The Ethno- Cultural
and Historical
Heritages:
The Peopling of the Philippines
from Pre-Colonial to Post-War
Period
THE TABON MAN
This refers to the fossilized
human remains of a modern
man, homo sapiens as
distinguished from a midpleistocene homo
erectus species found in the
Tabon Cave of Palawan
Philippines on May 28,
1962. Carbon 14 dated to
roughly 22,000 – 20,000
BCE. This means the
fossilized remains was premongoloid (pre modern Malay,
Indonesian, pacific, Filipino) and
does not resembles a Negrito.
As recently as 1971, a band of 27
people who called themselves the
Tasaday were brought to world
attention because they appeared to
have been a stone-age, foodgathering tribe living totally isolated
in the rainforests of South Cotabato
on Mindanao.
The Metal Age: Bamboo
People
The Metal Age, which followed some 700
to 200 years B.C., further broadened
cultural horizons. The ever-handy tool,
the bolo (which has become part of the
English language) emerged; and with
this tool, bamboo was exploited
efficiently.
Si
Malakas
at Si
Maganda
• Filipinos have been described as a
bamboo people.
• Traces of the Metal Age lifestyle are
still visible among various cultural
minority groups, such as the T’boli
of Mindanao and the Ifugao in the
mountain Province. Both these
groups still retain small-scale metal
casting work.
• In the Metal Age, pottery reached a high
peak of development and evidence of the
potter’s skill can be viewed in various
national repositories and private collections.
• Weaving flourished, a back-strap loom, tiedye textile art is still in practice among
existing cultural minority groups. There was
much interaction between tribal and regional
groups. Archeological evidence reveals
dissemination of pottery wares and designs
throughout the archipelago.
Age of Trade and
Contacts
Arabe
Unang mangangalakal
 ipinakilala ang Koran – Banal na Aklat
 kalendrayo
Arabesque
Indian Traders
 Barong- Tagalog
 Sarong, Putong
Pamahiin
 Pgsaboy ng bigas sa bagong kasal
 paglalagay ng belo at kordon sa ikakasal
 pagsabit ng kwintas na gawa sa bulaklak na
isinasabit sa mga panauhin
 Salita: mahal, tala, asawa, mukha, hari, ina,
ganda
CHINESE
Foreign traders made their way to the
archipelago from the 10th to the 16th
centuries in a period known as the
Age of Trade and Contacts. The
Chinese sailed in their junks
bringing porcelain and silk in
exchange for deer horn, and
beeswax.
The Chinese contributed many
things: culinary techniques, of
course, such as sautéed dishes,
and a variety of rice cake and
noodles; various cooking
implements such as the work
(kawa) reveal their Chinese
origin in the names used for
these. The corner retail store
and vegetable gardening are
Chinese.
The Filipino family structure was reinforced by
the more rigid authoritarian Chinese style,
and traditional Filipino families still make
clear distinctions between family members,
including from the oldest child and on down
the line to the youngest, with names that are
Chinese.
The eldest son is addressed as kuya by the
other children, the elder sister as ate; their
authority as well as responsibility over
younger siblings is clearly defined.
The oldest church in the
country, San Agustin in
Manila (16th century),
still displays a choir
loft and chairs carved
by Chinese in Canton;
Chinese stone lions
guard its churchyard
walls.
Intsik
Sari-sari Store
 Pinngan, plorera, payong
salamin, telang seda, karayom
 barter

pagsuot ng itim o puting damit
pag namatayan
Paggamit ng paputok bilang
pagdiriwang ng Bagong Taon
 Family Ties
 Pagiging Matipid
Sungka, Baraha, Saranggola
Pulbura, bakya, tsinelas
Paawa ng alahas
Salita:
Ssi, ate , kuya, lumpia, pansit
Hapones
Paggawa ng Armas
Kagamitan sa pagsasaka
Metalurhiya ( paghihiwalay ng metal sa
mineral)
 Pagkukulti (paggawang iba’t-ibang
produkto mula sa balat ng hayop)
Advents of Islam
The Arabs, at about the same time as the
Chinese, had also come to trade.
In the Southeast Asian region the founding
of Malacca, followed by the conversion of
its leader in 1414, spread the influence of
Islam among the Malay peoples, reaching
shores around the 14th century.
Christian Filipinos
invoked the
protection of
saints the favorite
being Santiago
Apostol, known to
the Spaniards as
Santiago
Matamoras (killer
of Moors’).
Vast quantities of
porcelain diggings
in recent years
attest to the extent
of inter-island
domestic trade and
cultural exchange.
Gold jewelry of this
period reveals
highly
sophisticated
craftsmanship
unequalled in
many parts of the
world.
Introduction of Islamic Faith
Marriage into
Datu Families
Islamization
Process
Trade and Commerce
Consolidation of
barangays into
Sultanato
The Spanish Period
TYPICAL PHILIPPINE TOWN
SETTING
• Municipio ( government house)
• Plaza Concept
• Church
The Fine Arts
• The priest’s quarters (convento) beside them
not only developed urban architecture, but
introduced new technology and materials for
building.
• Christian rituals called for interior décor,
statuary, paintings, and liturgical music. Out
of these religious needs developed Philippine
fine arts, architecture, painting, sculpture, a
Western form of music, and theatre.
By the 1884 two Filipino
painters in Europe had
bagged top honors
there. Juan Luna
gaining the coveted
Prix de Rome, the
highest single art
award of the time.
The large Spanish colonial house evolved
from the humble indigenous, the nipa
hut. The classic nipa hut, still in use, is
built on stilts with entry via a ladder
located in the middle, a main receivingcum-living room area, inner bedrooms,
and a space extending out of the kitchen,
called a batalan, for water storage and
messy chores.
The Spanish colonial house enjoys the
same layout on a much grander scale,
using more permanent bricks and tiles, a
living room (sala), with the water storage
area adjoining the kitchen called azotea.
Grafting of Western Renaissance
‘fine arts’ in to Philippine culture
enriched and expanded Filipino
aesthetics. Then, art was the
product of an anonymous villager
with a flair for pottery, basketry,
weaving or carving. Oil paints
materials devised to keep a work
of art as long as possible.
Philippine literature which in PreHispanic times was oral,
acquired the Latin alphabet.
Growing from religious
literature, it developed in the
vernacular the Passion of Christ
(pasyon), religious plays
(sinakulo), and Christian-Moor
dramas (moro-moro), and then
developed metrical romances
(awit, corrido). By 1891 a Filipino
named Jose Rizal had published
two political novels that shook
the Spanish colonial regime in
the Philippines.
In many ways, Christian Filipinos picked up Spanish
culture, selectively absorbing what suited their
lifestyle. Music, dress, dance, cuisine, ceremony,
bureaucracy, political ideas— none was borrowed
in pure form; transformation was essentials.
Even Spanish terms adopted in Philippine languages
acquire different connotations, if not totally
different meanings. Spanish for ‘certainty’ (seguro)
in Tagalog and Pilipino means ‘uncertainty’ (Filipino
for ‘certainty’ is segurado), and the Spanish for
‘philosopher’ (pilosofo) has come to mean, in
Filipino, a ‘sophist’—not a wise person, but a ‘wise
guy’.
Roots of Hispanization
The Spanish compadrazco system was
adopted but harnessed by kinship
groups to gain powerful members.
Catholicism was accepted but with
emphasis on ceremony fiesta and
the miraculous powers of many
saints.
The chaperone was very
much a part of Philippine
courtship practices before
World War II—
sweethearts were never
left to themselves during
courtship. Spanish
missionaries had a strong
view against nudity.
Modest dressing remains
a strong trait of Christian
Filipinos.
The galleon trade which
served as the Spanish
connection to the
Philippines for more than
two and a half centuries
commuted between
Acapulo and Manila,
bringing Mexican influences
rather than pure Iberian
ones, (tiangui) and plants
introduced form Mexico
still linger.
Friars and Filipinization
• The 1872 martyrdom, known in history as “
Gomburza’ was the turning point.
• Banking was institutionalized, land estates
carved out, sugar produced and tobacco
factories erected.
• The educational system boasted university and
an observatory.
• Children of the elite were sent abroad to master
professions, to be identified, upon their return,
as illustrados. A national political identity took
shape.
Looking Behind Those Spanish
Names
The surnames were adopted in
mid-19th century, to be exact
in 1849, by a decree issued
by Narciso Claveria, who
observed Filipinos had no
surnames to distinguish them
by family.
• Surnames were created to help trace
degrees of sanguinity, facilitate legal
and civil cases, and check on taxation ,
and personal services.
• Christian Filipinos acquired religious
surnames ( Cruz, de la Cruz, Santos, and
de los Santos)
Start of Urban Life
• The Spanish obsession with honour was
identified with the Filipino for self-esteem,
and the Filipino term now in use, amor propio
• Urban living split Filipino culture. The vast of
Filipinos lived in the barrios, but the creation
of towns and cities diverted many to urban
living.
• Urbanidad- civility and courteousness, the
urban way of living.
Searching for new Trade
Routes
Catholic Christian
Hispanization
Process
Feudalism GovernorGenaralship
Spanish Language
Protestant Americans
Civilization
PROTESTANT
Americanization
Process
English Education
Liberal Democracy