Juan de Plasencia:

Relacion de las Costumbres

de Los Tagalogs 1589
(Customs of the Tagalogs)
Reported by: Glory Jane C. Bernardino
Historical Context:

• During the 1st century of the Spanish rule, the colonial

government had difficulty in running local politics
because of the limited number of Spaniards who wanted
to live outside the Intramuros.
• This situation forced Spanish officials to allow Filipinos
to hold the position of gobernadorcillo.
• Gobernadorcillos – is the municipal judge or governor
in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period.
• To ensure that the gobernadorcillos would remain loyal to
the Crown, the Friars assigned in the parishes were
instructed to supervise and monitor the activities of the
former.
• Friars ended up performing the administrative duties that
colonial officials should have been doing at the local level.
• They supervised the election of the local executives,
helped in the collection of taxes, were directly involve ----
-- in educating the youth & perform other civic duties.
• The Friars became the most knowledgeable and influential in
the pueblo (people or population).
• The Friars were required to inform periodically their
superiors of what was happening in their respective areas.
• They prepared reports on the number of natives they
converted, the people’s way of life, their socio-economic
situation, and the problems they encountered.
• Some of them submitted short letters while others who were
keen observers and gifted writers wrote long dispatches.
• Plasencia’s (Relacion se las Costumbres de Los
Tagalogs or Customs of the Tagalogs, 1589). It
contains numerous information that historians could use
in reconstructuring the political and socio-cultural history
of the Tagalog region. His work is a primary source
because he personally witnessed the vents and his
account contained his observations.
• Miguel de Loarca (Relacion de las Islas Filipinas,
1582). An encomendero of Panay, describes the Filipino’s
way of life in the Western Visayas area.
• Lt. Gov. Antonio de Morga (Sucesos de las Filipinas),
which provides information about the state of the Philippines
on the latter part of 16th century.
• The other Spanish missionaries who continued the
historiographical tradition were:
• Fr. Pedro Chirino S.J. (Relacion de las Filipinas, 1604)
• Fr. Juan Delgado S.J. (Historia General, 1751)
• Fr. Francisco Colin S.J. (Labor Evangelica, 1663)
• Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina S.J. (Historia Natural del
sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas,
1668)
About the Author:
• Fray Juan de Plasencia real name is Joan de
Portocarrero.
• Was a member of Franciscan Order who came together
with the first batch of missionaries to the Philippines in
1578.
• He and fellow Franciscan Fray Diego de Oropesa,
were assigned to do mission works in the Southern
Tagalog area.
• Plasencia also helped in the foundation of numerous
towns in Quezon, Laguna, Rizal and Bulacan,
• His continuous interaction with the people he converted
to Christianity enabled him to write a work titled
Relacion de las Costumbres de Los Tagalogs
(Customs of the Tagalogs,1589), where he vividly
described the political, social, economic, and cultural
practices of the Filipinos before they were Christianized.
• He believed that catechism or explaining the basic tenets
of Catholic faith is another very important function of a
missionary.
• His biggest challenge at that time was how to make the
articles of faith comprehensible to people who have
never heard of Christ or the Catholic Church.
• He wrote the Doctrina Christiana en Lengua
Espanola y Tagala, which later became the first printed
book in the Philippines in 1593.
• He used it as reading material for those Filipinos who
wished to deepen their faith in the newly-accepted
religion.
• Plasencia died in Liliw, Laguna 1590.
About the Text:

• Archivo General de Indias (A.G.I) in Seville, Spain –

where the original document of the Customs of the
Tagalog is kept.
• Archivo Franciscano Ibero-Oriental (A.F.I.O) in
Madrid, Spain – where the duplicate copy is kept.
• Volume VII of the Blair and Robertson’s The
Philippine Islands – English translation of the document.
 Social Classes:
Chieftain
(Datu)
Nobles
(Maharlika)
The 3
Castes Commoners
(Aliping Namamahay)
Slaves
(Aliping Saguiguilir)
Datu or Dato
Chieftain, chief captain of wars,
obeyed and reverenced.
The subject who committed any
offense against them, or spoke but
a word to their wives and children,
was severely punished.
These chiefs ruled over a few
people; sometimes as many as a
hundred houses, sometimes even
less than thirty.
This tribal gathering is called in
Tagalog a barangay.
Nobles or Maharlikas
 Free-born, they do not pay taxes or
tribute to the dato, but must accompany
him in war, in their own expense.
 The chief offered them beforehand a
feast, and afterward they divided the
spoils.
 If the dato built a house, they helped
him, and had to be fed up for it.
Commoners or Aliping
Namamahay
 They are married, and served their
master, whether he be a dato or not, with
have of heir cultivated lands, as was
agreed upon in the beginning.
 They lived in their own houses and are
lords of their own property and gold.
 Their children inherit it, and enjoy their
property and lands. The children enjoy
the rank of their fathers, and they
cannot be made slaves(saguiguilir)
nor can either parents or children be
sold.
Slaves or Aliping Saguiguilir
 They serve their master in his house and
on his cultivated lands, and may be sold.
 The master grants them, should they see
fit, and providing that he has profited
through their industry, a portion of their
harvests, so that they may work faithfully.
 Servants who are born in the house of
their master are rarely, if ever, sold.
Difference between the aliping namamahay and the
aliping saguiguilir:

Commoners or Aliping Slaves or Aliping

Namamahay Saguiguilir
• Can choose who they will married • Cannot be married without the
permission of his master
• Can live in their own house • Don’t have their own house, they
live in their master's house
• Cannot be sold • Can be sold
• Can have his own property • Do not own any property
• Is being payed for the services • Serving without payments
rendered
Situation 1:
• Those who are maharlikas on both the father’s
and the mother’s side continue to be forever,
and if it happens that they should become
slaves , it is through marriage.
Situation 2:
• If maharlikas had children among their slaves,
their children and their mothers became free.
Situation 3:
• If the maharlikas had children by the slave-
woman of another, the slave-woman was
compelled when pregnant, to give her master half
of a gold tael. In this case, half of the child was
free , if the father(Maharlika) recognized him. If
not, the child will become a whole slave.
Situation 4:
• If a free woman had children by a slave they
were all free, provided he were not her
husband.
Situation 5:
• If two persons married, of whom one was a Maharlika
and the other a slave (namamahay or saguiguilir) the children
were divided.
• Belong to the Father, Odd Birth order: (1st, 3rd, 5th …..)
• Belong to the Mother, Even Birth order: (2nd, 4th, 6th ..)
• Only child – half free, half slave.
Situation 6:

•Maharlikas could not, after marriage, move

from one village to another , or from one
barangay to another, without paying a certain
fee in gold as arrange among them. Failure to
pay the fine could result into war between the
barangay where the person left and the one
which he entered
Situation 7:

• When one married woman of another village, the

children were afterwards divided equally between
the two barangays.
• They had laws which they condemned to death a
man of low birth who insulted the daughter or
wife o a chief ; likewise witches, and others of
the same class.
• Dowries – are given by the men to women’s parents before marriage.
-- If the parents are both alive , they both enjoy the use of itAt
their death, provided the dowry has not been consumed, it is divided like the
rest of the estate, equally among the children, except in the case the Father
should care to bestow something additional upon their daughter.
-- If the wife, at the time of her marriage, has neither father,
mother, nor grandparents, she enjoys her dowry—which in such a case, belongs
to no other relative or child.
-- It should be notice that a married woman can own NO property,
in land or dowry, for the result of all their labors accrues to their parents.
 -- In the case of a Divorce before the birth of the children, if the
wife left the husband for the purpose of marrying another, all her dowry and
an equal additional amount fell to the husband; but if she left him, and did not
marry another, the dowry was returned.
-- When the husband left his wife, he lost half of the dowry, and
the other half was returned to him. If he possessed children at the time of his
divorce, the whole dowry and the fine went to the children, and was held for
them by their grandparents or other responsible relatives.
-- In the matter of marriage dowries which father's bestow upon
their sons when they are about to be married, and half of which is given
immediately, even when they are only children, there is a great deal more
complexity. There is a fine stipulated in the contract, that he who violates it
shall pay a certain sum which varies according to the practice of the village and
the affluence of the individual.
 -- The fine was heaviest if, upon the death of the parents, the son
or daughter should be unwilling to marry because it had been arranged by his
or her parents.
-- In this case the dowry which the parents had received was
returned and nothing more. But if the parents were living, they paid the fine,
because it was assumed that it had been their design to separate the children.
 Worship of the Tagalogs:

• No temples.
• Simbahan – Temple or place of adoration.
• Pandot – a festival celebrated, or worship.
• Roof called Sibi.
• Small lamps called sorihile.
• Nagaanitos – the whole barangay or family united and joined in
this worship.
• Temple – the house or place of Adoration
 IDOLS, AUGURY, BELIEFS:
• Bathala -- whom they especially worshipped, seems to signify “all powerful” or
“maker of all things”
• Sun – on account of it's beauty, is almost universally respected and honored
by the heathens.
• Moon – especially when it was new, at which time they had great rejoicings,
adoring it and bidding it welcome.
• Stars – although they did not know them by their names, as the Spaniards and
other nations know the planets—with the exception of the
1. “morning stars” they called Tala. ;
2. “seven little goats” The Pleiades.
3. “Change of seasons” Mapolon
4. “Greater Bear” Balatic
• Lic-ha – images with different shapes
• Dian Masalanta – the patron of lovers and of generation.
• Lacapati and Idianale – were patrons of the cultivated lands
and of husbandry.
• Buaya or crocodiles – water-lizards they paid reverence for fear
of being harmed by them, They were even in the bait of offering
these animals a portion of what they carried in their boats, by
throwing it into the water, or placing it upon the bank.
• Tigmamanuguin – a bird singing on a tree belief that something
evil will happen if they heard it sung. This song has two different
forms: Evil Omen and the Good Omen.
• Divination – a practice to see whether the weapons, such as dagger or knife,
were useful and lucky for their possessor whenever occasion should offer.
• Catolonans – male or female officiating priest.
• The objects of sacrifice were goats, fowls and swine, which were flayed
decapitated and laid bare before the idol.
• They performed another ceremony by cooking a jar of rice until the water
was evaporated. After which they broke the jar and the rice was left as an
intact mass which was set before the idol and all about it, an intervals were
placed a few buyos, which is a small fruit wrapped in a leaf with some
lime, a food generally eaten in these regions-- as well as fried food an fruits.
• All these above mentioned articles were eaten by guests at the feast the heads
of animals after being offered as they expressed it, were cooked and eaten
also.
• The reasons for offering these sacrifice and adoration were:
The recovery of a sick person
The prosperous voyage of those embarking on the sea
A good harvest in the sowed lands
A propitious results in wars
A successful delivery in child birth
A happy outcome in married life
• If these took place among people of rank, the festivities lasted
Thirty days
The Distinction 1. Catolonan
2. Mangagauay
made among the 3. Manyisalat
Priest of the 4. Mancocolam
5. Hocloban
Devil were: 6. Silagan
7. Magtatangal
8. Osuang
9. Mangagayoma
10. Sonat
11. Pangatahojan
12. Bayoguin
The Distinction made among the Priest
of the Devil were:
• The First called Catolonan, a man or
woman. These office was an honorable one
among the natives. And was held ordinarily by
people of rank. This rule being General in all
islands.
• The Second was called Mangagauay, or witches who
deceived by pretending to heal the sick. These priests
even induced maladies by their charms, which in
proportion to the strength and efficacy of witch-craft are
capable of causing death. In this way, if they wished to
kill at once they did so or they could prolong life for a
year by binding to the waist alive a live serpent, which was
believed to be the devil or at least his substance. This
office was general throughout the Land.
• The Third was called Manyisalat, which is the same as
mangagauay, These priests had the power of applying
such remedies to lovers that they would abandoned and
despise their own wives and in fact could prevent them
from having intercourse with the latter. If the woman,
constrained by these means, were abandoned, it would
bring sickness upon her; and on account of the desertion,
she would discharge blood and matter. This office was
also general throughout the Land.
• The Fourth was called Mancocolam, whose duty
it was to emit fire from himself at night, once or
oftener each month. This fire could not be
extuinguished; nor could it be thus emitted except
as the priest wallowed in the ordure and filth which
falls from the house; and be who lived in the house
were priest was wallowing in order to emit this fire
from himself fell ill and died. This office was
general.
• The Fifth was called hocloban, which is another kind of
witch, of greater efficacy than the mangagauay. Without
use of medicine, and by simple saluting or raising the
hand, they killed whom they chose. But if they desired to
heal those whom they made ill by their charms, they did
so by using other charms. More over, if they wished to
destroy the house of the same Indian hostile to them,
they were able to do so without instruments. This was in
Catanduanes, an island off the upper part of Luzon.
• The Sixth was called Silagan, whose office it was,
if they saw anyone clothed in white, to tear out his
liver and eat it, thus causing his death. His, like the
preceding, was in the island of Catanduanes. Let
no on, moreover, consider this a fable.; because in
Calavan, they tore out in this way through the
anus all the intestines of a Spanish notary, who was
buried in Calilaya by father Fray Juan de
Merida.
• The seventh was called Magtatangal, his purpose
to show himself at night to many persons, without
his head or entrails. In such wise the devil walked
about, carried or pretended to carry his head to
different places; and, in the morning returned it to
his body– remaining as before alive. This seems to
be a fable, although the natives affirm that they
have seen it, because the devil probably caused
them to believe. This occurred in Catanduanes.
• The eighth was called Osuang, which is
equivalent to a “sorcerer;” they that they have
seen him fly, and that he murdered men and
ate their flesh. This was among he Visayas
Islands; among the tagalogs these did not
exist.
• The ninth was another class of witches called
Mangagayoma. They made charms for
lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood, which
would infuse the heart with love. Thus they
deceive the people, although sometimes
through the intervention of the devil, they
gained their ends.
• The Tenth was known as Sonat, which is
equivalent to “preacher”. It was his office to help
one die, at which time he predicted the salvation or
the condemnation of the soul. It was not lawful for
the function of this office to be fulfilled by others
than people of high standing, on account of the
esteem in which it was held, This office was general
throughout the Islands.
• The eleventh, Pangatahojan, was a soothsayer,
and predicted the future. This office was general in
the Islands.

• The twelfth, bayoguin, signified a “cotquean”, a

man whose nature inclined toward that of a
woman.
Burial Practices
• Their manner of burying the dead was as follows:
• The deceased was buried beside his house;
• and, if he were a chief he was placed beneath a little house or porch
which they constructed for this purpose. Before interring him, they mourned
him for Four days; and afterwards laid him on boat which served as a
coffin or bier. Placing him beneath the porch, where guard kept over him by
a slave.
• In place of a rowers, various animals within the boat, each one being
assigned a place at the oar by twos – male and female of each species being
together – as for example two goats, two deer, or two fowls. It was the
slave care to see that they were fed.
• If the deceased had been a warrior, a living slave was tied beneath his body
until in this way he died. In course of time, all suffered decay; and for many
days the relatives of the dead man bewailed him, singing dirges, and praises
of his good qualities, until they wearied of it. This grief was accompanied by
eating and drinking.
• Maca – another life of rest, “paradise” or “village of rest”.
• Casanaan –place of punishment, grief and affliction, “place of
anguish”, hell.
• Bathala – “the maker of all things”, who governed from above.
• Sitan –demons
• Vibit – ghosts
• Tigbalaang – phantoms
• Patianac –if any woman died in childbirth, she and the child
suffered punishment; and that at night she could be heard
lamenting.