Note 12 — Chapter V · The Filipino People Before the Arrival of the Spaniards.

Life in the Barangay.—Community feeling was very strong within the barangay. A man could not leave his own barangay for life in another without the consent of the community and the payment of money. If a man of one barrio married a woman of another, their children were divided between the two barangays. The barangay was responsible for the good conduct of its members, and if one of them suffered an injury from a man outside, the whole barangay had to be appeased. Disputes and wrongs between members of the same barangay were referred to a number of old men, who decided the matter in accordance with the customs of the tribe, which were handed down by tradition.12