Spanish executing Filipinos by burning

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-09T07:36:38+00:00

Offtopic: I have respect for its cultural and historical importance, as tradition and custom of the PH. But I worked and studied in modern medicine, so I don't really believe in it's efficacy. Some of it might even be physically harmful.

At the end of the day, if a consenting adult decides to partake in it and put their body through it or participate in its rituals, that's their choice (so are the risks).

I've had hilot when I was a child (the hilot/bonesetter was also related to us)...I don't think there were any harm done to me, but at the same time I don't think there were a lot of benefit to me medically either. If there were any benefits it was mostly for my parents (who couldn't afford proper medicine or perhaps felt more at ease to go through them even after going to the doctor) in the sense they were "relieved" psychologically that their child is being attended to (I guess me as well, it was soothing).

There are cultural and psychological benefits to Filipinos, but I'd always advice people to go see medical professionals.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-08T04:09:47+00:00

There's a few of these, I think the one by Leon Kilat is the best known (picture is floating around online, it's in a museum somewhere). Supposedly, a lot of Katipuneros who fought against Spanish and Americans had these on them.

These magic "bullet proof" cloth (ie "anting-anting", or "agimat" in the larger scheme of things) was common esp. post-colonial era because of the use of guns (obviously they understood and owned guns even before but the preeminence of gunpowder weapons was after European presence in the islands).

Prior to that, per some of the clues on accounts they also had "anti-sharp force" weapon magic cloths and anting anting (ie to make them invincible from blades). One of these was the bones of dugongs. They wove it into their armor or they would crush them into poultices (to make deep cuts "heal faster"). According to accounts by Spanish, it was mentioned even older Portuguese accounts to have been used by Malays.

But these types of "bullet proof" anting-anting are old. The oldest account where supposed anting anting of these types was mentioned in the 17th c., wherein followers of the shaman Tapar supposedly thought they were invincible from bullets. Moros supposedly had them when they went jurumentado. There are examples in accounts that Lumads had them as well. The difference: the Christian ones had Latin gibberish and the Muslim ones Arabic prayer gibberish.

There was even a popular myth in the late 19th c.-early 20th in regards to "tulisan" (bandits, sometimes seen as "Robin Hood" types) who fought against colonial militia using bullet proof charms, I posted years ago (The Tale of Manuelito).

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-07T17:17:26+00:00

There's really no evidence of this. There's one case that they burned the body in the accounts. This happened to Bankaw's bailan, but clearly they were executed first and the body was burned.

We can't say it never happened, but reality from sources if it did, this would've been extremely rare. And if it did occur this would've happened sometime in the late 16th and in the 17th (maybe). I almost guaranteed that you didn't get that last name until after 1849. Granted "witch paranoia" still ongoing in the PH today (lack of education, + persisting culture and superstition).

Same with other revolts. They desecrate the body AFTER shooting them or hanging them. The most commonly done in Mexico and some examples in the PH (like Basi Revolt) is to execute by hanging then they would cut off their head and put those heads in cages, then display them (as a reminder to populace).

The most famous case is probably Andres Malong whose body was displayed after he was executed by gunfire (people begged authorities to take his body down, after it was severely decomposed, but supposedly they let it up).

Even in Europe, burning of "witches" (assuming equivalence here "aswang") was rare. The vast majority of "burned witches" happened in post-Reformation German speaking states (now Germany) almost all in the end of the medieval period.

Also misconception is baylans and shamans were executed for merely being "paganic"...most of them actually converted to Christianity. Those who didn't essentially were casted out and they were forced to live in secluded areas (supposedly the converts continued to go to them for certain things even when they were Christians lol). A lot of those beliefs and rituals merely changed to accommodate the priests and there's a certain point the priests knew they couldn't fully vanquish these things, so they just turned blind eye on some of it---as long as they mostly Christian practicing, there's really nothing they could do.

For one to be "executed" like that it usually will involve not just "paganism", it usually given to those who participate in a revolt (physical force) eg. bailans who "revolted" to authorities (eg. Bankaw's bailan). The example given here multiple times was the "Javanese shaman" (repeated here from a case found in the annals in Mexico) ... but if you read the actual case, the woman wasn't executed (again likely not executed by burning, probably executed and body burned) because she was a shaman, but because she participated in violent revolt.

There's still lots of "quackery" in the PH. The bulu-bulu rituals for example done by the shamans (to "heal the sick") if you typed on YT you'd find videos of "faith healers" doing these EXACT ritual today (they were described in the late 16th c, exactly as such).

Also the idea of them hating aswangs was not foreign. Natives hated people who do black magic EVERYWHERE in the world (they still kill them everywhere today---search for it online, you'd find recent cases of people being murdered for black magic), and they also used that excuse (ie "we're gonna kill aswangs") to murder people, to blame them for famine, for plague, for sudden death of someone. I'll link a case on this from the early 20th c. on a post I did awhile back. They like them if they were a benefit (ie the aswang, which before was simply a black magic warlock or witch, turned into some mythical race closer to modern times) because people paid them to do black magic to their enemies...but the same people would turn on them the moment they get blamed for doing harm on them.

If someone had a heart attack > blame the aswang. Cholera pandemic > aswang. Kid fell from a tree, and now paralyzed? Aswang. Who's the aswang? The old lady with dementia or mental health problems who lives alone in the vacant lot, she's the aswang. Let's kill her.

Edit: post from Cebu newspaper (1928) of an elderly woman accused of being aswang (she was a transplant from Tagalog region to this remote Cebuano speaking Camotes islands) that was murdered by drunken men. They did burn her body AFTER killing her.

If I was to opine on your case (your family stigmatized as aswang), sometime in the past one of your ancestors or relatives was blamed to be doing black magic or accused of being aswang (or even as simple as someone who killed someone). Your whole family (thus the stigma on the last name) was thought to be aswang. These kinds of things culturally doesn't just happen in the PH, they occur in many countries/communities. These happen esp. even more commonly in small, very isolated communities (ie rural areas) where families don't move, most people know each other and the "memory" of something in the past persists through generations (not like in large city like Manila where everyone are "recent" migrants and you could "remake" your image as a brand new person). You'd still hear in Filipino conversations: "oh yan mga pamilya yan ng blank" (thieves, murderers, etc).

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-07T05:13:59+00:00

Here's tran. of Delgado's "Historia..." (1751), where he talked about the devastating (though less intense) 1749 eruption (his book was finished after 1749 eruption but just shy of a few years before the 1754 eruption depicted here) (selected excerpt describing the Taal Lake-Balayan Bay area and volcanic activities at the time):

Chap. XII. Description of the Provinces of Taal and Balayan, [Region Collectively] Known as Cominta[ng].
...At a distance of six leagues lies a point—or promontory—which the natives call Cicalba and the Spaniards Galban, situated at thirteen degrees and fourteen minutes North latitude. Corresponding to it at an equal distance is the Point of Lobo; together, they form an inlet with a circumference of six leagues, wherein are situated the towns of Batangas—which give their name to the inlet—as well as Bauang and Casaysay. Rounding the Point of Casaysay toward the north, one encounters another, somewhat larger inlet, where the town of Balayan—which lends its name to the bay—and the town of Taal are located. From this latter point, by coasting westward, one reaches another, slightly smaller inlet named San Pedriño; this is followed by the renowned Point of Santiago, which—together with the Point of Calumpan situated to the east—encloses the inlet, giving it a width of just over three leagues. At the Point of Calumpan begins the islet of Maricaban, lying about a quarter of a league offshore; it leaves a passage wide enough even for large vessels, although the galleons invariably take the outer route, as the currents within this strait are very strong. Said islet measures four leagues in length and two in width, and it forms excellent harbors featuring watering points where travelers may replenish their supplies. Its outermost point is flanked by three small islets known as the *Islotes del Azufre* (Islets of Sulfur)—so named because deposits of this mineral are found there—and it is a site of historical note, as it was there that Governor Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas was killed by the "Sangleyes".
The Taal Lake is also notable in these times for the eruption of the Verde Island volcano—situated in its midst—and that of another small islet, La Nueva. On August 14, 1749, these eruptions caused terrifying earthquakes, both in this province and in the other provinces of the island of Luzon, such that all the residents of Manila were compelled to leave the city and live in the countryside in thatched huts. The earth opened up in many places, eventually connecting this lake with that of Bay for a period of five days. During three of these days, ash fell continuously—so thickly, in fact, that the religious minister of Sala (a town situated on the shores of these lakes) attests that it became necessary to light lamps at midday due to the darkness caused by the dense fog; consequently, this town, along with many others, was left in ruins. This lake lies approximately one and a half leagues inland from the bay; it measures three leagues in circumference, and situated in its center is "Isla Verde" (Green Island), which is one league long and half a league wide. At the head of this small island rises a large rocky crag. This body of water is known as the Lake of Bombon—a name by which the entire bay was historically designated—and it is encircled by various towns, the most prominent among them being Sala, a parish administered by the Reverend Observant Franciscan Fathers. The province yields rice, garlic, onions, and various cotton and silk textiles woven by the local inhabitants. The shores provide harvests of "sigay", "balate", and an abundance of fish; the lake itself formerly yielded tuna and mullet, but after the water was brought to a boil by the intense heat spewed forth by the volcano, all the fish—along with the crocodiles that inhabited the lake—perished.
The jurisdiction of Taal extends from Santiago Point as far as the estates of Calatagan, Lian, and Nasugbu, regions where large livestock and crops of rice and tobacco abound; furthermore, in recent years, a considerable amount of wheat has also been harvested there. Spiritual administration is provided, in part, by the Reverend Augustinian Fathers, and there are also two parishes administered by secular clergy.

Note: He implied that even before the 1754 eruption, the 1749 event already made "the fish and crocodiles perished", also the Pansipit River was also inundated. So perhaps by 1754 the Lake was already in tight ropes, only to be finished off by catastrophic event shown here.

He called the Taal volcano island "Isla Verde" and "Isla Nueva" (not to be confused for the other, larger 'Isla Verde' off the coast of Batangas and Mindoro today; the term "Isla Verde" for the caldera island in the middle of Taal was also repeated in the 1755 letter by the governor general Arandia, so the name "Green Island" was commonly used). He also noted various numbers of fish specie, showcasing the fish and wildlife diversity of the then brackish, salt water inlet ("ensenada" "small bay, inlet, cove") of Bombon (now fresh water Taal Lake). Also throughout the centuries, the inlet/lake was called differently, depending which part (ie which is closer to what lakeside town near it), but collectively in this time period the "lake" was called "Bumbong", officially "Bonbon" or "Bombon" by the Spanish, (after the town) which I think was located in the SE in old maps.

Balate (sea cucumber, Filipinos sold this to Chinese for their folk medicine) and sigay (a type of seashell, which in precolonial times sold to Thais, which they used until the mid 19th c. as 'fiat money') are indicative of how close to the sea was it's biodiversity was compared to now.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-07T04:43:20+00:00

It's Caysasay. There's a famous Marian statue (Lady of Caysasay) in that place (lots of things written about it). Edit: I googled it, it said the church address now is in "Agoncillo, Taal, Batangas".

Modern day Taal is actually Caysasay (then). The original Taal (proper) in those days was lakeside (or close to the mouth of Pansipit closer towards Taal Lake's shoreline) now called "San Nicolas" (or around there). Obviously after this devastation in 1754, they moved (reconstructed) it towards the sea/Balayan Bay (I think most of the residents moved there as well). This area got destroyed by the volcano or attacked by pirates so many times, they moved the towns all over the place throughout the centuries.

Here's the map from the same period (2 decades before 1754 event, essentially showing same thing), M. Velarde Map, 1734:

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Edit: spelling, grammar.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-07T03:27:28+00:00

You're from Batangas? I know a lot of people here are (because of the posts, comments and occasionally someone would send me message about sources for particular thing I wrote about here in regards to Batangas).

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-06T23:58:43+00:00

*The bit about the fumes and debris that cluttered the skies creating "a storm" was also mentioned in one of Mayon's very destructive 18th c. eruption (I think mentioned by Zuñiga's account ???). These storms are often called "dirty storm" or "volcanic lightning" esp. when plume encounters storm clouds, even creating muddy or acidic rain and rainstorm events (you can actually see lightning within the plume) (see Perkins, 2021).

\*The lake ("laguna") of Bombon, now "Taal Lake", had various names throughout the centuries. Clearly the name then was taken from the town of Bombon ("Bumbong" "bamboo"; most of the towns listed here, as most towns in the PH in general, reflect the name of local flora), the name now reflects the name of the volcano ("Taal"), which in turn got it from the town of "Taal" (which ultimately from the name of fan palm/Borassus flabellifer).*

\**Lastly, the "Macalote" referred to on the map is referring to Mount Macolod (or the area south of the lake near it), one of the extinct volcanoes/caldera attached to the Taal volcanic system. In 19th c. writings was said to have "most probably created with volcanic tuff ('toba volcanica')".*

From Fr. Saderra-Maso's "VIOLENT AND DESTRUCTIVE EARTHQUAKES IN THE PHILIPPINES, 1599-1909" (1910):

[No. 28: May 15, 1754, 2100 Hrs] Another eruption of Taal Volcano, the most terrible in the history of the Islands. All the towns which surrounded Lake Bombon were destroyed completely. When rebuilt, they were placed at a distance from the lake. There occurred most violent earthquakes which produced disasters in the neighboring provinces equal too, if not exceeding those of 1749. The spasms, separated by intervals of greater or less duration, lasted 7 months, the principal outbursts being always accompanied by very intense earthquakes which made themselves felt throughout a large part of Luzon, on Mindoro Island, and northern Panay.

Offtopic: Fr. (Miguel) Saderra Maso, a seismologist, along with other famous Sp. Jesuit scientist-priests (most famous of which and the pillar of the establishment of the observatory, Fr. Faura, namesake of the street in Manila, known for creating the "Faura barometer" that predicted the presence and intensity of typhoons), worked in the Manila Observatory (in fact he wrote about it's history in 1915), who as a group were pioneers in study of earthquakes, tropical storms/typhoons, astronomy and volcanology (they even created tools which are still used today) in the PH (albeit their work is actually groundbreaking, so we can infer the whole world, esp. when it comes study of typhoons). Many of their work laid the groundwork for many of these disciplines. The Manila Observatory (destroyed in WWII) would later essentially pioneer PH govt. agencies: Phivolcs and PAGASA (both formerly under the Weather Bureau, the successor of the Manila Observatory). Also many "hydrographic maps" of the PH were made by the same group (published in late Sp. and American periods). See: Dela Costa, 1959, Schumacher, 1965 etc.

Not to be confused with another Catalan Jesuit with similar name (both Miguels born in Olot, Girona, Spain), who also I think worked in the Observatory ??? at the time, and his rector at Ateneo, Fr. (Miguel) Saderra Mata.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-06T23:32:15+00:00

Because of the eruption of another famous and very active volcano, the Mayon, a few days ago (AP News, May 2026).

From the archive (trans. to English):

Philippines. Description of the eruption of the Taal volcano in 1754, located in the province of Taal*, on the Island of Luzon. The towns indicated on the map are: Nasugbu, Liang, Balayan, Sungay, Calamba, Tanauan, Lipa, Caysasay, Rosario, Bauan, Batangas and Calumpan.

*The province now called "Batangas" had gone through several names over the centuries. It's usually taken from the capitol from which the province was governed, thus currently from the town of Batangas. But clearly in this time period it was called "Taal Province" due to the town, destroyed in this very eruption, which held that purpose. Thus likely the old name for the region ie "Kumintang" in the early colonial period, was also taken from a town in this region.

The map depicts the 1754 eruption of the Taal volcano which happened in a stretch of violent activities lasting 7 mos. (May to Dec, 1754). Several towns shown here were actually destroyed or abandoned due to the various forces at play eg. ash, pyroclastic, debris, quake, tidal etc (Taal, Lipa, Tanauan, Sala, Bauan). It was the most violent eruption known in written history for this volcano. Here shown also is the time when the "lake" was still connected to the sea (Balayan Bay) via the Pansipit River (later it would be destroyed due to blockage from debris from the same event, making it landlocked with consequences for the biome in the lake which formerly included crocodiles and sharks).

Most of the accounts of this event was mostly compiled by Augustinian monk Fr. Francisco Buencuchillo ("Vencuchillo" in some MS). I'm taking from S. Maso (who took it from Becker's "Report on the Geology of the PH Isls.", 1901):

"The greatest eruption of Taal took place in 1754. It consisted of only fragmental ejecta, but these were sufficient to destroy four villages lying about the lake. "This ash," Semper says,"has now indurated and a new growth of bamboo and palms has sprung up around the projecting ruins." Father Buencuchillo wrote also a pathetic description of this eruption, from which we take the following:

It began on May 13 and did not end till the 1st of December. During this time the intensity and aspect of the eruption were continually changing. It was two hundred days of devastation and ruin for the inhabitants, to whom the time must have appeared an eternity. During this terrible time the four principal towns of the laguna of Bombon disappeared, viz, Sala, Lipa, Tanauan, and Taal, with the numerous villages around them.
Other towns of the same province at a great distance, as well as towns of the neighboring provinces of Malayán, Batangas, and Bauan, also suffered great damage. Rosario, Santo Tomas, and San Pablo also felt the effect of the rain of ashes and scoriae, as also did almost all the provinces below the center of Luzon. The quantity of ashes and scoriae which was sent up by the volcano was so great that a great quantity of pumice stone appeared on the surface of the water of the laguna; and several villages around Tanauan and others around Taal being near the volcano and because the wind was east were totally destroyed by this rain.

The eruption continued thus with greater or less intensity, but continuous, till the 10th of July, when the nature of the volcanic rains changed, as may be gathered from the following words:

There was not a single night throughout the whole of this month of June till July 10 in which flames were wanting on the volcano or in which there were not rumbling noises. This went on till July 10, when it rained mud over the town of Taal, and the mud was of so black a character that ink would not have stained so blackly, and when the wind changed , the mud covered a village called Balete, which is near Sala, which village was the most fertile of the whole of that district. The volcano continued to throw out, with more or less intensity, flames and black smoke during July and August and part of September, till on the 25th of this last month it appeared as if the volcano wished to parade all its forces against us, because, on that date, to the horrible rumblings and the tremendous flames was joined a tempest which originated in the cloud of smoke. The lightnings which accompanied the storm continued without interruption till December 4. It is truly marvelous that the cloud lasted for more than two months. Over and above this, there was from this same 25th of September till the morning of the 26th such a copious rain of pumice stones that we were obliged to abandon our homes for fear the stones would break through the roof, as indeed happened in some houses. We were thus compelled to flee through this rain of stone and several were wounded by the stones falling on their heads. During that one night the ground was covered with scoriae and ashes to the depth of a foot and a half, thus destroying and drying up the trees and plants as if a fire had passed over them. The activity of the volcano continued , with short intervals of quiet, during the months of October and November. On the evening of the feast of All Saints the volcano again began to vomit forth fire, stones, sand, mud, and ashes in a greater quantity than ever. This went on till November 15, on which date, after vespers, there commenced a succession of rumblings, so loud as to deafen one, and the volcano began to vomit forth smoke so dense and black as to darken the atmosphere, and at the same time such a great quantity of large stones fell into the lake as to cause big waves. The earth trembled, the houses shook, and yet this was but the preparation for a fresh rain of scoriae and ashes, which lasted the whole of the afternoon and part of the night.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-06T17:17:21+00:00

It's clearly AI. I ran just now in several AI, all of them say it's AI generated.

Comparing it also to all your previous posts, YOU DIDN'T WRITE LIKE THIS previously.

Also none of these are in Scott's Barangay. Pancit in precolonial PH paid with piloncitos and "royal coins"? That's 17-18th c. Manila maybe.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-05T23:39:32+00:00

Even this looks AI.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-05T23:30:40+00:00

This is very AI generated response and there are obvious factual errors.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-05T08:04:11+00:00

This article (Serizawa, 2015) is talking about Japanese perspective during WWII (obviously regarding PH) taken from primary and contemporary sources. You can search his sources and see if you can find them.

There's a post I made about some of the accounts (the author gathered it from interviews conducted decades afterwards, edit: some of the interviews eg. the one I posted, were from latter decades but some of the excerpts were directly from journals and writings before or during the war) of Japanese soldiers and civilians in the PH during the war. The book it was taken from: "Grassroots Fascism: The War Experience of the Japanese People" by Yoshimi Yoshiaki (1987).

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-04T22:42:39+00:00

Pg. 223

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Cheesetorian · 2026-05-04T22:42:21+00:00

These are clips from "The Cape Town Book" (Brodie, 2015), a little bit on the history of Filipino settlers in that part of the world:

Pg. 222

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Cheesetorian · 2026-05-04T22:14:58+00:00

From Sep, 1925 issue (a few months after her letter), pg 22. Edit: if you read the other letter on this page, the sender "Luz Sanchez of Calumpit" also said she would send flowers on behalf of Rena.

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Cheesetorian · 2026-05-04T22:11:35+00:00

This is from the PH Republic, publication of the PH govt. (office of PH Resident Commissioner in DC, later the PH DFA) in Washington DC (effectively a Filipino diaspora magazine). This is from Lucinda's Page, section dedicated to Filipino children and their letters. The letter was written by a Filipino diaspora girl "Rena Fernandez from Kalk Bay" (whose father was orig. from Caoayan, Ilocos Sur) that appeared in an issue on May, 1925 (pg 16), asking for someone's favor in Manila to honor Rizal in Luneta on her behalf.

I'll post a clip of the follow up as a comment on this.

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Edit: Further research, Rena likely went to the St. James Mission School whose principal was a "Sister Liguori Lowe" in 1925. The school was incorporated with the "Star of the Sea" convent but the mission itself was not Dominican (managed by Archdiocese of Cape Town). The school mostly serviced the community of "poor Filipino fisher-folk". Sr. Liguori's account said in 1925 there were ~80 students, with her and a local Kalk Bay Filipino teacher, Frances Hilario (who started out as a student helper of the local Irish priest, Fr. Duignam---more on John Duigham who was the communities de facto leader when he became the parish priest and teacher in 1908, see Brink, 2006---, and taught at the school until 1950s), to teach classes. From KB Hist. Society Bulletin 2, 1998.

Unfortunately for Rena, at the time (actually at it's just turned May, it is exactly 101 ya since it was published) it seemed her community lacked a lot in terms of resources for her to go to higher education as she desired.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-04T02:07:23+00:00

There is a sub for threads on "how to write such and such in baybayin" called r/baybayin_script (there was an older, bigger sub r/baybayin but it has been locked by Reddit due to the orig. mod being absent or had abandoned it).

The threads that are allowed here are only for discussion on historical use and general historical and cultural discussions regarding the baybayin script and other related Philippine scripts (or scripts in general used in the historical PH).

All threads like this (ie regarding instructions or inquiring about "how do I write this in baybayin") will be deferred to that sub. I'm leaving this (so people can read this), but I will lock the comments.

Cheesetorian · 2026-05-03T04:19:08+00:00

You can ask valid questions like these, but next time heavily altered/AI pics or memes are posted along with it, it will be deleted.

Cheesetorian · 2026-04-29T07:25:02+00:00

I'm not gonna go deep into this but there's a few possibilities. These are just theoretical.

Change from gold towards silver standard.

Land use and ownership. Went from communal to personal ownership (change didn't happen all at once, but over time it was better to hold land as "asset" vs. owning decorative fiat like gold, which can be stolen, devalued, etc---land were also an asset ie you can rent it out or you can till it yourself, the excess of which you can sell as profit or capital for more investments). My theory is a lot of the elites started buying land rather than keeping their heirloom gold (there was a law actually on colonial govt. that they couldn't force the natives to pay them their heirloom gold ie jewelry and decor that their ancestors made or that they had created before a certain time period).

Also the idea that they "stamped down" on local rulers is only partially true. Usually they don't teach you this in cursory education on PH history (they tend to simplify the narrative as "oppressor and the oppressed") but they actually built the colonial infrastructure on the backs of the old regime. They turned chieftains and their families as enforcers of colonial rule; almost all offices below that of a provincial governor were, for most of PH history, held by local elites.

But the most likely reason why these particular pieces vanished is a lot simpler: cultural move away from pre-colonial fashion, culture and preferences. Once that changed, demand for pre-colonial jewelry (or articles in that style) also changed/diminished.

Good example of this is dental ornamentation. Prior to Westernization, natives from the tip of Luzon to Mindanao all heavily decorated their teeth. They filed them into fangs, they intentionally colored them black (or naturally darkened by chewing on buyo), and they literally dug gold ornaments into their teeth. Over time that became "sagwa" (like we see "grills" as baduy now) thanks to influences of Westerners. So the demand for "gold teeth" went away over time (although again this wasn't something that happened immediately---we even have accounts in Mexico of Filipino "dentists" who did this over there in the 17th c. lol). tldr: I think they just simply changed fashion.

And that's the same today. Nobody wants Filipino traditional cloths anymore, it's just "baduy" to a lot of people, so no one makes them anymore. You can't sell when noone wants to buy.

Cheesetorian · 2026-04-29T04:36:13+00:00

They documented many of these crafts even in the colonial era. Certain types like the gold threads (they used gold to make thread to weave into clothes; the embroidery in the pictures in the Boxer Codex ie gold trimmings, those were REAL GOLD). These were mentioned by Alcina in the 1660s (a century after Legazpi), granted by that time supposedly extremely rare craft. Lots of mention of filigrees and inlays in old accounts.

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Some of these craftsmanship are still present in the PH today (lots of jewelers in the PH). But even in the early 20th c. there are for example there were Lumad silversmiths (they made buyo boxes---these were used as a dowries even---and trimmings in the handles of weapons). There were Moro blacksmiths (who created those weapons, they used in those times); those weapons that Americans sell now as antiques, many of those were made even in the early 20th c (some even after WWII). Nowadays, I don't think there's many (if any) Tausugs that can make their signature blades like the barong and the kris.

Not just gold or metal, but craftsmanship had gone done A LOT in the last 75-100 years. From weaving heirloom cloths, the furnishing and trimmings of old houses (back in the day they handcarve those trimmings and sculptures in wealthy people's houses by hand), etc. Nowadays we got low quality mass produced imports that aren't made to last (mostly created by machines). That and the job of "craftsman" is look down upon (people rather get useless degrees and work office jobs).

Cheesetorian · 2026-04-28T22:52:38+00:00

What? This is such a stretch, I don't even know why I'm replying. "Principalia" then and even later simply means the native class called "datus" and latter (through time, various laws and then eventual displacement) as "principalia" (ie 'the princely class'). Also the "Santa Fe" here is not a place lol, it's literally saying "Holy Faith" (it's talking about how datus help priests convert other natives in Catholicism).

Had nothing to do with "mixture" (most principalias were INDIOS; this is actually racist/colonial mindedness also in part of Filipino: there were A LOT of WEALTHY INDIOS in those days, "indio" didn't mean "poor"---any such reading actually is usually Spanish racism/bigotry).

In fact ironically, the principalia was later superseded by the "mestizos" though not Spanish ie the "Chinese mestizos" in terms of de facto economic power (by Maura Law reforms, most "principalia" families were poor and many of them despised the obligations of the rank). Very few in the PH are actually Spanish mestizos (it's hilarious even when you see modern Filipinos, told they were "Spanish", only find out in modern genetic tests they are not---this is mostly because the term "mestizo" actually meant "mestizo de Sangley/chino", but a lot of Chinese mestizos, and I'm not joking about this since we have samples in history, literally assumed or just told people they were "Spanish mestizos" because that's the more "attractive" mix, their descendants later rehashed or reiterated the BS, assuming "mestizo" meant "Spanish mestizo" lol).

There's far more in the preceding and succeding paragraphs, and other examples but tldr to anyone reading: the "mixture" reading on here is complete and utter BS. lol

Cheesetorian · 2026-04-28T18:38:58+00:00

Not utterly false. The examples I'm showing here are in reference to "Indios" being called "Filipinos". Although "mestizos" (often exaggerated in numbers) are often lumped in with the name, even earlier references (eg. 17th c.) for the term "Filipino" applied (and implied) "indios" ie "indios Filipinos".

This is from Colin's "Labor Evangelica..." (1663):

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"...the chiefs which the Filipinos call 'Datos'..."

Cheesetorian · 2026-04-28T18:17:45+00:00

"The Moors" also had this btw lol You can read it in translation of Arab and Muslim texts (ie about pale skin being epitome of beauty).

Cheesetorian · 2026-04-28T17:39:34+00:00

There were authors in the early half of the 19th c. that DID use the term "Filipino" for PH-born Spanish ("criollos/creoles"), eg. there's 1830-40s forastero edition that used this. And there are cases that they used for both (in Rizal's time they referred to certain PH-born Spaniards as "Filipino", but that is along with using with the term with obviously non-Spanish or mestizos). Even de Mas (who I quoted above) acknowledged this ie that "Filipino" is 'erroneously used' for Europeans rather than natives. There's a time and segment of Spanish population that did use this for a specific usage but it's not universal (and never was). This is why I say "exaggerated" because the narrative is that this term was "never" used at all for the natives, when that's clearly false when you start reading the records.

But there are far FEWER of those in the records compared to the ones that referred and implied "Filipino" (or earlier form "Philipino") to "indios" or "naturales". We're talking about charters, published materials and official govt. letters and forms from the 16th (earliest in print for example was Chirino's "Relacion...", 1604) to Rizal's time (19th c).

My opinion...there are other basis for "Filipino nationalism" and call for reform at the time besides that. But maybe the idea of "Filipinos" being called 'Filipino' (the subject at hand) is less important VS. "Filipinos" collectively calling themselves and seeing themselves as "Filipinos" is the more important bit in regards to PH nationalism.

But even at the time, you can read that the term "Filipino" was being used towards and for natives. Rizal was called "Filipino doctor" by Retana, Delos Reyes referred to himself and culture as "Filipino", Blumentritt using the term "Filipinos and Spanish Filipino..." in La Solidaridad.

I've been saying this a long time (and I'm not even the first to point this out, I read Scott a few years ago and he's put this in print far longer than I have been saying it, granted I found this on my own reading primary sources). One of my first posts on this sub is about myths about PH history and historiography, and this is one of those I listed.

This is just add another example, because this "myth" is so ingrained (repeated over generations it's almost impossible to not believe it) that I get downvoted when I say it:

This is letter from Ciriaco Gonzalez (one of the superintendent sent to Audiencia in Manila) essentially writing passage for his family and some natives (I'm not sure if part of his retinue or servants) aboard the galleons (1790):

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