by Juan de Plasencia

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CONTEXT
The author, Juan de Plasencia was tasked by the King of
Spain to document the customs and traditions of the
colonized (“natives”) based on, arguably, his own
observations and judgments.

Such initiatives were an accustomed practice of the

colonizer during the Age of Discovery to enhance their
superiority over the colonized and validity of their so-called
duties and legacies to the World. It is a common fact that
during this era, the Spanish colonizers, spearheaded by
missionaries, drew a wide variety of texts ranging from
travel narratives and accounts of the colony to even
sermons.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DOCUMENT
Commissioned by Spanish civil authorities, the report was
based on Plasencia’s apparent attempts to collect and analyze
information regarding the Tagalogs. The influence of Plasencia’s
report cannot be overstated. This report became the basis for
Spanish laws and policies in the Philippines, allowing the Spaniards
to not only govern, but also to reconfigure and reconstruct
Philippine society.

The document also contained information about Tagalog’s

culture, beliefs, political and social norms, and etc. which can be
used as reference today.
CONTENT ANALYSIS
Reasons for loss of Noble Status

1. Marriage with a commoner or a slave

2. Defeat from war
3. Crime
4. Lost of financial capability
SITUATION 1
Those who are maharlicas on both the father’s and mother’s side
continue to be forever, and if it happens that they should become
slaves, it is through marriage.

SITUATION 2
If maharlicas had children among their slaves, their children and
their mothers became free

SITUATION 3
If maharlicas 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
(maharlica) 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.
If two persons married, of whom one was a
maharlica and the other a slave (namamahay or sa guiguilir ) the children were
divided.

Odd birth order (1st,3rd,5th)

– belong to the father. Even birth order (2nd, 4th, 6th)
– belong to the mother. Only child
–half free, half slave.

SITUATION 5

Maharlicas could not, after marriage, move from one village to another without
paying a certain fee in gold (ranging from one to three tales and a banquet to the
entire barangay) as arranged among them.
Special Case

When one married woman of another village, the children were afterwards
divided equally between the two barangays. Investigations made and
sentences passed by the dato must take place in the presence of those his
barangay. They had laws by which they condemned to death a man of low
birth who insulted the daughter or wife of a chief; likewise witches, and others
of the same class.

Dowries are given by men to the women’s parents before marriage.

If the parents are both alive, they both enjoy the use of it.

Divorce and Dowries Death of Wife or Husband Dowry and Arranged Marriage
Worships of the Tagalogs
There are no temples consecrated to the performing of sacrifices, the
adoration of their idols, or the general practice of idolatry.

They have simbahan, which means a temple or place of adoration; but this
is because, formerly, when they wished to celebrate a festival, which they
called pandot.

Sibi - to protect people from rain.

Sorihile - posts of the house they set small lamps.

Nagaanitos – worship
IDOLS
•Badhala – all-powerfull
•Lic-Ha - images with different shapes
•Dian Masalanta (Patron of Lovers and of Generation) – most loving deity,
thrown out of heaven as a punishment for falling in love with a mortal.
•Lacapati and Idianale (Patrons of Cultivated Lands and of Husbandry) – pay
reverence to buaya, or crocodiles, from fear of being harmed by them.
•Tala – morning sun
•Seven Little Goats (the Pleiades) – associated with the change of season.
•Mapolon (change of seasons) – sea navigating and signal the beginning of the
planting season.
The made among the priests of the devil were as follows

[Link] – healer
[Link] (Witches) – deceives people by pretending to heal the sick.
Associated with the devil.
[Link] – malevolent deity, tasked to destroy and break every happy and
united family that she could find.
[Link] – employing or using “Kulam” -a form of folk magic. It puts
emphasis on the innate power of the self and a secret knowledge of Magica Baja
or low magic.
[Link] – change herself into any form she desired. Use hand gestures which
acts as their charm in healing or killing.
[Link] – preys on anyone who is dressed in white. They tear the liver and eat
it afterwards.
The distinctions made among the priests of the devil
were as follows
[Link] - show himself at night to people without his head or entrails. It
preys on pregnant women with an elongated proboscis-like tongue.
[Link] - equivalent to ” sorcerer”, murder men and eat their flesh.
[Link] - made charms for lovers out of herbs, stones, and wood, which
would infuse the heart with love.
[Link] - equivalent to ”preacher.” It was his office to help one to die, at which
time he predicted the salvation or condemnation of the soul.
[Link] - a soothsayer and predicted the future.
[Link] - signified a ”cotquean,” a man whose nature inclined toward that of
a woman.
BURI
ALS
Commoners are usually buried beside their house.

For the chief, he will be buried under a porch, but before

this, they will mourn first for four days.

But if the deceased had been a warrior/maharlica, a living

slave was tied beneath his body until in this wretched way
he died. This grief was also accompanied by eating and
drinking
Juan de Plasencia’s report has shown us that precolonial Tagalogs are
already organized and civilized politically and economically since he saw
that they already have:

Functioning government
Tax system
Set of Laws
Criminal-Justice System
Indigenous Calendar (cultivation of soil, counted by moons)
Long standing customs and traditions
EXTERNAL
CRITICISM
AUTHORSHIP

Juan de Plasencia
Juan de Plasencia was a Spanish friar of the
Franciscan Order. He was among the first
group of Franciscan missionaries who arrived
in the Islands on July 2, 1578.

He was a writer and was the author of the

first religious book titled “Doctorina
Christiana”.
Important Data
He is believed to have arrived to the Philippines in 1578, after a stopover in
Mexico. As soon as he arrived, he joined forces with another missionary, Fray
Diego de Oropesa, and they both started preaching around Laguna de Bay and
Tayabas, Quezon, in Quezon Province, where he founded several towns.
As a friar, Juan de Plasencia lived up to his pledge, leading a lifestyle devoid of
any luxury and in constant contact with the people he was trying to convert to
Christianity.
He was also known to be a defender of the native population, looking after the
poor, ill, or neglected, and standing up for their rights on numerous occasions.
He was also very keen on creating primary schools, and requested official
sanction for the creation of educational centers where "Filipinos could not only
learn Christian doctrine, but also reading and writing, and some arts and crafts, so
they would become after, not only good Christians but also useful citizens", an
initiative that was approved by Domingo de Salazar, the first Bishop of the See of
Manila (1512–1594).
DATE AND PLACE OF PUBLICATION
CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS

It was written on the year 1589 during the Spanish

Colonial Period. After receiving the Lordship’s letter,
Plasencia wished to reply immediately; but he postponed his
answer in order that he might first thoroughly inform
himself in regard to People’s request, and to avoid
discussing the conflicting reports of the Indians. Therefore,
he collected Indians from different districts old men, and
those of most capacity; and from them he have obtained
the simple truth, after weeding out much foolishness, in
regard to their government, administration of justice,
inheritance, slaves, and dowries.
TEXTUAL ERRORS
In FR Plasencia’ account there were several errors in his
document; he called:

Bathala as Badhala
Datos instead of Datus
Maharlika instead of Maharlica
Sa guiguilir instead of sagigilid
Mananangal as Magtatangal
Mangagayoma instead of
Manggagayuma
MEANING OF WORDS
•Gantas – measuring unit
•Litigant - a person involved in a lawsuit.
•Simbahan - for celebrating festivals.
•Inaasava – inheritance going to grandparents
•Catolonan (officiating priest) – communicates with spirits of the dead or nature.
•Catalonan – healer
•Manganguay (Witches) – deceives people by pretending to heal the sick. Associated with
the devil.
•Mancocolam – employing or using “Kulam” -a form of folk magic. It puts emphasis on the
innate power of the self and a secret knowledge of Magica Baja or low magic.
•Hocloban – change herself into any form she desired. Use hand gestures which acts as
their charm in healing or killing.
•Silagan – preys on anyone who is dressed in white. They tear the liver and eat it
afterwards.
INTERNAL
CRITICISM
INTERNAL
CRITICISM
In this particular text, de Plasencia tried to avoid discussing the
“conflicting reports of the Indians” through an “informed observation”
to obtain the “simple truth.” This “truth,” however, is debatable, and
the manner of how he actually arrived to his reports is even more
problematic. The text foregrounds two important figures: the
observer (de Plasencia) himself, with his own background,
subjectivites and biases; and the observer’s subject (Tagalogs), seen
as the “Other,” a metonymic amalgam of communal characteristics,
local customs and traditions, etc.
In colonial situations, the relationship of these figures – the
colonizer and the colonized – flows in both but unequal
directions; the former being the dominant, while the latter is
the inferior one, or as Edward Said put it, “a relationship of
power, of domination, of varying degrees of a complex
hegemony… a sign of European-Atlantic power over the Orient
than it is a veridic discourse about the Orient” . Seen from the
center looking toward the culturally and politically inferior
periphery, the colonizers find identity in its compelling position
as the sophisticated dominating “self” versus the inferior
dominated “Other.” The use of politically incorrect terms such
as “Indians,” “tribal” and “natives,” and adjectives such as
“amusing,” “foolish” and “absurd” in the text is just a
manifestation of the conflicting Occident-Other paradigm.
He repetitively compared local traditions with Western
paradigm/parameters. The Tagalog idol, lic-ha, for example, was
matched up with Romans’ statue of deity of a dead man who was
brave in war and endowed with special faculties. These two objects
are evidently different in nature and don’t fall under the same
category. Datos were also described as the equivalent of the European
“nobles,” hence undermining the indigenous political systems.
Worse, the ritualistic and superstitious beliefs of the Tagalogs were
mocked by de Placencia, by coming up with various categories of
devil-ish beliefs. The mangagauay and mangagayoma, for instance,
were both regarded as “witches” who performed deceitful healing
procedures, a judgment made by an outsider who knew nothing about
the complexity of indigenous psyche. What he failed to realize is that
in traditional cultures, these so-called “evil” practices were an integral
part of Filipino folk beliefs; and the early Tagalogs, in reality, never
considered them as acts of the devil. Needless to say, the application
of Western parameters to local traditions has often proven fractious
especially in classifying and describing local and colonial situations.