-2

that folk culture also contributes to non-folk culture-- the flow of culture

is not solely outward (from the plaza) and downward (from urban to folk

cultures, )2

There appear to be four major types of sites for barrios in the

Philippines: along the seashore, river, or road and isolated communities

of uplands or mountainous regions. The first three types of barrios are

usually fiarly compact communities, often strung along both sides of the

river or road. The more isolated upland communities are less compact,

with residences scattered in clusters of three or four; sometimes this

type of barrio may be located along a river. This type of barrio is typical

of many pioneer communities in Mindanao, Masbate, and Palawan.^ The

poblacion is always, from my experience, located on a provincial or

national road.

James LeRoy describes the general characteristics of town and barrio

in the Philippines during the first part of the twentieth century:

. . . there exists no such line of distinction between village

and farm as may be found in countries which have reached some de-

gree of industrial development . . . The Filipino town comprises

both town and country in the ordinary sense of these words. Under

one governmental unit, the old pueblo of Spanish phraseology, are

included the main centre of population, which may range anywhere

from a cluster of two hundred houses to a thriving rural city with

perhaps a cathedral church, with secondary schools and even a

2 George M. Foster, "What is Folk Culture?" American Anthropologist,

LV, (April-June, 1953), p. 169.

3 "The 1939 Census of the Philippines (Vol. 11, page 48) has the following

detailed description of a barrio: '(It) usually consists from 10 to 1000

houses. Ordinarily, these houses are located very near each other,

forming a small village, although in some cases the barrio may comprise

several settlements locally known as sitios . . . The centrally located

barrio and the one in which the municipal building is located is known as

the poblacion. " Population Classified by Province, by City, Municipality,

and Municipal District, and by Barrio: Census of the Philippines, 1948,

Manila, Philippines, 1951, foreword.

4 SerafinE. Macaraig, Social Problems, Manila, 1929, pp. 312-13.

Macaraig has a somewhat different classification according to geographic

region that seems extended.

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