SELF SUFFICIENCY IN PRE SPANISH PHILIPPINES

In terms of food, our forefathers did not suffer from any lack thereof. Blessed with such a resource-rich
country, they had enough for themselves and their families.

Forests, rivers, and seas yielded plentiful supplies of meat, fish, and other foodstuffs. Later on, their diet
became more varied especially when they learned to till the land using farming techniques that were
quite advanced for their time. The Banaue Rice Terraces is one such proof of our ancestors’ ingenuity.

What’s more, they already had an advanced concept of agrarian equity. Men and women equally
worked in the fields, and anyone could till public lands free of charge. Also, since they had a little-to-no
concept of exploitation for profit, our ancestors generally took care of the environment well.

Such was the abundance of foodstuffs that Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, the most-successful Spanish
colonizer of the islands, was said to have reported the “abundance of rice, fowls, and wine, as well as
great numbers of buffaloes, deer, wild boar and goats” when he first arrived in Luzon.

BLACK PAINTINGS IN QUINTA DEL SORDO 1820

It is apparent that the Black Paintings series show Goya’s anguish and in general his
psychological decline due to the illness, aging and the complicated relation with a younger
woman. The artist wisely managed to combine his personal struggle with the social issues he
perceived as troubling, such as the pilgrimages, processions, the Inquisition and civil
confrontations caused by political upheavals. It should also be said that the Black
Paintings were made during the period when Spain was ruled by a liberal government which
lasted from 1820 to 1823; this once again changed with the restoration of absolute monarchy.