[citation needed] The tactics and strategies prevalent during the Philippines' early historic period were shaped by the archipelagic nature of the islands.

Participation and conduct in raids and other battles were recorded permanently by the timawa and the tumao in the form of tattoos on their bodies, hence the Spanish name for them—pintados (literally "the painted ones").

The lowlanders of Luzon no longer used the bararao, while the Moros and animists of the south still continue the tradition of making kampilan and kris.

[10] Swords (kalis and kampilan) were either straight or wavy double-edged, with bronze or iron blades and hilts made of hardwoods, bone, antler, shell, or, for high ranking individuals, gold encrusted with precious stones.

Visayan shields, kalasag, were made of light, fibrous wood designed to enmesh any spear or dagger that penetrated its surface and to prevent their retrieval by the enemy.

In some parts of the Philippines, armor was made from diverse materials such as cordage, bamboo, tree bark, sharkskin, and water buffalo hide to deflect piercing blows by cutlasses or spear points.

Tagalog people were known used round bucklers, carabao horn corselets, breastplates and padded armor, the also occasionally use Chinese peak helmets and Japanese katana.

The barote was woven of thick braided abacá or bark cords, tight enough to be waterproof and knotted intricately so that cuts did not spread.

Pakil and batung-batung were breastplates and back plates made of bamboo bark, hardwood like ebony or in Mindanao, and carabao horn or elephant hide from Jolo.

[10] Spanish descriptions indicate that the typical fortifications consisted of raised earthworks with a wooden palisade along the top (called a kuta in Tagalog) surrounded by a ditch or water-filled moat.

There are reports of well constructed wooden fortifications around the political centers of Manila, Tondo, Cebu, Mindoro and numerous other coastal towns.

Philippine ships, such as the karakoa or korkoa, were of excellent quality and some of them were used by the Spaniards in expeditions against rebellious tribes and Dutch and British forces.

[1] Between 1174 and 1190 CE, Chau Ju-Kua, a travelling Chinese government bureaucrat, reported a group of "ferocious raiders" near the coast of Fujian.

They gained power in their region through effective trade and through military campaigns in Myanmar, Malacca and East Timor,[19][20] where Lucoes were employed as traders and mercenaries.

The Battle of Bangkusay, on June 3, 1571, was a naval engagement that marked the last resistance by locals to the Spanish Empire's occupation and colonization of the Pasig River delta, which had been the site of the indigenous polities of Maynila and Tondo.

The Spanish victory in Bangkusay and Legazpi's alliance with Lakandula of Tondo, enabled the Spaniards to establish themselves throughout the city and its neighboring towns.