Maginoo
Encyclopedia
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th and 17th centuries. Members of this class serve as the leaders of the Barangay
Barangay
A barangay is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district or ward...
, and the Datu
Datu
Datu is the title for tribal chiefs, sovereign princes, and monarchs in the Visayas and Mindanao Regions of the Philippines. Together with Lakan , Apo in Central and Northern Luzon, Sultan and Rajah, they are titles used for native royalty, and are still currently used in the Philippines...
(chief) and the Babaylan
Babaylan
Babaylan is a Visayan term identifying an indigenous Filipino religious leader, who functions as a healer, a shaman, a seer and a community "miracle-worker"...
or Katalonan
Katalonan
A Katalonan is a priest or priestess of the old Tagalog animistic religion. These priestesses were either female, or male transvestites...
(spiritual leaders).
The other two social classes almost universally observed among Filipino cultures before the arrival of Spain were: Timawa
Timawa
The term timawa refers to an intermediate social class among the various cultures of the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th and 17th centuries....
(Freeman) and Alipin
Alipin
The term alipin refers to the lowest social class among the various cultures of the Philippines before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th and 17th centuries. The closest and most common translation of the word is "servant" or "slave", as opposed to the higher classes of the Timawa and the...
(Servant). Some of the sources from the early Spanish colonial ere who observed local customs also noted the existence of another social class among the Tagalog
Tagalog people
The Tagalog people are an ethnic group in the Philippines. The name Tagalog comes from either the native term tagá-ilog, meaning 'people living along the river', or another native term, tagá-alog, meaning 'people living along the ford', a ford being a shallow part of a river or stream where people,...
, the Maharlika
Maharlika
Maharlika is a Filipino term meaning “nobility” or “aristocracy”. Its etymology is rooted from the Sanskrit maharddhika which means “a man of wealth, knowledge, and ability”...
, but there is some confusion about the precise nature of the overlap between the Maginoo, Maharlika, and Timawa classes.
During the regime of the former dictator of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos, Sr. was a Filipino leader and an authoritarian President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate...
, the term Maharlika was mistakenly attributed to mean 'Royalty'. As part of his drive at promoting Bagong Lipunan (New Society) Marcos sponsored the research into prehispanic 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 Malacañang Palace
Malacañang Palace
The Malacañan Palace, commonly known simply as Malacañang, is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the Philippines. Located at 1000 J. P. Laurel Street, San Miguel, Manila, the house was built in 1750 in Spanish Colonial style. It has been the residence of every...
. Marcos's 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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During the Martial Law Period
Martial Law in the Philippines
Martial law in the Philippines refers to the period of Philippine history where Philippine Presidents declare a proclamation to control unpacified places under the rule of Military, it is usually given when threatened by popular protests, or to crack down on the opposition...
in the Philippines, Marcos attempted to produce a film entitled Maharlika to present his “war exploits”.
One of the results of this trend was, unfortunately, the distortion of the original meaning of 'Maharlika'. Maharlika does not actually refer to the 'Royalty' class as is claimed, but refers to the warrior class. They can sometimes be confused with the actual Royal class, the Maginoo, because like the vassal lords of the European medieval societies, they can also be granted land and alipin/timawa subjects in exchange for service in battle. It is also more or less unique to the Tagalog caste system and that of its neighboring tribes.