The Spanish Colonization in the

Philippines
The Philippines was very lucky because our country was rich in natural resources.
And that is the reason why many foreign countries had colonized our country.
Spain is one of the foreign countries that colonized our country for more than
three hundred years. They are the reason why Filipinos experienced suffered,
hardship, persecution etc. during their colonization. But the Spanish had also
contributes good things in our country specially to us Filipinos. The Spanish
colonization in the Philippines lead to us to make some questions in our mind on
how does the Filipino survived? Even though they experienced the inhumanity of
the Spaniards. We can say that the Filipino during the time of the Spanish was so
very poor and pity because the Spaniards treated the Filipino people not as
human being but as their slaves. They abused the Filipino. The lives of the
Filipinos during the Spanish colonization was so very difficult. They never
experienced the “freedom”.
Even though there are many negative things that the Spaniards given to the
Filipinos but there is still positive contributions that the Spanish government given
to us. And one of this positive contribution is their culture. The Spanish people
introduced us what are their culture like they introduced us their Latin alphabet,
the art of painting, the appearance of Theocratic Literature, the persistence of
folk and colonial art and the Hispanic music and western musical instrument. This
contributions brought such good things in the Filipinos because this things helped
us to improved our culture and ourselves. The Spanish government also helped
the Filipino in their educational situation. The Spanish teach the Filipino children
not only about academics but also religious things. They teach them on how to
become a God-fearing person. And also the Spanish government founded
different schools.
There were primary, secondary, tertiary schools that the Spanish built in our
country like the Ateneo, the University of Santo Tomas (UST), the Santa Isabel and
many more. And we are very thankful because those schools were still teaching
the Filipino people until now. And also the Spanish government transformed the
Filipino people socially. Like the hispanization of Filipino surnames. Also the
Spanish introduced to the Filipino to used the stone in building construction so
that the bahay kubo was transformed into bahay na bato with balcony and we
think that was the style of some houses today. And they also changed the mode
of Filipino dressing. The Spanish introduced the wearing western coat and
trousers or amiricana, which replaced their traditional jacket and bahag for men.
They also encourage the Filipino men to stop using the putong and instead wore
hats and they even started wearing slippers and shoes instead of going around
barefoot. And for women they started using saya and camisa, replacing their
traditional sarong. The women also learned to used manton de manila or shawls
and handkerchief and also like the men, the women started using slippers and
shoes. The Spanish also influenced us to celebrate religious feasts honoring
patron Saints because this is the consequence for being converted into
Catholicism. The Spanish changed the lives of Filipino. Even though the Spanish
was inhumanity but the Filipino was still lucky because the Spanish people
exerted efforts to implement our country by sharing to us the way of their living
and those things contributed a lot to us Filipino.
And we also give thanks to the Spanish because they converted the Filipino into
Catholicism because if the Spain had not succeeded to colonized our country,
then our country would have been a Muslim nation now. Catholicism is the most
important contribution that the Spanish given to us. The Spanish colonization in
the Philippines brought such poverty, violence, misery to us Filipino. But it also
contributes us a lot of good things. They improved and helped our country in
many ways.
Even though the Filipino experienced the inhumanity of the Spaniards but still
they influenced us the way of their living and until today we still used and make
those influences in our daily lives. The only thing that we can say in the Spanish
colonization is that we felt different emotions. We felt angry because the
Spaniards abused the Filipino they treated them as slaves. We felt sad because
their are many Filipinos sacrificed their own lives just for the sake of the country
man. And for the freedom of our country. And also we felt happy because the
Spaniards contributes many good things in our country, the Philippines.