Social Organization

Three classes:

Chiefest datos (Chief)

Citizens timaguas/timawas (freeman)
Slaves oripes (oripun)

These three classes were so normative that the Visayans themselves extended it
figuratively to the animal kingdom. Kusi nga olipun, kusi nga timawa and kusi nga
datu.
Came from a Visayan origin myth: all three classes were offsprings of a divine
primordial pair, who fled from their fathers wrath.

Datu
Head of the Visayan community
Both a political office and a social class. A ruler and all members of the ruling
class of either sex.
The right to rule depended on direct descent from former rulers
Sabali
A man who became a datu simply by marrying one.
Binokot
Daughters/princesses of datus who were secluded.
Sandil
Secondary wives of datus.
Tumao
lesser order of nobility
Offsprings of a datu with his secondary wife who is in a high rank.
Called sandig sa datu supporters of the datu.
Potli or lubus nga datu
One of pure or unmixed ancestry
Kalibutan (all around)
Pedigreed on all four sides that is, all four grandparents are of pure
ancestry.
Those who controlled seaports with foreign trade generally took MalaySanskrit titles like Raja (Ruler), Batara (Noble Lord), or Sarripada (His
Highness).
A datus 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.
Pamalpagan
a courageous, frightening datu
From palpag flattened bamboo
Bahandi
Heirloom wealth boasted by a ruling datu.

 Goldwork, imported porcelain, and bronze gongs but not real estate.
Required for status display, exchanged in marriages, shared among
close relatives, held as collateral for loans, and loaned out itself to men
who mortgaged themselves into bondage to obtain the bride of their or
their familys choice.
Acquired through raids, the sale of local produce, and the control of
trade including honos, anchorage fees; bihit, tariffs on both domestic
and foreign imports; and lopig, discounts on local purchases running as
high as 75%
Tasks of a datu:
Expected to govern his people.
Settle their disputes.
Protect them from enemies.
Lead them in battle.
Atubang sa datu (facing the datu)
Chief minister or privy counsellor of a datu.
Assists the datu.
Paragahin
A datus steward or majordomo
Collects and records tribute and crops, and distribute them among the
datus relatives, retainers, and house slaves, as well as allocate them
for work gangs or public feasts.
Bilanggo
Sheriff or constable
Own house serves as a jail bilanggowan
These officers were generally tumao, either from a datus own clan or
the descendants of a collateral ancestor
Paratawag
A kind of town crier.
Despite having a position, is a slave.
Announces proclamations, mantala, either by shouting them out from
the top of a tall tree, or by delivering them to the persons concerned.
Perks of being a Datu:
Receives labor and tribute from his people.
His people harvested his fields, rowed his boats, and built his houses,
and joined his hunting parties or fishing crews.
His people give him a share of their crops, either as a regular seasonal
tribute or in lieu of personal labor, and a variety of gifts for
example, himukawa from a timawa for permission to marry, or bawbaw
from any litigant to whom he had awarded the decision in a lawsuit.
Takay was to divide his palay among his people to be milled for him,
cotton to be spun, or chickens to be raised.
They could afford the best hunting dogs and were proud of their
dexterity in handling casting nets, and among them were skillful
blacksmiths working imported metal.
They owned cargo vessels and war cruisers, and all maritime
expeditions whether for raid or trade were captained by datus with
necessary seafairing skill and experience.

 Their ladies wove the elegant textiles with ornate borders which were
the distinctive marks of their class.
Datus had these advantages which enabled them to specialize their
activities, perfect professional skills, and accumulate wealth.

Timawa
Spanish dictionaries always define timawa as freemen (libres)or freedmen
(libertos).
Were originally the offspring or descendants of a datus commoner wives or
slave concubines, and they were technically free because their progenitor
had grandted it.
Were free to transfer their allegiance to some other datu.
Matitimawa a slave who was freed.
Loarca, in describing this social class, found it necessary to call them true
or recognized timawa.
Ginoo
All persons liberated by their own master.
Might be chided
Paid tribute called buhis or handug. But those attached to their lord as
personal vassals paid no tribute and rendered no agricultural labor: thus the
Boxer Codex called them knights and hidalgos.
Perks of being a timawa who is a personal vassal for their datu:
They could lend and borrow money.
Enter business partnerships.
Acquire slaves of their own.
Won their tattoos beside their datu in battle, rowed and manned his
warship, received his favors, and shared in the public accolade for his
victories.
Their datu was obligated to defend or avenge them at the risk of his
own person if need be, and to share booty and captives with them.
They attended the datus feasts as retainers and familiars, acting as
his wine tasters, and were sometimes honoured by receiving a cup
from his own hand from which he had already taken a sip.
They were sent as his emissaries to open marriage negotiations for the
datus sons.
And at the time of their datus death, acted as bailiffs to enforce his
mourning tabus, and three of the most renowned among them would
accompany his grieving womenfolk on a ritual voyage in which they
boasted of their personal conquests and bravery.
Timindok
A big banana.
Belittled timawa if they are wealthy enough and behave like a datu.

Oripun
Appears to be a transitive form of an archaic root udip (to live) meaning to
let live for example, to spare on the field of battle, to ransom a captive, or
to redeem a dept equivalent to a mans price.
The market for these exchanges was provided by a shortage of labor for
exploiting a rich natural environment; and debt slavery was prevalent
because agriculture was undeveloped, goods limited, and interest rates high,
so debtors had little collateral except their own persons.
The oripun produced by these conditions were legally slaves: could be
bought and sold.
Some were foreign captives or purchases who served as victims for
human sacrifice; some members of their masters householders who
gave their masters or creditors a portion of their crops or labor; and
some were hardly distinguishable from freemen.
How does one become oripun:
Depended on birthright.
Inherited or acquired debt.
Commuted penal sentence.
Victimization by the more powerful.
Outright captives were bihag, and they were marketed by dealers in along or
botong as expensive merchandise like bahandi porcelain and gongs, or ships
and houses.
Hayuhay or ayuey
Oripun who lives in their masters house.
Were at the bottom of the oripun social scale those most enslaved
Tuhay or mamahay
Oripun who have their own house and field.
Like datus and timawa, oripuns bore children of their same class; or in the
case of mixed marriages, their children became half- or quarter-slaves who
served their masters half time or quarter time.
Half-slaves were called bulan (month) if their owners divided their time by the
month.
Debt slaves only serve their creditors part time in proportion to their debt.
For householding oripun, they supported themselves, giving their masters
only a share of their labor or crops.
Gintubo
A hayuhays child who is born or raised in a datus house.
Might become favorites called sibin or ginogatan.
Treated like the datus own children and set free on his death.
If both parents were house-born slaves like themselves, or actual purchases,
they were ginlubos, and if of the fourth generation of their kind, lubos nga
oripun.
But if only one of their parents was hayohay, they were half-slaves (bulan or
pikas), or if three of their grandparents were nonslaves, they were quarterslaves (tilor or sagipat).
Debt slavery ranged from outright scale to contractual mortgage.

In time of famine, men sold themselves or their children, or attached

themselves to a datu as kabalangay (crewman) for a loan.
Datus themselves went into bondage for the loan of bahandi to use as
bride-price, or became their father-in-laws legal dependent.
Tinubos (redeemed or ransomed)
A man who had a creditor who underwrote his debt.
Could be transferred from one creditor to another for profit.
Obligations varied with the value of the bond.
Horohan
Performs lower-echelon military services as:
Mangayaw oarsmen
Magahat warriors
Other tuhay or mamahay might also participate in raids, though receiving a
smaller portion of the booty than timawa.
Indeed if they distinguished themselves regularly enough by bravery in
action, they might attract a following of their own and actually become
datus.
Although they were obliged to come at their datus summons for
communal work like house building, they paid vassalage fee called
dagupan instead of field labor.
But , like the timawa above them and the hayohay below, their
children could inherit their property only at the pleasure of their datus.