MACARAEG, KIM ANDRE (SILANG) JUNE 21, 2019

ECE-1/A15
GED103 EXERCISE 2.1.4

Instructions: Give three (3) reasons why Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs is
important to the grand narrative of Philippine History.

1. The first reason why Plasencia’s Customs of the Tagalogs is important to the grand
narrative of the Philippine history is because it mainly accounts the life system of
the Filipinos during the pre-hispanic period. According to Plasencia, there were
three castes during that time which are called the nobles or maharlica, the
commoners or aliping namamahay, and the slaves or aliping sa guiguilir. Plasencia
gave us the idea what are the functions of these different roles. For example, the
maharlica are those who do not pay tax or tribute to the datu (chieftain) but
accompany him at their own expense. The aliping namamahay are those
commoners who are married and serve their master whether he is a datu or not,
with half of their cultivated land, as what agreed upon in the beginning. On the
other hand, an aliping sa guiguilir are those slaves that serve their master in his
house and on his cultivated lands and they can be sold. Knowing with these facts
opens up the idea of the current Filipino people that the life system nowadays is
not much stricter compared to the system before.

2. The second reason is that Plasencia accounts the religious system before. He
mentioned that the early Filipino people have “Badhala” whom they worshiped
with. For them, badhala is all powerful and maker of all things. Priests were called
catalonan where they fight different kinds of evil person such as mangagauay,
mancocolam, hocloban, etc. People also have customs during the pre-hispanic
period. One of the major examples of this is a burial of a deceased person that will
be buried beside in this house. If the deceased person was a chief, he will be
placed beneath a little house or porch which they constructed for this purpose.
Furthermore, before interring him, people will have mourned him for four days and
afterward the chief will be laid on a boat which served as a coffin or bier placing
the chief beneath the porch. These awakens the current Filipino people what kind
of religion they have and how the Tagalogs worship their gods before.

3. The third reason is that the “Customs of the Tagalogs” acts as a standard source
of the references as to the pre-conquest natives as it was considered as a primary
source. Plasencia accounts the institution of slavery, marriage, priesthood, etc.,
but the reader should be warned that it is neither complete nor always accurate.
Without the accounts of Plasencia, the knowledge on the different customs of the
Tagalogs will be unknown hence, making the relationship between the past and
present customs will not be made. In addition, the awareness of the roots of the
present tradition and customs cannot be distinguished.