Social Organization

Datu datu - head of the Visayan community,

principal, chief or “a lord of vassals” kadatoan - datus regarded as autonomous.

The right to rule depended on direct descent from former rules, so members of the datu class jealousy guarded their lineage: a man who became a datu by simply marrying one was called sabali.

tumao - lesser order of nobility, children of datus with their secondary wives

Datu There was no word for a primary datu or

paramount chief but those recognized as primus inter pares

(first among equals) were known as pangulo, head or leader

kaponoan, most sovereign or makaporos nga datu, a unifying chief

A datu’s authority arose from his lineage, but his power depended upon his wealth, the number of his slaves and subjects, and his reputation for physical prowess.

Some were autocratic and oppressive.

Timawa freemen or freedmen originally the offspring or descendants of a

datu’s commoner wives or concubines ginoo - all persons liberated by their own

master (freedmen) buhis or handug - trubute paid by timawa to

the datu timawa were theoretically free to transfer their

allegiance to some other datu but those attached to their lord as personal

vassals paid no tribute and rendered no agricultural labor

Timawa Timawa were therefore men of consequence

in the community. But they were not often men of substance; If they were wealthy enough to behave like a datu, they were belittled as timindok, a big banana.

They had no right to booty beyond what their datu can gave them , and they were held accountable for wounding or killing any captives.

Oripun / Olipun

(etymology) appears to be a transitive form of an archaic root udip meaning “to let live”.

Individual status within the oripun class depended on birthright, inherited or acquired debt.

bihag - outright captives ; marketed by dealers in along or botong as expensive merchandise like bahandi procelain and gongs, or ships and houses

hayohay [hayahay?] or ayuey - Oripun who lived in their master’s house

gintubo – children of hayohay; sibin or ginogotan – favorite gintubo of their masters

mamahay or tulay – olipuns with their own house bulan or pikas – half-slaves tinubos – redeemed or ransomed olipun horohan – higher class of olipun

Debt and dependence Visayan social fabric was thus woven of debt

and dependence-that is, relationships in which one person was dependent on the decisions of another, the one exercising choice, the other not.

The slave did not choose work for his master, bit his master might choose to grant him a favor.

tagolaling - days given a slave to work for himself.

Debt sulit – a debt without interest, a sale without

profit, or a crop without increase gaon – a kind of involuntary collateral seized

until the debt was paid tokot – “to make sure” was to collect a debt

from somebody other than the debtor who thus effectively acquired a new creditor who then had to collect as best he could

Community A datu’s following was his haop or dolohan bongto or lungsod - villages and towns where

one or more haop lived gamuro - hamlets or neighborhoods a cluster of houses required datu concensus,

and so did alliances between settlements members of haop were usually related – a

parentela or kindred

Kinship Terms Parents’ brothers and sisters were

differentiated by sex uncles - yoyo, oyo-an or bata, aunts - iyaan or dada

anak - sons and daughters, offspring igaanak, igsoon, igmanhod, igtotood or atod -

brothers , sisters and cousins of either sex patod or ig-agaw - cousins igkampor - second cousins in Kiniray-a bogto or boggong tinay, “gut brothers,”

children of the same parents

Law part of the customs and traditions handed

down from one generation to another not considered products of legislation but

part of the natural order of things A datu acted as judge (hukom) in both civil

clams and criminal cases, sometimes in consultation with an expert in custom law, by hearing testimony of sworn witnesses

Penalties were fines set in accord with the litigants’ standing crimes against upper-class persons were fined

more heavily, and an oripun who murdered a datu was simply killed outright

Marriage Weddings between people without property to

share by request were simple ceremonies in which the couple partook of the same cup or plate

hayohay were simply married off by their masters and given a few pots.

datu weddings were the most important social events in a Visayan community since they were contracts between families rather than individuals; they were also political events creating new alliances

marriage was forbidden between first-degree kin, but a niece could marry her uncle

Inheritance Children of both sexes inherited equally

unless their parents specified preference in a will (bilin)

A man and wife might bequeath to each conjugal property which they had accumulated together, but not what they had inherited

Property The property mentioned in bride-price

exchanges or inheritance disputes was always slaves and bahandi – imported porcelains and gongs and gold, especially ornate gold ornaments whose value greatly exceeded their gold content

Slaves were readily transferable, but bahandi was alienated only in case of dire family emergency, though it was sometimes loaned out in exchange for servitude

Labor Labor was itself a commodity that could

be bought and sold namomoo - to work in somebody else’s house,

most frequently weaving lihog - hired hands compensated only with

meals and with a feast when project was completed

himakdul - compensation given an agent or messenger for difficult service

hinguli - a kind of hazardous duty pay on expeditions like those called moro-moro after the Spaniards introduced the concept