PRE-COLONIAL PHILIPPINES

“…a look into our past settings, customs, practices and culture”

Pre-history. The cultural achievements of pre-colonial Philippines include those covered

by pre-history and early history of the Philippines archipelago and its inhabitants, which are the
indigenous forebears of today’s Filipino people. These early Filipinos possessed a culture and
technology that were quite advanced considering the timeline of history of science when it
flourished. Waves of migrants who came to settle in the islands contributed to the development
of ancient Philippine civilization. Prehistoric aborigines, a cross of Afro-Asiatic and Austro-
Aborigines, now called Negritos (Aeta, Agta, Ayta) reached the islands by way of land bridges
around 15,000 to 30,000 BC, and they were excellent hunters and food gatherers. In its midst,
other ancient civilizations were also thriving and evolving. The Proto-Malays, a Mongol-Asiatic
race, arrived around 2500 BC using oceanic vessels called balangays, and they brought with
them their knowledge in seafaring, farming, building of houses from trees and creation of fire for
cooking. The next to arrive were the Duetero-Malays, of India-Asiatic race (Indian, Chinese,
Siamese, Arabic), that prevailed with a more superior and advanced culture. They possessed their
own systems of writing, knowledge and skills in agriculture, metallurgy, and jewelry-making as
well as boat-building. When the Spaniards came to the islands in the 15th century, industries
such as mining, agriculture, fishing and pottery were already in place and contacts with other
Asian nations had been long established.

THE SETTING
Mountain System
There are three large mountain ranges in Luzon-the Caraballo del Sur, the Sierra Madre,
and the Caraballo de Baler. The Caraballo del Sur extends from north to south and consists of the
Central Cordillera and the Northern Cordillera. Its highest peak is at the intersection of the
boundaries of Abra, Ilocos Norte, and Cagayan.
The Sierra Madre, also known as the Pacific Coast Range, begins at the town of Baler,
and crosses the provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Viscaya, and Quirino. The Sierra Madre is
the longest continuous mountain range in the Philippines.
The Caraballo de Baler extends from Baler, the capital of Aurora, and ends in the San
Bernardino Strait at the southeastern tip of Luzon. In this ranges are found Mayon Volcano in
Albay and Bulusan Volcano in Sorsogon.

Also in Luzon are the smaller mountain ranges of Zambales and Tagaytay. The Zambales
Range begins at Cape Bolinao in Pangasinan, extends south along the coast of the China Sea, and
ends in the Bataan provinces of Cavite and Batangas. Mount Makiling, in Laguna, and Taal
Volcano in Batangas, are in the Tagaytay Range.
 In Visayan area, Panay Island has a range stretching from north to south and separating
the province of Antique from Aklan, Iloilo, and Capiz provinces.

The Principal Mountain Ranges in Mindanao

• Diwata Mountains - run along the eastern coast of the island.
• Central Range - extends through the length of Mindanao following the western
boundary of the Agusans and the Davao’s.
• The mountain ranges which form the backbone of the Zamboanga peninsula and
Misamis Occidental.
The highest peak in the Philippines is Mount Apo, in Davao del Sur, 2,954 meters above
the sea level. The second highest is Mount Pulog in the Bicol Peninsula, about 2,585 meters
above the sea level. Other notable Philippine mountain peaks are Makiling, Banahaw, and San
Cristobal-all in Laguna-Arayat in Pampanga, Mayon in Albay, Baco in Mindoro Occidental,
Matalingajan in Palawan, and Makaturing in Lanao del Sur.

The River Systems

The main river systems in Luzon are the following;
• Rio Grande de Cagayan - drains the Cagayan Valley
• Agno River - drains the rivers in Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan and Tarlac.
• Abra River - receives its tributaries from Cordillera and drains Lepanto, Bontoc and
Abra.
• Pampanga River - drains the rich valleys of Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Bulacan
The largest river system in the Philippines is Rio Grande de Mindanao. It is fed by the
waters of two large lakes and drains the central Mindanao basin.

Philippines (in Filipino, Republika ng Pilipinas), republic in the western Pacific Ocean,
comprising the Philippine Islands and forming part of the Malay Archipelago, an island grouping
that extends southward to include Indonesia and Malaysia. The Philippines includes more than
7,100 islands, but most of the land area is shared among the 11 largest islands. The terrain is
mountainous and includes many active volcanoes. The location of the Philippines just north of
the equator gives the republic a moderate tropical climate suited for the cultivation of export
crops such as coconuts and pineapples. Agriculture has long formed the backbone of the
economy. After World War II (1939-1945) the Philippines was one of the first nations of
Southeast Asia to try to industrialize its economy. It subsequently lagged behind most of its
Asian neighbors in economic development. Manila, located on east central Luzon Island, is the
national capital and largest city. The republic’s cultural institutions, industries, and federal
government are concentrated in this rapidly growing metropolitan area.
 The people of the Philippines are called Filipinos. Most Filipinos are of Malay descent.
Filipinos of mixed descent (through various combinations of Malay, Chinese, and Spanish
intermarriage) have traditionally formed the country’s elite in business and politics. Nearly 83
million people live in the Philippines. The republic has one of the highest population-growth
rates in the world. About 40 percent of the population lives in poverty while a wealthy minority
holds most political power. The official languages are English and Filipino (formerly spelled
Pilipino), which is based on the indigenous Tagalog language. More than 80 other indigenous
languages and dialects are also spoken, and the people of the Philippines are divided into
regional ethnolinguistic groups. The Philippines is the only predominantly Christian country in
Asia, a result of its colonization by the Spanish Empire in the 16th century. Muslims, often
called Moros, live predominantly in the southern islands and form a small but significant
religious minority.

Geography of Philippines
The Philippines is bounded on the east by the Philippine Sea, on the south by the Sulu
and Celebes seas, on the west by the South China Sea, and on the north by Luzon Strait. The
Philippine Islands lie off the southeastern coast of the Asian mainland, across the South China
Sea from Vietnam and China. The shortest distance to the mainland, from the northern
Philippines to Hong Kong, is about 805 km (500 mi). The Philippine Islands extend about 1,850
km (1,150 mi) from north to south (between Taiwan and Borneo Island) and about 1,100 km
(700 mi) from east to west. Malaysia and Indonesia, which each hold territory on Borneo, are the
republic’s closest political neighbors.
The Philippines covers a total area, not including its extensive coastal waters, of 300,000
sq km (116,000 sq mi). More than 7,100 islands and islets are included in the Philippine
archipelago. The 11 largest islands make up more than 90 percent of the total area. Only about
460 islands are larger than 2.6 sq km (1 sq mi), and about 1,000 are populated.
The Philippines can be divided into three geographic areas: the northern islands of Luzon
and Mindoro, the central islands of the Visayan Islands (Visayas) and Palawan, and the southern
islands of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The national borders of the Philippines form a
rough triangle. The small Batan Islands north of Luzon form the apex of the triangle. The islands
of Palawan, the Sulu Archipelago, and Mindanao (from west to east) form the base of the
triangle.
Luzon and Mindanao are the two largest islands, anchoring the archipelago in the north
and south. Luzon has an area of 104,700 sq km (40,400 sq mi) and Mindanao has an area of
94,630 sq km (36,540 sq mi). Only nine other islands have an area of more than 2,600 sq km
(1,000 sq mi) each: Samar, Negros, Palawan, Panay, Mindoro, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, and Masbate.
The centrally located Visayan Islands include all of these islands except Mindoro and Palawan.
Volcanic in origin, the Philippine Islands are the higher portions of a partly submerged
mountain chain. The mountains are the principal topographical feature on the smaller islands.
The larger islands, particularly Luzon and Mindanao, have a more diversified topography, with
fertile river valleys in the interior. Mountain ranges generally parallel the coasts, forming narrow
coastal plains. The inland plains and valleys are the most densely populated areas.
On Luzon the Sierra Madre Mountains form the longest range of the Philippines,
extending along the island’s eastern, or Pacific, coast. The parallel ranges of the Cordillera
Central, to the west about 80 km (50 mi) across the Cagayan River Valley, contain Luzon’s
highest peak, Mount Pulog, at 2,930 (9,613 ft). Near this peak, mountainside rice terraces have
been cultivated for hundreds of years. Farther south the important rice-growing region of the
Central Luzon Valley, well irrigated by numerous rivers, extends from Lingayen Gulf to Manila
Bay. The rugged Zambales Mountains, containing Mount Pinatubo (1,780 m/5,840 ft), form the
valley’s western boundary, leading south to the Bataan Peninsula, the sheltering landmass for
Manila Bay. Luzon becomes narrow at its southern end, curving to the southeast in a long,
mountainous extension called the Bicol Peninsula. Here a string of volcanoes includes the cone-
shaped peak of Mayon Volcano, rising to a height of 2,525 m (8,284 ft) near Legaspi.
Mindanao is similarly formed, with coastal mountain ranges and inland valleys, notably
those of the Agusan and Mindanao rivers. The Diuata Mountains bordering the eastern coast
form the most prominent range on the island. The country’s highest point, Mount Apo (2,954
m/9,692 ft.), rises in the south near the Mindanao River basin. The large Zamboanga Peninsula
extends from western Mindanao, hooking southward toward the Sulu Archipelago.
The Visayas include seven major islands, among them the republic’s third largest island,
Samar, with an area of 13,100 sq km (5,100 sq mi). The most easterly of the Visayas, Samar is
connected by bridge to the adjacent island of Leyte; both islands are relatively undeveloped and
have dense jungle forests. To the west are Bohol, site of the tourist attraction known as the
Chocolate Hills, hundreds of cone-shaped hills with vegetation that turns brown during summer;
Cebu, a long, narrow island and the most densely populated island in the Philippines; Negros,
which developed from the mid-1800s as the center of the Philippine sugar industry; and Panay,
where many agricultural crops are grown in the rich volcanic soils of the densely populated
coastal plain of Iloilo Province. Masbate, in the north central Visayas, is noted for its gold and
copper mines.
Most of the Philippine Islands are clustered in a predominantly north-south direction. In
the southwest, two island groupings deviate from this predominant direction: the long, narrow
island of Palawan and its offshore islands and, farther south, the approximately 900 small islands
of the Sulu Archipelago. Both island groupings extend southwest toward Borneo with the Sulu
Sea between them. The Sulu Archipelago includes many coral islands and reefs. Palawan Island
is believed to be the first Philippine island to have been settled by people who migrated from the
Southeast Asian mainland during prehistoric times.

Pacific Ring of Fire

The Philippine Islands are part of the so-called Ring of Fire, an area encircling the Pacific
Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity result from the movements of tectonic plates, or
segments of Earth’s crust (see Plate Tectonics). To the east of the islands lies the 10,539-m
(34,578-ft) deep Philippine Trench, where one tectonic plate is being forced beneath another in a
process known as subduction. This subduction causes frequent earthquakes in the Philippines.
Large submarine earthquakes are known to cause tidal waves, or tsunamis, that can strike the
coasts.
The Philippine Islands include about 20 active volcanoes and many inactive, or dormant,
volcanoes. The most active is Mayon Volcano, with recent eruptions in 1993, 2000, and 2001.
Mount Pinatubo caused widespread damage when it erupted in 1991 after lying dormant for
about 600 years. Mount Apo, the country’s highest mountain, is an active volcano with three
peaks.
The principal islands of the Philippines are traversed by large rivers, some of which are
navigable. The longest river of the republic is the Cagayan, in north central Luzon. Other
important rivers of Luzon include the Agno and Pampanga, crossing the Central Luzon Valley;
the Chico, flowing through the Cordillera Central and irrigating the mountainside rice terraces;
the Pasig, a commercially important artery flowing through Manila; and the Bicol, the primary
river of the Bicol Peninsula. The principal rivers of Mindanao are the Mindanao (Rio Grande de
Mindanao), which receives the waters of the Pulangi, and the Agusan.
Laguna de Bay, 13 km (8 mi) southeast of Manila, is the largest lake of the Philippines.
Lake Taal, 56 km (35 mi) south of Manila, occupies a huge volcanic crater and contains an
island that is itself a volcano, with its own crater lake. Lake Lanao is the largest lake of
Mindanao and the source of the Agusan River, which exits the lake in the spectacular Maria
Christina Falls.
With its numerous islands, the Philippines has a total coastline of about 36,289 km
(22,549 mi). The coastline is irregular, with numerous bays, gulfs, and inlets. Manila Bay, with
its superb naturally sheltered harbor, is the most commercially important. Also significant is the
wide, unsheltered Davao Gulf of southeastern Mindanao.
The Philippine Islands have a tropical climate. At sea level, temperatures rarely fall
below 27°C (80°F). Interior valleys and leeward sides of islands tend to be warmer, while
mountain slopes and peaks and windward sides of islands tend to be cooler. Rainfall averages
about 2,030 mm (80 in) a year, with more precipitation n in coastal plains than in sheltered
inland valleys. In the western part of the country, the rainy season occurs during the summer
monsoon, from May to November, when the wind blows from the southwest; the dry season
occurs during the winter monsoon, from December to April, when the wind blows from the
northeast. In contrast, the eastern side of the country receives most of its rainfall during the
winter monsoon and has no true dry season. Tropical storms are common from June to October;
each year about 20 typhoons strike the Philippines, mostly on the eastern coasts of Luzon and
Samar, bringing high winds and flooding that sometimes result in property damage and loss of
life.
The Philippines has extensive mineral deposits of copper, gold, silver, nickel, lead, and
chromium. Other important, but less plentiful, deposits of zinc, cobalt, and manganese also exist.
Copper has been mined extensively and is the leading mineral product, but many of the country’s
mineral resources remain unexploited. The Philippines has limited offshore petroleum and
natural gas reserves. About 19 percent of the Philippines is forested. Logging has seriously
depleted forest cover since the early 20th century. The Philippine waters are abundant with many
varieties of fish, which are an important natural resource as a staple of the Philippine diet and an
export commodity.
 Forests in the Philippines include the banyan, many varieties of palm, trees yielding
rubber, and many indigenous trees with extremely hard wood such as apitong, yacal, lauan,
camagón, ipil, white and red narra, and mayapis. Bamboo and cinnamon, clove, and pepper
plants grow wild, as do hundreds of species of orchid. Abaca, or Manila hemp, is a commercially
valuable indigenous plant; its fiber is used in making cordage, textiles, and hats. Mangrove trees
and nipa palms grow in coastal swamps. Coarse, hardy tropical grasses have taken over many
upland areas that were cleared of their original tropical rain forest.
The Philippines has few species of large mammals. The domesticated water buffalo, or
carabao, is common throughout the islands, while a small species of carabao, the tamarau, is
found only in interior Mindoro. Small mammals are more numerous, including monkeys,
rodents, bats, and shrews; several species of deer, including a dwarf deer; mongooses; and
porcupines, found only on Palawan. Reptiles and birds abound in greater variety and number
than mammals. The islands have 196 species of birds, including colorful parrots and the
endangered monkey-eating eagle. Palawan has many species of birds found nowhere else in the
world. Leeches and insects such as mosquitoes and grasshoppers are serious pests in some areas.
Coastal and inland waters teem with marine life, including thousands of species of fish as
well as mollusks such as clams. Pearl oysters are abundant around the Sulu Archipelago, and
Sulu pearls are renowned for their quality. Coral reefs and sponges are also found in many
offshore areas.

Environmental Issues
Deforestation poses the most direct threat to the remarkable biodiversity of the
Philippines. Largely due to loss of habitat, more than 380 animal species are threatened or
endangered. Water pollution has damaged the fragile marine ecosystems of the country’s coastal
wetlands, mangrove swamps, and coral reefs. Serious air pollution is another environmental
concern, primarily in Manila.
The Philippines has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. At the current
rate of deforestation, about 1.4 percent annually, the country’s virgin forests are in danger of
disappearing by 2010. The clearing of forests has contributed to soil erosion, a serious problem
in the Philippines due to heavy monsoon rains. The Philippine government imposed restrictions
on logging in the late 1970s and banned logging in virgin forests in 1991, but illegal and often
corrupt activities undermine these efforts. Reforestation programs have met with limited success.
About 8 percent of the land in the Philippines is designated for preservation in parks and other
reserves.

People of Philippines

Population…………87,857,473 (2005 estimate)

Population density…………295 persons per sq km
 763 persons per sq mi (2005 estimate)
Urban population distribution…………61 percent (2003 estimate)
Rural population distribution…………39 percent (2003 estimate)
Largest cities, with population…………Quezon City, 2,160,000 (2000)
Manila…………1,673,000 (2000)
Caloocan…………1,157,881 (1999 estimate)
Official languages…………Filipino (based on Tagalog), English
Chief religious affiliations…………Roman Catholic, 84 percent
Muslim…………5 percent
Other…………11 percent
Life expectancy…………69.9 years (2005 estimate)
Infant mortality rate…………24 deaths per 1,000 live births (2005 estimate)
Literacy rate…………96.3 percent (2005 estimate)

Filipinos are primarily descended from Malayan peoples who migrated to the islands
thousands of years ago. During the past several centuries, a significant number of people have
migrated from China. Some people of Spanish descent settled in the Philippines during the
Spanish colonial period (1565-1898). The term Filipino originally described a person of Spanish
descent born in the Philippines. In the 19th century it began to refer to the Christianized Malays
who constituted the majority of the population. Although the term remains closely associated
with this group, it also can describe any citizen of the Philippines.
The Philippines had a population of 65,036,621 in 1990. The estimated population in
2005 was 87,857,473. The population is growing by about 2 percent a year, giving the
Philippines one of the world’s highest population-growth rates. The high birthrate contributes to
a predominantly young population; in 2001 about 57 percent of the population was under the age
of 25. The average population density is 295 persons per sq km (763 per sq mi). However, the
distribution of the population is uneven; some areas are virtually uninhabited, while others are
densely populated. The percentage of the population living in rural areas has steadily declined in
recent decades. It decreased from 68 percent in 1970 to 57 percent in 1990. By 2000 urban
dwellers outnumbered rural residents, with only 42 percent of the population living in rural areas.

Cultural Groups
Filipinos are generally divided along linguistic, geographic, and religious lines. Different
linguistic groups developed as a result of the original settlement patterns. As the Malayan
peoples spread throughout the archipelago, they dispersed into separate groups that each
developed a distinct vernacular, or regional language. The primary religious groups are
Christians and Muslims.
Christian Filipinos are the largest and most politically powerful group in the Philippines.
They live primarily in lowland areas, specifically coastal areas and inland plains. They speak
many different regional languages and dialects and are categorized into ethnolinguistic groups.
Intermarriage and internal migration have helped to reduce language barriers over the years. The
largest groups are the Tagalogs, who predominate in central and southern Luzon, including
Manila; the Cebuanos, who live in Cebu, Bohol, eastern Negros, western Leyte, and in some
coastal areas of Mindanao; and the Ilocanos, who predominate in the coastal areas of northern
Luzon. Other major groups are the Ilongos, who speak Hiligaynon; the Bicolanos, who speak
Bicol; the Waray-Waray; the Pampangans; and the Pangasinans.
Muslim Filipinos, also known as Moros or Moro Muslims, constitute the second largest
group with a common cultural identity, although there are many linguistic and cultural
differences among them. The Moros are of Malayan or Indonesian descent and comprise ten
major ethnolinguistic groups, the largest of which are the Maguindanao, Maranao, Tau Sug, and
Samal. The Maguindanao, who live mainly on Mindanao, are the largest Muslim group in the
country. The Maranao, meaning “people of the lake,” live principally around Lake Lanao on
Mindanao. The Tau Sug and Samal live in the Sulu Archipelago. Although the majority of
Muslim Filipinos live in the southern islands, communities of Muslims live in other areas of the
country as well.
The upland tribal groups are the third largest cultural group in the Philippines. The
islands include more than 100 upland tribes, ranging in size from 100,000 to fewer than several
hundred members. The members of the Aeta and Agta tribes are considered to be the indigenous
people of the Philippines. They are descendents of perhaps the first humans who settled the
islands during prehistoric times, before the Malayan migrations. They are commonly known as
Negritos (a term assigned to them during the Spanish colonial period) and are one of the world’s
few remaining Pygmy people, who are characterized by shorter-than-average height. Their
communities are located mainly on northeastern Luzon. Although most of them were absorbed
into the Malay population through intermarriage, some retreated to the mountains as the Malayan
settlers increased in number. Those who retreated retained a hunting-and-gathering way of life
augmented by a type of nomadic farming known as slash-and-burn agriculture, whereby they
created temporary crop fields by clearing and burning small areas of forest. Other upland peoples
of Malayan descent followed a similar settlement pattern. Through centuries of relative isolation,
these groups have preserved their traditional ways of life and distinct cultures. They are engaged
in subsistence hunting, fishing, and farming. Most maintain indigenous belief systems based on
animism (the worship of nature deities and other spirits).

People of Chinese descent comprise the largest non-Malay group, making up about 1
percent of the population. Chinese people have settled in the Philippines for centuries. They
originally came as traders, and during the colonial period they began to form an important
merchant class. Many recent arrivals from China live in the Philippines as semipermanent
residents, while others become Philippine citizens. Intermarriage between Chinese and lowland
Filipinos is common. People of mixed Malay and Chinese descent are known as mestizos. Unlike
Chinese who do not intermarry or become citizens, mestizos have always been readily accepted
in Philippine society. They formed the first Filipino elite during the colonial period, and today
they continue to form an economically and politically important minority.

The Philippines has the only predominantly Christian population in Asia, reflecting
Spain’s colonization of the islands in the 16th century. About 94 percent of the people are
Christians, about 5 percent are Muslims, and the remainder are Buddhists, animists, or
nonbelievers.
About 84 percent of all Filipinos are Roman Catholic. Another 10 percent belong to other
Christian denominations, most notably the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (Philippine
Independent Church), an independent Catholic church whose adherents are known as
Aglipayans. Founded by Filipino priest Gregorio Aglipay and formally organized in 1902, this
church broke from Rome’s authority as part of the Filipino struggle for clerical equity. Smaller
groups of nearly every Christian denomination also exist, notably Protestants and revivalist
groups. Another Filipino-founded church, the evangelical Iglesia ni Kristo (Church of Christ),
was founded in 1914 and began to attract a significant membership after World War II.
The Muslim population of the Philippines lives mostly in the southern islands of
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. Islam predated Christianity in the region, spreading to the
Sulu Archipelago in the 14th century and Mindanao in the 15th century. Islam had some
adherents as far north as Manila by the time the Spanish arrived. After 1571, when Spanish
forces defeated the Muslim ruler of Manila, Muslims were largely confined to the south.
Spanish colonial authority depended on locally based Catholic religious orders to help
maintain political control, and this interdependency made the church a powerful institution in the
islands. Although there is an official separation of church and state in the Philippines, the Roman
Catholic Church continues to have an influential role in political life.
More than 80 indigenous languages and dialects are spoken in the Philippines. These
languages and dialects belong to the Malayo-Polynesian group of the Austronesian language
family. The most widely spoken are Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray-
Waray, Pampangan, Pangasinan, and Maranao.
English and Filipino (formerly spelled Pilipino) are the official languages. Filipino is
largely based on Tagalog, with many words adopted from other languages, including English and
Spanish. It was made the national language in 1987 in an attempt to address the fact that no two
of the indigenous languages are mutually comprehensible. Filipino is a required subject in
schools, but English is more commonly used in higher education. English is also commonly used
in government and commerce. Some Filipinos are trilingual, speaking an indigenous language,
Filipino, and English. Many Filipinos continue to primarily speak their indigenous language,
rather than Filipino. Very few people speak Spanish, despite the country’s colonial history.
Spanish never became a widely used or learned language in the Philippines, in contrast to the
Spanish colonies in the Americas, because the Spanish friars used the vernacular to introduce
Catholicism to the indigenous population. Arabic and various dialects of Chinese are spoken by a
small minority of the population.
Social Structure
Family relationships are the basic building block of Philippine society. Each Filipino is at
the center of a large circle of relatives, usually extending to third cousins. Marriage is rarely
permitted for members of the same kinship circle. The kinship circle is customarily enlarged
through compadrazgo, or ritual co-parenthood, the Catholic custom of selecting godparents to
sponsor one’s child at baptism. In the close-knit Filipino family, members are provided
assistance when needed and expected to give their first loyalty to their kin. In rural areas the
barangays (villages) contain sitios, or clusters of households, of an extended family. The social
support provided by these close-knit communities is reflected in the absence of such institutions
as retirement homes and orphanages.
Filipino women, usually called Filipinas, have more social equality than women in most
countries in Southeast Asia. Since precolonial times, their social status has been generally equal
to that of men. In the bilateral kinship system that is traditional in the Philippines, descent is
traced equally through both male and female lineages. Because a woman’s lineage is equally
valued, her rights to property and inheritance are not questioned. Today educated women in the
Philippines are strongly represented in politics, business, and the professions. At home women
usually manage the family income and are the primary caretakers of children.

Way of Life
One of the most notable characteristics of Filipino society is its strong family and
community relationships. These are strengthened by the traditional Filipino concept of utang na
loob, in which an act of voluntary assistance creates an obligation that the receiver must attempt
to repay through reciprocal assistance. This often creates a long-term relationship of giving and
receiving between individuals or families, and some obligations can last for generations. The
social values of loyalty, support, and trust are deeply embedded in the Philippine identity.
Respect for others, especially elder members of society and people in positions of authority, is
taught from an early age.
In Philippine villages, houses are traditionally constructed of bamboo and nipa palm
thatching and raised above the ground on poles. Simple wooden houses with galvanized iron
roofs are also common. Except in the remotest areas, rural houses are equipped with electricity
and indoor plumbing. More services and modern facilities are available in towns and cities. The
influence of Western culture is more evident in urban areas, where lifestyles tend to be more
modern.
Farming, fishing, and forestry are the primary occupations in rural areas. Many of the
rural poor are employed as tenant farmers and landless agricultural workers. Most urban
residents are employed in the service sector or in manufacturing. There is a growing middle class
of government employees, teachers, and small-business owners.
The Philippine diet usually consists of boiled rice or ground corn, vegetables, fresh or
salted fish, and fruits. A locally made beverage is tuba, a fermented coconut wine.
Traditional sports include arnis, a kind of fencing with wooden sticks, and sipa, a game
much like volleyball except that the players use only their feet to move the ball. Cockfighting
and boxing are popular spectator sports, and American influence is seen in the wide popularity of
baseball and basketball. Christian holidays such as the annual patron-saint fiestas and the
crucifixion reenactments at Easter are important and well-attended community events.

Culture
The arts of the Philippines reflect a society with diverse cultural influences and traditions.
The Malayan peoples had early contact with traders who introduced Chinese and Indian
influences. Islamic traditions were first introduced to the Malays of the southern Philippine
Islands in the 14th century. Most modern aspects of Philippine cultural life evolved under the
foreign rule of Spain and, later, the United States.
In the 16th century the Spanish imposed a foreign culture based in Catholicism. While
the lowland peoples were acculturated through religious conversion, the Muslims and some
upland tribal groups maintained cultural independence. Among those who were assimilated arose
an educated elite who began to establish a modern Filipino literary tradition.
During the first half of the 20th century, American influence made the Philippines one of
the most Westernized nations in Southeast Asia. The cultural movements of Europe and the
United States profoundly influenced Filipino artists, even after independence in 1946. While
drawing on Western forms, however, the works of Filipino painters, writers, and musicians are
imbued with distinctly Philippine themes. By expressing the cultural richness of the archipelago
in all its diversity, Filipino artists have helped to shape a sense of national identity.
Many Malay cultural traditions have survived despite centuries of foreign rule. Muslims
and upland tribal groups maintain distinct traditions in music, dance, and sculpture. In addition,
many Filipino artists incorporate indigenous folk motifs into modern forms.
The indigenous literature of the Philippines developed primarily in the oral tradition in
poetic and narrative forms. Epic poems, legends, proverbs, songs, and riddles were passed from
generation to generation through oral recitation and incantation in the various languages and
dialects of the islands. The epics were the most complex of these early literary forms. Most of
the major tribal groups developed an original epic that was chanted in episodic segments during
a variety of social rituals. One common theme of the epics is a hero who is aided by benevolent
spirits. The epics that have survived are important records of the ancient customs of tribal society
before the arrival of Islam and Christianity.
After the arrival of the Spanish, Catholic missionaries employed indigenous peoples as
translators, creating a bilingual class known as ladinos. These individuals, notably poet-translator
Gaspar Aquino de Belen, produced devotional poetry written in the Roman script, primarily in
the Tagalog language. Later, the Spanish ballad of chivalry, the corridor, provided a model for
secular (nonreligious) literature. Verse narratives, or komedya, were performed in the regional
languages for the illiterate majority. They were also written in the Roman alphabet in the
principal languages and widely circulated.
Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar, generally considered the first major Filipino poet, wrote
poems in Tagalog. His best-known work, Florante at Laura (Florante and Laura), probably
written between 1835 and 1842, is an epic poem that subversively criticizes Spanish tyranny.
This poem inspired a generation of young Filipino writers of the new educated class, or
ilustrados, who used their literary talents to call for political and social reform under the colonial
system. These writers, most notably José Rizal, produced a small but high-quality body of
Philippine literature in Spanish. Rizal’s novel Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not), published in
1886, and its sequel, El Filibusterismo (The Subversive), published in 1891, helped to shape a
new, nationalist identity during the last years of the 19th century.
The transfer of the Philippines to United States control in 1898 resulted in a dramatic
increase in literacy and, consequently, literary production. A variety of new literary journals
began to be published. English-language Filipino novels, short stories, and poems were first
published in book form in the 1920s. Many Filipino authors have had distinguished writing
careers. Their works typically explore the Filipino cultural identity in the context of social and
political issues. Filipino authors often write in more than one literary form and in more than one
language. Major English-language works include Winds of April (1940) and The Bamboo
Dancers (1959) by N. V. M. Gonzalez; Many Voices (1939) and Have Come, Am Here (1942)
by José Garcia Villa; You Lovely People (1955) and Scent of Apples and Other Stories (1980)
by Bienvenido N. Santos; The Laughter of My Father (1944) and America Is in the Heart (1946)
by Carlos Bulosan; Bitter Country and Other Stories (1970) by Rosca Ninotchka; The Woman
Who Had Two Navels (1972) and A Question of Heroes (1977) by Nick Joaquin; The God
Stealer and Other Stories (1968) and Tree (1978) by Francisco Sionil José; A Question of
Identity (1973) by Carmen Guerrero Nakpil; and His Native Coast (1979) by Edith L. Tiempo.
During most of the Spanish colonial period, the art and architecture of the Philippines
were strongly influenced by the patronage of the Roman Catholic Church. Most art emphasized
religious iconography. The church commissioned local craftspeople, often skilled Chinese
artisans, to construct provincial stone churches with bas-relief sculpture and to carve santos, or
statues of saints, and other devotional icons in wood and ivory. The edifices, statues, and
paintings of the period show Chinese and Malay modifications of Spanish baroque, an elaborate
and detailed style.
Philippine painters began to explore secular themes in the mid-1800s. The painters Juan
Luna and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo produced works in the romantic and early impressionist
styles, achieving recognition in Europe. Painters of the early 1900s—notably Fernando
Amorsolo, Fabián de la Rosa, and Jorge Pineda—produced romanticized landscapes, genre
scenes, and portraits. In the late 1920s Victorio Edades, an American-trained painter, infused
modernism into the Philippine art world. Many Philippine painters who were influenced by
American and European modernism also experimented with it to reflect Philippine realities, such
as Carlos Francisco, Arturo Luz, Anita Magsaysay-Ho, Vicente Manansala, and Hernando
Ocampo. Lee Aguinaldo and Fernando Zobel de Ayala achieved international recognition in the
1960s and 1970s.
Sculpture took on secular themes in the early 1900s. The major Filipino sculptor of the
American colonial period was Guillermo Tolentino, who trained in classical sculpture in Rome.
In the 1950s Napoleon Abueva pioneered modernism in Philippine sculpture. Many talented
sculptors were active in the following decades, notably Eduardo Castrillo, whose large welded-
metal sculptures are displayed in Manila’s Memorial Park; Solomon Saprid, noted for his
expressionist series of mythical figures titled Tikbalang; and Abdulmari Imao, who produced
contemporary interpretations of traditional Muslim designs. More recently, sculptors have tended
to utilize ethnic artifacts and natural materials to produce assemblages with social themes.
In remote areas, tribal groups have preserved traditional art forms such as woodcarving,
textile weaving, bamboo and rattan weaving, and metalsmithing. Artistic body adornments such
as bead jewelry, body tattoos, and headdresses are important indications of social status. In the
northern Philippines, the Ifugao people are known for their sculptural wood carvings of bulul
figures, which represent guardian deities. The figures are ritually placed in rice granaries to bring
a plentiful harvest. The terraced rice fields of the Ifugao are considered a major architectural feat.
The Ifugao built them over a period of centuries by carving terraces into the mountainsides and
reinforcing each level with stone walls.
The Muslim peoples in the south practice okir, a design tradition that shows evidence of
Indian and Islamic influences. Rendered in hardwood and brass, the okir designs are mostly
figurative, depicting animals, plants, and mythical figures. The style is highly decorative, with
long curvilinear lines and secondary arabesques. The designs are based in the ancient epics and
serve as significant cultural symbols. An important motif of the Maranaos is the sarimanok
design, depicting a bird holding a fish in its beak or talons. Many okir designs are used as
decorative elements in architecture. The Muslim peoples of the Philippines are noted for their
metalworking skills, producing weaponry such as swords and decorative containers in brass and
silver.
Filipino classical musical compositions in many ways epitomize the blending of
multicultural influences. The compositions often embody indigenous themes and rhythms in
Western forms, such as symphonies, sonatas, and concertos. Several composers and conductors
in classical music have achieved international recognition, including Antonio Molina, Felipe
Padilla de Leon, and Eliseo Pájaro. José Maceda is considered the first Filipino avant-garde
composer, liberating Philippine classical music from the traditional constructs of Western forms.
Traditional types of music are played on wind, string, and percussion instruments made
from local materials. These include the kulibit, a zither with bamboo strings and tubular bamboo
resonators; wooden lutes and guitars; and the git-git, a wooden three-string bowed instrument.
The Muslim peoples use these and other instruments to play complex musical compositions that
have been passed by memory from generation to generation.
Most Filipino communities remember the tunes and lyrics of traditional folk songs.
Tagalogs, for example, have more than a dozen folk songs for various occasions, including the
uyayi or hele, a lullaby; the talindaw, a seafaring song; the kumintang, a warrior song; the
kundiman, a love song; and the panambitan, a courtship song. Some songs are accompanied by a
specific folk dance.
Formal training in classical dance has been available in the Philippines since the 1930s.
The first noted Filipino choreographers in classical ballet were Leonor Orosa-Goquingco,
Remedios “Totoy” de Oteyza, and Rosalia Merino-Santos. Orosa-Goquingco is most noted for
her staging of Filipinescas: Philippine Life, Legend and Lore in Dance, which toured the world
in the 1960s. Merino-Santos later turned to modern dance and founded the Far Eastern
University Modern Experimental Dance Troupe. Other dance companies include Ballet
Philippines (formerly the Modern Dance Company), Hariraya Ballet Company, Dance Theater
Philippines, and Pamana Ballet (formerly the Anita Kane Ballet Company). Several Filipino
ballet dancers have achieved international fame, including Maribel Aboitiz, Eddie Elejar, Lisa
Macuja, and Anna Villadolid.
Choreographer Francisca Reyes-Aquino is recognized for pioneering research in the
documentation of Philippine folk dances and founding the Philippine Folk Dance Society. She
codified the folk dances into steps, directions, and musical arrangements that are taught in
physical education classes in most schools. Among other folk dance troupes, the Bayanihan
Philippine Dance Company (formerly the Bayanihan Folk Arts Center) and the Far Eastern
University Folk Dance Group perform stylized adaptations of folk dances in local and
international tours. Informal folk dancing is performed for a variety of occasions, such as
harvests, weddings, and religious celebrations.
The Manila Symphony Orchestra accompanies many dance performances. The Philippine
Cultural Center in Manila provides an important venue for the performing and applied arts.
In addition to the university libraries, the major libraries of the country are the Manila
City Library, the National Library, and the library of the Science and Technology Information
Institute, all in Manila. The Lopez Memorial Museum and Library, in Pasay, has collections of
paintings by major Filipino artists, as well as the letters and manuscripts of José Rizal. The Santo
Tomás Museum, in Manila, has major archaeological and natural-history collections, illustrating
the history of the islands. The National Museum, in Manila, has divisions of anthropology,
botany, geology, and zoology, along with art collections and a planetarium.

Agriculture
In 2003 agriculture, forestry, and fishing contributed 14 percent of the GDP. About 19
percent of the total land area of the Philippines is arable, or suitable for cultivation. The most
important subsistence crops are rice, corn, cassava, and sweet potatoes. Rice paddies and
cornfields occupy about half of the arable land of the Philippines. Coconuts are one of the most
important cash crops, and the Philippines is one of the world’s leading exporters of coconut
products, including coconut oil and copra (dried coconut). Bananas and pineapples are also
important commercial crops, both of which are grown on large plantations owned by
multinational companies. Other crops include sugarcane, abaca (Manila hemp), coffee, tobacco,
and mangoes. Livestock on farms include carabao (water buffalo), cattle, chickens, goats, horses,
and hogs. Many farmers are tenants, who rent the land and pay the landowner a share of the crop.
Other farmworkers include seasonal migrant laborers.
Sugar was the most important agricultural export of the Philippines from the mid-1800s
to the mid-1970s. Much of the modernization of the country took place to facilitate the
processing and transport of this export crop. For many years, the Philippines had access to a
protected and subsidized U.S. market for its sugar. The decline of the sugar industry involved
many factors, including the expiration of a U.S. quota system on sugar imports in 1974 followed
by a sharp decline in world sugar prices.
Hardwood trees such as mahogany were once one of the country’s most valuable
resources, but now this resource is severely depleted. The government banned the export of
unprocessed hardwood logs in 1986 in an effort to stimulate domestic processing of raw lumber
into finished products. Initially this policy was successful, and products such as wood veneer
became important exports. However, illegal logging and unsuccessful reforestation programs
depleted the hardwood forests, and output from lumber-processing industries declined. Other
forestry industries remain viable because their products are based on more easily renewable
sources than hardwood, such as bamboo, rattan, and the ceiba (kapok) tree. Bamboo and rattan
are used in making furniture, baskets, floor mats, and other household goods. The ceiba tree, also
known as the silk-cotton tree, is cultivated and harvested for its fiber, which is used in the
manufacture of finished goods such as insulation and upholstery.

Fishing is an important industry in the Philippines. The average annual fish catch exceeds
2 million metric tons. Nearly half of the total catch is made by municipal and subsistence fishers
who operate small boats in shallow coastal waters. The surrounding and inland seas of the
Philippines yield crab, sardines, anchovies, tuna, scad, and mackerel. Shrimp, milkfish, and
tilapia are raised in artificially created fishponds, in the fish-farming industry known as
aquaculture. Much of the total catch is for domestic consumption, and about half of the protein in
the Philippine diet comes from fish and other seafood. Shrimp and prawn exports to Japan are a
significant source of foreign exchange. The pollution of coastal and inland waters and depletion
of fish populations through overfishing have reduced the fishing sector’s productivity in some
areas of the Philippines.

Mining
The Philippines has extensive deposits of valuable metallic and mineral ores, including
copper, gold, silver, chromium, lead, and nickel. Copper is the country’s leading mineral
product. In 2003 the Philippines produced 20,400 metric tons of copper. The mining industry
grew rapidly in the 1970s in response to government initiatives. In the mid-1980s, however,
output in the metallic sector entered an overall decline as world prices for metals weakened. The
nonmetallic sector, meanwhile, was stimulated by a rising domestic demand for coal. The
country’s plentiful coal deposits were explored as an alternative to costly petroleum imports, and
the mining of coal increased substantially after 1979. In 2002 the Philippines produced 1.69
million metric tons of coal.

Manufacturing
In 2003 manufacturing contributed 23 percent of the GDP. The manufacturing sector
accounts for a larger share of national income than agriculture, fishing, and forestry combined.
However, more people are employed in those traditional sectors than in manufacturing. Since the
mid-1950s, manufacturing has not substantially increased its share of either output or
employment.
The manufacturing sector expanded significantly during the post-World War II
reconstruction of the Philippine economy. Government controls on imports promoted the
development of light industries that produced consumer goods for the domestic market. In the
1970s the government created four special economic zones designed to stimulate manufacturing
for the export market. Industries in these export-processing zones receive incentives to produce
nontraditional (mainly nonagricultural) exports. The zones have helped to stimulate foreign
investment in the Philippine economy, in part because they are exempt from certain taxes and
restrictions on foreign ownership of businesses. The success of these zones has led to the
creation of other types of special economic zones, such as large industrial estates. Businesses
receive tax exemptions and other incentives in these zones. The former U.S. naval base at Subic
Bay, for example, is now a huge industrial-commercial zone known as the Subic Bay
Metropolitan Area (SBMA). Its modern port facilities and duty-free economic zone have
attracted new export-focused industries and foreign investment. The Philippines has some heavy
industries, including a copper smelter-refinery and chemical and fertilizer plants. They were built
under a government-funded industrial-development program and were in operation by the early
1980s.

Nondurable goods such as processed food, textiles, and tobacco products make up the
largest percentage of manufacturing output. Other major products include refined petroleum,
chemicals, construction materials, and clothing. The Philippines has increased its production of
durable items, especially electrical and electronic equipment and components, nonelectrical
machinery, transport equipment, and furniture. The manufacture of electronic items, especially
computer components such as microchips and circuit boards, increased substantially in the 1990s
for the export market, constituting 62 percent of all exports in 1999. The Philippine economy
was therefore affected by the worldwide slump in demand for these items in the early 2000s.

Energy
Since the early 1970s the Philippines has developed a variety of domestic energy
resources, including geothermal resources, hydroelectric power, offshore oil reserves, and coal
fields. Increased production of domestic energy reduced the country’s dependence on imported
petroleum from 95 percent of the energy supply in 1973 to about half that amount by the end of
the century.
Offshore exploration for oil reserves was spurred by sharp increases in international
petroleum prices in 1973 and 1979. Oil was discovered near the island of Palawan in 1976, and
commercial production began in 1979. The domestic oil wells produce relatively insignificant
amounts of crude petroleum, however, and the Philippines must import most of the petroleum it
consumes. A natural-gas field off western Palawan was estimated to contain abundant reserves
and held promise for future production. The major potential of undersea fields in the South China
Sea is diminished by competing claims from China, Vietnam, and Malaysia. In addition to
petroleum and natural gas, fossil-fuel plants utilize the country’s coal resources. However, the
coal is of generally poor quality for electricity production. Thermal plants utilizing fuels such as
coal and oil generated 61 percent of the country’s electricity in 1999.
The Philippine government has also pursued the development of alternative sources of
energy. The Philippines has significant geothermal resources. The country’s installed capacity
for geothermal power is exceeded only by the United States, and most of its geothermal
resources remain unexploited. Geothermal, solar, and wind sources generated 22 percent of the
country’s electricity in 2002. Hydroelectric sources generated 16 percent.
 In 1990 a shortage in electricity-generating capacity on Luzon resulted in frequent power
outages in the Manila metropolitan area. This threatened the stability of the country’s economy
because many important industries are concentrated in this area. The government of President
Fidel Ramos managed to construct new fossil-fuel plants to meet the burgeoning demand for
electricity. Construction of a nuclear power plant on the Bataan Peninsula, on Luzon Island west
of Manila, was never completed because the plant’s location on seismic fault lines was deemed a
hazard to public safety. Accelerating economic and population growth in the Manila region
continues to put pressure on the energy supply.

Significance of the Philippine Pre-Colonial with regards to its Setting

Besides of manifesting the lessons that may acquire through studying the history itself it
also allow us to gain valuable perspective on the problems of our modern society. It makes us see
what is beyond the standard textbooks and see the past through new lenses which simply stated
that it can traced back to historical questions on our past as well as its culture.
It may not actually present a solution to the current problems or directly answer questions
itself, rather it lend new and alternative perspectives to current or present situations and it also
allow us to further understand current problems by simply acquiring prior knowledge with
regards to the happenings way back then.
It helps our lives for the better by simply preventing ourselves to commit the same sins or
mistakes that we already committed before, rather it improves our daily perspective and the way
how we approach circumstances that may occur in the future or either in our present.

BEFORE THE CONQUEST

Peopling of the Philippines

Philippine prehistory and its peopling is a controversial topic within the disciplines of
anthropology, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics up to this day. There is a variety of data that
has been sifted through in coming up with several theories on how this archipelago, as well as its
neighboring set of islands, has been colonized by the human species thousands of years ago. The
first evidence of human settlement in what is now the Philippines was found in Tabon Cave in
Palawan back in 1970. A skullcap was excavated, apart from animal remains, and was dated to
16,500 years ago. However, a recent excavation in Callao Cave in Cagayan yielded a metatarsal
(foot bone), which was dated to 26,000 years ago, making the possibility of human presence in
Luzon earlier than previously thought.
For most Filipinos, the historical foundation for the peopling of the Philippines has been H.
Otley Beyer’s Waves of Migration hypothesis. It has been taught (and continues to be) in
elementary levels as one of the first lessons in basic Philippine history, or more correctly,
prehistory, since some history textbooks begin the discussion of our history with the arrival of
the Spaniards in 1521. Beyer, the Father of Philippine Anthropology, formulated this hypothesis
while teaching history at the University of the Philippines. He would eventually go on to found
the Department of Anthropology and become its first dean. This hypothesis, though widely
accepted in the early part of the 20th century, has fallen out of favor in the academe due to its
focus on diffusion and anachronistic categories; it was his students, such as the late F. Landa
Jocano, that disproved the Waves of Migration.
In this popular yet now-refuted theory, Beyer proposed that the Philippines was originally
populated by Negritos––dark-skinned, wide-nosed, foragers––similar to the Aetas of today. This
part of the theory remains widely accepted, with Negritos being considered as Australoids, or the
earlier batch of H. sapiens to make it out of Africa and reached as far as Australia, where this
group makes up its Aborigines. The archipelago was migrated into in three major waves by
different groups––Malay, Indones A and B. These groups had distinct cultures and were even
stated to vary in terms of nose breadth and size. Such categories reflected the dominant
anthropological analyses of the time, with much attention given to physical features in the
context of racial difference. A second problem arose with the fact that Malaysia and Indonesia
did not exist at the time, and thus creating not just a misnomer, but also a conundrum.
For most Filipinos, the historical foundation for the peopling of the Philippines has been H.
Otley Beyer’s Waves of Migration hypothesis…This hypothesis, though widely accepted in the
early part of the 20th century, has fallen out of favor in the academe due to its focus on diffusion
and anachronistic categories; it was his students, such as the late F. Landa Jocano, that disproved
the Waves of Migration.
New evidence then emerged in the field of linguistics, where it was noticed that Philippine
languages such as Tagalog, Cebuano, and Ibanag had much in common with Bahasa
(Malaysia/Indonesia), Malagsy (Madagascar), Maori (New Zealand), and languages from
Taiwan. Given these cognates (words that resemble each other in form and meaning), linguists
Robert Blust and Lawrence Reid have sought to reconstruct the original language, which they
deemed Austronesian (from Greek, ‘south’ and ‘islands’). The two main branches in this
linguistic family tree are Formosan and Malayo-Polynesian. On linguistic analysis, it was seen
that Formosan or indigenous Taiwanese languages had the highest diversity within its own
classification, and thus, following theories also used in evolutionary biology and genetics,
Taiwan (or nearby Southern China) was seen to be the Austronesian ‘homeland.’
Given these linguistic data, it was built upon by Robert Bellwood, who sought to add more
tangible support via correlation of archaeological findings. Bellwood refined the Austronesian
hypothesis to have originated in the agricultural communities of Neolithic southern China in
4000 BC. Some of them then crossed to Taiwan, a few families at a time, until there arose a vast
cultural system with a sophisticated agricultural economy, cultivating rice. According to
Bellwood, this is consistent with the archaeological record, in the Tapenking culture of Taiwan.
Only after such a society was established could there be vast migration by boat to the rest of
Island Southeast Asia, southward to Batanes and the rest of Luzon. The Philippines then
becomes a gateway to the west: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Andaman Islands, to as far as
Madagascar, as well as to the east: Melanesia, Polynesia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Easter
Island. Lapita culture––highly decorated pottery¬¬ discovered in the Pacific, dated from 1600
BC to 1 AD, is Bellwood’s strongest material basis for the movement, apart from boat designs
and fish-hooks.
The Austronesian theory was also featured and popularized in the work of writer Jared Diamond,
as “The Express Train to Polynesia.” But the use of the Philippines as a possible springboard to
the rest of the Pacific and Indian Ocean has made Bellwood’s theory very popular in the country.
Linguists have cited Ibanag as one ‘prototype’ of Austronesian languages, apart from
anthropologists such as E. Arsenio Manuel arguing for the renaming of the Malayo-Polynesian
branch of the linguistic family tree to Philippineasian, to reflect the population movement,
parallel with Formosan.It is interesting to note that there is definite mutual intelligibility between
the natives of the southernmost part of Taiwan, or Orchid Island (Yami), and those in the
northern island of Itbayat in Batanes. Some historians and anthropologists such as Zeus Salazar
have also tried linking cultural elements of the Philippines with the more Pacific-side
Austronesians, like the Cordilleran bulol with the Easter Island/Rapa Nui moai.
However, not everyone agrees with Bellwood’s theory due to several reasons. Some argue that,
based on climate and current data, the cross from South China to Taiwan, much less the Taiwan-
Batanes crossing, seems improbable for simple canoes to accomplish, since the prevailing winds
and currents are usually strong in the opposite direction (northward). This led to a theory that
discussed movement from Southern China towards Indochina then into the Malaysian Peninsula,
though little evidence has been found to support this. In the dissenting view, the archaeological
record seems to be unable to support this grand, simplistic theory, since it is greatly hinged upon
linguistic conjecture rather than material culture. One of these is William Meacham, who, though
agreed on the concept of an Austronesian homeland, was quite unconvinced by the out-of-
Taiwan theory, and instead, specified a land between Taiwan, Sumatra, and Tenggara.
Wilhelm Solheim’s Nusantao hypothesis was an alternative theory that focused on the maritime
nature of the peopling of the Philippines and Southeast Asia, rather than following a ‘primacy’ of
linguistics and agricultural methods. The cradle or ‘homeland’ of these Austronesian-speaking
peoples lay not in Taiwan or Southern China, but rather, in the area of Celebes Sea, Island South
East Asia (ISEA). He considered that the Nusantao would probably be similar to the indigenous
groups like the Badjao and Samal, who continue to be seafaring in nature. Solheim believes that
the Proto-Austronesian developed as a ‘barter language’ among the peoples who originate in the
Northern Mindanao-Southern Indonesian area in 5000 BC, who then moved into the Philippines
then upward to Taiwan. At this point, he and Bellwood agree that there is movement to the west
to Madagascar then east into Melanesia and Polynesia. However, Solheim also posited that the
Nusantao also reached the coasts of Vietnam, as well as Southern Korea and Japan.He also
named a pottery tradition that strengthens the claims––Sa-huynh-Kalanay pottery.
The Nusantao hypothesis has been strongly accepted by some in the academe who disagree with
Bellwood’s diffusionist model. By focusing on maritime trade or barter, Solheim escaped an
analysis that was deterministic in a one-way migratory process that seemed unrealistic outside
the language studies; the Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network (NMTCN)
or its full name, emphasized spheres of influence as a network, rather than just migratory
patterns. In fact, this hypothesis is the prevailing view in state institutions such as the National
Museum of the Philippines, as seen in their 2009 Voyage of the Balangay expedition that that
featured the same team of Filipinos who scaled Mt. Everest, heading to Madagascar from Manila
Bay, in a reconstruction of an excavated longboat in Butuan, which is now displayed at the
entrance of the Museum’s main building.
A major determinant in mapping human migration is genetic analysis, and over the past decade,
several studies have elucidated the matter. Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosomal analyses
were especially undertaken, since, as uniparental genes (coming only from the mother and father,
respectively), mutations or alterations throughout generations are few, making them ideal for
studying migration. In his early Y-chromosomal analysis, there seemed to be support towards an
out-of-Taiwan view, seen in haplogroup M119, which was present in all Austronesians.
However, more recent studies have refuted this, showing that Western Austronesians
(Indonesians) had different variants of haplogroup O1a-M119 from those in Taiwan, and thus a
paternal lineage from ISEA rather than Taiwan. Even the Yami and Ivatan were shown to have
few similarities in their Y-chromosomes despite the aforementioned linguistic similarity. As for
mtDNA, a study dating variations in haplogroup E among individuals from ISEA (including
Filipinos) and Taiwan revealed increased diversity inmaternal lineage from ISEA, refuting an
origin of Austronesians from Taiwan.
Given the various forms of data––linguistic, archaeological, genetic and cultural––it is important
not to overly rely on one source and simply seek to fit in the rest, as all have their limitations;
genes cannot tell what language is spoken in the area, while it is of little practical use to argue
whether a pot was used for agriculture or was bartered for.
Studies by Stephen Oppenheim, a geneticist who worked on Southeast Asian and Pacific
peoples, have shown that the “express train” migration may have been a “slow boat” due to the
genetic variation between ISEA and Polynesia, which would take much longer than the time
frame provided by Bellwood. With the recent data, a new theory has been put out by Oppenheim
et al., building on Meacham’s and Solheim’s theories of origins in ISEA. According to the
genetic data, there seems to be a “large-scale dispersal” in the area of ISEA as early as 15,000 to
7,000 years ago due to rising sea level from climate change (glacial melting) in the now-
inundated Sunda Peninsula (now comprising the islands of Western Indonesia and Borneo), with
led to older variants haplogroup E becoming present in Taiwan and Oceania. This out of
Sundaland concept claims to have archaeological evidence in the form of stone tools and
technocomplexes.
Given the various forms of data––linguistic, archaeological, genetic and cultural––it is important
not to overly rely on one source and simply seek to fit in the rest, as all have their limitations;
genes cannot tell what language is spoken in the area, while it is of little practical use to argue
whether a pot was used for agriculture or was bartered for. It is quite possible that the
Austronesian languages, the pottery traditions or stone tool assemblages, the haplogroups, and
traditions all tell different parts of the same story, which will continue to change as new evidence
is unearthed and discovered. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” the adage goes.
But while speculation remains, there can hardly be any consensus on the origins of modern-day
Filipinos and their neighbors. Theories will be disproven, as Waves of Migration was, while new
ones are published, requiring critical scrutiny and careful synthesis of the evidence at hand.
—
Josh San Pedro is an aspiring physician-anthropologist. A graduate of both Anthropology and
Medicine from the University of the Philippines, he dabbles in the fields of social medicine,
critical medical anthropology, and health & development.
Introduction of Islam
Islam began with the Prophet Muhammad. Islam means "surrender" and its central idea is a
surrendering to the will of God. Its central article of faith is that "There is no god but God and
Muhammad is his messenger".
Followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims believe that they are following in the same
tradition as the Judeo-Christian figures Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus who they
believe were significant prophets before Muhammad.

The Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, provides very little detail about Muhammad’s life; however,
the hadiths, or sayings of the Prophet, which were largely compiled in the centuries following
Muhammad’s death, provide a larger narrative for the events in his life (although there is
significant debate in the Muslim world as to which Hadiths are accurate).

In the early 1990s, Filipino Muslims were firmly rooted in their Islamic faith. Every year many
went on the hajj (pilgrimage) to the holy city of Mecca; on return men would be addressed by the
honoritic "hajj" and women the honorific "hajji". In most Muslim communities, there was at least
one mosque from which the muezzin called the faithful to prayer five times a day. Those who
responded to the call to public prayer removed their shoes before entering the mosque, aligned
themselves in straight rows before the minrab (niche), and offered prayers in the direction of
Mecca. An imam, or prayer leader, led the recitation in Arabic verses from the Quran, following
the practices of the Sunni sect of Islam common to most of the Muslim world. It was sometimes
said that the Moros often neglected to perform the ritual prayer and did not strictly abide by the
fast (no food or drink in daylight hours) during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim
calendar, or perform the duty of almsgiving. They did, however, scrupulously observe other
rituals and practices and celebrate great festivals of Islam such as the end of Ramadan;
Muhammad's birthday; the night of his ascension to heaven; and the start of the Muslim New
Year, the first day of the month of Muharram.

Islam in the Philippines has absorbed indigenous elements, much as has Catholicism. Moros thus
make offerings to spirits (diwatas), malevolent or benign, believing that such spirits can and will
have an effect on one's health, family, and crops. They also include pre-Islamic customs in
ceremonies marking rites of passage--birth, marriage, and death. Moros share the essentials of
Islam, but specific practices vary from one Moro group to another. Although Muslim Filipino
women are required to stay at the back of the mosque for prayers (out of the sight of men), they
are much freer in daily life than are women in many other Islamic societies. *

Because of the world resurgence of Islam since World War II, Muslims in the Philippines have a
stronger sense of their unity as a religious community than they had in the past. Since the early
1970s, more Muslim teachers have visited the nation and more Philippine Muslims have gone
abroad--either on the hajj or on scholarships--to Islamic centers than ever before. They have
returned revitalized in their faith and determined to strengthen the ties of their fellow Moros with
the international Islamic community. As a result, Muslims have built many new mosques and
religious schools, where students (male and female) learn the basic rituals and principles of Islam
and learn to read the Quran in Arabic. A number of Muslim institutions of higher learning, such
as the Jamiatul Philippine al-Islamia in Marawi, also offer advanced courses in Islamic studies. *

Divisions along generational lines have emerged among Moros since the 1960s. Many young
Muslims, dissatisfied with the old leaders, asserted that datu and sultans were unnecessary in
modern Islamic society. Among themselves, these young reformers were divided between
moderates, working within the system for their political goals, and militants, engaging in
guerrilla-style warfare. To some degree, the government managed to isolate the militants, but
Muslim reformers, whether moderates or militants, were united in their strong religious
adherence. This bond was significant, because the Moros felt threatened by the continued
expansion of Christians into southern Mindanao and by the prolonged presence of Philippine
army troops in their homeland. *

Islam came to the southern Philippines in the 15th century from Malaysia and Sumatra via
Brunei and Borneo. The religion spread to Palawan and Manila but was halted by the arrival of
the Spanish. Islam has endured on the southern island of Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago
between Borneo and Mindanao.

Islam was brought to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from the Indonesian islands.
By 1500 Islam had gained a foothold in much of coastal Philippines and was established in the
Sulu Archipelago and spread from there to Mindanao; it had reached the Manila area by 1565.
Muslim immigrants introduced a political concept of territorial states ruled by rajas or sultans
who exercised suzerainty over the datu. Neither the political state concept of the Muslim rulers
nor the limited territorial concept of the sedentary rice farmers of Luzon, however, spread
beyond the areas where they originated. When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the
majority of the estimated 500,000 people in the islands still lived in barangay settlements. *

Philippine Muslims regard themselves as descendants of the Royal Sultanate of Sulu. The Royal
Sultanate of Sulu was an Islamic kingdom that ruled the islands and seas in the southern
Philippines and northern Borneo long before the arrival of the Spanish. The Muslim sultanate of
Brunei was a very powerful kingdom in the16th century. It ruled over all of Sarawak, Sabah and
Borneo as well as part of the Sulu Islands and the Philippines.

The Spanish viewed the Muslims as natural enemies, identified with their Muslim rivals at
home, the Moors of Morocco. There was some Muslim-Christian elements to the early conflicts
with the Spanish. The “Moro Wars” continued off and on for 300 years after the Spanish arrived.
The Christian Spanish had drove Muslims off the northern islands by the early 1600s. Later the
Spanish attacked Muslim city-states on Mindanao and established a Jesuit base in eastern
Mindanao in Zamboanga. The Muslims were excellent boatmen. After declaring jihad (holy war)
against the Christians, they were able to defend their Islamic territories and raid Christian
outposts. It wasn’t until the introduction of steamships in the 1800s that the power of the
southern Muslim sultanate was brought under control by the Spanish.

Relations with Orang Dampuan and Banjarmasin

Between 900 and 1200 AD, a new group of immigrants entered the historical area of the
Philippines. They came from what is now southern Annam and were known as Orang
Dampuans--- or "Men of Champa"

They succumbed, like so many later visitors, to the while exotic charms of the Sulu region, and
there established their trading ports. A Lush trade grew up between the Sulu natives and the
Dampuan homeland. An ancient Sulu manuscript recounts that in the century before the
Spaniards came, some four to five hundred junks arrived annually from Cambodia, Champa and
China.
The Orang Dampuans were the first civilized foreigners to establish a settlement in Sulu,
according to the most reliable of pre-Mohammedan (Islamic) histories. They brought with them a
higher form of culture.
The men of Champa were not selfish. They shared with the natives the many blessings of a
culture destined to leave marks influence in that parts of the archipelago. The natives at first
wary, recognized the superiority of the ways of living of the newcomers. They soon realized that
those wags of the foreigners could be made of good use in their everyday lives.
The Orang dampuans had a higher culture than their neighbors. Their homes were better. They
were shrewder in trade. This aroused jealousy, just as it does now, and this envy finally touched
off the massacre of a number of Champa traders. The slaying spread. Peace between the
foreigners and the local residents ended. It could have been averted but the fires of jealousy
flamed into a conflagration that devoured the pride of the natives. Their weapons of war were
crude and they were no match for the adventurous Orang Dampuans but even then they fought it
out to the end.
Pearls from the fabled Sulu pearl beds were the magnet that drew stalwart colonizers from
Banjarmasin, pearls destined for crowns of Srivijayan potentates. The Banjarmasin immigrants
settled in Sulu. From Brunei, other treasure hunters and traders swarmed into west-central
Philippines. Chinese and Champa traders had carried the word of Philippine treasure to the far
reaches of the empire.
The men of Banjar (Orang Banjar) began regular trade with Sulu, resulting in the founding of a
colony. The natives, called as the Buranon eyed the colonizers with scarcely veiled hostility. The
interest of the exploiters and exploited clashed, and affairs approached as crisis, precisely as
when the Orang Dampuan moved into the area and for the same reason of conflicting interests.
But the Orang Banjar were better strategists.
(38) The Orang Banjar were wiser than the men of Dampuan and they knew the transcendental
power of a beautiful woman. They brought a pearl of their own, a Banjarmasin princess of
blinding beauty and offered her in marriage to the principal Burunaon chief. Under the thrall of
the princess, the Buranaon ruler signed a marriage contract making Sulu a tributary of
Banjarmasin, or probably a tributary of the Srivijayan empire through Banjarmasin. The colonist
secured through a state marriage and a permanent foothold for peaceful trade and expansion in
Sulu.
From the union of the Banjarmasin princess and her Buranon chieftain came the line of Sulu
rulers, the rajahs who owed tribute to the blood of their mothers, and remained under the cultural
influence of Banjarmasin for many generations. Such was the product of strategy.
Source: Copied from Amadeo Y. Manalad, drawing a Saga & The studies of Dr. Otley Beyer

Relationship with China

Ethnic Chinese sailed around the Philippine Islands from the 9th century onward and frequently
interacted with the local Filipinos. Chinese and Filipino interactions initially commenced as
bartering and items.This is evidenced by a collection of Chinese artifacts found throughout
Philippine waters, dating back to the 10th century.

Spanish colonial attitudes (16th century – 1898)

Main article: Sangley

A Chinese mestiza in a photograph by Francisco Van Camp, c. 1875.

Binondo Church, the main church of the district of Binondo

When the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines, there was already a significant population of
Chinese migrants due to the relationship between the barangays (city-states) of the island of
Luzon, and the Ming dynasty.[citation needed]

The first encounter of the Spanish authorities with the Chinese was not entirely pleasant - several
Chinese pirates under the leadership of Limahong, who proceeded to besiege the newly
established Spanish capital in Manila in 1574.[citation needed] He tried to capture the city of
Manila in vain and was subsequently beaten by the combined Spanish and native forces under
the leadership of Juan de Salcedo in 1575. Almost simultaneously, the Chinese imperial admiral
Homolcong arrived in Manila where he was well received. On his departure he took with him
two priests, who became the first Catholic missionaries to China from the Philippines. This visit
was followed by the arrival of Chinese ships in Manila in May 1603 bearing Chinese officials
with the official seal of the Ming Empire. This led to suspicion on the part of the Spaniards that
the Chinese had sent a fleet to try to conquer the nearly defenseless islands. However, seeing the
city as strongly defended as ever, the Chinese made no hostile moves.[citation needed] They
returned to China without showing any particular motive for the journey, and without either side
mentioning the apparent motive.[citation needed] Fortifications of Manila were started, with a
Chinese settler in Manila named Engcang, who offered his services to the governor.[citation
needed] He was refused, and a plan to massacre the Spaniards quickly spread among the Chinese
inhabitants of Manila. The revolt was quickly crushed by the Spaniards, ending in a large-scale
massacre of the non-Catholic Chinese in Manila. Throughout the Spanish Colonial Period, the
Chinese outnumbered the Spanish colonizers by ten to one, and at least I\on two occasions tried
to grab the power, but their revolts were quickly put down by joint forces composed of
indigenous Filipinos, Japanese, and Spanish.[16](p138)

Following the mostly unpleasant initial interaction with the Spaniards, most ethnic Chinese in
Manila and in the rest of the Philippines started to focus on retail trade and service industry in
order to avoid massacres and forced deportations to China. The Spanish authorities started
restricting the activities of the Chinese immigrants and confined them to the Parían near
Intramuros. With low chances of employment and prohibited from owning land, most of them
engaged in small businesses or acted as skilled artisans to the Spanish colonial authorities. Most
of the Chinese who arrived during the early Spanish period were Cantonese from "Canton,
Nyngo, Chincheo, and Macau", who worked as stevedores and porters, as well as those skilled in
the mechanical arts. From the mid-19th century, the Hokkienese migrants from Fujian would
surpass and vastly outnumber the Cantonese migrants.[citation needed]

The Spanish authorities differentiated the Chinese immigrants into two groups: Parían
(unconverted) and Binondo (converted).[citation needed] Many immigrants converted to
Catholicism, and due to the lack of Chinese women, intermarried with indigenous women, and
adopted Hispanized names and customs. The children of unions between indigenous Filipinos
and Chinese were called Mestizos de Sangley or Chinese mestizos, while those between
Spaniards and Chinese were called Tornatrás.[citation needed] The Chinese population originally
occupied the Binondo area although eventually they spread all over the islands, and became
traders, moneylenders, and landowners.[17]

Chinese Mestizos as Filipinos

During the waning years of Spanish colonization in the Philippines in the 19th century, the
Philippines was referred to as an "Anglo-Chinese colony with a Spanish flag" in reference to the
majority of the colony's trade and industry being conducted by the Chinese while exports were
controlled by British merchants.[citation needed] It was during this period that the population of
the Mestizos de Sangley (Chinese mestizos) greatly increased. During the Philippine Revolution
of 1898, they would eventually refer to themselves as Filipino,[citation needed] which during
that time referred to Spaniards born in the Philippines. The Chinese mestizos would later fan the
flames of the Philippine Revolution.[citation needed] Many leaders of the Philippine Revolution
themselves have substantial Chinese ancestry. These include Emilio Aguinaldo, Andrés
Bonifacio, Marcelo del Pilar, Antonio Luna, José Rizal, and Manuel Tinio.[18]
An estimated 27% of the present-day Philippine population have some Chinese ancestry
stemming from this period

Legend of the Ten Bornean Datus

The Ten Bornean Datus Epic refers to the ten chieftains who allegedly ventured to the Island of
Panay boarding a boat called balangay (or barangay) to evade the tyrannical ruler of Borneo,
Datu Makatunaw. The datus, believed to be the fathers of precolonial Philippines, were the
following: Datu Puti (and wife, Piangpangan), Datu Sumakwel (and wife, Kapinangan), Datu
Bangkaya (and wife, Katurong), Datu Paiborong (and wife, Pabilaan), Datu Paduhinogan (and
wife, Tibongsapay), Datu Dumangsol, Datu Libay, Datu Dumangsil, Datu Domalogdog, and
Datu Balensuela.

According to the legend, upon the arrival of the datus, the local inhabitants of the islands, the
Aeta, grew terrified but the diplomatic Datu Puti said to Marikudo, the chief of the natives, that
they had peaceful intentions. Later both parties entered into a trade alliance. Marikudo invited
the datus to a feast, during which the ten chiefs negotiated the purchase of Panay Island for a
golden salakot. Since the Aetas found the land overwhelmingly vast for them, they retreated to
the forest, leaving the Datus with the land which they divided among themselves (namely Aklan,
Irong Irong and Hamtik), leading to the birth of Philippine population and culture.

However, recent studies discovered the irregularities of the said legend, and thus, it must not be
believed as a reliable source of facts on precolonial Philippines.

But still, these studies are contested, though history per se is limited to "written" historical
accounts, the legend is is considered "spoken" historical account and part and parcel of Filipino
culture. The legend is important part of the life, culture and identity of Ilonggo people and
inhabitants of Panay Island. There is no argument that the roots of the word "barangay" came
from "balangay" the boat used by the Ten Bornen datus and their families. Until now, the head of
the barangay is a "barangay captain" the only head of a government unit in the world named after
a captain of a boat.

The Ten Bornean Datus and the Purchase of Panay

The story of the buying of Panay by ten datus coming from Borneo is told in the Maragtas, a
legendary account about the pre-Spanish Panay Island. This narrative tells us that about A.D.
1250, at about the time Malaysia and Indonesia were dominated by the Hindu-Malay Empire of
Sri-Vijaya, a cruel sultan named Makatunaw ruled Borneo–or perhaps part of it. Because he
was cruel, ten of his datus decided to leave Borneo and seek their freedom and fortune beyond
the sea.
The Ten Datus were: Datu Puti (the leader), Datu Balensusa, Datu Bangkaya, Datu Dumalugdog,
Datu Dumangsil, Datu Dumangsol, Datu Lubay, Datu Panduhinog, Datu Paliburong, and Datu
Sumakwel.

One dark night after loading on boats their families, warriors, slaves, and supplies, they secretly
left in their balangays (boats) without a specific destination in mind. After sailing north for many
days, they reached the southern tip of Panay Island. They landed at the mouth of the Sirwagan
River there, near the present town of San Joaquin in Iloilo. From there they proceeded to Lake
Andona where they met an Ati fisherman. This man led them to the Negrito village of
Sinugbuhan and was introduced to the local ruler, King Marikudo and his queen, Maniwantiwan.
Datu Puti addressed them and said they came as friends and would like to buy land.

Marikudo consulted his wife and the elders of his kingdom and agreed to sell some land to them.
The purchase price consisted of a gold salakot (a native helmet) for Marikudo and a long gold
sumangyad (necklace) for Maniwantiwan. The sale was sealed by a pact of friendship and merry
feasting. After that, Marikudo and his people bade farewell to the Borneans and went into the
hills.

Seven of the ten datus settled in Panay. The three others–Balensusa, Dumangsil and Puti sailed
farther north and reached Lake Taal, in present-day Batangas province. Impressed by the fertility
and scenic beauty of the area, Balensusa and Dumangsil settled there. Datu Puti, however,
returned to Borneo. He told the Borneans about his exciting adventures in the islands of the
north.
In the famous epic story of Maragtas, there was this mythical legal code called "The Code of
Kalantiaw". It was named after its supposed author, Datu Kalantiaw, who allegedly wrote it in
1433. Datu Kalantiaw was a chief on the island of Negros. It was written about by Jose E. Marco
in 1913 in his historical fiction "Las Antiguas Leyendes de la Isla de Negros" (The Ancient
Legends of the Island of Negros). He ascribed its source to a priest named Jose Maria Pavon.

The Kalantiaw Code

The historian Josue Soncuya wrote about the Code of Kalantiaw in 1917 in his book "Historia
Prehispana de Filipinas" (Prehispanic History of the Philippines) where he transferred the
location of the origin of the Code from Negros to Panay because he contended that said Code
may have been related to the Binirayan festival.
The story on this Code has been recognized through the ages by known authors. In 1968,
however, historian William Henry Scott called this a "hoax" in his book "Prehispanic Source
Materials for the Study of Philippine History". Consequently, Filipino historians agreed to
expunge the Code of Kalantiaw in future materials on Philippine history.
Although the said Code ceases to be part of the texts of Philippine history, however, many still
believe its validity.

ARTICLE I
You shall not kill, neither shall you steal, neither shall you do harm to the aged, lest you incur the
danger of death. All those who infringe this order shall be condemned to death by being drowned
in the river, or in boiling water.

ARTICLE II
You shall obey. Let all your debts with the headman be met punctually. He who does not obey
shall receive for the first time one hundred lashes. If the debt is large, he shall be condemned to
thrust his hand in boiling water thrice. For the second time, he shall be beaten to death.

ARTICLE III
Obey you: let no one have women that are very young nor more than he can support; nor be
given to excessive lust. He who does not comply with, obey, and observe this order shall be
condemned to swim for three hours for the first time and for the second time, to be beaten to
death with sharp thorns.

ARTICLE IV
Observe and obey; let no one disturb the quiet of the graves. When passing by the caves and
trees where they are, give respect to them. He who does not observe this shall be killed by ants,
or beaten to death with thorns.

ARTICLE V
You shall obey; he who exchanges for food, let it be always done in accordance with his word.
He who does not comply, shall be beaten for one hour, he who repeats the offense shall be
exposed for one day among ants.

ARTICLE VI
You shall be obliged to revere sights that are held in respect, such as those of trees of recognized
worth and other sights. He who fails to comply shall pay with one month's work in gold or in
honey.
ARTICLE VII
These shall be put to death; he who kills trees of venerable appearance; who shoot arrows at
night at old men and women; he who enters the houses of the headmen without permission; he
who kills a shark or a streaked cayman.

ARTICLE VIII
Slavery for a doam (a certain period of time) shall be suffered by those who steal away the
women of the headmen; by him who keep ill-tempered dogs that bite the headmen; by him who
burns the fields of another.

ARTICLE IX
All these shall be beaten for two days: who sing while traveling by night; kill the Manaul; tear
the documents belonging to the headmen; are malicious liars; or who mock the dead.

ARTICLE X
It is decreed an obligation; that every mother teach secretly to her daughters matters pertaining to
lust and prepare them for womanhood; let not men be cruel nor punish their women when they
catch them in the act of adultery. Whoever shall disobey shall be killed by being cut to pieces
and thrown to the caymans.

ARTICLE XI
These shall be burned: who by their strength or cunning have mocked at and escaped punishment
or who have killed young boys; or try to steal away the women of the elders.

ARTICLE XII
These shall be drowned: all who interfere with their superiors, or their owners or masters; all
those who abuse themselves through their lust; those who destroy their anitos (idols) by breaking
them or throwing them down.

ARTICLE XIII
All these shall be exposed to ants for half a day: who kill black cats during a new moon; or steal
anything from the chiefs or agorangs, however small the object may be.

ARTICLE XIV
These shall be made slave for life: who have beautiful daughters and deny them to the sons of
chiefs, and with bad faith hide them away.

ARTICLE XV
Concerning beliefs and superstitions; these shall be beaten: who eat the diseased flesh of beasts
which they hold in respect, or the herb which they consider good, who wound or kill the young
of the Manaul, or the white monkey.

ARTICLE XVI
The fingers shall be cut-off: of all those who break idols of wood and clay in their alangans and
temples; of those who destroy the daggers of the tagalons, or break the drinking jars of the latter.

ARTICLE XVII
These shall be killed: who profane sites where idols are kept, and sites where are buried the
sacred things of their diwatas and headmen. He who performs his necessities in those places shall
be burned.

ARTICLE XVIII
Those who do not cause these rules to be obeyed: if they are headmen, they shall be put to death
by being stoned and crushed; and if they are agorangs they shall be placed in rivers to be eaten
by sharks and caymans.
Source: Chan Robles Virtual Law Library

CHINESE INFLUENCES
China and the Philippines have shared a long enduring relationship. Just look at the over 400
year-old Binondo, the oldest Chinatown in the world, being situated in the Philippines.
Throughout their long withstanding historical ties, they have shared inter-ethnic relations,
territorial disputes, maritime conflicts, diplomacy and foreign policy, trade and economic
partnerships.
Dr. Michael Gonzales, a Historian, Anthropologist, and an Educator who teaches a popular
course on Philippine History Thru Film at City College San Francisco, tells the Philippines’
relationship with China is by far the longest the Philippines has ever had with any country
outside Southeast Asia.
Long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines, China has been dealing with the Filipinos.
No wonder we Filipinos have acquired some of their habits that we have ingrained in our own
Filipino culture. Let us look into some of the Filipino habits with Chinese roots —mostly about
superstitions agricultural technique.

Always looking for a bargain

Frugality is an integral part of the Chinese culture. In fact, the classic Chinese text Dao De Jing
states that the three greatest treasures one can have are love, frugality, and generosity.
In an article by Xin Lu, entitled Chinese Money Habits—How My Culture Influences my
Attitude Towards Money, he explains how, haggling is a way of life in China. “If you ever visit
China you have to ask at least 50 to 75% off in stores,” he shared. Lu added that this Chinese
behavior earned the Chinese the cheapskate stereotype.
This rings a bell for Filipinos who love ukay-ukay (Philippine adaptation of flea markets),
bargain shops, and sale items. Those with street smarts perennially ask, “walang tawad?” (Can I
have a discount?) everytime he/she buys. And why not? This means getting the same quality for
a lesser price.
Lighting Fireworks and firecrackers in New Year
No New Year celebration would be complete without fireworks and firecrackers. This belief
which originated from Chinese could ward off bad luck and the evil spirits. The fireworks
display is also their way of starting the new year with a bright and colorful start.

Setting up of 12 round fruits during New Year

A few days before New Year’s Eve, Filipinos would put 12 round fruits on their table. The
number 12 symbolizes the months in a year. Feng experts say this practice would attract
happiness, prosperity and good healthy in one’s family.
Grafting of fruit trees
Grafting is an agricultural technique in which a section of a stem with leaf buds is inserted into
the stock of a tree. It aims to connect two different plants so that they would grow as one, and
would combine the attributes that naturally don’t occur in a single plant.
Giving cash as gifts
“In China, red envelopes (ang pao) are the standard gift for any celebration, and they are
considered the best gifts because the recipient can do anything with the money,” Lu stated.
During new year and birthdays, Lu adds that Chinese children usually receive cash gift and they
end up saving this for the future.
Although there are some Filipinos who thinks that receiving cash gifts are less thoughtful, there
are also a number of Filipinos who prefer cash as gifts, especially during weddings, to avoid
duplication of gifts. Some prefer cash as gift because it gives them the freedom to save or to buy
whatever they really need or want.

Wearing red or bright colored attire for happy occasions

Red is the most popular color in China. Unlike in Western countries, the color significantly
implies positivity—mainly good fortune and joy. Red resembles blooming, enthusiasm,
celebration, vitality and creativity. In China, this bright color brings fame, good luck and wealth.
The Filipinos have adopted this practice of wearing or associating wearing red or brightly
colored clothes during Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or during one’s own birthday. Meanwhile
when mourning, a number of Filipinos wear white clothes, similar also to the Chinese burial
practice.

INDIAN INFLUENCES
Indian Influences on Filipino Culture
Jay Garcia 9:03 AM

The Indian influences on the Filipino culture are primarily reflected in Philippine languages

particularly in Tagalog. While it is not always safe to reconstruct past events solely from the
study of language. Yet, the latter offers a method of inferring the development of man's thought
through years of changes. The large number of terms of Sanskrit origin does not necessarily
mean that there was direct contact between the ancient Filipinos and the Indians. The paucity of
the archaeological or written documents to prove the existence of such relationship places in
doubt the theory that there was once upon a time, direct contact between the Filipinos and the
Indians. More probable is the theory that Filipinos imbibed some of the elements of the Indian
culture through Hinduized Malays who came to the Philippines to settle permanently. 

Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, in his study of Sanskrit loan-words in Tagalog classifies these
loanwords into "those which signify intellectual acts, moral conceptions, emotions, superstitions,
name of deities, some animals, instruments of industry, and the names of money."  The following
words are taken at random, represent the "borrowings" from Sanskrit, the ancient language of
India. 

Sanskrit - Tagalog
kshama - aksaya
ahi - ahas
swamin - asawa
bhaga - bahagi
bharra - bahala
vartta - balita
taruna - katalona
bhattara - bathala
katha - katha
koti (10,000,000) - kati
kotta - kuta
dala (net) - dala
dhrta - dalita
jaya - dayang

Sanskrit words are also encountered in Visayan and Magindanao. In the latter, they deal
primarily with government, religion and commerce. "Some words are agama (religion),
sumbahayang (prayer), surga (heaven), batara (god), guru (teacher), dusa (sin), pandita (scholar
or priest), baginda (emperor), raja (king), laksama (officer of state), surat (book), sutra (silk),
mutya (pearl), tumbaga (copper), bara (measure), kunsi (lock) and many others. 

Indian influences on Filipino culture was also present in the ancient religious beliefs. Among the
Muslims, Indra Batara was the most prominent mythological figure, Indra being the Indian king
of heaven. The other god which the Muslim believed in were of Vedic or Indian origin. It is
therefore, probable that the ancient paganism of the Filipinos, which amounted to demon and
spirit worship, came from India through Old Malaysia. 

Some of the ancient customs which have survived the inroads of Western imperialism find their
counterparts in India. It may be inferred that those customs were of Indian origin. Thus: 
In the Mountain Province the waist loom worked by the Igorot women is absolutely identical
with looms, cloth, color schemes, and patterns woven by women in the hill tribes of Assam and
Northern India. In the south, the filmy textiles of Iloilo closely resemble the silky gauze fabric
woven in Benares, India which exceedingly ancient craft. Farther south the check cottons   and
the brocades of Mindanao resemble the handicraft of Indonesia, Malaya and Bengal.
  The veil, indeed, played yet another role and which few perhaps recognize as an unaltered relic
of an Asian past. In the wedding ceremony of the Philippines, the Cord and Veil ceremonies are
the remains of the ancient symbolism practiced in both Hindu and Muslim weddings to this day.
with modifications, the symbolism is the same. A Hindu bride and groom will exchange garlands
of sampaguita and their shoulder and head scarves  will be tied together during the ceremony.
In a Muslim wedding, an ornate silken cloth will be placed over bridal couple and a knotted
garland of flowers placed over their heads. What is more significant, however, is that the Cord
and Veil ceremonies are apparently not part of the Catholic rites of marriages observed in Rome
or Spain, buy one unique to the Philippines
QUESTIONS
1. Why it is significant?
Besides the oft-quoted need for Filipinos to never forget the lessons of history and that
it’s a duty and service to the country, I’d like to cite three other reasons:

Studying history allows us to gain valuable perspectives on the problems of our modern
society. Many problems, features, and characteristics of modern Philippine society can be
traced back to historical questions on our colonial past, as well as our pre-colonial
culture. Our export-oriented economy, for example, can be traced back to the ending of
the galleon trade and the subsequent liberalization and tying of the country to the world
market, coupled with the lack of industrial advancement in the islands. This and other
lessons can be uncovered by digging deep into the country’s past.

This also applies to other countries’ histories, and while studying the past may not
actually present a solution to current problems or directly answer questions, they lend
new and alternative perspectives to current situations and allow us to further understand
current problems.

History as a discipline allows us to see beyond textbooks and see the past through new
lenses. There were times in the Spanish colonial period where the clergy and religious
orders assigned to the country were the ones causing misery to the Filipinos, while there
are times when the Church truly cared for the natives and the government was the one
doing the people harm. This is an interesting part of our history that sadly reaches the
textbooks in a boring, oversimplified version that says all the Spanish were bad. If we
cling to what the textbooks tell us then we will already have a wrong understanding of
Philippine history. The study of history allows us to see beyond the standard textbook
and to the primary source itself, interpreted into new and alternative viewpoints.
 Philippine history is in and of itself very interesting. Philippine history is a unique
narrative of colonialism, reaction, and revolution. It is also a culturally diverse country
from precolonial times. There’s an emerging trend to study the social history of the
country (i.e. more on the day-to-day experience of the Filipinos during certain periods)
and uncover more stories beyond the usual stories taught in schools across the country.
The country’s experience of colonialism, the rise of nationalistic feelings, and the
people’s subsequent reaction may allow us to gain more perspectives on nationalism and
revolutions.

2. Application in present tine ( what sense it become relevant )

When someone talks about the history of the Philippines, the conversation generally
begins with the arrival of the Spanish. Few people recognise the nation even existed, let
alone had a system of governance and was even quite prosperous before the coming of
the Spanish and other colonizers.

The land had a rich culture with a people who had established themselves in rather
unbelievable ways. Pre-colonial Philippines has been quoted by some historians and other
rather influential people as being one of the most progressive societies to ever exist to
this moment.

A brief look at the history books reveals a land where there was a very rich culture of
agriculturalists, innovators and empowerment beyond comparison. So, what was the
culture like before the Spanish colonized this land? It is vital to note that the name
Philippine is attributed to Dominican Priest and Spanish explorer Ruy Lopez de
Villalobos who named the Philippine Islands after Phillip II in 1543. The name was
automatically adopted henceforth.

This piece is, however, about the rich culture the country had before colonization. Here
are a few points to note, therefore, about pre-colonial Philippines.

Their women were very powerful

A look at the pre-colonial Philippines reveals a society where there was a lot of equality
when it comes to gender. Women were just as powerful as men in terms of family
hierarchy, societal placement, leadership and even professionalism. The women had a lot
of say on how the family unit operated from making key decisions such as the number of
kids to have and their spacing. They also solely decided the names of their kids.

In certain instances, women were even thoroughly revered by men because of the power
and influence they yielded. It was a common sign to see men walking behind women as a
show of respect. As well, just like men, women owned and inherited property, had equal
opportunity in almost all professions and craftsmanship and also led their respective
territories.
They had good foreign relations especially with the Chinese
Pre-colonial Philippines generally had very good relations with foreigners. They traded
with the Arabs, Chinese and even Indians. History reveals that the trading expertise of
native Filipinos gave them a name halfway across the world. Their trade was, however,
not outstanding with the Chinese. People could consider them trade buddies because of
the level of trust between the two.

It is said that the honesty of the Philippines greatly surprised the Chinese and improved
their trade relations. So much was the trust that at times the Chinese would leave their
goods at the ocean shore and come back for their traded items late on whereupon the
Filipinos would surrender the returns without question. This made the Chinese the
greatest trade partners of the ancient Philippines.

Their tribes were either highlanders or lowlanders.

The indigenous Filipinos include several tribes that existed way before the coming of the
modern Filipinos. These tribes have been traced almost 50,000 years back according to
archaeological evidence. It is important to notice that there are 2 major subdivisions for
the 134 indigenous Filipino tribes. They were either highlanders or lowlanders. After
colonization, the lowlanders were majorly influenced in terms of culture erosion by the
colonizers. The highlanders, however, maintained the majority of their culture even
during and after colonization. This was majorly influenced by the inaccessibility of the
highlands that discouraged the colonizers.

The majority of the indigenous people of northern Philippines are referred to as Igorot
while those found within the mainland Mindanao are called the Lumad. The tribes co-
existed peacefully and engaged in many activities amongst themselves which
strengthened their relations as well as that of foreigners. The tribes and sub-tribes also
intermarried and visited each other to ensure they correlated well.

Their differences were more of a strength than a weakness which helped them in
improving their general operations and life as a whole. While there were 134 ethnic
groups in the Philippines, 135 languages still exist till now and one is known by the
majority, if not all of the Philippines population. This common language is Tagalog and
is currently used as the national language.

Several professions already existed

The ancient Filipinos were a predominantly an agricultural society with large tracts of
land having both animal and crops. This made them self-sufficient in terms of food. Do
not, however, be fooled that they were only agriculturalists. They had very many other
professions that saw them create a well-rounded society. These professions included
mining, seafaring, hunting, weapon making, smithing and even textiles.

This made them produce a lot of items that they could use and trade in. This as well made
them one of the richest and most-skilled pre-colonial settlements known to man. Many
foreigners came to settle within the Filipinos because of their skill-set and their friendly
and honest lifestyle.

Islam was the major religion

Islam is said to be the oldest single religion to ever exist in the pre-colonial Philippines.
This is attributed to the trade relations between the ancient Filipinos and Muslim traders
from The Persian Gulf and other surrounding areas. This happened in the 14th century
and quickly spread to the rest of Philippines with a major concentration of Muslims
in the southern region of Mindanao.

The greatest warriors in terms of fighting against the west and general colonization were
the Muslims with most of their clerics such as Rajah Sulayman who was the Muslim
Rajah (leader) of Maynila, staging fights that have gone down history as some of the
longest resistance against colonizers. Islam is currently a religion practised by 6% of the
Philippine population in the modern day, with Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism
taking a big chunk of the current Philippine population.

It is evident that the average ancient pre-colonial Filipino was a person with a strong and
rich culture, well-endowed intellect with a high level of professionalism and skill. With
such large tracts of well-endowed land, an honest society with equality, religion, and
diversity that was embraced rather than shunned, one could argue that life must have
been better during pre-colonial time than now, but that is just an issue up for debate.
REFERENCES

http://www.balikbayanmagazine.com/global-affairs/asia/chinas-cultural-influence-on-the-
philippines/
ttps://www.phillife.co/pre-colonial-philippines/?
fbclid=IwAR1TVO4o97w32Pslys5bWMTXlAydLd75YfBZi5AerKIno50XCvFP3lbLx9
E
https://m.facebook.com/theancientmalaysociety
https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/6/the-kalantiaw-code?
fbclid=IwAR04VLM2noGLvTJASDSlCUubr3Jff2bnI0paJ1uJkO5LBT_MtYZatF6ARC
Y

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/
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