from the natives, as omaments. A 1640 account reports how the natives regarded gold differently; old mines inthe island of Manila i.c., Luzon], and on the river of Butuan in the island there is not sufficient [gold] to satisfy the desire of. the Spaniards; but the little value it only for the little use that they make of it, sincean, besides the usual products, there was rice wine which was ‘wine. The people of Palawan entertained the visitors with a - cocks for this special purpose; there was betting on the results. ‘ el and betel nut chewing were widespread. According to Fox, the following were no € archipelago, having been introduced later from America by the Spaniards: the sweet (mentioned by Pigafetta as present in Limasawa), cassava, beans, tobacco, tomato) reper (also mentioned by Pigafetta as found in Suluan), peanut, pineapples. Loarca wrote at ducks and geese were brought into the archipelago from China, Fox also writes of the ee of “introduced and cultivated bamboos” in the daily life of the people. He may or may: meant that the bamboo was indigenous to the islands. In any case the native houses were boo and thatch and their boats were fitted with bamboo outriggers. The other Spanish era- of other native products become inconclusive at this point, since many animals and plants ‘the mainland, but especially China, might have already been introduced into the archipelago. among the barangays involved the products of their local craftsmen: pottery woven mats, jand utensils, as well as fish. Morga added to these a list of items, some of which were ly of high value: various kinds of provisions, woven blankets, cattle and fowls; land, s, and slaves; fishing, coconut) nipa, and forest tracts or lands. Morga wrote that the common of trade was barter but that, when there was a price agreed upon in the transaction, it was paid in gold or in metal bells from China In Cebu, which was relatively developed and had dealings with foreign traders, Pigafetta ‘observed that balancing scales were in use. Suspended at one end of the wooden balance d was a small pan to hold the article to be weighed; at the other end was a lead piece of the = weight as the pan; to the latter were added sweights or quarter- libras, half-libras, and libras, the weight of the article in the pan wa’ n accurately. The Spanish expedition leader in ent the Spanish king a set of these scales in 1567, to show the latter how “scrupulous these in their dealings.