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Pre-hispanic History of the Philippines
Barangay government
Ten datus of Borneo
States in Luzon
Kingdom of Maynila
Kingdom of Namayan
Kingdom of Tondo
States in the Visayas
Confederation of Madyaas
States in Mindanao
Kingdom of Butuan
Sulu Sultanate
Sultanate of Maguindanao
Lanao Confederation
Key figures
Sulaiman II · Lakan Dula · Sulaiman III · Katuna
Tarik Sulayman · Tupas · Kabungsuwan · Kudarat
Humabon · Lapu-Lapu · Alimuddin I
History of the Philippines
Portal: Philippines
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Before the arrival of Spanish colonizers in the Philippines in the 16th century, the Barangay - a well-organized independent village which functioned much like a city-state - was the dominant organizational pattern among indigenous communities in the Philippine archipelago. The name barangay originated from balangay, a Malay word meaning "sailboat".^[1]

[edit] Difference from the modern entity

The word Barangay in modern use refers to the smallest administrative division in the Philippines, also known by its former Spanish adopted name, the barrio. This modern context for the use of the term barangay was adopted during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos when he ordered the replacement of the old barrios and municipal councils. This act was eventually codified under the 1991 Local Government Code.

A Tagalog couple of the Maginoo noble class, from which the Datu would have hailed; depicted in the Boxer Codex of the 16th Century.

There are a number of distinctions between the modern Barangay or Barrio and the city-states encountered by the Spanish when they first arrived in 1521 and established relatively permanent settlements in 1574. The most glaring difference would be that the modern entity represents a geographical entity, the pre-colonial barangays represented loyalty to a particular head (datu). Even during the early days of Spanish rule, it was not unusual for people living beside each other to actually belong to different barangays. ^[2] They owed their loyalty to different Datus. Also, while the modern barangay represents only the smallest administrative unit of government, the barangay of precolonial times was either independent, or belonged to what was only a loose confederation of several barangays, over which the rulers picked among themselves who would be foremost - known as the Pangulo or Rajah. In most cases, his function was to make decisions which would involve multiple barangays, such as disputes between members of two different barangays. Internally, each datu retained his jurisdiction.^[3][4]

[edit] Description

Historically, a barangay is a relatively small community of around 50 to 100 families. Most villages have only thirty to one hundred houses and the population varies from one hundred to five hundred persons. According to Legazpi, he found communities with twenty to thirty people only. Many coastal villages in the Visayan region consisted of no more than eight to ten houses.^{[citation needed]}The word itself is derived from an ancient Malayo-Polynesian boat called a balangay. It is commonly believed that in pre-colonial Philippines, each original coastal “barangay” formed as a result of settlers arriving by boat from other places in Southeast Asia.

Most were coastal or riverine in nature. This is because the principal sources of protein come from the seas and rivers, most of the people relying more on fishing for supply of food. Also, people travelled mostly by water. The movement of the population was up and down rivers and along the coasts, trails always followed river systems. Rivers were also a major source of water for bathing, washing, and drinking. Moreover, coastal villages are more accessible to traders where an economic activity is developed. Business with traders meant contact with other cultures and civilizations like the Chinese, Indian, and Arabian. Thus, the coastal communities in Manila, Iloilo and Panay,^[5] Cebu, Jolo, and Butuan attained a higher cultural level.

[edit] Social Organization and Stratification

By the 9th century, a highly developed society had already established several hierarchies with set professions. Various Spanish chroniclers record different levels of stratification, but these description had in common three classes: The maginoo or ruling class, to which the datu who headed the barangay would have hailed; the timawa or freemen, characterized by their non-indebtedness to others; and the alipin, who for one reason or another was compelled to act as a servant.^[2]

Some chroniclers also describe a separate class known as Maharlika, an intermediate class between Maginoo and Timawa. But the distinctions between the three classes are unclear from the descriptions of these chroniclers.^[2]

Some of these chroniclers also differentiated between two types of members of the alipin dependent class. The Aliping Namamahay who served his master in his own fields, and Aliping Saguiguilid who lived in the peripheral areas of his master's house. The chroniclers who made these distinctions noted considerable differences in the rights of the namamahay and saguilidguilid relative to each other ^[2]

[edit] Hispanization

Upon the arrival of the Spanish, several ancient barangays were combined to form towns. Every barangay within a town was headed by the cabeza de barangay (barangay chief), who formed part of the elite ruling class of the municipalities of Spanish Philippines. ^[6] The post was at first inherited from the first datus who became cabezas de barangay, but then was made into an elected post after the Spanish Regime.

[edit] References

[edit] See Also

• Balangay