Reading Philippines History

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The Early
Ancestors of the
Filipinos
Who were the first people to live in the Philippines?
Where did they come from?
What happen to them?

These questions on the past cannot fully answered

even by the best scientist who studied about our early
ancestors.
3 main sources:

1. The story of God’s creation in the Bible.

2. The story of evolution made by human scientist.

3. Legends and fairytales made up by imaginative

people.
The Biblical Story

 All men and women originated from the first man

(Adam) and First woman (Eve).
Fr. Francisco Colin

Scientist do not believe in the story of creation in

the Holy Bible instead, they have invented the theory
of “evolution” of the story oh how the first man came
from apelike creature who walked the face of the earth
thousands of years ago.
Waves of Migration
They believed that the
early Filipinos came from
“waves of migration” –
Negritos, Indonesians, and
Malays – who peopled these
island thousands years ago.
The Negritos
 First people came to the
Philippines.
 Called Atis or Aetas
 They wandered in the forest.
 They lived by hunting, fishing,
and gathering wild plants and
fruits.
 They use bow and arrow for
hunting.
The Indonesian
 First immigrants to come by the sea to
the Philippines.
 About 5000 years ago and sailed in
boats from south Asia.
 They lived in Permanent homes and
used fire to cook their food.
 They lived by hunting, fishing, and
small farming.
 They painted their bodies with colorful
figures.
The Indonesian
 Two types of Indonesian
 Tall, light skin, large forehead, high
nose, and thin lips.
 Shorter, darker, large forehead, large
nose, thick lips, and heavy jaw.
The Malays
 They came after the Indos about 2000
years ago.
 They arrived in boats from southeast
asia.
 Medium in height, brown skinned,
straight black hair, and dark eyes.
 They lived in larger villages, had
government, writing, music arts, and
sciences.
 They lived by agriculture, mining,
fishing, and trading.
Maragtas
 It tells how the first ten Malay
Datus left Borneo and came to
Panay.
 They bought the land from the
Negritos.
 This legend is now celebrated in
the famous “Ati Atihan ” Fiesta
and Dance.
 The Filipinos today come from the
Malay or Brown Race.
Core Population
 A theory which believes that that
the early Filipinos came from the
settlers within the Islands, not
from outside, and in fact our
ancestors migrated outside to the
other nearby islands to spread our
culture to other lands.

 Tabon Man
 First man in the Philippines.
 Lived in Palawan 25000 years ago.
 Belong to Stone age
 Short with bushy eyebrows and a low forehead.
Legends and Fairy tales

An Imaginary stories told by old folks

to little children to keep them
interested in their past.

 2 famous legends about the early Filipinos

 The story of Malakas and Maganda
 The story of the brown people
 Reading of Philippines History
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Filipinos Culture
During Pre-
Spanish Period
House
Houses were made of light
materials like wood, bamboo
and nipa palm. A ladder was
placed to prevent strangers from
intruding when the owner was
not around.
A jar of heart was placed in
gallery called “batalan”

Some of them built tree houses to prevent

themselves against their enemies or from being
attacked by wild animals.
Dress
 Male clothing
 Consisted of the upper and
lower parts.
 The upper part was a
jacket with short sleeves
called “Kangan”.
 The lower part was strip
of cloth wrapped around
the waist and in between
the legs called “bahag”.
 Males used a piece of  Putong symbolized the number
cloth or headgear called of persons the wearer had
“putong”. killed.
Dress
 Female
 The lower part was called
“Saya”
Social Classes
Nobles - who were composed
of rulers and their families,
occupied the highest class.
They were usually addressed
as Gat, Lakan, Raja or Datu.
Freemen - were the
working class
Slaves – were
classified into two.
Aliping namamahay –were
not full pledge slave. They
had their own respective
families and their own
houses.
They were required to serve
their masters only during
planting and harvesting
period.
Aliping sagigilid – were the
real slaves, they were
homeless, forbidden to form
their own families, required
to stay in their masters
dwelling and they could be
used as a payment for debt.
Government
 The government was called Barangay.
 Sugbo
 Haklan
 Maynilad
 There was no national government. Some
barangays, however, united to form a
confederation.
 It was headed by a ruler called datu or raja.
Power and Functions of Datu
 Implenting laws.
 Maintaining peace and order.
 Giving protection to his
subjects.
 He also made the law, with the
assistance of group of elders
who gave advice.
 A newly enacted law was made
known to the public through
town crier called “umalohokan”
 He acted as a judge during trial.
Taxation
 Ancient Filipino started the practice of paying taxes.
The purpose of paying taxes was simple, it was for the
protection they received from the datu.

 The collected tax was called buwis. The chieftain’s

family member were enjoying exemption from paying
taxes.
 Non-payment of taxes was already punishable during
this period.
Alliances
 Like community of nations, alliances among barangay
were formed. The purpose of forming alliances was for
trade, peace and mutual protection.

 The alliances was sealed through blood compact

(sandugan), to ensure conformity, sincerity and
commitment of the chieftains.
Trial and Determination of Guilt
 Judicial process was influenced by religion. The manner of determining
guilt of the accused showed the religiosity of the natives.
 They waited for the intervention of the deities.
 Their judicial process was called trial by ordeal,
 Holding lighted candles by the suspected offenders. The man whole
candle died out first would be declared as culprit.
 Another form od this trial was ordering the suspect to plunge into
deep river with their lances. The first come to the surface would be
adjudged as the guilty party.
Courtship and Marriage
 The man was required to give a dowry.
 Bigay-kaya
 Was the type of dowry consisted of a piece of land or gold.
 Panghimuyat
 Grooms parent gift.
 Himaraw
 Payment for raising the future bride during her infancy period, to
be paid by grooms parent.
 Bigay Suso
 Gift given to the brides wet nurse.
Courtship and Marriage
 Mixed marriage, the was marriage between couples belonging to
different social classes were not common.
 Early Filipinos practiced divorced.
 Several grounds of divorce were:
 Adultery
 Abandonment on the part of the husband.
 Cruelty
 And insanity.
Assignment
 Compare and contrast the Marriage and courtship from precolonial to
present.
 Compare and contrast the Judicial process from precolonial to present.
 Give 3 examples of judicial process during precolonial.
Religious Beliefs
 Before Roman Catholism and Islam were introduced, natives
worshipped many gods and goddesses.
 Bathala- supreme being
 Idiyanale – god of agriculture
 Sidapa – god of death
 Agni – god of fire
 Balangaw – god of rainbow
 Mandarangan – god of war
 Lalahon – god of harvest
 Siginarugan – god of hell
Religious Beliefs
 They also believed in the immortality of souls and life after death.
 There were sacred animals, which they venerate like white
monkey(manaul) and crocodiles.
 There were also sacred place and sacred trees, which nobody was
allowed to cut down.
 They worshipped the sun and the moon.
 Regular sacrifices and prayers were offered to placate deities and spirits.
 Reward and punishment after death was dependent upon behavior in
this life.
Superstitious Beliefs
 Natives believed in:
 Aswang
 Dwende (tiny creatures like humans)
 Kapre (tall and apelike creatures smoking cigarettes, usually found
on trees)
 Mangkukulam(witch)
 Tikbalang(Half-man, half-horse creature)
 Tiyanak(a baby that sucks blood on human )
 They also believed in magical power of amulets and charms such as
anting-anting, kulam and the use of gayuma or love potion
Ornaments
 The natives wore ornament made of
gold and precious stones. Women
including men wore armlet, leg lets,
bracelets, gold rings and earring.
Putting tattoos in their body was
practiced.

 Males having many tattoos were

admired because it signified bravery
in war. They also inserted gold
between their teeth as an ornament.
Education
 Through observation, imitation and
practice.
 There was no formal education.
 Children were taught to read and
write by their parents.

 The purpose of education during their

time was for survival.
 Father taught males fishing, hunting,
fishing and agriculture.
 Mother taught females the household
managing.
Economic Life
 Domestic trade of different barangays
from different regions and Island
were made possible using boats.
 Foreign trade was carried on with
countries like Borneo, China, Japan,
Cambodia, Java and Siam (Thailand).
 Other means of livelihood were
shipbuilding, weaving, poultry
raising, mining and lumbering.
Music
 Natives were without a doubt, music
lovers.
 Each community had their own sets of
musical instrument. In the account of
Pigafetta , the official historian of
Magellan expedition, women from Cebu
were harmoniously playing:
 Cymbals (plantiles), nose flutes
bamboo mouth organs (aphiw), brass
gong(gansa), flute(bansic), long drum
(colibao), bamboo harp(subing),
water whistle(paiyak), guitar(bugtot),
xylophone(agong) and drum(tugo).
Dances
 The most ancient dances could be traced
to the war dance in order to incite the
“warlike” enthusiasm of the natives.
 They danced primarily to please their
gods, anitos, and the spirit.
 They also danced during festivals and
other merry occasions.
Language and System of Writing
 Eight considered major language
 Tagalog
 Ilocano
 Pangasinan
 Sugbuhanon
 Hiligaynon
 Magindanaw
 Samarnon
 Ancient Filipinos alphabet consisted of
three vowels and fourteen consonants.
 They wrote on many materials like
leaves, palm fronds, tree barks, fruit
rinds and bamboo.
 Alibata
 Ancient Philippine
alphabet.
Literature
 The early form of literature during pre-
Spanish periods was classified into
written or oral.
 Oral
 Maxims(sabi)
 Bugtong (riddles)
 Boat songs(talindaw)
 Victory songs(tagumpay)
 Lullaby (uyayi)
 Wedding songs(ihiman)
 War songs (kumintang)
Literature
 Written
 Biag ni Lam-Ang (Ilocano epic)
 Indarapata at Sulayman and
Bidasari (Muslim Epics)
 Handiongs(Bicolanos)