Principalía

The principalía or noble class was the ruling and usually educated upper class in the pueblos of Spanish Philippines, comprising the gobernadorcillo (later called the capitán municipal and had functions similar to a town mayor), tenientes de justicia (lieutenants of justice), and the cabezas de barangay (heads of the barangays) who governed the districts. Also included in this class were former gobernadorcillos or municipal captains, and municipal lieutenants in good standing during their term of office.

The distinction or status of being part of the principalía was originally a hereditary right. However, a royal decree dated December 20, 1863 (signed in the name of Queen Isabella II by the Minister of the Colonies, José de la Concha), made possible the creation of new principales under certain defined criteria, among which was proficiency in the Castilian language. Later, wider conditions that defined the principalía were stipulated in the norms provided by the Maura Law of 1893, which was in force until Spain lost the Philippines to the United States in 1898. The Maura Law also redefined the title of the head of municipal government from gobernadorcillo to capitán municipal, and extended the distinction as principales to citizens paying 50 pesos in land tax.

Prior to the Maura Law, this distinguished upper class included only those exempted from tribute (tax) to the Spanish crown. Colonial documents would refer to them as "de privilegio y gratis", in contrast to those who pay tribute ("de pago"). It was the true aristocracy and nobility of the Spanish colonial Philippines, roughly analogous to the patrician class in Ancient Rome. The principales (members of the principalía) traced their origin to the pre‑colonial maginoo ruling class of established kingdoms, rajahnates, confederacies, and principalities, as well as the lordships of the smaller, ancient social units called barangays in the Visayas, Luzon, and Mindanao.

The members of this class enjoyed exclusive privileges: only members of the principalía were allowed to vote, be elected to public office, and bear the titles Don or Doña. The use of the honorific addresses "Don" and "Doña" was strictly limited to what many documents during the colonial period would refer to as "vecinas y vecinos distinguidos".

For the most part, the social privileges of the nobles were freely acknowledged as befitting their greater social responsibilities. The gobernadorcillo during that period received a nominal salary and was not provided a public services budget by the central government. In fact, the gobernadorcillo often had to govern his municipality by looking after the post office and the jailhouse, alongside managing public infrastructure, using personal resources.

Principales also provided assistance to parishes by helping in the construction of church buildings, and in the pastoral and religious activities of the clergy who, being usually among the few Spaniards in most colonial towns, had success in earning the goodwill of the natives. More often, the clergy were the sole representatives of Spain in many parts of the archipelago. Under the patronato real of the Spanish crown, Spanish churchmen were also the king's de facto ambassadors, and promoters of the realm.

With the end of Spanish sovereignty over the Philippines after the Spanish–American War in 1898 and the introduction of a democratic, republican system during the American colonial period, the principalía and their descendants lost legal authority and social privileges. Many were, however, able to integrate into the new socio-political structure, retaining some degree of influence and power.

From the beginning of the colonial period in the Philippines, the Spanish government built on the traditional pre‑conquest socio‑political organization of the barangay and co‑opted the traditional indigenous princes and their nobles, thereby ruling indirectly. The barangays in some coastal places in Panay, Manila, Cebu, Jolo, and Butuan, with cosmopolitan cultures and trade relations with other countries in Asia, were already established principalities (kinadatuan) before the coming of the Spaniards. In other regions, even though the majority of these barangays were not large settlements, yet they had organized societies dominated by the same type of recognized aristocracy and lordships (with birthright claim to allegiance from followers), as those found in more established, richer and more developed principalities. The aristocratic group in these pre‑colonial societies was called the datu class. Its members were presumably the descendants of the first settlers on the land or, in the case of later arrivals, of those who were datus at the time of migration or conquest.