Indigenous People

THE PRE COLONIAL PHILIPPINES

Was Life Better in Pre-Colonial

Philippines?
 • Sung Dynasty (960-
China 1127)
• Porcelain and silk

• Wakos - piracy
• Laquer ware,
Japan weapons, fruits, silk,
gold
 Indian Chinese

• Rajah • Sanse
• Majarajah • Diko
• Hari • Ditse
• Budhi • Ampao
• Dalit • Siopao
• Karma
• Garuda
• Tara
 Literature Clothes
Food (pagkain)
(Panitikan) (Kasuotan)
• sabis • Alak • Kaggan,
• Bugtong • Tapa bahag- Male
• Kumintang • Salabat • Baro, tapis,
• Uyayi • Kanin(rice) Saya,
patadyong-
• Karagatan • Ube
female
• Tagulalay
• Putong
• Tattoo
Early inhabitants

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 than 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).
Life and Culture during the
pre-Spanish period
GOVERNMENT – DECENTRALIZED
•Baranggay- Filipinos 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
 BARANGAY
LOCAL CHIEFTAIN
COUNCIL OF ELDERS

Umalohokan

Community /
People
 JUDICIAL PROCESS
Trial by Ordeal
ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or
innocence of the accused was determined by
subjecting them to a painful, or at least an
unpleasant, usually dangerous experience.
by plunging a bare arm into boiling water
by combat
by oath
by fire
 SOCIAL CLASSES

NOBLES

(LOCAL
CHIEFTAINS/
PRIESTS, ELDERS

FREEMEN
(MAHARLIKA/
TIMAWA)

DEPENDENT DEPENDENT

ALIPING (ALIPING
NAMAMAHAY / SAGUIGUILID
HOUSE SERVANT) (SLAVE)
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 tagalog region, usually carried the
title of Gat or Lakan. Lakan Dula
Gat Maitan
Freemen

• Mahadlika (Warrior) by the tagalogs.

• Timawa and dependents (Alipin
Namamahay) who earned their
freedom.
Dependents: (Oripon)
• 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 and 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 latter’s consent.
Marriage custom
• Dowry
• Mixed
• Arranged
Houses
 outfits
• Male – kanggan , Bahag
• Female – baro; tapis
Clothing / Ornaments
Kampilan

Balaraw

Calasag
RELIGION

• Believe in anitos, primordial forces

of nature that could accompany
or possess people
• They believe illness is caused by
evil spirits
• Bathala- the most powerful god
• Praise many gods & goddesses
 RELIGION
BATHALA
Sanskrit Bhattara Guru or “the highest of the
gods.” NG MAYKAPAL
ECONOMY

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.
• Communal property
• Weaving was a home industry
• Mining was comparatively developed
• Lumbering and shipbuilding were
flourishing industries
• 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.
ECONOMIC
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 earrings
• Ornaments with different forms and
sizes began to appear.
ARTS
MUSIC AND DANCES
POSITION OF WOMAN
What name to give a child was the woman
prerogative. She enjoyed a key role in the
economic stability of the family. Formal
contracts were done only in her presence

Babaylan was highly respected as priestess or

religious practitioner, as well as healer,
counselor and mediator in the tribe.

Women were allowed to succeed their fathers

as rulers of tribes.

cannot make any business dealings without

the knowledge and approval of the wife.
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.
• Syllabary consisted of seventeen
symbols. Three were vowels and
fourteen were consonants.