I. Introduction
Chapter 2 in Onofre D. Cruz’ book An Economic History of the Philippines depicted the situation of the Philippines prior the Spanish conquest. He provided a bird’s eye view of the condition of the Philippines vis-a-vis other Southeast Asian countries and the cultural, politico-religious, and economic influences siphoned by the country by means of conducting trade relationships with the neighboring countries. It also presented the different estimation processes used by the early civilization to record the number of people extant. These are the following: tribute-based estimate which was based on the number of tribute paying population taken from the reports of the encomiendas; friar-count estimate based on the reports of the parish or pueblo; tribute-based x 5 estimate which assumed a tribute from a larger family size; census count.
He further differentiated the condition of the barangays in the high lands and in the lowlands. In the 16th century the Philippines was different from the rest of the Southeast Asia mainly because of its geographic location; there were no threat of invasion because most of its neighbors are also in their formative years; there was no supra-union because the different fragmented and idiosyncratic groups function separately mostly for subsistence.
The barangays in the low lands are dependent upon huge bodies of water for their survival and organization. The pre-historic Philippine settlements were lineal and were located on river banks. The major crafts during this phase were: boat making; pottery; making of accessories or gold body ornaments; spinning and weaving; fish corral, fowl, goats, swine, and carabao raising; liquor from coconut and rice, etc. Livelihood, trade, and tradition of these societies revolved and developed around the above mentioned crafts. In the high lands, the Igorots evolved a different lifestyle. The communities were clustered, thereby increasing the solidarity of the members. In contrast with the low land people their survival greatly depended on the use of fire for hunting wild and large animals.
The Southern part of the archipelago developed earlier because it had earlier contacts with foreigners specifically the Islamic countries. They had developed a strong form of governance with the Sultanate and Datu. They also have links with the neighboring Islamic countries.
II. Reaction
This Chapter is a good backgrounder of the circumstances experienced by the Philippine society in the pre-historic era prior the conquest and colonization of the Western powers. It is a good historical review to refresh the idle mind of the students. The group also realized that we should not only be abreast with the current economic trends but more importantly is that we should still be updated with the history of the formation and development of the economy for us to better appreciate and understand the current condition. As the saying goes, “history repeats itself” but we say that it is the course of action chosen by the people who make history more important. Thus, knowledge about the pre-historic economic condition is a very good benchmark for understanding the present and future possible events and relationships that will happen.
Formation of society
The formation of the settlements in the lowland and in the high land Philippines from a sedentary way of life to a highly structured organization can be traced back to particular theories on the formation of the Asian societies. The Hydraulic Society model explains the formation of civilizations located in large bodies of water. As an archipelago, the Philippines can trace the origin of early lowland settlements to this, where lineal communities were extant. According to Wittfogel's analysis, central control over the vital resource of water gave rise to social classes and social and economic specialization, while it also gave the government power of life and death over its population.[1] We can now deduce that it was a natural tendency of people to group and form association to forward collective goals. Aristotle stipulated this idea when he wrote that people at the lowest level form families, then the families group together to form the village, and the group of villages now constitute the highest political association which is the state. The also say that although it was not a conscious intention of the people to form that association it was but a natural consequence of themselves being social beings. The Oriental Despotic Model explains the formation of early settlements in the high land. Aristotle asserted that oriental despotism is based not on force, but on consent. Hence fear cannot be said to be its motive force, instead the power of the despot master feeds upon the servile nature of those enslaved.[2] The high land people like the low landers had this innate tendency to group themselves to achieve a common goal and that is to survive. The group came up with the deduction that, since the high land communities require force and might, it was a necessity for a particular person to lead the group. Thus, a leader emerges in the picture which now sparks the beginning of an organized society.
Foreign Influence
Foreign influences were infused in the early formed society. It has been said that the Philippines is a melting pot of several cultures and traditions since several influences have infiltrated the social realm. This permeation of influences was largely due to the necessity of trade and relationship. Neighboring countries exchange goods and ideas. These influences came in the form of religion, economic, social and political philosophy.
Hinduization happened with the coming of traders from India. Presently their influence can be seen in the Hindu religion, Indian cuisine, architecture and some borrowed language. Sinicization is a very significant event in the Philippine society because the Chinese ideas have deeply rooted into the Philippines that we can not deny its pervasiveness at present. Islamisation especially of the Southern part (Mindanao) is a very salient example of the great weight brought by the belief system of the neighboring Islamic societies.
The group deduced that the formation of the early Philippine society came to a realization because of different foreign influence which accumulated throughout the long years of contact. Presently this can still be observed by the continuous diplomatic relationship among several nation-sates. The Philippines is a member of several multi-lateral and regional agreements, a salient example that historically speaking the Philippines has maintained peaceful, cooperative relationship among countries which still continuous to exist today.
Social Stratification and Governance
The early pre-historic Philippine society has displayed a form of social stratification. Terms like datu, timawa, alipin were used to denote this stratification. The datu being the highest in the structure, usually rule over the people. The timawa are the freemen or noble men and the alipin are the slaves who sell themselves as laborers and are often owned by members of the higher stratum. This again is continuously seen in the Philippine society. Although the classification is presently not used to refer to a particular group of people, a certain inequality in terms of social status and prestige is observable.
The word governance presently has evolved into a process which makes decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance.[3] During the pre-historic time, the group deduced that this process maybe so simple as to include the decisions, agreements, and rules conferred upon by the majority of the members of a particular settlement which covered the relations among the people. The barangay is the basic unit of society. This was the earliest form of social organization aimed at attaining the goals and provided the benefits for the people. The early society had developed this simple form of government until the most recent complex and highly organized structure.
II. Conclusion
To this end, after reading the article the group came up with this conclusion.
During the pre-historic Philippines there already exists a community of people. This community was a natural consequence of the social nature of human beings. These people developed settlements in the low lands by the river banks or other bodies of water and in the high lands by the mountain ranges. These communities have slowly developed their own culture, traditions, and way of life. This way of living was heavily influence by contacts with foreign and neighboring countries. These communities has also subtly developed their own rude form of government and rules which was the basis of their personal relations with each other. So we should not believe that there was no Philippine society prior the conquest of the West. The truth of the matter is there were just no written records of the events during that time. We already have a consolidated society yet there was no name given to this archipelago that is recognized by the international community.
Surely history will always be an important field of study for it will provide the present with the picture of the past which will guide present decisions and future undertakings. The economic history of the Philippines is an important subject for study because this can be used as a basis in the present condition of the Philippine economy and society as a whole.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_despotism
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_despotism
[3] http://www.worldbank.com_governance.htm
No comments:
Post a Comment