Customs of The Tagalogs V3

Customs of the Tagalogs
1. Background of the Author

Miguel Juan de Plasencia was a Spanish friar of the Fraciscan order. He was
born sometimes in 1520 and died on 1590 at an age of 69 or 70 years old. He
was among the first group of Franciscan missionaries who arrive in the
Philippines on July 02, 1578. He spent most of his missionary life in the
Philippines where he founded some towns in Luzon and authored several
religious books. But most notably the first ever book printed in the Philippines is
the Doctorina Cristiana(Christiana Doctrine).
2. Historical Background of the Document
There are at least three major issues that can be extracted from Juan de
Plasencia's Customs of the Tagalogs, which is considered one of the most
important documents on colonial history in the Philippines. The author's voice or
authorship is very important in shaping the colonial text's meaning. In this case,
the author was Juan de Plasencia, a Spanish priest who came to the Philippines
in 1577. As a result, he was tasked with documenting the customs and traditions
of the natives. This particular text tried to avoid discussing the conflicts between
the Indians and the Europeans by avoiding using the concept of an informed
observation. Instead, it highlights two important figures: the observer, who is
himself with his own biases and subjectivites, and the subject, who is typically
seen as the other. The colonizers see themselves as the superior beings in the
culturally and political inferior periphery. They use terms such as “natives” and
“tribal” in their texts to refer to the inferiors. Much of the narrative serves colonial
interests, and many of its sections are problematic insofar as they try to enhance
the colonizer's allegiances. For instance, de Placensia's account on land
ownership is problematic insofar as it claims that the lands were divided among
the various barangays. He also stated that Catholicism had banished the evil
belief systems of the Tagalogs, which were based on the belief that gods and
superstitions were real. This claim undermines the notion that the Tagalogs fully
embraced Catholicism. De Placencia's claims about the customs of Laguna and
other regions in the Tagalo race were also made. The people of Laguna were not
the only ones who were a part of the Tagalogs.
3. Content presentation and analysis of the important historical information
found In the document.
1. Limited number of Spanish officials who would venture outside Intramuros
2. Team up of Filipino gobernadorcillo and friar
-Supervisory and monitoring act
-Most knowledgeable and Influential figure in the pueblo
3. Missionaries and religious districts
-Statistics of converts
-People’s way of life
-Socio-economic condition
-Problems of the natives
4. Friars who are keen observers and gifted writers had long reports and letters
with their personal observations and experiences:
-Relacion de las Costumbres de los Tagalogs by Juan de Plasencia
-Relacion delas Filipinasby Miguel de Loarca in 1582 about the

Visayan way of life
-Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas by Gov. Antonio de Morga about the

16thcentury Philippines.
-Relacion de las Islas Filipinasby Fr. Pedro Chirino in 1604
-Historia General by Fr. Juan Delgado in 1571
-Labor Evangelica by Fr. Francisco Colin in 1663
-Historia natural del sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de

Bisayasby Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina in 1668.
4. Contribution and relevance of the document in understanding the grand
narrative of Philippine history.
 It plays an important role in the big Spanish story as a civilizer and savior of
our condemned souls from endless hellfire. That is why the Spaniards would
cite it as their primary authoritative source indefinitely to demonstrate how
primitive we were and how significant their contribution to our growth was.
Juan de Plasencia was only reporting to King Ferdinand III of Spain on what
he had learnt and seen of the Tagalogs. To elevate him to the status of a
major academic is equivalent to relying on the advise of a biology student
instead of visiting a doctor for medical guidance. Plasencia was hardly an
anthropologist (anthropology as a scientific discipline began in the 1920s). He
was no more than a Franciscan friar. You can't study pre-Hispanic times in the
Philippines in isolation; we were a part of a greater Malay community. Warriors
from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Malacca fought alongside or against our
warriors. Their history is the same as ours, their culture is the same as ours,
and their heritage is the same as ours. Before the Spaniards arrived, we had
been fighting, marrying, and trading with them for ages. You can tell how crude
and unsophisticated his arguments, judgments, and conclusions were by
reading his ‘relations.' Keep in mind that Spain and Portugal were just
emerging from the Middle Ages at the time. It's similar to how Enrique,
Magellan's Malay slave, would describe the Spaniards' practices after
Magellan brought him to Spain. It would be just as superficial, full of
misunderstandings, and tinted by his value judgments, biases, prejudices,
predispositions, and worldview. Simply replace the Philippines with Spain and
the Tagalogs with Spaniards, and you have Enrique's theoretical explanation
of Spain.

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Customs of The Tagalogs V3

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Customs of the Tagalogs

1. Background of the Author

3. Missionaries and religious districts

-People’s way of life

-Problems of the natives

-Relacion de las Costumbres de los Tagalogs by Juan de Plasencia

-Relacion delas Filipinasby Miguel de Loarca in 1582 about the

-Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas by Gov. Antonio de Morga about the

-Relacion de las Islas Filipinasby Fr. Pedro Chirino in 1604

-Historia General by Fr. Juan Delgado in 1571

-Labor Evangelica by Fr. Francisco Colin in 1663

-Historia natural del sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de

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