Maginoo


The Tagalog maginoo, the Kapampangan ginu, and the Visayan tumao were the nobility social class among various cultures of the pre-colonial Philippines. Among the Visayans, the tumao were further distinguished from the immediate royal families, the kadatoan.

Overview

Tagalog

The Tagalog nobility were known as the maginoo. The Tagalog had a three-class social structure consisting of the alipin, the maharlika, and finally the maginoo. Only those who can claim royal descent were included in the maginoo class. Their prominence depended on the fame of their ancestors or their wealth and bravery in battle. Generally, the closer a maginoo lineage is to the royal founder of a lineage, the higher their status.

Members of the maginoo class were referred to as Ginoo. Proper names of the maginoo nobles were preceded by Gat for men and Dayang for women, the equivalent of Lord and Lady respectively. The title Panginoon was reserved for particularly powerful maginoo who ruled over a large number of dependents and slaves, owned numerous property, and whose lineage was impeccable. Lower-status maginoo who gain prominence by newly acquired wealth were scornfully known as maygintawo. In Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala, the Spanish Franciscan missionary Pedro de San Buenaventura compared the maygintawo to "dark knights" who gain their status by gold and not by lineage.
The Tagalog datu were maginoo who ruled over a community or had a large enough following. These datu either ruled over a single community or were part of a larger settlement. They constituted a council and answered to a paramount chief, referred to as the Lakan. During the Spanish conquest, these community datu were given the equivalent Spanish title of Don.

Visayas

In Visayas, the Visayans utilized a three-class social structure consisting of the oripun, the timawa, and at the top, the tumao. The tumao consisted of blood relatives of the datu untainted by slavery, servitude, or witchcraft. They were usually descendants of the children of a datu and secondary wives known as sandil. Various tumao supporters of the datu are collectively referred to as sandig sa datu. The tumao were also usually employed in the court of the datu in various positions. The chief minister or privy counselor of the datu was known as the atubang sa datu. The steward who collected and recorded tributes and taxes and dispensed them among the household and dependents of the datu was known as the paragahin. The paragahin was also responsible for organizing public feasts and communal work. The bilanggo was the one responsible for maintaining law and order and whose own house served as the community jail. Both tumao and timawa were obligated to serve as the military forces of the datu in times of war, at their own expense.
The immediate royal family of the Visayan datu were distinguished from the rest of the tumao as the kadatoan, which was both a political office and a social class. The purity of the lineage of the kadatoan was extremely important in claiming the right to rule, thus the kadatoan usually only married members of other royal families. The sons and daughters of the datu by his first wife were zealously guarded from the rest of the community. The princesses were known as binokot, due to the fact that they were usually transported by slaves in covered palanquins. Women of the kadatoan class were powerful and revered. The first wife of the datu and the binokot could command the same number of slaves and dependents.
A datu who gained his status by marrying a princess is known as a sabali. A datu who is of pure royal lineage is known as potli or lubus nga datu, while a datu whose four grandparents are all of pure royal descent are known as kalibutan.
The datu served as leaders and judges. Their proclamations were delivered to the general populace by an oripun serving as the town herald. They received tributes, taxes, and gifts from their subjects, among them were the himuka, bawbaw, and hikun. They had control of trade through honos, bihit, and lopig. They also had the power to restrict access to communal property through decrees and their crops and animals were distributed among his subjects to care for in a practice known as takay. The datu, however, were far from being a leisured aristocracy. They were often skilled craftsmen, hunters, blacksmiths, fishermen, and warriors in their own right, and their household produced the best commodities for trade.
Visayan datu were loosely bound to each other in a federation. Members of a chiefdom had a leading datu who had authority over other datu, usually simply referred to as the pangulo, kaponoan, or makaporos nga datu. The pangulo of seaports with frequent foreign traffic may sometimes take on Malay or Sanskrit titles like Rajah, Batara, Sarripada. However, they were not kings in the European sense. Their authority usually stems from favorable trade positions, military prowess, lineage, and wealth rather than royal rule. While they had limited power over other member datu of the chiefdom based on their renown, they had no direct control over the subjects or lands of the other datu.
The historian William Henry Scott theorizes that this may have been Ferdinand Magellan's fatal error. Magellan assumed that Rajah Humabon was the king of the land and thus of Mactan as well. But the island of Mactan, the domain of Lapu-Lapu and another datu named Zula, was in a location that enabled them to intercept trade ships entering the harbor of Cebu, Humabon's domain. Thus it was more likely that Lapu-Lapu was actually more powerful than Humabon. Humabon himself was married to Lapu-Lapu's niece. When Magellan demanded that Lapu-Lapu submit as his "king" Humabon had done, Lapu-Lapu purportedly replied that "he was unwilling to come and do reverence to one whom he had been commanding for so long a time".

Moro Sultanates

In the Muslim Sultanate of Sulu and Sultanate of Maguindanao, the supreme ruler was the Sultan. The power of the Sultan is counterpoised by a council of datu. Female nobility of these ranks were addressed as dayang, with the Sultan's daughters being known as dayang-dayang. All of these titles are strictly hereditary.
Below the royal nobility are the provincial governors as well as wealthy people. Commoners can sometimes be promoted to nobility, known as datu sadja. Usually for outstanding feats or services in line of duty through display of bravery, heroism, and so on. Unlike true datu, the rank is only for the lifetime of the recipient and is not hereditary.

Maranao

The Maranao people of the Lanao region differ from other Moro Sultanates in that it is not centralized. Instead it is a confederation of several independent Maranao states each formed by multiple clans. The hereditary royal class of the Maranao society are collectively known as pidtaylan, and trace their descent from the first Sultan. These sultans rule independent states, which are further divided into smaller communities ruled by hereditary datu of the kadatuan class. Local government units are administered by panglima and maharajah.
The highest position in female nobility is the bai-a-labi. This is followed by potri maamor, solotan a bai, and bai a dalomangcob. Noble women are referred to as bayi, while non-noble wealthy women are known as bayi a gaos.

Confusion with ''maharlika''

During the time of former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, the term "Maharlika" was mistakenly attributed to mean "royalty". As part of his drive at promoting the Bagong Lipunan, Marcos sponsored the research into pre-Hispanic culture of the Philippines. Apart from recommending changing the name of the Philippines into "Maharlika", Marcos was influential in making Maharlika a trendy name for streets, edifices, banquet halls, villages and cultural organizations. Marcos himself utilized the word to christen a highway, a broadcasting corporation, and the reception area of the Malacañan Palace. Marcos' propagandistic utilization of the word started during the Second World War. Before being proven false in 1985, Marcos claimed that he had commanded a group of guerrillas known as the Maharlika Unit. Marcos also used Maharlika as his personal nom de guerre, depicting himself as the most bemedalled anti-Japanese Filipino guerrilla soldier during World War II. During the martial law period in the Philippines, Marcos attempted to produce a film entitled Maharlika to present his "war exploits".
One of the results of this trend was the distortion of the original meaning of Maharlika. Maharlika does not actually refer to the "royalty" class as is claimed, but refers to the vassal warrior class. The Maharlika were also more or less unique to the Tagalog caste system and that of its neighboring tribes.