CHAPTER 9
OUR SPANISH HERITAGE
WHAT WAS life like for our people during
the Spanish era (1565-1893)? How did
Spaniards change the lives of our Filipino
ancestors? Did Spain improve or worsen the
life in the Philippines? In this chapter we
will study about the culture of the
Philippines during Spanish era.
CATHOLICISM WAS SPAIN’S
GREATEST LEGACY
The Roman Catholic religion was the
greatest legacy of Spain in the Philippines. If
the Spaniards had not come and colonized in
our country in the 16th century, we would
have been in a Muslim country, like
Indonesia, and Malaysia. To Spain, the
Filipinos owe a lasting debt of gratitude of
making the Philippines the only Christian
nation in Asia.
Catholicism spread quickly in the
Philippines. This due to the diligence and
good works of the early Spanish
missionaries. The first Spanish missionaries
who came in the Philippines, especially 16th
and 17th century, were really zealous
soldiers of Christ.
The Spanish priest destroyed the
pagan idols and practices of the early
Filipinos. This is why we have so few relics
of our pre-Spanish era. The pagan and
Muslim Filipinos were told to leave their
religion and convert to Catholicism..
By the end of the 16th century, there
were more than 500,000 Catholics in the
Philippines. By the 17th century, this number
doubled to over a million of Catholics. And,
by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, most of
the Filipinos had become Catholics. This
was the greatest missionary success in the
colonial history.
So it came to the pass that the
Philippines became the only Christian nation
in Asian world. Catholics consider
themselves as Christians who believes in
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But they
add and subtract some beliefs in the Bible.
Catholics believe the Pope in the Vatican
and no Roman can change what the Bible
says. For example, the Pope has allowed
Catholics to make religious images that look
like Jesus. His mother Mary and other
Biblical characters like Peter, Paul and Mary
Magdalena, etc. The Pope and Catholic
priests allow Catholic to kneel down, pray
before these religious images and parade
them in processions. Another characteristics
of Catholics is that they pray to Mary the
mother of Jesus and they use the rosary
(prayer beads), the prayer novenas
(repetitious prayers), and “holy water” when
they cross themselves. They make the sign
of the cross when they pray and they go to a
priest for confession and communion.
Many Catholic priests during the
Spanish era help to improve our lives. For
example, they stopped the awful pagan
practices divorces, killing unwanted babies
(abortion), offering human and animal’s
exercises and tribal wars. The practice of
polygamy (having many wives) was banned,
and marriage between a man and woman
become a holy union. The Catholic families
lived very religiously; feared God and the
priest obeyed the laws of the land and the
commandments of the Catholic Church.
During our Spanish colonial era, the
Catholic Church and the government were
united. No other religion was permitted, and
it was illegal to disobey a Catholic priest.
The power of the Catholic Church was very
strong during Spanish era.
But many Catholic priests abused
their power. Although Catholic priest are not
allowed to marry, many of the priests in the
provinces and town had secret marriages
with beautiful women and they had
illegitimate children. Many of these Catholic
priests inherited fortunes from their secret
fathers, because the Spanish priest had
control of much wealth during the Spanish
era. Sometimes the Spanish Catholic priests
(called friars) also abused the local
inhabitants of the small towns. They used
their religious power to memorize people
into doing they wanted, even if they are
cruel and arrogant.
Finally, the Bible was banned at that
time. The Catholics during Spanish era were
not allowed to have or to read the Bible.
Only a priest was allowed to that. Having a
Bible during the Spanish colonial era was
considered a criminal offense , and the
person with a Bible, could be put in jail.
Only the Catholic religious was allowed to
be practiced, and the Bible was not available
for all.
The abuses of the Spanish friars and
the Catholic Church in the Philippines
became one of the reasons for the Philippine
Revolution that the Filipinos started in 1896.
HOSPITALS AND ORPHANAGES
Due to the influence of Christianity, the sick
and the poor were given better care during
the Spanish era. In 1578 the first hospital
was founded in Manila. This hospital later
became the Hospital of San Juan de Dios
and the San Lazaro Hospitals, two of the
oldest existing hospitals in Asia. There were
other hospitals in Manila, Los Baños,
Cavite, Cebu and Laoag. The first hospital
in the Philippines was started 173 years
earlier than the first hospital in the United
States.
Orphans and homeless children did
not wander around. They were cared for in
special orphanages and asylums. In 1810 the
first regular orphanage was founded in
Manila. It was the Real Hospicio de San
Jose. It still exists. The other existing
orphanage is the Asylum of St. Vincent de
Paul, built in 1885 in Manila.
DIET AND DRESS
The simple diet and dress of the early
Filipino were also changed and improved by
the Spaniards. Spain introduced mew food
plants like corn, potatoes, coffee, cacao,
cabbage, seguidillas, Chico’s, guavas and
wheat. Filipino learned to eat bread and
drink coffee and chocolate.
Other new foods introduced by Spain
were beef (from cattle), mutton (from lamb),
sausages (longganizas), ham (hamon) and
sardines. From other parts of Europe came
imported canned goods like chorizos de
Bilbao, olive oil, and pickles. We learned to
eat with spoons, forks, table knives, napkins
and crystals deinking glasses. New drinks
came from Spain (sangria), Portugal (port),
Germany (beer) and France ().
 In clothing, the men’s jacket and
bahag were replaced by the Western coat
and trousers. Today we call the Western coat
“Americana” because it was introduced by
the American Spaniards from Mexico. The
Filipinos wore the”Americana” long before
from the Americans from the United States
came. The lower-class men wore hats,
instead of the putong.
The style of dressing of the women
also changed. Instead sarong robe, they
wore the saya (skirt), camisa (blouse). They
learned to wear hair combs, shawls (monton
de Manila) and handkerchiefs. They still
wore jewelry, but gave up wearing armless
and anklets.
Instead of bare feet, everyone started
wearing slippers and shoes.
FAMILY LIFE
Family life was also improved by the
coming of the Catholic Spaniards. Many
early Filipinos killed unwanted babies or
married many wives. These practices were
stopped during Spanish era.
The family became the unit of the
society, with a father as the head of the
household and a mother in charge of the
daily chores and children. Family ties were
very close then. The father was the
breadwinner of the family. He was respected
and obeyed, but he was not a tyrant. He
consulted his wife on important decisions
affecting the family, like family expenses,
the children’s education and sale or purchase
of family property. The mother was the first
tutor of the children. She taught them the
alphabet and Catholic prayers (the Hail
Mary, Our Father, rosary and novenas).
Christianity was a good influence on
family life. Parents and children prayed
together the rosary and angelus every night.
Family members went home before the
church bells pealed to 6 PM. They woke up
to the sound of the early morning church
bells. They went to church together to hear
mass on Sundays, holy days, and town
fiestas. They prayed before every meal.
There were a few broken families. It
was considered a scandal to come from a
broken home. Parents spent time with their
children. In return, children obeyed and
respected their parents. As a sign of respects
for parents and grandparents, the children
kissed their hands and said “Mano, Po.”
FILIPINO WOMEN IN SPANISH
TIMES
The position of women in society was
improved even more during Spanish era.
The women were respected and honored by
men. If single, the women were chaperoned
when they attended dances and social
events. Even when they are courted by a
suitor, women were strictly chaperoned.
Women did not mix freely with men.
Young women were kept in the
home or at school with other women. They
were educated in the colegios (exclusives
schools) run by nuns for girls. They could
not study in the universities or practice a
profession like law, medicine and
engineering. They were only trained to be
good wives and good mothers.
Many young women entered the
nunnery and became nuns. The beautiful
Maria Clara in the novels of Rizal is a good
example of womanhood in Spanish times.
 NEW CALENDAR It was Governor General Claveria
who solved this problem. On November 21,
Spain introduced the Western calendar in
1849 he ordered all Filipino families to
our country. With this calendar, we kept
choose a surname from a catalog sent to all
dates similar to that used in Europe, which
provinces in the country. The special catalog
was then the most advanced region in the
listed Spanish surnames from A to Z. That is
world.
how Filipinos came to have a Spanish name.
However, Governor General Narciso
Claveria corrected the Philippine calendar.
On August 16, 1884 he ordered that LATIN ALPHABET AND SPANISH
Tuesday, December 31, 1844 would be LANGUAGE
Wednesday, January 1, 1845. Until the time,
The introduction by Spain of Latin alphabet
our calendar had been one day behind the
and Spanish language made our people
European time.
closer to the Western world. This was an
improvement of our lives because West was
then the most advanced civilization in the
SPANISH NAMES FOR FILIPINOS
world. So we came to know Western culture
During Spanish era, Filipinos got Spanish and technology better.
names. At first the early Spanish colonizers
The educated and rich Filipinos
changed our local names to Spanish names
learned to speak Spanish. There are about
that they could remember. For example,
5,000 Spanish words in our native dialects.
Queen of Cebu was baptized as the first
The Spanish words are still commonly used
Filipina Catholic and given the name Juana,
like “mesa” (table), “silla” (chair), “oras”
after the Queen Juana of Spain (Mother of
(time), “campana” (bell), etc. Today we still
Charles I). It was difficult for the Spaniards
consider it a sign of culture to be able to
to remember Filipino names like “Malakas”
speak Spanish. After all, Spanish is the
or “Maganda”. So, when Filipinos became
language of Spain, one of the world’s former
converted to Catholicism, they were given
powers and of Latin America, a region with
new names during their baptism. This new
300 million people.
names usually followed that of the saints on
the catholic calendar. For example, a boy
baptized on the feast day of St. Gregory was
PRESERVATION OF FILIPINO
named “Gregorio”. A girl baptized on the
LANGUAGE
feast day of St. Anne was called “Ana”.
The Spanish friars (priests) studied our
Secondary, the early Filipinos did
native languages and taught us in these
not bother with surnames. One name is good
languages. They believed that we would
enough, for our ancestors. But this practice
learn faster if we used our native tongues. It
was so confusing because family ties could
was strange, but the Spaniards actually
not be known. So there was a need to add
preserved and developed our native
surnames (family names) to the first names.
languages like, Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano,
etc.
 The early Spanish missionaries wrote
the first grammar books and dictionaries of
the Filipino languages.
WESTERN EDUCATION UNDER
SPAIN
Spain introduced Western-style education in
the Philippines. This was the formal
schooling in different levels ─ elementary,
secondary (high school), college. The
Spaniards used these schools to spread
Catholic religion and Spanish culture. Thus,
apart from learning how to read, write and
count, a Filipino youth was taught the
Catholic languages, and European arts and
sciences.
The first foreign teachers in the
Philippines were the Spanish missionaries.
Filipino boys from rich families
studied at Colegio de Manila of the Jesuits,
or the Colegio de San Juan de Letran of the
Dominicians. Rich Filipino girls went to the
Colegio de San Isabel (the oldest school for
girls in the Philippines), or the Beaterio de la
Compañia de Jesus (now St. Mary’s
College), or Santa Catalina, La Concordia,
and Assumption Convent.
There were three universities during
the Spanish era. But only one of them has
remained until today. It is the University of
Santo Tomas. Founded in 1611, the U.S.T.
is the oldest existing university in the
country. It is 25 years older than Harvard
University the oldest university in the
United States (1636).
The Spaniards also introduced
vocational schools and normal schools for
teachers.
PRINTING, BOOKS AND
NEWSPAPERS
Printing is important because people learn
lot by reading, especially good books and
newspapers. The ancient Filipinos wrote in
wood, bark or leaves of trees, and other
flimsy materials. These materials did not
last. Unfornately, the early Spanish
colonizers and missionaries studied and
wrote about our culture in books.
The first Filipino printer was Tomas
Pinpin. He trained under a Spanish priest at
Abucay, Bataan. Pinpin the “Prince of
Filipino printers”, was also the first Filipino
author. He wrote the first Tagalog book ever
published.
The first book printed in the
Philippines was the Doctrina Christiana. It
was published in 1593 in Manila by the
Dominican friars. It is 47 years ahead of the
first book of Catholic catechism and prayers
The first newspaper was Del
Superior Goviernor (Of the Superior
Government. It appeared from August 8,
1811 to February 7, 1812, it was edited and
published by Governor General Manuel
Gonzales de Aguilar. They include the first
daily newspaper (La Esperanza); the first
vernacular paper (El Ilokano); and the first
women’s magazine (El Hogar).
LITERATURE
During the Spanish era, Philippine literature
was religious and taught lessons about good
and evil. Most of the reading materials were
prayer books, novenas, and biographies of
saints. The first Tagalog passion was by
Gaspar Aquino de Belen in 1704. There
were also well-known passions by other
writers.
Other types of literature for the
masses were awits (heroic poems) and
corridos (religious legendary poems). They
were stories about knights, heroes or
legends. Some examples were Don Juan
Tenorio, Ibong Adarna, and Bernardo
Carpio.
One of the famous writers in Spanish
era is Francisco Baltazar, or Balagtas.
Today, the Tagalog poetical contests are
called “balagtasan” in his honor. Balagtas
was the “Prince of Tagalog poets.” His
masterpiece was Florante at Laura, a story
of the love and adventures of a hero named
Florante.
The most famous Ilocano poet then
was Pedro Bukaneg. And Father Anselmo
Fajardo wrote Pampango drama.
The three greatest Filipino poets in
Spanish were, Cecilio Apostol, Fernando
Ma. Guerrero and Jose Palma. Palma wrote
the original lyrics of the Philippine national
anthem. Our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal,
wrote in Spanish. His two books, Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo helped to
bring down the Spanish regime.
THEATER
Western-style plays performed on stage live
actors were first introduced by the
Spaniards. The first play was presented at
Cebu in 1598.
During the Spanish era, two kinds of
plays become popular. They were cenaculo
and the moro-moro. The cenaculo was a
religious play about the life and suffering of
Christ. It was performed during the Lenten
season, when no others plays will allowed.
The moro-moro by contrast, was an
adventurous play featuring fights between
Christians and Muslims. In these plays, the
Christians always won in the end.
MUSIC
Our music was also enriched by
Spain. The Philippine national anthem
shows Spanish influence. Our musical
instruments, songs and dances were
westernized.
Spain influenced Filipino dances like
the cariñosa, surido, pandango, and the
jota. The polka, lancer, waltz and rigdon
were originally European dances.
From Europe and Mexico came new
musical instruments, like violin, flute, piano,
harp and others. In many towns and villages
during Spanish times, there were many
bands that played in the town plaza and
during fiestas. Sometimes, they only used
musical instruments made from bamboo. So
they were called musikong buh (bamboo
musicians).
The bamboo organ at the old
Catholic church of Las Piñas is the only one
of its kind in the world. It was built in 1818
by Fr. Diego Cerra.
HOUSES AND VILLAGES
The modern towns grew out of the
early settlements built by the Spaniards. The
Spanish villages formed a rectangular
pattern, with a central plaza and rectangular
street blocks.
Spain introduced the use of stone for
building. During the Spanish era were built
the first stone churches, stone buildings,
stone forts, and stone houses. Some “bahay
na bato” (stone houses) of the rich families
still exist today, for example the house of
Dr. Jose Rizal at Calamba, Laguna. The
oldest existing stone church is San Agustin
Church at Intramuros, Manila.
It became fashionable to have a
house with red tile roof, an azotea (balcony),
and a patio (yard).
ART
European paintings and sculpture
were brought to the Philippines by Spain.
Thus, the first arts works were religious art
of official portraits of kings or governors
general.
In painting, Damian Domingo was
the “Father of Filipino painters.” He also
founded the first school of painting at
Manila in 1820.
Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion
Hidalgo won international fame with their
paintings. They won first and second prizes,
respectively, at National Exposition in
Madrid in 1883.
Beautiful wood carvings of saints,
altars and pulpits decorated churches.
Images of catholic saints replaced the
pagans idol (anitos) of Filipinos. The
greatest Filipino sculptor in the Spanish era
was Mariano C. Madriñan from Paete,
Laguna.
SCIENCE
The Spanish missionaries introduced
modern science in the Philippines. They
studied our plants and animals, and wrote
many famous books on these subjects. They
also trained a few Filipinos to be scientists,
especially doctors, chemist, and
pharmacists.
Anacleto V. del Rosario became the
first Filipino director of the Manila
Laboratory in 1888. He was called the
“Prince of Filipino chemists.” Other famous
scientists during Spanish times were
graduates of the University of Santo Tomas
─ Dr. Leon Ma. Guerrero, Dr. Mariano V.
del Rosario, and Dr. Jose Rizal.
THE OBSERVATORY OF MANILA
The crowning glory of Philippine
science during Spanish times was the
Observatory of Manila. It accurately warned
of typhoons. It also measured earthquakes.
The Observatory was founded by the
Jesuit priests in 1865. The first director was
Fr. Federico Faura. The Padre Faura Street
in Ermita, Manila is named after him. He
also invented the Faura Barometer. His
successor, Fr. Jose Algue, invented
Barocyclometer.
The Observatory of Manila is the
oldest weather center in Asia.
FIEASTAS AND AMUSEMENTS
Spain introduced the religious festivals
(fiestas) in the Philippines. Every town or
barangay had its own patron saint. Each
year the feast day of the patron saint was
celebrated in the town barangay.
It was also Spain who gave us the
idea of a sleepy and a quiet Lenten season.
From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, all
festival and parties were stopped. People
chanted the “pasyon” or watched the the insulares or the Spaniards born in the
“cenaculo” to remember the life and death Philippines. During the independence
of Christ. movement and the American era was the
word “Filipino” used to mean the citizens of
The Filipino love for gambling came
the Philippines.
out in the introduction of horse races,
lottery and legalized cockfighting. Horse Because of the Spanish influence, the
racing in the race tracks started in 1868 at Filipinos have such good character traits
Santa Mesa, Manila. Cockfighting was such as:
made legal and taxed. The Manila Lottery, a
1. Christian devotion
monthly event, became the origin of the
2. delicadeza (honor)
present day sweepstakes.
3. palabra de honor (keeping
Other amusements during the promises)
Spanish era were family events, like 4. urbanidad (good manners)
baptisms, weddings, death anniversaries 5. romanticism
(siyaman), visits to the holy shrines, the
On the other hand, the Filipinos also
Flores de Mayo (May, flower festival), and
inherited some bad traits as:
Santacruzan (Holy Cross procession in
May). 1. the mañana habit (delaying work)
2. sentimentalism
Because there were no radios and
3. siesta (afternoon nap)
televisions then, people played games
4. señorito habit (dislike of manual
indoors and outdoors. Favorite games then
work)
were poetical contests (duplo and
5. aristocracy or snobbishness
balagtasan, story-telling, card games juego
de prenda, pangguingui, manila, tres siete)
and outdoors games like patintero, juego de
anilla (rings), sipa and kite-flying.

SPANISH BLOOD
Among the Spaniards, there were
two classes of foreigners. They were called
the “peninsulares” and the “insulares.”
The peninsulares were the originally came
from Spain to live and work in the
Philippines. The peninsulares felt superior to
others. Secondly, the insulares were the
Spaniards who had been born and bred in
the Philippines. They were made feel
interior simply because they did not come
from abroad in Spain. Actually, the word
“Filipino” was originally used to describe
 HISTORICAL VALUES

The Spaniards gave the Philippines a rich heritage. The Spanish influence
improved our social and cultural life. From our study of the Spanish heritage, we
learn the following:

1. We are the only Christian nation in Asia.

2. Christianity improved the standard of life of our people. It stopped the

practice of divorce, infanticide, animal and human sacrifices, polygamy, and
tribal wars.

3. Spain improved our diet, dress, family life, the position of women, the
calendar, names, alphabet and language, education, literature, music,
housing, and arts and sciences.

4. Many of our cultural traits and customs were influenced by Spain.

 Republic of the Philippines
Eastern Visayas State University
Ormoc City Campus
Ormoc City

REPORT

IN

PHILIPPINE HISTORY

Submitted by:
VERGARA, SHIELA MARIE A.
ECOT, JILL T.
TASAN, ELYN P.
BTVTED FSM 2B

submitted to:
MRS. MA. LOLLETE OPENIANO

SY:2019-2020