BARANGAY AS AN BARANGAY AS AN ANCIENT ANCIENT

COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY

prepared with love and care by: prepared with love and care by: Mr. Louie Guzman YambaoMr. Louie Guzman Yambao

ORIGIN OF THE WORD ORIGIN OF THE WORD ‘BARANGAY’‘BARANGAY’

• The unit of government during the time of our forefathers was called ‘barangay’, a derivation from the Tagalog word balangay meaning “sailboat.”

• The Malays used the same term to identify the settlements they established near a river or a sea.

• Each barangay consisted of 30 to 100 families

• The barangays did not exist under the authority of other barangay but lived independently in harmony and in relation with one another.

SOCIAL HIERARCHY IN LUZONSOCIAL HIERARCHY IN LUZON

1. Maginoo2. Maharlika3. Timawa4. Slaves

a. Aliping namamahayb. Aliping saguiguilid

1. MAGINOO1. MAGINOO• This class was the highest among all

classes.• This was composed of datus and their

families• The babaylanes were also members of

this prestigious class.

• The datu was the political and economic leader

• The babaylan or katalonan was the spiritual leader

• Babaylan was the Visayan term for the spiritual leader while katalonan was the Tagalog conterpart

DATUDATU• He was the one who implemented the

laws• One of the traits that he needed to posses

was knowldege of the adat or customary laws in his barangay

• In cases where new laws need to be formulated, the council of advisers (usually the elders) were consulted by the datu

• Whatever was agreed upon was announced to his subjects through an umalohokan, the one who announces the edicts of the datu.

DUTIES OF DATUDUTIES OF DATU

• The datu was responsible for political administration, military duties and the economy of the barangay in general.

• The datu was not merely a political leader but more of an administrator of the barangay as an economic unit since economic activities during that time were done in the level of barangays

• He also served as mediator in cases of conflicts among members of the barangay.

BABAYLAN OR KATALONANBABAYLAN OR KATALONAN

• She was the spiritual leader in a barangay

• This position was usually held by an elderly woman, a proof that women held important status in pre-Spanish Philippine society.

What if a man wants to be a

babaylan?

• If a man wished to be a babaylan or katalonan, all he had to do was to act, dress, and speak like a woman.

• In Visayas, male babaylanes were called bayog or bayoguin.

DUTIES of BABAYLANDUTIES of BABAYLAN

• The babaylan presided over different rituals such as the rituals done before planting and after harvest. The destruction of crops due to calamities was interpreted as the work of angry gods that must be appeased.

DUTIES of BABAYLANDUTIES of BABAYLAN

• The babaylan also served as healer;• Mediator between the gods and the

people as well as between the dead and their relatives;

• Keeper of oral tradition such as legends, epics, and songs of the barangay.

2. MAHARLIKA2. MAHARLIKA• The maharlika class was next to the

maginoo class• This class was composed of warriors

who served as protectors of the barangay from its enemies.

DUTIES OF MAHARLIKADUTIES OF MAHARLIKA• It was the duty of the maharlika to keep

peace and order in the barangay by killing their enemies

• The maharlika did not pay taxes but they were obilged to accompany the datu in times of war.

• Before they went to war, the datu usually held a festivity for them

• After winning a war, the datu and the maharlika divided among themselves the spoils of war which they acquired from the vanquished.

• When a datu had to build a house, the maharlika helped him. In exchange for their help, the datu would feed the maharlika.

• The maharlika also rendered military services to the datu.

• When a datu went on a maritime trip, he could summon the maharlika to row the boat for him as comrade-in-arms. In general, the maharlika enjoyed numerous privileges in exchange for all the support he rendered to the datu.

3. TIMAWA3. TIMAWA• The free men or free people.• They composed the main bulk of the

population.• They engaged in different economic

activities such as agriculture, fishing, basket-making, pottery, weaving, and other activities

• Since they derived profit from these activities, they had the obligation to pay taxes to the datu.

4. SLAVES4. SLAVES• The slave class was the lowest

class in early Philippine society.

• They were divided into two:1. aliping namamahay2. aliping saguiguilid

aliping namamahayaliping namamahay

• They lived in their own houses and was called only by the datu to help in building a house or in farming

aliping saguiguilidaliping saguiguilid• They lived in the datu’s house because

of a large debt he had incurred which was payable by serving the datu

• They can be summoned anytime and be made to do any kind of work. But they can be aliping namamahay when they have already paid for a certain period of time.

• Anyone could be made a slave as punishment for a grave crime such as adultery, disobeying the datu’s orders, theft, prisoners of war, failure to pay debt, or if born to parents who were slaves.

SOCIAL CLASSES IN THE SOCIAL CLASSES IN THE VISAYASVISAYAS

• The social hierarchy in the Visayas was very similar with that of the Tagalogs. There were only some differences in terms and in types of slaves.

• There were three social classes in Visayan societies:

1. datu2. timawa3. oripun

1. DATU1. DATU• The highest class was the datu. • The datu refers to the position of the

leader and also to the highest social class.

• The leader of the barangay is the datu. The authority of the datu emanates from his family and ancestry. But his power depended on his wealth, number of subjects or slaves and physical and intellectual prowess.

2. TIMAWA2. TIMAWA• In the Visayas, the timawa

accompanied the datu during war, served as the datu’s representative in arranging the wedding of the children of the datu and the food taster who sampled the datu’s wine first.

3. ORIPUN3. ORIPUN• The lowest class• They could be bought and sold• There were many kinds of oripun• There were those who served the

families of their lords• Some were engaged in farming and

were given their share of the profit

• The oripun who lived in their own houses and farms were called namamahay or tuhay while those who lived in their lord’s house were ayuey.

• The lowest oripun was called hayohay or those who lived in their lords houses, received clothing and food from them and had one out of four days allotted for themselves only.

SOCIAL MOBILITY IN SOCIAL MOBILITY IN SOCIETYSOCIETY

• One could be promoted or demoted in terms of social status due to some factors.

• For instance, an aliping saguiguilid could become aliping namamahay if the aliping saguiguilid had already paid his or her debt to the datu.

• The aliping namamahay could become a timawa after marrying a maharlika.

• On the other hand, a datu could become a slave if captured by another datu during a war or if the datu commited a serious crime and he was not able to pay the penalty for it.

• The nature of the ancient social classes encouraged the people to strive harder and be promoted to a higher class or maintain their dignity in order to retain their social class.