Filipino styles and honorifics

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In the Philippine languages, a system of titles and honorifics was used extensively during the pre-colonial era, mostly by the Tagalogs and Visayans. These were borrowed from the Malay system of honorifics obtained from the Moro peoples of Mindanao, which in turn was based on the Indianized Sanskrit honorifics system^[1] and the Chinese's used in areas like Ma-i (Mindoro) and Pangasinan. The titles of historical figures such as Rajah Sulayman, Lakandula and Dayang Kalangitan evidence Indian influence. Malay titles are still used by the royal houses of Sulu, Maguindanao, Maranao and Iranun on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. However, these are retained on a traditional basis as the 1987 Constitution explicitly reaffirms the abolition of royal and noble titles in the republic.^[2][3][4][5]

In the Spanish era, Filipinos often used honorific systems based on the Spanish hierarchy, like don, which was used to address members of the nobility, such as hidalgos, fidalgos, and members of the secular clergy. The treatment gradually became reserved for persons of the blood royal and those of such acknowledged high or ancient aristocratic birth as noble de Juro e Herdade, that is, "by right and heredity" rather than by the king's grace. There were rare exemptions to the rule, such as the mulatto, Miguel Enríquez, who received the distinction from Philip V due to his privateering work in the Caribbean. However, by the 20th century, it was no longer restricted in use for the upper classes, since persons of means or education (at least of a "bachiller" level), regardless of background, came to be so addressed, and it is now often used as if it were a more formal version of Señor. This term was also once used to address someone with the quality of nobility (not necessarily holding a nobiliary title). This was, for example, the case of military leaders addressing Spanish troops as señores soldados (gentlemen-soldiers). In Spanish-speaking Latin America, this honorific is usually used with people of older age.

Presently, noble titles are rarely used outside of the national honors system and as courtesy titles for Moro nobility. The only other common exception is the President of the Philippines, who is styled "Excellency", and all high-ranking government officials, who are referred to as "The Honorable". Former president Rodrigo Duterte dropped his title from official communications, pushing other government officials to follow suit.