AUTODIDACTIC IN GNED 04 (EARLY LIFE OF THE FILIPINOS)

Tabelon, Jocelyn P.
GNED 04 Mga Babasahin Hinggil sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas
Justin Jeffrey C. Boquiron

1. Describe the life of the early Filipino settlements before the coming of the Spaniards.

History provides us-modern day people a peek in the life of the early Filipinos. Through
thorough analysis on what has been left by yesterday, we were able to draw an image of their
living and trace facts that have happened during their time.

Evidence tell the stories of our ancestors, from the skeletal remains, artifacts, jewelries,
jars, records and passed down stories and many more. These are the witnesses that holds the
truth of their existence and way of living. For example, the stories that were passed generation
by generation about the mighty leadership of our ancestors. There were datu/s, sultan, and
rajah(s) that led our people. Knowing that, it is to be said that they were urbanized even
before. Their society were divided by a system(maharlika, timawa, and slaves) Their role in the
society was based accordingly under their entitlement. Maharlika were on top of the society,
timawa were considered as a free man and lastly, the slaves that were the lowest ranking. The
man of a maharlika family was mostly the one to inherit the position and power of being the
leader of their land, but in some cases, during battle, the one who won over the other was
considered as the new ruler, and the members of the land that was conquered were held as
slaves. But it was also common that slaves were the price paid of those in debt. There was no
equality for men and women during that time. Women were considered weak and deprived of
power and authority. Their only role was to be a good wife and gave birth to their husband's
child.

Stories showed us too about the bravery, intelligence, and faith of our ancestors. In
order to expand their territory, one way to do so was to win over a bloody battle. Of course,
before letting their strike, they planned it well. For some, in order to be the victor, they gave
offerings to their gods, prayed and have their babaylan convince the gods to side with them.
And in order to remember their great feat, the skulls of their enemies were displayed in their
balays, some have their bodies tattoed for every succesful battles.
AUTODIDACTIC IN GNED 04 (EARLY LIFE OF THE FILIPINOS)
Tabelon, Jocelyn P.
GNED 04 Mga Babasahin Hinggil sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas
Justin Jeffrey C. Boquiron
The artifacts that were discovered gave us an idea of their practices. For example, the
manunggol jars found in caves made us think that instead of burrying the deceased body feets
under the ground, they put it inside the jar. Maybe, early filipinos already knew how to create
such things as a means for their everyday living . Or maybe, they had created a connection to
some other countries (like China) and traded their products for these and many more. Some
weapons that were found supported that the early Filipinos creative enough to invent something
in order for them to live. Some of these weapons were used as hunting tools. Our ancestors
lived well by maximizing their resources, only not they fed themselves in animals meat but also
in plants. They farm crops. They even used plants as their source of medicine. They mended
wounds using leaves or roots, or boil it to cure their diseases Jewelries found in the different
places of the Philippines means that even before, our ancestor knew how to see and put great
value on things. Some of the jewelries were used as cowries. If one wanted to marry, valuable
things such as animals, cloth, and even land were used as offering or gift to a woman's family.
Touching prior to marriage at that time were strictly considered as a shameless act and
inappropriate. There were no technology before, but they made a way in order to survive.
They created their houses using woods. Some lived on caves and some were in seas. They had
their own writing system too called the baybayin.

Our history told us how amazing our ancestor did during their time. They were organized seeing
how they formed their own system. On the other hand, there were no equal rights distributed for
everyone especially for women. But, they showed uniqueness through their unusual practices.
They even had their own system of writing. This only means that early Filipinos already had an
identity even before the coming of Spaniards.

2. Explain the significance of history. How will you relate it in the present time in terms of
Political, Economic, and Social aspects.

History is the memories of today. So what and where we are now are all because of the past
people and events that took place a time ago. There are questions that can not be answered by
AUTODIDACTIC IN GNED 04 (EARLY LIFE OF THE FILIPINOS)
Tabelon, Jocelyn P.
GNED 04 Mga Babasahin Hinggil sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas
Justin Jeffrey C. Boquiron
querrying the present world but instead by tracing facts from before and then analyzing the
truth it offers us and understanding all these. The significance of history lies in various reasons.
It could be to learn, or analyze the facts from the fallacies, or to find clues for the current
issues, or simply just not to be alienated by our own throwback stories.

History is continuously digging and seeking. It tries to uncover what time had already buried
and gave life to the forgotten memories our ancestors. Through this, understanding such trivial
things may led us not to repeat what they have done wrong. We can find clues for what the
society has failed to solved, and appreciate their contributions that take us to now today.

Political. Politics cannot exist without history and that is true too for the latter. Politics made
history in a way that everything that is related in governing affects and shape the story of
history. From the very beginning where the datus ruled, we were under different countries,
Spain, Japan and America, these are considered all turning points in history. History tells us
how the current system of governing our Republic came to life. This political system is
influence by those passersby in our history. From Spanish regime wherein they held the power,
to the time the Japan reigned, when the America dominated us, up to the time we celebrate
our indepence, and next to the Philppine presidents who ruled and created law. We need to
understand that all these did affect our political standing now and in specific timelines, there is
always a thing that is added to it. Some did their best in serving the country and some got
drunk of

abusing their power like Marcos, it went too well during his first term then turned downhill
after. That led to the Edsa Revolution which led to our democracy. This events then went on
and on and it produce the kind of politics we have today.

Economics. Of course, when there's governing, something must be govern and there must be a
reason for ruling. That's economy. In the point of history, todays economy is greatly affected by
past events.
AUTODIDACTIC IN GNED 04 (EARLY LIFE OF THE FILIPINOS)
Tabelon, Jocelyn P.
GNED 04 Mga Babasahin Hinggil sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas
Justin Jeffrey C. Boquiron
Our ancestor farmed land. Hunt animals. Trade products(barter). Until we are dominated by
various countries that provided contributions in our todays economy. We adapted some of their
items. Why? Because we need and want them. Different turning points were also great factors
in the state of our current economy. Like the wars, what happened during wars? How did it
affect our economy? During wars, there's a need of survival. Innovation and inventions that
satisfied the demand and needs were brought to life. People purchased these. Still remeber
your lola telling you stories how cheap the products are before? That is because our economy is
standing in line with the pioneering countries. But what happened? Ask history. It will tell you
how our debts pulled us to the ground. It will tell you how the corruption of the different
adminstration slayed our economy. All the calamities and phenomena that are recorded in
history brought drastic change in economy too. The grains and other crops were wasted. Look
how expensive these are. Human resources were lessened too, infrastructures stopped
working for the time being hence not producing the expected income. Social demands and the
capability for leisure is also part of history. Before, there were only keypad phones, but now
the market is loaded with high qualiy phones and gadgets. We are dominated by tje ñroducts
of other countries too. We import products from them thus making the richer instead of
patronizong our own goods.

Social. History is too, related when it comes to social. History will be glad to explain how we
got our kind of social today. Philippines is the pearl of the Orient. We are very much blessed In
terms of resources, but these resources were the reason some took interest on us. You'll notice
today how mixed blooded we are since we are ruled by different countries. We adapted some of
their practices and even their physical attributes. Our minds are still colonized even we are an
independent country. We prefer imported over our own goods. We always based our standards
on their desired preferences. Observing the society today, I must say that the events in history
greatly took its toll on our people. Little by little we are losing our own identity because of our
AUTODIDACTIC IN GNED 04 (EARLY LIFE OF THE FILIPINOS)
Tabelon, Jocelyn P.
GNED 04 Mga Babasahin Hinggil sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas
Justin Jeffrey C. Boquiron
own desire to be like them. But in broader thinking, this also had positively affected us, today,
there are more gender than we know, and we came to be more accepting. The society supports
this now and is open for changes. Relating social to history, various events too led us to almost
unlimted freedom and equal rights for everyone. But quart of the society are abusing their rights.
Status is not also a hindrance for quality education, which was not possible before. Socializing is
not a problem too since technoloy aided humanity to meet and make friends. But all of these had
their drawbacks, if you'll notice, today, people have shorter life span compared to the people of
before's generation. More psychological problem arises. And becoming productive seems to be
lessened.

History is related to all sciences. Through history, we'll be able to understand how the world
changes. Adapt some of the good in the past. Though at first it might seem that history is
irrelevant to these, but some knowledge are sorted out from the past, and since all things have
their own stories to tell, history is always there to record until when it is needed.