University of San Carlos Publications

PREHISPANIC FILIPINO CONCEPTS OF LAND RIGHTS

Author(s): William Henry Scott
Source: Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, Vol. 22, No. 3 (September 1994), pp. 165-173
Published by: University of San Carlos Publications
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Philippine Quarterly of Culture & Society

22(1994):165-173

PREHISPANIC FILIPINO CONCEPTS OF LAND RIGHTS

William Henry Scott

On 13 January 1620,Dionisio Kapolong, son of Lakandula, last lordof

- about one hec?
Tondo, sold a parcel of landmeasuring 40 by 100 brazas
tare inKinabayanan on the outskirtsof Tondo to one Luis de Torres for
two hundred pesos. The act illustratesan alien concept introducedby a for?
eign occupation, namely, the idea that land can be bought and sold like pri?
vate property. In the prehispanic Philippines, not only was land not
considered private property, itwas not considered property at all, either
private

or public.

Rather,

land was

conceived

of as a natural

resource,

like

a forest full ofwild game and fruit,or a riverfull of fish and gold dust. But
today, after four centuries duringwhich land ownership has been the very
basis of Philippine economy and politics, it is hard to picture a day when
land was neither sold nor mortgaged. In this paper, we will try tomake
such a picture easier. We will examine that 16th centuryPhilippine con?
cept of land, property,and wealth and see.how theFilipino elite responded
to the new Spanish concept.
Land and property. - Spanish silence on the subject of Philippine
land ownership is noteworthy.The firstgeneration of colonists, both mis?
sionary clergy and civil officials, submitted extensive reports to theKing
on

local products

and economy,

and on native

customs

and class

structure.

But theymention no landholding elite nor any dependent classes working

land belonging to other people. This is especially significant since in Spain
and Spanish colonies in theAmericas, the possession of landwas thevery
root of class differentiation. Instead, they describe an institutionof debt
slavery under which debtorswere legally reduced to slavery but were not

Note: The author gave this article, probably his last on Philippine history, toDr. Luciano
P.R. Santiago before the author was admitted to St. Luke's Hospital inQuezon City. He
died thereon 4 October 1993 following surgery.Requiescat inPace.

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166

PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

deprived of the land theywere farming.Quite the opposite, they continued

to support themselves and occupy theirown houses, but owed theirmas?
ters - or creditors - a portion of their crops. Land use under this system
was described by Father Juan de Plasencia in 1589 as follows:
The lands where they lived, they divided among thewhole barangay, and
thus each one knew his own, especially what is irrigated,and nobody from an?
other barangay worked them unless he had bought or inherited them. In the tin
gues [hills] theywere not distributed, but only by barangays; and so, so long as
one was from thatbarangay, even ifhe came from another town when itwas
time to harvest therice, the one who first opened the land planted it,and no one
else could take itaway from him (Plasencia

1589:24).

A barangay was a group of people subject to one datu, so this is a de?

scription of land held inusufruct ratherthanfee simple that is, to use but
not to own. The reference to purchase or inheritanceno doubt refers to this
right, as is suggested by Plasencia's furtherstatement about inheritance:
children inherittheirparents' gold and possessions, but only "enjoy theuse
of {gozar) their land and status.
Father Francisco Alcina has left an even more lucid description of
Visayan land rights in 1668.
Regarding land, here there is no difference between mine and thine as in
other parts, or the usual lawsuits in almost all of them over its dominion and
possession; because it is so great, so extensive, and in almost all places so
good, in all islands, that it is not only more than enough for all their inhabi?
tants,but could be given to thousands of farmers of those in other parts who are
begging for it and sometimes cannot farm for lack of land,while here, on the
contrary, there ismore than enough and very extensive land but a shortage of
those to cultivate it.And although it is true that every town or vicinity has its
own boundaries and they are like their own lands and not those of other towns,
nonetheless, to anybody who comes and settles among them, even if he was
never seen before and is unknown, they give option to choose as he will, all
and as much land as he wants without giving a penny for it or any contract, so
long as it is uncultivated.
Regarding farming or cultivating it, the one who fanns or cultivates it is
owner, and even more so ifhe planted coconuts or fruit trees,which are always
his, without there ever having been disputes or lawsuits among them over itun?
til now. God grant that this sincerity and goodwill might always endure among
them, because these days it appears there have been some who wish to disrupt
it somewhat, some who, by bringing inmodem ideas [ladinecer], are spoiling

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167

PREHISPANIC FILIPINO CONCEPTS OF LAND RIGHTS

itwith swindling. So the ancient goodwill and trust is being lostwith which
they used to live without grabbing from one another, but readily giving way to
the one who first planted coconuts, fruit trees, abaca or other things, towhich
they always had right and dominion, even if they only swear to it and then go
live in another town (Alcina 1668 [3] :75-76).

Dr. Antonio deMorga was aware of similar property rightsamong Ta

galogs: he said children inheritedtheirparents' mnebles and raices.Mue
bles are movable goods like household furnishings,but raices - literally
"roots"

- are
goods

that can't

be moved,

and vineyards.

like orchards

The

most obvious Philippine example of raices were coconut plantations. They

could not only be inherited,but theirowners could rent them out or hire
tuba-tappers to tend them. Itmay be that irrigatedrice fields with perma?
nent dikes and canals which, unlike seasonal swiddens (kaingin), could be
farmedyear afteryear, also counted as private property.
Alcina was writing about an archipelago thatwas largely forested and
only sparsely populated. That population was able to support itselfby sub?
sistence agriculture off land thatappeared to be unlimited, so therewas lit?
tle incentive to buy or sell it. The other side of the coin was a labor
shortage for the extractive and productive industriesthatproduced the sur?
plus which supported an elite foreign trade. These included fishing for
pearls,

coral

and

tortoise-shell,

collecting

aromatic

hardwoods,

beeswax

and rattan,hunting deerskins, antlers and civet cats, and growing, spinning
and weaving

cotton

and

abaca,

as well

as constructing,

maintaining

and

manning the cruiserswhich the trade required. Control of this labor force
was maximized by an intricatesystemof slavery.
Filipino slaves came into theircondition in threeways
by birthright,
or
were
in
raids.
in expensive
marketed
dealers
debt,
capture
Captives
by
goods like boats, houses and hunting dogs, but enemy captives might be
taken specifically for human sacrifice in some prominent chiefs funeral
rites.All others occupied social slots in an extended hierarchyof servitude.
At the bottom of the scale were domestic slaves, fed and clothed by their
masters, whose children born in theirmaster's house became his property.
But theymight be raised as favorites, given time towork for themselves,
married off into householding status, and even set free on theirmaster's
death. At the upper end of the scale were serflike slaves who farmed their
share of the barangay domain and maintained theirown households - even
including other slaves but gave theirmaster part of theircrops or labor.

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168

PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

In between were a variety of slave conditions which depended on theiror

theirancestors' debts, including half-slaves or quarter-slaves ofmixed par?
entage. In theory,all of these slaves could improve theircondition even
purchase theirfreedom by farming,employment, trades,or participation
in raids. There were

even

cases where

a slave

earned

sufficient

renown

in

battle to attract a following of his own and actually become a datu. And
therewere certainly cases where datu-class families fell on hard times and

dropped intodebt slavery.

The high incidence of debt slavery is to be accounted for by several
In the first place,
low intensity farming made
loans
the
of
year, so emergency
part
agricultural

factors.
mal

monplace, while
normal

crop

interest rates were high because

increases.

In the second

place,

debtors

lean seasons

a nor?

of food were

com?

theywere based on

had no collateral

to of?

fer other than theirown persons.Men frequentlywent into debt servitude

voluntarily to obtain a loan, and itwas not uncommon for a suitor to offer
himself to a prospective father-in-law ifhe could not meet the brideprice
demanded. Another cause of debt slaverywas a penal systemwhich levied
fines so high they could only be met by gold or valuables. Whoever came
forward

to cover

- or ransom
such a fine

a captive

became

that person's

master. There were no penalties like jail sentences,which would take labor
out of production. Rather, the system guaranteed that the fruitsof the con?
demned man's laborwould be enjoyed by some member of the community
who bonded him.
Wealth,

Morga

says,

"These

slaves

are

the major

wealth

and prop?

ertywhich thenatives have, because of theirbeing so useful and necessary

for their farming and estates" (Morga 1609:193). His statement is borne
out by other accounts which make it clear that slaves were practically a
medium of exchange for high-priced goods. The literatureis full of refer?
ences

to fine blades,

both

spears

and

swords, worth

one or two slaves,

and

bronze gongs worth just as much, and early dictionaries refer to porcelain
plates and jars of similar value. Elite weddings were characterized by the
exchange of slaves as dowry, and theywere thefirst items to be settled in
marriage negotiations. Fathers gave theirdaughters slaves when theymar?
riedwho remained theirpersonal propertyjust like theirjewelry and trous?
seau. And lawsuits over disputed inheritance invariably concerned slaves:
Father Alcina settled two cases inwhich the slaves in question had origi?
nally belonged to the litigants'grandmothers.

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PREHISPANIC FILIPINO CONCEPTS OF LAND RIGHTS

169

Besides slaves, the upper class required heirloom wealth called ba

handi for status display - gold, porcelain and bronze gongs. Unlike slaves,
bahandi was non-negotiable: to partwith itwas the sure sign of a great
family's decline. Trade gold was always rated at 16 karats or less; higher
quality was reserved for jewelry and handed down from one generation to
another. Such goldwork was of Philippine provenance and craftsmanship,
but the porcelains and gongs were imported.This concept ofwealth is re?
flected in Spanish dictionary definitions of Philippine hacienda (wealth,
estate): it is always equated with alajas (jewelry, ornaments) or ajaar (per?
sonal or household outfitting).No reference ismade to fields or real prop?
erty.Moreover, the agricultural vocabulary distinguishes the division of
labor, not of property: ifa slave made a field by stealth alongside his mas?
ter's, what

he was

stealing was

time, not land.

These elite were distinguished by sturdywooden houses with hand

carved wall panels, furnishedwith chests and tables engraved with leafy
designs, and theirguests were wined and dined offChinese porcelain and
served

betelnut

from fancy brass

containers.

Datus

wore

G-strings

with

in?

tricatelywoven or embroidered flaps, and thosewho had personally taken

an enemy were entitled towear gauze-thin red turbans tie-dyed in floral
patterns.Gowns were decorated with silk or gold threads and elegant bor?
ders, or cut from silk and expensive printstuffsimportedfrom abroad, and
bothmen and women might be weighted down with gold jewelry amount?
ing to a kilo or more. All thisfinery raises the question of how thiswealth

was

acquired.

The accumulation of wealth, - The Filipino elite accumulated their

wealth from feudal dues and services, privileged use of barangay domain,
income fromfines, legal fees and usury, and control of trade.An individ?
ual chief s access to these sources of income naturally varied with local
economic conditions, availability of resources, and his personal ability to
ingratiateor intimidatemembers of his own barangay and coopt the heads
of other barangays.

Freemen in a barangay owed theirdatu military or agricultural serv?

ices. They accompanied him towar, and on maritime excursions for either
raid or trade, armed at their own expense, or gave him a share of their
crops. They could be called out for planting or harvesting, to open new
swiddens, or to build and repair his houses. And theywere expected to
contribute labor at the timeof his prestige feasts likeweddings or funerals,

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170

PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

and perhaps a jar of wine or the leg of some deer or boar taken in the
chase.

Since the elite had the same rightsof usufruct as anybody else, a datu
and his wife with two or threehundred slaves between them enjoyed a dis?
proportionate

share

of communal

resources.

Datus

could

also

dispose

of

land not actually being tilled or occupied, though early Spanish accounts
do notmention any cases of property dispossession. Datus collected tariff
on local goods being sold or exported, and on merchants and merchandise
passing through their territory,and a powerful chief could also demand a
share of local produce from forests and fisheries.Datus on thePasig River
were known to delay the passage ofManila-bound trafficto inflate the
price of rice, and inBikolandia therewere cases of mineral rights being
leased

to alien miners.

One of a datu's major duties was settlingdisputes among his people.

The litiganttowhom he awarded the decision in any lawsuitwas expected
to give him a gift,or part of the propertybeing contested, and he received
a portion of any fines imposed. In serious cases like murder or slander
which reduced the culprit to debt slavery, he often took possession of his
small children.He also received a fee from any of his personal vassals for
permission tomarry. A powerful chief could collect fines for infractionof
restrictionshe had imposed on the use of forests or fisheries, or for per?
ceived disrespect, even for glimpsing his ladies naked in the bath. And he
was the major source of loans at interest rates as high as 150 percent,
sometimes calculated monthly. Tagalog bintang meant "to add more and
more every day to the debt a person owes, as if itwere btcwis (tribute), by
lending himmore with the intentionthathewill not be able to repay itand
so become

a slave"

(San Buenaventura

1613:59).

Itwas this access to local production which provided the capital for
long distance trade. Investors pooled their resources for joint ventures: a
shipownerwho put up half the outfittingexpenses for a maritime venture
was entitled to two-thirdsof the booty or profit.Chiefs in seaports col?
lected harbor fees from visiting merchantmen, and those in real emporia
likeManila and Butuan were able to parley these profits into political
power by taking other datus into the business. Lakandula of Tondo mo?
nopolized tradewith annual Chinese junks, removing their sails and rud?
ders while in port, paying for half the cargo and taking the other half on
credit until next year.Manila merchants retailed these goods to other parts

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171

PREHISPANIC FILIPINO CONCEPTS OF LAND RIGHTS

of the archipelago: they supplied Legazpi with rice inCebu when theCe

buanos

were

trying to starve him out, and a Manila

merchant

whom

Juan

de Salcedo met inVigan guided him to theCagayan Valley.

Foreign imports included not only luxurygoods like porcelain and silk
but more easily disposable items like hardware, tin and ordinary crockery

and most

importantly,

iron. Although

iron appears

to have

been

pro?

duced in the ancient Philippines, at the time of Spanish advent itwas being
imported from China in bars, ingots, and cast iron pans, which could be
broken up to supply blacksmiths with rawmaterial. This means that elite
merchants ultimately controlled a material essential to the practice of agri?
culture. In fact, datus were often blacksmiths themselves: Father Alcina
commented, "It is certain thatno profession among theVisayans ismore
profitable than this, and so it is themost honored and esteemed among
them, since the greatest chiefs are the best iron-workers" (Alcina
1668[3]:105).
Deeds of donation and bills of sale. - Deeds of donation and agree?
ments to sell, executed in Spanish and notarized by the colonial govern?
ment, survive fromTondo from the last decade of the 16th century. Such
transactionspresuppose two conditions - the rightto alienate real property,
and a motive for doing so. And in the case of sales, a third ingredient is
necessary

- a customer.

Recognized barangay members had the rightto use the houselots, gar?
dens, orchards and irrigatedfields theirparents had been using but not,
of course, swiddens thathad been abandoned afterharvesting. Itwould be
logical that they could alienate such propertywhen circumstances war?
ranted.The chiefly class had the right to dispose of uncultivated or unoc?
cupied land within the barangay domain, and all surviving deeds of
donation or sale identifythe donor or seller as a principal orprincipalia the name the Spaniards gave to datus or maginoo. Lakandula of Tondo
permitted some Chinese political refugees to settle as farmers and fishers
on the shorefrontcalled Longos, which theypromptly diked and improved.
And in theLaguna lake district, some datus sold rights to theirdomain to
in-migratingdatus who were resettlingor expanding theirown barangays.
Of course, the perception of untilled land as an unlimited good could
not survive population expansions and concentrationswhich unbalanced
the ratio of man to land. Coastal chiefdomswith expanding overseas trade
became increasinglydependent on interiorcommunities for foodstuffs,and

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172

PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE & SOCIETY

the clearing ofwoodlands for sedentaryagriculturegave farming increased

importance in relation to forest exploitation. Whether this actually ren?
dered irrigatedrice fields a marketable commodity in the prehispanic Phil?
ippines, it certainly inflatedtheirvalue as a means of accumulating wealth.
And whatever a datu's traditional land claims may have been, theywere ir?
revocably fixed under Spanish domination. The process took place first in
the colonial capital: a half century later,Alcina could still say in Leyte,
"Here there is no differencebetween mine and thine."
The colonial government immediately took control of all imports and
exports, and forbade all Filipino overseas trade or slave raids. Chiefs who
offered resistance to the imposition of foreign rulewere deprived of their
possessions and positions, including even their slaves. Moreover, slaves
who claimed "unjust" enslavement for pettymisdemeanors, usurious debts,
or outright seizure, could file suit formanumission. Many datus who be?
longed towhat had been royal familieswere thus leftwith littlemore than
unused land across the river inTondo. But since most of the land inwhat
became theWalled City ofManila had been appropriated by the colonial
government, Spanish residents,both civil and religious,were eager to ac?
quire property in the suburbs. Itwas thismarket which motivated aliena?
tion of private property by such non-Filipino procedures as land
registration,sale,mortgage, speculation, or thefiling of false claims.
Donations of land to religious institutions,however, were inspired by
othermotives. Native animism held thatpost-mortalwell-being depended
on sacrifices offered up by the living, and converts sought similar assur?
ance from theChurch. Rajah Ache Matanda's granddaughterCatalina gave
200 pesos' worth of land to theAugustianians for fourmasses a year for
the repose of her soul. Persuasive descriptions of hellfiremoved more than
one

datu

to set slaves

free and

turn over

"ill-gotten

gain"

to religious

or?

ders. Other donors appear to have been impressed by friarauthority, their

behavior so unlike that of conquistadors, or approval of thework they
were doing. The Franciscan hospital inLos Banos received land from local
including the right to collect wood from adjoining wood?
principales
lands for their own use, but not for sale - and theAugustinian church in
Intramuros stands on ground donated by thegrandfatherof a Filipino who
became a member of theirorder.

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PREHISPANIC FILIPINO CONCEPTS OF LAND RIGHTS

173

REFERENCES CITED

Alcina, Francisco Ignacio

1668
Historia de las Isias e Indios de Bisayas, Part I, Books 1-4.Victor Baltazar
transcription,University of Chicago, Philippine Studies Program, 1962.
Archives of theUniversity of Sto. Tomas. "Papeles referentes a Don Dionisio
(1620-21) Libros del Archivo. Tomo 22, folios 200-213v.
Morga, Antonio de
1609
Sucesos de las Isias Filipinos. Mexico.

Ed. W.E. Retana, Madrid,

Capolo."

1910.

Plasencia, Juan de
1589
"Relaci?n de las costumbres que los yndios solian tener en estas yslas," Ar?
chivo General de Indias: Filipinas 18-B.
San Buenaventura, Pedro de
1613
Vocabulario de Lengua tagala. Pila.
Santiago, Luciano P.R.
1990
"The houses of Lakandula, Matand? and Solim?n (1571-1898): Genealogy
and group identity."Philippine Quarterly of Culture & Society 18:39-73.

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