Fiipino History of Precolonial Politics Essay Example

comprised 30 to 100 families and was named after the Malay word "barangay" or "balangay," which means sailboat.

The early Filipinos employed the barangays as a mode of transportation for themselves and their goods throughout the Philippine archipelago. Each barangay was governed by a datu, also referred to as a raha or rajah, and functioned autonomously from other groups. Some datus possessed greater authority and status, exerting considerable sway. Nevertheless, there was no overarching or centralized government at this period, so no datu wielded enough power to unite the archipelago into a single nation.

The main responsibility of the datu was to govern and rule over his subjects, ensuring their well-being. During times of peace, he held the roles of chief executive, legislator, and judge. In times of conflict, he acted as the supreme commander of the warriors. It was not uncommon for the datu in Western Visayas to also be the babaylan. The babaylan's influential and mystical abilities, particularly if they were a man, made them a likely choice for community leadership. Usually, several barangays would settle near each other to provide mutual assistance during war or emergencies.

Renato Constantino (1975) argued that the datu did not possess absolute power as his authority was subject to the customs and procedures of the community. Despite this, the datu's value to the community earned him respect and voluntary assistance. The position of datu was typically inherited by the eldest son or daughter, although later on, any barangay member with talent and ability could become chief. The datu was responsible for leading and safeguarding the members of his barangay.

In the past, individuals

had to pay tribute to the datu, help with farming, and support the barangay during conflicts. A datu would have a group of elders who provided counsel, especially when creating new laws. These laws were recorded and announced to the entire barangay by an umalohokan town crier. Before Spanish colonizers arrived, people in the Philippine archipelago had established a partially communal and partially servile social system in different regions. Additionally, a feudal system existed in specific areas like Mindanao and Sulu where Islam was practiced.

The Aetas had a simple social organization known as primitive communal. The typical community in the entire archipelago was called a barangay. It served as the fundamental political and economic unit, separate from other similar units. Each barangay encompassed a small territory and a few hundred individuals. The leader of each barangay was called the rajah or datu.

The social structure during this time period was characterized by three main classes. The first class was made up of a petty nobility. The second class consisted of a ruling class who owned land either privately or on behalf of their clan or community. The third class, known as maharlikas, were freemen who had enough land for their livelihood or served the rulers. In addition to these classes, there were also subordinate classes such as timawas, who shared crops with the petty nobility, as well as slaves and semislaves who worked without receiving a definite share in the harvest.

During that period, there existed two categories of slaves – the aliping namamahay who resided in their own dwellings and the aliping sagigilid who lived within their master's household. One

could become a serf or slave by means of inheritance, failure to settle debts and tribute, engagement in criminal acts, or being captured during interbarangay conflicts.