GE1804

TAKEAWAYS FOR WEEKS 06-07

The Essence of Research in the Study of Rizal

The study of the life and works of Jose Rizal is a result of decades of research about Jose Rizal, as well as
the study about the conditions of the Philippines during the Spanish Colonization. In essence, the life of
Jose Rizal and the country's social conditions during the Spanish Colonization are inextricable. Since the
term "research" has been mentioned, let us define what it is. Research is a systematic method of
investigating and studying materials to establish facts and conclusions. Thus, we establish truths and
information based on concrete, substantial evidence.

One (1) way of obtaining information is through an interview. An interview is the method of obtaining
information through an interchange of questions and answers. The researcher personally asks someone
about something, which is reciprocated with information, which can be scrutinized later when corroborated
with other pieces of evidence obtained in other means.

The Philippines During the Spanish Colonization

The Philippines, before it was colonized, had been a thriving civilization, with its own established cultures,
traditions, ways of living, religions, and laws. This was also when we had established trade relations with
nearby countries, such as China and Indonesia, among others. For the Chinese, we have bartered pearls
and other produce for porcelain, jade, and silk, among others being carried in their junk (i.e., trading boat).
Each barangay had a datu, the leader, and prime defender of the community. These leaders may not be
accommodating towards outsiders, but they were not dictators (as narrated by Filomeno Aguilar).

However, when Spain set foot on our native soil, the pre-colonial lifestyle began to dwindle except in some
parts of Mindanao. During this time, the colonial government implemented taxation onto the colonized
natives and their trade partners. The taxation system can be seen in its established Casta. The casta is
divided into sections, which dictated their tax value.

Peninsulares
Tax-Free Americano
Insulares
Mestizo de Español
Variable Tax Mestizo de Bombay
Mestizaje
Value Mestizo de Sangley
Tornatras
Quadrupled
Sangley
Tax Value
Base Tax Indio
Value Negrito

Filipinos and the Negritos pay only the base value, making them the only ones who pay the minimum
amount. The Sangleys are the pure-blooded Chinese who lived in the country. They pay to quadruple the
base amount because of their business and labor skills. The mestizaje is the racially ambiguous people
who paid tax based on their lineage and status. As an example, if a Sangley businessman had a mestiza
de Sangley, daughter, the daughter would pay half as much as her father's tax rate. However, should the

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mestiza daughter marry an Americano, who paid zero tax alongside the insulares and the peninsulares,
her tax would be removed altogether.

However, the treatment she would receive from the masses would remain the same. Indians also lived in
the country, but they were not part of the casta. Below the blancos (i.e., the "tax-free" casta) were the
mestizaje, whose casta were based on their parentage. Mixed blood by nature, their status often fluctuated,
and their taxes were the same as the indios (except for the mestizo de Sangleys). Of the four (4) mestizos,
the Tornatras were the lowest because they had more than two (2) racial parentages, hinting that the
Tornatras had the most intermingling of races.

If we are to look at them today, we can use the following celebrities and heroes as examples:
NAME IMAGE HERITAGE(S) CASTA
Paul Patrick Filipino-German Tornatras
Gruenberg (possibly multiracial
"Polo Ravales" to his Filipino side)

Source: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1066382/bio
Trinidad Spanish (born in the Insulares (Mestizo
Hermenigildo Pardo Philippines) de Español in some
de Tavera references)

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Pardo_de_Tavera
Kristina Bernadette Filipino-Chinese Mestizo de Sangley
Aquino
"Kris Aquino"

Source: https://mydramalist.com/people/20452-kris-
aquino
Cesar Manhilot Filipino Indio
"Cesar Montano"

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Montano

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Ramon Bagatsing III Filipino-Indian Mestizo de Bombay

"Raymond (surname Filipinized
Bagatsing" from Indian Bhagat
Singh)

Source:
http://www.showbizportal.net/2011/10/raymond-
bagatsing-assailed-ex-wife-cora.html
Jose Protacio Rizal Multiracial Tornatras (however,
Mercado y Alonso he was considered
Realonda a mestizo de
Sangley)

Source:
https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/12/30/news/top-
stories/jose-rizals-prowess-in-sports-legendary/668654/

Along with the establishment of the casta was the implementation of the polo and bandala. Polo is the
forced labor imposed upon Filipino men aged 16-60 years. They were required to do skilled labor for 40
days, which was reduced to 15 days. Filipinos can be exempted from this labor in two (2) ways:
1. They had to pay a fine (called a falla); or
2. Work until they paid their debt.

Not even death could prevent the debt from growing. If the abled men died, their unpaid debts would be
passed on to the next abled men in the family, and so on. If the able person's age was below the
requirement, yet their birthday drew close to the recruitment date, then they would render polo nonetheless.

The History of Land Ownership and Peasantry in the Philippines

During Rizal's education in the Philippines, Paciano provided ample funding for his younger brother to study
abroad. This made Rizal a member of the ilustrado, an expatriate whose sole purpose abroad was to study.
However, when Rizal arrived and settled in Europe, problems began to rise in Calamba regarding the lands
owned by his family.

The problems with agrarian ownership have been a long-standing problem in the country, which was more
evident during the Spanish Occupation. This was when the local serfs (i.e., the aliping namamahay) were
stripped of their lands by the Spaniards, who used these lands for their own. These lands were cultivated
by the same natives who were once the former owners. Such problems began to expound when friars
became the owners, particularly in Negros and Calamba. In Calamba, the Dominicans began to exploit the
natives with their ever-fluctuating tax values. This was viewed by the Calambeños as abusive and began
to argue with the abusive Dominicans -- especially when they grabbed the lands owned by the Mercados.

They at first appealed to the local government but were ignored due to the influence of the Dominicans in
the place. Thus, they prompted Rizal to conduct an investigation, whose reports would be submitted to a
local judge connected to Paciano to even the odds. However, in the end, their protestations fell onto deaf
ears.

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The Cavite Mutiny

The Cavite Mutiny was one (1) of the aftermaths of the civil war that erupted in Spain during Queen Isabella
II's reign. On 27 February 1767, King Carlos III of Spain ordered the complete expulsion of the sect of the
Society of Jesus (Jesuits) from Spain and all her colonies. Then Governor-General Raon tried to help the
religious order in exchange for bribes. Once the Jesuits destroyed their documents and hid all their
possessions, there was a shortage of priests when Raon died before being punished by his successor.
Then Manila archbishop Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa spearheaded the conversion and ordainment of
Filipinos into the priesthood, which was heavily opposed. This argument came to be known as the
secularization issue. Back then, news traveled slowly. When then Governor-General Carlos Maria de la
Torre was still in the country, he received a letter about his reinstatement without knowing about the civil
war in Spain. Upon his departure, his liberal program was stunted upon the sudden arrival of Rafael
Geronimo Cayetano Izquierdo. Izquierdo noted that he would rule the Philippines "with a cross in one hand
and a sword in the other".

Thus, with a strict regime, the lives of the Filipinos began to crumble. When the mutiny occurred, the
Spanish friars accused Filipino priest Jose Burgos, along with a few other secular priests, to be the
masterminds of the event, despite being truly driven by the Filipinos' desires of escaping polo in Cavite, the
"Land of the Brave". Due to the friar's influence, three (3) Filipino priests -- Mariano Gomez, Burgos, and
Jacinto Zamora -- were implicated in the trial by another fellow Filipino, Francisco Zaldua (Saldua in other
references). This event, among many others, paved the way to drive out Spain.

REFERENCES:
Aguilar, F. (1998). Elusive peasant, weak state: Sharecropping and the changing meaning of debt. In Clash of Spirits:
The History of Power and Sugar Planter Hegemony on a Visayan Island, 63-77. Quezon City: Ateneo de
Manila University Press. HD9116 P53 N42
Aguilar, F. (2016). Sugar capitalism: The divergent paths of haciendas on Negros island and the Hacienda de Calamba.
In Journal of Southeast Asian Studies
Artigas, M. C. (1996). National glories: the events of 1872 (O. D. Corpuz, Trans.). Quezon City: University of the
Philippines Press.
Rizal, J. P. (1889). La verdad para todos. In La Solidaridad, 1 (G. Fores-Galzon, Trans.). Pasig: Fundacion Santiago.
DS651 S6 1996
Roth, D. M. (1982). Church lands in the agrarian history of Tagalog region. In Philippine social history: Global trade and
local transformation (A. W. McCoy & E. de Jesus, Ed.), 131-153. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University
Press. HN713 P44
Schumacher, J. (1999). Historical introduction. In Father Jose Burgos: A documentary history with Spanish documents
and their translations, 1-32. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. DS675.8 B8 S37
Schumacher, J. (2011). The Cavite mutiny: Towards a definitive history. In Philippine Studies, 59(1), 55-81
Schumacher, J. (2011). The Burgos manifesto: The authentic text and its genuine author. In Philippine Studies, 54(2),
153-304
Wickberg, E. (1964). The Chinese mestizo in Philippine history. In Journal of Southeast Asian History, 5(1), 62-100.
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press
Wickberg, E. (2000). The Philippine Chinese before 1850. In The Chinese in Philippine Life, 1850-1898, 25-36. Quezon
City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. D666 C5W5 2000

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