Reading in Philippine History

(HIS101G)

Philippine Cultural
Development Pre-Colonial Period

April Kate P. Banagodos

Wena Lozaga
Xhawn Orano
Lea Velano
Marvin Visitacion
Angelyn Ybańez
 Introduction of Islam

The spread of Islam to Old Malaysia was brought about by the activities of the Arab traders,
missionaries, and teachers who introduced their religious beliefs among the Malays.
The foundation of Islam was laid in Malaysia by the Arabian scholar Mudum, who arrived in the
Malay Peninsula about the middle of the 14th century. He succeeded in establishing in Malacca a
rather tenuous foothold for Islam. About 1380 he proceeded to Sulu and preached the doctrines
of Mohammed. In 1390, Raja Baginda, one of the petty rulers of Menangkabaw, Sumatra,
arrived in Sulu and promptly converted some of the natives to Islam. His religious activities were
followed by Abu Bakr who, about 1450, left Palembang for Sulu. He married Raja Baginda’s
daughter, Paramisuli. After Baginda’s death, Abu Bakr exercised his powers as sultan and
established a government patterned after the Sultanate of Arabia. Islam spread rapidly to all parts
of Sulu.
In Mindanao, Serif Kabungsuan, who had meanwhile arrived from Johor with his men,
immediately began laying the foundations of Islam. He converted many tribes to his religion and,
having married into an influential family, made himself the first sultan of Mindanao. From then
on, Islam spread rapidly to the Visayas and Luzon. The arrival of the Spaniards in the second
half of the 16th century and the subsequent conquest of Luzon led the Muslims to retreat to the
south where they maintained their independence from foreign powers to the end of the Spanish
regime.

How Muslim came to Philippines

Timeline
1280 – The arrival of Tuan Masha’ika and the establishment of the first Muslim community in
the Philippines.
1380 - Karim ul-Makhdum arrives in Tawi-Tawi and builds the first mosque.
1390 – Raja Baguinda establishes the Buansa dynasty.
1457 – Abu Bakr creates the first Islamic kingdom the Sultanate of Sulu.
1521 – The Sultanate of Maguindanao is established by Sharif Muhammad Kabungsuan.

Relations with the Orang Dampuans -

Between 900 and 1200 A.D., another group of immigrants came to the Philippines from southern
Annam. Known as Orang Dampuans or Men form Champa, they established trading posts in
Sulu, resulting in a flourishing trade between Sulu and Southern Annam. The Orang Dampuans
were not politically minded and had no intention of dominating the people of Sulu, who were
called Buranuns. Their interest lay in trade. As usually happened, the Orang Dampuans, because
of their increasing prosperity aroused the jealousy of the Buranuns who, in a fit of anger,
massacred some Orang Dampuans. The latter, who had superior weapons, took their bloody
revenge on the Buranuns and, having leveled the enemy’s villages to the ground, sailed to their
homeland. It was not until the 13th century that the Orang Dampuans returned to Sulu to trade
peacefully with the natives.

Relations with Banjarmasin –

The fame of Sulu reached as far as northern Borneo and soon Banjarmasin and Brunei, two of
the important sub-states of the Empire of Sri Vijaya, sent taders to Sulu. The latter’s famous
pearl beds drew the interest of the Banjarmasin merchants and adventurers. Thus, regular trade
relations were established between the people of Sulu and the men Banjar, as the men of
Banjarmasin were called. The Buranuns looked with suspicion at the men of Banjar, for they had
not forgotten their tragic experience with the Orang Dampuans. But the men of Banjar, more
diplomatic than their predecessors, knew how to assuage the wounded pride of the Buranuns.
Realizing the power of a beautiful woman to soften the heart of a hostile ruler, the men of Banjar
brought their beautiful princess to Sulu. She was offered to the Buranun ruler, and decided that
the princess was fit to be his queen. Sulu thus came under the influence of Banjarmasin and in no
time the Buranuns found themselves willing to tribute prayers to Banjarmasin. Under the latter,
Sulu developed into an emporium, and trading ships from Cambodia, China, Java and Sumatra
cast anchor at Sulu ports to savor their wealth and splendor. From the union of the Buranun
chieftain and the Banjarmasin princess came the rulers of Sulu. For many years thereafter, Sulu
remained under the influence of Banjarmasin.

The Ten Bornean Datus –

In the 13th century, about the time that Sulu was undergoing a transformation owing to the
paramount influence of Banjarmasin, Borneo was seething with discontent. It appeared that
Sultan Makatunaw was mistreating his subjects so that ten of the chieftains (or datus) decided to
leave for unknown parts in search of freedom. With their families, the Datus secretly sailed in
their balangays without any definite destination. After days of sailing, the Bornean datus reached
Panay which at the time was inhabited by the Negritos called Atis, who were ruled by their brave
chieftain, Marikudo, and his wife, Maniwantiwan. The Atis suspected them of evil intention,
Datu Puti, the leader of the Bornean datus, assured them of their peaceful intentions. All they
wanted, he explained, was to buy land where he and his men and families could settle peacefully.
After consulting, Marikudo decided to sell his land to the newcomers. The purchase price was a
gold salakot and a long gold necklace for Maniwantiwan.
With the datus and their families firmly settled in Panay, Datus Puti, Balensusa, and Dumangsil
sailed northward to Luzon, disembarking in the region around Lake Bonbon (Taal). The fertility
of the soil led Dumangsil and Balensusa to found a settlement there, while Puti, satisfied that his
men were leading peaceful lives, returned to Borneo. Dumangsil and Balensusa’s families spread
out to the neighboring regions now known as Laguna and the Bicol Peninsula. As for the seven
datus in Panay, they, too, prospered. They divided the island into three districts: Hantik (now
Antique), under Datu Sumakwel; Irong-Irong (now Iloilo), under Datu Paiburong; and Aklan
(now Aklan or Capiz), under Datu Bangkaya. For purposes of protection as well as for
maintaining close family relations, the datus formed a sort of political organization known as the
Confederation of Madyaas, whose ranking chieftain was Sumakwel.

Chinese Influences –
Chinese influences on Filipino life were mainly economic for the Chinese who came to the
islands were “economic” men whose interest lay in profits rather than in political domination.
Except perhaps for a short period, the Chinese never had any political designs on the Philippines.
The following table shows some of the words in Tagalog which have their origins in Chinese:
Chinese Tagalog
a-chi ate
bi-hun bihon
bi-koe biko
ko-a kuya
lun-pia lumpiya
mi-soa miswa
From the Chinese, too, the ancient Filipinos learned the use of umbrellas, gongs, lead, porcelain,
the manufacture of gunpowder, mining methods, and metallurgy. Equally important was the
adoption by the Filipinos of some Chinese customs. The ancient custom of arranging the
marriages of children by the parents was probably of Chinese origin. So is the employment of a
go-between to negotiate marriages. Among the ancient Visayans, mourning was shown by
wearing white shirts or dress, a custom that is definitely Chinese.

RELATION WITH ORANG DAMPUANS

Between 900 and 1200 AD another group of immigrants came to the Philippines from
southern Annam. It is called orang dampuans or men from champa. They established trading post
in sulu. Orang Dampuans were not politically minded and had no intention of dominating the
people of sulu. Their interest lay in trade. The buranuns got jealous because of their increasing
prosperity in trade. So in fit of anger, buranuns massacred some of orang dampuans. And later on
orang dampuans took their bloody revenge on the buranuns. After 13th Century orang dampuans
returned to sulu to trade peacefully with the natives.
RELATION WITH CHINA

During the rule of Sung Dynasty (960-1127) in china, Chinese goods begun to take active
interest in Philippine trade. Cambodia and Champa, in Indo-China, trade their porcelain products
for Philippine wares. Annam, Siam and Tonkin also began to trade in the Philippines. So keen
was the competition that from 20% to 40% of the total trade in the Southern Philippines was
non-Chinese.
The Chinese regained control of the Philippine trade when the Ming emperor, Yung Lo,
(1402-1424), came to the throne of China. Yung Lo sent large fleet consisting of more than sixty
vessels to the Philippines under the command of admiral Cheng Ho. The Chinese emperor even
tried to maintain a kind of sovereignty over Luzon and ko-ch’a-lao to the island as “governor”.
With the death of Yung Lo, however, his pretensions to suzerainty over Luzon came to end.
In the 15th century when Islam began to spread to the southern Philippines. The Chinese
were allowed were allowed to trade with areas under the sway of Islam.

THE ALLEGED CODE OF KALANTIYAW

The code of Rajah Kalantiaw was a supposed legal code in the epic history Maragtas that
said to have been written in 1433 by Datu kalantiaw, a chief on the island of Negros in the
Philippines. Despite doubts on its authenticity, some history texts continue to present it as
historical fact.
 Those shall be beaten; who eat the diseased flesh of the beast which they hold in
respect, or the herbs which they consider good; who would try to kill the young
Manaul, or the white monkey.
 All those shall be exposed to the ants for half a day; who kill black cats during a new
moon; or steal anything from chiefs and agorangs, however small it be.
 All those shall be beaten for two days, who; sing while travelling by night; kill the
bird Manaul [ bird resembling an eagle]; tear the documents belonging in headmen;
or mock the dead.
 Those shall be made slaves for life; who have beautiful daughters and deny them to
the sons of chiefs, and with bad faith hide them away.
 The fingers shall be cut off; of all those who break idols of wood and clay in their
olongans (probably shrines) and temples; of those who destroy the daggers of the
katalonas (priest or priestess) for killing pigs, or break the drinking jars [of the latter].
INDIAN INFLUNCES

Indian influences on Filipino life are primarily reflected in the Philippine languages,
particularly in tagalog. 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
archeological 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.
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, names of deities, of planets, of numerals of high number, of botany, of war, of
titles, some animals, instruments of industry, and the names of money.” The following words,
taken at random, represent the “borrowings” from Sanskrit, the ancient language of India.
Indian influence was also present in the ancient religious beliefs of the Filipinos. Among
the Muslims, Indra Batara was the most prominent mytheological figure, Indra being the Indian
king of heaven. The other gods which Muslim believed in were Verdic 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.

Early Customs and Practice

Before the coming of the Spaniards the Filipinos had a civilization of their own. the
various aspects of this civilization doubtless came partly from the Malays who settled in the
country and partly from a response to the new environment. The customs and traditions, the
government and mode of living have, to a great extent, come down to the present and may be
found in remote rural areas which have so far succeeded in resisting the impact of the modern
civilization. For this reason, many of the customs and practices of the pre-colonial Filipinos are
still operative in many parts of the country, a circumstances that is, in a sense, advantageous for
it offers an observer first-hand materials for the reconstruction of the distant past.

Clothing- Male attire was composed of the upper and lower pants where the upper made
of black or blue collarless jacket with short sleeves, it also called as kanggan, while in the lower
part consisted of a stripped of cloth wrapped around the waist passing down between the thighs,
common called as bahag.
 Woman's attire was composed of the upper and lower part also, the upper called baro or
camisa consisted of a jacket with sleeves, while the lower part called saya by the Tagalogs and
patadyong by the Visayans, was loose skirt.

Ornaments- The early Filipinos had a weakness for personal adornments, for women, as
well as men, burdened themselves with such trappings as armlets called kalumbiga, pendants,
bracelets, gold rings, earrings, and even leglets. These ornaments were made of gold, which was
abundant in the mines and rivers, and precious stones. Since gold was a common commodity, the
ancients made good use of it not only by turning it into rings, armlets and bracelets, but also into
fillings between the teeth. The fillings were made to adorn their teeth, not to cover up a decayed
tooth.

The adornment of the body was not made not only by wearing costly and heavy jewels,
but by tattooing it with the various design, even the women were so tattooed most especially to
their body. The symbol it for them was a form of ornament to enhance the beauty of the man or
women. The more tattoos a man had, the more he was looked up in society because it is for to
exhibit a man's war record. Among the ancient Filipinos, the Visayan were the most tattooed
people where the early Spanish writers called them the Pindatos or painted ones.

Houses- It built to suit the tropical climate. It is called bahay kubo, made of wood,
bamboo, and nipa palm; it was built on stilts and can be entered through ladders that can be
drawn up. Some Filipinos, such as the Kalingas, Mandayas and Bagobos built their houses on
treetops. Others, such as the badjaos, built their houses on boats.

Social Classes- The society was made up of three classes: nobles it is made up the datu
and their families, mahadlika or maharlika it is a freemen, and the alipin it is the dependents.
Members of the nobility were addressed with the title Gat or Lakan among the Tagalogs. Alipin
or dependents acquired their status by inheritance, captivity, purchase, failure to settle debts or
by committing a crime. There were two kind of dependents: aliping namamahay and aliping
sagigilid. In the Visayas, dependents were of three kinds: tumataban, tumarampok, and the
ayuey.

The Position of Women- Women in pre-colonial Philippine society had the right to
inherit property, engage in trade and industry, and succeed to the chieftainship of male heir. It
had the exclusive right to name their children. Men walked behind them as a sign of respect.

Marriage Customs- Men were in general, monogamous while their wives are called
asawa, while concubines are called “friends”. In order to win the hand of his lady, the man has
to show his patience and dedication to both the lady and her parents. Courtship usually begins
with paninilbihan. If the man wins the trust of the parents, he does not immediately marry the
women, but he has to satisfy several condition: give a dowry or bigay-kaya, pay the
panghihimuyat, pay the wet nurse bigay-suso, pay the parents himaraw, and bribe for the
relatives called sambon (among the Zambals). Ones he had settled all of the above requirements,
he brings his parents to meet with the bridge-to-be’s parents to haggle and make the final
arrangements; this is called pamamalae or pamamanhikan or pamumulungan. The wedding
ceremonies vary depending on the status of the couple; but normally those from the upper class,
a go-between was employed. Weddings are officiated by the priestess or babylan. Uncooked rice
is thrown on the couple after the wedding ceremony. Muslim Filipinos have similar marriage
customs; the first stage was called pananalanguni or bethrothal; it was followed by the
consultation with the girl’s parents, who relays their decision to the village chief, who in turn
informed the suitor’s parents of the decision. Dowry was also settled by the chief (pedsungod).
This was of seven kinds of Dowry: kawasateg a money given to the brides close relatives,
siwaka a brassware given to those who helped arrange the wedding, enduatuan a brassware or
animals for the village chief, pamgatulian a jewelry given to the bride’s mother and aunts, tatas
a blade given to the girl’s uncle, langkad a money given to the girl’s parents as fine for having
by passed the girl’s elder sister if she had any, and lekat amount of money given to the girl’s
attendant. Once everything is settled, the pegkawing, or the wedding ceremony follows. The
wedding ceremony is officiated by the hadji. Six days of festivities followed, and only on the
seventh day could the couple sleep together.
Law- The laws, customary (it is handed down from generation to generation orally) or
written (promulgated from time to time as necessity), dealt with various subject, such as
inheritance, divorce, usury, partnership, crime and punishment, property rights, family relations,
adoption, and loans. Criminal laws dealt with felonies, or major crimes, and minor crimes.
Religious beliefs- The ancient Filipinos believed in the immortality of the soul and in life
after death.
Burial- Belief in life after death and in relation between the dead and the living made the
ancient Filipinos respectful of their dead. The deceased relative was placed in a wooden coffin
and buried under the house, complete with cloth, gold, and other valuable things.
Government- the barangay was the unit of government and consisted of members from
30 to 100 families. The Tagalog word barangay was derived from the malay balangay, a boat,
which transported them to these shores, each barangay was independent and was ruled by a
chieftain.
Music and the dance- the Filipinos are born musicians, for they easily learner tunes by
ear. Many Filipinos who play two or more musical instrument have never been in music
academies, nor have they knowledge of the musical notations except what they know by ear.
Instrument have never been in music academies, nor have they knowledge of the musical
notations except what they know by ear.
Judicial process- trials were held publicly and decisions were rendered promptly,
thereby avoiding what is now known as "Justice delayed" probably because there were no
lawyers at the time, all trials were conducted efficiently and without any delay.
Trial by ordeal- The medieval European no monopoly of the trial by ordeal, for the
ancient Filipinos practiced it under certain circumstances to determine the guilt of a person. The
trial by ordeal was resorted to in order to show that God in his infinite wisdom always took the
side of the innocente Several ordeal were adopted to determine the innocent or guil of a party.
The first consisted in ordering the suspect to place a stone in a vessel with boiling water and
compelling them to dip their hands into the vessel to take out the stone. The second consisted in
giving lighted candles to the suspects. The man whose candle unfortunately died out first was
regulated as the guilty party. The third consisted of ordering the suspect to plunge into the river
or lake with lances he who came to the surface first was considered guilty. The fourth consisted
of ordering the suspect to chew uncooked rice each of them spat his saliva and the one who has
the thickest saliva is considered guilty. This is still in vogue in some parts of the Philippines.
Religious beliefs- The ancient Filipinos believed in the immortality of the soul and in life
after death. Their rituals were based on beliefs in a ranking deity whom they called Bathalang
Maykapál and a host of other deities, in the environment spirits, and in soul spirits. The Bathalá,
is equivalent of the Spanish Dios. To be the creator of the earth and man therefore superior to all
other deities. The deities had their function in relation to the daily life of the believers Thus they
had a God of agriculture called Idiyanale A God of rainbows Balangáw A God of death Sidapa A
God of war Mandarangan A fire God Agni A God of the other world Magwayen A Goddess of
harvest Lalahon A God of hell Siginarugan A God of love Diyan Masalanta; and scores the other
deities with their respective function.
Burial- Belief in life after death and in the relation of dead and the living made the
ancient Filipinos respectful of their dead. The deceased relative was placed in a wooden coffin
and buried under the house, complete with cloth, gold, and other valuable things. This was done
in the belief that a well-provisioned dead person would be received with alacrity in the other
world, while a poorly provided dead would be received with indifference, if not with hostility.
Deviation and Magic Charms- The ancient Filipinos, like their contemporaries in many
lands, put very much stock in divination, auguries, and magic charms. They interpreted signs in
nature such as the flight of birds, the barking of dogs, the singing of lizards and the like, as good
or bad omens depending upon the circumstances. Thus the howling of a dog in the middle of the
night presaged tragedy or the death of a person. Sneezing, an ordinary human function
(particularly if one has a cold), was considered a bad omen, those who for instance, were about
to go on a journey or to a war were admonished to back out for misfortune would overtake them.
Magic charms played an important part in the life of not only the ancient Filipinos, also their
descendants who believed in black magic sorcerers who could victimize anybody at a drop of a
Putong. The anting anting or agimat insured a man against weopons of every kind. The gayuma
made a man lovable to all the ladies The Odom, a charm similar to the Tagalog tagabulag made
the Bicalano invisible.
Economic life- During the pre-colonial days was not much different from that found
today in many remote barrios. The significant change is the tempo of life: during those half-
forgotten days, life was placid and characterized by less economic and social pressure than it is
today. Agriculture then and now was the main source of livelihood.
 Art- The first glimpse of the artistic sense of the primitive inhabitants of the Philippines
can be had in the remains of their tools and weapons. At first rough, these tools and weapons
were, as ages elapsed, polished and formed along the lines of leaves and petals of flowers. The
advance of the stone age the primitive inhabitants began to show signs of artistic improvement in
the form of beads, amulets, bracelets, and other body ornaments made of green Jade, red
cornelian, and other attractive stone. The Bronze Age materials were manufactured in bronze and
shape and sizes improved considerably. Bells, drums, and gongs made of bronze indicate
development of such social art as dancing and music.
The cultural achievements of pre-colonial Philippines include those covered by the prehistory
and the early history (900–1521) of the Philippines archipelago's inhabitants, the indigenous
forebears of today's Filipino people. The classical belief systems of many ethnic peoples in the
Philippines are centered on values with ingrained inclinations toward an egalitarian society,
treating everything through respectful and just means. These values have originated, notably, in
the indigenous Anitist religions of the archipelagic people. Among the cultural achievements of
the native people's belief systems, and culture in general, that are notable in many ethnic
societies, range from agriculture, societal and environmental concepts, spiritual beliefs, up to
advances in technology, science, and the arts.
A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication. While both writing
and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form of
information storage and transfer. Writing systems can be placed into broad categories such as
alphabets, syllabaries, or logographies, although any particular system may have attributes of
more than one category. In the alphabetic category, a standard set of letters represent speech
sounds. In a syllabary, each symbol correlates to a syllable or moral.
CULTURE
Philippine pre-colonial culture was basically malayan in structure and form.They had
written language which was usednot jus for communication but also for literary expression.They
also had music and dances for almost all occasions and a wide variety of musical instruments
that shows their ingenuity.
LANGUANGE
There are more than one hundred languages in the Philippines, eight of are considered
major languages. They are: Tagalog, Iloko, Pangasinan, Pampangan, Sugbuhanon, hiligaynon,
Samarnon, or Samar-Leyte and Maguindanao.
LITERATURE
•Pre-Colonial mabe classified into: floating or oral literature and written literature.
•Tagalogs have the bugtong(riddle), suliranin and indulanin(street songs), sabi(maxim),
sawikain(sayings), talindaw (boat songs), diyuna (songs of rivelry), Kumintang (War Song
which evolved into a lovesong), dalit and umbay (dirge), tagumpay, balikungkong,
dupayinin, and hiliraw(War songs), uyayi and hele(lullabies ) ihiman (bridal songs),
tagulaylay (mournful song), tigpasin(rowing song ), tingad (household song), and kutang-
kutang(couplets usually chanted by the blind)
•Songs, Dance and drama probably developed simultaneously
•Most of the pre-Colonial drama was held in the sambahan or places of worship
• This dealt with various subjects including love, war, legends, the memory of deceased, and war
heroes.
•Filipinos were found of composing epic poetry, which is why the country is unique for having
more than 20 epic poems. Example of this are Hudhud and alim (Ifugao). (Biag ni lam-ang) The
life of lam-ang (Ilocano), Bantugan, Indarapatra, at Sulayman, and Bidasari (Muslems).
MUSIC AND DANCE
•Had their own musical instruments, songs, and dances, •Most popular musical instrument:
kudyapi
•Songs included love songs, religious songs,rice planting songs, harvesting songs,rowing songs,
battle songs, vending songs,and others. •Had colorful folkdances
Reference:
Agoncillo, T. A. (2012). History of the Filipino people. Quezon City: C & E Pub.
(n.d.). Retrieved from
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