Chapter 1

THE NATURE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND

HISTORY AS ITS BRANCH
Lesson Objective:

By the end of this lesson, the learners should be able to:

1. Discuss the nature of social science;
2. Discuss the subjects of social science;
3. Enumerate the subjects and branches of social science;
4. To understand and apply the various analytical frameworks of history;
5. To explain the nationalist framework of examining history;
6. To explain the significance of the study of History; and
7. To enumerate the various stages inPhilippine history.

The Study of Social Science

Social Science or the science of society is the critical and scientific study of society and its various
elements, aspects, and processes. It is distinguished from the hard or physical sciences in that its subjects include
the development and changes in traits and behavior of human persons and collectivities as they are influenced by
various physical as well as socio-economic and cultural factors. Because of the nature of the subjects being
complex and dynamic, social sciences are less precise and relatively accurate and deal with mere descriptions
and approximations of the traits and behavior of its subject compared with the hard sciences which measure and
describes the subjects with higher degree of precision and exactness.

Behavior in the context of social science includes a person’s thoughts, actions, and attitudes. It may also
include the concerted responses and predispositions of collectivities, for instance, consumers and body of voters.
Only individuals have thoughts; the collectivities rely on the thoughts of their members and stakeholders
governing their behavior.

Thoughts exist in the mind which of course is complex and not fully revealed. This is what makes social
science relatively more difficult to study than the physical world. Measurement and prediction of human
behavior can be sometimes extremely challenging. The mind generates ideas processed from what are inputted
into the individual by the social and physical environment and may be influenced by complex factors such as
heredity, education, and culture. The environment in this context includes society and its institutions.

Thoughts when they are manifested are translated into words and actions. When thoughts are revealed,
they necessarily affect and leave imprint in the social and physical environment.

Attitude, on the other hand, is a predisposition or tendency to act or react to a stimulus or a set of stimuli
coming from the environment. How a person reacts to social events is affected by his socio-economic and
cultural background. It is said that attitudes may be classified into: reactive, passive, and pro-active. Reactive
attitudes include resistance, criticism, rejection, or similar behavior towards and event. On the other hand, when
a person is passive, he does not get involve nor does he exhibit any kind of reaction towards a social stimulus. In
the popular lingo, this is Ma at Pa (“Malay ko at pakialam ko!”) attitude. Passive attitude is not beneficial to
society in general because it reduces its members into useless parasites who may be compared to driftwoods
carried along by d tides of social change. What society needs in its members is for them to be pro-active. The
proactive people care about what goes on in society, takes pain in knowing the current development and how
they can actively participate therein and they indeed actually get their hands muddied to change society into a
better society.

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 By now, you must already know what science is. It pertains to two concepts:
1. Way of life. As a way of life, science involves the application of the scientific method in systematically
understanding an object, a being or a phenomenon. As a way of life, science involves the following
processes and stages:
i. Problem formulation;
ii. Hypothesis formulation;
iii. Data-gathering ;
iv. Presentation and analysis of data;
v. Statement of conclusion;
vi. Statement of recommendations;

2. Systematically arranged body of knowledge.

The branches of social science and how they relate to the study of government are discussed as follows:

1. Anthropology: This branch of social science covers the study of the origin of human beings. It focuses
on culture and its evolution and development. It describes and explains how society produces new
ways of social interaction, examining both the physical as well as the abstract products of social
interaction. Anthropology is an important tool in the understanding of government and the laws as it
explains the latter’s development as well as project its impact on the citizens and communities, and
the nation at large.

2. Economics: In this branch of social science, the study of the production, distribution and
consumption of goods and services are the main subjects. This is a science that deals with how
limited resources are utilized and allocated to meet humans’ unlimited wants and needs. This branch
of the social science is critical in the full appreciation of the functioning of government particularly in
relation to national development. The knowledge of economics may be relevant to Articles I, II, XII,
and XIII.

3. Education: This branch of social science studies the processes by which knowledge is passed on and
how specific skills are taught and learned. This process of education is examined throughout an
individual's lifetime that is from childbirth and on to old age.

4. Geography: This branch of social science can be subdivided into two main sub-disciplines namely;
human geography and physical geography. Human geography is mainly concerned with the built
environment and the influence humans have on the spaces they occupy. Physical geography on the
other hand looks into the natural environment. Of particular interest in this field is the study of how
climate, vegetation & life, soil, water and landforms are produced and how they interact.

5. History: This branch of social science covers the study of the past events and the factors that brought
them about. It is a field of study that uses past accounts to examine and analyze sequences of events
and attempts to examine the patterns of historical events and their influencing factors.

6. Law: This branch of social science studies the institution of the rule of law in human society and it
sometimes crosses over into the humanities depending on the aspect from which it is studied. Of
particular interest are its origin and the way in which a supreme power in a state commands what is
“right” and prohibits what is considered “wrong.”

7. Political Science: In this field of study, the theory and practice of politics is examined. Also covered is
the description and analysis of political systems including political behavior. Political science is the
branch of social science that deals with the study of politics and analysis of its system as well as
political behavior.

8. Psychology: This branch of social science involves the study of behavior and mental processes. It is
relevant tot the study of political science particularly with regards to citizen and administrative

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 behavior. Examples of this include voting patterns, acquisition and manifestations of political views
and ideologies.

9. Sociology: Covered in this branch of social science is the study of human society and social action. It
features the structures and elements of society, the changes taking place in society as it is influenced
by economic and political factors.

NAME: ___________________________________________ SCORE: _________________

COURSE & YR.:_____________________________________ DATE: __________________

EXERCISE 1

A. FILL IN THE BLANKS. Fill in the blanks to complete the following statements.
1. ___________________________ is the study of the physical world.
2. Social science is the study of _________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.
3. __________________________ covers the study of the origin of human beings and focuses on culture and its
evolution and development.
4. __________________________ is a science that deals with how limited resources are utilized and allocated to meet
humans’ unlimited wants and needs.
5. ____________________________ is a branch of social science that deals with how knowledge is passed on and
how specific skills are taught and learned.
6. ___________________________ is the branch of social science concerned with the location, natural resources, land
mass and water bodies and other aspects of the human’s physical environment.
The branch of social science covers the study of the past events and the factors that brought them aboutis
known as ____________________________.
7. ________________________is the branch of social science studies the institution of the rules and regulations
which limit the actions and behavior of the various elements of society.
8. The field of study that deals with the allocation of power in society.
9. The branch of social science that involves the study of behavior and mental processes.
10. ______________________________ is the study of the structures and elements of society, the changes taking place
in society as it is influenced by economic and political factors.

C. ENUMERATION. Enumerate the possible answers for each of the following criteria.
1. Elements of the economic subsystem
a.
b.
c.
2. Elements of the social subsystem
a.
b.
c.
3. Elements of the cultural subsystem
a.
b.
c.

INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY

Unraveling Kasaysayan

History or we may also use the term herstory is a field in the social sciences which is seen traditionally as
a systematic study of chronology of events in the civilized world. It is linked to the emergence of technology

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which enabled scholars to document these events. The earliest forms of historical accounts were oral, passed on
from generations to generations through words of mouth. That is known as oral history.

Written history as a science was first developed by westerners, but the practice had been started in Asia
where the oldest civilizations have emerged and flourished. Ancient Chinese and Babylonian civilizations have
documented and preserved their history using forms of writing on various forms of materials. Before paper was
invented, written history was recorded on rocks, caves, logs, clay tablets, and latter on the walls of megaliths.

The more important concept you have to remember about history is the science of documentation of the
stages of the development of human nations. Be they oral or written or using whatever method and material, the
object or purpose of it is to preserve the knowledge of such events, their causes, and societal changes that concur
with or ensue from them.

History as a term
History being of western origin as a science is crafted from a masculine perspective. Western civilization
is patriarchal so the emphasis is more of the role of male personages in history. What is emphasized is political
history which is male-dominated. The role of women and ordinary people is not so much elaborated in
traditional history based on a Western prospectives.

Ancient Philippine history should be properly viewed differently from those of western countries
because it is within the context of egalitarian society where laws, norms and customs and even language are
gender-neutral. It means women were treated as equally important as men in building and advancing societies.
Notice the word kasaysayan, unlike the western term “history” it does not emphasize any gender. In addition,
the term does not only pertain or allude to string of stories or events. The root word, saysay in tagalog, implies
“meaning,” “importance,” or “sense”. This means that the field of history of the Philippines as a nation, if to be
appreciated and practiced properly in the context of how Filipinos understand it, should involve an analysis of
the chronology of events within the context of the interplay of the various social, cultural, economic, and political
factors existing at the various stages of kasaysayan. It should go beyond knowing or memorizing the series of
“important” events, but more importantly it should analyze how the sense of nationhood developed or changed
with the happening of events understood within the context of the various forces and conditions in society. This
new framework or paradigm should also put emphasis on the role of the common tao or the masaand the other
layers of society in the various so called historical stages.

Lastly and more importantly, kasaysayan also implies that its learners should be digging deeper for
meanings in order to enhance their role (saysay) in the development of their nation in the present time.

The Frameworks of Studying History

Non-exclusive enumeration of four (4) appropriate frameworks in studying history include the following:
1. Conflict Framework
2. Structural Functionalist Framework
3. Framework of Periods and Conjuncture
4. Pantayong Pananaw

The above analytical frameworks are discussed as follows.

Conflict Framework
Conflict is defined as the non-concurrence or classing of opposing conditions and forces. A prevailing
condition or status quo is challenged by a new opposing condition. Once the confict between these opposing
conditions reaches its peack of intensity, it will bring forth a new condition. Examples of opposing forces include
independence and colonization; freedom and oppression; abundance and want; equality and discrimination;
peace and upheaval; fairness and injustice; and so on.
Conflict is said to exist at varying levels, intensity and duration. Viewed in the perspective of social
relations, conflict may exist first in the individuals’ recognition of inequality. At this level, the conflict is

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internal… as to whether one will accept or reject the occurrence of inequality. The next level and dimension of
conflict is when one directly experiences the consequences of inequality, as when one is a victim of economic
discrimination (example Rizal’s family being deprived of their property by Spanish officials). The next level gets
more intense as individuals come to recognize the reality that their experiences of discrimination and injustice
are shared by many other people. The next level is when these people similarly situated as victims of
discrimination and injustice band together to oppose their oppression. (As when at first they would form
associations and organizations, then they would with the concurrence of other triggering factors, arm themselves
and together stage and uprising to fight and change their experience of injustice.
To summarize the development of conflict, we may simply say that it starts:
1) Internally
2) Verbally (sharing of experiences of inequality and oppression)
3) Organization (towards the end goal of addressing or eliminating inequality through unified action)
4) Struggle
Whatever may be the kind of struggle assumed by the members of society, conflict essentially becomes a
mode of change. Properly viewed in the perspective of history, conflict becomes a catalyst of historical
development. As one philosopher puts it “history is a product of conflict.”
Kasaysayan through the Structural-Functionalist Framework
Historical events should be viewed more as phenomena brought about by social, political, and economic
factors, rather than as one-dimensional events in history. Afterall, they are products of the dynamic changes in
society.

economic forces
and changes

Social forces
and changes

Historical
phenomena
cultural factors
political forces and changes
and changes
and changes

Figure 1. Structural Functionalist Framework to Historical Analysis

Figure 1 above shows the interaction of the four major social sub-systems that bring about or
characterize historical changes. The paradigm shows that history does not happen in a vacuum. It is a dynamic
process of interactions and changes in the various societal elements.

The structural-functionalist approach is an important analytical tool that should be consciously utilized
to understand his/herstorical events in order to highlight the saysay of these events and how they relate or

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connect to our present day lives. The structural-functionalist approach dissects society into four general sub-
systems.

Historical societies feature four major social subsystems which perform four imperative functions, to wit:
1. Economic sub-systems and forces;
2. Political sub-systems and forces;
3. Social sub-systems and forces; and
4. Cultural sub-systems and force

The economic sub-systems and forces involve the following:

 State of the natural and geographic resources;

 Supply and demand;
 Aggregate national economic performance;
 Market forces;
 Rent;
 Foreign exchange; and
 International trade mechanisms and trends.

The social sub-systems and forces involve the following:

 Social stratification;
 Social institution;
 Social change; and
 Social processes.

The cultural sub-systems and forces involve the following:

 Manifestations of physical culture;
 Language;
 Religion; and
 Homogeneity/ Heterogeniety.

Application of the structural functionalist approach in history

In using the structural functionalist approach in the study of history, the above social sub-systems and
forces are to be viewed as interdependent and in a state of flux. They are constantly changing as they interact
with one another.

For instance, how did economic factors relate with political and socio-cultural changes during the
American colonization of our country (at the close of the 19th century? The status of our natural resources then,
the location (being strategically located near the Asian mainland) and geographical features of our water bodies,
coupled with the ambition of the United States to penetrate the Chinese market, made the Philippines a very
irresistible target for colonization. Our country is at the crossroad or more aptly at ground zero of conflicting
ideals, interests and forces and within the context of uniquely strategic geographical and wonderfully rich
economic resources up until this time. This ultimately accounts for why various peoples have traversed and even
tried to colonize our islands throughout our known history. The attractiveness of the strategic location of our
country in Asia may well be considered the downside of the efforts towards independence from foreign control
and influence.

Kasaysayan as periodized development

If kasaysayan is to be viewed as development, the dialectical framework is a convenient analytical tool. It

considers three forces: thesis, anti-thesis, and synthesis. Thesis is the existing condition or the prevailing
structure or force. The anti-thesis is the opposing condition or new clashing structure or force. The thesis and
anti-thesis clash with each other in a struggle, of which height and culmination will eventually bring about a new

6
condition, the synthesis. This model puts forth the main idea that history is a product of continuous conflicts and
struggles.

As applied in an example, the coming of foreign traders (Chinese, Arabs, Malays, Dutch, and Japanese)
during the pre-colonial period is the anti-thesis of the condition then. The adjustments that our Filipino
ancestors had to make to assimilate the ways (language, norms, values), goods, and even physical presence of the
ancient traders is the anti-thesis. Then eventually comes the synthesis, the new hybrid culture and ancestry.

Most importantly, this model looks at how the masses led by the middle class intilegentsia struggled
against prevailing economic and political forces and regimes to establish democratic governments and political
systems.

Try using the tool to analyze the other periods in our kasaysayan.Try imagining history taking place
without the women, children, farmers, common people participating in every significant events: the Katipunan-
led revolution is not merely about Rizal-inspired Bonifacio-organized, Aguinaldo-led upheaval. The pivotal point
of this period in our history took place not only because of these iconic heroes, but mainly because the huge bulk
of the masses, the nameless men, women and children in our history, went on arms, sacrificed and risked their
lives in a concerted struggle to transform macro-political regimes and institutions with a hope of ultimately
changing their individual plights.

Kasaysayan as a phenomenon is not about how heroic characters single-handedly changed the course of
the nation’s development. It is the product of the efforts of ordinary common individuals and leaders in
transforming the then existing conditions.

The overview of the stages of Philippine History

Kasaysayan as a systematic investigation or study should take into account not only specific events but
thoroughly explores the factors, forces and institutions that brought about those events. We will take after the
traditional periodization of history to adopt a structure or system in the examination of our country’s history for
convenience. There may be other more detailed and complex periodization, but for the purposes of this class, we
will assume that there are eight major periods in our history, namely:

1) Pre-colonial period,
2) Spanish colonial period,
3) Revolutionary period,
4) American Period,
5) World War II and its aftermath,
6) Post-War period,
7) Martial law regime, and
8) EDSA and Post-EDSA.

Pre-Colonial Period

The earliest archeological evidence dates Philippines history 67,000 years back. One theory holds that he
peopling of the Philippines resulted from migrations. First, the Callao man came, then the Negritos, the Malays,
and the Chinese.

The land bridge theory that the Philippines were once a part of mainland China no longer holds today.
The German scientist Dr. Fritiof Voss proved that the Philippines rose from the bottom of the sea.The rise
resulted from volcano eruptions and violent earthquakes that moved the crust below thesea eons before.
Itmismcontinuingmtoday. (http://www.top-destination-choice-the philippines.com/philippines-history.html)

The Philippine military started in 900 AD as the Laguna Copperplate Inscription issued by the Dynasty of
Tondo in 12 April 900 AD show. A Philippine kingdom existed then. There was polity, there was a government,
and there was a military component. The weaponry is understandably of spears, bolos and bow-and-arrow. The

7
elegance and sophistication of culture existing in chiefdoms and kingdoms prior to the coming of the colonizers
in the island is proved by the preserved elaborate jewelries, furniture, clothing, elegant writing, and other
precious artifacts showing glimpses of this forgotten or more appropriately, “buried” historical legacy.
(http://www.infoplease.com/spot /philippinestime1.html)

The more than three decades of Spanish colonization effectively obliterated most part of the essential
pre-colonial culture that define what a true Filipino is.

The greater parts of the pre-colonial history of our country are unknown because of the dearth of
archeological finds of artifacts showing or preserving that section of our history.

Colonial Period

The colonial period is actually a brief period in the context of the long legacy of the ancient roots of our
ancestors…. Only less than four centuries out of the thousands of years of existence of our original people. This
period is divided into the Spanish colonization, American colonization, and Japanese occupation. Prior to the
coming of the Spaniards, the islands were peopled from different nations in Asia, the Arabs, Indians, Malays, and
the Chinese. Even the Dutch people had attempted to control certain regions in the northern part of our country.
This period of history is a critical period to study because it may also serve as the key to recovering the lost and
forgotten past and the essential traces of original cultures. Understanding the events, factors bringing out the
events, and the changes brought about as outcomes of the assumption and domination of foreign powers in our
land and the logical impact of such occupation and domination on the lives of our ancestors are the key to
uncovering our past and to knowing who we are as Filipinos.

For this course, we will follow the traditional sub-division of the colonial period of our history: Spanish
period, America Colonization, and Japanese Occupation, bearing in mind the essential fact that when these
colonizers arrived in the country, we already had an identity as a people not in terms of one single nation, but in
terms of the major commonalities of our original or pre-colonial cultures (values, attitudes, norms, beliefs,
language, etc) social and political institutions (balangay, chiefdoms, sultanates, laws, legal and judicial processes,
etc.)

The Rise and Development Filipino Nationalism

Nationalism is a western concept. It speaks of aggregation of small political units into one political
megalith, the nation. A nation speaks of a distinct political, cultural and social identity for a body of people living
in a determinate territory and under one political rule. We speak of nationhood as a borrowed western concept
because prior to western colonization and up until these modern age our country is governed by strong
regionalism. In the pre-colonial times, there were hundreds of scattered small polities known as barangays,
tribes, chiefdoms, and sultanates. There was no existing single nation. Colonization was the unifying force that
fused the scattered peoples into one nation under one foreign rule.

Nationalism in the context of democratic framework as we now understand it to be for most nations is a
fairly recent phenomena which came about with the advent of the French revolution which signaled the socio-
economic transformation of societies as an outgrowth of the industrial revolution that resulted to the emergence
of the middle class that were not members of the royalties.

The era of the tandem of the church and state domination was ended with the upheavals of peoples
governed by the ideologies of freedom, equality, cooperation and republicanism that were handed down by the
Western peoples who revolted to dismantle the vestiges of the monarchs’ absolute powers.

In the Philippines, the rise of the middle class brought forth the intillegentsia class, a body of educated
young people belonging to the middle class (the traditional precolonial elites, the mestizos and the class of local
traders, industrialists, and banker). The fires of democratic nationalist ideals which the children of the middle
class imbibed when they were sent to the west to study were brought back into the country and spread like
wildfire through popular literature and sporadic organizing and resistant movements led by this middle class.

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 The corruption of both the Spanish colonial government and the church also became fuel to the
intensification of nationalist sentiments. Certain events such as the execution of the three martyred priests, of
Dr. Jose Rizal, and the rise of the Katipunan constituted the turning point that gave rise to Filipino nationalism.
The search by the people for the lost Filipino identity, legacy, and history actually began with the period of the
nationalist movement and revolution during the close of the Spanish regime.The first Philippine government was
the short-lived revolutionary government proclaimed in Malolos, Bulacanwas the first institution that
symbolized the unification of a Filipino nation. Although it as short-lived, its birth signaled the freedom of the
people to engage in the quest for their identity and freedom.

American Hegemony

The American colonization had not much varying effect on the quest for nationhood of the Filipinos. In
the guise of democratic liberal education, the Filipinos were transformed by the United States political agents in
the country into the American’s little brown brothers and sisters. The effect of the American education system
which define the framework and content of the present education system, contents, and processes is here to stay
and define the mind, psyche and culture of the present-day Filipino.

The subjects which must be studied closely in this historical period include not only the nature of the
education institutions, the political systems, and economic transformation of the industries in this country, but
also the long-lasting cultural patterns and imprints that the American colonization has fossilized into our history.

World War II, the Japanese Occupation, and its Impact on the Philippines

The Japanese occupied the country in Word War II, establishing a puppet Philippine government. This
period is not as simple as this statement implies. Although it involves a very brief period comprising of less than
half a decade, it is worth the indepth historical investigation. The cataclysmic events that took place during this
period left an indelible scar in our nation’s history. The short-lived Japanese regime also left unique cultural and
social imprints in the mainstream of our history. Japanese colonization left us lessons useful in understanding
and appreciating nationalism.

Post-War Period

This covers the years after the World War II and the country’s Japanese occupation up to the end of the first term
of Marcos. This is known as the period of recovery and rebuilding of the nation. It features the administrations
of the Commonwealth Government, and of the presidents of the government under the 1935 Constitution.

Martial Law Period

This period of history covers the years between 1972 and 1986. The dictatorial government and the
autocratic system in the country as well as the military regime needs to be analyzed as a critical period of our
history as it is an essential key to understanding the events that followed after EDSA. The unspeakable impacts
on the human rights of the people during this regime were mostly not discussed for the want of literature (which
is understandable since they were banned during this period.) The expansion of the leftist movement which has
its roots way back during the last part of the American regime, took place during the martial law period. The
economic changes that left long-lasting impacts on the economic infrastructures that still remain to this day were
implanted during the Marcos martial law regime. Understanding the nature of an autocratic system is the most
valuable lesion of this historical period.

EDSA Revolution and the Post EDSA Period

This section of our history is a node and transition from dictatorship to the rebirth of democracy. It
covers the administration of President Corazon Aquino up to the regime of the President Benigno S. Aquino.
http://www.worldrover.com/history/philippines_history.html

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Pantayong Pananaw

The traditional perspective used by the early chroniclers of Philippine history was alien or foreign and detached
from our own culture and experience understandably because these chronicles were not Filipino. They were telling our
story from their own cultural and political perspective. Using the third person point of view sila history as told by them is
judgmental and many observations were mere conjectures of reality. Who can best tell the true story of a nation but the
members of such nation themselves. The Pantayong Pananaw is a nationalist perspective of examining history. The
historian owns history and can better explain the occurrence of events.

NAME: ______________________________ SCORE: _________________

COURSE & YR.:________________________ DATE: __________________

EXERCISE 2
A. What is the difference between the Pantayo point of view of history from the Western point of view or Pansila.
Why is Pantayo more advantageous in developing nationalism than Pansila point of view.

B. Explain: “History is a product of conflict.”

I. Enumeration.
A. Enumerate the elements of the following sub systems
(1) political

(2)social

(3)economic

(4)cultural conditions
B. Site the significant periods in Philippine history.

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C. Know the Philippine geography.
1. Identify the provinces in the country which you have already visited.

2. Name and locate at least 20 famous spots in the Philippines.

3. Explain why geography is a great factor in the flow of Philippine history.

D. Essay. Briefly answer the questions below.

D.1 What are the effects of the nature of the Philippines as an archipelago on:
1. Cultural identity of the Filipinos;

2. Political unity of the nation;

3. Economic development?

4. Write the names of the provinces as labeled in the map below:

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2. 33.
3. 34.
4. 35.
5. 36.
6. 37.
7. 38.
8. 39.
9. 41.
10. 42.
11. 43.
12. 44.
13. 45.
14. 46.
15. 47.
16. 48.
49.
18. 50.
19. 51.
20. 52.
21. 53.
22. 54.
23. 55.
24. 56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
25. 65.
26. 66.
27. 67.
28. 68.
30. 69.
31. 70.
32. 71.
33.
.

CHAPTER II

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 PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
Chapter Objective:
By the end of this chapter, the learners should be able:
1. To restate the theories on the peopling of the Philippines
2. To be aware of the origins and of the Philippine ancestry
3. To dig up ancient beliefs and culture of our ancestry
4. To be familiar with Prehispanic Political System
5. To know the pre-colonial social structure

Theories on the Peopling of the Philippines

There are two theories on the origins of the first Filipinos, the inhabitants of what will later be called the
Philippine Islands and eventually the Republic of the Philippines.

Many historians and scientists believe that the first inhabitants of the Philippine islands emerged during
the Pleistocene period. There are two theories on where the inhabitants (first Filipinos) came from namely:
Beyer’s “Migration Theory” and Jocano’s “Evolution Theory”. Noted social scientist Henry Otley Beyer believes
that Filipinos descended from different groups that came from Southeast Asia in successive waves of migration.
Each group had a distinct culture, with its own customs and traditions. While Jocano believes that Asians,
including Filipinos are the result of a lengthy process of evolution and migration.

The earliest archeological evidences of man’s existence in the Philippines is the 67,000-year-old Callao
Man fossil remains of Cagayan and the Angono petroglyphs in Rizal, Philippines.Petroglyphs are images incised
on rocks by prehistoric peoples.The Callao man fossils were discovered in Callao Cave by Filipino archaeologist
Dr. Armand Salvador Mijares in 2007.

Migration Theory

According to this theory, the first migrants were what Beyer caked the “Dawnmen” (or “cavemen”
because they lived in caves.). The Dawnmen resembled Java Man, Peking Man, and other Asian Homo sapiens
who existed about 250,000 years ago. They did not have any knowledge of agriculture, and lived by hunting and
fishing. It was precisely in search of food that they came to the Philippines by way of the land bridges that
connected the Philippines and Indonesia. Owing perhaps to their migratory nature, they eventually left the
Philippines for destinations unknown.

The second group of migrants was composed of dark-skinned pygmies called “Aetas’ or “Negritoes”.About
30,000 years ago, they crossed the land bridged from Malaya, Borneo, and Australia until they reached Palawan,
Mindoro and Mindanao. They were pygmies who went around practically naked and were good at hunting,
fishing and food gathering. They used spears and small flint stones weapons.

The Aetas were already in the Philippines when the land bridges disappeared due to the thinning of the
ice glaciers and the subsequent increase in seawater level. This natural event “forced” them to remain in the
country and become its first permanent inhabitants.

Because of the disappearance of the land bridges, the third wave of migrants was necessarily skilled in
seafaring. These were the Indonesians, who came to the islands in boats. They were more advanced than the
Aetas in that: they had tools made out of stone and steel, which enabled them to build sturdier houses: they
engaged in farming and mining, and used materials made of brass; they wore clothing and other body ornaments.

Last to migrate to the Philippines, according to Beyer, were Malays. They were believed to have come
from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula more than 2,000 years ago. Like the Indonesians, they also
traveled in boats.

13
 The Malays were brown-skinned and of medium height, with straight black hair and flat noses. Their
technology was said to be more advanced than that of their predecessors. They engaged in pottery, weaving,
jewelry making and metal smelting, and introduced the irrigation system in rice planting.

Jocano’s Theory

Renowned Filipino anthropologist Felipe Landa Jocano disputes Beyer’s belief that Filipinos descended
from Negritoes and Malays who migrated to the Philippines thousands of years ago. According to Jocano, it is
difficult to prove that Negritoes were the first inhabitants of this country. The only thing that can positively
conclude from fossil evidence, he says is that the first men who came to the Philippines also went to New Guinea,
Java, Borneo, and Australia.

In 1962, a skullcap and a portion of a jaw-presumed to be a human origin-were found in the Tabon
Caves of Palawan by archaeologist Robert Fox and Manuel Santiago, who both worked for the National Museum.
Carbon dating placed their age at 21,000 to 22,000 years. This proves Jocano argues that man came earlier to the
Philippines than to the Malay Peninsula; therefore, the first inhabitants of our islands could not have come from
the region. The “Tabon Man” is said to resemble Java Man and Peking Man. He gathered fruits, leaves and plants
for his food. He hunted with weapons made of stone. Although further research is still being done on his life and
culture, evidence shows that he was already capable of using his brain in order to survive and keep himself safe.

Instead of the Migration Theory, Jocano advances the Evolution Theory, as a better explanation of how
our country was first inhabited by human beings, Jocano believes that the first people of Southeast Asia were
products of a long process of evolution and migration. His research indicates that they shared more or less the
same culture, beliefs, practices an even similar tool and implements. These people eventually went their separate
ways; some migrated to the Philippines, the others to New Guinea, Java and Borneo. Proof, Jocano says, can be
found in the fossils discovered in different parts of Southeast Asia, as well as the recorded migrations of other
peoples from the Asian mainland when history began to unfold. (http://www.bbc. co.uk/news/world-asia-15581450)

Subsequently, people of Malay stock came from the south in successive waves, the earliest by land
bridges and later in boats called barangays. The Malays settled in scattered communities, also called barangays,
which were ruled by chieftains known as datus. Chinese merchants and traders arrived and settled in the ninth
century A.D. In the 14th century, Arabs arrived, introducing Islam in the south and extending some influence
even into Luzon. The Malays, however, remained the dominant group until the Spanish arrived in the 16th
century. (http://www.worldrover.com/history/philippines_history.html)

Philippine civilization already existed in 900 AD. The evidence is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription
issued by the Dynasty of Tondo in 12 April 900 AD… the oldest Philippine document found to date.

In the beginning of the 3rd cent ury, the inhabitants of Luzon Island were in contact and trading with East
Asian sea-farers and merchants including the Chinese. In the 1400's the Japanese also established a trading post
at Aparriin Northern Luzon. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news /world-asia-15581450)

In 1380, Muslim Arabs arrived at the Sulu Archipelago and established settlements which became mini-
states ruled by a Datu. They introduced Islam in the southern parts of the archipelago including some parts of
Luzon andwere under the control of the Muslim sultans of Borneo. They had a significant influence over the
region for a couple of hundred years. The Malay Muslims remained dominant in these parts until the 16th
century. (http://www.historyofphilippines.com/2012/01/timeline-to-iron-age.html)

The Early Social and Political Institutions

The social and political organization of the population in the widely scattered islands evolved into a
generally common pattern. Only the permanent-field rice farmers of northern Luzon had any concept of
territoriality. The basic unit of settlement was the barangay, originally a kinship group headed by
a datu (chief). Within the barangay, the broad social divisions consisted of nobles, including the datu; freemen;
and a group described before the Spanish period as dependents. Dependents included several categories with

14
differing status: landless agricultural workers; those who had lost freeman status because of indebtedness or
punishment for crime; and slaves, most of whom appear to have been war captives.

Islam was brought to the Philippines by traders and proselytizers from the Indonesian islands. By 1500
Islam was established in the Sulu Archipelago and spread from there to Mindanao; it had reached the Manila area
by 1565. Muslim immigrants introduced a political concept of territorial states ruled by rajas or sultans who
exercised suzerainty over the datu. Neither the political state concept of the Muslim rulers nor the limited
territorial concept of the sedentary rice farmers of Luzon, however, spread beyond the areas where they
originated. When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the majority of the estimated 500,000 people in
the islands still lived inbarangay settlements.(http://countrystudies. us/ philippines/3.htm)Literacy in Pre-Hispanic
Philippines by Hector Santoshttp://www.lastleaf.com/dahon/literacy/literacy.htm© 1995-96 by Hector Santos

It is established in our history that a writing system was in place in the Philippines long before the
Spaniards arrived.

Spanish accounts

Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's meticulous chronicler, came in 1521 to the Visayas but did not notice any
evidence of writing skills in the places he visited. Instead, he noted that the natives were impressed that he could
repeat things that they had said earlier by reading back his notes.

However, when Legazpi came to Manila in 1571 he observed that the inhabitants knew how to read and
write. This was documented by Pedro Chirino, a Jesuit historian, who wrote in his 1604 Relacion de las Islas
filipinas, all these islanders are much given to reading and writing, and there is hardly a man, much less a woman,
who does not read and write.Chirino was not alone in his observation. Many other historians had similar
conclusions, including Dr. Antonio Morga, Senior Judge Advocate of the High Court of Justice and commander of
the ill-fated galleon-turned-warship San Diego that was sunk by the Dutch Admiral van Noort. He wrote in his
1609 Sucesos de las Islas filipinas,

Almost all the natives, both men and women, write in this language. There are very few who do not write
it excellently and correctly.

What the Spaniards found

The Spaniards found the people in Manila and other places writing on bamboo and specially prepared
palm leaves using knives and styli. They were using the ancient Tagalog script which had 17 basic symbols, three
of which were the vowels a, i, and u. Each basic consonantal symbol had the inherent a sound: ka, ga, nga, ta, da,
na, pa, ba, ma, ya, la, wa, sa, and ha.

A diacritical mark called kudlit modified the sound of the symbol. The kudlit could be a dot, a short line,
or even an arrowhead. When placed above the symbol, it changed the inherent sound of the symbol from a to i;
placed below, the sound became u. Thus a ba with a kudlit placed above became a bi; if the kudlit was placed
below, the symbol became a bu.

The Tagalog script: a, i, u, "stop," ka, ga, nga, ta, da, na, pa, ba, ma, ya,
la, wa, sa, and ha. The bottom line shows how a kudlit turns a ba into
a bi and a bu.

It was a simple and elegant system that was calledbaybayin. In 1914, the newer term alibata was
introduced by Dean Paul Versoza of the University of Manila. He claims the term comes from alif, ba, andta, the
first three letters of the Maguindanao arrangement of the Arabic letters.He did not explain why he chose a totally
unrelated writing system to name the script.

The Tagalog script was a syllabary, which means that each symbol represents a complete syllable. This is
in contrast to our Latin alphabet where each symbol represents a phoneme, the smallest unit of the sound of

15
speech. It is this distinction that makes it difficult for many people steeped in alphabetic systems to understand
the correct way of using the Tagalog script.

The Tagalog script only represented two kinds of syllables, V and CV (C=consonant, V=vowel), whereas
the language had V, CV, VC, and CVC types. Therefore only syllables like a, bi, or ku could be written down
accurately. Syllables like ak, kam, pit, orting (ng is one consonant) couldn't be represented in the system. Tagalog
did not have consonant clusters like the CCVC, tram.

To write down syllables of the CVC type, the ancient Filipinos simply dropped the final consonant.
Thus, akwould be written as a, kam as ka, pit as pi, ting as ti,and so on. The missing final consonant was somehow
miraculously added back in when the text was read using a technique which we do not understand and which
may forever remain a secret.

Those of us whose initial training in literacy was with alphabets can think only of context as what can
give us clues about the unwritten final consonant. But there may have been other elements that we don't know
about which helped the early people determine what the missing consonant was.

Who did the writing

In most ancient cultures, the art of reading and writing was reserved for the few who belonged to
privileged classes. In ancient Egyptian, Mayan, and Indonesian civilizations, writing was in the hands of priests
and scribes. The culture that the Spaniards found in the Philippines was unique in that the art of reading and
writing was in the hands of everybody.

The priestly class and its related class of scribes existed mainly to glorify and perpetuate the reign of the
ruling king. They were employed to record history, the glorious deeds of the king, and keep track of tributes and
taxes that were expected from the governed. In contrast, accounts of the use of writing in the Philippines indicate
that they were not used to record history and tradition but simply for personal communication and writing
poetry.

Typical of these accounts was one written by Fr. Juan Francisco de San Antonio in his 1735 Cronicas de la
provincia de San gregorio magno,up to the present time there has not been found a scrap of writing relating to
religion, ceremonies, or ancient political institutions.

Diego de Bobadilla, a priest who lived in the Philippines for 18 years, wrote a manuscript in 1640 in
which he says, they only use writing to communicate with one another; they do not have manuscripts relating to
history or science.

Discovery in late 19th century of similar Philippine scripts in Mindoro and Palawan confirm everything
that the early friar-historians wrote about the Tagalog script. Their orthographies and the purposes for which
they were used matched those of the Tagalog script which had become extinct by then.

Books in the ancient script

The widespread use of an indigenous script prompted the religious authorities to publish a book using
the Tagalog script to help spread Christianity. In 1593, the Tagalog Doctrina Christiana, a book based on Cardinal
Bellarmino's catechism, came out. It was published just a couple of months after the first book published in the
Philippines, the Chinese version ofDoctrina Christiana, was released.

By the late 16th century, the script had already spread to Ilocos, Pangasinan, Pampanga, and even Visayas
where Pigafetta earlier did not find any evidence of writing. This prompted Fr. Francisco Lopez to publish in
1620 an Ilocano version of Dotrina Cristiana (spelling had changed since 1593, 1621 edition shown in
illustration) using the same Tagalog script but incorporating his cross kudlit. The Ilocano book was reprinted
many times in the span of 275 years until its final edition in 1895.

16
 We should note at this point that Tomás Pinpin, the first Filipino author, published his book Librong
Pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang uicang Castilain 1610.

It is significant that the dates of the above books predated the first book published in the United
States,The Whole Booke of Psalmes faithfully Translated into English Metre... by Stephen Day of Boston,
Massachusetts which was published in 1640. This drives home the point that literacy was already in full bloom in
the Philippines when the Spaniards arrived.

A different version of this article appeared in the May 1995 issue of Filipinas Magazine.

The Pre-Colonial Culture

The pre-colonial culture composed of the unique and culture unadulterated by the modern colonists from
the western world, including the Japanese. Much of this culture have already disappeared throught he systematic
obliteration of such by the colonists in their effort to enforce obedience among the original inhabitants of the
island.
READING: BAYBAYIN, THE ANCIENT SCRIPT OF THE PHILIPPINES by Paul Morrow (http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/
bayeng1.htm)
The word baybayin is a Tagalog term that refers to all the letters used in writing a language, that is to say, an “alphabet” –
although, to be more precise, the baybayin is more like a syllabary. It is from the root baybáy meaning, “spell.” This name
for the old Filipino script appeared in one of the earliest Philippine language dictionaries ever published, the Vocabulario
de Lengua Tagala of 1613. Early Spanish accounts usually called the baybayin “Tagalog letters” or “Tagalog writing.” And,
as mentioned earlier, the Visayans called it “Moro writing” because it was imported from Manila, which was one of the
ports where many products from Muslim traders entered what are now known as the Philippine islands. The Bikolanos
called the script basahan and the letters, guhit.

Another common name for the baybayin is alibata, which is a word that was invented just in
the 20th century by a member of the old National Language Institute, Paul Versoza. As he
explained in Pangbansang Titik nang Pilipinas in 1939.

"In 1921 I returned from the United States to give public lectures on Tagalog philology,
calligraphy, and linguistics. I introduced the word alibata, which found its way into
newsprints and often mentioned by many authors in their writings. I coined this word in
1914 in the New York Public Library, Manuscript Research Division, basing it on the
Maguindanao (Moro) arrangement of letters of the alphabet after the Arabic: alif, ba, ta
(alibata), “f” having been eliminated for euphony's sake."

Versoza's reasoning for creating this word was unfounded because no evidence of the
baybayin was ever found in that part of the Philippines and it has absolutely no relationship
to the Arabic language. Furthermore, no ancient script native to Southeast Asia followed the
Arabic arrangement of letters, and regardless of Versoza's connection to the word alibata,
its absence from all historical records indicates that it is a totally modern creation. The
Paul Rodriguez Verzosa present author does not use this word in reference to any ancient Philippine script.

Many of the writing systems of Southeast Asia descended from ancient scripts used in India over 2000 years ago. Although
the baybayin shares some important features with these scripts, such as all the consonants being pronounced with the
vowel a and the use of special marks to change this sound, there is no evidence that it is so old.
The shapes of the baybayin characters bear a slight resemblance to the ancient Kavi script of Java, Indonesia, which fell into
disuse in the 1400s. However, as mentioned earlier in the Spanish accounts, the advent of the baybayin in the Philippines
was considered a fairly recent event in the 16th century and the Filipinos at that time believed that their baybayin came
from Borneo.

This theory is supported by the fact that the baybayin script could not show syllable final consonants, which are very
common in most Philippine languages. This indicates that the script was recently acquired and had not yet been modified
to suit the needs of its new users. Also, this same shortcoming in the baybayin was a normal trait of the script and language
of the Bugis people of Sulawesi, which is directly south of the Philippines and directly east of Borneo. Thus most scholars
believe that the baybayin may have descended from the Buginese script or, more likely, a related lost script from the island
of Sulawesi. Whatever route the baybayin travelled, it probably arrived in Luzon in the 13th or 14th century.

17
Literature of the Ancient Filipinos
All early Spanish reports agreed that pre-Hispanic Filipino literature was
mainly oral rather than written. Legazpi's account of 1567, quoted earlier,
went on to say:

They have their letters and characters... but never is any ancient writing
found among them nor word of their origin and arrival in these islands;
their customs and rites being preserved by traditions handed down from
father to son without any other record.

The Boxer Codex manuscript from 1590, also mentioned earlier, reported
that:
They have neither books nor histories nor do they write anything of length
but only letters and reminders to one another... [And lovers] carry written
charms with them.
Aside from writing letters and poetry to each other, the ancient Filipinos adorned the entrances of their homes with
incantations written on bamboo so as to keep out evil spirits.

In the Spanish era Filipinos started to write on paper. They kept records of their property and their financial transactions,
and Fr. Marcelo de Ribadeneira said in 1601 that the early Filipino Christians made little notebooks in which they wrote,
“in their characters or letters” the lessons they were taught in church.They often signed Spanish documents with baybayin
letters and many of these signatures still exist in archives in the Philippines, Mexico and Spain. There are even two land
deeds written in baybayin script at the University of Santo Tomas.

To take advantage of the native's literacy, religious authorities published several books containing baybayin text. The first
of these was the Doctrina Christiana, en lengua española y tagala printed in 1593. The Tagalog text was based mainly on a
manuscript written by Fr. Juan de Placencia. Friars Domingo de Nieva and Juan de San Pedro Martyr supervised the
preparation and printing of the book, which was carried out by a Chinese artisan whose name was not recorded for
posterity.

For modern scholars the Doctrina is like the Rosetta Stone of baybayin writing and 16th century Tagalog. Each section of
the book is presented in three parts: first, the Spanish text then, the Tagalog translation written in the Spanish alphabet,
and finally the Tagalog written in the baybayin script. TheDoctrina is the earliest example of the baybayin that exists today
and it is the only example from the 1500s. The book also provides a view of how Tagalog was spoken before Spanish had a
chance to make its full impact on the language.

The Doctrina of 1593 was printed using the woodblock method. That is, an entire page was carved into a single block of
wood. Ink was then applied to the block and a thin sheet of paper was gently brushed onto it to pick up the engraved image.
This method did not ensure regularity in the shapes of the baybayin characters. However, when printing with moveable
types came to the Philippines in the beginning of the 1600s, baybayin letters began to take on more consistent, though
stylized shapes because each character was carved into its own moveable block. Fr. Francisco Lopez used a set of these
types in 1620 to produce his Ilokano Doctrina based on the catechism written by Cardinal Belarmine, best know today as
the first inquisitor of Galileo. The typeface he chose was used in at least two earlier Tagalog books and today it is one of the
most popular baybayin styles among enthusiasts of the ancient script. It was in this book that Lopez attempted to reform
the baybayin, which, in the view of most Spaniards, was seriously flawed.

Nevertheless, the Spanish friars used the baybayin script not only to teach their religion to the Filipinos, but also to teach
other clerics how to speak the local languages. The writers of the early grammars encouraged their readers to learn the
baybayin, as Fr. Francisco Blancas de San Jose explained in hisArte y reglas de la lengua tagala of 1610:

Sometimes adjoining the Tagalog word written in Spanish letters I place the Tagalog characters with which the same word
is also written, in order that through them whoever can read them can come to know the proper pronunciation of that
word... For which reason those who wish to speak well should learn to read Tagalog characters...

18
The baybayin was also described in Visayan grammar books of the 1600s such as Alonso de Méntrida'sArte de la lengua
Bisaya-Hiligayna de la isla de Panay, 1637, and Domingo Ezguerra's Arte de la lengua Bisaya en la provincia de Leyte, 1663.
However, Ezguerra's example of the script contained printing mistakes. A kind of Spanish check mark was put in the place
of two different letters. Méntrida wrote the following about his typeface:

It is to be noted that our Bisayans have some letters with different shapes, which I place here; but even they themselves do
not agree on the shapes of their letters; for this reason, and because of the limited types available, I have shown the
characters according to the Tagalogs.

The Baybayin Method of Writing

The baybayin was a syllabic writing system, which means that each letter represented a syllable instead of just a basic
sound as in the modern alphabet. There were a total of 17 characters: three vowels and 14 consonants, but when combined
with the small vowel-modifying marks, called kudlíts, the number of characters increased to 45. This way of writing is
called an abugida. When a person spelled a word orally or recited the baybayin, the individual letters were called babâ,
kakâ, dadâ, etc., but the original sequence of the letters was different to what it is today. This “alphabetical” order was
recorded in the Tagalog Doctrina Christiana.

The Consonants & Kudlíts

In their simplest form, each consonant represented a syllable that was pronounced with
an a vowel (like the u in “up”). Simply adding a tick, dot or other mark to the letter, would
change the inherent a vowel sound. These marks were called kudlíts, or diacritics in English.
A kudlit was placed above a consonant letter to give it an i or e vowel sound. When it was
placed below the letter it changed the vowel sound to u or o.

The Vowels
The three vowel characters were only used at the beginning of words and syllables, or syllables
without any consonant. There were only three vowels because the ancient Tagalogs, and many
other linguistic groups, did not distinguish between the pronunciations of i and e, or u and o until Spanish words entered
their languages. Even today these sounds are interchangeable in words such
as lalaki/lalake(man), babae (woman)and kababaihan (womanhood or womankind), uód/oód (worm), punò (tree trunk)
and punung-kahoy (tree), and oyaye/oyayi/uyayi (lullaby).

The vowel characters actually represented vowels that were preceded by a glottal stop. This
pronunciation was more common in the pre-Hispanic era but has changed over the
centuries due to the influences of western languages. This shift can be seen when early texts,
such as the Doctrina Christiana, are compared to modern Filipino. For example, we syllabicate the words ngayón (today)
andgagawín (will do) as follows: nga-yon and ga-ga-wín respectively. But the baybayin text of the Doctrinareveals a
different syllabic division. Ngayón was written, ngay-on, and gagawin was written ga-gaw-in.

The R Sound

The Tagalogs used only one character for da and ra, . The pronunciation of this letter depended on its location within a
word. The grammatical rule has survived in modern Filipino that when a d is between two vowels, it becomes an r as in the
words dangál (honour) and marangál (honourable), or dunong (knowledge) and marunong (knowledgeable).

However, this rule could not be relied upon in other languages, so when other linguistic groups adopted the baybayin,
different ways of representing the r sound were required. The Visayans apparently used the d/ra character for their own
words but used the la character for Spanish words. Fr. Lopez's choice of d/ra or la seemed to be random in the
Ilokano Doctrina, which caused many corruptions of Ilokano words. However, a chart drawn by Sinibaldo de Mas in 1843
showed la doubling for the Ilokano ra while his Pangasinan list showed no substitute for raat all. The Bikolanos modified
the d/ra character to make a distinct letter for ra.

The Nga Character

A single character represented the nga syllable. The latest version of the modern Filipino alphabet still retains the ng as a
single letter but it is written with two characters. The ng is the alphabets only remaining link to its baybayin heritage.

Punctuation
Words written in the baybayin script were not spaced apart; the letters were written in a continuous flow and the only
form of punctuation was a single vertical line, or more often, a pair of vertical lines. || This fulfilled the function of a comma
and a period, and indeed, of practically any punctuation mark in use today. Although these bars were used consistently to

19
end sentences, they were also used to separate words, but in an unpredictable manner. Occasionally a single word would
be enclosed between these marks but usually sentences were divided into groups of three to five words.

Final Consonants
The most confusing feature of the baybayin for non-native readers was that there was no way to write a consonant without
having a vowel follow it. If a syllable or a word ended with a consonant, that consonant was simply dropped. For example,
the letters n and k in a word like bundók (mountain) were omitted, so that it was spelled bu-do.

The Spanish priests found this problem to be an impediment to the accurate translation of their religious texts. So, when
they printed a lesson in baybayin it was usually accompanied by a Spanish translation and the same Tagalog text using the
Spanish alphabet, as in the Doctrina Christiana. Other priests simply stopped using the baybayin in favour of the alphabet.
The first attempt to “reform” the baybayin came in 1620 when Fr. Francisco Lopez prepared to publish the
Ilokano Doctrina. He invented a new kudlít in the shape of a cross. This was placed below a baybayin consonant in order to
cancel the inherent a sound. Lopez wrote:

The reason for putting the text of the Doctrina in Tagalog type... has been to begin the correction of the said Tagalog script,
which, as it is, is so defective and confused (because of not having any method until now for expressing final consonants - I
mean, those without vowels) that the most learned reader has to stop and ponder over many words to decide on the
pronunciation which the writer intended.

Although Lopez's new way of writing provided a more accurate depiction of the spoken language,
native Filipino writers found it cumbersome and they never accepted it. In 1776, Pedro Andrés de
Castro wrote about their reaction to the invention:

They, after much praising of it and giving thanks for it, decided it could not be incorporated into their
writing because it was contrary to the intrinsic character and nature which God had given it and that
it would destroy the syntax, prosody and spelling of the Tagalog language all at one blow...

Direction of Baybayin Writing

The baybayin was read from left to right in rows that progressed from top to bottom, just as we read
in English today. However, this has been a point of controversy among scholars for centuries due to
conflicting accounts from early writers who were confused by the ease with which ancient Filipinos
could read their writing from almost any angle. As the historian William H. Scott commented,

The willingness of Filipinos to read their writing with the page held in any direction caused
understandable confusion among European observers who lacked this ability - and causes some
irritation to Tagalog teachers in Mangyan schools today. [Note: The peoples collectively known as
Mangyans still use their own form of the baybayin in Mindoro.]

Some observers were mistaken to believe that the baybayin should be read vertically from bottom to
top in columns progressing from left to right because that was how the ancient Filipinos carved their
letters into narrow bamboo strips. However, it was simply a matter of safety that when they used a
sharp instrument to carve, they held the bamboo pointing outward and they carved away from their
bodies, just as modern Mangyans do today. This gave the appearance that they were writing from the
bottom upward. However, this did not necessarily mean that the text was supposed to be read that
way too.

Although the ancient Filipinos did not seem to mind which way they read their writing, the clue to
the proper orientation of the text was the kudlíts, or diacritic marks that alter the vowel sound of the
letters. In syllabic scripts such as Kavi, Bugis and others closely related to the baybayin, the text was
read from left to right and the diacritics were placed above and below the characters (i/e was above
and u/o was below). When the ancient Filipinos carved the baybayin into the bamboo strips, they placed the kudlíts to the
left of the letter for the i/e vowel and to the right for the u/o vowels. Thus, when the finished inscription was turned
clockwise to the horizontal position, the text flowed from left to right and the kudlíts were in their proper places, i/e above
and u/o below.

Variants of the Baybayin

Some writers have claimed that there were several different ancient alphabets in the Philippines, which belonged to
different languages and dialects in Luzon and the Visayas. The number of scripts mentioned usually ranges from 10 to 12.

20
However, none of the early Spanish authors ever suggested that there was more than one baybayin script. In fact, even
when they wrote about other Philippine languages, they usually referred to the baybayin as “Tagalog” writing or as quoted
earlier, Pedro Chirino called it “the letters proper to the island of Manila.”
The baybayin was a single script, and just like the alphabet today, its appearance varied widely according to each person's
unique handwriting. When the printing press was introduced to the Philippines, this variety was reflected in the typefaces.
The misconception that each province had its own alphabet arose in the 19th century, long after the baybayin had fallen
out of use. Authors who wrote about Philippine culture, such as Eugène Jacquet (1831) and Sinibaldo de Mas (1843),
collected old samples of baybayin writing and classified them according to where they were found or the language of the
text. They were aware that these samples were variations of one script but, later writers such as Pardo de Tavera and
Pedro Paterno around the turn of the century, assembled their own comparison charts from these samples and other
sources and labelled them as distinct “alphabets” from various regions.These charts were later reproduced in schoolbooks
of the 20th century with very little in the way of explanation for their content. Thus, through generations of copying and
recopying, these individual samples, many of which were merely one person's particular handwriting style, came to be
known as distinct alphabets that belonged to entire regions or linguistic groups.

The clearest example of this kind of misinterpretation is the baybayin typeface that Francisco Lopez chose in 1620 for his
Ilokano Doctrina and for his Arte de la lengua yloca of 1627. It first appeared in two Tagalog books, Arte y reglas de la
lengua Tagala (1610) by Francisco Blancas de San Jose and Vocabulario de lengua Tagala(1613) by Pedro de San
Buenaventura. (See the chart on the right.) However, Eugène Jacquet called this style the Ilokano alphabet in his Notice sur
l'alphabet Yloc ou Ilog(1831) because it was used most notably in two Ilokano books.But, as quoted earlier, even Lopez said
that he put “the text of the [Ilokano] Doctrina in Tagalog type.” Still, the Lopez typeface is often mistakenly called the pre-
Hispanic Ilokano alphabet.

Baybayin Lost

Although the baybayin had spread so swiftly throughout the Philippines in the 1500s, it began to decline in the 1600s
despite the Spanish clergy's attempts to use it for evangelization. Filipinos continued to sign their names with baybayin
letters throughout the 17th, and even into the 18th century, though most of the documents were written in Spanish. Gaspar
de San Agustín still found the baybayin useful in 1703. In his Compendio de la lengua Tagala he wrote, “It helps to know the
Tagalog characters in distinguishing accents.” And he mentioned that the baybayin was still being used to write poetry in
Batangas at that time. But in 1745 Sebastián Totanes claimed in hisArte de la lengua Tagala that,

Rare is the indio who still knows how to read [the baybayin letters], much less write them. All of them read and write our
Castilian letters now.

However, Totanes held a rather low opinion of Philippine culture and other writers of the period gave a more balanced
view. Thomas Ortiz felt it was still necessary to describe the Tagalog characters in hisArte y Reglas de la lengua Tagala of
1729 and as late as 1792 a pact between Christians and Mangyans on the island of Mindoro was signed with baybayin
letters, which is not surprising because the Mangyans never stopped using their script.

Many people today, both ordinary Filipinos and some historians not acquainted with the Philippines, are surprised when
they learn that the ancient Filipinos actually had a writing system of their own. The complete absence of truly pre-Hispanic
specimens of the baybayin script is puzzling and it has lead to a common misconception that fanatical Spanish priests must
have burned or otherwise destroyed massive amounts of native documents as they did so ruthlessly in Central America.
Even the prominent Dr. H. Otley Beyer wrote in The Philippines before Magellan (1921) that, “one Spanish priest in
Southern Luzon boasted of having destroyed more than three hundred scrolls written in the native character.” Historians
have searched for the source of Beyer's claim, but until now none have even learned the name of that zealous priest.

Furthermore, there has never been a recorded instance of ancient Filipinos writing on scrolls. The fact that they wrote on
such perishable materials as leaves and bamboo is probably the reason why no pre-Hispanic documents have survived.

Although many Spaniards didn't hide their disdain for Filipino culture, the only documents they burned were probably the
occasional curse or incantation that offended their beliefs. There simply were no “dangerous” documents to burn because
the pre-Hispanic Filipinos did not write at length about such things as their own beliefs, mythology, or history. These were
the subjects of their oral record, which, indeed, the Spanish priests tried to eradicate through relentless indoctrination. But,
in regard to writing, it can be argued that the Spanish friars actually helped to preserve the baybayin by continuing to use it
and write about it even after it fell out of use among most Filipinos.

It is more likely that mere practicality was the main reason that the baybayin went out of style. Although it was adequate
for the relatively light requirements of pre-Hispanic writing, it could not bear the burdens of the new sounds from the

21
Spanish language and that culture's demand for an accurate written representation of the spoken word. The baybayin
could not distinguish between the vowels i ande, or u and o, or the consonants d and r. It lacked other consonants too, but
more important, it had no way to cancel the vowel sound that was inherent in each consonant. Thus consonants could not
be combined and syllable final consonants could not be written at all. Without these elements the meanings of many
Spanish words were confused or lost completely.

Social expediency was another reason for Filipinos to abandon the baybayin in favour of the alphabet. They found the
alphabet easy to learn and it was a skill that helped them to get ahead in life under the Spanish regime, working in
relatively prestigious jobs as clerks, scribes and secretaries. With his usual touch of exaggeration, Fr. Pedro Chirino made
an observation in 1604 that shows how easily Filipinos took to the new alphabet.

They have learned our language and pronunciation and write it as well as we do, and even better, because they are so
clever that they learn everything very quickly... In Tigbauan [Panay] I had a small boy in school who in three months, by
copying letters that I received in good script, learned to write much better than I, and translated important papers for me
most accurately, without errors or falsehoods.

But if reasons of practicality were behind the demise of the baybayin, why did it not survive as more than a curiosity? Why
was it not retained for at least ceremonial purposes such as inscriptions on buildings and monuments, or practiced as a
traditional art like calligraphy in other Asian countries? The sad fact is that most forms of indigenous art in the Philippines
were abandoned wherever the Spanish influence was strong and only exist today in the regions that were out of reach of
the Spanish empire. Hector Santos, a researcher living in California, suggested that obligations to the Spanish conquerors
prevented Filipinos from maintaining their traditions:

Tributes were imposed on the native population. Having to produce more than they used to, they had less time to pass on
traditional skills to their children, resulting in a tightening spiral of illiteracy in their ancient script.

Baybayin Found
In some parts of the Philippines the baybayin was never lost but developed into distinct styles. The Tagbanuwa people of
Palawan still remember their script today but they rarely use it. The Buhid and especially the Hanunóo people of Mindoro
still use their scripts as the ancient Filipinos did 500 years ago, for communication and poetry. Dr. Harold Conklin
described Hanunóo literature in 1949:

Hanunóo inscriptions are never of magical import, nor are they on mythological or historical topics. Written messages
(love letters, requests etc.,) are occasionally sent by means of inscribed bamboos, but by far the most common use of this
script is for recording ambáhan [Hanunóo] and urúkai [Buhid] chants. Both of these types consist largely of metaphorical
love songs. Paul Morrow© 2002 http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

EXERCISE: BAYBAYIN. Answer the following briefly.

1. What have the Spaniards found out when they arrived in the islancs that shattered their misconception about our
ancestors?
2. What were the writing tools used by our ancestors during the pre-colonial period?
3. What is the collection of reports and writings that contained narratives about the pre-colonial way of life of our
ancestors?
4. How did our ancestors write and what implements and materials did they use?
5. Explain why alibata is not the correct word to refer to the Tagalog syllabary.
6. Explain why the Doctrina is treated like the Rosetta Stone of baybayin writing and 16th century Tagalog.

Timeline of Pre-Colonial History:

225,000 B.C. Ancient Negroid people immigrate to the Philippines over a land bridge then still connecting the
archipelago with the Asian mainland. They are food gatherers and hunters, and the forefathers of today's
Negritos. These people use bows and arrows and stone made implements. They live in caves.
67,000 BC The earliest evidence of Homo sapiens comes from Callao Cave in Penablanca, Cagayan.
24,000 BC More evidence of early humans at Tabon Cave in Palawan
8760BC Evidence of shell-working and stone-flaking is found in Balobok Cave, Sulu, at layers radiocarbon dated to
between 6810-6050 BCE (8760-8000 BP).
7290BC Polished tools and earthenware pottery found at Balobok Rockshelter.

22
 6950 BC The Nusantao maritime trade network is established around this time reaching as far north as Shandong.
6590 BC Shell tool and mound culture moves northward up the Philippine archipelago reaching the Chinese coast
sometime before 5000 BCE
5,000 B.C. to The "New Stone Age". Sea faring Malays from what is today Indonesia comes to the archipelago. These
3,000 B.C. new settlers bring with them polished stone tools, boat building, bark and animal skin cloth making,
pottery, rice planting, the process of cooking food in bamboo tubes, the techniques of making fire by
rubbing two sticks together. The Negritos begin to move out of caves and settle in a scattered manner
along the coasts and rivers.
3,000 B.C. to A second wave of Malay immigrants arrives in the Philippines by sea. Each of their ships accommodated
1,000 B.C. one small clan. Such a ship load of people was called a barangay, a term which was revived by Marcos to
describe an organized neighborhood of more than 1000 people. The immigrants in the second wave were
ancestors of today's Ifugao, Bontoc, Mangyans, and other primitive tribes. They introduced the animist
religion and jar burial in The Country. Earliest metal tools of the period are made of copper, bronze, iron
and gold.
200 B.C. More civilized Malays in large numbers migrate to the Philippines. They are the racial stock of the
majority of today's Philippine populace.
200 B.C. to 1000 In the Iron Age, begins artistry in the Philippines in all aspects of life and work. Earrings, beads, pendants
A.D. and bangles made of clay, stone and shells are developed. Body tattooing is used as well as filing and
blackening teeth which were then wrapped with gold foil or studded with gold fillings.
1,000 A.D. to In the Porcelain Age trading begins extensively with Arabia, India, Annan, China and later with the
1,200 A.D. Europeans. Porcelains from different Chinese dynasties are imported.
1200 to 1300. Migrants from Borneo spread into the Southern Philippines.
1300 to 1400. The Hindu empire of Majapahit on Java gains influence over parts of the islands.
900 End of prehistory. Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest known Philippine document, is written in
the Manila area in Kawi script.
Rise of Indianized Kingdom of Tondo around Manila Bay
1000 People from Southern Annam called Orang Dampuan establish trade zones in Sulu
1175 Kingdom of Namayan reaches its peak.
1240 Tuan Masha'ika, an Arab, travels and introduces Islam to Sulu.
1380 Karim Al-Makhdum arrives in Jolo and builds a Mosque.
Islam reaches the Southern Philippines via Borneo. In Islamic areas, slavery is in the following year’s
widely replacing head-hunting. Would be head-hunting then victims become slaves that are bartered to
Chinese traders. A new social order is started made up of freemen, commoners, slaves and bonded
servants, all under the leadership of a datu.
1400 Birth of the Baybayin, Hanunoo, Tagbanwa, and Buhid scripts from Brahmi
1450 The Muslim sultanate of Jolo is established on the islands between Borneo and Mindanao.
1457 Sultanate of Sulu founded by Sharif Al-Hashim.[1]
1475 The Muslim sultanate of Maguindanao is founded on Mindanao. Islam spreads throughout the archipelago
and even reaches central Luzon.
1500 Rise of Kingdom of Maynila under the Bolkiah dynasty
(http:// /Timeline_of_Philippine_history)

The Pre-colonial government

The pre-colonial barangays were the first political and social organizations of the Philippines. A barangay
was a political unit comprising a territory that served as the settlement of 30-100 families and a government unit
itself. Each barangay was independent from all others. There was no central government whatsoever, although
confederation of barangays were formed for mutual protection and support. The chief of the barangay was called
datu “an absolute ruler in whose hands were the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the government.” A
semblance of democracy existed in that all members of the barangay could bring any issue for resolution to the
datu. The datu also relied on the advice of the maginoos or the council of elders who compose the wise elderly
members of the community. Laws were unwritten, and derived largely from customs and traditions. They
were formulated by the datu who also acted as judge in cases of disobedience to the law. The chief exacted
tributes of harvest and labor from his subjects.
The barangays which where geographically separated from one another where of two general kinds,
those that were situated in the upland areas, and those that were in coastal areas. The location of this
community had an impact on their political as well as economic status. Those that were in the upland areas
enjoyed the safety and security from pirate attacks but were exposed to bandits and other warring barangays.
The coastal communities were vulnerable to pirate attacks but they enjoyed the facility and convenience of their
location to trading activities.

23
Due to the vulnerability of the ancient barangays to inter-baranganic conflicts, banditry for the Sa Raya
communities, and piracy for the Ilud communities, they also frequently allied with other barangays. Stronger
barangays had hegemony over smaller and weaker barangays, the latter being obliged to pay or give their
tributes to the datus or sultans of the. The tributos which were paid in kind or gold were given in exchange for
protection and freedom from attacks.

The Mainstream Philippine Pre-Colonial Culture

Underneath the present-day multiple layers of culture of the
Filipinos is woven in a predominantly distinct culture that composed
the mainstream of what we may call Filipino. Although, there is no
single distinctly unified homogenous Filipino culture to speak of, there
is a predominant cultural pattern that were not of a colonial nature but
that which undeniably were passed on to the present by our ancestors
from the deeply ingrained
mainstream pre-colonial culture.

There are 300 to 400

languages in the country. These
languages originated from the earliest communities way long before the
coming of the colonizers. The existence of many varied languages and
dialects was due to the geographical segregation of the ancient
communities.

The existences of a variety of languages throughout the archipelago

also reflect the heterogenous character of the norms and belief systems
including attitudes of the people. The impact on the present-day is the strong regionalistic tendencies of the
people which we carry with us wherever we go. There would be an invisible bond that ties cebuanos, or the
warays, the zambals, the ilongos, and so on togather. Somehow this bond consists of the mesh of historical legacy
of our ancestors.

Traditional Agricultural Communal Lifestyle

The pre-colonial barangays

were community-centered. Everyone
calls everyone their mother or inang,
father or tatay, aunt or tiyang, uncle
or tiyong, sister or brother or kaka.
All throughout the communities they
had mutually supportive friendships
or family-like relationships. From this
developed our modern-day
relationship pattern of smooth
interpersonal relationships (SIR).

Residentially Functional
Each family lived in the bahaykubo, a one room house perched on wooden posts made up of nipa or cogon walls
and roof. The architecture suited the simple family-bonded lifestyle of our ancestors.

The Bahay Kubo: Made out of Leaves (nipa or cogon) and Bamboo or Wood.
The one-room structure of the bahaykubo reinforced the close-know family ties. The absence of privacy would transcend the physical, the
family members would know what was going on with the lives of the other members of the family. The saying, “sakitngkalingkingan,
sakitngbuongkatawan.”
Principle of keeping the family unity is reinforced by their residence which was functionally nuclear.

24
 The ground floor served as shelter for domestic animals. The chicken nests were perched on the posts under the floor. The pigs sleep
beneath the floor of the bahaykubo.

Food
The staple diet of the Filipinos were rice and fish. The habit of our
ancestors of eating with bare hands is still seen among Filipinos, who
believe that handling food with bare hands enhance the flavor of the
food.Spices like cloves, galangal, mace, nutmeg, peppercorn, black pepper,
and cinnamon indemic in Southeast Asian countries seasoned both fish
and meat cooked by Filipinos.

Foreign Influences during the Pre-colonial Period

Chinese
Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines, the scattered baranganic societies had been
actively trading with the Chinese merchants who
frequented the shores of the archipelago. From the
annals of Ming Dynasty, it was told that friendship of 2
Asian kingdoms, the Philippines and China was
established in the 14th Century. King of Sulu,
PadukaPahala, sailed to China with a 300 man entourage
to establish diplomatic relations with then the most
powerful empire in the worl under Emperor Zhu Di. The
waves of migration of Chinese into the Philippines were
seen in the various periods of our pre=colonial history.

The influence of the Chinese in our mainstream

culture is deeply ingrained in out values. The Confucian
concept of hierarchy is reflected in our respect for the
elderly and for those who have higher ranks in society. Buddhism came to be practiced in some communities.

Family Hierarchy: Respect Ancestors & Elders

1. Respect elders, parents & grandparents & older siblings, both dead & alive
2. Obey parents and grandparents
3. Grandparents take care of grand children
4. Take care of parents and grandparents when they grow old

Trade Relations with China

Trade relations with China started in the 9th century when some Arab traders who were barred from
Central China coast found an alternative route starting from Malacca and passing through Borneo, the
Philippines, and Taiwan. Goods from Southeast Asia and the western world were carried by the Arab
traders to the Philippines through the Southern route. The Philippine goods on the other hand were
brought by the Arab ships to the Chinese mainland through the port of Canton.m
mm
During the rule of the Sung Dynasty (960-1127) in China, Chinese goods began to flow in a continuous
stream into the Philippines. Chinese colonies were founded in the coastal towns of the archipelago. During
the Ming period (`1368-1644), other colonies were established in the upland areas. By the middle of the
14th century, other countries in Asia took interest in the Philippine trade. Cambodia and Champa, in indo-
China, traded their porcelain products for Philippine wares. A little later, Annam, Siam, and Tonkin also
began to trade with the Philippines. So keen was the competition that from 20% to $) of the total trade
with the Southern Philippines was non-Chinese. Commercial rivalry lasted up to the Javanese or
Madjapahit period. (1377-1478).

The Chinese regained control of the Philipine trade when the Ming emperor, Yung Lo sent a large fleet

25
 consisting of more than 60 vessels to the Philippines under the command of Admiral Cheng Ho. The fleet
visited Lingayen in Pangasinan, Manila Bay, Mindoro, and Sulu in 1405-06, 1408-10, and 1417. For a short
period, the Chinese Emperor even tried to maintain a kind of sovereignty over Luzon and sent Ko-ch’a-
laoto the island as governor. This Chinese hegemony over Luzon came to an end with the death of Yung Lo.

In the 15th century when Islam began to spread to the sourthern Philippines, the Indo-China trade
suffered a setback and the Chinese traders pressed back by the Muslims, sought new trading routes to
those parts of the Philippines where Islam had not yet gained foothold. Later on, the Chinese were allowed
to trade with areas under the sway of Islam.

History of the Filipino People by TeodoroAgoncillo (1990)

Islamic Influence

Muslim influence in the Philippines came about with the

relations of the early Filipinos with the Arab traders and
missionaries who brought not only their goods, but also their
culture into the islands. The foundations of Isslam was said to
have been laid down my Mudum, an Arabian scholar who
arrived in Malay Peninsula in the middle of the 14th century. He
succeeded in establishing Malacca as a foothold of Islam. In
1380, he proceeded to Sulu to spread the Islamic religion. In
1390, Raja Baginda, one of the rulers of Sumatra arrived in Sulu
to undertake conversion of the people there. Abu Bakr followed
in 1450 who left Palembang, Malaysia for Sulu, married Raja
Baginda’s daughter Paramisuli. After the death of Baginda, Abu
Bakr exercised his pwers as sultan and established a
government pattern after the Sultanate of Arabia, which
became the mode of the rapid spread of Islam throughout Sulu.

Aside from the spread of Islamic religion, Muslim decorative art became part of the mainstream art of some
southern communities. The Muslims are prohibited from making figures but their designs were graceful and
rythmycal.
The metal artifacts of lanao which composed of elaborate arabesque designs were legacies of the Muslims. They
were keen on inlaid metal art which are found on the weaponry, doors, windows, utensils, jewelry and other
bodily ornaments.

26
Indian Influences

The Indian influences on Filipino life are primarily

reflected in the Philippine languages, particularly in Tagalog.
The large number of terms of Sanskrit (ancient Indian
language) origin does not necessarily mean that there were
direct contact between the ancient Filipinos and Indians. The
more probable theory is that Filipinos have imbibed some of
the Indian culture through Hinduinized Malays who came to
the islands to settle here permanently during the ancient
times.

Sanskrit words are encountered in Visayan and

Magindanao. In Magindanao, they deal primarily with
government, religion, and commerce. Some of such words
are agama (religion), sambahayang (prayer). Surge (heaven), batara (god), guru (teacher), dusa (sin), pandita
(scholar or priest), baginda (emperor), raja (king), laksamana (officer of state), surat (book), sutra (silk), mutya
(pearl), tumbaga (copper), bara (measure), kunsi (lock), and many others.

Teodoro Agoncillo presents the following words as empirical evidence of the “borrowings” from Sanskrit:
Sanskrit Tagalog
kahama aksaya
ahi ahas
swmin asawa
bhaga bahagi
bhara bahala
vartta balita
bhattara bathala
trauma katalona
katha katha
koti kati
kotta kuta
dala dala
dhrta dalita
jaya dayang
ganda ganda
artha halaga
hari hari
ina ina
laksa laksa
lalarawa lalawa
lekha likha
maha mahal
maharddhika mahadlika
mana mana
tara tala

Indian influences were also present in the ancient religious beliefs of the Filipinos. Among the Muslims,
IndraBatara was the most prominent mythological figure, Indra being the Indian king of heaven. The other gods
whtich the Muslims believed in were of Vedic or Indian origin. Sme of the ancient customs which have survived
through time through colonial influences have their counterparts in India, and thus it may be inferred that the
ancient paganic practices of the Filipinos which involved demon worship came from India through Old Malaysia.

An observation by an Indian journalist published in 1954 as cited by Agoncillo and thus quoted as follows:

In the Mountain Province that waist loom worked by Igorot women is absolutely identical with the looms, cloth
and color schemes and patterns woven by women in the hilly tribes of Asam and Northern India. In the south, the filmy
textiles of Iloilo closely resemble the silky gauze fabric woven in Benares, India, which is exceedingly ancient craft. Futher
south, the check cottons and brocades of Mindanao resemble the handicrafts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bengal.

27
 The modern Philippine Barong Tagalog is the same cut and embroidery as the “Kurta” of Lucknow, India, except
for different collar and cuffs.

The veil indeed, played yet another role and which few perhaps recognize as an unaltered reic of an Asian past.. In
the wedding ceremony of the Philippines, the cord and the veil ceremonies remains of ancient symbolism practiced in both
Hindu and Muslim weddings to this day. With modifications, the symbolism is the same. A Hindu bride and groom will
exchange garlands of sampaguita and their shoulder and head scarves will be tied together during the ceremony. In a
Muslim wedding, an ornate silken cloth will be placed on the bridal couple and a knowtted garland of flowers placed on
their heads. What is more significant, however, is that the Cord and Veil ceremonies are apparently not part of the Catholic
rites of marriages observed in Rome or Spain but one unique of the Philippines. (Tara Ali Baig, “Sisters Under the Skin”,
Saturday Mirror Magaze. October 2, 1954.)

NAME: _________________________________________ SCORE: _________________

COURSE & YR.:___________________________________ DATE: __________________

EXERCISE 2
TRUE OR FALSE. Write True or False for each of the following statements about the Philippines prior
to Spanish colonization. Explain your answer using not more than 10 words per sentence. (3pts. each.)

1. Chinese and Dutch people attempted to colonize the Philippines.

2. The Ancient Filipinos readily submitted to the Spaniards.

3. The primary purpose of Chinese traders was to colonize.

4. There was already functional literacy among Filipinos.

5. Regionalism is the result of the differences in government.

6. The form of government was an absolute monarchy.

7. The Timawa belonged to the class of slaves.

8. Pangangayaw was a trading activity.

9. The Maharlikas and Timawas served the Datu.

10. We can speak of one Filipino culture.

11. The balangays suffered because resources were not enough and the barangays were had no industry.

12. There were three (3) general types of pre-colonial communities.

13. Sa Ilud communities thrived on agriculture and livestock industries.

14. There were pirates that occasionally attacked Sa Raya communities.

15. The ancient script of baybayin was an indicator that our ancestors already had a high degree of
civilization.
======================================================================================

The Pre-Colonial Economy

Rice is the main article of food in these islands. In a few of them people gather enough of it to last them
the whole year. In most of the islands, during the greater part of the year, they live on millet, borona, roasted
bananas, certain roots resembling sweet potatoes and called oropisa, as well as on yams (yuñames) and camotes,

28
whose leaves they also eat boiled. The scarcity of all kinds of food here is such that- with all that is brought
continually from all these islands, in three frigates, one patache, and all the other native boats that could be
obtained- each soldier or captain could only receive each eek two almudes of unwinnowed rice- which, when
winnowed, yielded no more than three cuatillos. This ration was accompanied by nothing else, neither meat nor
fish.

They are but ill supplied with cloth. They used kind of cloth made of wild banana leaves which is as stiff
as parchment, and not very with colored stripes, which is of better quality. This cloth is used by the Spaniards
when they can find it; otherwise they use the cloth above-mentioned. Both kinds are so scarce, that we are
suffering great privations for lack of clothing. The people are very poor.

A 1576 account describes the wet-rice agriculture practiced by the more advanced lowland villages.

They put a basketful of it into the river to soak. After a few days they take it from the water; what is bad and not
sprouted is thrown away. The rest is put on a bamboo mat and covered with earth, and placed where it is kept moist by the
water. After the sprouting grains have germinated sufficiently, they are transplanted one by one, as lettuce is cultivated in
España. In this way, they have an abundance of rice in a short time. There is another crop of rice, which grows of itself, but it is not
abundant.

The upland technique is described by Fray Diego de Aduarte. It is more or less the kaingin method as
practiced to this day.

…..when Indians desire to plant their rice they only burn over a part of the mountain and, without any further plowing or digging,
they make holes with a stick in the soil, and drop some grains of rice in them. This was their manner of sowing; and, after covering the rice
with some earth, they obtained very heavy crops.

Social Stratification

Slavery in the pre-colonial period in the islands was a misnomer. Although there were slaves in the
ancient communities in the islands, their status was different from their counterparts in ancient western
civilization or even in contemporary periods in the western world. The slaves during the times of our ancestors
though they were bound to their masters and a class of them could even be the object of trade, the aliping
saguiguilid, they could regain their freedom through socially accepted means, like payment of their debts for
which they have become bound, marriage with a freeman, or doing some great deeds for their masters. They also
had rights to speak and be treated humanely.

Even among the Muslims whose society was more markedly stratified, debt peonage was still mild and
not the cruel and inhuman institution that we know slavery to be.

As Renato Constantino observed, although slavery “ refers to the status of dependents in Muslim society
of recent date, certain rights and freedoms were reserved for the “slaves.” The following passage from the study
by Victor S. Clark as quoted by Constantino provides a useful insight into pre-Hispanic practices:

The domestic slaves of the Moros corresponding to the “criados” of the Christian provinces, are said
usually to be quite contented with their lot, and would probably consider emancipation a hardship. Their
duties are not heavy, and they live with families of their masters on a familiar footing, almost of social equality,
rather as minor sons than as slaves, in the more common sense of the word. There are certain conditions of
society where slavery exists, so to speak, in its natural environment, and as an institution strikes no social
discords. Probably in those early Roman days when the word “familia” came to have the double signification of
family and body of slave dependents, or among the early Germans, when men carelessly gambled away their
freedom in a game of chance, little thought of social degradation was associated with this status. It was only
when the institution had outlived this period and survived into a period of more complex industrial
development that it became an instrument of exploitation; all social sympathies between the free and servile
classes were estranged, and the system was universally recognized to violate our sentiment of natural right
and justice. Our ideas of slavery are derived from this period of moral revolt against it and do not apply very
aptly to the kind of slavery that exists among the Moros….They do not regard slaves as wealth producers so
much as insignia of honor.

29
 All the foregoing considerations indicate that the institution of debt peonage cannot be equated to slavery
as it existed in Europe. However, a more thorough investigation of the forms of dependence and the relations
between debtor and lender in all their variety must be made by the social anthropologists. Such a study may
derive some insights into the relation between the subsistence economy and the benign characteristics of debt
peonage in pre-Spanish communities from a study of ancient Greek society by George Thompson which
differentiates between two types of slavery: “patriarchal slaveryin which the slave is a use-value,” and that
which supersedes it: “chattel slavery, in which the slave is an exchange value, and slavery begins to seize on
production in earnest.”

It should be remembered that most of the early Spanish chroniclers were actually not describing pre-
Spanish societies but those they came in contact with several decades after Spanish occupation. It is possible that
such societies already reflected to some extent relations influenced by the class-imposed values of the
conquerors themselves. John Alan Larkin, for example, suggests that the tribute imposed by the Spaniards may
already have had an effect on these relations. Attempts must be made to isolate the truly indigenous features of
these societies. Moreover, Spanish writers confined their observations mainly to the large communities that had
become trading centers and had therefore been subjected to Bornean and Muslim influence- and these societies
were certainly not typical.

Concepts of Property

The idea of personal private property was recognized in the more advanced communities. In Pampanga,
for example, such property could be forfeited for crimes, inherited by one’s children, or used as dowry. However,
private property in its most significant sense, in its exploitative sense, did not exist. In an agricultural society,
land is the primary source of wealth, the principal means of production; therefore, if a real concept of private
property had existed, land would have been privately owned.

Baranganic society had one distinguishing feature: the absence of private property in land. The chiefs
merely administered the lands in the name of the barangay. The social order was an extension of the family with
chiefs embodying the higher unity of the community. Each individual, therefore, participated in the community
ownership of the soil and the instruments of production as a member of the barangay. In the more advanced
communities, however, use was private although the land was still held in common.

Generally speaking, the societies that were encountered by Magellan and Legazpi were primitive
economies where most production was geared to the use of the producers and to the fulfillment of kinship
obligations. They were not economies geared to the use of the producers and to the fulfillment of kinship
obligations. They were not economies geared to exchange and profit. The means of production were
decentralized and familial and therefore the relations of dependence were not created within the system of
production.

Save for occasional exchanges, the tendency was to produce for the direct consumption of the producers.
Surpluses were exchanged between groups or members of groups. Control of the means of production and labor
was exercised by the producers themselves, and exchange was an exchange of labor and its products. The simple
system had not yet been replaced by one in which the means of production were in the hands of groups that did
not participate in the productive process- a leisure class backed by force.

Disintegration of Communalism

This is not to say, however, that these communities were not in the process of evolving a class structure.
There is every probability that the Muslim societies were already at the threshold of class society. They were
evolving an Asiatic form of feudalism where land was still held in common but was private in use. This
combination of communal ownership with private possession is clearly indicated in the Muslim “Code of
Luwaran.” The code contains no provision for the acquisition or transfer of lands by private individuals. Neither
is there any mention of cessation or sale of lands, yet there is a provision regulating the lease of cultivated lands.

30
 The chiefs were the administrators of the communal lands but were now assuming political functions as
the embodiment of the community. They were therefore the recipients of tributes which formerly pertained to
the communal funds. The productivity of the land enabled them to appropriate part of the surplus product
contributed by other members. This was the Muslim development which already had its influence among the
larger and more developed communities that were in contact with them.

Such barangays were passing through a higher stage of development characterized by the gradual
disintegration of village democracy. Spanish colonialism accelerated the disintegration of communalism and the
breakdown of the collective spirit. While there were embryonic social cleavages in baranganic society, it was not
until the conquest that a Europeanized class structure began to develop and was superimposed on indigenous
kinship structures.

The primitive, self-sustaining communities customarily surrendered labor service to the collective unity
represented by the heads of families, the chiefs. However, the rule of the early chiefs was not supported by a
coercive apparatus, nor did it need to be, for they were performing social functions for the higher unity of the
community

Just when the point of transition was being reached when the chiefs were being transformed from social
functionaries to superstructures of domination, the Spanish conquest accelerated and modified the process. A
new superstructure was imposed within which the chiefs became part of the exploitative apparatus that served
the colonial state. The excesses that accompanied slavery in the classic sense began to be practiced only under
the Spanish regime.

The pre-conquest forms which were later incorporated into the exploitative institutions adopted by the
Spaniards became the basis for the evolution of a society with feudal characteristics. Many former communal
lands were transformed into private property as Spanish colonialism manipulated the indigenous form of social
organization to make it part of the exploitative apparatus. Debt peonage and sharecropping which have blighted
Philippine agrarian society for centuries had their roots in pre-Hispanic period, but it was under the Spaniards
that their exploitative aspects were institutionalized.

Although as we pointed out earlier, the Spaniards encountered communities at various stages of
development, they subsequently adopted the mores and institutions of the more advanced societies for
utilization in the integration of other native groups. Spanish pacification campaigns and conquest of the rest of
the country facilitated the diffusion process.

Status of Pre-Colonial Women

Pre-colonial Philippine society was egalitarian. Women enjoyed relative freedom and they had rights,
held property, engaged in trade and commerce, and had a significant role in public life. Rights, opportunities, and
privileges were enjoyed equally men.

Legitimate female and male children had equal opportunities to labor and inheritance. It is said that
unwed mothers still had a chance of getting a good marriage. Wives were not slaves, and there was no concept of
conjugal property, thus, properties brought to marriage remained his or her own. In the case of divorce,
landholdings and properties acquired after marriage were divided equally, and the guilty party was even asked
to pay fines.Women had the exclusive right to name their childrenand in some communities, men walked behind
them as a sign of respect.

Our pre-colonial communities where essentially based on strong matri-focal, matriarchal family systems.
In most cases, women were the managers of their families' livelihood. Formal contracts were done in the
presence of a woman -– a woman's signature was enough to make a transaction valid. Precolonial Filipinas were
not merely watching over their clans' economy, but were the ones who were actually improving their finances.
They even engaged in agriculture and trade with Chinese merchants, and engaged in weaving and pottery-
making.

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Women in politics and governance

Precolonial women had the same rights as men in acquiring high ranks in society, specifically in political
affairs. Proofs to this arepopular legends where women were regarded highly. Notable precolonial women in this
field were the legendary Lubluban, known as the first lawgiver who effectively addressed concerns in ritual
practices, inheritance and properties; Princess Urduja of Pangasinan, who, according to legend, knew Asian
culture and languages, and led an army of skilled women; and Queen Sima who was believed to be one of the
rulers of Cotabato in the 17th century and who maintained peace and prosperity in the region.

Gender was not an issue in terms of leadership succession. When the tribal chief died, the first child
would automatically assume leadership. Women could even hold pacts, act as representatives to agreements, and
punish their tribal members. These were the same responsibilities as male tribal chiefs.

Family Life in Pre-Colonial Times

A dowry would be given to a woman’s family by the groom as compensation for her family's loss –- an
amount agreed upon according to their means, when she was reaches marrying age. Presents were given by the
groom to the bride's family, and would even do some services (called paninilbihan) for a given period. Among
the Muslims, the dowry gifts were of seven kinds: 1. kawasateg, money given to the bride’s close relatives; 2.
siwaka, brassware given to those who helped arrange the wedding; 3. enduatuan, brassware or animals for the
village chief; 4. pangatulian, jewelry given to the bride’s mother and aunts; 5. tatas, blade given to the girl’s uncle;
6. langkad, money given to the girl’s parents as fine for having bypassed the girl’s elder sister if she had any; and
7.lekat, amount of money given to the girl’s attendant.

The bride did not lose her name after marriage. Among the Tagalogs, if a woman was from a
distinguished family, her husband usually took her name. For instance, the man would be referred to as, “the
husband of Trining” or “the husband of Nita.”

Divorce was allowed and was usually due to infertility, infidelity, failure to fulfill familial obligations, and
the like. In the event of divorce, if the wife was at fault, her family was obliged to return the dowry; but if the
husband was at fault, he lost his rights to the dowry. The couple would get equal custody of their children.

Sexuality and Virginity

Virginity was of little value, and women were not overly protected. Filipino wives enjoyed freedom in
making decisions for the family, and as such were not confined solely to domestic affairs like having a baby.
Precolonial women, especially those settled along the shore, did not like to give birth many times; they perceived
it as being like pigs giving birth to huge litters of young. Because of this, they practiced abortion whenever the
couple reached their desired number of children, as there was no concept of birth control then.

Religious Activities
In the role of a babaylan, women were active participants in important events in society – birth, wedding,
death, planting, harvesting, and the like. They acted as healers, midwives or religious practitioners who had
contact with the spirit world. In cases where the role of a babaylan was assumed by a male, he was dressed like a
woman, showing that women were indeed highly respected.

Marriage Customs

Men were in general, monogamous; while their wives are called asawa, while concubines are called
“friends”. In order to win the hand of his lady, the man has to show his patience and dedication to both the lady
and her parents. Courtship usually begins with paninilbihan.
NAME: ______________________________ SCORE: _________________
COURSE & YR.:________________________ DATE: __________________

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 EXERCISE 2.1

II. Discussion. Answer the following briefly.

A. Choose five (5) among the following aspects of the early Filipinos’ way of life of the people of the pre-
colonial communities with at least three (3) historical proofs:
1. Food/Cuisine
2. Architecture
3. Literature
4. Jewelry and bodily
5. Literacy
6. Marriage practice
7. Names of people
8. Family relatives agriculture
9. Agriculture
10. Religion

B. Multiple Choice. Choose the letter with the correct answer. Write your answers on the blanks provided.

_______1.The term Nusantao has this meaning

a. maritime-oriented prehistoric people
b. hunting and gathering population
c. Austronesians from South China and Taiwan
d. people speaking Proto-Austronesian language
_______2.This theory maintains that the early inhabitants originated from South China and Taiwan and from there
spread southward and westward.
a. mainland Hypothesis b. Mainland Origin Hypothesis
c. Island Origin Hypothesis d. Evolution Theory
_______3.These is large rounded stones found in the riverbeds used as tools by the native settlers.
a. core tools b. flake tools c. pebble tools d. cobble tools
_______4.This is first metal to be widely used by the early Filipinos.
a. bronze b. copper c. iron d. gold
_______5.In Leyte and Cebu, they used this ingredient to remove the foul smell of fish.
a. vinegar b. tabon-tabon fruit c. coconut milk d. bakawan bar
_______6.Aside from sappan wood, the ancient Filipinos used this in bone painting.
a. hematite b. hemmatite c.hennatite d.hermatite
_______7.It is a kind of jade that was only obtainable by trading with other Southeast Asian neighbors.
a. carnelian b. nephrite c. oriental d. glass
_______8.This Filipino term is of Indian origin.
a. ama b. maharlika c. pakyaw d.upa
_______9.These was the men of Champa who traded with the Buranuns.
a. Orang Bandjars b. Orang Dampuan c. Malays d.Mandayas
_______10.Bhattara is a Sanskrit term which has this meaning.
a. Divine Being b. Highest God c. Only Lord d. Great Lord
_______11.He was the Spanish chronicler in the 16th century who speculated that the role of the datu arose from
the captain of the boat called balangay.
a. Fr. Juan de Plasencia b. Antonio de Morga c. Miguel de Loarca d. Antonio Pigafetta
_______12.He was a tribal calendar recorder of the Ifugaos.
a. mumbaki b. umalohokan c. uripon d. tumunoh

Matching Type. Match Columns A and B. Write the letters only.

Column A Column B
_______1. Kabunian a. god of Throat
_______2. Lumawig b. for the bontoks and Kankanays, the creator

33
 _______3. Lakambakod c. for good health
_______4. Lakambini d. supreme god of the Ifugaos
_______5. Bibit e. guard of the crops
_______6. Basi f. Igorot wine made from rice
_______7. Lambanog g. from coconut and nipa palm
_______8. pangasi h. visayan wine made from rice
_______9. Tapuy i. ilokano wine made from sugar cane
_______10. tuba j. distilled tuba
C. Complete the following matrix. Fill in the column at the right with at least 5 pre-colonial influences or
impact on the social, political, cultural or economic condition of the pre-colonial baranganic societies by
each of the nations indicated in the table below.

Nations with which pre- Political/Economic/Cultural/Social influences on Filipinos

colonial Filipinos had
relations with
Chinese

Malays

Arabs

Indians

Chapter III
SPANISH PERIOD
Chapter Objective:
By the end of this chapter, the learners are expected to be able to:

1. Discuss the context of the Spanish colonization;

2. Discuss the impact of Spanish colonization on the political, economic, social and cultural
condition of the Philippine society; and

34
3. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of the Spanish colonization in relation to the
development of Filipino nationalism.

Introduction

The historic era of the Philippines started during the time that formal recording of events and social
conditions in the nation were undertaken. The geography of the country had an important role in the beginnings
of its unification as one nation. Nationhood is a legacy of Spain. It is a legacy that was not welcome among many
the colonized people in the scattered communities or the barangays all over the islands as our ancestors were
peace and freedom-loving people. But the potency of the Catholic religion as a colonizing tool and the superior
military might and strategies of Spain were too powerful to overcome. The resulting unification of the scattered
independent barangays into one nation gave birth to a national identity. However, it is also true that most of the
current challenges that relate to our dysfunctional culture, economic and political superstructures were a legacy
of the Spanish colonization. The disintegration of the pre-colonial values, as well as the community-based
industries is evident effects that came with unification during the more than three centuries of Spanish rule in
the islands.

Background of the Spanish Colonization

During the time of the Crusades when the Europeans were regaining the Holy Land from the Muslims
during last two centuries of the Middle Ages (1300-1500), the Europeans were able to establish commerce with
the Orient through trade routes where spices like pepper, ginger, nutmeg, onions and garlic were the most
important commodities being traded. The Europeans needed these items of trade from the East to enhance the
taste of food and to preserve meat during winter time.

The fall of Constantinople (1453) and the emergence of the Ottoman Turks closed the former trade
routes to the East, causing the monarchs and navigators of Europe to find new routes across the seas. The
Portuguese were a few years ahead of the Spaniards in the discovery of the new trade routes. Inspired by Prince
Henry, the Navigator (1394-1460), Portuguese navigators sailed down the African coast to reach the East. In
1478, led by Bartolome Dias, the Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope. A few years later, in 1498, Vasco de
Gama reached Calicut, India, by sailing eastward from the Cape of Good Hope.

The end of the reconquistas or Crusades in 1492, paved the way of great voyages including the
exploration and colonization of the New World or America for Spain. Christopher Columbus, who had failed to
convince the King of Portugal that he could reach the East by sailing westward, was able to get the support of the
Spanish Crown.

After these remarkable voyages, Portugal and Spain became keen rivals in colonizing new lands because
of gold, spices and other merchandise found in the Orient, as well as their religious zeal to proselytize the natives.

On May 3, 1943, Pope Alexander VI, attempting to settle the rivalry, issued a papal bull known as Inter
caetera. The pope decreed that the Spanish zone of exploration should be west of the imaginary line drawn north
to south, 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands. All lands east of the demarcation line should
belong to Portugal. The demarcation line was drawn to identify Spanish and Portuguese spheres of exploration
and conquest. The following year, the two kingdoms agreed in the Treaty of Tordesillas to move the demarcation
line 370 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands and still be guided by the provisions of the papal bull.

In 1505, Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), a member of the nobility of Portugal sailed with a fleet
carrying the first Portuguese viceroy to the East Indies in 1506 and from there, was sent to Malacca (Melaka) in
the Malay Peninsula and the spice markets of Ambon and Banda in Western Indonesia. He was promoted to the
rank of Captain in 1510. He returned to Portugal in 1512.

Through observing wind directions and ocean tides, Magellan later conceived the idea of passage to the
west or around South America to reach the Moluccas or Spice Islands (islands of present-day Indonesia). While
finding the chance to present his plan to King Manuel of Portugal, he fought against the Moors in Morocco in

35
1513. There he received his wounds that left him lame for life. After his return to Portugal, Magellan proposed to
the king his plan to travel westward route to the Moluccas. The king refused and even canceled his promotion
probably because of charges of financial irregularities while he was in Morocco.

Disgusted by the king’s response, he renounced his Portuguese citizenship. He went to Spain in 1517. In
his new found home, Magellan met influential persons who helped him get support for his plan to find a new
route to the Spice Islands from King Charles I (later Holy Roman Emperor Charles V). One of them was Bishop
Juan de Fonseca, the head of the Royal Council of the Indies (division in charge of overseas expeditions).

Spurred by the competition to win against the Portugal in obtaining high-priced spices, Spain
commissioned Magellan to find route to Moluccas by sailing west. Such passage would be beneficial to Spain for
Portugal controlled the Eastward route to the East Indies around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. The contract for the
expedition was signed on March 28, 1518. Magellan was named captain-general of the expedition.

Spanish Expeditions: Magellan – Legazpi

Magellan’s New Route to the East

Magellan left the port of San Lucar de Barramede, Spain on September 20, 1519 with five ships namely Trinidad,
Concepcion, Santiago, San Antonio and Victoria together with about 250 men. The expedition intended to circumnavigate
the earth in the service of Spain. Accompanying him were Fr. Pedro de Valderrama (fleet Chaplain), Antonio Pigafetta
(chronicler of the expedition), Duarte Barbosa (Magellan’s brother in law), and his Malay slave Enrique of Malacca (acting as
interpreter).

The fleet sailed through familiar waters along the west coast of Africa. They reached the Canaries on September 26.
Crossing the Atlantic, they landed on the South American coat, now Pernambuco, Brazil, on November 29. Magellan
continued the voyage, reaching Rio de Janeiro on December 13. He named it Santa Lucia, because he landed there on the
saint’s feast day. There they traded with the Native Americans for provisions.

The voyage continued at Rio de Plata. By the time they were at the tip of the South American continent, it was
already winter. The snowstorms were in a headstrong. The men became apprehensive and asked Magellan that they all
return to Spain. Magellan declined. Instead, he asked them to take courage. The ships took shelter from storms on Port San
Julian (now in Argentina) in March 1520.

Unknown to Magellan some officers took into command the maneuvering of three ships, the San Antonio, the
Concepcion and the Victoria. The next day Gaspar de Quesada, captain of the Concepcion, wrote to Magellan that he and
others would not recognize his authority unless they returned immediately to Spain. Still, Magellan refused to heed their
petition.

Juan de Cartagena, Antonio de Coca, Juan Sebastian del Cano (called Elcano) and Gaspar de Quesada were found
guilty of treason but pardoned. But Cartagena continued to plot again, this time with one of the priests, Pero Sanchez de
Reina. They were probably jealous because the captain-general of this Spanish expedition was a Portuguese. Magellan had
the two left off the coast of an unnamed island.

With the first signs of spring, the exploratory voyage continued in search of a route to the southern Sea (now Pacific
Ocean). A strong typhoon had driven ashore and destroyed the smallest ship, Santiago. In August, the four ships went
farther south and eventually, they came upon a strait which Magellan called “Strait of All Saints” (now Strait of Magellan).

Magellan sent the San Antonio to explore the southeast opening of the strait. Trinidad entered the southwest.
Secretly, San Antonio, piloted by Esteban Gomez (a Portuguese), deserted on the night of November 20 and sailed back for
Spain.

The fleet reached the Southern Sea, which Magellan named Ocean Pacific because it was calm. Unfortunately
Magellan had underestimated the ocean’s size. In the next five months, the ship was running out of supplies. Instead of
biscuits, the men ate sawdust. They also started to eat leather rope guards and even rats. Many got sick with scurvy (a gum
disease). A number of his men died. However,t Magellan and his men sailed on and by March 6, 1521 they had reached an
island in the Western Pacific. He called it Islas Landrones (or Islands Of Thieves, later to be named Marianas, in honor of
Maria Ana of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain) because some of the native Chamorros had stolen a boat from the flagship. To
stop them, Magellan ordered to fire their guns.

36
Magellan’s Arrival on the Philippine Islands

From Landrones Islands, Magellan’s fleet went on their voyage westward. At the dawn of Saturday, on March 16,
1521, they saw the towering heights of Samar and named the island Islas de San Lazaro, for it was the feasts day of St.
Lazarus. They stayed overnight off Suluan Island. The following day, they landed on the small uninhabited islet of Humunu
(Homonhon) found at the mouth of Leyte Gulf and built two tents for the sick.On the third day after their arrival on March
18, they met nine natives from the neighboring island of Suluan who arrived in a boat. Seeing them as friendly people,
Magellan gave them red caps, mirrors, combs, small bells, ivory, fine linen cloth and other trifles. In return, the islanders
gave them cargo of bananas, fish, coconuts and palm wine (tuba).On Holy Thursday, March 28, the fleet landed in Masao,
Butuan, Agusan del Norte. (Early historians claim that it was Limasawa, an island in Southern Leyte.) Rajh Kolambu was
rowed to where the Europeans where. At first, he refused to board Magellan’s big ship. Finally, the rajah welcomed Magellan
and visited him aboard his ship. He gave Magellan three porcelain jars of rice, while Magellan gave a red cap and a red-and-
yellow robe.Subsequently, Magellan’s men held a mock fight. The soldier in a suit of armor remained unhurt even after he
was struck. Rajah Kolambu was fascinated and noted that one man in such attire was worth 100 fighters. These newcomers
could help them win their battles. Thus, the Rajah decided to seal their new friendship. Afterwards, he performed the kasi
kasi or blood compact ceremony with Magellan on March 29, Good Friday.On Easter Sunday, March 31, 1521, a mass was
held on Masao’s shore with Reverend Father Pedro de Valderrama officiating. At sundown, Magellan, in the presence of
Spaniards and Filipinos, planted a large wooden cross on the summit of a hill overlooking the sea. He named the country the
Islas de San Lazaro.

Noted historian Dr. Sonia M. Zaide presented the evidence for Masao rather than Limasawa as the site of the first
recorded mass in the Philippines. First, in all primary sources including the diary of Antonio Pigafetta, the chronicler of
Magellan’s voyage, the name of the place was Mazaua. Limasawa has four syllables and begins with another letter. Second,
according to primary records, the expedition traveled 20-25 leagues from Homonhon, the fist landing point. If they had been
to Limasawa Island the distance is only 14.6 leagues or one-half of that length. Third, the distance to Cebu from Mazaua
according to Pigafette was 35 Leagues (140 miles). The distance from Limasawa to Cebu is only 80 miles. Fourth, it was
mentioned that the king came to their ship in a balanghai. Butuan is now the site of at least nine excavated balanghai relics;
by contrast, Limasawa has no significant archaeological relics or balanghai tradition. Fifth, the Western explorers got excited
at the abundance of gold in Mazaua, for that was the main currency at that time. Both archaeological relics and the gold
mines today attested to the abundance of gold in the Agusan Valley.

On April 7, 1521, Magellan together with King Kolambu and the Spanish and native fleets landed on Sugbu (now
Cebu). On the same day, Humabon made a blood compact with Magellan after the latter had won his trust and
friendship.Asked who would succeed him, Rajah Humabon told Magellan that he had no sons, only daughters, His nephew
who had married his daughters was therefore the crown prince, Rajah Humabon added that parents were no longer
honored in their old age and instead their children commanded them. Magellan explained to the Cebuano chieftain the
Christian teaching about honoring one’s parents. This confounded Rajah Humabon. Soon, he sought to be baptized as a
Christian.

On Sunday, April 14, 1521, a mass on the shore of Cebu was held with Rajah Humabon and his people attending the
ceremony. After the mass, Magellan planted a huge wooden cross and gave Lisabeta (renamed Queen Juana after baptism for
the mother of King Charles I of Spain), wife of Rajah Humabon, an image of the Child Jesus as a gift. There were about 800
Filipinos who participated in the mass and underwent ritual baptism. As for Humabon (renamed Carlos), Magellan made
him the king’s representative in Cebu and promised to unite the local chieftains under his authority. Magellan likewise tried
to impose Christianity and Spanish sovereignty on local chieftains.

Rajah Humabon and Datu Zula of Mactan welcomed the Spaniards, but not Lapulapu another chieftain of mactan.
Lapulapu’s real name was Cali Pulacu as written by Carlos Calao, a Chinese-Spanish poet in the 17th century in his poem Que
Dios Le Perdone (That God May Forgive Him). Lapulapu refused to accept the new political system and pay tribute. He
decided to break away from Rajah Humabon. To teach him a lesson, Magellan invaded Mactan on April 27, 1521. He led an
army of 60 steel-clad Spaniards in three vessels and 1000 Cebuano warriors in 30 boats. He told Rajah Humabon and his
men to stay on their boats, watch how the Europeans fight.

Magellan had misjudged the fighting skills of Lapulapu and his men. The Mactan warriors repulsed the Spanish force
with their spears and bamboo stakes. They aimed their spears at the unshielded legs of the Europeans. The Spaniards were
forced to go back to their boats.Magellan was wounded in the battle. A poisoned arrow hit his right leg and then a bamboo
spear struck his face. Lapulapu and his fighters pounced and killed him. The remaining Europeans retreated and left the
body of their captain behind.

The Battle of Mactan was scandalous defeat for the Spaniards for they were not able to prove themselves better in
combats. On May 1, the natives of Cebu carried out the plan to massacre them. While Europeans were attending a banquet

37
prepared for them by Rajah Humabon, the warriors attacked them. Duarte Barbosa, Jan Serrano and twenty-seven other
Spaniards were killed.The remaining members of the expedition were forced to flee the islands before the Cebuanos could
kill them all. They burned the ship Concepcion for lack of men to operate the vessel. With two ships left- Trinidad and
Victoria, they continued their voyage to Moluccas.On November 8, 1521, they finally landed in Tindore, an Island in
Moluccas. They were able to secure a rich cargo of spices. The survivors decided that the Trinidad, led by Gomez de
Espinosa, would sail back to Spain by crossing the Pacific to Panama, while the Victoria, under Juan Sebastian del Cano’s
command would sail via Cape of Good Hope, but on lower latitudes to avoid the Portuguese.The Victoria crossed the Indian
Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and finally reached the San Lucar, Spain on September 6, 1522, with only 18
survivors. The voyage around the world lasted 2 years, 11 months and 16 days.

Pigafetta’s story of the expedition spread. Shortly thereafter, the geographers adopted a new dimension of the earth
and the wider scope of the Southern Sea (Pacific Ocean). The voyage enhanced their knowledge about the existence of other
islands in the Pacific and the Philippines. It also confirmed that the earth is round and that it is really possible to sail around
the world since the world’s oceans are connected.

Spanish Expeditions after Magellan

The cargo of cloves sold for such a high price that it was more than sufficient to pay for the expenses of Magellan’s
expedition. As a reward, the Spanish Crown granted Elcano a proud motto for his shield, Primus Circumdedisti Me (you
circumnavigated me first). As for the crew of the San Antonio (the ship that had deserted the expedition), they had been
imprisoned until Elcano’s return. They were tried and convicted.

Magellan’s expedition paved the way for Spain’s expansion to the Orient. Driven by thrill of adventure and the
reward of gold and spiritual dispensation, the conquistadores took the risks of the journey. The first post-Magellan
expedition (1525), led by Captain Garcia Jofre de Loaysa sailed with seven ships and 450 men. After crossing the Strait of
Magellan, the vessels were dispersed by a storm. Unfortunately Loaysa got ill. They served him Broiled rat, the traditional
treatment for constipation. He did not recover. Eventually he died. His me failed to reach the Philippines. Sebastian Cabot,
son of Venetian explorer John Cabot, headed the second expedition in 1526 with four ships and 250 men. They failed to find
the Strait of Magellan. In 1527, Alvaro Saavedra Ceron, cousin of Hernando Cortes of Mexico, together with 110 men
constituted the first expedition to the Philippines from the Viceroyalty in Mexico (New Spain). Three ships were set out to
investigate what had happened to the two earlier expeditions and rescue any survivors. Only one ship, the Florida, reached
Surigao in Northeastern Mindanao but failed to colonize. They were able to rescue several survivors from the first two
expeditions in Tidore, Moluccas. Loaded with spices, the Florida attempted to return to Spain but strong winds drove her
back. Saavedra Ceron tried the second and third time to sail against strong winds. He fell ill and died. His successor also
failed to make a return trip. Finally they decided to surrender to the Portuguese.

In 1542, King Charles I sent another expedition. This was to reassert the claims of Spain to the Islands, which is part
of the Eastern Hemispher. Based on the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the Eastern Hemisphere was reserved to Portuguese
colonization. He instructed Ruy Lopez de Villalobos to command a fleet of 6 ships and around 400 men. He exhorted
Villalobos to avoid any of the Spice Islands in their voyage to the Philippines, then known as Islas del Poniente (the Sunset
Islands).

Villalobos reached Baganga Bay in Eastern Mindanao on February 2, 1543 after three months of sailing. He named
Mindanao Caesarea Caroli, or the imperial island of Charles. Searching for food, they reached the southern island of
Saranggani, which Villalobos renamed Antonia in honor of Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza of Mexico. Some of his men went as
far as Leyte, which they renamed Felipina, in honor of the future king Philip II of Spain. Later, the name Felipinas was given
to all islands. Villalobos also failed to colonize Mindanao. He died in the Moluccas, consoled by St. Francis Xavier, acclaimed
as the Apostle of Indies.
King Charles I of Spain abdicated his royal crown after getting weary of far ranging duties brought about by his
scattered dominion. His son Philip II succeeded as ruler of the Netherlands in 1555 and Spain in 1556.

During the reign of King Philip II, Spain was at the height of its power. He wrote the Mexican Viceroy Velasco
ordering him to prepare an expedition for the conquest of the Philippines. The command of this expedition was given to
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (1505-1571), a soldier, lawyer and administrator. Since the Mexican government was then in the
brink of bankruptcy, Legazpi spent his own resources to finance the expedition.

Legazpi and his fleet, consisting of four ships with 380 men, left Natividad, Mexico, on November 19, 1564 (some
say November 20, a Monday). Besides royal officials and crew, five Augustinian friars joined the expedition. Legazpi was
accompanied by Father Andres de Urdaneta (survivor of the Loaysa expedition), and Captain Felipe de Salcedo (Legazpi’s
grandson), Guido de Lavezaris (survivor of the Villalobos expedition). The fleet stopped in Guam, and there obtained fresh
water supplies. On February 13, 1565, Legazpi and his mne anchored near the island of Cebu. Due to Cebuano opposition,

38
they sailed to the neighboring islands and landed in Samar. Legazpi made a blood compact with Urrao, a friendly chief, on
February 22. They proceeded to Limasawa and were received by a young chieftain named Bankaw. Later, Legazpi landed in
Bohol and befriended two native kings, Sikatuna and Sigala. On March 16, 1565, Legazpi and Sikatuna made a blood
compact. A few days later, Legazpi and Gala did a similar pact. On April27, 1565, Legazpi arrived in Cebu and hit the shore.
Rajah Tupas and his Cebuano warriors challenged the enemy forces but were overpowered by the Spaniards. Soon, the
natives burned their houses and retreated to uplands. The next day, April 28, one of Legazpi’s men, a Greek sailor named
Mermeo (others say Juan de Camuz) discovered the image of the Sto Niño in one of the houses. Viewing it as a sign of God’s
approval, Legazpi named the first settlement Ciudad del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus (City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus),
in honor of the sacred image. The statue can be found in the present Augustinian Church of the Holy Child.

The earliest Spanish settlement was in the form of a triangle. The two sides face the sea and the third fronts the
land. The settlement was surrounded by fences. Wells were dug for stable water supply. A church for the Augustinian
fathers was erected. In this church, the historic image of the Child Jesus was kept. One day, a soldier, Pedro de Araña, went
out alone from the camp. He was speared to death. In retaliation, a unit was sent to grab captives, one of them a niece of
Rajah Tupas of Cebu. Upon learning this, Legazpi sent her nursemaid to inform Rajah Tupas that the hostages were free to
go home, on the condition that he had to come for a talk. Tupas did not heed the invitation of Legazpi, but Tamuyan the girl’s
father came with six men. Tamuyan offered himself as a slave in place of his daughter but Legazpi assured him the freedom
of his daughter without making him subservient to the Spaniards. The father was stunned to see his daughter dressed as
befitted her rank. He knew that captives taken in war were not given noble treatment. Moved by their kindheartedness,
Tamuyan accepted Legazpi’s friendship. He promised to convince his brother Tupas to accept Spanish Goodwill. After a few
more days, convinced that Legazpi was sincere with his words, Rajah Tupas accepted Legazpi’s Friendship. He took the oath
of vassalage to the Spanish crown and promised to pay a yearly tribute.

Ferdinand Magellan claimed the Philippines for Spain in 1521, and for the next 377 years, the islands were under
Spanish rule. This period was the era of conversion to Roman Catholicism. A Spanish colonial social system was developed,
complete with a strong centralized government and considerable clerical influence. The Filipinos were restive under the
Spanish, and this long period was marked by numerous uprisings. The most important of these began in 1896 under the
leadership of Emilio Aguinaldo and continued until the Americans defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898,
during the Spanish-American War. Aguinaldo declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898.
http://www.worldrover.com/history/philippines_history.html

The Objectives and Strategies of Spanish Colonization

Spain had three objectives in its policy toward the Philippines, its only colony in Asia: to acquire a share
in the spice trade, to develop contacts with China and Japan in order to further Christian missionary efforts there,
and to convert the Filipinos to Christianity. Only the third objective was eventually realized, and this not
completely because of the active resistance of both the Muslims in the south and the Igorot, the upland tribal
peoples in the north. Philip II explicitly ordered that pacification of the Philippines be bloodless, to avoid a
repetition of Spain's sanguinary conquests in the Americas. Occupation of the islands was accomplished with
relatively little bloodshed, partly because most of the population (except the Muslims) offered little armed
resistance initially.

Church and state were inseparably linked in carrying out Spanish policy. The state assumed
administrative responsibility--funding expenditures and selecting personnel--for the new ecclesiastical
establishments. Responsibility for conversion of the indigenous population to Christianity was assigned to
several religious orders: the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians, known collectively as the friars-- and to
the Jesuits. At the lower levels of colonial administration, the Spanish built on traditional village organization by
co-opting the traditional local leaders, thereby ruling indirectly.

This system of indirect rule helped create in rural areas a Filipino upper class, referred to as
theprincipalía or the principales (principal ones). This group had local wealth; high status and prestige; and
certain privileges, such as exemption from taxes, lesser roles in the parish church, and appointment to local
offices. The principalía was larger and more influential than the pre-conquest nobility, and it created and
perpetuated an oligarchic system of local control. Among the most significant and enduring changes that
occurred under Spanish rule was that the Filipino idea of communal use and ownership of land was replaced
with the concept of private, individual ownership and the conferring of titles on members of the principalía.

39
 Religion played a significant role in Spain's relations with and attitudes toward the indigenous
population. The Spaniards considered conversion through baptism to be a symbol of allegiance to their authority.
Although they were interested in gaining a profit from the colony, the Spanish also recognized a responsibility to
protect the property and personal rights of these new Christians.

The church's work of converting Filipinos was facilitated by the absence of other organized religions,
except for Islam, which predominated in the south. The missionaries had their greatest success among women
and children, although the pageantry of the church had a wide appeal, reinforced by the incorporation of Filipino
social customs into religious observances, for example, in the fiestas celebrating the patron saint of a local
community. The eventual outcome was a new cultural community of the main Malay lowland population, from
which the Muslims (known by the Spanish as Moros, or Moors) and the upland tribal peoples of Luzon remained
detached and alienated.

The Spanish found neither spices nor exploitable precious metals in the Philippines. The ecology of the
islands was little changed by Spanish importations and technical innovations, with the exception of corn
cultivation and some extension of irrigation in order to increase rice supplies for the growing urban population.
The colony was not profitable, and a long war with the Dutch in the seventeenth century and intermittent conflict
with the Moros nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury. Annual deficits were made up by a subsidy from Mexico.

The Chinese in the Philippines during the Spanish Colonization

Colonial income derived mainly from entrepôt trade: The "Manila galleons" sailing from Acapulco on the west coast
of Mexico brought shipments of silver bullion and minted coin that were exchanged for return cargoes of Chinese goods,
mainly silk textiles. There was no direct trade with Spain. Failure to exploit indigenous natural resources and investment of
virtually all official, private, and church capital in the galleon trade were mutually reinforcing tendencies. Loss or capture of
the galleons or Chinese junks en route to Manila represented a financial disaster for the colony.

The thriving entrepôt trade quickly attracted growing numbers of Chinese to Manila. The Chinese, in addition to
managing trade transactions, were the source of some necessary provisions and services for the capital. The Spanish
regarded them with mixed distrust and acknowledgment of their indispensable role. During the first decades of Spanish
rule, the Chinese in Manila became more numerous than the Spanish, who tried to control them with residence restrictions,
periodic deportations, and actual or threatened violence that sometimes degenerated into riots and massacres of Chinese
during the period between 1603 and 1762.

The invasion of the Filipinos by Spain did not begin in earnest until 1564, when another expedition from New Spain,
commanded by Miguel López de Legaspi, arrived. Permanent Spanish settlement was not established until 1565 when an
expedition led by Miguel López de Legazpi, the first Governor-General of the Philippines, arrived in Cebu from New Spain.
Spanish leadership was soon established over many small independent communities that previously had known no central
rule. Six years later, following the defeat of the local Muslim ruler, Legazpi established a capital at Manila, a location that
offered the outstanding harbor of Manila Bay, a large population, and closeness to the sufficient food supplies of the central
Luzon rice lands. Manila became the center of Spanish civil, military, religious, and commercial activity in the islands. By
1571, when López de Legaspi established the Spanish city of Manila on the site of a Moro town he had conquered the year
before, the Spanish grip in the Philippines was secure which became their outpost in the East Indies, in spite of the
opposition of the Portuguese, who desired to maintain their monopoly on East Asian trade. The Philippines was
administered as a province of New Spain (Mexico) until Mexican independence (1821).mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Manila revolted the attack of the Chinese pirate Limahong in 1574. For centuries before the Spanish arrived the Chinese had
traded with the Filipinos, but evidently none had settled permanently in the islands until after the conquest. Chinese trade
and labor were of great importance in the early development of the Spanish colony, but the Chinese came to be feared and
hated because of their increasing numbers, and in 1603 the Spanish murdered thousands of them (later, there were lesser
massacres of the Chinese).mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Spanish governor, made a viceroy in 1589, ruled with the counsel of the powerful royal audiencia. There were frequent
uprisings by the Filipinos, who disliked the encomienda system. By the end of the 16th cent. Manila had become a leading
commercial center of East Asia, carrying on a prosperous trade with China, India, and the East Indies. The Philippines
supplied some wealth (including gold) to Spain, and the richly loaded galleons plying between the islands and New Spain
were often attacked by English freebooters. There was also trouble from other quarters, and the period from 1600 to 1663
was marked by continual wars with the Dutch, who were laying the foundations of their rich empire in the East Indies, and
with Moro pirates. One of the most difficult problems the Spanish faced was the defeat of the Moros. Irregular campaigns

40
were conducted against them but without conclusive results until the middle of the 19th century. As the power of the
Spanish Empire diminished, the Jesuit orders became more influential in the Philippines and obtained great amounts of
property.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Occupation of the islands was accomplished with relatively little bloodshed, partly because most of the population (except
the Muslims) offered little armed battle initially. A significant problem the Spanish faced was the invasion of the Muslims of
Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago. The Muslims, in response to attacks on them from the Spanish and their native allies,
raided areas of Luzon and the Visayas that were under Spanish colonial control. The Spanish conducted intermittent
military campaigns against the Muslims, but without conclusive results until the middle of the 19th
century.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Church and state were inseparably linked in Spanish policy, with the state assuming responsibility for religious
establishments. One of Spain's objectives in colonizing the Philippines was the conversion of Filipinos to Catholicism. The
work of conversion was facilitated by the absence of other organized religions, except for Islam, which predominated in the
south. The pageantry of the church had a wide plea, reinforced by the incorporation of Filipino social customs into religious
observances. The eventual outcome was a new Christian majority of the main Malay lowland population, from which the
Muslims of Mindanao and the upland tribal peoples of Luzon remained detached and separated.mmmmmmmmmmmmm

At the lower levels of administration, the Spanish built on traditional village organization by co-opting local leaders. This
system of indirect rule helped create in a Filipino upper class, called the principalía, who had local wealth, high status, and
other privileges. This achieved an oligarchic system of local control. Among the most significant changes under Spanish rule
was that the Filipino idea of public use and ownership of land was replaced with the concept of private ownership and the
granting of titles on members of the principalía.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Philippines was not profitable as a colony, and a long war with the Dutch in the 17th century and intermittent conflict
with the Muslims nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury. Colonial income derived mainly from entrepôt trade: The Manila
Galleons sailing from Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico brought shipments of silver bullion and minted coin that were
exchanged for return cargoes of Chinese goods. There was no direct trade with Spain. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Timeline of the Period of Spanish Colonization:

1521
Mar 16 A Spanish expedition, sailing across the Pacific Ocean from east to west, and led by the
Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan (died Apr 27, 1521) lands on Homonhon Island east of Samar with three
small ships, named the Concepcion, Trinidad and Victoria. Magellan calls the place San Lazaro Island since
March 16 is Saint Lazarus day.
Mar 28 Directing his ships southwestward, Magellan reaches Limasawa Island, south of Leyte. It is ruled by Rajah
Kulambo, who becomes Magellan's friend.
Mar 29 To seal the friendship between Magellan and Rajah Kulambo, they solemnize a blood compact. This is the
first recorded blood compact in Philippine history.
Mar 31 The first mass on Philippine soil is celebrated on Limasawa.
Apr 7 After sailing to Cebu Island, Magellan enters a new blood compact with the local chieftain, Rajah Humabon.
Apr 27 Magellan dies in a battle with Lapu-Lapu, chieftain of Mactan, an island near Cebu.
1525 Spain sends an expedition under Juan Garcia Jofre de Loaysa to the Philippines. The expedition expects to
find gold and spices but fails to do so. Loaysa and many members of his crew die in the Philippines.
1526 Spain sends a third expedition to the Philippines under the leadership of Juan Cabot. This expedition never
reaches the archipelago as three years are wasted in South America, trying to find a new route to the East.
1527 The fourth expedition sent by Spain to The Country is under the command of Alvaro de Saavedra. It is the
first Spanish expedition starting from Mexico. It reaches Mindanao but on the way to Cebu Saavedra's ship is
carried by strong winds to the Moluccas.
1529 Saavedra's expedition returns to Spain without Saavedra who died on the way home.
1536 The Loaysa expedition returns to Spain. One of its survivors is Andres de Urdaneta, its chronicler.
1543
Feb 2 The leader of the most successful Spanish expedition after Magellan, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (died Apr 4,
1546) arrives in the archipelago. He names the islands the Philippines in honor of the son of King Charles I,
Philip II (1556-1598) of Spain. Villalobos reaches Sarangani Island off the eastern coast of Mindanao and
settles there for 8 months. But because of the scarcity of food, the expedition is forced to leave the place and
sails to the Moluccas where Villalobos dies.
1565
Feb 13 With four ships and 380 men, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi arrives in the Philippines.
The Island of Cebu is surrendered to Legaspi by its ruler King Tupas. Legaspi establishes the first
permanent Spanish settlement on Cebu and becomes the first Spanish Governor-General. By his order,
May 8 tributes are collected from all Filipino males aged 19 to 60.

41
 1567 Dagami Revolt (1567)
1568 The Portuguese, under the command of General Gonzalo de Pereira, attack Cebu and blockade its port.
First Filipino-Spanish Treaty of sovereignty and friendship
1570 The Portuguese again attack the colony and are repulsed. The series of attacks stems from Portugal's claim
to the territory based on the provision of the Treaty of Tordisillas entered into by Spain and Portugal
on June 7, 1474, in which their respective spheres of influence, trade and conquest were defined. The
Portuguese believe that the Philippines falls within their sphere.
May Legaspi sends an expedition under the leadership of Martin de Goiti to Manila. Manila is ruled by Rajah
Suliman, whose friendship is won by de Goiti.
1571
May 19 Rajah Suliman wages war against the Spaniards due to a move by de Goiti which he mistakes for an assault.
De Goiti's army defeats Suliman's troops and occupies the town.
Legaspi establishes his government in Manila and proclaims it the capital of the Philippines, calling it the
Jun 24 "distinguished and ever loyal city".
1572
Aug 20 Legaspi dies and Guido de Lavezares (died 1575) succeeds him as governor. Lavezares extends
colonization to the Bicol region.
1574
Nov 23 The Chinese pirate captain Limahong attacks Manila but the Spaniards win with the help of the Filipinos.
Limahong again attacks Manila, this time with 1,500 soldiers, but cannot conquer the city.
Dec 2 In Tondo (now a district of Manila) Lakandula leads a short revolt against the Spanish.

Dec
1575 Ciudad de Nueva Cáceres(later renamed as Naga City) established by Captain Pedro de Sanchez
25 August Francisco de Sande appointed Governor-General (1575-1580)
1579 Diocese of Manila established
1580 The Spanish King Philip II receives the throne of Portugal upon the death of the Portuguese King
Sebastian. This puts an end to the Portuguese harassment of the Philippine archipelago.
The Spaniards institute forced labor on all male natives aged 16 to 60.
1583
Aug A great fire in Manila which starts from the candles around the bier of governor Penalosa.
1585 Pampangos Revolt (1585)
1587 Conspiracy of the Maharlikas (1587-1588)
1589 The Spaniards establish the first school in the Philippines, the College of San Ignacio.
Revolts Against the Tribute (1589)
1590 Missionaries from the Society of Jesus established the Colegio de Manila in Intramuros.
1592 Miguel de Benavides's Doctrina Christiana in Chinese published
1593 Doctrina Christiana in Spanish and Tagalog published
1595 Diocese of Nueva Segovia established.
Diocese of Caceres established.
Diocese of Cebu established.
Colegio de San Ildefonso founded in Cebu
1596 Magalat Revolt (1596)
1598 Colegio de Santa Potenciana, the first school for girls in the Philippines, established
1600 The Dutch attack the archipelago in a tactical offensive during the European war between Spain and the
Netherlands.
Bandala System is formed by the Spanish Colonial Government Governor Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera
begins collecting the bandala from the natives. Bandala is an annual quota of products assigned to the
natives for compulsory sale to the government.
The Galleon trade between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico begins. But Manila serves merely as a
transshipment port for the exchange of goods between Spain and Mexico on the one side and China on the
other. Silver from Mexico is traded for any kind of Chinese merchandise. Because of the Galleon trade's quick
returns, Spain lacks interest in developing the Philippine economy during the first 200 years of its
occupation.
Pedro Bucaneg inscribes the oral epic Biag ni Lam-ang
1601 Igorot Revolt (1601).
1 August Colegio de San Jose is established
1602 Chinese revolt of 1602
1603 Chinese insurrection in Manila
1609 The Recollects arrive in the Philippines in order to convert northern Mindanao, Zambales, Palawan into
Christianity
April Juan de Silva appointed Governor-General (1609-1616)
1611
28 April University of Santo Tomas established as the Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santísimo Rosario (later
renamed the Colegio de Santo Tomas).
Founding of University of Santo Tomas (UST), the oldest university in the Philippines
1619 University of Santo Tomas, then known as Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Santissimo Rosario, recognized by
theHoly See.

42
 1620 Colegio de San Juan de Letran established as the Colegio de Huerfanos de San Pedro y San Pablo.
1621 The “Colegio de Manila” is made the “Univesidad de San Ignacio” by Pope Gregory XV and in 1623 is made a
royal university by Philipp IV of Spain
Tamblot Revolt (1621-1622)
Bankaw Revolt (1621-1622)
1625 Isneg Revolt (1625-1627)
1627 University of Santo Tomas, then Colegio de Santo Tomas, authorized to confer degrees by Pope Urban VIII
1639 Cagayan Revolt (1639)
1640 Universidad de San Felipe de Austria established as the first Public University in the Philippines
1643 Universidad de San Felipe de Austria closed downLadia Revolt (1643)
1645 The Colegio de Santo Tomas raised to the status of a university and renamed as University of Santo
Tomas by Pope Innocent X, upon the request of King Philip IV of Spain.
1647 The Dutch besieged the Spanish in the Battle of Puerto de Cavite
1649 Beginning of calamitous period of Muslim raids against the Spaniards
1660 Zambal Revolt (1660)
Maniago Revolt (1660)
Malong Revolt (1660-1661)
1661 Ilocano Revolt (1661)
1662 Chinese revolt of 1662
Chinese Koxinga overrans and takes Formosa; sends Dominician friars as his envoy to Manila
1680
May 12 University of Santo Tomas placed under Royal Patronage by King Charles II of Spain.
1681 Sambal Revolt (1681-1683)
1686 Tingco plot (1686)
1718 Spaniards return to Zamboanga and provoke Muslims
Rivera Revolt (1718)
1719
11 October Caragay Revolt (1719)
1722 Colegio de San Jose conferred with the title Royal.
1744 Dagohoy Rebellion (1744-1829)
1745
21September Agrarian Revolt (1745-1746)
1754
15 May Mt Taal emits magma and destroys the towns of Lipa, Sala, Tanauan and Talisay.
1762 The British East India Company seizes Manila
Silang Revolt (1762-63)
Palaris Revolt (1762-1765)
Camarines Revolt (1762-1764)
Cebu Revolt (1762-1764)
British forces looted and plundered many of Manila establishments through the so-called Rape of Manila
Sep 22 In a side encounter of the European Seven Years War, the British attack Manila with 13 vessels and 6,830
men under the command of General William Draper and Admiral Samuel Corning. The British win the battle
and occupy the city.
Oct 5 The British take control of the Philippines and Darsonne Drake becomes Governor-General. The British
open the colony to international trade and ultimately change its economic life.
Simón de Anda y Salazar appointed Governor-General (1762-17614) by the Real Audiencia. Provisional
6 October Government established in Bacolor, Pampanga with de Anda as dictator.
The British East India Company commissioned The Rt Hon. Dawsonne Drake became the first British
2 November governor-general of the Philippines until 1764.
1763
Feb 10 The Treaty of Paris between England, Spain and France is signed, ending the Seven Years War in Europe as
well as the British occupation of the Philippines.
The Treaty of Paris returns Manila to Spain
28 May Deaths of Gabriela Silang, the only Filipina to have led a revolt, and her husband Diego.
1764
11 June The last of the British ships that sailed to Manila leaves the Philippines for India, ending the British
occupation.
1765
10 February Royal Fiscal of Manila Don Francisco Léandro de Viana writes the famous letter to King Charles III of Spain,
later called as "Viana Memorial of 1765". The document advised the king to abandon the colony due to the
economic and social devastation created by the Seven Years' War. The suggestion was not heeded.
Governor Raon orders the minting of parallelogramic-shaped coins called barrillas, the first coined minted in
the Philippines.

1768 Following the Suppression of the Jesuits, the members of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines are expelled
– they surrender their properties to Spanish authorities
1769
23 July The Society of Jesus in the Philippines is expelled by Raón after receiving a dated later from Charles III's

43
 chief minister Don Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea on March 1, 1767. The Jesuit's Properties are confiscated by
the Spanish Colonial Government
1771 Moro pirates traveled all over the country and raids many fishing villages in Manila
Bay, Mariveles, Parañaque,Pasay and Malate.
1774
Nov 9 Parishes are secularized by order of King Charles III of Spain. Natives are also permitted to enter the
Catholic priesthood.
1780 Real Sociedad Economica de los Amigos del Pais de Filipinas (Royal Economic Society of Friends of the
Philippines) introduced in the Philippines to offer local and foreign scholarships and professorships to
Filipinos, and financed trips of scientists from Spain to the Philippines
1781 Establishment of the tobacco monopoly
1783 Bishop Mateo Joaquin de Arevalo of Cebu establishes the Colegio-Seminario de San Carlos(later renamed as
theUniversity of San Carlos) from the old building of the defunct Colegio de San Ildefonso, which was closed
down in 1769 after the suppression of the Jesuits.
1785 Establishment of the “Real Compania de Filipinas” which reoriented the entire commercial system of the
Philippines
Lagutao Revolt (1785).
20 May University of Santo Tomas granted Royal Title by King Charles III of Spain.
1788 Ilocos Norte Revolt (1788).
2 April Birth of the greatest Tagalog poet from Bulacan Francisco "Balagtas" Baltazar.
1805 Nueva Vizcaya Revolt (1805)
1807 Ambaristo Revolt (1807)
1808
May French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte installs his brother Joseph as King of Spain. French-influenced
liberals support the king but the people do not.
1809
Jan 22 As an effect of the appointment of Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain, all Spanish colonies including the
Philippines are made integral parts of Spain by the Spanish Central Junta. Filipinos are given the privileges
of Spanish citizenship as well as representation in the Spanish Cortes (parliament).
1812
Mar 19 The Spanish Cortes promulgates the Cadiz Constitution. It is a liberal constitution, vesting sovereignty in
the people, recognizing the equality of all men and the individual liberty of the citizen, and granting the right
of suffrage, but providing for a hereditary monarchy and for Catholicism as the state religion.
The first Philippine delegates to the Spanish Cortes, Pedro Perez de Tagle and Jose Manuel Coretto take
Sep 24 their oath of office in Madrid, Spain.
1813
Mar 17 Spain officially implements the Cadiz Constitution in Manila

Oct 16 to 19 The Battle of the Nations near Leipzig, Germany; it ends with Napoleon and the French defeated.
Following the French defeat at Leipzig, the British General Duke of Wellington drives the Napoleonic
Oct forces out of Spain.
1814 Ferdinand VII, son of Charles IV, is recognized as King of Spain.
1815
Jun 18 Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated in a battle with another multi-national army under Wellington
at Waterloo, Belgium.
Oct 15 Bonaparte is exiled to St. Helena's Island in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of West Africa.
1816
May 24 After the defeat of Napoleon in Europe and his brother's loss of the Spanish throne, conservative
forces again dominate Spanish politics. The Spanish Cortes rejects the Cadiz Constitution which means,
among other things, that Philippine representation in the Cortes is abolished.
1820 Changes in Philippine economic life, partially introduced by the British, lead to some internal prosperity. In
agriculture, crops are relegated by region so that tobacco becomes the chief crop of the north,sugar the
main crop of the Visayas, and abaca the mainstay of the Bicol region. The same year, foreigners are
massacred in Binondo. They were under suspicion of poisoning Pasig River and thus being responsible for a
severe epidemic of cholera.
1828 An earthquake lasting between 2 to 3 minutes damage a number of buildings and churches in Manila
1830 The Port of Manila is opened to the world market.
1834 Opening of Manila to world trade
1835 The Chamber of Commerce is installed. Francisco Rodriguez establishes the first Filipino bank.
1837
27 August Manila is made an open port.
1838
29 December Florante at Laura is published.
1844 The Gregorian calendar and the giving of Spanish surnames are introduced by Governor-General Claveria
1848 Glowing avalanche from Mt Hibok-Hibok on Camiguin Island
1852
Dec 4 to 6 Glowing avalanche from Mt Hibok-Hibok
1859 Jesuits return to the Philippines

44
 Jesuits takes over the Escuela Municipal and establishes the Ateneo Municipal
1861
2 February Jose Rizal, Philippines' National Hero is born.
Escuela de Artes Y Oficios de Bacolor established as Asia's oldest vocational school.
1863 The educational system in the archipelago is reformed, allowing the natives higher levels of training.
Wealthier native families start sending their children to study in Spain.
Jun 3 At 19:00, a terrific earthquake shakes Manila and ruins most buildings in the city, including the cathedral.
Of major structures, only the San Agustin church remains standing.
1865 University of Santo Tomas made the center for public instruction throughout the Philippines by royal decree
of Queen Isabella II of Spain
Observatorio Meteorológico del Ateneo Municipal de Manila (Manila Observatory) established by the Jesuits
1867 Colegio de Santa Isabel established in Naga by Bishop Francisco Gainza, OP of Nueva Caceres, through the
royal decree of Queen Isabella II of Spain
1869
Nov 17 The Suez Canal is opened, establishing a regular steamship service between the Philippines and Europe.
This allows not only the influx of more goods into the colony but also of new ideas.
Colegio de Santa Isabel inaugurated as the first Normal School in South East Asia

The Gabinete de Fisica of the University of Santo Tomas established as the first Museum in the Philippines.
The Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the University of Santo Tomas is established as the first schools of
Medicine and Pharmacy in the Philippines.
1875 The Colegio de San Jose incorporated into the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of the University of Santo
Tomas
1880 Manila is connected through telegraphic cable to the Western world by Eastern Telecom.
Jul 18 & 20 Two shocks of an earthquake create destruction from Manila to Santa Cruz, Luguna. Tremors continue until
Aug 6
1884 Exaction of tribute from all male natives is ended and the required forced labor of 40 days a year is reduced
to 15 days.
1887
29 May Noli Me Tangere published.
October Rizal starts writing the El Filibusterismo
The Manila School of Agriculture is established.
1894
8 July Bonifacio forms the Katipunan
1896
1 July Rizal is recruited as a physician for the Spanish Army in Cuba by Governor Ramon Blanco
6 August Rizal returns to Manila from Cuba
19 August The Katipunan discovered by the Spanish Colonial Government. Katipuneros flee to Balintawak
23 August Revolution is proclaimed by Bonifacio at the Cry of Balintawak. Katipuneros tear up their cedulas
Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and other Katipuneros board Rizal's ship to Barcelona. They offer his rescue
26 August but Rizal refused
30 August Revolutionary Battle at San Juan del Monte. Governor Ramon Blanco proclaims a state of war in Manila,
2 September Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.
3 October Rizal Boards the ship Isla de Panay for Barcelona
4 October Rizal arrives at Barcelona
6 October Rizal is imprisoned in Montjuich by order of Capt. Gen. Despujo
31 October Rizal returns to Manila as a prisoner
13 November
A new group of the Katipunan is formed in Cavite headed by Emilio Aguinaldo
20 November
Rizal arrives in Manila and incarcerated in Fort Santiago
13 December Rizal is interrogated for charges against the Spanish Colonial Government
Camilo Polavieja becomes acting Governor-General (1896-1897)
1897
22 March The Katipunan holds its election. Emilio Aguinaldo is elected as president
15 April José de Lachambre becomes acting Governor-General (1897)
23 April Fernando Primo de Rivera appointed Governor-General (1897-1898)
An earthquake at estimated intensity of 7.9 centered on Luzon's northwest coast shakes Batanes and
Aug 15 northern Luzon.
American warship Maine was blown up in Havana harbour, triggers the the Spanish- American war,
1898 the battle of Manila Bay ensues.
8 February The Katipunan is revived by Emilio Jacinto and Feliciano Jocson
24 April The US government promises support in exchange for his cooperation. Aguinaldo agrees
The US declares war on Spain.
26 April Commodore George Dewey attacks Manila
13 August Wesley Merritt appointed Military Governor (1898)
13 August The Spanish surrenders to the US after at mock battle of Manila
14 August Elwell S. Otis appointed Military Governor (1898-1900)
29 August Diego de los Ríos becomes acting Governor-General (1898)

45
September The Malolos Congress meets and elects its officers.
15September Spain sells the Philippines to the United States for 20 Million Dollars in accordance with the Treaty of Paris
10 December
1899 Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War, cedes Philippines to U.S. after payment to Spain by U.S. of $ 20
million. Emilio Aguinaldo declares independence then leads a guerrilla war against U.S.
http://www.philippine-embassy.de/bln/index.php?Itemid=322&id=213&option=com_content&task=view
http://en.mecycloedia.org/ /Timeline_of_Philippine_history

The Political Structure

Spain reigned over the Philippines for 333 years, from 1565 to 1898. Since Spain was far from the country, the
Spanish king ruled the Islands through the viceroy of Mexico, which was then another Spanish colony. When
Mexico regained its freedom in 1821, the Spanish king ruled the Philippines through a governor general. A
special government body that oversaw matters, pertaining to the colonies assisted the king in this respect. This
body became known by many names. Council of the Indies (1565-1837), Overseas Council (1837-1863), and
Ministry of the Colonies (1863–1898). It is implemented the decrees and legal codes Spain promulgated although
many of its provisions could not apply to condition in the colonies. It also exercised legislative and judicial
powers. http://www.philip pine-history.org/spanish-colonial-masters.htm

Spain established a centralized colonial government in the Philippines that was composed of a national
government and the local governments that administered provinces, cities, towns and municipalities. With the
cooperation of the local governments the national government maintained peace and order, collected taxes and
built schools and other public works.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Governor General

As the King's representative and the highest-ranking official in the Philippines, the governor general saw to it
that royal decrees and laws emanating from Spain were implemented in the Philippines. He had the power to
appoint and dismiss public officials, except those personally chosen by the King. He also supervised all
government offices and the collection of taxes.The governor general exercised certain legislative powers, as well.
He issued proclamations to facilitate the implementation of laws.

The Residencia
This was a special judicial court that investigates the performance of a governor general who was about to be
replaced. The residencia, of which the incoming governor general was usually a member, submitted a report of
its findings to the King. mm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Visita
The Council of the Indies in Spain sent a government official called the Vistador General to observe conditions in
the colony. The Visitador General reported his findings directly to the kIng.

The Royal Audiencia

Apart from its judicial functions, the Royal Audiencia served as an advisory body to the Governor General and
had the power to check and a report on his abuses. The Audiencia also audited the expenditures of the colonial
government and sent a yearly report to Spain. The Archbishop and other government officials could also report
the abuses of the colonial government to be Spanish king. Despite all these checks, however, an abusive governor
general often managed to escape stiff fines, suspension, or dismissal by simply bribing the Visitador and other
investigators.

The Provincial Government

The Spaniards created local government units to facilitate the country’s administration. There were two types of
local government units – the alcadia and the corregimiento. The alcadia, led by the alcalde mayor, governed the
provinces that had been fully subjugated: the corregimiento, headed by corregidor, governed the provinces that
were not yet entirely under Spanish control. The alcalde mayors represented the Spanish king and the governor
general in their respective provinces. They managed the day-to-day operations of the provincial government,
implemented laws and supervised the collection of taxes. Through they were paid a small salary; they enjoyed
privileges such as the indulto de comercio, or the right to participate in the galleon

46
trade.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

The Municipal Government

Each province was divided into several towns or pueblos headed by Gobernadorcillos, whose main concerns
were efficient governance and tax collection. Four lieutenants aided the Governardorcillo: the Teniente Mayor
(chief lieutenant), the Teniente de Policia (police lieutenant), the Teniente de Sementeras (lieutenant of the
fields) and the Teniente de Ganados (lieutenant of the livestock).

The Political Organization of the Colonial Government of Spain in the Philippines

King of Spain

Visitador Recidencia

Royal Audiencia

Governor General

Alcalde Mayor Corregidor

(Head of the Alcaldia/Provinces) (Head of the corregimiento)

Gobernadorcillo
(Led the Pueblo)

Teniente Mayor Teniente de Policia Teniente de Sementeras Teniente de Ganados

(Chief Lieutenant) (Police Lieutenant) (Lieutenant of the field) (Lieutenant of the Livestock)

NAME: ______________________________ SCORE: _________________

COURSE & YR.:________________________ DATE: __________________
EXERCISE 3.1
I. MULTIPLE CHOICE.Choose the letter with the correct answer. Write your answers on the blanks provided.

_______1.Pope Alexander VI issued a bull known as inter-caetera decreeing that this should be the Spanish zone of
exploration.
a. east of the imaginary line drawn north to south, 100 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands
b. west of the imaginary line drawn north to south, 100 leagues west of Cape of Good Hope
c. west of the imaginary line drawn north to south, 100 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands
d. east of the imaginary line drawn north to south, 100 leagues west of Cape of Good Hope
_______2.Magellan realized that one could arrive at the Eastern Spice Islands more quickly using this route.
a. Columbus westward route c. around Cape of Good Hope
b. westward route around South America d. across the South African tip
_______3.He was the chronicler of Magellan’s expedition
a. Morga b. Pigafetta c. Enrique d. Loarca
_______4.This ship secretly deserted on the night of November 20, 1520 and sailed for Spain.

47
 a. Trinidad b. Concepcion c. San Antonio d. Victoria
_______5.The First Island in the Philippines sighted by Magellan and his men
a. Samar b. Humonhon c. Cebu d. Leyte
_______6.They made the first recorded blood compact in the annals of Philippine History.
a. Rajah Humabon and Magellan c. Rajah Kolambu and Magellan
b. Rajah Siagu and Magellan d. Sikatuna and Legazpi
_______7.He was the first Filipino chieftain to be baptized as Catholic
a. Rajah Humabon b. Rajah Kolambu c. Datu Zula d. Rajah Tupas
_______8.Sikatuna was a native king of this island
a. Cebu b. Leyte c. Samar d. Bohol
_______9.The second Spanish settlement was established in this place
a. Manila c. Panay
b. Cebu d. Mindoro
_______10.The Maynilad chief who defended his kingdom from the Spaniards
a. Bambalito b. Lakandula c. Rajah Sulayman d. Rajah Matanda
_______11.He collected the tribute and gave it to the encomendero.
a. town mayor c. gobernadorcillo
b. head of the family d. former datu
_______12.The highest local position opened to Filipinos.
a. alcalde mayor c. gobernadorcillo
b. corregidor d. cabeza de barangay
_______13.This judicial body puts into trial, an outgoing governor general and other Spanish officials who were
obliged to give an accounting of their acts during their term of office.
a. Royal Audiencia c. Visitador-General
b. Residencia d. Oidor
_______14.One of the following was not exempted from paying the tribute.
a. Sacristan c. Choir member
b. Government Employee d. Stage actor
_______15.Before 1884, this was the number of days to be rendered for polo.
a. 40 days b. 15 days c. 60 days d. 100 days
_______16.Upon the Kings order, the Mexican viceroy sent this royal subsidy to Manila annually.
a. visitador b. Isabelina c. piloncito d. real situado

_______17.This was the policy of resettlement in the Spanish period consolidating population in a larger village.
a. Reduccion b. alcaldia c. pueblos d. visitas
_______18.This was the first university in the Philippines, which was originally founded as college in 1589 and
elevated to the rank of university in 1621.
a. University of San Ignacio c. University of San Felipe
b. University of Santo Tomas d. Escuela Pia
_______19.During the Spanish period, this was the only college open for Filipina girls.
a. Beaterio de la Compania de Jesus c. College of Santa Isabel
b. Beaterio de Santa Catalina d. College of Santa Potenciana
_______20.This was established in 1785 to promote direct trade with Spain.
a. Galleon Trade c. Sociedad Economica de los Amigos del Pais
b. Monopoly d. Real Compania de Filipinas

II. Essay
1. What prompted the Europeans to search new lands in the 14th century to the 16th century?

2. Did the Spaniards succeed in promoting Hispanic culture among the early Filipinos?

48
III. Define what kind of political structure was identified on the following sentences:

1. He saws to it that royal decrees and laws emanating from Spain were implemented in the Philippines.
_____________________________________
2. This was a special judicial court that investigates the performance of a governor general who was about
to be replaced._________________________________________________
3. The Council of the Indies in Spain sent a government official to observe conditions in the
colony._______________________________________
4. Served as an advisory body to the Governor General and had the power to check and a report on his
abuses.___________________________________________
5. The Spaniards created local government units to facilitate the country’s
administration.___________________________
6. He had the power to appoint and dismiss public officials, except those personally chosen by the
King.______________________________________________
7. He also supervised all government offices and the collection of taxes.__________________________________
8. He issued proclamations to facilitate the implementation of laws._______________________________________
9. He reported his findings directly to the King. _________________mm
10. It also audited the expenditures of the colonial government and sent a yearly report to Spain.
____________________________
11. Two types of local government units.___________________________________
12. governed the provinces that had been fully subjugated _________________
13. governed the provinces that were not yet entirely under Spanish control
14. represented the Spanish king and the governor general in their respective provinces._
15. Each province was divided into several towns or pueblos headed by______________________________
16. lieutenants aided the Governardorcillo:_______________________________________________________________
17. they enjoyed privileges such as the indulto de comercio, or the right to participate in the galleon
trade.____________________________________________
18. main concerns were efficient governance and tax collection.
19. They managed the day-to-day operations of the provincial government, implemented laws and
supervised the collection of taxes. _________________________mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT OF SPANISH COLONIZATION

The social, cultural and economic impact of Spanish colonization was clearly manifest after the end of the
more than three centuries of regime. The unification of the scattered barangays under one rule thereby giving
the nation a definite political identity first as a colony and after its independence, as a nation, had its indelible
impact on the social, cultural and economic condition of the Philippine society by the end of the 20 th century.

READING 3.1:

The Cultural Impact of Spanish Colonization

The Spaniards transplanted their social, economic, and political institutions halfway across the world to the
Philippine archipelago.

The colonial masters required the native Filipinos to swear allegiance to the Spanish monarch, where
before they only had village chieftains called "datus;" to worship a new God, where before they worshipped a
whole pantheon of supernatural deities and divinities; to speak a new language, where before they had (and still
have) a diverse collection of mother tongues; and to alter their work habits, where before they worked within the
framework of a subsistence economy. The Spanish landholding system based on private ownership of land
replaced the Filipino system of communal landownership.

Thus, when the Spanish rule ended, the Filipinos found many aspects of their way of life bearing the
indelible imprint of Hispanization.

49
 To administer the Philippines, the Spaniards extended their royal government to the Filipinos. This highly
centralized governmental system was theocratic. There was a union of Church and State. The Roman Catholic
Church was equal to and coterminous with the State. Therefore, the cross as well as the scepter held sway over the
archipelago. While the State took care of temporal matters, the Church took care of spiritual matters and hence
preoccupied itself with the evangelization and the conversion of the Filipino inhabitants from their primal religion
to Roman Catholicism. The Spanish friars wanted the Philippines to become the "arsenal of the Faith" in Asia. In
the process, the Spanish Catholic missionaries helped in the implantation of Castilian culture and civilization on
Philippine soil. This is because Spanishness was equated with Catholicism. The two terms were virtually
synonymous with one another. One was not a genuine Spaniard if he was not a faithful Roman Catholic believer.

The imposition of the Roman Catholic faith upon the Filipino population permanently influenced the
culture and society of the Philippines. This is due to the fact that the Spanish friars who undertook the immense
task of evangelizing the Filipino natives looked at their missionary work and endeavor as involving more than
simple conversion. By Christianizing the Filipinos, the Spanish Catholic missionaries were in effect remodeling
Filipino culture and society according to the Hispanic standard. They would be Hispanizing the Filipinos, teaching
them the trades, manners, customs, language and habits of the Spanish people. This influence is evident even in the
way the Filipinostell time ("alas singko y media"), in the way Filipinos count ("uno, dos, tres"), and in the family
names Filipinos carry (De la Cruz, Reyes, Santos, etcetera).

The Filipino populace embraced Spanish Roman Catholic Christianity almost unquestioningly. The Spanish
authorities congregated the scattered Filipino population into clustered village settlements, where they could
more easily be instructed and Christianized under a friar’s eye. This policy paved the way for the emergence of the
present system of politico-territorial organization of villages, towns, and provinces. At the same time, the compact
villages which were literally under the bells of the Roman Catholic Church permitted the regular clergy to wake up
the villagers each day summon them to mass, and subject them to religious indoctrination or cathechismal
instruction. This process enabled the Church to play a central role in the lives of the people because it touched
every aspect of their existence from birth to growth to marriage to adulthood to death. Whether the natives clearly
understood the tenets and dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church is of course another matter. Some scholars claim
that the Spaniards only superficially Christianized the Filipinos, most of who learned to recite the prayers and
chants by rote, without any idea as to their meaning. Some native inhabitants became only nominal Christians. At
any rate, there is no denying the fact that many Filipinos defended the Catholic faith devotedly. Through the
Church and its zealous missionaries, the Filipinos learned new techniques and procedures involving the cultivation
of agricultural crops introduced from Mexico, one of Spain’s colonies in the New World. For example, prior to the
imposition of Spanish rule, the Filipinos practiced swiddening or slash-and-burn agriculture. This farming
technique involved clearing a hillside or a patch of land, cutting down the trees, burning the trunks, the branches
and the leaves, removing the rocks, and then planting through the use of a pointed stick to create a hole on the
ground into which seeds were thrown. Then the farmer simply waited for harvest time to arrive.

This situation changed when the missionaries taught the Filipino natives horticultural techniques requiring
intensive cultivation of land through better irrigation and water management so as to lessen their dependency on
rainfall. In addition to teaching the Filipinos new farming methods and introducing to them new crops such as
maize, avocado, tomato, and cacao, from which the nutritious drink of chocolate was derived, the Spanish friars
taught the rudiments of reading and writing to the natives, not to mention useful trades such as painting, baking
and locksmithing.In the course of Spanish colonization in the Philippines, the friars constructed opulent Baroque-
style church edifices. These structures are still found today everywhere across the country and they symbolize the
cultural influence of Spain in Filipino life. The opulence of these edifices was clearly visible in the ornate facades,
paintings, and sculpture, as well as in the behavioral patterns of the people and in the intricate rituals associated
with Roman Catholic churches. While it is true that the Spaniards exploited labor in the construction of the
imposing Baroque-style sanctuaries for Roman Catholic worship, it is also true that these same edifices became the
means by which Filipino artistic talents and inclinations were expressed. The carpenters, masons, craftsmen, and
artisans were mainly Filipinos. In this way, the Roman Catholic Church and religion influenced Filipino
architectural and building style, even as the rituals and festivities of the Church influenced Filipino dances, songs,
paintings, and literary writings. Through these influences, the Church afforded the Filipinos abundant
opportunities for both solemn rites and joyous festivities and celebrations known as "fiestas." The services inside

50
the Catholic churches often spilled out into the thoroughfare in the form of colorful and pageant-filled religious
processions in which the rich and the poorparticipated. Dining, drinking, and merrymaking often followed or
accompanied such religious activities. During these feasts, Spanish culinary specialties like "paella" (a dish
consisting of a mixture of rice, chicken and shellfish), "arroz valenciana" (glutinous rice and chicken cooked in
coconut milk), and "lengua" (sauteed ox-tongue usually with mushroom sauce) became part of the local table fare.
The rites and feasts served to provide relief from the drudgery of humdrum village existence, to release pent-up
social and economic frustrations, or to foster community spirit and unity.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the Spaniards enriched the Filipino languages through lexicographic
studies produced by the friars. Many Spanish words found their way into the Tagalog and Visayan languages. The
Spanish words somehow fitted into the phonetic patterns of the Filipino languages. These Spanish words like
"mesa" (table), "adobo" (marinated cooked food), and others are commonly used today in the daily practical
transactions of the Filipinos with each other. Ironically, the friars came up with excellent studies on Filipino
culture and languages even as they sought to overthrow this same culture through their implantation of Spanish
civilization.

The influences from Spain have become permanently embedded in Filipino culture. The Filipino people
themselves have internalized them. They cannot be undone anymore. For good or bad, they have catapulted the
Filipinos into the world of Spanish culture, into the world of Spanish civilization and its products. Nevertheless, it
must be said that the Filipinos did not receive the cultural influences from Spain sitting down. They responded in a
way that demonstrated their capacity to master the new and to balance the new against the old, in a way that
called for their capacity to bring values and principles to bear with a critical and informed judgment, and in a way
that called for them to be able to sift what is essential from what is trivial. Thus they responded selectively to the
novelties the Spaniards brought with them to the Philippine Islands. The Filipinos accepted only those that fitted
their temperament, such as the "fiesta" that has become one of the most endearing aspects of life in these islands,
and made them blend with their indigenous lifestyle to produce a precious Philippine cultural heritage.

Adapted from Leslie E. Bauzon, "Influence of the Spanish Culture" translated to Japaneseand published as "Firipin
bunka eno Supein no eikyo" in Shizuo Suzuki and Shinzo Hayase(eds.), TONAN AZIA NO JITEN FIRIPIN
(ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOUTHEAST ASIA:
PHILIPPINES), Kyoto: Dohosha, 1991. Pp. 195-196

NAME: ______________________________ SCORE: _________________

COURSE & YR.:________________________ DATE: __________________

EXERCISE 3.2

INSTRUCTION.Based on Reading 3.1answer the following items.TRUE OR FALSE. Write Trueif the sentence is
correct and False if it is wrong.

1. The changes in the political structure of the government required our ancestors to render their allegiance
to the Spanish monarch.

2. The Roman Catholic religion totally replaced the ancient form of worship of our ancestors.

3. The Spaniards used language as a colonization tool in the Philippines in the same manner they used it in
the subjugated Latin American nations.

4. There are three major languages and 800 dialects in the Philippines.

5. The landholding system based on the Regalian Doctrine replaced the Filipino system of communal
landownership.

6. The union of Church and State permanently influenced the culture and society of the Philippines.

51
 7. Hispanization through conversion to Catholicism involved a process which effectedshaping Filipino
culture and society different from the culture of the colonizers.

8. Reduccion is the process of clustering and congregating the scattered Filipino communities structured
village settlements, where they could more easily be instructed and Christianized.

9. The colonizers only superficially Christianized the Filipinos, most of who learned to recite the prayers
and chants by habit, without any idea as to their meaning.

10. The Filipinos learned new techniques and procedures involving the cultivation of agricultural crops
introduced from Mexico, one of Spain’s colonies in the New World.

II. Enumerate at least three (3) changes in our ancestors’ ways of life in the following areas:
1. Religion 2. Agriculture 3. Industry and trade 4. Food and cuisine

READING 3.2:

THE “HISPANIZATION” OF THE FILIPINOS

Jaime B. Veneracion (2008)

In 1492, the year when the Moslem kingdom of Granada was defeated by the Christians and the year when
Columbus reached the Caribbean, a Castillian grammar was published by Elio Antonio de Nebrija. Momentous event it was
as this had been the first grammar to be compiled of a modern Europeanlanguage. When presented to Queen Isabella I,
she was said to have remarked “What is it for?” To this, the Bishop of Avila in behalf of Nebrija answered “Your majesty,
language is the perfect instrument of Empire.” [J. H. Elliott, Imperial Spain 1469-1716. New York: A Mentor Book, St.
Martin’s Press, 1966, p. 125]

Indeed, the complete domination of the Spanish language in Latin America may be considered as the most
important indicator of domination. By looking into the degree by which a local language had absorbed the Spanish
grammar and vocabulary, we may also know its degree of “hispanization.” In other words, while it may be said that there
are other things that would indicate Spanish influence such as in areas of politics, economics and social way of life, these
had to be correlated in the last analysis to the extent by which the local language had been “hispanized.”

As a proportion to the local vocabulary of various Philippine languages, Spanish words constitute about 30 per
cent. [Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said “a third of the Philippine national language is composed of Spanish loan
words” at the 2005 celebration of the Philippine-Spanish Friendship Day, June30, 2005. Cited in Ching M. Alano, “Baler: A
date with history,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 10, 2005, p. K-2; In Ana Maria Ll. Madrigal, “Que pasa del Espanol hoy en
Filipinas?” Linguae et Litterae vol. I, no. 1 December 1992, p. 51, the number of these loan words had been placed at
23,000.] Thus, it may be said that all things considered, the degree of “hispanization” of the Philippines may be placed at
30 per cent.

What happened to language was not what happened to the native script, the baybayin, which did not survive with
the universal adoption of the Romanized alphabet. As early as the 17th century, Fr. Pedro Chirino SJ (1604) still noted the
existence of the script in almost all regions of the colony. By the turn of the 20th century, the same script was only in use
among the Tagbanua of Palawan and the Mangyans of Mindoro and perhaps in the Negros Island (where Prof. H. Otley
Beyer noted in 1916 its use among the hill peoples up to at least the late 19th century). (Antoon Postma, “Contemporary

52
Mangyan Scripts,” in PNHSProceedings of the 1998 Centennial Regional Seminar-Workshop on Oral and Local History, vol.
13, pp. 60-61)

To be fair, the Spaniards in the Philippines in the 300 years of their colonization did not go beyond 5,000 at any
given year. Likewise, the penetration of Spanish bureaucracy did not go beyond thecoastal and lowland plains of the
various islands. The interior and mountainous areas even in Luzon remained beyond the pale of colonization. Mindanao,
with the exception of coastal areas in the Caraga region, Misamis, the Zamboanga peninsula and some outpost in Cotabato
and Davao, was under the sway ofthe Moro sultanates of Maguindanao and Sulu.

Furthermore, there was no replacement of population. The diseases such as colds and measles that destroyed
peoples of Oceania upon their initial encounter with the Western colonists, did not completely wipe out the population. As
the Philippines were along the route of trade and commerce between India, China and Arabia, the gene pool was more
complex than those in Oceania or Latin American. Traders usually took wives in major points of trade within the
Philippines, for convenience of having board and lodging and other purposes. Likewise, this exchange of genes through
marriage was partly due to the cognatic bilateral kinship system of pre-colonial Philippines which made a wide territory
an area of immediate and affine relatives. As incest among relatives was forbidden, the partners in marriage had to come
from across the various islands and tribal territories. Over long periods, this had contributed to a robust population able
to resist the genocidal policies of, and diseases brought by, the colonizers.

Among the populations of not so complex gene pools, (as noted by anthropologists and medical researchers such
as Ivan Illich), there were epidemics as happened in Mexico and other Latin American colonies. In the Pacific itself, many
islands isolated from the route of international trade such as Tasmania and some islands of Polynesia were depopulated
by diseases so simple as the common colds, measles and syphillis.

The Spiritual Dimension

So daunting was the task of conversion in rugged tropical terrains that early in the Spanish regime, the Catholic
hierarchy thought of teaching the doctrines in the local languages instead of doing so inSpanish. In the first Synod of
Manila in 1586 convened by Bishop Domingo de Salazar, O.P., this issue was decided with finality. [“Bakit mahalaga ang
wika sa dominasyong kolonyal?” in Jaime B. Veneracion, Espanya: Kasaysayan, Kalinangan at mga Gunita ng Paglalakbay.
Malolos: BSU Center for Bulacan Studies, 2003, p. 18. Also in Horacio de la Costa, Readings in Philippine History. Manila:
Bookmark, 1965, p. 27] It was thought that it would be more economical that the various congregations produced
translation guides and dictionaries than to teach Spanish to prospective converts. Beginning the 17th century, examples of
these ‘arte en la lengua y diccionarios” had been produced such as thoseof San Buenaventura and San Lucar for Tagalog,
Sanchez for the Bisayan, Fray Francisco Coronel (1621), (then Fray Alvaro de Benavente in 1700 and Fray Diego Bergano
in 1732) for Kapampangan [“Grammar and Dictionaries,” Singsing, Holy Angel University, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 7] and others.
This policy started by the Synod of Manila of 1586 was a case of “obedezco pero no cumplo” (I obey but do not comply), a
pragmatic way adopted bycolonial officials which neither seemingly did not violate the royal order yet either did they
implement it at the ground.

This had mixed results. By teaching the Christian doctrines in the local languages, there was no complete transfer
of religion. The old belief systems in the “anito”, or ancestral spirit, were reincarnated in the new religion. Thus,
“simbahan” became the equivalent of the Spanish “iglesia.” This made the Spanish concept, through metaphors and
translation, easily understood by the native population. But by using the word “simbahan,” some of the old nuances
associated with pre-Spanish sacred places had been retained. As a counter measure to the prevalence of pre-Hispanic
beliefs and in order to extirpate this pre-Christian association of “simbahan” to the old practices, some clergymen
constructed the church on these sacred sites such as what they did in Sta. Ana, Manila, in Antipolo and Taytay along the
coast of Laguna de Bay. [Various excuses were used by the missionaries. In Laguna de Bay there was flooding. “It
(flooding) was for this reason that a little knoll nearby, where at this time the dead were buried, had from way back been
reserved for a church site.” Upon the request of the people of Antipolo for him to say mass there, Pedro Chirino told them:
“If you want me to see you again, you will build for me on the knoll, where you nowbury the dead, a little church where I
can say mass for you, with a small room where I can retire.”Pedro Chirino, SJ, The Philippines in 1600. Translated by
Ramon Echevarria, Manila: Historical ConservationSociety, 1969, p. 256-257] Meanwhile, the “Dios” or God Almighty had
become “Bathalang Maykapal,” “Apo,” and “Poon,” words that were associated with the “anito” of pre-colonial times. Thus,
Jesus has been known as “Poong Hesukristo.” St. Peter has been called “Apung Iru” and St. Nicholas became “Apung Kulas”
among the Kapampangans. Even the “babaylan” or local priestess was reincarnated as an associateof the priest. In the
absence of a parish priest in the barrios, the former babaylans administered the“pahesus,” the local version of the extreme
unction, the lastritual for the dying. During the period of drought when they used to plea help from their “anitos,” the
babaylan led into the recitation of the litany in a procession pleading for rain, which the people would label as the
“lutrina.” In many places, the babaylans secretly practiced their old function as faith healers.

53
The Social and Cultural Aspect

Language as indicator of influence would likewise bring us to the world of vice where the Spanish language had
made its presence. Together with Chinese terms such as “madjong”, Spanish seemed to have insinuated itself well in
gambling and vice. “Siesta” or afternoon rest had become synonymous with idleness. Words such as “sugal,” “bisyo,”
“loteria,” “pusta,” and “cara y cruz” including those associated with horse racing and cockpits such as “llamado,” “dejado,”
and “logro diez,” would indicate a very strong Spanish influence on this aspect of Filipino life. Cockfighting, as observed by
the crew of the Magellan expedition in 1521, was originally used for ritual purposes, such as to determine if it was
opportune to go to war or not. But under the Spanish regime, it was transformed into gambling because as a government
monopoly, it had been used to collect revenues in a game of chance the common Filipinos got addicted to.

Unlike in gambling where the influence could be found among the common people, Spanish cuisine seemed to
have penetrated the upper classes to a greater degree than other aspects of colonial life. But even in this, the native
cuisine had continued up to now. Sweets and native cakes survived as “kakanin,” (native desserts) in such examples as the
“bibingka,” “puto,” “sapin-sapin,” “kutsinta,” “palitaw,” “ginatan,” and “pinipig.” Native dishes had been in the local
language as in “pinakbet,” “nilaga,” “pinausukan,”“halabos,” “inihaw,” “dininding,” “paksiw,” “dinuguan,” “kare-
kare,”“sinampalukan” and “sinigang” andhad continued as favorite dishes among the masses. The ingredients such as
chicken, fish and vegetables had been in great supply and could be found everywhere. Most of these foods had been
cooked as broth and laced with spices. Food experts attributed this liking for the soup as a function of the staple food the
Filipinos got used to, the eating of rice. [Doreen G. Fernandez and Edilberto N. Alegre, Sarap: Essays on Philippine Food,
1988] As the latter had a bland taste, the somewhat sweet sour soup would provide flavoring to the meal. If the family
could not afford such dishes, the daily fare would include dried fish such as the “tuyo” “tinapa” or dried meat such as the
“pindang.” Where the ingredients had to come from Spain and elsewhere, the food bearing Spanish names were usually
related to meat especially beef as in “punta y pecho,” “cadera,” “lomo” and “solomillo.” This would indicate that where
meat was the main ingredient, perhaps with the exception of chicken and pork, the cuisine had been an importation.
However, without our knowing it, some of these foods were quite ordinary in the locality of their provenance. The “paella”
for example, started as the ordinary fare among farmers in southern Spain cooked in ad hoc stove in their fields. “Cocido”
was likewise a simple and daily food with beef and “morcilla” or sausage made from coagulated blood and “tocino” or
dried salted pork thrown into the pot. But because they came as the food of the colonizer, they entered at the level of
domination. To the Filipinos, these thus symbolized status or “class” that may only be consumed during special occasions
such as fiestas and anniversaries.

During fiestas however, even the masses aped the elites and had to show their best foot forward through their
“handa” (special preparations). Various versions of the cake or bread such as the “biscocho,” “ensaymada,” “maja blanca”
and “brazo de mercedes” became the substitute for the native “tinapay.” Aside from the “lechon,” the “handa” during
fiestas were the “arroz a la valenciana” or the local “paella,”“jamon,” “menudo,” “picadillo,” “morcon,” “apritada,”
“sarsiado,” “escabeche,” “adobo,” “queso,” and “pastillas de leche.” In some instances, when the Chinese and other Filipinos
wanted to create the impression of being exotic, Spanish names had been given to what appeared as common dishes.
Thus, in any Chinese restaurant could be found “arroz caldo,” “relleno,” “embutido,” “camaron rebusado,” and “calamares.”
Particularly in the case of “arroz caldo,” it is doubtful if it had Spanish provenance as it seemed to have been a
reincarnation of the native “lugaw” or the Chinese “congee” that westerners had no particular liking for.

The Political Aspect

It was in the establishment of what political scientists would call “civil society” and “polity” that
Spanish influence was perhaps greatest. It was because the pre-Spanish society did not have a professional bureaucracy
and military personnel receiving regular salary as in the colonial society. The Spaniards had this situation overhauled. To
organize the people according to a new political framework, the physicalcontours of habitation had been changed. (OD
Corpuz, The Roots of Filipino Nation. vol. I. Quezon City: Aklahi Foundation, Inc., 1989, p.180ff.). From their traditional
linear pattern of settlement along rivers and coastlines, many communities were forcibly brought within compact
“pueblos” according to a design known as the “plaza complex.” The buildings and houses were arranged according to a
grid of quadrilinear streets for easier monitoring of inhabitants and movement of military troops. The central square was
where theSpaniards constructed the church, the “casa real” or “casa tribunal,” the prison as well as the market. Although
the local term “simbahan” for the religious sacred place had survived, the parts of the building and the method of
construction had taken Spanish names. Thus, terms such as “pader,” for walls, “arco” for arch, “ventana” for the window
and many others became part of the vocabulary of local languages. Parts of the traditional nipa hut however continued to
be used: “bubong” for roof, “haligi” for post, “hagdan”instead of the Spanish “escalera” for the stairs and “pinto” instead of
“puerta” for the door.

Positions of power were mostly given Spanish names. Thus the Filipinos got words such as “gobernador,”
“alcalde mayor,” and “gobernadorcillo” as well as “encomendero,” “hacendero” and “encargado” from the colonizers. But

54
at the point of their weakest link with the people, at the barangay level, the term used was a combination of Spanish and
Pilipino, “cabeza de barangay,” literally, “head of barangay” which was the social and political organization based on
kinship. The pre-Spanish “datu” had become outdated and became part of a class known collectively as the “principalia.”
The various branches of government made use of a combination of Spanish and Pilipino terms. Both “provincia” and
“lalawigan” for province as well as “ciudad” and “lungsod” for city and “barangay” for “barrio” were used. To implement
justice, the “hukom” of pre-Spanish Sanskrit origin co-existed with “juez” for the judge. Toextract taxes from the people,
the generic term was the local “buwis” but the specific ways this had been paid for took various names, such as “tributo”
for the civil officials, “limosna” or “donacion” for the church and “polo y servicio” for forced labor, all of Spanish
provenance.

Likewise an evidence of colonial influence was the introduction of a Spanish legal system especially as these
affected the ownership of land. Under such legal arrangements, the title over lands previously controlled by the datu or
commonly owned by the community came under the ownership of the King. Theoretically, all lands were royal lands and
could only be distributed to individuals upon the behest of the King. The exception to these were those that the ruling
families of pre-Spanish times who collaborated with the colonizers, supposedly already owned individually as for
instance, in the case of Lakandula and Soliman of Manila. The various edicts and laws with respect to land, including friar
lands, and the Spanish titling system such as the “composicion de tierras” became the basis of the legal system adopted by
the Americans and by the Philippine government in the twentieth century.

The other exemption of hispanization of lands occured among the indigenous peoples where the ancestral
domains or common lands continued to exist as these did not fall within the pale of colonization.

Apparently, even in Latin America, this respect for the ancestral domains continued to be the case as illustrated
by the persistence of the great respect given by the political leadership to what came to be known as the “ejidos,” the
common lands of the indigenous peoples valorized for instance in the Mexican constitution and various laws.

The Economic Aspect

In the field of the economy, the Spanish presence as reflected in the language was superficial as the colonists were
mostly engaged in the limited commerce provided by the Manila-Acapulco Galleon up to first decade of the 19th century.
Later, the Spanish engagement was mostly in the monopolies such as the sale of tobacco, betel nuts and opium. Therefore,
agriculture was basically an activity of the native population. Thus, words such as “tubigan” for irrigated field, “parang” for
uncultivated field, “bukid” for field, and “pilapil” for embankment remained as the words of choice in describing
agricultural farms. There had been claims that “arado” or “araro” for plow was evidence that it had originated from Spain
as this word replaced “pambungkal” in describing the main equipment for cultivation. But the design and the similarity of
the type of plow used in the Philippines with those in China and Southeast Asia made this claim preposterous. [Fernand
Braudel, The Structures of Everyday Life. Translated by Sian Reynolds, New York: Harper and Row Publishers, 1979, p.
148 citing Etienne Pasquier, Les Recherches de la France, 1643” “Drawings in a Chinese work of 1210, the Keng Tche Tou,
already show the checkered pattern of the paddies, divided into small patches, irrigation pumps worked by pedals, the
planting and harvesting of the rice, and ‘the same plough as today, yoked to a single buffalo’.”] For one thing, the various
parts of the plow such as “batangan” for the handle and “lunas” for the lower main frame as well as the “sudsud” for the
metal point and “lipya” for the plowshare were all of pre-Spanish origin. “Lipya” in particular could have been from the
Fookien Chinese who introduced it before the coming of the Spaniards. (S. V. Epistola, “Cultural Grafting in the
Philippines,” in Filipino Heritage. QC: Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc., 1977, vol. III, p. 621] The other agricultural activities
such as preparation of the field, “linang” and harvest or “ani” all had the technology described in local terms: “suyod” for
harrow, “lilik” for scythe, “gapas” for the act of harvesting, “giik” for threshing and many others. The cooperative act of
cultivating the field, planting and harvesting took the name of “bayanihan.” (Jaime B. Veneracion, Agriculture During the
Spanish Regime. Q.C.: University of the Philippines, CSSP Publications, 2001)

In distributing the produce in the market, words of various origins came into use. “Tiangui” for the rotating
markets as well as “palengke” for market were from Mexico. A temple site in southern Mexico was called Palenque. A local
version of the tiangui, especially for fish and meat was called “talipapa.” The generic term for commerce or “comercio” did
not supersede “kalakal,” a local word. Likewise, the Spanish for market, “mercado,” did not come into popular use but the
name for store, “tinda” and “tindahan” came from the Spanish “tienda.” A special kind of “tienda” came to be known as
“sari-sari” or a variety store. The words for wholesale, “pakyaw” and retail trading, “tingi” were from the Chinese. In
fishports where anagent got the various bids for the fish through “bulungan” or “whispers” the process came to be
called“asignacion,” the Spanish for awarding or allocating the supply. The “tawad” or discount and “dagdag” or item added
to the thing paid for, were from Pilipino. When the buyer was overzealous in getting the discount, he became a “barat,” a
negative term which came from the Spanish “barato” or cheap. The first customer who was given all the courtesy and
discount was called “buena mano,” literally “good hand” inSpanish. Meanwhile, someone who had the loyalty to buy
repeatedly from a seller was called a “suki” which was Chinese. Except for “barya,” or small change, which camefrom the
Spanish “barilla,” the other words for market transactions were of local or Chinese origin: “puhunan,” or investment;

55
“sukli,” or change, “lugi,” or loss, “sulit-puhunan,” or break even, “tubo, kita” or profit and “pera” or money.

By using language as indicator of influence, this essay has shown hispanization in its limited meaning. As
suggested by other authors, hispanization could be measured by the number of ancient Christian churches in
communities. The more churches there were, the more hispanization and colonialism there had been. (Fr. Salgado, Adhika
Keynote Lecture, St. Mary’s College, 2003). Others could have described influence at the level of architecture (Fr. Rene
Javellana and Rene O. Mata). In looking at influence at the linguistic level, the essay has elaborated on the thesis of Fray
Nebrija in 1592 and reaffirmed later, in the writings of the Algerian revolutionary Franz Fanon in 1961. It would seem
that Spanish domination was never complete and barely penetrated beyond the surface since the local languages
absorbed but around thirty percent of the language of domination. Being at the periphery of the Empire helped but
perhaps more importantly, the Filipinos were creative enough to go around the bush, to feign obedience and at other
times, to resist physically through revolts and eventually through a national revolution.

In 1961, at the centennial of Rizal’s birth, the issue of language entered at a crossroad. On the argument that the
best way to appreciate literature was to read the original, the Philippine Congress debated on the issue of requiring the
teaching of Spanish at the collegiate level. It had been said that the mastery of Spanish was needed to really appreciate
Rizal’s writings which were mostly in Spanish. It became the last attempt to make the presence of Spanish permanent
and contest the domination of English. The proSpanish group included such luminaries as the nationalist senator, Claro M.
Recto. The 24 units of Spanish requirement were passed but because it came as an imposition on the academe, learning
the language was not taken seriously. Furthermore the debates over language created a third force composed of students
who had revived the move towards a national language based on Tagalog enunciated by President Manuel L. Quezonin the
1930’s.

Under the influence of Franz Fanon (The Wretched of the Earth, 1963) and others who had looked at language at
the level of psychology and culture (e.g. Merleu-Ponty), the students understood that alanguage was also an instrument of
liberation. Fanon had shown that the lack of mastery of the language of the colonizer by a native was psychologically the
cause of his inferiority complex. Therefore, a sense of pride was necessarily an objective in developing one’s own language
and culture. This perception was proven in later years when, under the influence of radical thoughts, the students went to
the countryside and learned from the masses. They were thus forced by circumstances to use the language of the common
“tao.”

NAME: ______________________________ SCORE: _________________

COURSE & YR.:________________________ DATE: __________________

EXERCISE 3.3

INSTRUCTION.Based on Reading 3.2 THE “HISPANIZATION” OF THE FILIPINOS , by Jaime B. Veneracion

(2008), answer the following items.

1. Reading 3.2 was about ________________________________________ as a tool of colonization.

2. As a proportion to the local vocabulary of various Philippine languages, Spanish words constitute about
__________per cent.

3. The degree, by which a local language had absorbed the Spanish grammar and vocabulary, may also
indicate the ________________________________

4. The baybayin, which did not survive with the universal adoption of the __________________ and as early as
the_________ century, Fr. Pedro Chirino SJ still noted the existence of the baybayin script in almost all
regions of the colony.

5. By the turn of the 20th century, the baybayin was only in use among the _________________ of Palawan and
the______________________ of Mindoro and perhaps in the Negros Island

6. Not more than ______________ Spaniards came to the Philippines at any given year in the 300 years of their
colonization.

56
 7. The colonization did not go beyond the coastal and lowland plains of the various islands; the interior and
mountainous areas even in _________________remained beyond the rule of colonization.

8. ____________________, ________________________, and __________________, was under the sway of the Moro sultanates
of Maguindanao and Sulu.

9. The Philippines was along the route of trade and commerce between _________, ____________ and
_______________.

10. By teaching the ____________________________ in the local languages, there was no complete transfer of
religion.
11. During the Spanish colonization the _________ or ____________ had become “Bathalang Maykapal,” “Apo,” and
“Poon,” words that were associated with the “anito” of pre-colonial times.

12. In the absence of a parish priest in the barrios, the former ___________________ administered the“pahesus,”
the local version of the extreme unction, the last ritual for the dying.

13. From their traditional ______________________ pattern of settlement along rivers and coastlines, many
communities were forcibly brought within compact “pueblos” according to a design known as the
____________________________.

14. The buildings and houses were arranged according to a _______________________________ street for easier
monitoring of inhabitants and movement of military troops.

15. The central square was where theSpaniards constructed the___________________,

__________________________,___________________________as well as the _____________.
16. Although the local term ______________________ for the religious sacred place had survived, the parts of the
building and the method of construction had taken Spanish names.

III. ENUMERATION. Enumerate at least five (5) for every item below.

1. Native sweets and native cakes that survived colonization.

2. Native dishes that remained even after colonization.

3. Political terms handed down through Spanish colonization and their corresponding meanings.
Spanish terms Meaning

4. Economic terms handed down through Spanish colonization and their corresponding meanings.
Spanish terms Meaning

Economic Impact of Spanish Colonization

57
The Encomienda System

One of the indelible economic impacts of Spanish colonization is the change in the system of landholding
in the country. The Regalian doctrine which holds that all lands that are not acquired from the government
either by title or by grant are considered unregistered and are a part of public domain (public domain comprised
all lands owned by the government that are devoted to public use and for alienation by the government). Our
ancestors who neither could read or write much less understand the laws, rules, and regulations which were
written in Spanish were immediately deprived of their title and claim to the communally owned lands they held
before the Spaniards arrived. The Encomienda system was instituted as a way to hastenthe subjugation of the
country which was affected when King Philip II instructed Legazpi to divide the Philippines into large territories
called encomiendas, to be left to the management of designated encomenderos.mmmmm

To show his gratitude to his conquistadors, the King made them the first encomenderos in the colony. As
the King’s representatives in their respective encomiendas, the encomenderos had the right to collect taxes.
However, the encomiendas were not there to own. The encomenderos were only territorial overseers who had the
duty to: 1) protect the people in the encomienda; (2) maintain peace and order; (3) promote education and
health programs; and (4) help the missionaries propagate Christianity.

The Galleon Trade

When the Spaniards came to the Philippines, our ancestors were already trading with China, Japan, Siam,
India, Cambodia, Borneo and the Moluccas, the Spanish government continued trade relations with these
countries, and the Manila became the center of commerce in the East. The Spaniards closed the ports of Manila to
all countries except Mexico. Thus, the Manila–Acapulco Trade, better known as the "Galleon Trade" was born.
The Galleon Trade was a government monopoly. Only two galleons were used: One sailed from Acapulco to
Manila with some 500,000 pesos worth of goods, spending 120 days at sea; the other sailed from Manila to
Acapulco with some 250,000 pesos worth of goods spending 90 days at sea.

Basco’s Reforms

Filipino farmers and traders finally had a taste of prosperity when Governor General Jose Basco y Vargas
instituted reforms intended to free the economy from its dependence on Chinese and Mexican trade. Basco
implemented a “general economic plan” aimed at making the Philippines self sufficient. He established the
“Economic Society of Friends of the Country”, which gave incentives to farmers for planting cotton, spices, and
sugarcane; encouraged miners to extract gold, silver, tin, and copper; and rewarded investors for scientific
discoveries they made.

Tobacco Monopoly

The tobacco industry was placed under government control during the administration of Governor
General Basco. In 1781, a tobacco monopoly was implemented in the Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La
Union, Isabela, Abra, Nueva Ecija, and Marinduque. Each of these provinces planted nothing but tobacco and sold
their harvest only to the government at a pre-designated price, leaving little for the farmers. No other province
was allowed to plant tobacco. The government exported the tobacco to other countries and also part of it to the
cigarette factories in Manila.

The tobacco monopoly successfully raised revenues for the colonial government and made Philippine
tobacco famous all over Asia.

The Opening of the Suez Canal

58
 The Suez Canal, which connected the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, was inaugurated in 1869. It
was built by a French engineer named Ferdinand de Lesseps. By passing through the Canal, vessels journeying
between Barcelona and Manila no longer had to pass by the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa.
Thus, they were able to shorten their traveling time from three months to 32 days.

Due to the Suez Canal, trading in the Philippines became increasingly profitable. More and more foreign
merchants and businessmen came to the colony, bringing with them a lot of progressive ideas. The Filipinos not
only gained more knowledge and information about the world at large; they also gained the desire for freedom
and improvement in their lives.

READING 3.3

Trade with Europe and America

As long as the Spanish empire on the eastern rim of the Pacific remained intact and the galleons sailed to
and from Acapulco, there was little incentive on the part of colonial authorities to promote the development of
the Philippines, despite the initiatives of José Basco y Vargas during his career as governor in Manila. After his
departure, the Economic Society was allowed to fall on hard times, and the Royal Company showed decreasing
profits. The independence of Spain's Latin American colonies, particularly Mexico in 1821, forced a
fundamental reorientation of policy. Cut off from the Mexican subsidies and protected Latin American
markets, the islands had to pay for themselves. As a result, in the late eighteenth century commercial isolation
became less feasible.

Growing numbers of foreign merchants in Manila spurred the integration of the Philippines into an
international commercial system linking industrialized Europe and North America with sources of raw
materials and markets in the Americas and Asia. In principle, non-Spanish Europeans were not allowed to
reside in Manila or elsewhere in the islands, but in fact British, American, French, and other foreign merchants
circumvented this prohibition by flying the flags of Asian states or conniving with local officials. In 1834 the
crown abolished the Royal Company of the Philippines and formally recognized free trade, opening the port of
Manila to unrestricted foreign commerce.

By 1856 there were thirteen foreign trading firms in Manila, of which seven were British and two
American; between 1855 and 1873 the Spanish opened new ports to foreign trade, including Iloilo on Panay,
Zamboanga in the western portion of Mindanao, Cebu on Cebu, and Legaspi in the Bicol area of southern
Luzon. The growing prominence of steam over sail navigation and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
contributed to spectacular increases in the volume of trade. In 1851 exports and imports totaled some US$8.2
million; ten years later, they had risen to US$18.9 million and by 1870 were US$53.3 million. Exports alone
grew by US$20 million between 1861 and 1870. British and United States merchants dominated Philippine
commerce, the former in an especially favored position because of their bases in Singapore, Hong Kong, and
the island of Borneo.

By the late nineteenth century, three crops--tobacco, abaca, and sugar--dominated Philippine exports.
The government monopoly on tobacco had been abolished in 1880, but Philippine cigars maintained their
high reputation, popular throughout Victorian parlors in Britain, the European continent, and North America.
Because of the growth of worldwide shipping, Philippine abaca, which was considered the best material for
ropes and cordage, grew in importance and after 1850 alternated with sugar as the islands' most important
export. Americans dominated the abaca trade; raw material was made into rope, first at plants in New
England and then in the Philippines. Principal regions for the growing of abaca were the Bicol areas of
southeastern Luzon and the eastern portions of the Visayan Islands.

Sugarcane had been produced and refined using crude methods at least as early as the beginning of the
eighteenth century. The opening of the port of Iloilo on Panay in 1855 and the encouragement of the British
vice consul in that town, Nicholas Loney (described by a modern writer as "a one-man whirlwind of
entrepreneurial and technical innovation"), led to the development of the previously unsettled island of
Negros as the center of the Philippine sugar industry, exporting its product to Britain and Australia. Loney

59
 arranged liberal credit terms for local landlords to invest in the new crop, encouraged the migration of labor
from the neighboring and overpopulated island of Panay, and introduced stream-driven sugar refineries that
replaced the traditional method of producing low-grade sugar in loaves. The population of Negros tripled.
Local "sugar barons"--- the owners of the sugar plantations--became a potent political and economic force by
the end of the nineteenth century.
http://countrystudies.us/philippines/6.htm

READING 3.4

Chinese and Chinese Mestizos

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, deep-seated Spanish suspicion of the Chinese gave way
to recognition of their potentially constructive role in economic development. Chinese expulsion orders issued in
1755 and 1766 were repealed in 1788. Nevertheless, the Chinese remained concentrated in towns around Manila,
particularly Binondo and Santa Cruz. In 1839 the government issued a decree granting them freedom of
occupation and residence.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, immigration into the archipelago, largely from the maritime
province of Fujian on the southeastern coast of China, increased, and a growing proportion of Chinese settled in
outlying areas. In 1849 more than 90 percent of the approximately 6,000 Chinese lived in or around Manila,
whereas in 1886 this proportion decreased to 77 percent of the 66,000 Chinese in the Philippines at that time,
declining still further in the 1890s. The Chinese presence in the hinterland went hand in hand with the
transformation of the insular economy. Spanish policy encouraged immigrants to become agricultural laborers.
Some became gardeners, supplying vegetables to the towns, but most shunned the fields and set themselves up as
small retailers and moneylenders. The Chinese soon gained a central position in the cash-crop economy on the
provincial and local levels.

Of equal, if not greater, significance for subsequent political, cultural, and economic developments were the
Chinese mestizos. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, they composed about 5 percent of the total
population of around 2.5 million and were concentrated in the most developed provinces of Central Luzon and in
Manila and its environs. A much smaller number lived in the more important towns of the Visayan Islands, such as
Cebu and Iloilo, and on Mindanao. Converts to Catholicism and speakers of Filipino languages or Spanish rather
than Chinese dialects, the mestizos enjoyed a legal status as subjects of Spain that was denied the Chinese. In the
words of historian Edgar Vickberg, they were considered, unlike the mixed-Chinese of other Southeast Asian
countries, not "a special kind of local Chinese" but "a special kind of Filipino."

The eighteenth-century expulsion edicts had given the Chinese mestizos the opportunity to enter retailing
and the skilled craft occupations formerly dominated by the Chinese. The removal of legal restrictions on Chinese
economic activity and the competition of new Chinese immigrants, however, drove a large number of mestizos out
of the commercial sector in mid-nineteenth century. As a result, many Chinese mestizos invested in land,
particularly in Central Luzon. The estates of the religious orders were concentrated in this region, and mestizos
became inquilinos (lessees) of these lands, subletting them to cultivators; a portion of the rent was given by
theinquilino to the friary estate. Like the Chinese, the mestizos were moneylenders and acquired land when
debtors defaulted.

By the late nineteenth century, prominent mestizo families, despite the inroads of the Chinese, were noted
for their wealth and formed the major component of a Filipino elite. As the export economy grew and foreign
contact increased, the mestizos and other members of this Filipino elite, known collectively as ilustrados, obtained
higher education (in some cases abroad), entered professions such as law or medicine, and were particularly
receptive to the liberal and democratic ideas that were beginning to reach the Philippines despite the efforts of the
generally reactionary--and friar-dominated--Spanish establishment.http://countrystudies.us /philippines /7.htm

NAME: ______________________________ SCORE: _________________

COURSE & YR.:________________________ DATE: __________________

60
 EXERCISE 3.4

INSTRUCTION.Include your understanding of Reading 3.3 and3.4 to answer the following items.
I. IDENTIFICATION. Write the correct answer in the space provided for.

1. The _________________________________ is the principle that holds that all lands that are not acquired from the
government either by title or by grant are considered unregistered and are a part of public domain

2. ___________________________________comprised all lands owned by the government that are devoted to public use
and for alienation by the government.

3. The ________________________________ system was instituted as a way to hasten the subjugation of the country
which was effected when King Philip II instructed Legazpi to divide the Philippines into large territories be
managed by the crown’s trusted men.mmmmm

4. As the export economy grew and foreign contact increased, the mestizos and other members of these Filipino
elite, known collectively as _____________________, obtained higher education.

5. By 1856 there were _____________________ foreign trading firms in Manila, of which seven were British and two
American.

6. The growing prominence of ________________________over sail navigation and the

______________________________________ in 1869 contributed to increases in trade.

7. Because of the growth of worldwide shipping, __________________, the best material for ropes grew in
importance and after 1850

8. island of __________________ became the center of the Philippine sugar industry,

9. From mid 1850s to the close of the 19th century, the migration of the ___________________ went hand in hand
with the transformation of the insular economy with Spanish policies encouraging the immigrants to become
agricultural laborers.

10. The above migrants soon gained a central position in the ______________________ economy on the provincial and
local levels.

11. Basco implemented a ____________________________________________ aimed at making the Philippines self sufficient.

12. He established the _________________________________________________________________, which gave incentives to

farmers for planting cotton, spices, and sugarcane; encouraged miners to extract gold, silver, tin, and copper;
and rewarded investors for scientific discoveries they made.

13. The ________________________________, which connected the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, was inaugurated
in ___________________________.

14. It was built by a French engineer named ________________________________________.

15. By passing through the Canal, vessels journeying between Barcelona and Manila no longer had to pass by the
_______________________________, at the southern tip of Africa. Thus, they were able to shorten their traveling time
from three months to ____________________.

16. One of the indelible economic impacts of Spanish colonization is the change in the system of
________________________________.

61
17. The ___________________________________________ which holds that all lands that are not acquired from the
government either by title or by grant are considered unregistered and are a part of public domain (public
domain comprised all lands owned by the government that are devoted to public use and for alienation by the
government).

18. The ____________________________________________ was instituted as a way to hastenthe subjugation of the country
which was affected when King Philip II instructed Legazpi to divide the Philippines into large territories
called ______________________________, to be left to the management of designated
___________________________.mmmmm
19.
II. ENUMERATION. Based on the above readings, answer the following items.

1. What are the five (5) functions of the encomenderos:

2. What are the six (6) countries, our ancestors were already trading with when the Spaniards came to
the Philippines

3. Three characteristics of the Galleon Trade

4. By the late nineteenth century, which three crops dominated Philippine exports

62
 Chapter IV
DEVELOPMENT OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM AND
THE 1896 REVOLUTION
Chapter Objective:
By the end of this chapter, the learners should be able:

1. To explain the nature of Filipino nationalism,

2. To identify and explain the factors and events that led to the development of
Filipino nationalism; and the
3. To discuss the relationship between global trends and events with the
emergence and development of the reform movement; and
4. To outline the events pertinent to the 1896 revolution and the subsequent 1898
independence declaration.

The Nature and Roots of Filipino Nationalism

Nationalism is a profound expression of love of country. It may be defined as loyalty to one’s country,
cultural identity and legacy, and a sense of commitment to the ideals of the nation. In the Phillippines,
nationalism takes a distinct form as it is fashioned from the waves of historical events and social transformation.
Another manifestation of nationalism is anti-colonialism or opposition to foreign domination.

Nationalism in the Philippines and in many subjugated nations is ironically partly a consequence of
colonialism. A strong sense of national identity emerged in the society late nineteenth century despite the
immense ethnic and cultural diversity among the Filipinos. A new sense of “Filipinoness” supplanted ethnic and
regional bonds as the principle identity of the average Filipino. The term “Filipino” refers to the people of the
Philippines collectively—regardless of race, religion, language or social class—it is crucial to understand that
Filipino as a national categorization did not carry its present day meaning until the late nineteenth century.
When strictly addressing the term itself, in relation to its changing meanings and cultural association throughout
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, an italicized “Filipino” shall be used instead.

The crucial factor that enabled nationalism to take root was colonialism. Over the course of four hundred
years, Spain, the United States, and Japan incorporated these isolated cultures under one rule. As a result, the
disparate groups developed a common history from the shared experience of colonial exploitation. This
redefinition of what it meant to be a Filipino began as a rhetorical tool of the elite, but eventually its use
expanded to all corners of Filipino society as a response to colonialism, establishing itself as a popular identity
and a necessary component of national resistance. As such, the Philippines provide an interesting perspective on
the relationship between a society's national identity and its development as a nation.

Psychological Dimension: Captive and Counter Consciousness

The consciousness that developed among the people, according to Constantino, during the Spanish
and American colonial eras was captive, in the sense that it was shaped and tailored to the needs of
the colonizers. The Spanish friars saw to it that the natives, through religious conversion, became docile and
illiterate, obedient and fanatical. The Americans, on the other hand, by using education with English as the
medium of instruction, saw to it that the natives developed Western preferences, thereby imbibing a
Western consumerist orientation. Captive consciousness is therefore colonial consciousness.
There is a need for a counter consciousness to it, and that is the nationalist consciousness.

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Colonial Consciousness

The friars, or the various religious orders—Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, Recollects, and
Jesuits—were responsible for shaping the colonial consciousness of the natives during the Spanish era through
the use of religion. With religion as the instrument of domination, the friars were able to control the
consciousness of the masses. The Spanish colonial government had them as staunch allies in what
Karl Marx suspected all along: that religion was the opium of the masses. Prior to the educational
reform of 1863, the friars never taught the Spanish language to the natives. The net result was acolonial
consciousness that was basically ignorant, illiterate, subservient, and servile. To quote Constantino (1978b:
30):

Psychological control was as easily established. The fact that thepeople became Catholics made God the
powerful ally of their rulers. The friars enlisted God on the side of colonialism. To the fear of physical
punishment was added the infinitely more potent fear of supernatural retribution. Thus one priest
was usually enough to control a village, for rebellion against the priest was equated with rebellion
against God and therefore with eternal damnation. The priest wastheir accepted ruler, the representative of
their God on earth and the intermediaryfor their souls after death. The friars became the dominant factors
in the colonial contingents and the church became the centreof the people’s life.

It was then the clerical boast at that time that “in each friar in the Philippines the king [of Spain]
had a captain general and a whole army” (Constantino 1978b: 31). During the American era, said
Constantino, the manipulation of consciousness took the form of a miseducation: historical facts were
distorted as to make it appear that the American conquerors themselves were the protectors and heroes of
the natives; American atrocities during the Filipino resistance against the U.S. army were
suppressed; resistance leaders after the capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo were branded as
bandits or tulisanes; the Americans sponsored Jose Rizal as a national hero since he was a reformist who
valued education; they made English as the medium of instruction to facilitate the American type of
Westernization in order to develop consumerism; they consistently remained in control of the educational
system until 1935, the beginning of the Commonwealth period. The net effect of this type of
cultural situation is the development of a colonial consciousness that was not rooted in a
nationalistic foundation: it bred what is known today as a “colonial mentality.” Colonial mentality is a type of
consciousness which is foreign-oriented: for example, one studies in order to find work abroad, or one
prefers to study abroad and develops the attitude that a foreign degree is always better than a local
degree; or one prefers a foreign brand of anything even when it is inferior in quality for as long as it is
foreign; or one neglects to develop a competitive local product for export abroad and would rather
continue to struggle for tariff protection over a long period of time. Constantino (1978b: 277) said that
“colonial mentality” is a distorted consciousness which “encompasses [Filipino] subservient
attitudes towards the colonial ruler as well as [their] predisposition towards aping Western ways.”

Beginning in the 1870s, a strong drive for the colony's full assimilation into Spain emerged. The
educated members of the Philippine-born upper class known as the ilustrados, or “enlightened ones,” initiated a
massive public writing campaign aimed not only at the policy makers in Spain, but to the international
community as a whole. The ilustrados' “Propaganda Movement” initially pushed for social reform and the equal
representation of the Philippines as an official province of Spain, not merely as a colony to be exploited and
neglected. In the course of their struggle to win philosophical and political support to their cause, the ilustrados
introduced a new interpretation of the term Filipino, expanding its meaning from only creole residents (Spanish
subjects born in the islands) to encompass all natives of the Philippines, including the Chinese mestizo elite and
the indios (indigenous people of Malay ancestry). However, because of Spain's inability to implement the desired
reforms, the message of the propagandists evolved into a struggle for political sovereignty. The ilustrados' new
national identity as Filipino took on a greater importance to their rhetoric—propagandists such as José Rizal,
Antonio Luna and Apolinario Mabini seized upon the term to further connect their audiences to the greater cause
of colonial reform, and in later year’s independence.

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READING 4.1
Excerpt 1 from PHILIPPINE SOCIETY AND REVOLUTION by Amado Guerrero (1970)

During the Spanish period, in the classic fashion of feudalism, the union of church and state suffused the entire
colonial structure. All colonial subjects fell under friar control from birth until death. The pulpit and the
confessional box were expertly used for colonial propaganda and espionage, respectively. The catechetical schools
were used to poison the minds of the children against their own country. The Royal and Pontifical University of Santo
Tomas was established as early as 1611 but its enrolment was limited to Spaniards and creoles until the second half
of the 19th century. The colonial bureaucracy did not find any need for natives in the higher professions. Among the
masses, the friars propagated a bigoted culture that was obsessed with novenas, prayerbooks, hagiographies,
scapularies, the passion play, the anti-Muslim moro-moro and pompous religious feasts and processions. The
friars had burned and destroyed the artifacts of precolonial culture as the handiwork of the devil and assimilated
only those things of the indigenous culture which they could use to facilitate colonial and medieval indoctrination.

In the material base as well as in the superstructure, friar control was total and most oppressive in the towns situated in
vast landed estates owned by the religious orders. In the colonial center as well as in every province, the friars exercised
vast political powers. They supervised such diverse affairs as taxation, census, statistics, primary schools, health,
public works and charities. They certified the correctness of residence certificates, the condition of men chosen
for military service, the municipal budget, the election of municipal officials and police officers and the
examination of pupils in the parochial schools.

They intervened in the election of municipal officials. As a matter of fact, they were so powerful that they could instigate
the transfer, suspension or removal from office of colonial officials, from the highest to the lowest, including the
governor-general. In line with their feudal interests, they could even murder the governor-general with impunity
as they did to Salcedo in 1668 and Bustamante in 1719. As they could be that vicious within their own official ranks,
they were more so in witch-hunting and suppressing native rebels whom they condemned as “heretics” and “subversives.”
Throughout the Spanish colonial regime, revolts broke out sporadically all over the archipelago against the tribute,
corvee labor, commercial monopolies, excessive land rent, landgrabbing, imposition of the Catholic faith, arbitrary rules
and other cruel practices of the colonial rulers, both lay and clerical. There were at least 200 revolts of uneven
scope and duration. These grew with cumulative strength to create a great revolutionary tradition among the Filipino
people.

The most outstanding revolts in the first century of colonial rule were those led by Sulayman in 1564 and Magat
Salamat in 1587-88 in Manila and by Magalat in 1596 in Cagayan. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Igorots in
the central highlands of Northern Luzon rebelled against attempts to colonize them and used the favorable terrain of
their homeland to maintain their independence. Almost simultaneously in 1621-22, Tamblot in Bohol and Bankaw in
Leyte raised the flag of revolt. Revolts also broke out in Nueva Vizcaya and Cagayan in 1621 and 1625-27, respectively.

The most widespread revolts that occurred in the 17th century were those inspired by Sumuroy in the southern provinces
and Maniago, Malong and Almazan in the northern provinces of the archipelago.

The Sumuroy revolt started in Samar in 1649 and spread northward to Albay and Camarines Sur and southward
to Masbate, Cebu, Camiguin, Zamboanga and Northern Mindanao. The parallel revolts of Maniago, Malong and
Almazan started in 1660 in Pampanga, Pangasinan and Ilocos, respectively. Malong extended his revolt to Pampanga,
Ilocos and Cagayan. A localized revolt also broke out in 1663 under Tapar in Oton, Panay.

All throughout the Spanish colonial rule, the Muslims of Mindanao as well as the mountain people in practically every
island, especially the Igorots in Northern Luzon, kept up their resistance. Aside from these consistent anti-colonial
fighters, the people of Bohol fought the foreign tyrants for 85 years from 1774 to 1829. They were first led by Dagohoy
and subsequently by his successors. At the peak of their strength, they were 20,000 strong and had their own government
in their mountain bases.

Despite previous defeats, the people of Pangasinan and the Ilocos provinces repeatedly rose up against the colonial
rule. The revolt led by Palaris in 1762-64 spread throughout the large province of Pangasinan and the one led by Diego
Silang in 1762-63 (and later by his wife, Gabriela, after his treacherous assassination) spread from the Ilocos to as far
as Cagayan Valley northward and Pangasinan southward. These revolts tried to take advantage of the British seizure of
Manila and the Spanish defeat in the Seven Years’ War.

In the 18th century, the anti-colonial revolts of the people increasingly took the character of conscious opposition
to feudalism. Previously, the hardships and torment of corvee labor were the frequent causes of revolt. The

65
 arbitrary expansion of friar estates through fraudulent surveys and also the arbitrary raising of land rent inflamed the
people, especially in Central Luzon and Southern Luzon.

Matienza led a revolt outrightly against the agrarian abuses of the Jesuits who had rampantly grabbed land from
the people. This revolt spread from Lian and Nasugbu, Batangas to the neighboring provinces of Laguna, Cavite and Rizal.
In other provinces of the archipelago outside of Central Luzon and Southern Luzon, revolt came to be more often
sparked by the monopolistic and confiscatory practices of the colonial government towards the end of the 18th
century and during the 19th century. In 1807, theIlocanos revolted against the wine monopoly. Once more they
rose up in 1814 in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte and killed several landlords.

In quelling all the revolts precedent to the Philippine Revolution of 1896, the Spanish colonialist conscripted large
numbers of peasants to fight their own brothers. Military conscription thus became a major form of oppression as the
development of revolts became rapid and widespread.

During the Spanish colonization all over the Philippines, scattered revolts took place as a manifestation of
nationalism among the Filipinos. The form of nationalism was anti-subjugation and geared towards protection
from discrimination.

READING 4.2

THE FRIAROCRACY

The power of religious orders remained one of the great constants, over the centuries, of Spanish colonial rule. Even
in the late nineteenth century, the friars of the Augustinian, Dominican, and Franciscan orders conducted many of the
executive and control functions of government on the local level. They were responsible for education and health measures,
kept the census and tax records, reported on the character and behavior of individual villagers, supervised the selection of
local police and town officers, and were responsible for maintaining public morals and reporting incidences of sedition to
the authorities. Contrary to the principles of the church, they allegedly used information gained in confession to pinpoint
troublemakers. Given the minuscule number of Spanish living outside the capital even in the nineteenth century, the friars
were regarded as indispensable instruments of Spanish rule that contemporary critics labeled a "friarocracy" (frialocracia).

Controversies over visitation and secularization were persistent themes in Philippine church history. Visitation
involved the authority of the bishops of the church hierarchy to inspect and discipline the religious orders; a principle laid
down in church law and practiced in most of the Catholic world. The friars were successful in resisting the efforts of the
archbishop of Manila to impose visitation; consequently, they operated without formal supervision except that of their own
provincials or regional superiors. Secularization meant the replacement of the friars, who came exclusively from Spain, with
Filipino priests ordained by the local bishop. This movement, again, was successfully resisted, as friars through the
centuries kept up the argument, often couched in crude racial terms that Filipino priests were too poorly qualified to take
on parish duties. Although church policy dictated that parishes of countries converted to Christianity be relinquished by the
religious orders to indigenous diocesan priests, in 1870 only 181 out of 792 parishes in the islands had Filipino priests. The
national and racial dimensions of secularization meant that the issue became linked with broader demands for political
reform.

The economic position of the orders was secured by their extensive landholdings, which generally had been donated
to them for the support of their churches, schools, and other establishments. Given the general lack of interest on the part of
Spanish colonials--clustered in Manila and dependent on the galleon trade--in developing agriculture, the religious orders
had become by the eighteenth century the largest landholders in the islands, with their estates concentrated in the Central
Luzon region. Land rents--paid often by Chinese mestizo inquilinos, who planted cash crops for export--provided them with
the sort of income that enabled many friars to live like princes in palatial establishments.

Central to the friars' dominant position was their monopoly of education at all levels and thus their control over
cultural and intellectual life. In 1863 the Spanish government decreed that a system of free public primary education be
established in the islands, which could have been interpreted as a threat to this monopoly. By 1867 there were 593 primary
schools enrolling 138,990 students; by 1877 the numbers had grown to 1,608 schools and 177,113 students; and in 1898
there were 2,150 schools and over 200,000 students out of a total population of approximately 6 million. The friars,
however, were given the responsibility of supervising the system both on the local and the national levels. The Jesuits were
given control of the teacher-training colleges. Except for the Jesuits, the religious orders were strongly opposed to the
teaching of modern foreign languages, including Spanish, and scientific and technical subjects to the indios (literally,
Indians; the Spanish term for Filipinos). In 1898 the University of Santo Tomás taught essentially the same courses that it

66
 did in 1611, when it was founded by the Dominicans, twenty-one years before Galileo was brought before the Inquisition for
publishing the idea that the earth revolved around the sun.

The friarocracy seems to have had more than its share of personal irregularities, and the priestly vow of chastity often
was honored in the breach. In the eyes of educated Filipino priests and laymen, however, most inexcusable was the friars'
open attitude of contempt toward the people. By the late nineteenth century, their attitude was one of blatant racism. In the
words of one friar, responding to the challenge of the ilustrados, "the only liberty the Indians want is the liberty of savages.
Leave them to their cock-fighting and their indolence, and they will thank you more than if you load them down with old
and new rights."

Apolinario de la Cruz, a Tagalog who led the 1839-41 Cofradía de San José revolt, embodied the religious aspirations
and disappointments of the Filipinos. A pious individual who sought to enter a religious order, he made repeated
applications that were turned down by the racially conscious friars, and he was left with no alternative but to become a
humble lay brother performing menial tasks at a charitable institution in Manila. While serving in that capacity, he started
the cofradía (confraternity or brotherhood), a society to promote Roman Catholic devotion among Filipinos. From 1839 to
1840, Brother Apolinario sent representatives to his native Tayabas, south of Laguna de Bay, to recruit members, and the
movement rapidly spread as cells were established throughout the southern Tagalog area. Originally, it was apparently
neither anti-Spanish nor nativist in religious orientation, although native elements were prevalent among its provincial
followers. Yet its emphasis on secrecy, the strong bond of loyalty its members felt for Brother Apolinario, and, above all, the
fact that it barred Spanish and mestizos from membership aroused the suspicions of the authorities. The cofradía was
banned by the authorities in 1840.

In the autumn of 1841 Brother Apolinario left Manila and gathered his followers, then numbering several thousands
armed with rifles and bolos (heavy, single-bladed knives), at bases in the villages around the town of Tayabas; as a spiritual
leader, he preached that God would deliver the Tagalog people from slavery. Although the rebel force, aided by Negrito hill
tribesmen, was able to defeat a detachment led by the provincial governor in late October, a much larger Spanish force
composed of soldiers from Pampanga Province--the elite of the Philippine military establishment and traditional enemies of
the Tagalogs--took the cofradía camp at Alitao after a great slaughter on November 1, 1841.

The insurrection effectively ended with the betrayal and capture of Brother Apolinario. He was executed on November
5, 1841. Survivors of the movement became remontados (those who go back into the mountains), leaving their villages to
live on the slopes of the volcanic Mount San Cristobal and Mount Banahao, within sight of Alitao. These mountains, where no
friar ventured, became folk religious centers, places of pilgrimage for lowland peasants, and the birthplace of religious
communities known as colorums. http://countrystudies.us/philippines/8.htm

The Secularization Controversy

Two kinds of priests served the Catholic Church in the Philippines, the regulars and the seculars. Regular
priests belonged to religious orders. Their main task was to spread Christianity. Examples were the Franciscans,
Recollects, Dominicans, and Augustinians. Secular priests did not belong to any religious order. They were
trained specifically to run the parishes and were under the supervision of the bishops.

Conflict began when the bishops insisted on visiting the parishes that were being run by regular priests.
It was their duty, they argued, to check on the administration of these parishes. But the regular priests refused
these visits, saying that they were not under the bishop’s jurisdiction. They threatened to abandon their parishes
if the bishops persisted.

In 1774, Archbishop Basilio Santa Justa decided to uphold the diocese’s authority over the parishes and
accepted the resignations of the regular priests. He assigned secular priests to take their place. Since there were
not enough seculars to fill all the vacancies the Archbishop hastened the ordination of Filipino seculars. A royal
decree was also issued on November 9, 1774, which provided for the secularization of all parishes or the transfer
of parochial administration from the regular friars to the secular priests.

The regulars resented the move because they considered the Filipinos unfit for the priesthood. Among
other reasons they cited the Filipinos’ brown skin, lack of education, and inadequate experience.

The controversy became more intense when the Jesuits returned to the Philippines. They had been exiled
from the country because of certain policies of the order that the Spanish authorities did not like.

67
 The issue soon took on a racial slant. The Spaniards were clearly favouring their own regular priest over
Filipino priests.

Monsignor Pedro Pelaez, ecclesiastical governor of the Church, sided with the Filipinos. Unfortunately, he
died in an earthquake that destroyed the Manila Cathedral in 1863. After his death, other priests took his place in
fighting for the secularization movement. Among them were Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto
Zamora. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15581450
READING 4.3

Excerpt 1 from PHILIPPINE SOCIETY AND REVOLUTION by Amado Guerrero (1970)

THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION OF 1896

The 19th century saw the intensification and ripening of the colonial and feudal system of exploitation. The Spanish
colonial government was compelled to draw more profits from its feudal base in the Philippines to make up for the
decline of the galleon trade and to adjust to the increasing pressures and demands of capitalist countries. The
British victory in the Seven Years’ War, the Napoleonic wars and French occupation of Spain, the expansionist maneuvers
of the United States and the rise of national independence movements in Latin America, and the sharp struggle
between the “liberal republicans” and “absolute monarchists” in Spain had the total effect of goading colonial Spain to exploit
the Filipino people further.

Under the strain of increasing exploitation, the national and democratic aspirations of the broad masses of the people
rose. As oppression was stepped up, the spirit of resistance among the ruled, especially the peasant masses, became
heightened until the Philippine Revolution of 1896 broke out.

The fullest development of feudalism under Spanish colonial rule was made. The peasant masses were compelled not only
to continue producing a surplus in staple crops to feed and keep the colonial and feudal parasites in comfort but
also produce an ever-increasing amount of raw material crops for export to various capitalist countries. The large-scale
cultivation of sugar, hemp, tobacco, coconut and the like in some areas in turn required the production of a bigger
surplus in staple food crops in other areas in order to sustain the large numbers of people concentrated in the
production of export crops. Rice was imported whenever a general shortage occurred.

Thus, the expansion of foreign trade made by the Spanish colonialists entailed the acceleration of domestic trade and the
wearing-out of a self-sufficient natural economy towards a commodity economy. The exchange of agricultural products
within the archipelago as well as the delivery of export crops to Manila and other trading ports and the provincial
distribution of imported goods that served the wealthy, necessitated the improvement of transportation and
communications.

The intensification of feudal exploitation included the adoption of the hated hacienda system, the rampant seizure of
cultivated lands, the arbitrary raising of land rent and levies by both landlords and bureaucrats. The practice of
monopoly, which meant dictated prices for the crops, further impoverished the peasants and enriched the bureaucrats.
Landowning peasants either found themselves bankrupt or their lands arbitrarily included in the legal boundaries of
large landlord estates. From 1803 to 1892, eighty-eight decrees were issued ostensibly to make landownership
orderly but these merely legalized massive landgrabbing by the feudalists.

The improvement of transportation and communications aggravated by feudal exploitation of the people. Exercising their
colonial powers, the Spaniards ordered the people in increasing numbers to build roads, bridges and ports and paid
them extremely low nominal wages. Big gangs of men were taken to distant places to work. At the same time, the
improvement of transportation and communications paved the way for wider contacts among the exploited and
oppressed people despite the rulers’ subjective wish to use these only for their own profit. Also the introduction of the
steamship and the railroad in connection with foreign and domestic trade contribute a great deal to the formation of the
Filipino proletariat.

It was in the 19th century that the embryo of the Filipino proletariat became distinct. It was composed of the
workers at the railroad, ships, docks, sugar mills, tobacco and cigar and cigarette factories, printing shops, breweries,
foundries, merchandising firms and the like. They emerged in the transition from a feudal to a semifeudal economy.

The economic prosperity enjoyed mainly by the colonial rulers was shared to some extent by the principalia, especially the

68
gobernadorcillo. The local puppet chieftains either had landholdings of their own or become big leaseholders on the landed
estates of friars or lay Spanish officials. They engaged in trade and bought more lands with their profits in order to engage
further in trade. In Manila and other principal trading ports, a local comprador class emerged correspondent to the shipping,
commercial and banking houses put up by foreign capitalist firms including American, British, German and French ones.

A nascent Filipino bourgeoisie became more and more distinct as agricultural production rose and as the volume of exports
likewise did. The port of Manila was formally opened to non-Spanish foreign ships in 1834 although foreign trade with
capitalist countries was actually started much earlier. From 1855 to 1873, six other ports throughout the archipelago
were opened. In 1869, the opening of the Suez Canal shortened the distance between the Philippines and Europe and
thus accelerated economic and political contracts between the two.

In the second half of the 19th century, the entry of native students into the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo
Tomas and other colonial-clerical colleges became conspicuously large. Though these natives could afford college
education, they were still the object of racial discrimination by their Spanish classmates and friar mentors. They had to suffer
the epithet of “monkey” as their parents were referred to as “beasts loaded with gold.” The creoles or mestizos were caught
in the middle of a situation charged with the racial antagonism between the indios and the Spaniards. This racial
antagonism was nothing but a manifestation of the colonial relationship. Even among the Spaniards, there was the
foolish distinction made between the Philippine-born Spaniards and the Spanish-born Spaniards, with the former being
derisively called Filipinos by the latter.

As more and more indios joined the ranks of the educated or the ilustrados, there came a point when the colonial
authorities were alarmed and they entertained fears that they would be taken to task on the basis of the colonial laws whose
idealist rhetoric they did not all practice. What appeared to the colonial rulers as the first systematized movement among
the native ilustrados to attack the social and political supremacy of the Spaniards was the secularization movement
within the clergy. The overwhelming majority of those who participated in this movement were indios and creoles
and they demanded taking over the parishes held by the religious orders whose members were overwhelmingly
Spanish.

When the Cavite Mutiny of 1872 occurred, Fathers Burgos, Gomez and Zamora who were the most outspoken leaders of the
secularization movement were accused of conspiring to overthrow the Spanish colonial regime and they were garroted. The
mutiny was essentially an act of rebellion of the oppressed masses initiated by workers at the Cavite naval stockyard
who were subjected to low wages and various forms of cruelty. Many of the rebellious workers and their genuine
supporters were tortured and murdered. The three clerics who were condemned by the Spanish governor-general and the
friars pleaded their innocence until their end. The style of pleading political innocence characterized the ilustrados from
then on.

Nevertheless, even as the yoke of colonial oppression was carried mainly by the toiling masses, the
principalia also suffered political and economic oppression at the hands of the colonial tyrants. The principalia joined in the
exploitation of the toiling masses but in turn it was subjected to certain oppressive demands made by the governor-
general, the provincial governor and the friars who increasingly reduced its share of exploitation. These colonial tyrants
arbitrarily increased the quota in tribute collection, the taxes for the privilege of engaging in commerce, the land rent
on leaseholdings, the quota in agricultural production and interest on loans. Failure to keep up with ever-increasing levies
resulted in bankruptcy especially among the cabezas de barangay. The employment of civil guards for the confiscation of
property and the enforcement of colonial laws became a common sight. Towards the end of the 19th century, the
principalia became most offended when it was forcibly ejected from its leaseholds on friar lands because the friars
preferred to turn over the management of their lands to various foreign corporations.

The extremely frequent change of governors-general in the Philippines during the 19th century reflected the
sharp struggle between the “liberal republicans” and the “absolute monarchists” in Spain. This had the general effect of
aggravating the Filipino people’s suffering. Every governor-general had to make the most of his average short term of a
little over a year to enlarge the official as well as his personal treasury.

The ilustrados became increasingly dissatisfied with the colonial regime and some of them fled to Spain where they
hoped to get higher education and get more sympathy from Spanish liberal circles for their limited cause of changing the
colonial status of the Philippines to the status of a regular province of Spain. They were desirous of representation in the
Spanish parliament and the enjoyment of civil rights under the Spanish Constitution. In carrying out their reform
movement, they established the newspaper La Solidaridad. It was the focus of activity for what would be called the
Propaganda Movement, of which the chief propagandists were Dr. Jose Rizal, M.H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena and
Antonio Luna.

The Propaganda Movement failed and was condemned as “subversive” and “heretical” by the colonial

69
authorities. Trying to carry out propaganda work in the Philippines itself, Rizal organized the short-lived La Liga Filipina
which called on the Filipino people to become a national community and yet failed to state categorically the need for
revolutionary armed struggle to effect separation from Spain. Putting his trust in the enemy, he was subsequently
arrested and exiled to Dapitan in 1892.

When the Philippine Revolution of 1896 broke out, he was held culpable for it by the colonial tyrants and
yet he betrayed it by calling on the people to lay down their arms a few days before his execution. The clear revolutionary call
for separation from Spain was made by the Kataastaasang Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan. It was
secretly founded in the proletarian district of Tondo by its leader Andres Bonifacio immediately after Rizal’s arrest in
1892. In its first year, it was composed of only 200 members coming mainly from the toiling masses. In the next few
years, it consciously recruited members who could start revolutionary struggle in various parts of the country so as to be
able to wage a war of national liberation. At the same time, it recruited its members mainly from the ranks of the
oppressed masses to ensure the democratic character of the revolution. After its Cry of Pugad Lawin on August 23,
1896, signaling the start of armed warfare against the colonialists, its ranks swelled to several tens of thousands and
rallied the entire Filipino people to rise in revolt.

The Philippine Revolution of 1896 was a national-democratic revolution of the old type. Though Bonifacio came
from the working class, he was in possession of proletarian ideology. The guiding ideology of the revolution was
that of the liberal bourgeoisie. Its classic model was the French Revolution and Bonifacio himself was inspired mainly
by its ideas. At any rate, the revolution asserted the sovereignty of the Filipino people, the protection and promotion of
civil liberties, the confiscation of the friar estates and the elimination of theocratic rule.

At the Tejeros Convention of 1897, the ilustrados who were mostly from Cavite decided to form the
revolutionary government to replace the Katipunan and elected Emilio Aguinaldo president, thus replacing Bonifacio
as the leader of the revolution. When an ilustrado strongly objected to Bonifacio’s election as minister of interior on the
ground that he was of lowly origin and had no education as a lawyer, the latter declared the convention null and
void in accordance with a previous agreement requiring respect for every decision made by the convention. The
convention manifested the class leadership of the liberal bourgeoisie and likewise the divisive effect of regionalism.
The attempt of Bonifacio to form another revolutionary council led to his arrest and execution by the Aguinaldo
leadership. Within 1897, the revolutionary government suffered defeat after defeat. The ilustrados showed their inability to
lead the revolution. The liberal-bourgeois leadership finally succumbed to the offers of general amnesty by the
colonial government through the mediation of the scoundrel Pedro Paterno.

The Pact of Biak-na-Bato was signed to consummate the surrender of Aguinaldo and the payment of P400,000 as first
installment to his council of leaders. While Aguinaldo was in exile in Hongkong, U.S. agents approached him and proposed
to him to take advantage of the imminent outbreak of the Spanish-American War. They pretended to help the
Filipino people liberate themselves from the Spanish colonial rule. The U.S. Imperialists schemed to make use of
Aguinaldo to facilitate their own seizure of the Philippines. Thus was Aguinaldo brought back to Cavite aboard an
American cutter after Dewey’s naval squadron had sailed to Manila Bay to destroy the Spanish fleet.

Taking advantage of the Spanish-American War, the Filipino people intensified their revolutionary armed struggle
against the Spanish colonial rule. Spanish power collapsed throughout the archipelago except in Intramuros and a few
negligible garrisons. Even the Filipino soldiers in the Spanish military service took the side of the Philippine Revolution. A
situation in May 1898 emerged in which the Filipino revolutionary forces encircled on land the colonial seat of
power, Intramuros, and the U.S. naval fleet stood guard in Manila Bay. The Filipino revolutionaries took the policy of
laying siege to starve the enemy into surrender while the imperialist navy waited for troop reinforcements from the
United States.

On June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo made the Kawit proclamation of independence which carried the unfortunate
qualification, “under the protection of the Mighty and Humane North American nation.” Unwittingly, he declared the
so-called First Philippines Republic to be a mere protectorate of U.S. imperialism.

U.S. troop reinforcements started to arrive at the end of June. They were landed to take over under various
pretexts positions occupied by the Filipino revolutionary forces in the encirclement of Intramuros. Position after
position was relinquished to the U.S. imperialists by the weakling Aguinaldo until all the revolutionary forces were relegated
to the background.

José Rizal and the Propaganda Movement

Between 1872 and 1892, a national consciousness was growing among the Filipino émigrés who had
settled in Europe. In the freer atmosphere of Europe, these émigrés--liberals exiled in 1872 and students

70
attending European universities--formed the Propaganda Movement. Organized for literary and cultural
purposes more than for political ends, the Propagandists, who included upper-class Filipinos from all the lowland
Christian areas, strove to "awaken the sleeping intellect of the Spaniard to the needs of our country" and to
create a closer, more equal association of the islands and the motherland. Among their specific goals were
representation of the Philippines in the Cortes, or Spanish parliament; secularization of the clergy; legalization of
Spanish and Filipino equality; creation of a public school system independent of the friars; abolition of
the polo (labor service) and vandala (forced sale of local products to the government); guarantee of basic
freedoms of speech and association; and equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government
service.

The most outstanding Propagandist was José Rizal, a physician, scholar, scientist, and writer. Born in 1861
into a prosperous Chinese mestizo family in Laguna Province, he displayed great intelligence at an early age.
After several years of medical study at the University of Santo Tomás, he went to Spain in 1882 to finish his
studies at the University of Madrid. During the decade that followed, Rizal's career spanned two worlds: Among
small communities of Filipino students in Madrid and other European cities, he became a leader and eloquent
spokesman, and in the wider world of European science and scholarship--particularly in Germany--he formed
close relationships with prominent natural and social scientists. The new discipline of anthropology was of
special interest to him; he was committed to refuting the friars' stereotypes of Filipino racial inferiority with
scientific arguments. His greatest impact on the development of a Filipino national consciousness, however, was
his publication of two novels--Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not) in 1886 and El Filibusterismo (The reign of greed)
in 1891. Rizal drew on his personal experiences and depicted the conditions of Spanish rule in the islands,
particularly the abuses of the friars. Although the friars had Rizal's books banned, they were smuggled into the
Philippines and rapidly gained a wide readership.

Other important Propagandists included Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted orator and pamphleteer who had
left the islands for Spain in 1880 after the publication of his satirical short novel, Fray Botod (Brother Fatso), an
unflattering portrait of a provincial friar. In 1889 he established a biweekly newspaper in Barcelona, La
Solidaridad (Solidarity), which became the principal organ of the Propaganda Movement, having audiences both
in Spain and in the islands. Its contributors included Rizal; Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austrian geographer
and ethnologist whom Rizal had met in Germany; and Marcelo del Pilar, a reformminded lawyer. Del Pilar was
active in the antifriar movement in the islands until obliged to flee to Spain in 1888, where he became editor ofLa
Solidaridad and assumed leadership of the Filipino community in Spain.

In 1887 Rizal returned briefly to the islands, but because of the furor surrounding the appearance of Noli
Me Tangere the previous year, he was advised by the governor to leave. He returned to Europe by way of Japan
and North America to complete his second novel and an edition of Antonio de Morga's seventeenth-century
work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (History of the Philippine Islands). The latter project stemmed from an
ethnological interest in the cultural connections between the peoples of the pre-Spanish Philippines and those of
the larger Malay region (including modern Malaysia and Indonesia) and the closely related political objective of
encouraging national pride. De Morga provided positive information about the islands' early inhabitants, and
reliable accounts of pre-Christian religion and social customs.

After a stay in Europe and Hong Kong, Rizal returned to the Philippines in June 1892, partly because the
Dominicans had evicted his father and sisters from the land they leased from the friars' estate at Calamba, in
Laguna Province. He also was convinced that the struggle for reform could no longer be conducted effectively
from overseas. In July he established the Liga Filipina (Philippine League), designed to be a truly national,
nonviolent organization. It was dissolved, however, following his arrest and exile to the remote town of Dapitan
in northwestern Mindanao.

The Propaganda Movement languished after Rizal's arrest and the collapse of the Liga Filipina.La
Solidaridad went out of business in November 1895, and in 1896 both del Pilar and Lopez Jaena died in
Barcelona, worn down by poverty and disappointment. An attempt was made to reestablish the Liga Filipina, but
the national movement had become split between ilustradoadvocates of reform and peaceful evolution
(the compromisarios, or compromisers) and a plebeian constituency that wanted revolution and national
independence. Because the Spanish refused to allow genuine reform, the initiative quickly passed from the
former group to the latter.(http://countrystudies.us/philippines/10.htm)

71
TIMELINE 1744-1899

1744 One of the most successful revolts in Philippine history breaks out, once more in Bohol, and
provides the island a kind of independence from the Spaniards for the following 85 years. The
first leader of the revolt is Francisco Dagohoy.
1754
May 15 Mt Taal emits magma and destroys the towns of Lipa, Sala, Tanauan and Talisay.
1762
Dec 14 A revolt under the leadership of Diego Silang, (Dec 16, 1730 - May 28, 1763) breaks out in
the Ilocos region.
1763
May 28. The revolt ends as Diego Silang is assassinated by his former friend Miguel Viscos
1872 200 Filipino soldiers stage a mutiny in Cavite.
The Cavite Rebellion. Hoping to quickly put down an organized revolt, the Spaniards
conducted secret trials and excution, but his further angered the people
Feb 17 Three martyr priests are publicly garroted as alleged leaders of the Cavite Conspiracy, a
movement for secularization and nationalism, which is distasteful to the Spanish friars. They
are Jose Burgos (born Feb 9, 1837), Mariano Gomez (born Aug 2, 1799) and Jacinto
Zamora (born Aug 14, 1835). The incident gives the Filipinos an impetus to unite and to
develop national consciousness. It also gives birth to a reform movement among Filipinos in
Spain, known as the Propaganda Movement.
1882
Mar 3 A talented offspring of the native elite, Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso
Realonda (Jun 19, 1861 - Dec 30, 1896) leaves Manila for Barcelona to continue his studies in
medicine.
Jun 2 In Madrid, Rizal begins writing Noli Me Tangere, a political novel set in the Philippines.
1884 Required forced labor of 40 days a year is reduced to 15 days by the Spanish Colonial
Government.
Jun 21 Rizal finishes his medical studies in Spain.
1887
May 29 Noli Me Tangere is published in Madrid and Barcelona.
Oct. Rizal begins writing the novel El Filibusterismo, a continuation of Noli Me Tangere.
1888
Dec 13 Filipinos in Barcelona establish the organization La Solidaridad. It demands for the
Philippines freedom of press, speech and assembly, equality before the law, participation in
governmental affairs, social and political freedom and representation in the Spanish Cortes.
The demands are published and circulated in Barcelona for the purpose of reaching the
Spanish King's ear. Among the members are: Jose Rizal, Lopez Jaena (Dec 18, 1856 - Jan 20,
1897), Marcelo Del Pilar (Aug 30, 1850 - Dec 3, 1920), Antonio Luna (Oct 29, 1866 - Jun 5,
1899) and Mariano Ponce (Mar 23, 1863 - May 23, 1918).
1891
Mar 28. Rizal finishes writing El Filibusterismo in Biarritz, France.
El Filibusterismo published in Ghent, Belgium
1892,
Jun 26. Rizal arrives in the Philippines via Hong Kong.
Jul 3. In Ilaya St, Tondo, Rizal founds La Liga Filipina to give the people a chance for direct
involvement in the reform movement. Andres Bonifacio (Nov 30, 1863 - May 10, 1897) is
one of Rizal's partners.
Jul 7 The Spanish authorities arrest Rizal for organizing La Liga Filipina.
Jul 17 Rizal is exiled to Dapitan, Mindanao.
1894
Jul 8 Andres Bonifacio forms the Katipunan. Its members come from the lower and the middle
class. The organization wants to awaken nationalism and free the Filipino people from
Spanish oppression and friar despotism. The organization believes that reforms can only be
obtained by means of a revolution.

72
 1896 Under the leadership of Filipino General Emilio Aguinaldo, major fighting begins against the
Spanish.
Jul 1. Rizal receives a telegram from Governor Ramon Blanco requiring his services as a physician
for the Spanish army in Cuba.
Aug 6. Rizal returns to Manila.
Aug 19. Spanish authorities discover the Katipunan when one of its members, Teodoro Paterno,
betrays the organization to an Agustinian priest, Fr. Mariano Gil. All those implicated are
ordered arrested but many Katipuneros evade arrest and flee to the hills of Balintawak.
Aug 23. A revolution is proclaimed by Bonifacio. The event is marked in history as the Cry of
Balintawak. In this instance, Filipinos tear up their cedulas (I.D. cards) issued by the Spanish
government and thereby mark the beginning of the uprising against the Spaniards.
Aug 26. Rizal goes to Cavite where he boards a ship for Barcelona. In the following night, Andres
Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto and other Katipuneros are able to surreptitiously board Rizal's ship.
They offer to rescue him from the Spaniards, but Rizal refuses.
Aug 30. After the spread of the Katipunan revolt throughout The Country the first real battle for
Philippine independence takes place at San Juan del Monte. The Spanish Governor Ramon
Blanco proclaims a state of war in the 8 provinces that took up arms. The provinces are
Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Pampanga, Bulacan, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.
Sep 2 Aboard the ship Isla de Panay, Rizal leaves Cavite for Barcelona.
Oct 3. Rizal arrives in Barcelona.
Oct 4. By order of Capt. Gen. Despujol, Rizal is incarcerated in Montjuich.
Oct 6. On orders from Madrid, Rizal is sent back to Manila as aprisoner.
Oct 31 A new group of the Katipunan is formed in Cavite; it discards the leadership of Andres
Bonifacio and is headed by Emilio Aguinaldo (Mar 22, 1869 - Feb 6, 1964).
Nov 13. Rizal arrives in Manila and is immediately imprisoned at Fort Santiago.
Nov 20. Rizal is interrogated the first time on charges of partaking in an uprising against the Spanish
government.

Dec 20. Rizal is sentenced to death by a Spanish court martial, and Governor Camilo Polavieja orders
his execution
Dec 30. The Spaniards execute Jose Rizal in
Bagumbayan (today's Rizal Park).
1897
Mar 22. The Katipunan holds its election. Aguinaldo is elected as president while Bonifacio is elected
only as director of war. Bonifacio is insulted by the election results and refuses to recognize
the new leadership.
Apr 29. Katipuneros arrest Andres Bonifacio and his brothers Procopio and Ciriaco on orders of
Aguinaldo, who considers the former a threat. The Bonifacios are charged
with sedition and treason before a military court of the Katipunan.
May 8. The Katipunan court finds the Bonifacios guilty. They are sentenced to death.
May 10 Andres Bonifacio and his brothers are executed at Mt. Buntis, Maragondon, Cavite.
May 31. Aguinaldo establishes a Philippine republican government in Biak-na-Bato, San Miguel,
Bulacan.
Aug 10. Aguinaldo begins negotiating with the Spaniards, represented by Pedro Paterno.
Nov 1. The Constitution of Biak-na-Bato is signed. It was prepared and written by Isabelo Artache
and Felix Ferrer. The government of the Biak-na-Bato Republic has the following
officers: Emilio Aguinaldo, President; Mariano Trias, Vice President; Isabelo Artache,
Secretary of Interior; Antonio Montenegro, Secretary of Foreign Affairs; Baldomero
Aguinaldo, Secretary of Treasury and Emiliano Riego de Jesus, Secretary of War. The Biak-na-
Bato Republic fails as its leader, Aguinaldo, resigns to the fact that the Filipinos are not yet
ready to confront the Spanish forces. This belief also drives him to negotiate with the
Spaniards for the Pact of Biak-na-Bato.
Dec 14. The Pact of Biak-na-Bato between the Spanish and Aguinaldo is signed. In this pact,
Aguinaldo agrees to surrender all arms and to go with his companions into exile in Hong Kong
upon payment of 800,000 pesos and an additional 900,000 pesos for the non-combatants
who suffered losses because of the war.
Dec 27. Aguinaldo and his companions leave for Hong Kong where they live on the interest from
their money.
1898 American ships arrive in Manila Bay and with minimal exchange of fire, the Spanish are
defeated.
Feb 8. The Katipunan is revived by Emilio Jacinto (Dec 15, 1875 - Apr 16, 1899) and Feliciano

73
 Jocson.
Apr 24. The US government asks Aguinaldo for cooperation in its anti-Spanish politics, and offers in
exchange the promise of US support for the Filipinos in their struggle for independence.
Aguinaldo agrees.
Apr 26. The US declares war on Spain.
May 1. The US Navy, with heavily armed ships under the command of Commodore George Dewey,
attacks Manila.
May 19. Aguinaldo and his companions return to the Philippines.
May 24. Aguinaldo proclaims a dictatorial government and issues two decrees which show his trust
and reliance in US protection.
Jun 12. The Philippines is proclaimed independent from Spain in Kawit, Cavite. For the first time, the
Philippine flag is officially raised and the Philippine National Anthem is publicly played. The
proclamation places the US in the special position of protector of Philippine independence.
Jun 23. Through the advice of Apolinario Mabini (Jul 23, 1864 - May 13, 1903), a paralytic but
nevertheless the "brains of the Katipunan", the Philippine dictatorial government is changed
to a revolutionary government, and in Malolos, Bulacan the Malolos Republic is
institutionalized. The Malolos republican government is geared to fight for Philippine
independence until it is recognized by the free nations of the world.
Jul 15. Aguinaldo appoints a cabinet with the following secretaries: Baldomero Aguinaldo, Secretary
of War and Public Works; Leandro Ibarra, Secretary of Interior; Mariano Trias, Secretary of
Finance.
Aguinaldo creates the Malolos Congress with 136 members, 60 of them are appointed by
Aguinaldo while the rest are chosen by representatives of the provinces.
Sep 15. The Malolos Congress meets and elects its officers. They are: Pedro Paterno (Feb 27, 1858 -
Mar 11, 1911), President; Benito Legarda, Vice President; Gregorio Araneta and Pablo
Ocampo (Jan 25, 1850 - Feb 5, 1925), Secretaries.
Decr 12  U.S. and Spanish negotiators sign the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the Spanish-American
War and ceding the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million.
1899
Jan 21. The Malolos Constitution is promulgated by Aguinaldo. It provides for a republican form of
government with the legislature as the supreme branch. The constitution is designed after the
constitutions of France, Belgium, and several South American Republics. It was drafted by
Felipe Calderon (Apr 4, 1868 - Jul 6, 1908).
Jan 23. The Malolos republic government is inaugurated. Aguinaldo takes his oath of office as
President.

THE DECLINE OF SPANISH RULE

In 1762 Spain became involved in the Seven Years' War (1756-63) on the side of France against Britain; in
October 1762, forces of the British East India Company captured Manila after fierce fighting. Spanish resistance
continued under Lieutenant Governor Simón de Anda, based at Bacolor in Pampanga Province, and Manila was
returned to the Spanish in May 1764 in conformity with the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the war. The
British occupation nonetheless marked, in a very significant sense, the beginning of the end of the old order.

Spanish prestige suffered irreparable damage because of the defeat at British hands. A number of rebellions
broke out, of which the most notable was that of Diego Silang in the Ilocos area of northern Luzon. In December
1762, Silang expelled the Spanish from the coastal city of Vigan and set up an independent government. He
established friendly relations with the British and was able to repulse Spanish attacks on Vigan, but he was
assassinated in May 1763. The Spanish, tied down by fighting with the British and the rebels, were unable to
control the raids of the Moros of the south on the Christian communities of the Visayan Islands and Luzon.
Thousands of Christian Filipinos were captured as slaves, and Moro raids continued to be a serious problem
through the remainder of the century. The Chinese community, resentful of Spanish discrimination, for the most
part enthusiastically supported the British, providing them with laborers and armed men who fought de Anda in
Pampanga.

After Spanish rule was restored, José Basco y Vargas one of the ablest of Spanish administrators, was the
governor from 1778 to 1787, and he implemented a series of reforms designed to promote the economic
development of the islands and make them independent of the subsidy from New Spain. In 1781 he established

74
the Economic Society of Friends of the Country, which, throughout its checkered history extending over the next
century, encouraged the growth of new crops for export--such as indigo, tea, silk, opium poppies, and abaca
(hemp)--and the development of local industry. A government tobacco monopoly was established in 1782. The
monopoly brought in large profits for the government and made the Philippines a leader in world tobacco
production.

The venerable galleon trade between the Philippines and Mexico continued as a government monopoly
until 1815, when the last official galleon from Acapulco docked at Manila. The Royal Company of the Philippines,
chartered by the Spanish king in 1785, promoted direct trade from that year on between the islands and Spain.
All Philippine goods were given tariff-free status, and the company, together with Basco's Economic Society,
encouraged the growth of a cash-crop economy by investing a portion of its early profits in the cultivation of
sugar, indigo, peppers, and mulberry trees for silk, as well as in textile factories.
(http://countrystudies.us/philippines/5.htm)

The Katipunan

After Rizal's arrest and exile, Andres Bonifacio, a self-educated man of humble origins, founded a secret
society, the Katipunan, in Manila. This organization, modeled in part on Masonic lodges, was committed to
winning independence from Spain. Rizal, Lopez Jaena, del Pilar, and other leaders of the Propaganda Movement
had been Masons, and Masonry was regarded by the Catholic Church as heretical. The Katipunan, like th e
Masonic lodges, had secret passwords and ceremonies, and its members were organized into ranks or degrees,
each having different colored hoods, special passwords, and secret formulas. New members went through a
rigorous initiation, which concluded with the pacto de sangre, or blood compact.

The Katipunan spread gradually from the Tondo district of Manila, where Bonifacio had founded it, to the
provinces, and by August 1896--on the eve of the revolt against Spain--it had some 30,000 members, both men
and women. Most of them were members of the lower-and lower-middle-income strata, including peasants. The
nationalist movement had effectively moved from the closed circle of prosperous ilustrados to a truly popular
base of support.

The 1896 Uprising and Rizal's Execution

During the early years of the Katipunan, Rizal remained in exile at Dapitan. He had promised the Spanish
governor that he would not attempt an escape, which, in that remote part of the country, would have been
relatively easy. Such a course of action, however, would have both compromised the moderate reform policy that
he still advocated and confirmed the suspicions of the reactionary Spanish. Whether he came to support
Philippine independence during his period of exile is difficult to determine.

He retained, to the very end, a faith in the decency of Spanish "men of honor," which made it difficult for
him to accept the revolutionary course of the Katipunan. Revolution had broken out in Cuba in February 1895,
and Rizal applied to the governor to be sent to that yellow fever-infested island as an army doctor, believing that
it was the only way he could keep his word to the governor and yet get out of his exile. His request was granted,
and he was preparing to leave for Cuba when the Katipunan revolt broke out in August 1896. An informer had
tipped off a Spanish friar about the society's existence, and Bonifacio, his hand forced, proclaimed the revolution,
attacking Spanish military installations on August 29, 1896. Rizal was allowed to leave Manila on a Spanish
steamship. The governor, however, apparently forced by reactionary elements, ordered Rizal's arrest en route,
and he was sent back to Manila to be tried by a military court as an accomplice of the insurrection.

The rebels were poorly led and had few successes against colonial troops. Only in Cavite Province did
they make any headway. Commanded by Emilio Aguinaldo, the twenty-seven-year-old mayor of the town of
Cavite who had been a member of the Katipunan since 1895, the rebels defeated Civil Guard and regular colonial
troops between August and November 1896 and made the province the center of the revolution.

Under a new governor, who apparently had been sponsored as a hard-line candidate by the religious
orders, Rizal was brought before a military court on fabricated charges of involvement with the Katipunan. The

75
events of 1872 repeated themselves. A brief trial was held on December 26 and--with little chance to defend
himself--Rizal was found guilty and sentenced to death. On December 30, 1896, he was brought out to the Luneta
and executed by a firing squad.

Rizal's death filled the rebels with new determination, but the Katipunan was becoming divided between
supporters of Bonifacio, who revealed himself to be an increasingly ineffective leader, and its rising star,
Aguinaldo. At a convention held at Tejeros, the Katipunan's headquarters in March 1897, delegates elected
Aguinaldo president and demoted Bonifacio to the post of director of the interior. Bonifacio withdrew with his
supporters and formed his own government. After fighting broke out between Bonifacio's and Aguinaldo's
troops, Bonifacio was arrested, tried, and on May 10, 1897, executed by order of Aguinaldo.

As 1897 wore on, Aguinaldo himself suffered reverses at the hands of Spanish troops, being forced from
Cavite in June and retreating to Biak-na-Bato in Bulacan Province. The futility of the struggle was becoming
apparent, however, on both sides. Although Spanish troops were able to defeat insurgents on the battlefield, they
could not suppress guerrilla activity. In August armistice negotiations were opened between Aguinaldo and a
new Spanish governor. By mid-December, an agreement was reached in which the governor would pay
Aguinaldo the equivalent of US$800,000, and the rebel leader and his government would go into exile. Aguinaldo
established himself in Hong Kong, and the Spanish bought themselves time. Within the year, however, their more
than three centuries of rule in the islands would come to an abrupt and unexpected end.

NAME:__________________________________ COURSE:_________________________
YR. & SEC.:_______________________________ SCORE:___________________________

EXERCISE 4

I. Answer the following question.

1. Give 3 definition of Filipino nationalism.

a.
b.
c.

2. What was the crucial factor that led nationalism to take root?

3. The scattered and isolated groups and communities shared experience of _________________________ that led
to national ________________________(struggle).

4. The Spaniards used __________________________ and the Americans used ________________________ to develop
among the Filipinos what Renato Constantino called Captive Colonial Consciousness.

5. The religious orders of the friars during the Spanish Period

were:___________________________,______________________________________,_______________________________,
__________________________________________ and ______________________________________.

6. The __________________________________ or the enlightened ones among Filipinos belonged to the upperclass in
1870’s fought for through Propaganda

76
 7. According to Amado Guerrero, the friars promoted a bogoted culture, obsessed
with:(a)__________________________________(b)______________________________(c)_________________________________(d)____
_____________________________(e)__________________________(f)_____________________________.

8. The political powers exercised by the friars included:(a)________________________________

(b)_______________________(c)______________________(d)__________________________(e)____________________________(f)_____
_____________________

9. The two kinds of priests during the Spanish period: (a)____________________________

(b)____________________________

II. ESSAY. Answer the following briefly (NO MORE THAN THREE(3) WORDS PER QUESTION)
A. What was the root of the secularization controversy?

B. What was the cause of the executuin of the three (3) priests in 1872?

C. How did Amado Guerrero describe the 1896 Revolution in terms of objectives:
a.
b.
c.

D. Write the names of the leaders of revolts that took place in the following places:
Year Place Name of the leader
Manila

Cavite

Cagayan

Leyte

Bohol

Samar

Pampanga

Pangasinan

Ilocos

III. Multiple Choice. Choose the letter with the correct answer. Write your answers on the blanks
provided.

_______1. It was the first part of Muslim Mindanao to be attacked by the Spaniards.
a. Basilan b. Davao c. Sulu d. Zamboanga

_______2.This resulted to the entry of liberal ideas from Europe and America to the Philippines.
a. educational reforms of 1863 c. expulsion of Jesuits
b. Opening of Philippines to world trade d. Cavite mutiny of 1872

_______3.This affirmed that secular priests be appointed to administer the parishes in the colony.

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 a. Council of Trent c. Carlos Maria dela Torre
b. Exponi Nobis d. principals

_______4.This historical date marks the GOMBURZA martyrdom.

a. January 20 b.January 25 c. February 12 d. February 17

_______5.He wrote Fray Botod, where he ridiculed a typical cleric who became fat because of the provisons taken
from the people.
a. M.H. del Pilar b. G. Lopez Jaena c. J. Rizal d. A. Luna

_______6.He became the La Liga Filipina president.

a. Dr. Jose Rizal b. Jose Ma. Basa c. Galicano Apacible d. Ambrocio Salvador

_______7.Apolinario Mabini sed this pen name in La Liga Filipina.

a. Ilaw b. May Pagasa c. Panday Pira d. Katabay

II. Essay
1. Why did the early Filipino revolts fail? Cite examples.

2. What were the efforts of the Filipino propagandists to achieve peaceful reforms?

3. When is a revolution justifiable?

4. What prompted the United States of America to declare the Spanish American
War?

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 MODULE and WORKBOOK in

READINGS IN PHILIPPINE
HISTORY

Eden Tongson Beltran

2019

RAMON MAGSAYSAY STRATE UNIVERSITY

Iba, Zambales, Philippines

Table of Contents

Chapter I- NATURE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HISTORY AS ITS BRANCH 1

79
 Unraveling Kasaysayan 1
The Framework of History 2
Application of the structural functionalist approach in history 3
Kasaysayan as development 3
The overview of the stages of Philippine Kasaysayan 4
Pre-Colonial Period 4
Colonial Period 4
The Rise and Development Filipino Nationalism 5
Chapter II- PRE- COLONIAL PERIOD 13
Theories on the Peopling of the Philippines 9
Migration Theory 9
Jocano’s Theory 10
The Early Social and Political Institutions 10
Spanish accounts 11
The Pre-Colonial Culture 13
The Pre-colonial government 21
The Mainstream Philippine Pre-Colonial Culture 22
Traditional Agricultural Communal Lifestyle 22
Foreign Influences during the Pre-colonial Period 23
The Pre-Colonial Economy 27
Social Stratification 27
Concepts of Property 28
Disintegration of Communalism 28
Status of Pre-Colonial Women 29
Chapter III SPANISH PERIOD 34
Background of the Spanish Colonization 34
The Objectives and Strategies of Spanish Colonization 38
The Political Structure 45
Social, Cultural and Economic Impact of Spanish Colonization 49
Economic Impact of Spanish Colonization 58
Chapter IV- DEVELOPMENT OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM AND THE 1896 63
REVOLUTION
The Nature and Roots of Filipino Nationalism 63
The Secularization Controversy 67
José Rizal and the Propaganda Movement 70
The Decline of Spanish Rule 74
Chapter V 1898-1946 79
The Spanish-American War 79
The Malolos Constitution and the Treaty of Paris 80
War of Resistance 81
United States Rule 82
The Jones Act 83
A Collaborative Philippine Leadership 84
World War II 94
Chapter VI CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINES (1972 TO PRESENT) 99
Independence 99
Economic Relations with the United States 100
Security Agreements 100
The Magsaysay, Garcia, and Macapagal Administrations 101
Marcos and the Martial Law Regime 1965-72 102
Proclamation 1081 and Martial Law 103

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 The New Society 104
Crony Capitalism 104
From Aquino's Assassination to People's Power 106
The Snap Election and Marcos's Ouster 108
The Leftist Insurgency 109
PART II THE NATURE OF THE STUDY OF GOVERNMENT AND THE LAWS 116
Chapter VII POLITICAL SCIENCE: A BRANCH OF SOCIAL SCIENCE 117
The Study of Social Science 117
Political Science as a Science and as an Art 119
The Nature of Political Science 120
Types of Power as to Source 120
The People, their Will, the Government, and the Administration 121
Chapter VIII THE CONCEPTS OF THE STATE AND GOVERNMENT 124
The Concept of the State 124
Elements of a State 125
The Concept of Government 125
Chapter IX THE STUDY OF THE LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION 128
The Knowledge of the Laws 128
Constitution Defined 129
Chapter X THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE 133
CONSTITUTION
Origin and History of the Philippine Constitutions 133
Outline of the History of the Philippine Government and Their Constitutional 133
Foundation
CHAPTER XI THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE 138
PHILIPPINES
Lesson 1 –The Preamble and Article I: The National Territory 139
Lesson 2 - Article II: Declaration of Principles And State Policies 142
Lesson 3- Article III: Bill Of Rights 149
Lesson 4- Article IV – Citizenship 171
Lesson 5- Article V – Suffrage 175
Lesson 6- Article VI – The Legislative Department 177
Lesson 7- Article VII. The Executive Department 188
Lesson 8- Article VIII. The Judicial Department 195
Lesson 2.9- Article XI: Accountability Of Public Officers 200
Lesson 2.10- Article XII – National Economy And Patrimony 206
Lesson 2.11- Article XIII – Social Justice And Human Rights 213
BIBLIOGRAPHY 218
Republic of the Philippines
RAMON MAGSAYSAY TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION technology
Main Campus, Iba, Zambales
Tel.Fax. 047 8111683, CP No. 09985105917

Academic Year 2019-2020/1st Semester

VISION:

RMTU shall be a University for Sustainable Development. A learning and resource center for the development of
leaders and entrepreneurs responsive to appropriate and emerging advanced technologies for the sustainable

81
utilization of natural, indigenous and human resources for community-centered development within the
dynamic and ever-widening society.

MISSION:

The Ramon Magsaysay Technological University shall primarily provide instruction, undertake research and
extension and provide advanced studies and progressive leadership in agriculture, forestry, engineering,
technology, education, arts, sciences, humanities, and other fields as may be relevant to the development of the
province.

I. Course Code: Soc Sci 3a

II. Course Title: Readings in Philippine History

III. Course Description:

This course covers the study of the economic, social, political and cultural development of the Philippines.
Examination of history from a Filipino point of view aids in the understanding of the factors affecting the
development of this country. It analyses Philippine politics and governance in relation to pertinent
Constitutional provisions governing the current administration. The evolution of Philippine government under
the administration of the various Philippine presidents and the current events as governed by the present
constitution aims to enhance the learners’ appreciation of governance in the Philippines.

IV. Credit: 3 Units

V. Number of contact hours per week: 3 Hours

VI. Place of the Course in the Program of Study: GENERAL EDUCATION

VII. Pre-Requisite: none

VIII. General Objectives:

This course aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. To equip students with applicable frameworks in a deeper analysis of Philippine history.

2. To provide the students’ of important information about the past events in Philippine history.

3. To guide the students in relating the past events to the present situation.

4. To enable learners to appreciate the Filipino heritage and Filipino culture and the contribution of
Filipino Heroes and recognize the foreign influence that brought changes in socio-political, economics
and cultural aspects.

5. To enable students to understand the present constitution as it applies to present politics and
governance

6. To equip students with relevant tools and information for critical thinking; and

7. To inculcate and develop in the students a sense of nationalism and patriotism.

VIII. Time allotment: 54 hours

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IX. Course Content

Topics and References Time Specific Objectives or Expected Strategies

Frame Outcomes
PART I- HISTORY OF THE 2 8. To understand better the term Relating
PHILIPPINES History as it is discussed in its Geography,
Tagalog translation Kasaysayan; Discussion
INTRODUCTION 9. To explain the significance of the Question,
- Unraveling Kasaysayan study of History; Timelines,
- The Framework of 10. To understand and apply the Placing Events in
History analytical frameworks of history; Time,
- Application of the and Reports,
structural functionalist 11. To enumerate the various stages in Quizzes
approach in history Philippine history.
- Kasaysayan as
development
- The overview of the
stages of Philippine
Kasaysayan
Chapter II PRE- COLONIAL 6
PERIOD
1. To identify the different
- Theories on the Peopling geographical features of the Relating
of the Philippines Philippines. Geography,
- Migration Theory 2. To analyze the condition of the Discussion
- Jocano’s Theory country before the arrival of the Question,
- The Early Social and Spanish Timelines,
Political Institutions 3. To discuss the events in Placing Events in
- Spanish accounts colonization of the Philippines. Time,
- The Pre-Colonial Culture 4. To describe the Philippines Reports,
- The Pre-colonial condition under the Spanish rule. Quizzes
government 5. To rationalize the institutional
- The Mainstream impact of the Spanish rule that led
Philippine Pre-Colonial to the aspiration of reform of the
Culture Filipinos.
- Traditional Agricultural
Communal Lifestyle
- Foreign Influences during
the Pre-colonial Period
- The Pre-Colonial
Economy
- Social Stratification
- Concepts of Property
- Disintegration of
Communalism
- Status of Pre-Colonial
Women
Chapter III SPANISH PERIOD 6 1. Discuss the context of the Spanish Relating
- Background of the colonization; Geography,
Spanish Colonization 2. Discuss the impact of Spanish Discussion
- The Objectives and colonization on the political, economic, Question,
Strategies of Spanish social and cultural condition of the Timelines,
Colonization Philippine society; and Placing Events in
- The Political Structure 3. Identify the advantages and Time,
- Social, Cultural and disadvantages of the Spanish Reports,

83
 Economic Impact of
Spanish Colonization
- Economic Impact of
Spanish Colonization
Chapter IV DEVELOPMENT OF 6 5. To explain the nature of Filipino
FILIPINO NATIONALISM AND
THE 1896 REVOLUTION
- The Nature and Roots of
Filipino Nationalism
- The Secularization
Controversy
- José Rizal and the
Propaganda Movement
- The Decline of Spanish
Rule
Chapter V 1898-1946
- The Spanish-American
War
- The Malolos Constitution
and the Treaty of Paris
- War of Resistance
- United States Rule
- The Jones Act
- A Collaborative Philippine
Leadership
- World War II
Chapter VI CONTEMPORARY
PHILIPPINES (1972 TO
PRESENT)
- Independence
- Economic Relations with
the United States
- Security Agreements
- The Magsaysay, Garcia,
and Macapagal
Administrations
- Marcos and the Martial
Law Regime 1965-72
- Proclamation 1081 and
Martial Law
- The New Society
- Crony Capitalism
- From Aquino's
Assassination to People's
Power
- The Snap Election and
Marcos's Ouster
- The Leftist Insurgency
PART II THE NATURE OF THE
STUDY OF GOVERNMENT AND
THE LAWS
colonization in relation to the Quizzes
development of Filipino nationalism.
Vocabulary Review,
nationalism, Identifying Person,
6. To identify and explain the factors Relating
and events that led to the Geography,
development of Filipino Discussion
nationalism; and the Question, Reading
7. To discuss the relationship between Primary Sources,
global trends and events with the Timelines,
emergence and development of the Placing Events in
reform movement; and Time,
8. To outline the events pertinent to Exploring the Arts,
the 1896 revolution and the Reports.
subsequent 1898 independence
declaration.
6 Identifying Person,
1. To look upon the effect of Relating
American Colonization on the Geography,
independence attempt of the Discussion
Filipinos Question, Reading
2. To examine the effect of Primary Sources,
American tutelage on the Timelines,
education of the Filipinos Placing Events in
Time,
Exploring the Arts,
Reports.
6 Identifying Person,
Relating
Geography,
1. To outline the achievements of Discussion
the various administrations Question, Reading
after World War II; Primary Sources,
2. To describe the international Timelines,
and democratic relations of the Placing Events in
Philippines with the United Time,
States after the WWII; Exploring the Arts,
3. To discuss the nature, Reports.
objectives and effects of the
Martial Law regime;
4. To discuss the events that led to
the EDSA I Revolution and the
events consequent to it;
84
 Chapter VII POLITICAL
SCIENCE: A BRANCH OF SOCIAL
SCIENCE
- The Study of Social
Science
- Political Science as a
Science and as an Art
- The Nature of Political
Science
- Types of Power as to
Source
- The People, their Will, the
Government, and the
Administration
Chapter VIII THE CONCEPTS OF
THE STATE AND GOVERNMENT
- The Concept of the State
- Elements of a State
- The Concept of
Government
Chapter IX THE STUDY OF THE
LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION
- The Knowledge of the
Laws
- Constitution Defined
Chapter X THE HISTORY AND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE
PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION
- Origin and History of the
Philippine Constitutions
- Outline of the History of
the Philippine
Government and Their
Constitutional Foundation
3 12. Discuss the nature of social Discussion
science Question, Reading
13. Enumerate the subjects and Primary Sources,
branches of social science; Quizzes, Recitation
14. Define political science;
15. Enumerate the subjects of
political science;
16. Define power and enumerate
its sources; and
17. Discuss the function of political
science in society.
2 1. Discuss the nature of the state, Discussion
identify and discuss the nature of Question, Reading
its elements; Primary Sources,
2. Discuss the nature of the various Quizzes, Recitation
forms of governmental power
and the governmental branches
which wield such powers;
3. Discuss the classification of
governments;
4. Discuss the characteristics of a
democratic government.
1 1. Define law and state its functions; Discussion
2. Distinguish the constitution from Question, Reading
statutes, and presidential Primary Sources,
issuances; and Quizzes, Recitation
3. Explain the functions of the
constitution.
3 1. Define the origin and history of the Discussion
Philippine Constitution; and Question, Reading
2. Define the background of the Primary Sources,
passage of the 1973 Constitution Quizzes, Recitation

X. TEACHING-LEARNING APPROACH (Strategies/techniques/Learning Resources).

Vocabulary Review, Identifying Person, Relating Geography, Discussion Question, Reading Primary Sources,
Mapmaking, Timelines, Placing Events in Time, Exploring the Arts, Reports.

Philippine Map, Globe, Hand-outs, Power Point Presentation, Data Retrieval Charts, Pictures, Timeline

Lectures, Deductive Method, Word search, Map reading, Graphic Organizers.

XI. EVALUATION

Recitation and reaction paper 15 %

Class standing 15%

85
 Project 15%
Quiz 25%
Exam 30%

Prelim 30%
Midterm 30%
Finals 40%

Score/Items x 50 + 50

XII. CLASSROOM POLICIES

1. There will be three examinations; Prelim, Midterm, and Final. Examination must be taken on the
scheduled date if a student cannot come on the scheduled exam, he/she must notify the professor
ahead.

2. Attendance should be not less than 80% of the total class sessions.

3. Three times late/tardy is considered as absence.

4. Submission of projects will be on or one week before the final examination.

5. Failure to pass the necessary requirements, the student’s grade will be marked as INCOMPLETE.

6. Students Conduct and Discipline specified in the University Student Handbook should be observed
inside the classroom.

XV. REFERENCES

Agoncillo, Teodoro V. 2012.History of the filipino people. C & E Publishing. Quezon City.

Duka, Cecilio D. and Pila, Rowena A. 2010. Rizal his legacy to Philippine society. Anvil Publishing,
Inc. Pasig City.

Halili, Maria Christine N. 2004. Philippine history. Rex Bookstore. Quezon City.

Joaquin, Nick. 2006.A question of heroes. Anvil Publishing, Inc. Pasig City.

Ocampo, Ambeth R. 2008.Rizal Without the overcoat . Anvil Publishing, Inc. Pasig City.

Ocampo, Ambeth R. 2003.Bones of contention. Anvil Publishing, Inc. Pasig City.

Ocampo, Ambeth R. 2002.Luna’s moustache. Anvil Publishing, Inc. Pasig City.

Ocampo, Ambeth R. 1998.Centennial countdown. Anvil Publishing, Inc. Pasig City.

Trillana, Pablo S. 2000.The loves of Rizal. New Day Publishers. Quezon City.

Zaide, Gregorio F. 2006. Jose Rizal’s life works and writings. National Bookstore.

Mandaluyong City.

Zaide, Sonia M. 2006.The Philippine the unique nation. All nation Publishing Co. Manila.

Zulueta, Francisco, 2009.Rizal’s life, works and writings. National Bookstore. Mandaluyong City.

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 Encarta Premium DVD 2009/Dictionaries

http//:www.google.com.ph

http//:www.wikipedia.com.ph

Prepared by

EDEN T. BELTRAN, Ph.D.

Instructor

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