SPAIN COLONIZATION

Prepared by:
SAS Faculty Baby Grace R. Abad, JD.
The Spanish Period
Learning Objectives
1. The learners will be able to discuss and
understand; How Magellan discovered the
Philippine shore through his explorations.
2. The learners will be able to understand and
explain the intention of the Spaniards to expand
their renaissance.
3. The learners will be able to analyzed the behavior
of the Spaniards while they dominate the entire
Philippines.
4. The learners will be awakened by the truth of
what had happened in our history.
Under Imperial Spain
• Spectacular change during the
Renaissance;
• Opening of the world to European
Shipping;
• Propelled by Gospel, Gold and Glory;
• Improved Technology- New types of
Ships, sailing charts and maps,
navigational instruments, gunpowder, and
superior high- powered arms;
• The conquest of the two Iberian
Superpowers;
1. Spain
2. Portugal
• Spain and Portugal
Ultimate goals to discover the rest of the world
Accumulation of wealth
Political authority
Additional empirical knowledge on Science
and technology
Support small economic elite
Able to finance reconnaissance enterprises in
the vast unknown, undiscovered seas,
untouched, unchartered continents.
Terra Incognita of Asia (15th Century)
•Started Maritime Discovery;
•New Sea Lane to the southeast Asia were chartered,
which led to the “Spice Trade Route”;
•Portugal- sailing via south eastern route which made a
break-through into the Indian Ocean in the year 1488
and ended with the fall of Malacca in the year 1511 and
the Maluku or the Moluccas in the year 1512;
•Spain- sailing via western or southern route that made
serendipitous landfall in the west indies in the year
1942 and culminated the “rediscovery” of the
Philippines in the year 1521.
East meets West
• Reasons:
Making the food (discriminating medieval
tastes triggered the search spices of all
sorts);
Pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and
ginger which were indigenous to the east;
Spices accented the bland taste of meat
and fish, while preserving them;
Expensive spices- like black pepper- it
could even buy land, pay taxes, liberate a
city, even pay dowries;
11th century- pepper was counted as
pepper-corns, cinnamon and ginger as their
smallest priceless particles;
Spices, gold, slaves, silver and silk brought
them great wealth;
Merchants- became richer and powerful in
trading cities of Italy;
Gold, silver – not only funded but also
expanded the jewelry trade of rare pearls
and rubies from India.
The Lusitanian- Hispanic Rivalry in Maritime
Discoveries
• Portugal- was the 1 st country to use innovation in seamanship
and boatbuilding, established by Henry “the navigator” of the
1st navigational school in the globe at Sagres Point in 1419.
• Spain- was the 1st exploration in modern times, inspired by
Florentino Map- maker Paolo Toscanelli to discover westward
sea route to India.
• Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo) made a land-fall
in Guanahani it was identified as San Salvador but in 1986 as
Samana Cay Island in October 1492 on the coast of Cuba.
• This voyage, generated misapprehension and dispute
between Spain and Portugal.
Fixed Imaginary Line
• The two superpowers of the 15th century
finally fixed an Imaginary Line drawn
from the North and South Poles.
1. Spain- owned lands lying in west and the
Cape verde Islands.
2. Portugal- owned lands lying to the east.
• Both nation, agreed to propagate the
tenets of Christianity in their newly found
land.
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
• Fixed Imaginary line between Spain and
Portugal dividing the rights to colonize all lands
outside of Europe.
• It was signed which partitioned the non-
Christian World into spheres of influence;
1. Papal Bull of 1493- granting the new world to
Spain.
2. Africa and India- were reserved only for
Portugal;
• Later, Brazil- were also reserved to Portugal.
The Magellan (Magalhaes) Expedition (1518-
1521)
• Ferdinand Magellan (Fernao de Magalhaes)- the
Portuguese serving the Spanish royalty.
• Magellan’s original suggestion was of reaching the
Maluku (the spice islands) by sailing the westward but
his suggestion was rejected by the King of Spain.
• In the year 1518- Magellan convinced Charles V that he
could find the shorter way to the Maluku Islands by
sailing westward via the Americans.
• Reconnaissance voyage in 1511-1512 “Magellan visited
the Spice Islands” and Magellan received a Royal order
to bring back a cargo of the priceless spices.
It started the great epics of Human Discovery

• When Magellan sailed from San Lucar, Spain

in the year 1519, Magellan and his men was on
board five antiquated ships with a crew of 235
men.
• Magellan, skirting unknown and uncharted
lands, he sailed around the southern tip of
South America, across the vast Pacific Ocean
after 98 days of sailing north west ward,
Magellan finally reached the Philippines on
March 17, 1521.
Magellan Expedition
• After the Portuguese reached the Maluku
Islands in the year 1511, the earliest
documented European expedition to the
Philippine Archipelago was led by the
Portuguese Navigator Ferdinand Magellan in
the service of King Charles V of Spain in 1521.
• Magellan’s Expedition first arrived at the Island of
Homonhon at the mouth of the Leyte Gulf on March
16, 1521.
• On easter Sunday, March 31, 1521, in the Islands of
MAZAUA (Limasawa), Magellan solemnly planted a
cross on the top of a hill overlooking the sea and
claimed for the King of Spain the possession of the
Islands he had encountered, naming them
Archipelago of Saint Lazaruz as stated in the “First
Voyage Around the World” by one of his
companions, the chronicles of Antonio Pigafetta.
• Magellan sought alliances among the
people in the Islands beginning with Datu
Zula of Sugbo Cebu, and took special
pride in converting them to Christianity.
Magellan got involved in the political
conflicts in the Islands and took part in a
battle against Lapulapu, chief of Mactan
and the enemy of Datu Zula.
The Battle of Mactan
• The battle occurred at dawn on April 27,
1521.
• Magellan with 60 armed men and 1,000
Visayan warriors had great difficulty landing
on the rocky shore of Mactan where Lapu-
Lapu had an army of 1,500 waiting on Land.
• Magellan waded ashore with his soldiers and
attacked Lapu-Lapu forces, telling Datu Zula
and his warriors to remain on the ships and
watch.
• Magellan underestimated the army of Lapu-
Lapu, and grossly out numbered, Magellan and
14 of his soldiers were killed. The rest
managed to reboarded the ships.
• The Battle left the expedition with too few
crewmen to man three ships, so they
abandoned the Conception. The remaining
ships – Trinidad and Victoria – sailed to the
Spice Lands in Indonesia.
• From there, the expedition split in two
groups.
1. Trinidad (Ship), commanded by Gonzalo
Gomez de Ezpinoza, tried to sail eastward
across the pacific Ocean to the Isthmus of
Panama.
2. Victoria (Ship) continue sailing westward,
commanded by Juan Sebastian Elcano,
and managed to return to Sanluca de
Barremeda, Spain in1522.
In Mactan
• Magellan was defeated and killed in
Battle in April 1521, as a consequence of
his intervention in a dispute between
Lapulapu and Zula, chieftains of Mactan.
Lapu- Lapu
• Whose name was first recorded as Cilapulapu.
• He was a Datu of Mactan in the Visayas.
• The Modern Philippine Society (MPS) regards him
as the First Filipino Hero because he was the first
native to resist imperial Spanish Colonization.
• He is the best known for the “Battle of Mactan”
that happened at dawn on April 27, 1521, when he
and his warriors defeated Portuguese explorer
“Ferdinand Magellan” who was killed in Battle.
• Magellan’s death ended his voyage of
circumvention and delayed the Spanish
Occupation of the islands by over forty
years until the expedition of Miguel Lopez
de Legazpi in 1564.
• The Monuments of Lapu-Lapu have been
built in “CEBU” and “MANILA”, while the
Philippine National Police and the Bureau of
Fire Protection use his image as part of
their official seals.
Maluku and the Philippines
• Three Spanish expeditions followed
Magellan’s sailing from Mexico, which had
become a Spanish colony;
1. The Saavedra (1527-29);
2. The Villalobos (1541-46);
3. Most successful expedition was the
Legazpi expedition (1564), as a sequel
to the Magellan voyage, a large fleet of
seven ships.
 Ships used in Spanish
expeditions reaching the
Philippine Archipelago
• In the year 1521
Leader – Ferdinand Magellan
Ships – Trinidad, San Antonio,
Conception, Santiago and Victoria.
Landing – Homonhon, Limasawa Cebu.
• In the year 1525
 Leader – Garcia Jofre de Loaisa
Ships – Santa Maria de la Victoria,
Espiritu Santo, Anunciada, San Gabriel,
Jayson Ponce, Santa Maria del Parral,
San Lesmes and Santiago.
Landing – Surigao, Visayas, Mindanao.
• In the year 1527
Leader – Alvaro de Saavedra Ceron
Ships – 3 unknown Ship.
Landing – Mindanao.

• In the year 1542

Leader – Ruy Lopez de Villalobos
Ships – Santiago, Jorge, San Antonio, San
Christobal, San Martin and San Juan.
Landing – Samar, Leyte, Saranngani.
• In the year 1564
 Leader – Miguel Lopez de Legazpi
Ships – San Pedro, San Pablo, San
Juan and San Lucas
 Landing – first landed on Samar,
established colonies as part of Spanish
Empire.
Treaty of Zaragoza (1529)
• King Charles V ceded his alleged rights to
Muluku, to John III of Portugal for 350,000
ducats, not knowing that they rightfully
belonged to the Portuguese area of
responsibility as provided for in the Treaty of
Tordesillas.
Treaty of Tordesillas- a line of demarcation was
drawn from pole to pole, it consists at 297 ½
leagues east of the Maluku, as the western limit
of Spain’s colonial ownership.
• Spanish goal in the “West” was limited
only to the Philippines.
• To stop Hispano- Lusitanian rivalry.
Villalobos Expedition
(1542-1546)
• Under the command of Ruy Lopez Villalobos,
six (6) ships and some 370 men, departed
from Juan Gallego (Natividad), Mexico in
November 1542.
• In 1543, they reached the eastern coast of
Mindanao.
• Extreme hunger due to absence of food
supply, his men forced to eat all the available
meat dogs, cats, rats, unknown plants, lizard
and poisonous crabs.
• In Sarangani, had only minimal amount of food
available, such as rice, sago, few hens, hogs and
three (3) deer.
• Villalobos leave Saragani, and surrendered to the
Portuguese at Amboina in the Maluku, where he
succumbed to a malignant fever.
• Villalobos Expedition was the naming of Tandaya
or Kandaya (Leyte) in 1543 as Las Phelipinas
(Las Islas Filipinas) in honor of the crown prince
Philip II, by Bernardo de la Torre a commander of
the Ship.
Legazpi- Urdaneta Expedition (1564)
• February 1565- Legazpi reached Cebu and
contracted blood compacts with Datu Si
Katuna and Datu Si Gala of Bohol.
• Legazpi was instructed to bring back to
Mexico the samples of Philippine- grown
spices;
• To discover the return route to Mexico; and
• To abide by the 1529 Zaragoza treaty- not
to proceed to Maluku.
• Fr. Andres de Urdaneta- Legazpi’s chief
pilot, whose expertise was the seasonal
winds, he just acquired while he is with
Loaisa expedition.
• He discovered the “Urdaneta Passage” on
his return Natividad via the Pacific.
• Urdaneta Passage- the lane, was used by
the Manila-Acapulco Galleon until 19th
century.
The making of the Spanish “Indio”
• Miguel Lopez de Legazpi- having a title of
“Adelantado de Filipinas” granted by King Philip II.
 accomplish an almost bloodless conquest of
the Philippines.
It because of permanent colonization by
Legazpi- the Indios lost the freedom earlier
enjoyed.
• “Indio”- is a term by the 16th – 19th century
Spaniards to refer to the poor people in the
Philippines who could be slaves and peasants
only, or lowest rank group.
 Political Institutions
During Spanish Regime
• In the year 1565- 1821 – In the Philippines
the captaincy- general was administered by
the Spanish King through the viceroyalty of
Nueva España (Mexico).
• All Spanish possessions were governed
by the Real y Supremo Consejo de las
Indias (Royal and Supreme Council of the
Indies) established in 1524 by Charles V.
National Level
• King – (seat power in manila/ Intramuros) through
Consejo de las indias, governed through his sole
spokesperson and representative in the Philippines;
• Gobernador- General – a captain general of the
colony;
 was a commander in chief of the army and the
navy;
The President of the real audiencia (Supreme
Court), the islands highest judicial body, vice- real
patron, he had a power over ecclesiastical
appointments in the church and the right to
supervise mission work.
Source of civil power for various levels of
administration.
Salary- 40,000 per annum.
Provincial Level
• Alcaldia- (previously known as the encomienda);
• Alcalde mayor- exercise executive and judicial powers,
special privilege of engaging on trade through indulto de
comercio (a privilege of alcaldes enjoyed in the year
1751- 1844);
• Provincia or hukuman (used by Bonifacio’s Katipunan-
and later called lalawigan), was the alcalde mayor
(provincial governor) for the pacified provinces and
districts;
• Corregimientos- or unpacified military zones (like
Mariveles, Mindoro and Panay) were headed by the
Corregidores.
• Only the Spaniard could be an alcalde mayor or a
Corregidor; who exercise as a judge, inspector of
encomiendas, chief of police, tribute collector, vice-
regal patron and a captain- general of the province.
Executive and judicial authority;
Military authority in his area of responsibility
Answerable solely to the Governor- General and
the Real Audencia in Manila.
Two Ancient Castilian Institution
1. Residencia; (1501-1799);
2. Visita; (1499- 18th Century);
• Function
To check the abuse of power of royal
officials.
Residencia
• It was a judicial review of Residenciado (one
judged) conducted at the end of his term of
office, supervised publicly by a juez de
residencia
• If Residenciado found guilty of a public
misconduct; the following are the penalties;
Imposed heavy fines;
Sequestration of properties; or
Imprisonment; or a
o Combination of all penalties.
Visita
• Conducted by a Visitador- General (those who
are sent from Spain;
• Investigation occur at the time within the official’s
term without notice.
• Two kinds of Visita;
1. Specific Visita – meant an investigation of a
single official or a province;
2. General Visita – meant an investigation of
the whole viceroyalty like Mexico- or
Captain- General like Philippines.
Filipino Bureaucrats
Municipal Level
• Little Governor or Gobernadorcillo- (replaced by the
Capitan Municipal in 1894);

 Headed by the Pueblo or Municipio;

Qualification of a Gobernadorcillo;
1. Any Filipino or Chinese Mestizo;
2. 25 years old;
3. Literate in oral or written Spanish;
4. Became a Cabeza de Barangay (Barrio
Administrator) for four (4) years;
• The Gobernadorcillo was assisted by three
supernumeraries or inspector (tenientes de
justicia) who supervised boundaries of
cultivated fields (sementeras), branding of
livestock (Ganado) and police (policia);
constables (alguaciles: the four tenientes
segundos; liutenants of districts (tenientes del
barrio), and a secretary (directorcillo).
Barrio (Barangay) Government;
• Cabeza de Barangay;
Main role was a tax and contributions
collector for the Gobernadorcillo.
Cabezas were exempted from taxation.
The title originally given by Philip II – to
show good treatment, to entrust the
name, and the government.
• Manual del Cabeza de Barangay (1874);
Requirements;
Literacy in Spanish;
Good moral character;
Property ownership- as qualifications for
cabezas;
Served for three (3) years term.
• Mid-19th Century- Cabeza de Barangay
who served for 25 years were exempted
from forced labor.
Amalgamation of Church and State
• It was in the exercise of political power and
economic powers of the Spanish clergy, the
disunity between the Church and the State.
• Church meddling in civil government and
press censorship pointed by some Filipino
laborantes (reformers) as well as
revolucionarios in the 19th centuries.
Separation of Church and State
• Became an outstanding innovations of the
Malolos Constitution in 1898.
• Ten (10) years later; the first and only open
anti-friar demonstration against the
intolerable church abuses took place in
Manila on March 1, 1888- led by Doroteo
Cortes, aided secretly by Marcelo H. del
Pilar and Jose Ramos Ishikawa.
• Newly Passed Penal Code; Article 218.
• Article 218 of the newly passed penal code
vouching for the right of petition and assembly,
a group of influential gobernadorcillos,
principales, and residents of Manila, they
marched through the streets of the city to the
Ayuntamiento (City Hall) demanding the
expulsion of friars in the Philippines, including
Archbishop Pedro Payo himself, demostrators,
manifesto declared “Long Live the Queen!
Long Live the Army! Down with the friars!.
• Friars – they control all the fundamental
forces of society in the Philippines.
• They control the educational system, for
they own the University of Sto. Tomas and
they are local inspectors of every primary
schools.
Institutional Impact of
Spanish Rule
• When the Spanish settled permanently in
the Philippines in the year 1565;
They found the Filipinos living either lineal or
nucleated barangay settlement scattered along
water routes and river banks (in pattern of ilaya
or upstream ibaba or downstream) and
mountain ridges.
Economic Situations
• Taxation without representation;
Income- generating mechanisms were introduced
by the Spanish Colonial Government in the
Philippines consisting of direct (personal tribute
and income tax);
Indirect Tax;
o Such as customs duties and the bandala.
o Monopolies (Rentals estancadas) of special
crops and items as spiritous liquors, nuts,
tobacco, explosives and opiums.
Buwis (tribute);
o May be paid in cash or kind, partly or wholly
as palay or tobacco, chickens, textile, or even
wax and special regional produce, depending
on the area of the place.
The Encomienda System
• Encomiendas:
1. Royal; and
2. Private.
• Spaniards imposed encomienda to the natives,
meaning to entrust, another term as “revenue-
getting”.
• Encomienda came from the word encomendar,
which means to entrust, and it was equivalent
to “trust territory”.
The Encomienda System
• Two Kinds of Encomiendas existed in the
Philippines;
1. The royal or crown (realenga or encomienda
de la real corona);
 The Land reserved for the crown and included
the principal towns and ports, like Bagumbayan
(now luneta), Lagyo (approximately the site of
the present Plaza military, between Malate and
Ermita), Santa Ana de Sapa, Tondo, Navotas
and Malabon in Manila and Lubao and Betis in
Pampanga.
2. The private (encomienda de particulares).
The private encomiendas were granted to
individuals who were either the King’s
protégés or men who served with merit during
the conquest and pacification campaigns.
examples of these were Pandacan,
Sampaloc and Macabebe, privately owned by
one Pedro de Chaves; Bataan by Juan
Esguerra, and Batangas owned personally by
Francisco Rodrigues.
• Tribute of Collections;
Each encomendero collected according to his
personal whim.
When gold is abundant and money was
scarce, they demand cash or reales; when the
reales were plentiful and there was scarcity of
gold, they asked for gold, even when poor
Filipinos were coerced to buy them.
Encomenderos sometimes seized the entire
quantity of his rice from the Filipino without
leaving him grain to eat.
Problem in the Encomienda System
•These are the source of pain and suffering to
the Natives/ Filipinos;
Spanish encomenderos they confiscate the crops and
animals without just compensation or if the Filipino
failed to pay heavy taxes.
Excessive tribute of collection from the Filipino tenants.
Some of the encomenderos were cruel and ruled with
fear and force.
The Catholic Church owned vast of lands in their own
encomienda, categorized as friar land, and with
Filipinos as its farmers that paid taxes and share to
the church and government.
Policies During Spain Colonization
1. Reduccion
2. Repartimiento
3. Instruccion
Reduccion
• The Spanish attempted to tame the reluctant
Filipinos through Christian indoctrination in a
quite novel settlement pattern using the
convent/ casa real/ plaza complex as the focal
point.
• The reduccion, to the Spaniards was no doubt, a
civilizing device to make the Filipinos law abiding
citizens of the Spanish crown and in a long run,
to make them ultimately little brown Spaniards in
adopting Hispanic culture and civilization.
Repartimiento
• The settled Filipinos under Spanish
administration were following two
complementary laws and regulations.
1. Catholicism, they were obliged to follow by the
faith, the teachings of the church and what it
demands, like the expenses in burial, offerings,
marriage fees and donations.
2. As colony of Spain the Filipinos were deemed to
follow its rules such as payment of taxes, forced
labor, monopoly of products and fight against
Spain’s enemies inside and outside the country.
Polo y Servicio
• It was a require force labor to all Filipino men
aging 18- 60 years old and must complete 40
days’ work. They were assigned in various
locations of work like shipyard for Galleon
Ships, Constructions of churches, roads, and
bridges or to the forest to cut trees for logs.
They called the worker POLITAS.
• Tributo (Tribute);
o Another form of taxes.
Instruccion
• Religious care for the natives inside the
encomienda and make sure that all were
indoctrinated and baptized in the Catholic
church.
Congregation in the
Philippines
Augustinians (1565);
Franciscans (1577);
Jesuits (1581);
Dominicans (1587);
Recollects (1606);
Benedictines (1895).
The Political System
• The Spanish king ruled the Islands
through the viceroy of Mexico which was
then another Spanish colony.
Council of Indies (1565-1837);
Overseas Council (1837-1863);
Ministry of the Colonies (1863-1898) – a
special government body that supervises
matters pertaining to the colonies assisted by
the king of Spain.
National Government
• Governor-General;
Acted as the Spanish King’s representative
to the Philippines;
He serves as the chief executive of the
county.
His duties were as follows;
1. Enforce the king’s royal decrees,
implement laws coming from Spain;
2. Direct supervision of all government
offices including tax collection; and
3. Lastly, to create and divide parishes and
appoint priest . In addition, he could also
disregard and suspend the implementation of
Royal decrees and laws coming from Spain
based on his valid reasons.
However, incidents may happen that the
governor may be ousted or put behind
bars due to some issues concerning his
position.
Royal Audencia
• Effective in May of 1583; by a Royal
Decree.
• Established as the Highest Court of
Justice in the Philippines.
• Composition of Royal Audiencia;
1. The Governor-General as the
president;
2. Oidores (Justices) and fiscal.
• Its primary function is to address
justice in the country by hearing and
deciding Civil and Criminal ases in
court.
• To audit Annual Government Finances,
serves as consultation body of the
Governor.
• Created Laws.
• Residencia;
a Special Judicial Court that scrutinizes
the performance of a governor general
who will be replaced.
The residencia, of which the incoming
governor general was usually a member,
submitted a report of its finding to the
King.
• Visitador General;
Sent by the Council of the Indies in Mexico
to observe conditions in the colony.
The Visitador reported his findings directly
to the King. But sometimes abuses,
oppressions and malpractices to the
natives were seldom reported to the king.
 Bribery became a large scale business
among the visitas and the governor-
general.
Local Government
• Provincial Government;
Alcaldias;
o headed by the Spanish Alcalde Mayor assigned in
provinces which were already pacified, and people
were peacefully settled in designated places.
Corregimientos;
o under the control of Corregidores or army officers
led by a politico-general, these are the places
where provincial territories that were in the process
of pacifications.
City Government
Spanish colonizer introduced in the
Philippines the European pattern of
civilization.
Ayuntamiento;
ocities which consists of Alcalde (Mayor),
Rigidores (Councilors), and Alguaciles
(Chief of police or sheriff).
Municipal Government
(Pueblo de Indios) – municipality headed by a
Gobernadorcillo.
Gobernadorcillo’s duty;
o Tax collection
o Enfore law in municipal and countryside
o Hear cases involving small amount of money
Four Liutenants aided the Gobernadorcillo;
o Teniente Mayor (Chief Lieutenant) ;
o Teniente de Policia (Police Lieutenant);
o Teniente de Sementeras ( lieutenant of the fields);
o Teniente de Ganados (lieutenant of the livestocks).
Barangay Government
• In 1573, the Augustinian bishops
recommended to the King of Spain to retain
the barangay privileged class (Datu and
Maharlika) in power and in 1594;
• The title Cabeza de Barangay originally came
from King Philip II.
• Under the provincial government policy, the
barangay would be headed by a Cabeza de
Barangay. This would be the highest position
given to the natives in the Philippines.
• Cabeza de Barangay’s duties
1. Collect Tribute Tax among members of
their barangay.
2. Implement in the Barangay the laws and
royal decrees.
• Privileges of a Cabeza de Barangay;
1. The headsman and the eldest son would be
exempted from paying the annual tribute.
2. Free from rendering their service to the
government.
3. Enjoyed the privilege of using the Spanish
term “Don”.
4. The eldest son can avail a scholarship given
by the government where they will be
taught of the Christian doctrines, reading,
writing and arithmetic.
Cadiz Constitution
• In the year 1812;
Was declared on March 19, 1812 at Cadiz, Spain.
Don Ventura de los Reyes, a native merchant of Vigan,
Ilocos Sur was one of the delegates who signed the
constitution.
After a year this was made known in Manila on April 18,
1813, one of the most important articles in the constitution
was exemption of the natives from paying tributes and
rendering public services.
Also, the termination of the galleon trade on Sept 14, 1813.
oHowever, the restoration of the throne of Fernando VII
led to the abolition of the constitution through the
Valencia Decree on May 4, 1814.
The Social System
1. Peninsulares;
Spaniard who were born in the Iberian Peninsula,
they were called full blooded Spaniards.
2. Criollos;
Spaniard born in America.
3. Insulares;
full-blooded Spaniards born in the Philippines.
4. Mestizos;
result of the intermarriage of a native with a
European or Chinese.
5. Indios;
native people in the country.
• Principalia;
social and educated class in the towns.
• Ilustrados;
native-born intellectual in the late 19th
century.
Filipino Families during Spanish Regime
Family is patriarchal
Family relation was intimately close, with
Christian teachings, the member of the family,
pray, eat and hear mass together.
Cases of broken homes at that time were very
rare.
Father guides his male children
Mother taught her daughters household
chores.
• Governor General Narciso Claveria issued a
Decree in 1849, that all native families must
adopt a Christian surname which is bases
on the compiled Names of Saint, Flora,
Fauna, and others.
• Calendar of activities were introduced by
Spanish authorities and Friars which were
expected to celebrate these activities as part of
being a Catholic Family.
1. Celebration of Christmas and misa de gallo;
2. New year celebrations;
3. Semana Santa;
4. Santacruzan;
5. Todos Los Santos- All Saint’s Day;
6. Holidays (founding of the Spanish Empire and
giving respect to the Spanish queen and King.
Education under
Spain
• Royal Order of King Charles in 1550;
Stating that all teachers and religious assigned in
villages under the dominion of the Spanish crown
should use the Spanish language as medium of
instruction and propagation of the Catholic faith,
at the same time introduced the European system
of education.
 First school that was established was the
parochial schools, with the friars as their teachers.
The children were taught of Christian doctrines,
reading, writing, arithmetic, music and arts.
• Education decree of 1963;
requiring the government to offer school
institutions for boys and girls in every town.
College was equivalent to a university during
Spanish regime and student graduated with a
degree of Bachelor of Arts.
• From 1570-1868;
there was minimal government control in the first
school established in the Philippines.
The first college founded in the country was organized
by a Jesuit Congregation which were mostly school
for boys, such as the College of Manila later change
to College of Saint Ignacio, College of San Ildefonso
in Cebu, and College of San Jose in Manila
• In 1859;
the government established Escuela Pia, then later on
it was renamed Ateneo de Municipal in Intramuros.
This was a public school for boys which was run by
the Jesuit Congregation.
• Dominican friars;
 Established school and colleges in 1616 it was
College of Sto. Tomas and in 1630 they
founded another school, the San Juan de
Letran in Manila.
 Augustinians founded Conciliar Seminary in
Vigan. The subjects taught were humanities,
pharmacy, philosophy, theology, medicine,
natural science, geography, science and
mathematics.
• Education for Girls;
1. Colegio a regular school for girls;
2. Beaterio a combination of school and
nunnery (Potenciana in Manila, College of
Sta. Isabe; College of Sta. Rosa, Some of
the Beaterio were as follows: Beaterio de
la Campanoa de Jesus, Beaterio de Santa
Catalina and Ignancia del Espiritu Santo in
Binondo.
• Vocational and Special School for Specific skills;
1. Nautical Academy;
2. Academy of fine Arts School;
3. School of Botany;
4. School of Agriculture;
5. School of Commerce;
• A royal decree implemented in Dec 10, 1863;
1. Compulsory education for children;
2. Subject taught must be Christian Doctrine,
Reading; Writing, Spanish, Music, Agriculture
and Geography;
3. Encourage the study of Spanish Language;
Painting
Filipinos exemplified their talent in painting, particularly
of those in the middle class;
Damian Domingo- father of Philippine Painting and
opened the first school of painting in the Philippines
named Academia de Dibujo de Pintura;
Juan Luna is the one note Spolarium;
Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo and Juan Luna both
paintersstudied painting from Spain and became
known fortheir stroke of brush in the Philippines and in
Europe.
Isidro Arceo and Miguel Zaragoza were both notable
painters.
Sculpture
Natives from the Cordillera were famous of
their carving and sculpture skills.
When the Spaniards came, natives started to
carve religious personalities in wood and ivory.
Isabelo Tampingo, Jose Arrevalo, Manuel
Asuncion and Jose Rizal.
Literature
Pasyon is a written piece of literature
depicting suffering of Jesus Christ, was a
popular reading among Filipinos in
observance of the holy week.
Written by Gaspar Aquino de Belen in 1704
which was followed by the later versions in
1750 by Luis Gian, Father Mariano Pilapil in
1814 and Father Aniceto de la Merced in
1856.
Theatre
Zarzuela is a musical acting, singing with
comedy that revolved in a story of a certain
time;
Cinaculo is inspired by religious story,
portraying of the life and suffering of Jesus
Christ;
Moro-moro is a play presenting the Muslim
and Christian battles in Mindanao, ending in
the triumph of Christianity.
Music and Dance
Awit and Kurido with musical show, dances
and songs depicting the conversion of early
Filipinos to Christianity.
Kundiman most romantic entertainment was a
combination of romantic worlds and mellow
tunes interpreted through songs.
Rigudon, Cariñosa, Polka- Spanish dance.
Every district in the islands has its own
folkdance interpreted attractively in festivals
and local shows.
Economic System
• Galleon Trade;
It was the trade monopolized by the Spanish government
from 1565 to 1815.
Using a Galleon Ship with a route of Acapulco, Mexico to
Manila, Philippines.
All traders especially Chinese who would like to engage
business to any Spanish colony needed to use the
Galleon Ship for transportation of their goods.
They would not allow any traders to go in if they would not
use their Galleons.
The Spanish took taxes from the goods at the same time
the transport fee for the galleon ship. These trading lasted
for almost 250 years.
Abuses behind the Successful Galleon Trade

1. Vandala is more oppressive than the polo.

Vandala was a compulsory sale of products to
the government.
 Every province was given quotas, and since the
treasury was in no position to pay, only token payment
and promissory notes were given to the natives.
2. Polo y Servicio.
3. Falla- purchase exemption for Polo.
4. Chinese immigration is substantially altered the
ethnic composition of the Philippines.
Galleon Trade
❑ 1565 – 1815;
1. Prevented rich trade with other Asian countries
such as Japan, China, India and Vietnam.
2. Though the trade was a rich source of income,
it only benefited few individuals and institutions
like the Catholic Church, businessmen,
government agents and middlemen.
3. It exploited the Filipinos through the Polo, by
building ships to owned by the government for
Galleon trade use.
Silk Industry in the Philippines
• Governor General Jose Basco encouraged the
natives to produce more goods and exports.
He encourage the large scale production of
cotton and silk, with this in Camarines a large
land were planted to mulberry trees to feed silk
worms.
• Scientific methods of farming were introduced
to the natives for the increase of production.
Tobacco
• In March 1782, Gov. Gen. Jose Basco
implemented the Royal Decree of King Charles
III. The governor placed some areas in the
country exclusively for Tobacco farming.
• The selected provinces were ILOCOS,
CAGAYAN VALLEY AND MARINDUQUE.
Farmers in these provinces were required
to sell their tobacco products to the
government through its agents.
Excessive Taxation
• Tributes; surpassed the official tariff which was one peso in
1589. the list of tax payers was not up to date, and often
the sons often pay the tax of their dead father.
• Sanctuarium; Taxes paid by the Filipinos to the Catholic
Church, which was used for personal friar expenses, church
construction and repair.
• Donativo de Zamboanga; Taxes paid by Filipinos to pay the
Spanish-Filipino expeditions against Muslims in Jolo and
Maguindanao.
• Cedula; at first, the aim of implementing the cedula was to
regulate the coming of the foreigners in the Philippine island.
Another, it was to avoid the astonishing increase of racial
diversity in the colony
Western Infrastructure
• Spanish architecture found its way in the
Philippines through the building of stone
houses and churches built through the efforts
of Filipino labor.
• Some of these structure still stand today like
the Manila Cathedral, Quiapo Church, Basilica
de Sto. Niño in Cebu and Paoay Church in
Ilocos Norte.
Sources
• Books
• Teodoro Agoncillio. 8th Ed. (1990). History of
the Filipino People. Garotech Publishing.
• Nestor M. Asuncion; Readings in Phil. History.
2019. John Lee P. Candelaria; 1 st Ed.
Readings in Phil. History. 2018.
• https://www.sfu.ca/fuga/history/hist02.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Phi
lippines_(1565%E2%80%931898)#:~:text=The
%20Spanish%20colonial%20period%20in,the
%20larger%20Spanish%20East%20Indies
.
-SOAR HIGH EMILIANS-