Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
Principalia (pl. Principales) comprised the elite ruling class and nobility who made up the mayors of towns and local chiefs of the barrios (barangay)—these were drawn from the peninsular and insular classes. They also occupied most of the professional positions and controlled professional organizations.
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Principalia are originally from indios, they belong to families that descended from precolonial nobility of the barangays like Gatdula, Soliman, Dula, Laya, Tupas, Gatmaitan, etc. some of them intermixed with the Chinese and Spanish down the line though.
I had an ancestor from 1840s in Ilocos that was a gobernadorcillo, but I don't know anything about my ancestry beyond 1790s so I cannot ascertain my family's status whether they descended from some precolonial ruling class or not, probably the latter. The most well documented principalia clans were ethnic Kapampangan and Tagalogs.