Kaspil 2
Performance Task #1
Statement 2: The early Filipinos are literate, they can read and write.
The Statement is true. According to Chirino, there was hardly a man who could not read or write before
therefore the Filipinos already had a system of communication even before the Spaniard came.
Source: Father Pedro Chirino, Account of the Pre-Spanish Filipinos and Their Civilization (1604)
"All these islanders are much given to reading and writing, and there is hardly a man, and much less a
woman, who does not read and write in the letters used in the island of manila"
According to the document, the early Filipinos already had a system of writing. There were also able to
read what they wrote which made conveying of information much easier.
Statement 3: The Negritos are not the first settlers of the Philippines.
The statement is true. The first man in the Philippines lived in Palawan about 25, 000 years ago. The first
Filipino lived in caves at Tabon, Palawan.
Source: http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Image:Tabon_man_skull.jpg
"There are 3 kinds and classes of people; the chiefs, whom the Visayans call dato and the Tagalogs
maginoo; the timauas, who are the ordinary common people, called maharlica among the Tagalogs and
the slaves, called oripuon by the Visayans and alipin by the Tagalogs"
"There are three conditions of persons among the natives of these islands, and into which their
government is divided: the chiefs, of whom we have already treated; the timaguas, who are equivalent to
plebeians; and the slaves, those of both chiefs and timaguas."
According to the document, the Filipinos alreadt had social classes. The chiefs were the nobles while the
timauas are the working class of the society. The alipins are the servants who serve the nobles.
"Some placers and mines were worked at Paracali in the province of Camarines, where there is good gold
mixed with copper. This commodity is also traded in the Ylocos, for at the rear of this province, which
borders the seacoast, are certain hefty and rugged mountains which extend as far as Cagayan."
"Its shores are lined with many native villages. the natives navigate the lake, and commonly cross it in
skiffs. At times it is quite stormy and dangerous to navigate, when the north winds blow, for these winds
make it boisterous, although it is very deep. Twenty leguas from Manila, in the province of Bonbon, is
another lake of the same name, not so extensive as the former, but with a great abundance of fish. The
natives method of catching them is by making corrals of bejucos, which are certain slender canes or
rushes, solid and very pliant and strong; these are employed for making cables for the natives boats, as
well as other kinds of ropes. They catch the fish inside these corrals, having made the enclosures fast by
means of stakes. They also catch the fish in wickder baskets made from bejucos, but most generally with
atarrayas, esparaveles, other barrederas, and with hand lines and hooks. The most usual food of the
natives is a fish as small as pejerreyes. They dry and cure these fish in the sun and air, and cook them in
many styles. They like them better that large fish. It is called laulau among them."
The early filipinos worked to be able to survive. They had different livelihoods such as trading, fishing,
weaving and mining.
they repay the traders on shipboards with what they have obtained. Some, however, do not return within
the proper term, for which reason vessel trading with Ma-I are the latest in reaching home.
The Filipinos were able to trade with the Chinese. Since the Philippines is part of the south seas, The
Chinese have surely traded with them. Also, the document shows different barter the countries had during
that time.
"They also worshipped, like the Egyptians animals and birds; and, like the Assyrians, the sun and the
moon; they attributed moreover, a sort of divinity to the rainbow. The Tagalogs adored a blue bird, as
large as a thrush, and called it Bathala, which was among them a form of divinity. They also worshipped
the crow. It bore the name Mei lupa, which signifies master of the soil. They held the cayman in the
utmost veneration; and, whenever they made any statement about it, when they described it in the water,
they called it Nono, which means grandfather. They softly and tenderly besought not to hard them; and
to this end offered it a part of what they carried in their boats, casting the offerings into the water. There
was no old tree to which they did not attribute divinity and it was a sacrilege to cut such a tree for any
purpose"
"They also adored private idols, which each one inherited from his ancestors. The Visayans called them
divatas and the Tagalogs anito. Of those idols some had jurisdiction over the mountains and open country,
and permission was asked from them to go thither. Others had jurisdiction over the sowed fields and the
fields were commended to them so that they might prove fruitful; and besides the sacrifices they placed
articles of food in the fields for the anitos to eat, in order to place them under greater obligations."
"Other worshipped the sun and the moon, and made feasts and drunken revels at the conjunction of those
bodies. Some worshipped a yellow colored bird that dwells in their woods, called bathala. They generally
worship and adore crocodiles when they see them, kneeling down and clasping their hands, because of the
harm that they receive from those reptiles; they believe that by so doing the crocodiles will become
appeased and leave them."
The early filipinos believed that animals or other non entities possesses a spiritual power. For example,
when they see a crocodile, the Filipinos kneel to appease the crocodiles because they think that the
crocodiles will harm them.
The Filipinos had different boats. Some used for fishing while some were used for travelling. The boats
came in different sizes.
Statement 10: Early Filipinos did not have any other clothes except bahags.
The statement is false. According to the documents, the Filipinos' clothing were not limited to only
bahags.
Source: Morga, Antonio. Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas, 1609
Father Francisco Colin, Account of the Filipinos and their Pre-Spanish Civilization (1663)
Wang Ta-Yuan, Tao-I-chih-lio (1349)
"On the legs, instead of garters, they wear some strings of the same stones and certain cords of many
strands, dyed black. The fingers of the hand are covered with many rings of gold and precious stones. The
final complement of the gala attire was like our sash, a fine bit of colored cloth crossed over the shoulder,
the ends joined under the arm, with they affected greatly. Instead of that the Visayans wore a robe
( Marlota ) or jacket (baquero) made without a collar and reaching quite down to the feet and embroided
in colors. The entire dress, in fine, was in the Moorish style, and was truly rich and gay; and even today
they affect it."
"The apparel and clothing of these natives of Luzon before the entrance of the Spaniards into the country
were generally, for men, certain short collarless garments of cangan, sewed together in the front and with
short sleeves, and reaching slightly below the waist; some were blue and others black, while the chiefs
had some red ones, called chinanas."
"They wear a blue cotton shirt"
"They wear short black skirt and blue petticoat."
Not all Filipinos wore only bahags. There were some others wearing clothes, not loincloths like the
visayas who wore jackets and robes and the natives of luzon who wear chinanas. But there were some
Filipinos back then that only wore loincloths or bahags like the negritos.