Topic 4 GE 2

Readings in Philippine History

Filamer Christian University
SY 2020-21

Course Description

The course aims to expose students to different facets of

Philippine History through the lens of eyewitnesses. Rather than
rely on the secondary materials such as textbooks, which is the
usual approach in Philippine History, different types of primary
sources will be used – written (qualitative & quantitative), orall,
visual, audio-visual, digital – covering various aspects of
Philippine life(political, economic, cultural). Students are
expected to analyze the selected readings contextually and in terms
of content(stated and implied). The end goal is to enable students
to understand and appreciate our rich past by deriving insights
from those who were actually present at the time of the event.

Learning Objectives:
1. Acquire an accurate information or knowledge regarding the
actual experiences of Ferdinand Magellan and company as they
interacted with the natives in the archipelago.
2. Able to discuss and assess the instructions of the Royal
Audiencia of New Spain to Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in relation
to his expedition to the Philippine archipelago.

The Philippines Become A Spanish Colony

Introduction

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Europe saw an

age of exploration and expansion brought about by various
factors. First, there was the economic motive of finding a
direct access to the profitable Oriental trade of luxury goods
such as silk and spices. After the fall of Constantinople to
the Ottoman Turks in 1453, commercial routes to the East fell
under the control of Muslim traders who, along with the
Italian city-state of Venice, monopolized the supply of
highly prized Oriental products to Europe. Attempts were made
by European monarchs and merchants to break the monopoly by
sending voyages of exploration to discover alternative routes
to the East. Second, scientific and technological progress
specifically in shipbuilding, cartography, navigational
instruments significantly contributed to the success of the
exploratory expeditions. This trend was exemplified by the
 P a g e | 31

efforts of the Portuguese Prince Henry who established

navigational school that gathered together scholars and
sailors from all over the Meditteranean. Third, the quest to
explore unknown and distant lands also involved the religious
mission of spreading the Christian faith. Spain and Portugal
maintained an anti-Muslim attitude emanating from the recent
Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula against the Muslim Moors
and a religious zeal to convert the peoples of Asia and
Africa.
Portugal and Spain initially led the navigational race
to the East. Portuguese sailors explored the coast of the
African continent and in 1498, Vasco de Gama successfully
reached India by rounding the Cape of Good Hope and sailing
to the Indian Ocean. The port of Malacca, an important
Southeast Asian entrepot, was captured by the Portuguese in
1511. Meanwhile, the Italian sailor Christopher Columbus was
able to convince the Spanish crown that he can reach the East
through a Western route. In this attempt, he unsuspectingly
reached the enormous American continent. These expeditions
inevitably led to the acquisition of colonial territories and
the founding of new settlements. Spain was able to build a
vast empire over the American continent after having defeated
the native Aztecs and Mayas. In 1519, the Portuguese sailor
by the name of Fedinand Magellan would try to fulfill Columus’
promise of reaching the East by sailing West. He would anchor
on Philippine shores on the other side of the globe two years
later; thus, marking the beginning of Spanish presence and
influence on the archipelago.
The Philippines was part of the Spanish empire for more
than three centuries. During those long period, native
societies (especially in Luzon and Visayas) underwent a great
transformation: the islands were named Las Pheilipinas by
Spanish voyagers; the population was organized into pueblos
or towns; pagan practices were suppressed and Catholic
Christianity was introduced; and a central government was
established in the colonial capital of Manila. This chapter
goes back to the beginning of Spanish conquest and
colonization of the Philippine archipelago by presenting and
analyzing primary sources.

Excerpts from First Voyage Around the World

By Antonio Pigafetta

Ferdinand Magellan was Portuguese sailor who defected to Spain

after his services to the Portuguese crown were not properly
recognized. He had seen action in the far East when participated
in the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese forces in 1511. Turning
to Spain, he managed to persuade King Charles V to furnish him with
 P a g e | 32

men and ships for an expedition that discover a Western route to

East, feat he would successfully accomplish. This would pave the
way for Spanish intrusion into East Asia(primarily China) and
Pacific and the colonization of the archipelago.
The chronicle of the famed expedition was aptly entitled First
Voyage Around the World; its author was the Italian Antonio
Pigafetta who took part in the said expedition. The ambitious
expedition led by Magellan was composed of a fleet of five ships
and around 250 men who were mostly Castillians. They started off
from San Lucar, Spain navigated through a strait located at the
tip of the South American continent, and crossed the vast expanse
of the Pacific Ocean. On March 16, 1521, after almost two years of
hardship at sea, they saw the island of Samar in the eastern part
of the country. They named the newly discovered territory
Archipelago de San Lazaro because it was the feast day of the
saint.

Primary Source

At dawn on Saturday, March sixteen, 1521, we came upon a high

land at a distance of three hundred leagues from the islands
of Ladroni – an island named Zamal [i.e. Samar]. On Monday
afternoon, we saw a boat coming toward us with nine men in
it. Therefore, the captain-general ordered that no one should
move or say a word without his permission. When those men
reached the shore, their chief went immediately to the
captain-general, giving signs of joy because of our arrival.
Five of the most ornately adorned of them remained with us,
while the rest went to get some others who were fishing and
so they all came. The captain-general, seeing that they were
reasonable men, ordered food to be set forth before them, and
gave them red caps, mirrors, combs, bells, ivory, bocasine,
and other things. When they saw the captain’s courtesy, they
presented fish, a jar of palm wine which they call uraca [i.e.
arrack], figs more than palm long [i.e. bananas], and others
which were smaller and more delicate, and two cocoanuts.

Those people became very familiar with us. They told us

many things, their names and those of some of the islands
that could be seen from that place. Their own island was
called Zuluan and it is not very large. We took great pleasure
with them, for they were very pleasant and conversable. In
order to show them great honor, the captain-general took them
to his ship and showed them all his merchandise – cloves,
cinnamon, pepper, ginger, numeg, mace, gold and all things in
the ship. He had some mortars fired for them, whereat they
exhibited great fear, and tried to jump out of the ship. They
made signs to us that the abovesaid articles grew in that
place where we were going...The island where we were is called
 P a g e | 33

Humunu; (now Homonhon) but inasmuch as we found two springs

there of the clearest water, we called it Acquada da ti buoni
segnialli[i.e., “the watering place of good Signs”], for
there were the first signs of gold which we found in those
districts... There are many islands in that district, and
therefore we called them the archipelago of San Lazaro, as
they were discovered on the Sabbath of St. Lazarus.

Editor’s note:
Magellan also met local chiefs with whom he had cordial
relationship. Afterwards, on Easter Sunday, the first
recorded mass [Holy Eucharist – Soquiño] in Philippine
history, was held in a small island called “Mazaua.”
Interpretations of Pigafetta’s account have differed as to
the place of the first mass; whether it was the small island
of Limasawa, south of Leyte or Butuan in Northern Mindanao.
However, scholars have presented evidences which tended to
favor Limasawa over Butuan.

Pieces of gold, of the size of walnuts and eggs are found

by sifting the earth in the island of that king who came to
our ships. All these dishes of that king are of gold and also
some portion of the house, as were told by that king himself.
According to their customs he was very grandly decked out
[molto in ordine], and the finest looking man that we saw
among those people. His hair was exceedingly black, and hung
to his shoulders. He had a covering of silk on his head, and
wore two large golden earnings fastened in his ears. He wore
a cotton cloth all embroidered with silk, which covered him
from waist to knees. At his side hung a dagger, the haft of
which was somewhat long and all of gold, and its scabbard of
carved wood. He had three spots of gold on every tooth, and
his teeth appeared as if bound with gold. He was perfumed
with storax and benzoin. He was tawny and painted[i.e.,
tattoed] all over. That island of his was called Butuan and
Calagan. When those kings wished to see one another, they
both went to hunt in that island where we were. The name of
the first king is Raia Colambu, and the second Raia Siaui.
Early of the morning of Sunday, the last of March and
Easter-day, the captain-general sent the priest with some men
to prepare the place where mass was to be said; together with
the interpreter to tell the king that we were not going to
 P a g e | 34

land in order to dine with him, but to say mass. Therefore

the king sent us two swine that he had killed. When the hour
of the mass arrived, we landed with about fifty men, without
body armor, but carrying our arms, and dressed in our best
clothes. Before we reached the shore with our boat, six pieces
were discharged as a sign of peace. We landed; the two kings
embraced the captain-general, and placed him between them. We
went in marching order to the place consecrated, which was
not far from the shore. Before the commencement of mass, the
captain sprinkled the entire bodies of the two kings with
musk water. During the mass we made our offerings. The kings
went forward to kiss the cross as we did, but they did not
offer the sacrifice, when the body of our Lord was elevated,
they remained on their knees and worshipped Him with clasped
hands. The ships fired all their artillery at once when the
body of Christ was elevated, the signal having been given
from the shore with muskets. After the conclusion of mass,
some of our men took communion.

The expedition then proceeded to the port of Cebu.

There they met Cebu’s ruler, Raja Humabon, whom
Magellan was able to convince to become a vassal of
the King and a servant of Christ. Magellan, however,
gets embroiled in a conflict between the two chiefs
of Mactan, Zula and Lapu-lapu – which was eventually
followed by a battle.

On Friday, April twenty-six, Zula, a chief of the island

of Mactan, sent one of his sons to present two goats to the
captain-general, and to say that he would send him all that
he had promised, but that he had not been able to send it to
him because of the other chief, Cilapu-lapu, who refused to
obey the king of Spain. He requested the captain to send him
only one boatload of men on the next night so that they might
help him fight against the other chief. The captain-general
decided to go thither with three boatloads. We begged him
repeatedly not to go, but he like a good shepherd, refused to
abandon his flock. At midnight, sixty of us set out armed
with corselets and helmets, together with the Christian king,
the prince, some of the chief men, and twenty ir thirty
balanguais. We reached Matan three hours before dawn. The
captain did not wish to fight them, but sent a message to the
natives by the Muslim to the effect that if they would obey
 P a g e | 35

the king of Spagnia, recognize the Christian king as their

sovereign, and pay us our tribute, he would be their friend;
but that if they wished otherwise, they should wait to see
how our lances wounded. They replied that if we had lances
they had lances of bamboo and stakes hardened with fire. [They
asked us] not to proceed to attack them at once, but to wait
until morning, so that they might have more men. They said
that in order to induce us to go in search of them; for they
had dug certain pitholes between the houses in order that we
might fall into them. When morning came, forty-nine of us
leaped into the water up to our thighs, and walked through
water for more than two crossbow flights before we could reach
the shore. The boats could not approach nearer because of
certain rocks in the water. The other eleven men remained
behind the to guard the boats. When we reached land, those
men had formed in three divisions to the number of more than
one thousand five hundred persons. When they saw us, they
charged down upon us with exceeding loud cries, two divisions
on our flanks and the other on our front. When the captain
saw that, he formed us into two divisions, and thus did we
begin to fight. The musketeers and crossbowmen shot from a
distance for about half an hour, but uselessly; for the shots
only passes through the shields which were made of thin wood,
and the arms [of the bearers]. The cried to them, “cease
firing, cease firing!” but his order was not heeded at all.
When the natives saw that we were shooting our muskets to no
purpose, crying out they [were] determined to stand firm, and
redoubled their shouts. When our muskets were discharged, the
natives would never stand still, but leaped hither and
thither, covering their themselves with their shields. They
shot so many arrows at us and hurled so many bamboo spears
(some of them tipped with iron) at the captain-general,
besides pointed stakes hardened with fire, stones, and mud,
that we could scarcely defend ourselves. Seeing that, the
captain-general sent some men to burn their houses in order
to terrify them. When they saw their houses burning, they
were roused to greater fury. Two of our men were killed near
the houses, while we burned twenty or thirty houses. So many
of them charged down upon us that they shot the captain
through the right leg with a poisoned arrow. On that account,
he ordered us to retire alowly, but the men took to flight,
except six or eight of us who remained with the captain. The
natives shot only at our legs, for the latter were bare; and
so many were the spears and stones that they hurled at us
 P a g e | 36

that we could offer no resistance. The mortars in the boats

could not aid us as they were too far away. So we continued
to retire for more than a good crossbow flight from the shore,
always fighting up to our knees in the water. The natives
continued to pursue us and picking up the same spear four or
six times, hurled it at us again and again. Recognizing the
captain, so many turned upon him that they knocked his helment
off his head twice, but he always stood firm like a good
knight, together with some others. Thus did we fight for more
than one hour, refusing to retire farther. An indian hurled
at bamboo spear into the captain’s face, but the latter
immediately killed him with his lance, which he left in the
Indian’s body. Then, trying to lay hand on sword, he could
draw it out but halfway, because he had been wounded in the
arm with a bamboo spear. When the natives saw that, they all
hurled themselves upon him. One of them wounded him on the
left leg with a large cutlass, which resembled a scimitar,
only being larger. That caused the captain to fail face
downward, when immediately they rushed upo him with iron and
bamboo spears and with their cutlasses, until they killed our
mirror, our light, our comfort, and our true guide. When they
wounded him, he turned back many times to see wether we were
all in the boats. Thereupon, beholding him dead, we, wounded,
retreated, as best we could, to the boats, which were already
pulling off.
Source: Camagay, Maria Luisa et. al. eds., Unraveling the Past:
Readings in Philippine History, 2018:Vibal Group, Inc.

Editor’s Note:
After Magellan’s demise the remaining members of the
expedition tried to make their way back to return safely.
The eighteen survivors arrived in Seville in 1522,
completing the first continuous circumnavigation of the
world. Several expeditions were sent by Spain in the next
four decades in order to establish their claims over the
Moluccas and each one of them made a stop in the
Philippine islands. One expedition led by Ruy de
Villalobos gave the islands the name Las Phelipinas in
honor of the Spanish crown prince Philip II.
 P a g e | 37

Excerpt from the “Instruction to Miguel Lopez de Legazpi from

the Royal Audiencia of New Spain”
Introduction
King Philip II, one of the most powerful European monarchs of
his time, decided to relinquish his claims to the Moluccas to
Portugal and colonize the Philippines instead. An expedition
under the leadership of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi was organized
in Mexico. It set sail on November 20, 1564 from the port of
Navidad with instructions handed by the Royal Audiencia of
Mexico. Eventually, the Philippines would be ruled from
Mexico, also known as New Spain, a viceroyalty of the Spanish
empire. These instructions are significant because they
express the intentions of the Spaniards and allows us to know
the procedures and precautions followed by the Spanish
voyagers.
The expedition reached Samar on February 14, 1565.
Legazpi and his crew went around the Visayas islands in the
central region of the archipelago and were met by the natives
with suspicion and indifference. However, in the island of
Bohol, Legazpi performed the blood compact with chief
Sikatuna which signified a friendly relationship. Miguel
Lopez de Legazpi eventually became the first governor-general
of the Philippines.

Primary Source

“[W]hat seems best for the service of God, our Lord, and
ourselves, and with the least possible cost to our estate;
and therefore I order you, by virtue of your commission to
make the said discoveries by sea, that you shall despatch two
ships...for the discovery of the western islands toward the
Malucos. You must order them to do this according to the
instructions sent you, and you shall stipulate that they try
to bring some spice in order to make the essay of that
traffic; and that, after fulfilling your orders, they shall
return to that return to that Nueva Espana, which they must
do, so that it may be known whether the return voyage is
assured.” These ships must not enter any islands belonging to
the King of Portugal, but they shall go “to other nearby
islands, such as the Pheilipinas and others, which lie outside
the above agreement and within our demarcation, and are said
likewise to contain spice, “The necessary artillery, articles
of barter, etc., will be sent from India House of Trade in
Seville... the viceroy must issue instructions to the vessels
that they “must not delay in trading and bartering, but return
 P a g e | 38

immediately to Nueva Espana, for the principal reason of this

expedition is to ascertain the return voyage.”
“[B]ut you shall enter other islands contiguous to them,
as for instance the Filipinas, and others outside the said
treaty, and within his majesty’s demarcation, and which are
reported also to contain spice.
“when you have arrived at the said Filipinas islands,
and other islands contiguous to them and the Malucos, without
however entering the latter...you shall try to discover and
examine their ports, and to ascertain and learn minutely the
settlements therein and their wealth; the nature and mode of
life of the natives; trade and barter among them, and with
that nations; the value and price of spices among them, the
different varieties of the same, and the equivalent for each
in the merchandise and articles for exchange that you take
from this land; and what other things may be advantageous.
You shall labor diligently to make and establish sound
friendship and peace with the natives, and you shall deliver
to their seigniors and chiefs, as may seem best to you, the
letters from his majesty that you carry with you for
them...and treating them well. And you may exchange the
articles of barter and the merchandise that you carry for
spice, drugs, gold, and other articles of value and esteem...
And if, in your judgment, the land is so rich and of such
quality that you should colonize therein, you shall establish
a colony in that part and district that appears suitable to
you, and where the firmnest friendship shall have been made
with you; and you shall affirm and observe inviolably this
friendship."

Source: Camagay, Maria Luisa, et. al., Unraveling the Pastt: Reading in
Philippine History, 2018: Vibal Group, Inc.

Editor’s Note:
Legazpi arrived in the island of Cebu on April 27, 1565. He defeated the recalcitrant
Cebuanos and established his settlement there, calling it Nombre de Jesus after a
wooden image of the holy child was discovered by one of his men. Due to lack of food
and basic provisions, he transferred camp to nearby island of Panay and from there,
sent the maste-of-camp, Martin de Goiti to explore the northern region of Luzon.

[end]
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Topic 5 GE 2
Readings in Philippine History
Filamer Christian University

Course Description

The course aims to expose students to different facets of

Philippine History through the lens of eyewitnesses. Rather than
rely on the secondary materials such as textbooks, which is the
usual approach in Philippine History, different types of primary
sources will be used – written (qualitative & quantitative), orall,
visual, audio-visual, digital – covering various aspects of
Philippine life(political, economic, cultural). Students are
expected to analyze the selected readings contextually and in terms
of content(stated and implied). The end goal is to enable students
to understand and appreciate our rich past by deriving insights
from those who were actually present at the time of the event.

Learning Objectives:
1. Develop analytical and critical skills in understanding the
exact contents of the following primary documents dealing
with the colonial institutions that exploited and oppressed
the early Filipinos during the initial period of Spanish
colonial rule in the country.
2. Discuss substantially why Bishop Domingo de Salazar wrote his
Memorial regarding the abuses committed by the Spaniards
against the natives.

Introduction of Colonial Institution

In 1571, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and his force decided to

sail to Manila. By the time, he held the title adelantado
(advanced officer). As Spaniards approached, the natives in
Manila set their houses on fire and fled. On May 18, 1571,
after negotiations with Raja Matanda and Lakandula, the
adelantado conquered Manila. Three years later, on June 21,
 P a g e | 40

1574, Manila was given the title La insigne y siempre leal

ciudad (Distinguished and ever loyal city). That they started
the 300-year Spanish rule of the Philippines.
One of the first tasks of the Spanish colonizers was to
unify the Philippines under one faith and under one coloniial
government, with Manila as its center. In order to facilitate
the easy conversion and pacification of the natives, certain
colonial institutions were set up in the Philippines. Before
the arrival of the Europeans, the natives were settled in
scattered communities with no central government. One of the
solutions of the colonial government was to resettle the
natives. The friars were one of the stakeholders that will
later on benefit from this. In 1582, the Synod of Manila was
established under the Dominican Fr. Domingo de Salazar, the
first bishop of Manila. A plan was presented by the Franciscan
Fr. Juan de Plasencia to the Synod of Manila and this was
called the reduccion, and approved unanimously by all the
religious orders. With the plan, the Spaniards attempted to
tame the reluctant Filipinos through Christian indoctrination
in a quite novel settlement pattern using the plaza complex.
To the Spaniards, the reduccion was a civilizing device to
make the Filipinos law abiding-citizens of the Spanish crown.
It is also worth mentioning that, as soon as Legazpi started
colonizing the Philippines in 1565, the encomienda system was
established. The word encomienda comes from the Spanish
encomendar, meaning “to entrust”; it was a grant from the
Spanish crown to a meritorious Spaniard to exercise control
over a specific place, including its inhabnitants. The
encomienda was later abolished little by little. It was
replaced by the alcadia, an institution with more political
functions than economic.

An Excerpt from Memorial of Bishop Domingo de Salazar

on the Abuses Committed by Spaniards

Fray Salazar, a well-known champion of the natives and a

disciple of Bartolome de las Casas, wrote a letter to the
king of Spain in order to expose the different abuses
committed by the Spanish officials in the Philippines in the
process of pacifying the islands. The reactions of the natives
to these abuses are also documented in the text.

Primary Source

Memorial regarding occurences in these Philipinas islands of

the West, also their condition, and matters which require
correction; written by Fray Domingo de Salazar; bishop of the
 P a g e | 41

said islands, in order that his Majesty and the gentlemen of

his royal Council of the Indies may see it.

At first, when the Spaniards came to these islands, there

was a great abundance of provisions, such as are produced in
the country; namely, rice, beans, fowls, swine, deer,
buffaloes, fish, cocoanuts, bananas and some other fruits,
wine, and honey. Of these a large quantity could be brought
from the natives with very little money. Although among them
there was gold, with which they traded and trafficked, yet it
was most usual to barter eatables for rice until the Spaniards
introduced the use of money, from which no little harm has
come to the country. Wine and rice are measured by the ganta,
which is equivalent to a quarter of a celemin in our measure.
... I have tried to ascertain the reason for so great a
change, and for the dearness of food; and after thoroughly
informing myself through persons who know, and through what I have
seen with my own eyes. I find the following reasons therefor.
First: When Don Goncalo ronquillo came here as governor of La
Pampanga, whence all this country used to be supplied with
rice, wine, and fowls, a great number of Indians went to the
mines of Ylocos, where they remained during the time when
they ought to have sowed their grain. Many of them died there;
and those who returned were so fatigued that they needed rest
more than work. As a result, in that year followed a very
great scarcity of rice, and for lack of it a great number of
Indians in the said Pampanga died from hunger in Luvao alone,
the encomienda of Guido de la Vacares, the dead exceeded a
thousand.
Second: in regard to the many occupations in which the
Spaniards employ the Indians, such as setting them to row in
the galleys and fragatas despatched by the governor and
officials on various commissions, which are never lacking. At
times they go so far away that they are absent four or six
months, and many of those who go die there. Others run away
and hide in the mountains, to escape from the toils imposed
upon them. Others the Spaniards employ in cutting wood in the
forests and conveying it to this city, and other Indians in
other labors, so that they do not permit them to rest or to
attend to their fields. Consequently, they sow little and
reap less, and have no opportunity to attend religious
instruction. It sometimes happens that while these mesirable
creatures are being instructed for baptism the Spaniards
force them to go to the tasks that I have mentioned; and when
they return they have forgotten whst they knew; for this
reason there are today many indians to be baptized. In some
cases when I have gone to a village to administer
confirmation, I have returned without confirming anyone,
 P a g e | 42

because the Indians were not in the place, but were occupied
in labors ordered by the alcalde-mayor, and I could not
collect them together. In proof of this, I send a mandate
issued by a deputy of Tondo. (I was present at the time, and
all the people were away, occupied in the tasks assigned to
them; and the only Indians in the villages were those who
were being instructed for the reception of baptism.) this
ordinance commanded all the Indians of the said village to
cut wood, and those who were receiving instruction to quit
it.
Third: Before the governor Don Goncalo Ronquillo came,
there were not more than three or four alcaldes-mayor in all
these islands; but now there are sixteen and most of them are
men who came with him. As they came poor, and as the salaries
are small, they have taken away the Indians – as all affirm,
and it is common talk – at the time for harvesting rice; and
they buy up all other provisions, and many profit by selling
them again. In this way everything has become dear, because,
as they have forbidden the Indians to trade and traffic, they
sell at whatever price they wish. Formerly the Indians brought
their produce to the gates, and sold it at very low prices;
for they are satisfied with very little gain, which is not
true of the Spaniards. But, not to ascribe all the guilt to
men, but to our sins, the cause of this dearness has in part
been that these years have not afforded as good weather as
others. This is the state in which the country has thus far
been up to the present.

Injuries inflicted upon the Indians

First: When a long expedition is to be made, the wrongs which

they suffer are many. One is to despatch for the Indians who
are to row in a galley or fragata a sailor who has neither
piety nor Christian feeling. Moreover, it is notorious that,
without inquiring whether an Indian is married or single, or
whether his wife is sick or his children without clothing, he
takes them all away. It has happened that when a husband has
led his deputy to his wife, who has great with child, and has
asked with tears that he might be left behind as she had no
one to care for her, the sailor has beaten her with cudgels
in order to make her go, and the poor husband also, despite
his resistance. In other cases, their wives are abandoned
when dying, the husband being compelled to go away to row.
The Indians are put into irons on the galleys, and flogged as
if they were galley-slaves or prisoners. Moreover, the pay
that is given them is very small; for they give each man only
four reals a month – and this is so irregularl paid that most
 P a g e | 43

of them never see it. The [officials of the] villages from

which they take the rowers divide the pay among themselves,
or give it to those whom they impress as oarsmen. This
statement is thoroughly authenticated; for when the governor,
Don Goncalo Ronquillo, sent to the mines, in Vitis and Lobao
alone they divided three thousand pesos belonging to the
Indians themselves; and he sent to Borney, in Bonbon they
divided more than two thousand. They say that in all Pampanga
five or six thousand pesos were taken and similarly in all
towns where they get recruits.
The past year, when the Indians ate shoots of palms and
bananas because they had no rice, and many Indians died from
hunger, they made them sell the remaining rice at the price
which it was worth at harvest-time. Sometimes the entire
quantity of his rice is taken from an Indian, without leaving
him a grain to eat. One poor widow, seeing that they were
carrying off all her rice without leaving her a grain to eat,
took as best a she could, two basketfuls to hide under the
altar, and there saved them; but it is certain that if the
collector had known it, they would have been taken from that
place.
I do not mention the injuries which the Indians received
from the Spaniards during the conquest, for from what happened
to them in other parts of the Yndians can be inferred what
would happen here, which was not less, but in many places
much more. I speak of what has happened and now happens in
the collection of tributes, so that your Majesty may see if
it is right to overlook or tolerate things which go so far
beyond all human justice.
As for the first, your Majesty may be assured that
heretofore these Indians never understood, nor have they been
given to understand, that the Spaniards entered this country
for any other purpose than to subjugate them and compel them
to pay tributes. As this is a thing which all peoples
naturally refuse, it follows that where they have been able
to resist they have always done so, and have gone to war.
When they can do no more, they say that they will pay tribute.
And these people the Spaniards call pacified, and say that
they have submitted to your Majesty! And without telling them
more of God and of the benefits which it was intended to
confer upon them, they demand tribute from each year. Their
custom therein is as follows. As soon as the Spaniards have
subjugated them, and they have promised to pay tribute (for
from us Christians they hear are not allotted in encomiendas,
the governor sends some one to collect the tributes (for from
us Christians they hear no other word than “Pay tribute”),
they say to the natives, “You must give so much a year.” If
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they are not allotted in encomiendas, the governor sends some

one to collect the tributes; but it is most usual to allot
them at once in an encomienda to him who has charge of
collecting tributes. Although the decree relating to
encomiendas says, “Provided that you instruct them in the
matters of our most holy faith,” the only care that they have
for that is, that the encomendero takes with him eight or
soldiers with their arquebuses and weapons, orders the chiefs
to be called, and demands that they give him the tributes for
all the Indians of their village. Here my powers fail me, I
lack the courage, and I can find no words, to express your
majesty the misfortunes, injuries, and vexations, the the
torments and miseries, which the Indians are made to suffer
in the collection of the tributes. The tributes at which all
are commonly rated is the value of eight reals, paid in gold
or in produce which they gather from their lands; but this
rate is observed like all other rules that are in favor of
the Indians – that is, it is never observed at all. Some they
compel to pay it in gold, even when they do not have it. In
regard to the gold likewise, there are great abuses, because
as there are vast differences in gold here, they always make
the natives give the finest. The weight at which they receive
the tribute is what he who collects it wishes, and he never
selects the ligthest. Others make them pay cloth or thread.
But the evil is not here, but in the manner of collecting;
for, if the chief does not give them as much gold as they
demand, or does not pay for as many Indians as they say there
are, they crucify the unfortunate chief, or put his head in
the stocks – for all the encomenderos, when they go to
collect, have their stocks, and there they lash and torment
the chiefs until they give the entire sum demanded from them.
Sometimes the wife or daughter of the chief is seized, when
he himself does not appear. Many are the chiefs who have died
of torture in the manner which I have stated. When I was in
the port of Ybalon some chiefs came there to see me; and the
first thing they asked to me was, that one who was collecting
the tributes in that settlement had killed a chief by torture,
and the same Indians indicated the manner in which he had
been killed, which was by crucifixion, and hanging him by the
arms. I saw this soldier in the town of Caceres, in the
province of Camarines, and learned that the justice arrested
him for it and fined him fifty pesos – to be divided equally
between exchequer and the expenses of justice – and that with
this punishment he was immediately set free. Likewise I
learned that an encomendero – because a chief had neither
gold nor silver nor cloth with which he owed; and then took
this Indian to the ship and sold him for thirty-five pesos.
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And although I told this to the steward and asked for the
Indian, he remained in slavery. They collect tribute from
children, old men, and slaves, and many remain unmarried
because of tribute, while others kill their children...
The foregoing is such information as I can give you
Majesty from here regarding the transgression and observance
of the royal commands, laws, and decrees; and of the present
state of the country, the wrongs that occur in it, and what
matters sought to be remedied. On account of the little time
before the ships departs, not all of this letter is so
polished as to be fit to appear before your Majesty. If this
relation[account – mine] is deficient (as it cannot fail to
be) it is not in lack of truth or in desire to serve your
Majesty and secure the welfare of these souls whom, because
of their sins and my own, I have in charge. If there is
anything about which to your Majesty appears worthy of remedy,
I humbly ask for it; and if i have said anything about which
it appears to your Majesty I ought to have been silent, I
also humbly beg that I may be pardoned. Since you Majesty
knows that I am five thousand leagues distant from your court,
and surrounded by so many griefs and afflictions, you will
not be surprised at what I say, but at what I leave unsaid –
and even why I myself did not go to beg for the remedy; for
it certainly is a different thing to see and endure it here,
than to hear it mentioned there.

Fray Domingo, bishop of the Filipinas

Source: In Camagay, et.al., Readings
In Philippine History, 2018:
Vibal Group Inc.

Decree Regulating Services of Filipinos

Aside from imposing tributes or personal tax to the natives,
the Spanish colonial government also instituted polo y
servicios. It involved drafting Chinese or Filipino male
mestizos from 16 to 60 years old to render free and personal
service to community projects. There had been exemptions to
the polo y servicios, namely, 1) the native-ruling elite and
their sons; 2) those able to pay the falla (purportedly from
the Spanish word falta, meaning “absence”), an amount equal
to 1 1/2 real, every day for 40 days; and 3) persons with
disabilities.
The following text is facsimile of the Royal Decree
issued on May 26,1609 under the reign of King Philip II. The
decree regulates the different conditions under which the
repartimiento system can be imposed to the natives.
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Primary Source

We order that, in the Filipinas islands, no Indians be

distributed in repartimiento, in any number, for private or
public means of gain; since for the cutting of wood,
navigation of caracoas, and other works of this sort, in which
our royal treasury is interested, and for the public
convenience, the Chinese and Japanese found on any desired
occasion in the city of Manila must be (as they are) hired,
and, as is understood, there will be a sufficient number of
workmen among them, who will engage in these services for the
just price of their toil. From them shall be employed those
who wish to hire themselves out, in order to avoid the
concourse of Indians [at Manila]. In case that the
repartimiento cannot be entirely avoided, as will be
provided, and if the Chinese and Japanese are either unwilling
or unable to satisfy the actual need of those public works,
the governor and captain-general shall take measures with the
Indians so that they may aid in the works freely and
voluntarily, making use of the means that seem advisable to
him to effect it. But granted that there be a lack of
voluntary workers, we permit that some Indians be forced to
work in these occupations, under the following conditions,
but in no other manner.
That this repartimiento shall be made only for necessary
and unavoidable affairs, for in so odious a matter, the
greater benefit to our royal treasury, or the greater
convenience of the community, cannot suffice; and all that
which is not necessary for their preservation, weights less
than the liberty of the Indians.
That the Indians in the repartimiento shall be lessened
in number as the voluntary workers shall be introduced,
whether the latter be Indians or those of other nations.
That they shall not be taken from distant districts, and
from climates notably different from that of their own
villages. The choice of all shall proceed without any
pariality, and so that both the hardship of distances, the
burden of occupations, and compensation for the other
circumstances in which there will be more or less grievance,
shall be shared and distributed equally, so that all may share
the greater and less toilsome services, so that the benefit
and alleviation shown to some may not be changed into injury
toward others.
That the governor assign the number of hours that they
shall work each day, taking the consideration the lack of
strength and weak physical constitutions.
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That they be given in full the wages that they earn for
their work. And they shall be paid personally each day, or at
the end of the week, as they may choose.
That the repartimientos be made at a time that does not
embarass or hinder the sowing and harvesting of land products,
or the other occasions and periods upon which the Indians
have to attend to the profit and management of their property;
for our intention is that they not be deprived of it, and
that they may be able to attend to everything. Therefore, we
order the governor that, at the beginning of the year, he
shall take note of the building and other matters of our
service in which the Indians have to be employed; for if the
time is chosen, it may be arranged in such a way that the
Indians may receive no considerable injury to their property
or persons.
That, granting the poor arrangement and plan of the
caracoas, and that when remanded to them many Indians
generally perish, because of sailing without a deck, and
exposed to the inclemencies of storms, we order that these
craft be improved and built in such a manner that the Indians
may manage the oars without risk of health and life.
In all the above, and in all that may touch their
preservation and increase, we order the governor to proceed
with care and vigilance that we expect, and that he punish
signally and rigorously executed. We request and charge both
the secular prelates and the provincials of the orders to
exercise the same attention in the punishment of offenses of
this nature, committed by the ministers of instruction and
other ecclesiastical persons. And we order that any omission
of the governors, justices, and officials entrusted, in whole
and in part, with the obsservance and fulfilment of this law
be made a matter of their residencia.
{Law passed in the reign of Felipe III, dated Aranquez, May 26,1609.}
Source: Camagay, et.al., Unraveling the Past:
Readings in Philippine History, 2018: Vibal Group, Inc.

[end]
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