[15] Antonio de Morga, “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas,” chap. 8. Rival’s note to this says: This work, although not laborious, is generally performed now by the men, while the women do only the actual cleaning of the rice. (Bl. and Rb., Vol. 16, p. 79).
[16] “The lands which they inhabited were divided among the whole barangay, especially the irrigated portion, and thus each one knew his own.” Customs of the Tagalogs, Juan de Plasencia, O. S. F.; Manila, October 21, 1589. Blair and Robertson, Vol. 7, p. 174.
[17] See Chapter II, as to evidences of prosperity of the Filipinos at the time of the coming of the Spaniards.
Caing̃in system described: “They reported that the country was so fertile that when natives desired to plant their rice they only burn a part of the mountain and, without any further plowing or digging, they make holes with a stick in the soil, and drop some grains of rice in them. This was their manner of sowing; and, after covering the rice with the same earth, they obtained very heavy crops.” (Historia de la Provincia del Santo Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores, Diego Aduarte, O. P., Manila, 1640.—Bl. and Rb., Vol. 32, p. 199.)
[18] “Customs of the Tagalogs,” Juan de Plasencia: “* * * * The lands on the ‘tingues’ or mountain-ridges, are not divided, but owned in common by the barangay. Consequently, at the time of the rice harvest, any individual of any particular barangay, although he may come from some other village, if he commences to clear any land may sow it, and no one can compel him to abandon it. There are some villages (as, for example, Pila de la Laguna) in which these nobles, or maharlicas, paid annually to the dato a hundred gantas of rice. The reason of this was that, at the time of their settlement there, another chief occupied the lands, which the new chief upon his arrival, bought with his own gold; and therefore the members of his barangay paid him for the arable land, and he divided it, among those whom he saw fit to reward. But now, since the advent of the Spaniards, it is not so divided. * * *
“The chiefs in some villages had also fisheries, with established limits, and sections of the rivers for markets. At these no one could fish, or trade in the markets, without paying for the privilege, unless he belonged to the chief’s barangay or village.” (Bl. and Rb., Vol. 7, pp. 174–175.)
Also, T. H. Pardo de Tavera, Census of the Philippines, 1903, Vol. I, p. 325.
[19] Expedition of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos. (Résumé of Contemporaneous Documents, Talavera, July 6, 1541.—Bl. and Rb., Vol. 2, p. 54.)
[20] The origin of the encomienda “was in the REPARTIMIENTO, which at first (1497) meant a grant of lands in a conquered country; it was soon extended to include the natives dwelling thereon, who were compelled to till the land for the conqueror’s benefit. In 1503 ENCOMIENDAS were granted, composed of a certain number of natives, who were compelled to work. The word ENCOMIENDA is a term belonging to the military orders (from the ranks of which came many officials appointed for the colonies) and corresponds to our word commandery. It is defined by Helps (practically using the same language of Solorzano, the eminent Spanish jurist), as a right conceded by royal bounty, to well-deserving persons in the Indies, to receive and enjoy for themselves the tributes of the natives who should be assigned to them, with a charge of providing for the good of those natives in spiritual and temporal matters, and of inhabiting and defending the provinces where these ENCOMIENDAS should be granted to them.” (Note, Bl. and Rb., Vol. 2, p. 54.)
[21] “According to the constitutional law of the Indies the land and the soil in all colonies were the domain of the king; therefore the encomiendas, which were granted only to discoverers and other men of conspicuous merit, were to be considered not so much as landed estates as public offices. (Compare “Recopilación,” ’IV 8, 9, 11.) The encomendero was appointed and sworn (law of 1532) for the express purpose of giving his natives military protection (law of 1552) and of promoting politically and religiously their conversion to civilization (laws of 1509, 1554, 1580). Whoever neglected to do this lost his encomienda (laws of 1536, 1551). It is characteristic that the Spaniards so readily combined the functions of discoverers, pacificators, and founders of settlements; as a matter of fact most of the Indian races were led to civil life, in our sense of the word, by them. In order to prevent extortion no encomendero could own a house in his village or stay there more than one night (law of 1609, 1618). Not even his nearest relatives or his slaves could enter the encomienda (law of 1574, 1550, and often). He was forbidden to maintain any industrial establishment in the encomienda (law of 1621), or to take into his house any of the inhabitants (law of 1528). That the natives were free men, that they could not be sold by an encomendero, was recognized in many laws. (“Recopilación,” VI, 2, I, II). After the legislation of 1542 some of the natives were the immediate subjects of the king, and the rest dependents attached to the encomiendas. The former paid three-fourths of their taxes to the treasury, and the latter the same proportion to their landlords. The right of holding an encomienda was granted, regularly for two generations, except in New Spain, where, on account of the very unusual services rendered by the conquerors, it was granted for three and even four generations. (Ibid. VI, 11, 14.) During the 18th century many of the families of the landlords died out and their possessions were not again granted. The authorities always interested themselves in the cause of the natives, until at length Charles III abolished the encomiendas.” (W. Roscher (1904) “The Spanish Colonial System,” pp. 4–5.)