A.

Ateneo de Manila which was formerly Ateneo Muncipal, was a boys' school and its graduates finish their
education with the title bachiller en artes which is in Rizal's time was equivalent to today's high school.
The University of Santo Tomas on the other hand, was the only institution in the Philippines that
provided college degrees. As to the academic climate in both institutions, in the Ateneo, classes last the
whole day beginning with a mass at 7 o'clock in the morning. All students are required to attend such
masses. The students are under strict supervision by their teachers. This explains why most of Rizal's
poems and other literary works were pro-Spanish and pro-Catholic such as his poem praising the victory
of Urbiztondo over the Moros of Jolo and his poem about the Virgin Mary. All the time in Ateneo is
devoted to study, academics and co-curricular activities such as contests in Spanish, Latin and Greek.

On the other hand, at the University of Santo Tomas, the students were given more freedom. Half of the
day is given to study and the rest was free time. The students are not anymore required to attend mass.
This freedom is not leniency but this was allowed by the university authorities on the basis that the
college students are believed to be more mature and responsible. Rizal in his spare time used returned
to Ateneo to take up a course in land surveying. His other classmate Rafael Palma also went back to the
Ateneo to take up commerce. Both courses were considered vocational courses. Some students used
the spare time on useless activities such as doing la cuacha - which at that time meant doing nothing or
playing truant. They wasted their time courting women. Rizal also did that when he courted three
women at the same time. The students also formed their barkadas and in Rizal's experience formed El
Companerismo.

As for the grades of the students, certainly study at the University of Santo Tomas was harder than the
Ateneo because UST was a university and the Ateneo was a high school. It would be unfair to compare
Rizal's excellent grades with the latter and those with the former, plus the many distractions that faced
young men such as Rizal such as the women, the barkadas and the idle time at Ongpin's El 88 store and
the pancitan at the Panciteria Macanista de Buen Gusto at San Fernando Street.

Another thing Ateneo remained a boy's school during the Spanish period. The University of Santo Tomas
on the other hand, began admitting women in its Escuela de Matronas y Pateras or the school for
midwives in its San Jose

Building in the far side of Intramuros. The women had to be married or widowed and if their husband
was still alive, must have his permission. Furthermore the woman wishing to become a midwife must
have the endorsement of the local parish priest.

So in a nutshell, the academic atmosphere in the Ateneo and UST during Rizal's time was different from
each other. One was more strict with students and the other granted them more freedom. That
freedom was actually responsible for allowing Rizal to show his true colors especially when he wrote his
prize-winning poem A La Juventud Filipina which showed his nationalistic side. The same can be said for
his allegorical play Consejo de los Dioses.

B. Gov.Gen Rafael Izquierdo y Gutiérrez

He was also known to have promptly rescinded the liberal measures, thus implementing harsher laws,
which ignited an uprising. The reformation suggested that the soldiers of the Engineering and Artillery
Corps should pay taxes, from which they were previously exempt. Another drastic change was the
requirement to perform manual labor. These changes eventually led to the 1872 Cavite mutiny, in which
around 200 soldiers of the Engineering and Artillery Corps revolted and killed their officers. In
retaliation, many liberals were implicated in the involvement of the conspiracy. The Spanish military
court condemned the martyred priests, Fathers José Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora
(GOMBURZA), to capital punishment by means of the garrote, on 17 February 1872. This uprising led to
delays in rebuilding Malacañan Palace, and in turn almost transferred colonial governance back within
the walls of Intramuros for security purposes. The plan to transfer the colonial government to
Intramuros ended when Izquierdo fell ill and he stepped down from his position on 8 January 1873.

Rafael Izquierdo spent the remaining years of his life in Madrid, Spain, where he died in 1882.

Gov. Gen Dela Torre administration

He established the Guardia Civil in the Philippines and gave amnesty to rebels, of which

the most prominent was Casimiro Camerino (El tulisán), the leader of bandits in
Cavite. He organized the bandits given amnesty into an auxiliary force of the Guardia
Civil. He abolished flogging, relaxed media censorship, and began limited secularization
of education. He was also very close to the ilustrados, a group of Filipinos who
understood the situation of the Philippines under Spanish rule. His supporters had done
a Liberal Parade in front of the Malacañan Palace.
Only two weeks after the arrival of de la Torre as governor-general, Burgos and Joaquín
Pardo de Tavera led a demonstration at the Plaza de Santa Potenciana. Among the
demonstrators were José Icaza, Jácobo Zobel, Ignacio Rocha, Manuel Genato, and
Máximo Paterno. The cry was "Viva Filipinas para los Filipinos!". In November 1870, a
student movement, denounced as a riot or motín, at the University of Santo Tomas formed
a committee to demand reforms on the school and its curricula. It later announced
support of Philippine autonomy and recognition of the Philippines as a province of
Spain. The committee was headed by Felipe Buencamino.
De la Torre was single and he had a mistress who had great influence on him. His
mistress, Maria del Rosario Gil de Montes de Sanchiz, flared up friar opposition because
of many reasons. One of the reasons was she authored a book entitled El Hombre de
Dios. It was criticized because a woman wrote it.