Life of early Filipinos

1. Readings in Philippine History
Name: Romano, Natasha Mariella D. Date: March 3, 2022
Sched: 7:30am-9:00am MW EDP Code: 09670
Assignment No. 2 – Prelim Period
Through an essay, explain the similarities and differences of the following sets:
1. Early Filipino beliefs and forms of worship in Luzon and Visayas.
Before the Spaniards even came to the Philippines, early Filipinos had their own beliefs
already. Long ago, Filipinos in Luzon and Visayas took beliefs seriously that their spiritual
life was led by a local spiritual leader called Babaylan in Visayas and Catalonan in Luzon.
They are usually led by females but when males lead, they have to dress and act as females,
and they are called Asog in Visayas. Both Tagalogs and Visayans believed in deities as
well, Visayans call them Diwata while the Tagalogs call them Anito. They also believed
in celestial bodies such as the sun, moon, and the stars, which they call Tala, and life after
death that’s why they created different rituals. However, out of all the different gods they
worship, there is one superior god among all. For Visayans they call it “Bathala Maycapal”
while for people in Luzon, they call it “Badhala” which means “all powerful” or “maker of
all things.”
When it comes to their differences, Visayans often believe in creatures like engkantos,
dwendes, aswangs, and tamawos which are often perceived as evil. They are believed to
live in mounds or elevated places in the fields. People in Luzon on the other hand, believed
many idols called lic-ha which are images with different shapes. They also worshiped and
paid reverence from Buayas or crocodiles by offering a portion of what they carried in their
boats from fear of being harmed by them. The Tagalogs also offer objects of sacrifices like
goats, fowls and swine to their idols for the following reasons: recovery of a sick person,
prosperous voyage, good harvest, propitious result in wars, successful delivery in child
birth, and happy outcome in married life. These are only some of the beliefs and forms of
worship in Luzon and Visayas, however, some of these practices are still believed and
followed up until today.
2. Perspective of the Spanish religious (e.g. Chirino and Plasencia), and laymen (Loarca and
Morga) on the early Filipino spiritual traditions
Early Filipinos had thousands of superstitions and believed in many gods according to the
perspective of Spanish religious and laymen. Despite having no knowledge of their true
god, they didn’t put any effort to discover Him, thus, having no fixed belief. This is the
reason why it was easy for the devil to deceive them and communicate with them through

2. their idols. Aside from worshipping celestial bodies, early Filipinos also worshiped
dangerous creatures and animals because they feared them. In addition to their similarities,
it is said that early Filipinos tend to offer all sorts of foods but never humans like other
kingdoms. It was also observed that there were no temples or houses of worship located
but they had catolonans who were described as experienced witches and sorcerers that
deceived other people. They are often possessed by demons to pose fear to the people in
order to be worshiped and whenever there is a sick person, the possessed catolonan would
be able to tell if the sick person would recover or not.
With regards to the difference of the perspective of the laymen, specifically to the belief of
the Pintados or the people from Panay, they believed that singers always have knowledge
on history. The perspective of Spanish religious is quite different because the laymen
started their tradition all the way back to the start of human-kind. According to Loarca,
people believed that the land and sea breeze were married and then planted a reed which
produced the first man and woman. The catolonans are called “baylanes” in laymen’s
perspective, they always dress gally and wore a lot of gold to invoke the devil. The
perspective of the Spanish religious did not specify how catolonans dress but their activities
with the baylanes are the same.
3. Spanish primary sources and native traditions (e.g. Bicol creation story)
The first four Spanish primary sources (Chirino, Plasencia, Loarca, and Morga) vary from
the native traditions because native traditions focus on the creation of the world. The
contents of the primary sources focus more on the superstitions, beliefs, and traditions
practiced by the early Filipinos. However, in Loarca’s document, there are certain
similarities with its contents to the concept of the Bicol creation story. The two documents
started with two gods bearing children which eventually led to the start of human-kind.
Although the gods were referred to the sea and the sky, they had different names, Captan
and Maguayen for Spanish primary sources while it was Languit and Tubigan in native
traditions. The details of the story are slightly different in the two documents but it can
somehow be connected. Native traditions didn’t point out that early Filipinos believed in
many gods because Languit and Tubigan wanted the people to worship them only. They
punish those people who would believe other gods. It was also emphasized in the native
traditions how people are distinct from one another when it comes to the skin color of
humans. Demons, idolatry, and other gods were not part of the Bicol creation story unlike
in the Spanish primary sources. That is why the distinction between Spanish primary
sources and native traditions are noticeable and evident.