GEOGRAPHICAL IDENTITYThe conquest and colonization of the philiphines by the

Spaniards created geographicalunityfor the country. Before their arrival, there was nosuch
geographical unit as the Philiphines. There were only thousands of islands and islets
divided into many barangays with.
126When the spaniards came, they organized a central government through the plaza
complex. A central authority ruled the whole country, except the non-Christian areas. The
Christianized Filipinos, who constituted the great majoriy of the people in the lowlands,
recognized this central autority and followed the laws promulgated either by the
government of Spain or by the governor-general. The same laws were followed in all
christianized areas because ther was already geograpicalunity in the colony under the
Spanish empire.THE INFLUENCE OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGEWhile it is true that Spanish
administrators, including the friar-curates, did not teach the Spanish language to the Filipinos,
nevertheless, many Filipinos who haf contacts with the Spaniards learned the language.
Such contacts led to adoptions of Spaniards words among many Filipino languages. At
the same time, the friar-curates, the missionaries, and the Spanish civil officials and
employees used Spanish words and phrases intheir dealings with the people.In the course of
time, Spanish words like silla, mesa, cama, and many more, were incorporated into the
Philipphine languages like Hiligaynon, Sugbuhanon, Bicolano, Tagalog, Ilocano, and others.
Tagalog was especially influenced by the Spanish language because the Tagalog region was
and still is, in the center of the social, political, cultural, and economic setup of the country.
SuchTagalog words as Sibuyas, Kabayo, Bintana, Balkon, Kusina,and others, were Spanish
words pronounced and spelled the Tagalog way. These words came from the Spanish words
Cebolla,Caballo, Vintana, Balcon, and Cocina. Thus,
127native languages were enriched by the incorporation of Spanish words, which have become
part of everyday language or communication.PRINTING AND ENGRAVINGThe Dominican
missionaries introduced printing by woodblocks when they published the first books in
the Philippines, the DoctrinaChristiana, one in Tagalog and one in Chinese. Later,
printing by typography was introduced. Filipinos and Christianized Chinese aided the Spanish
friars in their printing work. One of the earliest printers was Tomas Pinpin, he was called the
"Prince of Filipino Printers" because of the many books he printed for the Dominicans. Another
Filipino printer who became famous was Nicolas de la Cruz Bagay. He was not onlya
printer, but a good engraver. He engraved a map prepared by a Jesuit. Domingo Loagwas
also a printer and an engraver. He printed many relugious booksand dictionaries. Other
famous engravers were Cipriano Bagay, Felipe Savilla, and Laureano Atlas.With hundreds
of books printed (mainly religious and pious readings), Catholicism and its teachings
spread far and wide in the provinces. Hence, Catholicism became a common religion
among the Filipinos, with its beliefs, own set of marolity, and practices.EDUCATIONDuring the
early peiod of Spanish rule, education was not available to the majority of
Filipinos.However, in the second half of the nineteenth
128century, primary and secondary schools were opened to Filipino school-age
children. Despite this move, many can children were still afraid to go to school because
the teachers were oftentimesbrutal. With the rise of the middle class, many Filipinos
were able to go to colleges like San Juan de Letran, San Jose, and the Ateneo Municipal.Later,
these Filipinos were admitted to the University of Santo Tomas where they finished
courses in law, medicine, pharmacy, and surveying. It was true that the teaching
method of the Spaniards was very poor. It was also true that science courses were not taught
as they should be. Despite these shortcomings, the Spaniards allowed the Filipinos to enroll
in schools and colleges where they were taught Latin Spanish, arithmetic, philosophy,
theology, and others. It must be remembered that the last half of the nineteenth
century, was a period when European imperialism was approaching its climax. When one
compares the educational system under the spaniards in the Philippines with the educational
system under the Spaniards in the Philippines with the educational system of other European
countries in their colonies during the same period, one will readilly see the stark
difference.The motive for imperialism of other European countries was based solely on the
economic exploitation of their colonies. The colonizing countries did not educate the people
of their colonies. Only the children of the ruling class were educated up to a ceartain
level,just like in India, Malaya, and in what is now Indonesia.However, they were not
allowed to study to become lawyers, physicians, chemists, pharmacists, and the like.
They were given little education and were only allowed to serve as clerks in the civil
service. On the