Readings in the Philippine History

LESSON 6:

THE PHILIPPINES
UNDER SPAIN
report of: Group 2
LESSON OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:
• Critique the misconceptions on Filipinos in early
historical sources;
• Enumerate and explain the economic policies
imposed by the Spaniards on Filipinos;
• Compare multiple perspective from contextual
standpoints in the Spanish expeditions to Mindanao;
and
• Evaluate the effects of Spanish colonization on
Filipino politics, economy, and society.
LESSON INTRODUCTION
During the fifteenth century “Age of
Discovery,” Western powers sailed through
oceans to tierras incognitas (uncharted lands).
Through the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, the
Spanish thalassocracy circled farther west to
arrive in the Philippines in 1521 and colonize it in
1565.
OVERVIEW OF THE LESSON:
Juan de Plasencia’s Customs of the
Tagalogs
Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de Las Islas
Filipinas
Francisco de Sande’s Letter to Estevan
Rodriguez de Figueroa
JUAN DE PLASENCIA’S CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS

JUAN DE PLASENCIA
A Franciscan missionary who authored the first
book ever printed in the archipelago in 1593,
the Doctrina Christiana
He was among the first group of missionaries
who arrived in the islands on July 2, 1578
Known to have lived modestly and was
concerned with the welfare of the Filipino
PLASENCIA’S CUSTOMS OF THE
TAGALOGS (1589)
Earliest descriptive written work on early
Filipino society
Plasencia used “Tagalog” in writing the
customs
The socio-political structure of early
Tagalogs was led by revered chiefs
referred to as dato, who served as war
captains
PLASENCIA’S CUSTOMS OF THE
TAGALOGS (1589)
They ruled as many as a hundred houses,
a “tribal” gathering called a barangay.
He also identified three “castes” or
classes:
- Nobles or Maharlica
- Commoners or aliping namamahay
- Slaves or aliping guiguilir (saguiguilid)
 According to Plasencia, In concern with
loans which in the case of the one under
judgement, who gives half of his cultivated lands
and profits until he pays the debt. The debtor is
condemned to a life of toil; and thus borrowers
become slaves, and after the death of the father,
the children pay the debt. Not doing so, double the
amount must be paid. This system should and can
be reformed.
BELIEF SYSTEM OF THE FILIPINOS
Filipinos have a temple of place of adoration named
simbahan
They celebrate festivals which they called pandot or
“worship”
Badhala is the one they especially workshiped
They also worshiped the sun, moon, and stars
They possessed many idols called lic-ha
They said that in the other life and morality, there was a
place of punishment, grief, and afflication, called
casanaan, which was “place of anguish”
He closed his letter with the following:
Others, perchance, may offer a more extended
narrative, but leaving aside irrelevant matters
concerning government and justice among them, a
summary of the whole truth is contained in the above. I
am sending the account in this clear and concise form
because I had received no order to pursue the work
further. Whatever may be decided upon, it is certainly
important that it should be given to the alcaldes-
mayor, accompanied by an explanation…
ANALYSIS OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
• The Spanish Government commissioned Plasencia's work to identify the
best strategy to organize their newly founded colony .
• Spanish were more interested in the socio-political structure of the
early Filipinos (whom they called indios)
• The title holds that Plasencia’s work is a lengthy treatise on Tagalog
customs covering several topics,from marriage to burial.
• It was evidence that the early Filipino had a system of governance,
customs and beliefs.
• Plasencia narrated that Filipinos would slave each other because of
unpaid debts and how this created a slave status that is inherited by
children unless the debt is paid. But he looked at these systems from the
European perspective.
ANALYSIS OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
• He labeled spiritual practitioners as “priests of the devil” to include the
catalonan,mangcocolam,etc.but acknowledged that they did believe in a
special being called Badhala and that there was an afterlife.
• His presentation of these both gives us a glimpse of but at the same time
obscures us from understanding the true nature of these cultural practices.
• Through the centuries under Spanish rule,these practices were inherited,
combining them with Catholic beliefs-labeled folk Catholicism.
• One of the most formative concepts that stemmed from Plasencia was the
idea of the “barangay”.
• An authority on pre-sixteenth century Philippines, William Henry Scott wrote
that the word was misused to refer to the smallest social structure of the
society as it merely meant a boat.
ANALYSIS OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
• But as the Spanish continued to write about the Filipinos, they
replicated Plasencia’s error.
• Plasencia ,as well as those who succeeded him,may have chosen the
wrong concept and construct, but more than a mistake,it was also an
attempt to impose a Western structure to explain the Filipino political
units.
• Scott said that in his studies, what appears to refer to early Filipino
political structure was the word bayan.
• Plasencia’s work became the seed of scholarship on Filipino political
structure that writers after him,whether Spanish, American or Filipino had
enabled the concept of “barangay” to persist.
• Imagine other indigenous concepts that had the same fate.
ANALYSIS OF THE CUSTOMS OF THE TAGALOGS
• Revisiting and reanalyzing primary sources allow us to contextualize the
same concepts we use today.
• Ultimately, we have to understand that Plasencia’s work was just a
fraction of the whole and was not in any way representative of all the
other indigenous peoples of the Philippines pre-sixteenth century.
Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas

Studied canon and civil law in Spain and was called to

serve as assistant to the Governor-General in the
Philippines in 1593
He published his experiences and observations in
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (Events in the Philippines
Islands) in 1609.
Morga described in length the socio-cultural and
political aspects of early Filipino society.
He described the natives throughout the Islands can
write excellently with certain characters, almost like the
Greek or Arabic.
Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
He also described with pride this new settlement of
handsome edifices and passageways and that all
vessels sail from Manila.
The datus became the cabezas the barangay whose job
is to collect taxes to be paid in the encomendero, a
Spaniard who helped colonize the Philippines.
The trade involved large sea vessels that carry a variety
of merchandise to be sold in Nueva España (Mexico)
which was then the viceroyalty of Spain.
The trans-Pacific trade was profitable enough that the
Spanish sought more goods abundant in Ternate of the
Moluccas area.
Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
Morga described some of the Philippine Islands that
have gold (and other commodities) that the Spaniards
wanted to extract and sale.
Morga also elaborated on the economic activities in the
Philippines and how Spain’s revenue from the
Philippines is low, compared to its other colonies.
 MORGA
• Auditor of the Audienca
• Actor
• He observed and writes about
- Philippine island and other Asian
products that are loaded in galleons
at manila to be sold at mexico
 The Spanish arrival can be seen as an
interruption to the trade relations that had been
flourishing in Southeast Asia in the pre-sixteenth
century. The choices by Legazpi to establish Manila
as the colonial capital spelled out on how much
the Spanish aimed to take over and immensely
profit from this Trade.
• They established a steady source of income
through the tax and labor through the polo by
which they were able to build and man the galleons
• They sourced merchandise from neighboring lands
like China, Japan, Borneo, and Indonesia,
assembled these goods, loaded them in galleons at
Manila.
• They sailed to Mexico to sell the products there.
 Morga's Sucesos is a significant source on Philippine
history as it described Philippine life and society at the turn
of the seventeenth century.
was probably the earliest historically grounded work
relating to the events that occurred in the Philippines.
His work touched on the political, social, and cultural
aspects of the Filipinos
Providing an extensive despiction of lie at the turn of
the seventeenth century
 Francisco de Sande's Letter to Estevan de Figuera
Early Spanish text in the Philippines always recounted
the presence of what they call 'Moros' in the island.
Most describe not only the Moro people but also their
religion of Islam, Primary sources on the Moros have
not been explored much as there are also problems of
accessibility. The Spanish were determime to subdue
Jolo and Mindanao for their strategic location for
trade as well as natural materials that could be
developed to become expensive trade product.
The letter of Governor Sande instructing Captain
Figueroa to subdue the island of Jolo, an island known for
extraordinary pearls.
I certety there to:
That which you, Captain Estevan Rodirguez de
Figueroa shall ovserve on the expidition which you are
about to make, God our Lord is helping, is as follows.
• You shall go to the island of Sulu , where you shall
endeavor fo reduce the chief of his people to obedience
of his Majesty.
• You shall bargain with them
• You shall exercise great care, and if possible, much mildness.
• And as I have said, this must be done if possible gently, in order no
people maybe killed.
• You shall try to ascertain the Pintados slave among them, in order to
return such to their home, specially those who are christian.
• You shall tell them that the gain therefrom affects them
chiefly, since we come to teach them our civilization.
• You shall tell them not to admit any more preacher of
doctrine of Mohama, since it is evil and false, and
Christianity alone is good.
Thank You
for listening!