2. Manuel L. Quezon
• Former president of the
Philippines
• A writer and a lover of life
In his autobiography, Quezon
describes an amusing incident
during his youth, in connection
with the courting customs of his
time.
3. TOWN of BALER
• Always famous for having an
abundance of beautiful girls.
Courting in the Philippines during
the Spanish days was indeed a most
trying enterprise.
Girls were always chaperoned
whenever they attend a dance, nor
were they allowed out of the house
alone.
4. • Letters through the mail, addressed
to a girl, were sure to fall into
her parent’s hands and never reached
the addressee.
• When a girl was visited in her home,
she was not permitted to sit near
her suitor; and someone was always
present so that the conversation
could never refer to anything so
personal as the object of the call.
5. • In his town, the young man would
be the asked to sit on a bench and
the prevailing rules of etiquette
required that one must not walk
straight to the bench.
• Had to do it step by step, until
the invitation to sit was repeated
three times.
• Then at last the tortured victim
would have the right to sit down.
7. • Etiquette
The conduct or procedure required by good
breeding or prescribed by authority to be
observed in social or official life.
• Melancholy
Sad; gloomy; dark.
• Impromptu
Composed or uttered without previous
preparation; extemporaneous.
• Unperturbed
Quiet or undisturbed.
8. ₂ How were the girls courted during the
Spanish time?
It was too elaborate, too formal, and too
burdensome.
₃ How did Quezon court the girl of his dreams?
He serenade as the means of promoting
pretentions.
9. ₄ Explain the significance of the author’s last
line: “There was no protest, but it was the
end, for fate took me away shortly after
incident.”
₅ Compare and contrast courting customs in
the Philippines during Quezon’s time and
now.
10. TRADITION
• the Spanish times prohibits men to be very
aggressive or becoming even when they want the
lady very much.
• One cannot just talk and approach a lady in the
street and ask her number or address. If a young
man sees a lady he likes he should seek out the
help of a go-between, usually a common friend of
both family, to ask the permission of the girls
father whether he can visit them in their house.
• This is the gentlemanly thing to do so the parents
will most likely approve unless of course the lady
is just a child.
11. MODERN
• Modern courtship does not really have a pattern.
It could start from a group date where friends
would pair friends up and tease them. Friends
could play cupid and set a couple up and leave
them on their own to talk then before you know
it they are going out on a date.
• With the influence of western television, modern
courtship these days are going fast although it
doesn't necessarily have the emotional baggage
attached with immediately going to bed.
• It would take a lot longer time for Filipinos to
trust each other to get to that point. It stems on
the virtues rooted from the olden days.
