rat was given at the time of adoption; falinduwa was to receive halfas Joption fee, also over and above that same fee; and mulaying are in case the family’s fortunes increased, led anak sa kinaligawan or anak sa kaagulo, al mores were sumt ! Js the a¢ nich a . iio receive Stil larger sk illegitimate children were ca from ligaw (passerby) and agulo (lover), respectively. Sex Jax, and sanctioned a promiscuity which Father Chirino attributed to the belief that women could not enter the afterlife without the help of their jovers. Kinadalagahan was a man who deflowered a virgin, whether lover or husband, and Father San Buenaventura (1613, 510) explained, “The do not consider the easy, unstable women they call handa na babayi, harlots.... [Itcomes] from handa, which means prepared, because so the are.” But those who were too ready and too frequent with their favors were scorned as gibon (wobbly) or lagap (common to all). Abangwere the worst— lascivious, depraved, and completely profligate, “than whom no goat or hen gives herself more freely to all” (San Buenaventura 1613, 511). And antol was one with “body sickness." wat Social Structure Like the Visayans, the Tagalogs had a three-class social structure. The ruling class was called maginoo, including datus, who were the heads of barangays; and their supporters were timawa or maharlika. Everybody else was alipin—slaves, bondsmen, or debt peons. Moreover, the difference between the serflike householding slaves, alipin sa namamahay, and the more lowly domestic slaves, alipin sa gigilid, was so great that Father Plasencia described them as two separate classes. He also considered the maharlika a separate class. Maginoo and datu. The Tagalog aristocracy or upper class were called “maginoo,” those who could claim noble descent; one of the chiefs who. surrendered the port of Manila in 1570 was Maginoo Marlanaway. Ginoo wasa title of respect for both sexes, while Gat or Dayang preceding a proper name was the equivalent of Lord or Lady. Panginoon were those with lordship over many slaves and valuable property like houses or boats, more commonly called may-ari (one with plenty of possessions), or even dalam, Which was actually a large, well-staffed house and household, Poon was an honorific contraction when addressing them—for example, “Oo poon [Yes sit)” or “Aba poon [Greetings, lord]” (San Buenaventura 1615 1). But nouve: ornfully referred to as maygintawo, “fellow with alot ‘aux riches were 219MINDANAO AND LUZON ) putt, hidalgo by gold, not Puno (root) was the founder of of gold”—or, ay San Buenaventura (1 lineage, a “dark knight,’ as we would sav 7 a descent line (alud), whose identity had to be established in rote precedence or setling dowries, with ritual boasting being 4 norms parto! was boasting of lineage and wealth; lingas, of formal gatherings. (Bansa; wealth an ferocity.) Careless claims to being makak—wellborn gentry coutld evoke caustic comments like, “Sino ang nagpuno sa inyo di alipin din {Who founded your line if not a stave}?” (San Buenaventura 161 : V2 . Maginoo with personal followings were called datus: nagdavato meant “to rule # barrio or barangay.” that is, a community or following (San Buenaventura 1613, 130)."" They ustially had a public lounging platform called gulanggnlang under their houses for the discussion of community affairs and the exchange of news and gossip. A datu’s following or faction Was called a dulohan, or more popularly, a barangay, literally a boat. Father Plasencia was told that the latter name came from the fact that Filipino settlers first arrived in the archipelago in boats each captained by a single dau with his whole family and retainers, though it is hardly likely that the entire Tagalog population could have maintained discrete boatload iden- turies or millennia. But whatever its origin, this picturesque term was adopted by the colonial government to mean a tribute-collecting unit: right up until the end of the Spanish regime, baptismal registers listed parents not by their place of residence but as belonging to “the barangay of Don So-and-so.” Barangays ranged in size from a few households to as many ‘Taytay (Rizal). for instane tities across ce sa hundred. had four hundred families under four datus when Father Chirino arrived there in 1591. A settlement which consisted of a single barangay was called pook, but usually from four to ten chiefs with their dulohan lived together in a bayan (town), giving precedence on the basis of wealth or military prowess. When the business, such a met together on mutual athering was called lipon, lupon, or pulong—a municipal council, so to speak. Large bayan might be the seat of actual chiefdoms with paramount rulers called Lakan or Rajah, like the two at the mouth of the Pasig River, Tondo on the north and Manila on the south, The role of such. a chief was revealed in a description of Si Banaw Lakan Dula by his great grandson, Juan Macapagal, in 166 Don Carlos Lacandola . was Lord and most principal of the town of Tondo, and of the other surrounding towns, whose natives paid him tribute and vassalage and other recognition as their natural lord, and when ships from China came to thisb they similarly paid hin duties an fees, he removing their sailsand nuddet for this purpose, and taking their merchandise by paying half its value at the time an 220Tagalog Society and Retigion -phalf the nextyear, without any oth, inese] but only from the 1665, 219), ler natives being ables said Lacandot buvanything from a. from which he had much gatu'’s duties. A data y t them from the exp “pected 10 govern his enemies, settle The sear Prowe’ d istrator Dr. Morga (1609, 20 jes and. needs.” His authority was i lead them TOU) ete their disputes, and—as YI) said—suceor them in their reflected in hi ° S _ his being called ba: ihe drumst k with which he beat a Song to summon his oa a ashore oF alloat—or pilot—he was called fuways though as captai ee ; though as captain- fa large vesse 1 he might take the more Prestigious Bornean ttle of and when acting as guide for other datus, he was called panugot » he was calle or in vod admin rags} As captain che! owner o! nar fan F Bur datus were not called kings (hari), not even Paramount chiefs; th cas known only in reference to foreign monarchies fRahaans wa * viceroys (hail). It is signific | (haharian) and thei ‘ant that Spaniards called them principales (chiefs). not r4@gu/os (rulers). Plasencia likened them to caballeros (knights) iat is, beneficiaries of a caballeréa, and a caballeria was an encomienda, an aaigned commission together with its duties, privileges, and income. This is precisely the role in which the colonial government would cast the Filipino principatia of later generations. Asa judge (hwkom), a datu convoked the litigants, heard sworn testi- mony, and handed down a decision, all in the presence of his people, and sometimes with the assistance of older men. His decision could be appealed, however, to an arbiter of the contestant’s choice from another community, even a non-datu, If he himself was sued by one of his peers, he appeared before a wise legalist acceptable to him and his accuser, but if such arbitration failed, the plaintiff initiated a blood feud which ran its tisfied honor and both parties aw itself was handed down by term violent course until mutual exhaustion agreed to a financial settlement. The tradition, but was liable to amendment by consensus among leading dats, and to circumvention by any among them powerful enough to do s the social status of the parties (for example, alipin and were usually fines heavy ation of Penalties varied with the Could be put to death for offending maginoo), t ¢nough to restilt in debt slavery. Adultery was settled by indemnification the offended husband, which sum was taken as future dowry and signified lisadoption of any resulting child as his own. Capital punishment for offenders was prescribed only for witcheraft or infraction of religious tabus, which case the presiding datu took pos sion of the condemned man’s tildren, as he also did in the case of total enslavement, compensaing the Plainity himself,MINDANAO AND LUZON - Control over available arable kand was vested in the data, by irrigated land was distributed among his barangay with right of Us hillside swiddens could be worked freely by any resident, or eve The datu also had the right to retain certain land use for him, example, the restriction of access to fisheries, or the collection of my fees at a strategic passage on a waterway. Indeed, upstream nike known to manipulate Manila market prices by delaying the delivery oper He could also convert his rights into regular payments from his People. the ruler of Pila (Laguna) did after he purchased that place in gold fy, its former chief, charging his maharlika a regular fee for use of the ial Itis noteworthy that the rate was fixed at cavansa year rather thanatsone percentage of the produce or size of the holding, making the holder hi, vassal, not his tenant. on}, Struc, aliens selfs, The datu’s privileges. A datu received services, agricultural produce, and respect from his people. The respect was shown by such deferential behavior as covering the mouth with the hand when addressing him, or contracting the body in a deep bow on entering his presence indoors and raising the hands alongside the checks, and he was never addressed as “Ohoy!" or “Oya!” the ordinary greeting among friends. The same deference yas shown his family and descendants, in office or out—all maginoo, in short— and slander against any of them was severely punished. He received a share of harvests as tribute from the lower classes, and additional contributions such as a jar of sugarcane wine or fuba on such occasions as his feasts or funerals. Personal services were of two kinds: seasonal field labor from which nobody was exempt of any class, participation in maritime and military expeditions, and unscheduled occasions like house construction or ope’ ing new land, for all of which labor the laborers were fed or feasted. Seafaring duties in service of a datu were especially demanding: to equi? and supply the vessel and then to row it, either as slaves or as warriors, 0 to come, provisioned and armed, as soon as he called and as often, and © follow wherever he led. Timawa and maharlika. A datu’s nonslave followers were freemen called timawa and maharlika: they could not be legally bought and sold—for which reason the Boxer Codex and Plasencia called them “hidalgos’"—™" had the theoretical right to attach themselves to the datu of theit choice The earliest accounts called timawa “commoners” (la gente contin) 2 beians” (plebeyos), both terms suggesting in sixteenth-century Spain in ig} 999Tagalog Society and Religion rrya person of noble or royal blood portion of the b They enjoyed agricultural aghis © # ! barangay land, both to use and bequeath, and to eecae tout paving tribute, Although contractual relations with theit ied and even included tribute in some ¢ their lords, not their pitty 10 ™ h ws ases, their dans were pascal landlords. Their normal obligation was cultural labor worked off in groups when summoned for planting o1 fanesting: but they might also be liable to work fisheries, accompany {apediions, or row boats, Like members of the alipin class, they, too, could je called out for irregular services like supporting feasts « s or building houses. : Fimawa were born into their class, but their ultimate origin lay in the inaginoo class above them and the alipin below. From the former they absorbed the illegitimate offspring of maginoo with their unmarried slaves— or married serfs—and from the alipin, those who had successfully repaid debis. completed indenture, or literally purchased their freedom in gold. The definitions in the early dictionaries are unambiguous. San Buenaventura (1613, 389) defined fimawa as “without servitude [eselavonia|, the common people after the magnate.” and illustrated with the example, “Titimawain kita [I'l set you free].” His contemporary, Blancas de San José (16 14a, fimawa), was even more illuminating: 4 free man who was formerly a slave, and from this they say diawa of one who escapes death by chance, like one in the hangman's noose and the rope breaks, or the bull that cannot be captured because of his bravery, and, changing the accent, slaye who has freed himself by running away from his master, and the nagtitinawakis: me with animals, The word maharlika is ultimately derived from Sanskrit maharddhika, a man of wealth, wisdom, or competence, which in precolonial Java meant members of religious orders exempt from tibute or taxation. Inthe sixteenth-century Philippines, they were apparently a kind of lower aristoe racy who rendered military service to their lords. The maharlika accompa own expense, whenever he called nied their captain abroad, armed at the and wherever he went, rowed his boat not as galley slaves but as comrades- atarms, and received their share of the spoils afterwards. Plasencia is the only sixteenth-century observer known to mention the maharlika, and he did not explain the origin of their status, They may well have been a sort of diluted maginoo blood, perhaps the descendants of mixed marriages between a ruling line and one out of power, or scions of a conquered line which struck this bargain to retain some of its privilegs ALany event, they were subject to the same requirements of seasonal andMINDANAO AND LUZON rlinary community labor as everybody else in the barang extraordinary ¢ 7 ally, they were less free than the ordir ae sonce they were married, they had to host ay: Techy ry timawa since, if they wanted, 4 public Fathey unsfer their allegiane y i nd pay their datu Irom 6 to 18 pesos in gold- Plasencia (1589a, 25) added, * This maharlika profession was destined to disappear otherwise, could be an oceasion for war.” under colonia) ation, of couse just asthe raids in which i was practiced dy peated. Indeed, the effecisor the change were already evident in Plaseneiges day: the lord of Pil had commuted his maharlika's services into tend dues, The process is reflected in seventeenth-century lexicons, Blancas de San José (16Lta, mahailika) defined maharlika as “ireemen though with. certain subjugation in that they may not leave the barangay: they are th, people called villeins (da gente villano|—meaning countryfolk living on some nobleman’s villa,” But San Buenaventura (1613, 389) illustrated with the example, apat ang kamaharlikaan ko [I'm one-quarter free],” At the end of the century, Domingo de los Santos gave “For one who yas 4 stave to be freed.” and in 1738 Juan Francisco de San Antonio (1738, 159) cited asa common expression, “Minahadlika ako nang panginoon ko [My master freed me]. paci Alipin. Alipin was always translated as “slave,” and their condition, both men and women, was attributed to one of three causes—captivity, birth: right. or debt. In a sense they were all debtors: that is, they had their price, and their owner or creditor might recover it by resale or manumission, Their subordination was therefore obligatory until their debt was redeemed, and their masters were technically their creditors rather than their lords. The alipin had birthright ct gay kan which except in case of a became a chattel slave. Alipin they were called gintubo—but what nls was their debt, indenture, or Y could not be legally seized and sold, their debt rred from one creditor to another for reason, a man who fell into de relatives if possible. As a matte volunta im to work a picce of the ba could not be taken away from him or he from it, commuted death sentence by which he might be born as such—in which case they really inherited from their pare sentence. Although the could be iranste profit, For this bt sought to become alipin to his own ¥ of fact, men in extreme penuty might alipin status, that is, become napacalipin as Opposed to naaalipin. Indeed, to take ona debt slave was even considered a form of succor: Father Oliver (1590b, 26) said of slaves, “Kaniyang inaalila {he took them in], meant to underwrite a debt in exchange for bon, ly seek the security of a rich man with many Tubos, sakop, and ara all dage, oceasions which 20Tagalog Society and Religion doubt protiterated under colonial wibute mo ako nitong ambagan [Pay for me Buenaventura 1613, 459) Since the degree of alipin indebtedne passed on to heirs it varied demands- forexample, “Paaraan and cover this tax T owe]” (San ss could vary, when that debt was according to the debts of either parent or even those inherked fro) preceding genetaiions:‘Ih ihe case of u mixed cae Hage Beaveen alipin and timawa, their offspring's condition was detem mined by their saya, and saya was defined as dependence of the children of s laves: if the father is fre second is save like the mother, e tes contrariwise, if like the Lather and the second is free like the ifthey are an odd number, the | 1613, 478), sois the first child, and the he mother is tree, the first is slave mother, and soon with all th lave and b stand, IFfree (San Buenaventura ast one is halt Moreover, if) alipin had three non. terslaves. What all this meant in pr worked off half their fathe: ness durir Hipin grandparents, they were quar- actical terms was that such alipin only T's, or one-quarter their grandfather's, indebted- alternate months, Such partial alipin also had the right to enforce their manumission if they could afford the pr The ordinary alipin with land rights was called holder: and one who had lost that right, gintubo, captive, or pur namamahay, house- or never had it—for example, a 1se—was called alipin sa gigilid, “hearth slave, addition. the Boxer manuscript made the In curious remark that there was a Kind of slave of both namamahay and gigilid status called tagalos. If this was not a flat error, it may ha Bornean de: © been obtained from some informant of ent and thus reflected a perceived relationship between the two peoples. Alipin namamahay. Spanish ac ounts consistently translated alipin as “slave.” but their authors just as consistently deplored the illogic of includ. ing the namamahay in the same category as the gigilid, or even in the category of eselavo at all. IL was obvious that the gigilid—or at least some tel house slaves, “like those we have,” ay Morga (1609, 192) said, but it was just as obvious that the serflike gigilid—were cha namamahay were not. One of the longest entries in the San Buenaventura (1613, 299) dictionary belabors the point, and includes the following passage: These namamahay slaves in Silanga, which is on the way to Gilinggiling from Lumban, make one field called @ango [contract], and it is to be noted that they have no further obligation to their master; in Pila, Bay, Pillila {Pililla] and Moron, they are 295A aN AyNDANAO AND EL ie hey serve their master no more than from time to tiny free tor they s¢ Nd th are from tn almos reg then to go with hit other places or ty help hy Ne i oe he does with the freemen; in all the hills as far 88 Cala With ce i fe toi ee ine thee einen te ih hecalls them to, 2 they serve their md 00 Of, it’s considered an abuse. Father Plasencia solved the problem aired a sensibly: he Calleg them pecheros (tribute payers). The pesto they paic was called handog ang amounted to half their crop, though the Visayan term buzwis was in more common use; hence, munuevis, tribute payer, and paluwisan, encomienda, Inaddition, the namamahay was expected to presenta measure of thresheq rice or a jar of wine for his master’s feasts, and generally @ share of any special foodstutTs he might aequite for himself—like the leg of adeer tak in the hunt Like everybody else, he came at his master’s call to plant and harvest his fields, build his houses, catry his cargo, equip his boat, and row itwhen he went abroad—notas a warrior but as an oarsman, unless relieved of this status as an accolade for bravery—and in any emergency such as his master’s being sick, captured, or flooded out. He owned his own house, personal belongings, and gold, and bequeathed them to his heirs, but his ownership of the land he used was restricted: he could not alienate it. If his master moved out of the settlement, he of absentee landlord, and if his master died, he was obligated to all his master’s heirs and had to divide his services among them. Upon his own death, his creditor had the right to take one of his children for gigilid domestic service in the creditor's own house, but if such creditor took more, he was considered a tyrant, Namamahay came continued to serve him as a kind imto their condition in three w; hamamahay parents, dropping down from timaw Sigilid. If one’s debt arose from legal action or insolvency, he and his | crvditor agreed on the duration of the bondage and an equivalent cash \alte for its satisfaction. In Plasencia’s day this never excea dat 10 taels in Sold, or roughly the market value of 890 cavans of rice at Manila prices. Those who rose from the ranks of the sigilid hearth slaves might actually have purchased their freedom, but mainly they were transferred to namamahay houscholding status for their master "s convenience when they mattied. For this reason, captives and Purchased slaves may have been set “p in namamahay housekeeping status from the beginning. s: inheritance from status, or rising up from Alipin sa gigilid. Gilid w hearth is, depree the “nethermost Part of the house where the but also where the family made their toilet and so was a ‘tory term in contrast to duyo, entrance or front. These lowly alipinembers of their master’s household and ate out of their master’s were ce were as dependent on him as his own children, and from this * stance arose his moral right to sell them, In actual practice, how= ie rarely did so. He might transfer them to some other creditor, but vet aterial for the slave trade or human stcrifice was not procured from * household, or even from the alipin labor pool which implemented a public and private projects. Quite the opposite, they might be rewarded at their master’s pleasure, or his hope of motivating them, by heing permitted to retain some of the fruits of their labor, even to the exwent of eventually purchasing their liberty, Indeed, if they could accumu- jate enough gold—say, through the uade of goldsmith or by participating in raids—they could buy their way not only into namamahay status, but even timawa. Juan San Antonio (1738, 160), reporting the old 30-peso manumission price 130 years later, commented, “And if he gave 60 or more, he was free of everything and became a hidalgo.” The main source of alipin sa gigilid recruitment were the children born intheir master’s house, not infrequently natural children by his own alipin ot of either status, as well as those of men under such financial straits they could not afford to raise them, Once a hearth slave grew up and married, itwas more practical and profitable to set him up in his own house instead of feeding and housing him and his new family, For namamahay, house- hold status only fell to married alipin; domestic gigilid slaves were single. The author of the Boxer manuscript described the situation with some surpris Hismastercan sell him because none of these slaveswho are in their master’s house are married, but all maidens and bachelors, and in the case of a male who wishes to many, the chief does not lose him, [for] sucha one iscalled namamahaywhen married and then lives by bimself, but rarely would they give the [female the chief's house permission to marry, though they would hinde (Boxer Codex 1590b, 383). wes who were in none of the men The terms gigilid and namamahay therefore distinguished a man’s place of residence and marital status, and were incidental to a sliding scale of downward social mobility occasioned by punitive disenfranchisement and economic reversal. The condemned man's debt to society and fiscal obli- gations could be underwritten by some other man motivated by kin loyalty or hope of gain. If both were alipin and neighbors and relatives, their new relationship might be no more e evident than a redistribution of their labor, But the social stigma was considerable, for the gigilid of a namamahay was called by the insulting term bulisik, “vile, contemptible.” Still wor: * theMINDANAO AND LUZON poor wretch who became the gigilid of a gigilid was branded dulistis, “exposed"like the private parts when one’s dressis hitched up. The word wilid itself could also he derogatory, for that was the place where a house. hold defecated—for example, “Mangigilid ako [I'm going down to the toilet (hacer camara)|” (San Buenaventura 1613, 138). Slaves purchased [rom outside the community and captives taken in war or raids could be real chattel without even the security of the parental affection of some master in whose house they grew up. If they were destined for resale or sacrifice, they would literally be nonpersons in society, but if they were brought into the community as functioning alipin, they would perforce enjoy the right of food, shelter, and work of other alipin. Their children would then be born into society not as aliens but as gintubo, “children of alipin,” and as such be eligible for whatever social amelioration fortune might offer them. In the absence of statistics, it is not possible to say what percentage of the Tagalog population belonged to which social class, or how much social mobility was upward and how much downward. Moreover, our sources were all written a gener: tion after Spanish advent; and during that quarter century, historic changes had taken place which had profoundly affected Tagalog society. There we now more mouths to feed, and new tribute chinese trade had increased tenfold; and colonial police power was preventing further procurement of captiv changes which would have inflated the value of loca! incentive for reducing tir demands to mee laves. These were all aves, and provided 1 to Namamahay status, and namamahay to gigilid. That this was taking place in the 1590s is suggested by another passage in the Boxer Codex (1590b, 384): If they have ny children, when many have been taken and he takes more, they consider it a yrannical abuse, and once those who are leaving the chief's house to marry do leave, hey do notreturn torender him any more service than the namamahay do, unless he uses force, and this they considera worse tyranny in as much asthevwere given permission to leave his house and he makes them return to it: and these slaves ted these customs from their ACEStOTS, Anice assessment of this kind of slavery is provided by Franciscan Father Juan de Oliver in a hortatory exposition on the Ten Commandments intended for the Tagalog faithful of Batangas in 1590. Addressing his listeners as Maginoo, he asked rhetorically: What rich man with alipin would not get angry if they did not obey him; and did that man not have the duty to order them what to do and teach them what is right? After all, itwas he who “took them in”—inalila, meaning “to take care of something, 1Tagalog Society and Religion other thing, such as the shepherd his sheep” (San 1). But outright enslavement was inveighed against How many maharlika had been thus enslaved pin) those dayst That is why God likened men to the fishes of the sea, vjarger gobbling up the smatle ver the sin of usur unl But the houscholding alipin was pioned under the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy: Just as the jkpin namamahay and his master divided his working days alternately pemecn’ them, so the infinitely more generous overlordship of God nided labor in man’s favor, six to one, Land and Property Tagalog wealth was based on movable property like gold and jewelry, not real estate, and the possession of slaves, not the land which they worked. Dr. Morga (1609, 193), like many earlier observers, stated unambiguoush “These slaves are the major possessions and wealth the natives of these ands have.” San Buenaventura gave ari and pakayan for “property” (haci- nda) and equated them with Spanish ajuar, household possessions, fur- nishings, valuables, and ornaments. Sadili were the personal possessions brought into a marriage by either spouse, but kasamakan was conjugal property after the birth of children, Inheritance (kamanahan) was illus- trated with examples like “Mag kano kaya ang gintong kamanahan mo sa daga mo [Tow much gold was your inheritance from your aunt]?" (San Buenaventura 1613, 350). Morga commented that inheritance might also include bienes raices, "goods with roots"—for example, coconut plantations and, presumably, irrigated rice fields—and Plasencia said that householding slaves inherited their parents’ gold and enjoyed (gozan) their property and lands. But these were lands held in usufruct, not in fee simple—that is, to Use but not to own or alienate. Arable land, woodlands, and water sources occupied by a bayan were considered to be communal resources; and so were uninhabited forests, though these were only entered after asking the permission of sylvan deities ‘orhunting, foraging, or timbering. Swidden rights were the same asin the "est of the archipelago: whoever opened a hillside plot had the right to the tops, but not to the land, Otherwise, Father Plasencia (1589a, 24) said, the lands where they live they divide among the whole barangay, and thus ach knows his own, especially what is irrigated.” Since a community's and as perceived as unlimited, there was little incentive for alienation, "was labor which was bought and sold or mortgaged—that is, through ather,- 990