THE PHILIPPINES THEN AND NOW: The Pre-Colonial Period

THE PRE COLONIAL PHILLIPNES

GOVERNMENT

BARANGGAY- FILIPONOS EARLIEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT

EACH BARANGAY IS RULED BY CHIEFTAINS (DATU)

CHIEFTAINS (DATU) –RULE AND GOVERN HIS SUBJECTS AND TO PROMOTE THEIR WELL BEING. IN TIMES OF PEACE, HE WAS THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LEGISLATOR, AND THE JUDGE.

LAWS WERE MADE BY CHIEFTAINS AND THE ELDERS

RELIGION

BELIEVE IN ANITOS, PRIMORDIAL FORCES OF NATURE THAT COULD ACOMMPANY OR POSSESS PEOPLE

THEY BELIEVE ILLNESS IS CAUSE BY EVIL SPIRITS

BATHALA- THE MOST POWERFULL GOD

PRAISE MANY GODS& GODDESSES

ECONOMY

Not much different from that found today in many remote barrios.

During those halves- forgotten days, life was placid and characterized by less economic and social pressure than it is today..

Agriculture – the main source of livelihood. There was an abundance of rice, coconuts, sugar cane, etc.

Land cultivation

Productivity was increased by the use of irrigation ditches, as evidenced by the world- famous Ifugao rice terraces of mountain province.

There was a system of landholding which was public and private.

Mining was comparatively developed

lumbering and shipbuilding were flourishing industries in those pre- colonial days

weaving was a home industry

There were probably more commerce and business transactions along the waterways than along pathways.

There was foreign trade, too, with china, Japan, Siam, Cambodia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and other islands of the old Malaysia.

ARTS

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

With the advance of the New Stone age the primitive inhabitants began to show signs of artistic improvement in the form of beads, amulets, bracelets and earings

In the early Iron Age, the artistic variety of the ancient Filipinos reached its apogee. Ornaments with different forms and sizes began to appear.

There were several influences on Filipino primitive art which are apparent in the surviving artifacts.

TECHNOLOGIES AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Negritos

Homes- temporary sheds made of jungle leaves and branches of trees
Made fire by rubbing two dry sticks together to give them warmth
Didn’t know how to cook food
Used bow and arrow as weapon and for hunting.

Indones

More advanced
Lived in grass-covered homes built above the ground or on top of trees.
Practiced dry agriculture
Clothing was made from beaten bark and decorated designs
Cooked food in bamboo tubes

Implements: polished stone axes, adzes and chisels

Weapons: Bow and arrows, spears, shield and blow guns (sumpit).

Malays

Culturally more advanced that Negritos and Indones
possessed the Iron Age culture
introduced into the Philippines both lowland and highland methods of rice cultivation, including the system of irrigation
domestication of animals (dogs, fowls, and carabaos)
manufacture of metal tools and weapons; pottery and weaving

Weapons: bows and arrows, spears, bolos, daggers, krises (swords), sumpits (blowguns), shields and armors made of animal hide and hardwood, and lantakas (bronze cannons).

SOCIAL CLASSES

Divided into three social classes. Nobles, Freemen and the dependents.

Nobles:

consist of chiefs and their families
Wielded tremendous influence in the baranggay
Enjoyed rights that were not usually enjoyed by the other members of the society.
In tagalong region, usually carried the title of Gat or Lakan. Lakan Dula Gat Maitan

Freemen:

Called Mahadlika by the tagalogs.
Composed of free men and dependents who earned their freedom.

Dependents:

Occupying the lowest stratum
Known as alipin among the Tagalogs.
Acquired his status in society by inheritance, by captivity in war, failing to pay his debts by purchase or by committing a crime.
Among the tagalogs, alipin may be namamahay or sagigilid.
The namamahay had his own family and properties an served his master during planting and harvest seasons.
The sagigild lived with his master, had no property of his own and could not marry without the latters consent.

SYSTEM OF WRITING

Considered tagalog as the richest among the other languages
Filipinos before the arrival of Spaniards had a syllabary which was probably of Sanskrit or Arabic provenance.