Chapter 4

INTEGRATION INTO THE SPANISH EMPIRE

BY: DR. ARNOLD O. ADANTE
UNIFICATION OF THE PHILIPPINES
UNDER THE SPANISH RULE
Spain ruled the Philippines for more than
300 years. Prior to the Spanish colonization,
the country was consisted of independent
and well-organized villages called "
Barangays". Each Barangay was headed by a
tribal leader, who later formed part of the
elite ruling class called "Principalia". During
the Spanish regime, the people highly
centralized under the influenced of the
Catholic Church. However despite the
unification of the region, people started to
build resentment against the Spanish rule.
ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION

Before the 19th century, the Philippines was

governed indirectly by the Spanish Crown
thru the Content De Las Indias or Council of
the Indies. However, the king of Spain
governed the country directly in the 19th
century through the Minister De Ultramar
or Ministry of Colonies. The government was
unitary as policies implemented by the
colonial administration from Luzon to
Mindanao emanated from Imperial manila,
the seat of the central government.
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

The Governor-General, appointed by the

Spanish monarch, was the head of the
Spanish colonial government in the country.
He was the Vice Royal Patron over religious
affairs. As the Vice Royal Patron, he could
nominate priests for ecclesiastical
administration of the parishes.He was also
the commander in chief of the colonial army.
AUDENCIA REAL OR ROYAL AUDENCIA

- the supreme in the Philippines during

Spanish times. Considering that there was
no law-making body in the country then, the
governor-general had legislative powers.
THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Below the national government were the local

government units namely:

*Provinces
*Towns
*Cities
*Barrios

During Spanish Regime the provinces called "

Alcadias". Each province was headed by an "Alcalde
Mayor" or "Provincial Governor" who exercised
executive and judicial functions. The Provincial
government was the most corrupt unit of the local
government. The "Alcadias" or provinces were
divided into towns or pueblos.
ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS
IMPOSED BY SPAIN
Encomienda System-In 1570
encomienda  was introduced in the
the 
Philippines when Legaspi, in compliance
with the decree issued by King Philip II in
1558, distributed lands in Cebu to loyal
Spanish subjects. These men had helped
conquer the Philippines.
The encomienda was not actually a land
grant but was a favor from the king under
which the Spaniard receiving his favor was
given the right to collect tributes–or taxes–
from the inhabitants of the area assigned to
him. The man who received this favor was
calledencomendero
an  . The encomienda
was, therefore, a public office.
There were three kinds of
encomiendas:
Royal Encomiendas

- belongs to the King

 Ecclesiastical
Encomiendas

- belongs to the Church

Private Encomiendas

-belongs to private
individuals
TAXATION

- ancient Filipinos started the

practice of paying taxes.
The purpose of paying taxes was
simple;
it was for the protection they
received from the Datu.
Non-payment of taxes were already
punishable during thius period
To support the Colony, several forms of
taxes were imposed.

1- Tithe- paying of 10% of an individual’s

annual income to the government
2- Sanctorum- tax being paid as a support
to the Church
3- Tribute- tax or rent given to the Landlord

It may be in Cash or in any kind (tobacco,

chicken, gold, blankets, cotton, rice, etc.)
depending in which part of the country, fixed
at 8 reales then later increased to 15 reales.
FORCED LABOR OR POLO Y SERVICO

- is the forced labor for 40 days of men

ranging 16-60 years who were obliged to give
personal services to community projects.
The imposition of forced labor resulted in
the abandonment of farmlands, separation
from families, and illness and death. The
Indios were greatly humiliated as they were
never paid for what they do. What was worst
was they were even grabbed of their rice
rations by Spanish officials.

THE GALLEON TRADE

- It was the main source of income in the
colony during its early years. Service was
inaugurated in 1565 and continued in the
early 19th century.
The aforementioned trade brought
prosperity to the Chinese and the Spaniards
in Manila. It resulted to cultural exchanges
that led to the introduction of new crops and
animals to the country

CHALLENGES TO SPANISH IMPOSITION

OF SOVEREIGNTY

The Spanish soldiers had to fight off

Chinese pirates, who sometimes came to
control Manila, notable among was the
Limahong in 1574.
It was in late 1573 that an army of 3,000
outlaws, bandits, and pirates led by
Limahong arrived at the island of Luzon.
There, they established a kingdom and
waged war against the Spaniards.
In early 1574, their fleet fled to Ilocos
Sur and had a run-in with its Spanish
commander, Juan de Salcedo. The pirates
were driven away by the Spaniards.

Dutch and Portugese Threats- the

Portugese, knowing the Islands were belong
to them.
Treaty of Zaragoza-an imaginary line was
drawn from the North to South 297 ½
leagues east of Mollucas
The most serious challenge to Spanish rule
was in 1761, as a result of Spain’s
involvement in the Seven Years War. As a
result, the British invaded Manila on
September 22, 1761. The British troop
immediately occupied the areas of Ermita
and Bagumbayan, which are very close to
Intramuros, the seat of the Spanish colonial
government.

While Spanish officials were deliberating on

what to do, British cannons destroyed the
wall of Intramuros facing Luneta on
October 4, 1762.
 Existence of 3 Governor-Generals
claiming to be on top of the colonial
government of the Philippines.
Dawsonne Drake

-the first british governor appointed by the

British East India Company after the
surrender of Manila to the British.
Archbishop Antonio Manuel Rojo

-the acting governor-general who

considered himself the real leader of the
country despite hi surrendering of the
country to the invading British troops.
Simon de Anda

-the renegade governor-general who headed

the Spanish and Filipino army who continued
the struggle against the British invaders
The Treaty of Paris ended the War.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS
DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE

The Philippine Development Plan adopts a

framework of inclusive growth, which is high
growth that is sustained, generates mass
employment, and reduces poverty. With
good governance and anticorruption as the
overarching theme of each and every
intervention, the Plan translates into
specific goals, objectives, strategies,
programs and projects all the things that we
want to accomplish in the medium term.
Through this Plan, we intend to pursue rapid
and sustainable economic growth and
development, improve the quality of life of
the Filipino, empower the poor and
marginalized and enhance our social
cohesion as a nation. Our strategic
development policy framework thus focuses
on improving transparency and
accountability in governance, strengthening
the macroeconomy, boosting the
competitiveness of our industries,
facilitating infrastructure development,
strengthening the financial sector and
capital mobilization, improving access to
quality social services, enhancing peace and
security for development, and ensuring
ecological integrity.
The Philippine Development Plan will serve
as our guide in formulating policies and
implementing development programs for
the next six years. It enables us to work
systematically to give the Filipino people a
better chance of finally finding their way out
of poverty, inequality, and the poor state of
human development.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ECONOMIC
SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF THE COUNTRY

The Economic Society of the Friends of the

Country was an institution to promote the
economic and educational progress of
Venezuelan society. The society was
inspired by similar organizations that arose
in Europe in the middle of the eighteenth
century.
It was created by the Organic Law of Public
Education of 18 March 1826 and was finally
organized in 1829. It consisted of a
representative group of notables from
diverse professions and of various political
orientations. Their object was to diagnose
Venezuelan society and take steps that
would promote progress in the recently
formed republic.
 The society's primary areas of concern were
agriculture, commerce, the arts and crafts, and
public instruction. The society engaged in
intensive activities from its beginnings in 1829,
and many of them are recorded in the periodical
Memorias de
published by the institution itself, 
la Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País . From
the outbreak of Las Reformas Revolution in 1835,
it was in a partially dismantled state until its
final extinction in 1847.
The Tobacco Monopoly

Tobacco as smoke and snuff became very

popular to the Spaniards, other foreigners in the
Philippines and Filipinos alike but the colonial
government learned to exploit its popularity
only in the latter part of the 18th century. The
actual establishment of the Tobacco Monopoly
in 1782 came only after considerable prodding
from the metropolitan government.
Maintaining the Philippines as a colony was a
serious drain on the coffers of the Spanish
Empire. Expenses incurred in running the colony
were usually paid for by a yearly subsidy
real situado ) sent from the Philippines'
(called 
sister colony, Mexico. This financial support
from the Spanish royal court was often
insufficient, especially with expenditures in the
Philippine colony growing each year.
This prompted the royal fiscal assigned
in Manila to devise a plan allowing the
Philippines to raise revenues on its own and thus
be able to supplement the Spanish subsidy. This
royal fiscal was Francisco Leandro de Vianna,
who first proposed creating a tobacco monopoly.
De Vianna reasoned that tobacco was a product
widely consumed throughout the islands, with a
market of roughly one million. He projected
earnings of as much as P400,000 from the
venture. The first time the proposal was made,
however, both King Carlos III of Spain and the
colonial officials did not prioritize it.

King Carlos III of Spain

All of that would change during the term of
Governor-General Basco. Basco had plans to
develop and promote Philippine agriculture and
de Vianna's proposal seemed attractive to him.
After studying the proposal, Basco sent his plan
to establish large-scale tobacco production in
the colony under complete ownership and
management by the colonial government of
Spain. What probably perked up the ears of the
Spanish king about Basco's plan was its "selling
point" to make the Philippine colony financially
self-sufficient, thus removing a huge financial
burden from the Spanish crown. The

King Carlos III of Spain

By this decree a monopoly was created which
remained in operation for a hundred years. This
monopoly strictly supervised the growing and
grading of the leaf and had factories in Manila
for the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes and
smoking tobacco . In the field the chief
appraiser residing at the provincial capital had
a force of subordinates known as "alumnos
aforadores". These were in charge of districts
composed of municipalities and in each
municipality there was a "caudilo" (headman)
who was also the “gobernadorcillo” (little
governor) who by the aid of his " tenientes "
(lieutenants or overseers), supervised the
growing of tobacco being remunerated for this
service by a percentage of the crop produced
THE ROYAL COMPANY

On March 10, 1785, Real Compañía de Filipinas

(The Royal Company) was established through a
royal decree. The company together with
Sociedad Económica de Amigos del Pais
(Economic Societies of Friends of the Country)
established in 1781, were two of the most
important events during the coming of Governor
General José de Basco y Vargas which marked a
new era in the economic history of the country.
The capital of the Real Compañía de Filipinas
was fixed at 8 million pesos divided into 32,000
shares of 250 pesos each; the King bought 4000
shares, and the citizens of Manila were allowed
3000.

The main goal of the company was to establish

commercial relations among the different
colonies, and also between the colonies and
Spain; to supply Manila with the products of
Europe, and, in return, to carry to Spain not only
the products of the Philippines, but also the
merchandise coming from the Oriental countries.
In 1805 it was rechartered, and given 15 years of
new life and the same privileges as before. Its
capital was fixed at 12.5 million pesos divided
into shares of 250 pesos each; foreigners were
allowed to own shares; and the ships were
allowed to sail directly from the Asiatic ports
without stopping at Manila; and finally the 3-
year privilege, allowed to foreigners at the
request of the company in 1789, of importing into
Manila Asiatic goods, and exporting the
products of the country, was made perpetual.

In 1830 the privileges of Real Compañía de

Filipinas were revoked, and Manila was left open
to foreign commerce and navigation.
The Opening of Manila to Foreign Trade

After the Galleons  is an economic history of the

Phillippine Islands from the time of the arrival
of Miguel Gomez de Legazpi’s expedition in 1565
to the independence from the metropolis in 1898.
Legarda studies the Philippines’ evolution from
an archipelago inhabited by almost self-
sufficient communities to the era when it
became an agricultural export economy
dependent on external trade to meet domestic
needs.
Social Transformations
Conversion of the Filipinos to Catholicism

Starting in the 16th century Spanish explorers and colonists arrived in the Philippines with two
major goals: to participate in the spice trade which was previously dominated by Portugal, and to
spread Catholicism in the Philippines and in nearby civilizations such as China.

Filipinas ready for church, 1905

Cultural Impact
The Santo Niño de Cebu , the oldest Catholic
artefact in the Philippines. In 1521, Ferdinand
Magellan gave this statue to
a Cebuano chiefdom that converted to
Catholicism.
The Spaniards had observed the natives'
lifestyle and disagreed with it wholeheartedly.
They saw the influence of the Devil and felt the
need to "liberate the natives from their evil ways"
. Over time, geographical limitations have
shifted the natives into what are
called barangays, which are small kinship units
consisting of about 30 to 100 families.
Each barangay had a mutable caste system, with
any sub-classes varying from one barangay to
the next.
Generally, patriarchal lords and kings were called datus and rajas, while
the mahárlika were the nobility and the timawa were freedmen. The alipin or servile class
were dependent on the upper classes, an arrangement misconstrued as slavery by the
Spaniards. Intermarriage between the timawa and the alipin was permitted, which created
a more complex, but flexible system of land privileges and labour services.
 Beginnings of the feudalistic society
 
Even before the coming of the colonizers, there exists in the Philippines an autonomous and
sovereign community. In general, the archipelago may be seen as primitive communal to semi-slavic
and semi-feudal. Meanwhile, the feudal system is the highest level of social organization under the
Islamic sultanate in Sulu and in other parts of Mindanao.

The extent of the Bruneian Empire and the spread of Islam in Southeast
Asia in the 15th century
As it was with the great Asian civilizations, the country's rivers and seas served as centers
of communities then known as the “barangay”.
The people's primary sources of livelihood then were farming and fishing. Aside from this,
cloth weaving, pottery, basket-making and ship-building were also some of the more
developed activities of people. The mountain-dwellers, on the other hand, still relied on
hunting for their sustenance.
Because of the Philippines strategic location in
Asia, it became the center of the “Galleon Trade”
between Manila and Acapulco in Mexico. Goods
from China and other nearby places were brought
to Manila after which these were located in
galleon ships to be sold in Mexico. Spain
monopolized the Galleon Trade and this served
as a wellspring of wealth for the colonizers.
As a result of Spain's weakening due to
successive defeats in war and because of the
heightened rifts between capitalist’s countries in
Europe, the Galleon Trade suffered heavy losses.
In order to make up for this, Spain implemented
the hacienda system, effectively destroying the
Philippines' natural economy during those times.
 Hispanization of Filipinos surnames
 
On 21 November 1849 the Spanish Governor General of
the Philippine Islands, Narciso Clavería, decreed the
systematic distribution of surnames and the
implementation of the Spanish naming system for
Catálogo
Filipinos and Filipinas, thereby producing the 
Alfabético de Apellidos  ("Alphabetical Catalogue of
Surnames") listing Spanish, Filipino, and
Hispanicised Chinese words, names, and numbers.
Thus many Spanish-sounding Filipino surnames are not
surnames common to the Hispanophone world.
However, Spanish nobility and colonial administrator
surnames were explicitly prohibited.
Moreover, because of this implementation of Spanish
naming customs (given name -paternal surname -
maternal surname) in the Philippines, A Spanish
surname does not necessarily denote Spanish ancestry.
Metamorphosis of bahay kubo into bahay na bato
 
The 19th-century townhouse, called bahay na bato
(stone house), was a product of economic and social
developments, as well as of architectural evolution.
With the opening of Manila to international trade in
1834 and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, trade
and agricultural production rose to exhilarating
heights and increased the fortunes of the native
aristocracy, particularly in the provinces. Wealth
became the passport to higher education not only in
Manila but also in Europe. The elite or principalia
included landowners and traders, as well as
professionals—physicians and accountants—and the
highly educated, cosmopolitan ilustrado. The lifestyle,
aspirations, and even pretensions, of the upper class
demanded a new type of dwelling that was spacious,
durable, comfortable, impressive, noble, and
elegant—the bahay na bato.
 Indigenization of Spanish language
 
The Spanish language flourished in the first two decades of the 20th century due to the partial freedom of the
press and as an act of defiance against the new rulers. Spanish declined due to the imposition of English as
the official language and medium of instruction in schools and universities. The American administration
increasingly forced editorials and newspapers to switch to English, leaving Spanish in a marginal position, so
that Enrique Zóbel de Ayala founded the Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española and the Premio Zóbel in
1924 to help maintain and develop the use of Spanish among the Filipino people.
It did not help when some Filipino nationalists and nationalist historiographers during the American Colonial
Period who took their liberal ideas from the writings of the 19th century Filipino Propaganda which portrayed
Spain and all things Spanish as negative or evil. Therefore, Spanish as a language was demonized as a sad
reminder of the past.  
 Change of the
Filipino mode of dressing
When the Spaniards came and settled in the
country, the fashion changed drastically as
the Spanish culture influenced the
succeeding centuries of Philippine history.
The Spanish dissolved the kingdoms and
united the country, resulting in a mixture of
cultures from different ethnic groups and
Spanish culture.
Throughout the 16th century up to the 18th
century, women wore a Hispanicized version
of the Baro't saya, composed of a bodice –
calledcamisa
a  , often made in pineapple
fiber or muslin – and a floor length skirt,
Barong Tagalog
while the men wore the  ,a
collared and buttoned lace shirt or a suit.
 Introductionof Spanish language
 
Spanish was first introduced to the Philippines in 1565, when the conquistador, Miguel López de
Legazpi founded the first Spanish settlement on the island of Cebú. The Philippines, ruled from Mexico
City was a Spanish territory for 333 years (1565-1898).
Although the language was never
compulsory while under
Spanish colonial rule, and its learning
was in fact discouraged or explicitly
prohibited from the natives by the
Spanish colonial authorities, Spanish
was at one time spoken by around 10%
of the population. It was the first and
only language of the Spanish
and Filipino-Spanish mestizo’s minority,
and the second but most important
language of the educated
native Ilustrados.
The stance of the Roman Catholic Church
and its missionaries was also to preach to
the natives in local languages, and not in
Spanish. The priests and friars preached in
local languages and employed indigenous
peoples as translators, creating a bilingual
class known as Ladinos. The natives
generally were not taught Spanish, but the
bilingual individuals, notably poet-
translator Gaspar Aquino de Belén,
produced devotional poetry written in the
Roman script in the Tagalog language. 
Pasyon is a narrative of the passion,
death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ begun by Gaspar Aquino de
Belén, which has circulated in many
versions. Later, the Spanish ballads
of chivalry, the corrido, provided a
model for secular literature. Verse
narratives, or komedya, were
performed in the regional
languages for the illiterate majority.
Celebration of religious feasts honouring
patron saints

Spain, being a Roman Catholic country, set

aside certain days to remember particular
saints with processions and celebrations.
When Spanish missionaries entered the
Philippines during the mid-1500s, they found
that the fiesta was a convenient tool to help
teach Filipinos the Roman Catholic faith.
From the very beginning Spaniards
brought missionaries to the Islands. The
Spanish wanted to Christianise the people,
as well as colonize the country. The
missionaries tried to attract the people,
who lived in widespread areas, to the
towns where there were Roman Catholic
churches. Missionaries hoped and
expected that people would be drawn to
and participate in the colourful
processions and religious dramas.
Cultural transformation
Introduction of the Latin alphabet
Spanish period: Abecedario
 
With colonization under Spain came
the Latin alphabet and the decline
and eventual disuse of baybayin.
Spanish missionaries, who served as
the first teachers in the islands,
taught converted Filipinos
Catholicism, the Latin alphabet, and
the Spanish language.
An evidence of this was the Doctrina
Christiana, which was published in Tagalog
and Spanish. The book outlines the basic
beliefs of Christianity and Christian prayers
in the Spanish using the Latin alphabet first,
then translated into Tagalog in both
baybayin and in the Latin alphabet.
 
The Doctrina does not begin with prayers but
with a short instruction in the Latin alphabet,
a syllabary, and its counterparts in the
Tagalog baybayin script.
BILINGUAL EDUCATION

A copy of the Doctrina Christiana. Tagalog baybayin

words occupy the upper left page while below it is the "
Hail Mary" prayer in Spanish followed by its Tagalog
translation, both in the Latin alphabet. Photo from
Wikimedia Commons.
 
Beginning in the 17th Century, colonized Filipinos
followed the Spanish alphabet and its developments.
Eventually, the number of letters in the alphabet used
In the islands, called the abecedario, reached 32
letters.

Today, the abecedario letters CH, LL, and RR are still

used in the alphabet of the Chavacano language, a
heavily Spanish-based creole (mixed Spanish/Native)
language commonly spoken in Zamboanga City in
Mindanao and some parts of Cavite City in Luzon.
Adaptation of the Latin Script
When the Spaniards arrived in 1521 and began to colonize the islands of
the Philippines in 1565, they introduced the Latin script to the Catholicized
Filipinos. When most of the Philippine languages were first written in the
Latin script, they used the Spanish alphabet. This alphabet was called the
Abecedario, the original alphabet of the Catholicized Filipinos, which
variously had either 28, 29, 31, or 32 letters. Until the first half of the 20th
century, most Philippine languages were widely written in a variety of ways
based on Spanish orthography.
Many indigenous place names are also
written using Spanish orthography, often
either coexisting or competing with their
indigenized forms if they exist (Bulacán or
Bulakán, Caloocan or Kalookan, Taguig or
Tagig, etc.). Parañaque would be written in
the indigenized system as Paranyake, but
the latter spelling is so far unaccepted and
not known in use.
Introduction of the
art and printing
When the Spaniards arrived in the Philippines in 1521,
the colonizers used art as a tool to propagate the
Catholic faith through beautiful images. With
communication as problem, the friars used images to
explain the concepts behind Catholicism, and to tell
the stories of Christ’s life and passion. Images of the
Holy Family and the saints were introduced to the
Filipino psyche through carved santos, the via crucis
(Stations of the Cross), engravings on estampas and
estampitas, and through paintings on church walls.
Though the ethnic art forms such as pottery,
weaving and metalwork were retained, the
Spanish friars and the Chinese, the colony’s
primary trading partner, were slowly
introducing newer art forms. Icons brought
by the friars were used as models for
sculpture. Filipino artisans were taught the
Chinese brushwork technique in painting.
Engraving was also introduced.
Early in the 19th century, with the opening of
the Suez canal in 1869 and the development
of the agricultural export economy, native
indios acquired economic wealth and
became what was to be called the "
ilustrados," meaning enlightened and
educated. These developments paved the
way for Filipinos ilustrados to send their
children to universities in Europe. The rise
of the "ilustrado" (Filipinos with money and
education) class was inevitable. The
ilustrados became the new patron of the
arts. These events paved the way for the
secularization of art in the 19th century.
 Painting
 
The Spanish friars introduced Western
painting in the Philippines to artisans who
learned to copy on two-dimensional form
from the religious icons that the friars
brought from Spain,. For the first centuries
of Spanish colonization, painting was limited
to religious icons. Portraits of saints and of
the Holy Family became a familiar sight in
churches. Other subject matters include the
passion of Christ, the Via Crucis, the
crucifixion, portrayal of heaven, purgatory
and hell.
Painters from the Visayas island of
Bohol were noted for their skillful
manipulation of the technique. Their
paintings of saints and religious
scenes show figures in frontal and
static positions. For the Boholano
painters, the more important persons
would be depicted bigger than the
rest of the figures. Christ normally
dwarfs the Roman soldiers in these
paintings. Unfortunately, they did not
sign their names on their works and
no record of their names exists.
In the church in Paete, Laguna are two works
by Josef Luciano Dans (1805- ca. 1870),
probably one of the earliest recorded
painters in Philippine art history. Langit,
Lupa at Impierno ca. 1850 (Heaven, Earth
and Hell), a three-level painting which shows
the Holy Trinity, Mary the Mother of Christ,
saints, the Seven Blessed Sacraments and a
macabre depiction of Hell. The second
painting is entitled Purgatorio (Purgatory)
which shows the eight forms of punishment
the soul passes through for cleansing before
reaching Heaven.
During the early part of the Spanish
occupation, painting was exclusively for
the churches and for religious purposes.
Occasionally, it was also used for
propaganda. Esteban Villanueva of Vigan,
Ilocos Sur depicted the Ilocos revolt
against the basi monopoly in a 1821. The
Spanish government commissioned the
work. The fourteen panels show the series
of events that led to the crushing of the
Ilocano basi workers revolt by Spanish
forces. It also showed the appearance of Basi Revolt
Halley’s comet in the Philippines during
that time.
Tagalog painters Jose Loden, Tomas
Nazario and Miguel de los Reyes, did the
first still life paintings in the country. They
were commissioned in 1786 by a Spanish
botanist to paint the flora and fauna found
in the country.

Flora and Fauna

The earliest known historical paintings
in the Philippines was a mural at the
Palacio Real (Royal Palace) in
Intramuros entitled The Conquest of
the Batanes done in 1783.
Unfortunately, it was destroyed during
the 1863 earthquake.
Secular subject matter in painting only
increased during the 19th century. With
more tourists, ilustrados and foreigners
demanding souvenirs and decorations from
the country, tipos del pais developed in
painting. These watercolor paintings show
the different types of inhabitants in the
Philippines in their different native
costumes that show their social status and
occupation. It also became an album of
different native costumes. Damian Domingo
y Gabor (ca. 1790-1832) was the most
popular artist who worked in this style.
In the early 19th century, the rise of
the ilustrados saw a rise in the art
of portraiture. The need to adorn
their newly constructed bahay-na-
bato and the want to document their
new found wealth and social status,
the ilustrados commissioned
painters to make portraits of
themselves.
The works of painters like Simon
Flores, Antonio Malantic and
Justiniano Ascunsion captured the
intricately designed jewelry and
fashion accessories, the minuet
details of the embroidered clothes,
and ornately designed domestic
furniture of the patrons. The
painstaking attention to minuet
details characterized miniaturismo.
Justiniano Ascunsion Artwork
Governor General Narciso Claveria
in 1849 issued a decree that all
Philippine natives should assume
Spanish names. Letras Y Figuras,
(letters and figures), a style
developed by Jose Honorato Lozano,
combines both tipos del pais and
genre paintings by forming the
letters of the patron’s name from
figures of people in local costumes
doing everyday activities. It also
utilized landscape scenes as
background.
In 1821, Damian Domingo opened
the first formal fine arts school
in the country in his house, the
Academia de Dibujo. Perhaps
realizing his importance to
Philippine art history, Damian
Domingo is known for having
made the first self-portrait in the
country.
In 1823, the Real Sociedad
Economica Filipina de Amigos
del Pais (Royal Economic
Society of the Friends of the
Colony) opened their own art
school. In 1826, the society
offered Domingo to be the
professor in their school, in
effect merging the two art
schools.
In 1828, Domingo was promoted to
school director. Domingo must have
taught miniaturismo to his students,
but a publication by the academy
entitled Elementos de Perspectiva
(Elements of Perspective) suggests
that he must have also taught the
classical ideals of the European
academies. Due to lack of funds and
probably due to Domingo’s death in
1832, the school eventually closed in
1834.
Damian Domingo - miniaturismo
The academic style was still favoured by
the church and government and was used
for religious icons. The miniaturist style,
though, was favored by ilustrado patrons
and continued to prosper.
Several Filipino painters had the chance
to study and work abroad. Among them
were Juan Novicio Luna and Felix
Resureccion Hidalgo who became the
first international Filipino artists when Felix Resureccion
they won the gold and silver medals in Hidalgo
the 1884 Madrid Exposition.

Juan Novicio Luna

Luna’s academic painting Spoliarium won
gold medal. It showed the dead and dying
Roman Gladiators being dragged into the
basement of the Coliseum. It is often
interpreted as an allusion to Imperial
Spain’s oppression of the natives. Though
winning the gold medal, Luna was not
awarded the Medal of Excellence, the
top award for the competition, because
he was a Filipino.
The King of Spain, to
assuage Luna’s feelings,
commissioned him to
paint The Battle at
Lepanto.

The Battle at Lepanto

Hidalgo won the silver medal for
Virgenes cristianas expuestas al
populacho or Christian Virgins Exposed
to the Public. The feat of Luna and
Hidalgo caught the attention of Dr. Jose
Rizal, the Philippine’s National Hero,
that in a gathering of Filipinos in
Madrid, he gave a speech praising Luna
and Hidalgo for their mastery and
nationalism

Virgenes cristianas expuestas al populacho

 Sculpture
 
Of all the new art forms introduced, the natives
took to sculpture instantly. The carving of anito was
transformed into sculpture of the saints. These
santos were used primarily for the church altars
and retablos. It also replaced the anitos in the
altars of the natives’ homes.
Carvings for churches include altarpieces called
retablos (usually with niches for the icons), the
central point of any Catholic church. The retablo
houses the tabernacle and the image of the town’s
patron saint. Usually referred to as a "cabinet of
saints", one would see a hierarchy of saints
depending on their importance to the townspeople.
The patron saint would be in the middle; less
important saints would be in the periphery. The
most elaborate retablos can be seen in the San
Agustin Church in Intramuros.
Other parts of the church that may
have carvings are church doors,
pulpits, and carrozas (floats that
carry the saints for processions). The
façade of churches may be carved
from adobe, coral stone, and
volcanic rock, among others. It may Miag-ao Church
have carved images of saints, floral
decorations or leaf decors. In the
case of the Miag-ao Church in Iloilo,
the façade is decorated with a
carved image of St. Christopher
carrying the Christ Child on his
shoulders under a coconut tree.
St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child
Relleves (carved images in relief) usually
depict the Via Crucis. It may also show holy
images in religious scenes.
 
The earliest known sculptor in the Philippines is
the 17th century sacristan, sculptor and
silversmith Juan de los Santos (ca. 1590 – ca.
1660) of San Pablo, Laguna. A few of his extant
works may be found at the San Agustin Convent
museum.

Juan de los Santos

GRAPHIC ARTS
 
Engraving was introduced in the 1590’s
by the Spanish colonizers. In 1593, the
Dominicans published the La Doctrina
Christiana en la Lengua Española y
Tagala (The Christian Doctrine in the
Spanish and Tagalog Language), first
book printed in the country. On it was a
woodcut engraving of St. Dominic by
Juan de Veyra, a Chinese convert.
The religious orders owned
printing presses and printed
mostly prayer books and
estampas. The estampas (prints
of miraculous images) usually
featured portraits of saints and
religious scenes. Estampas and
estampitas (smaller version of
estampas) were distributed
during town fiestas to the
natives.
Appearance of theocratic literature
Spanish colonization of the
Philippines started in 1565 during the
time of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the
first Spanish governor-general in the
Philippines. Literature started to
flourish during his time. The spurt
continued unabated until the Cavite
Revolt in 1872.
SPANISH INFLUENCES ON THE
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

•Christian Doctrine
• Spanish language became the literary language
this time
• European legends and traditions
• Ancient literature was collected and translated
to Tagalog
• Grammar books were printed in Filipino
• Religious tone
• ALIBATA
 THE FIRST BOOKS

•Ang Doctrina Cristiana (The Christian

Doctrine)
•Nuestra Senora del Rosario
•Libro de los Cuatro Postprimeras de
Hombre
•Ang Barlaan at Josephat
•The Pasion 6.Urbana at Felisa
•Ang mga Dalit kay Maria (Psalms for Mary)
Persistence of folk and colonial art
Poetry

The friars published devotional and

catechetical books to proselytize the
colonized people, as well as grammar
books and vernacular-Spanish
dictionaries and incorporated into
these publications the first example of
vernacular poetry to be printed in the
Roman Alphabet.
 Phillipine Art during Spanish
Colonial Regime

When the Spaniards arrived in the

Philippines in 1521, the colonizers used art
as a tool to propagate the Catholic faith
through beautiful images to explain the
concepts behind Catholicism, to tell the
stories of Christ's life and passion.
Educational Transformation
 University of Santo Tomas

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) is the

oldest existing university in Asia. In terms of
student population, it is the largest Catholic
university in the world in a single campus.
The institution was established through the
initiative of Bishop Miguel de Benavides, O.P.,
third Archbishop of Manila. On July 24, 1605, he
bequeathed the amount of one thousand five
hundred pesos and his personal library for the
establishment of a “seminary-college” to
prepare young men for the priesthood. Those
funds, and his personal library, became the
nucleus for the start of UST and its library.
The founding of the University of
Santo Tomas followed on April 28,
1611. With the original campus
located in Intramuros, the Walled
City of Manila, UST was first called
Colegio de Nuestra Señora del
Santisimo Rosario, and later
renamed Colegio de Santo Tomas,
in memory of the foremost
Dominican Theologian, St. Thomas
Aquinas.
On July 29, 1619 the Colegio was
authorized to confer academic degrees
in theology and philosophy. By November
20, 1645, Pope Innocent X elevated the
college to a university. In 1680, it was
subsequently placed under the royal
patronage of the Spanish monarchy. In
1681, Pope Innocent XI declared it a
Public University of General Studies
allowing it to confer other degrees

Pope Innocent X
In 1734 Pope Clement XII authorized the
University to confer degrees in all existing
faculties as well as in all others that might be
introduced in the future. The Pope also approved
the curriculum in the entire field of
jurisprudence.
During the British invasion of Manila in 1762, the
University raised four companies of students and
professors numbering 400 men each. These saw
action in battles against the British until 1764.

Pope Clement XII

The expulsion of the Society of Jesus from
the Philippines in 1768 left the University of
Santo Tomas as the only institution of higher
learning in the islands

In 1785 in recognition of the role of the

students and faculty in resisting the British,
King Charles III conferred the title of “Royal”
to the university and formally granted it the
status of a royal university.

King Carlos
III
 On May 20, 1865, a royal order from Queen
Isabella II gave the University the power to direct
and supervise all the schools in the Philippines
ex-
and the Rector of the University became the 
officio  head of the secondary and higher
education in the Philippines. All diplomas issued
by other schools were approved by the Rector of
the University and examinations leading to the
issuance of such diplomas were supervised by the
Dominican professors of UST.

Queen Isabella II
On September 17, 1902, Pope Leo XIII made
the University of Santo Tomas a “Pontifical
University”, and by 1947, Pope Pius XII
bestowed upon it the title of “The Catholic
University of the Philippines”. The University
of Santo Tomas is the second university in
the world after the Gregorian University in
Rome to be granted the formal title of
Pontifical University. The Gregorian
University was allowed to assume this title in
1873.

POPE LEO XIII

Since its establishment in 1611,
the university academic life was
disrupted only twice: once, from
1898 to 1899, during the second
phase of the Philippine
Revolution and the Filipino-
American War. The second time,
from 1942 to 1945, when the
Japanese Occupation Forces
during the Second World War
converted the UST campus into
an internment camp where
around 2,500 allied civilians were
detained.
Throughout its more than 400 years of existence, the University has become the alma
mater of four Filipino heroes who shaped the nation’s destiny like Jose Rizal, Emilio
Jacinto, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Apolinario Mabini; Philippine Presidents such as Manuel
Luis Quezon, Sergio Osmeña, Jose P. Laurel and Diosdado Macapagal; various Chief
Justices of the Supreme Court, senators, congressmen, scientists, architects, engineers
and writers, all outstanding in their chosen professions. It was visited by three popes,
Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, , and Pope Francis, and various heads of states and
foreign dignitaries.