Ballesteros, Mark Chester D.

Readings in Philippine History

AB ELS 1-2
Think Piece #2

Phelan, John Leddy, “Political Hispanization”. Hispanization of the Philippines. University of Wisconsin
Press, 1959. pp. 121-135.

Legarda, Benito J. “The Galleon Trade”, After the Galleons: Foreign Trade, Economic Change and
Entrepreneurship in the 19th Century Philippines. QC: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1999. pp. 32-
50.

Introduction

Colonization is the process of establishing control over indigenous people that is living in a
certain place. This practice can be seen in different disciplines of Social Science and its effects varies.
Colonization can be beneficial or detrimental depending on the colonizer's desire because regardless of
what they choose from the two, they will still benefit from it by doing so. Politics, Economics, Linguistics,
Academic disciplines and Sociology are disciplines of Social Science in which most of the changes and
effects of colonization can be seen. This practice was rampant during the old times and Philippines was
just one of many countries that experienced it. Philippines had been a colony of different nations but
the longest of them was the Spanish colonial period which lasted for about three-hundred thirty-three
years. As we delve in the past, Spanish colonization started in 1521 when the Portuguese sailor
Ferdinand Magellan discovered Philippines and claimed it in the name of King Philip II of Spain.
Philippines is the only colony of Spain in Asia. They made our country their colony because of some
reasons that are in their advantage. The country is rich in spices and was also connected in other Asian
countries like China and Japan which the Spain has interests of trading to. Spain grasped into our
country firmly to the extent that it gave away its other colony just to keep Philippines at its disposal. This
resulted in the bloom of Spanish regime in the Philippines that made the Filipinos adopt not only their
culture but also their economic activities as well as their way of governing. Contemporary Philippines
today shows how the Spanish colonial period enriched our culture however, this colonial period was also
the most unjust and ruthless when it comes to governance and implementation of laws. Even though
Philippines is now free from the shackles of the past, this malpractices in government are still visible in
the present. Phelan and Legarda's readings tackled about Filipinos' condition during the Spanish colonial
period particularly in the government and economy. These readings will elucidate all the miseries that
our ancestors endured during those time and how it also become beneficial to the Filipinos at some
extent.

Hispanization of the Philippines

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 Spaniards colonized our country for merely three-hundred years. During the early Spanish
colonization, Spanish people did not really want to go to Philippines not just that it is not a productive
colony, but it is also too far from their mainland, Spain. In addition, Philippines was not directly
governed by Spain. It was governed through the Nueva España or the modern-day Mexico. The laws that
the Spain implemented will be passed in Nueva España first before it reaches the Philippines. Spaniards
were short in number that time since the Philippines is not directly governed by Spain. They clumped in
cities like Manila particularly inside Intramuros. This brought a major problem for the Spaniards since
they do not know how they would control rural areas outside Manila given that their population was too
little, and they are just staying in one small area. Friars are the only Spaniards who can reach rural areas
and they have only one goal, to convert indigenous people to Catholicism. Friars function was not only
religious but also political. This is the time where the Datus and Rajahs role comes in. Spaniards did not
remove these leaders from their positions instead, Spaniards convinced them to participate in the act of
colonization. The Datus, Rajahs and Maharlikas became a part of the Principales. These local leaders are
now hispanized and called Cabeza de Barangay which is the lowest political position that time with only
one role, to collect tributo or taxes. Friars ensures that these taxes will be collected and given to the
government. The Spaniards still let them rule in their Barangays but in exchange, these leaders must be
loyal to Spaniards. Friars also has a role in maintaining the loyalty of these chieftains. Since friars are the
only ones that can reach far areas, they are in charge of monitoring the Cabezas de Barangay. In order to
show loyalty to Spanish people, they need to pay tributo, implement vandala system which forces
people to sell their products to Spanish government at the lowest cost and lastly, to convince people to
undergo Polo y servicio or forced labor. Being a Cabeza de Barangay has lots of incentives. They are not
only exempted from paying tributo, vandala system and even polo but they also have access to use
"Don" that is only given to those people who is a member of Principalia. Cabezas de Barangay does not
have a salary instead, they will gain a commission on the tributos that were collected. A Cabeza de
Barangay can be promoted to another Position which is the Gobernadorcillo. Gobernadorcillos are in
charge of governing a Pueblo. Pueblo is a collection of barangays. It is called Pueblo if it is non urbanized
and Ciudad if it is urbanized. Ciudad's political center is called Plaza where the town hall and the parish
church are located. The place inside ciudad where you can find the plaza is called the Poblacion.
Gobernadorcillo was just the only highest political rank that a Filipino can achieve that time unlike the
Spaniards which can be an Alcalde Mayor and Gobernador General. An Alcalde Mayor governs an
Alcaldia Mayor which is a collection of Pueblo and Ciudad. It is called a Corregimiento if it is not peaceful
and is governed by a Corregidor. Colonia was the biggest political unit during that period, and it is
governed by a Gobernador General. Aside from using the local leaders, Spaniards has another tactic to
monitor Filipinos effortlessly. Some Filipinos were living in Visitas and Barrios that time. The location of
these places was too far from the town to the point that friars needs to travel just to give and teach
sacraments to the people living in Visitas and Barrios. In order to keep an eye to them, Spanish
government implemented Reduccion. Reduccion's entire purpose is to keep Filipinos inside a Pueblo to
maintain the control in them effectively. Spanish Government did all of these to prevent rebellion
against the government because they believe that Filipinos may rebel on them since they were granted
power and position.

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 This reading talks about Phelan's point of view on how Spaniards hispanized Philippines
politically. He stated that the hispanization was done indirectly than directly because the changes that
the Spanish regime applied and introduced was orderly and selective unlike what it did in Mexico where
they completely lost their culture. Phelan also suggested that the local chieftains played a vital role in
the hispanization of the Philippines as they participated in the government's practices. This Chieftains,
namely the Datus and Rajahs, which are Non-Spanish speakers, was made by the Spanish government to
govern their own localities full of native people. They acted like an intermediary between their own race
and the Spanish government. This explained why the hispanization of the Philippines is also non-
linguistic. Aside from the schools being far from the Filipinos' vicinity and is expensive, Filipinos do not
really gain any incentives learning the language. Learning the Spanish language is not a requirement to
enter the government in fact, it really has nothing to do with the language. In order to enter the
Government office, you need to be a member of Principalia first. These Principales are not
knowledgeable in speaking Spanish so basically, it is not necessary to learn Spanish since you are just
tasked to govern an area where people are also not speaking the language.

After the Galleon Trade

Galleon trade bloomed in 1565 during the Spanish colonial period. This trading system got its
name from big Spanish trading ships that are called a Galleon. This trading system was known as the
longest shipping line back then because it serves as a major route across the Pacific that connects
Acapulco of Mexico in the east to Manila, in the west. These ships carry different products from Mexico,
Philippines and other Asian countries such as China. At that time, Philippines was not a productive
colony. Despite of this anomaly, Spaniards still find Philippines value that proved useful because of its
geographic location. Philippines is near China which is the greatest producer of the finest silks, white
porcelains or what they call Chinaware and tea that European countries have interests of trading to. But
there is a big hindrance that prevented Europeans to trade with China. During the 16th century, China
closed all its borders from the rest of the world. Trading with China is only possible in the port of Macau
and Hongkong which only Dutch people have access to. Spaniards noticed that Chinese people actually
trades with Filipinos giving them an idea that it is not necessary to go to China instead, they will just
trade with the Chinese people inside the Philippines. Chinese people use their boats called sampan to
reach Philippines and trade with the Filipinos and other Southeast Asian countries. After trading with
these countries, the galleon ship will now sail from Manila to Acapulco. In Acapulco, there are fairs
where the collected goods all the way from Asia is sold particularly to Spanish people. This Spaniards
that bought products will now bring it in Spain. When the 7 Years War happened, Philippines was
colonized by the British people temporarily making all the trading processes shutdown. In order to gain
control in Philippines again, Spain made a bargain with British that if they let go of the Philippines,
Florida will be given to them. Since British already has lots of colonies here in Asia, they accepted the
bargain. Galleon ships are owned by the King of Spain and the one who is managing it in Philippines is
the Governor General. The ship has two distinct parts which is called a fardo. Inside a fardo, there is a
part called a pieza which will be rented by merchants where they put all the goods that they bought
inside which will be sold in Mexico. In order to rent a pieza, one must obtain a ticket called boleta.

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People who participate in Galleon trade that has a boleta are called boleteros. This boleta will be the
merchant's evidence that he really bought or rented a pieza. This is how the Spanish Government earns,
by selling boletas to merchants in for them to rent a pieza where they put their goods that will soon be
traded in Acapulco, Mexico. Previously, silver was the most important product in Mexico because this is
the only currency that the Chinese people accept. Galleon trade collapsed partially when Mexico gained
its independence in 1815. Since the ships were not able to settle in Acapulco port anymore, the Galleon
trade officially ended.

Legarda's goal here is to show the positive and negative impact of the Galleon trade in
Philippines. One of the negative impacts of Galleon trade among Filipinos was about the polo y servicio
or forceful labor in constructing the ship itself. Filipinos must participate in building a galleon ship for
three months without any salary. Spaniards benefited from this because they can build a galleon ship
without the cost of labor. Construction of galleon ships is dangerous to the extent that workers are
dying in the process of building it. Another circumstance that Filipinos face happened inside the galleon
ship where the most difficult tasks are given to them even it does not reflect on their salary. Favoritism
is also present in this period. The Governor General who manages the Galleon trade happen to only give
boletas to his relatives and close friends even this people do not really have the money to rent a pieza.
This issue was later fixed making the distribution of boletas fair. Philippines also become unproductive
because we are too dependent to the galleon trade. It was the only major economic activity of the
Philippines during that time and it led to the Filipinos negligence of other industries. Even there is an
exploitation amongst Filipinos and lack of economic development, there are also several positive
impacts that was brought by the Galleon trade. The trade diversified the products found in Philippines.
Philippines is prone to famine because of our dependence to rice but since the trade brought plantains
that is not endemic to our country, it helped the Filipinos to prevent such crisis. Another positive impact
of Galleon trade is that it made Manila one of the major trading outposts in Southeast Asia. Philippines
outlook became less regional but more global. Because it became a center of trading globally, Manila
became a cosmopolitan area. Different races from different nations exchanges cultural beliefs in one
place. A good example of this are the Chinese people that are trading with Filipinos. They chose to stay
here in Philippines to keep their connections closer. These Chinese immigrants was later called Sangley
by the Spanish Government. The Spaniards was threatened by the Sangley since they are wide in
population and they are much closer to Filipinos in terms of relationship. Too threatened by the
Sangley's presence, Spanish Government collected them and placed them in one area to monitor them
thoroughly.

Conclusion

Phelan's Hispanization of the Philippines' main social discipline tackles about politics while
Legarda's After the Galleon Trade tackles economics. There is a strong relationship between politics and
economics since economics is one of the keys to political battlegrounds. A stable government will result

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in a drastic economic development. Even these two are independent to one another, economics still
needs the state to resolve its economic problems. Filipinos do not possess these attributes during the
Spanish regime mainly because we just participated in their government partially. The power that is
bestowed upon Filipinos is not nearly enough since we only got the chance to govern small localities
rather than our country wholly. Same with the Galleon trade that was also controlled by the Spaniards.
Participating in Galleon trade made the Filipinos independent to it. Being over independent in this
economic activity made us forget other relevant industries that is crucial in our economic growth. This
made the Philippines an unproductive colony in terms of economy.

Different effects of colonization towards the Philippines and Filipinos are also shown in the
readings. These effects vary depending on the advantages and disadvantages it brought to our country
during that time. Phelan showed the situation of Filipinos in politics during Early Spanish Colonization
where they see malpractices and experienced mistreatments inflicted to them by the Spanish
Government such as the collection of tributo that they do not even benefit from, vandala system where
they are losing money rather than earning, polo y servicio that forces them to do labors without salary
and ineffective schooling not only because it is expensive but also, they would not gain any incentives
from. Spanish Government also forced Filipinos to participate in their act of governance that shows
inequality towards them because only the Principales can enter the government. If you are not a
member of the class Principalia, it is very impossible to enter the government. These are the negative
impacts in the readings that Filipinos experienced which also brought a positive impact especially
towards our enthusiasm in joining and participating in politics. The emergence of Principalia class in this
period brought a subsequent political development in the islands. Legarda's readings about Galleon
trade on the other hand, has negative impacts too. It is already seen from the beginning wherein the
construction of the ships cost many Filipino lives. It is because of the implementation of polo y servicio
that is also present in Phelan's readings. Other hardships include biased distribution of boletas,
difficulties inside the ship and even negligence of other industries that led to the collapsing of our
economy. Galleon trade was truly full of exploitation, but we cannot deny that at some point, it became
beneficial for us too. Philippines became the center of trade not only in regional but also global.
Philippines being the center of trade made it a cosmopolitan area where intercultural encounter
happen. These wide trades from different nations brought crops and plants that are not endemic to the
Philippines such as cacao, potatoes, corns tobacco and so much more.

Phelan and Legarda's readings debunked the ideology of some Filipinos that Spanish
colonization only brought ruination to the Philippines well in fact, it also brought major progress in
different aspects. These readings also made me realize that the miseries which our ancestors endured in
the past must not be blamed solely into Spaniards for we Filipinos, also participated in the practice of
colonization. I remember our National Hero once said "Walang mang-aalipin kung walang
magpapaalipin". The candor of his statement will forever linger on my mind, that Filipinos are also
accountable of our dark past for we embraced the hands of our colonizers openly.

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