UNIT X.

INSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF SCHOOLS, CORPORATIONS,

INDUSTRIES, RELIGIOUS GROUPS AND THE LIKE.
Overview

This unit presents institutional history of schools, corporations, religious groups and
the like specified in certain eras. As essential tool in understanding the development of
the world, this also discusses social, political, economic and cultural issues in Philippine
history relative to the institutions. Examining history helps you question the world you take
for granted, and understand what long-term trends are shaping it. By learning how
today’s world has been constructed you can more realistically see how it can change.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the unit, I am able to:

1. effectively convey, through various techniques and genres, ideas on Philippine
history and historical analyses of a particular event or issue that could help others
understand the chosen topic;
2. propose recommendations or solutions to present-day problems based on their
understanding of root causes and their anticipation of future scenarios;
3. display the ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team and contribute to a group of
endeavor.

Lesson Proper

Institutional History (IH) is the narrative records of how an institution’s ways and
structure evolved through time. This is generated and recorded in a collaborative way
by scientists, farmers and other stakeholders. People seeking change are often impatient,
intent on addressing the problems of the world. In the words of one of the greatest
activists of them all, they are consumed by ‘the fierce urgency of now’. From the
perspective of ‘now’, institutions appear to be permanent and unchanging; in fact, they
often depend on that appearance for their credibility. But ‘now’ is merely a moment on
the continuum of history, and history shows us that the status quo is far less fixed than it
appears. Yes, institutions are inherently conservative, but their normal functioning
provokes changes in the world, changes that buffet them and oblige them, over time, to
either evolve or fail.

Examining history helps us question the world we take for granted, and understand
what long-term trends are shaping it. By learning how today’s world has been
constructed you can more realistically see how it can change.
 In this lesson, you will focus only on these two institutions:

Institutional History

Education Religious
Institutions Institutions

EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Pre-Colonial Philippines
• In pre-colonial Visayan communities, the babaylan (or the catalonan in Tagalog)
served as educators. Children also received their education from their parents on
matters such as the household and hunting.
• In most communities, stories, songs, poetry, dances, medicinal practices and
advice regarding all sorts of community life issues were passed from generation to
generation mostly through oral tradition.
• Some communities utilized a writing system known as baybayin, whose use was
wide and varied, though there are other syllabaries used throughout the
archipelago.

Spanish Colonization
• During Spanish colonization, the educational system was formalized, although it
remained exclusive to children of Spanish officers, at first, and then, eventually, to
rich mestizos.
• The schools were run by religious orders, such as the Franciscans, Dominicans,
Augustinians, and Jesuits.
• The boys went to colegios, while the girls went to their beaterios or a finishing
school for womanhood.
• LAW OF THE INDIES. Based on the order of King Philip II, Spanish conquistadores
were to teach the natives Spanish. However, given the reality of that time, this was
not completely fulfilled.
• Education of natives was mostly ecumenical, and it involved the friars learning the
indigenous languages and translating the prayers from Latin. For this reason, the
Spanish language did not become as widespread as it did in South America
(Rodriquez, 2006 p.7)
• Tomas Pinpin, who was a Tagalog printer working for the Dominican press, wrote
a book in Romanized phonetic script to teach the Tagalog the Spanish Language.
The book would be published in 160, the first such book published by a Philippine
native (Rafael, 1988, p.55)
• Some of the published books during the Spanish era are archived at the University
of Santo Tomas
• The Spanish government issued the Educational Decree of 1863, which required
two schools per municipality (one of the boys and the other for the girls) and
 standardize the curriculum. The decree also established the Superior Commission
on Primary Education which acted like today’s Department of Education

Oldest higher education institutions established during this era:

• Colegio de San Ignacio- first college schools for boys
• Colegio de San Ildefonso- established in Cebu in 1595
• Escuala Pia- renamed Ateneo Municipal, and then Ateneo de Manila Univeristy
(1589)
• University of Santo Tomas (1611)
• Colegio de Santa Potenciana (1589)- first school and college for girls

American Period
• The Americans used to introduce the American ideals and culture
• The United States introduced the public-school system, especially through 600
American teachers abroad the USS Thomas, in 1901. Known as the Thomasites,
they would teach young Filipinos the English Language and with it, the American
culture.
• Children aged 7 and above were obliged to register at the nearest school
• Education infrastructures established during the Spanish era were used again for
the American school system
• Levels of education were divided into elementary, secondary, and tertiary, or
college level

Colleges built during the American Period:

• Philippine Normal School (1901)
• St. Paul University (1904)
• Zamboanga Normal School (1904)
• University of Manila (1914)
• Philippine Women’s University (1919)
• Far Eastern University (1933)

Japanese Occupation
The Japanese issued Military Order No.2, which listed the basic guidelines of
education for the re-opening of schools:
• Enrich Filipino culture
• Recognize the Philippine-Japan relations by being part of the Greater East Asia
CoProsperity Sphere
• Learn the Japanese language instead of English
• Foster love of work

Education in the Present Time

• The American system heavily influences Philippine education system, with English
as the main medium of instruction
• The pattern of formal education has four stages: preparatory and kindergarten,
primary education, secondary education, and college
• House Bill 7350, or the American Calendar Shift of 2018, proposed a mandatory
shift in the academic calendar, moving the start of the school year from June to
August. The calendar shift favors globalization, to align with international standards
• In 2013, President Benigno III signed into law the K-12 Program which would cover
“Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education (six years of primary education,
 four years of Junior High School, and two years of Senior High School to provide
sufficient time of mastery of concepts and skills develop lifelong learners, and
prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development.
Employment, and entrepreneurship.”

Religious Groups in the Philippines:

• Roman Catholicism
• Protestant Christianity, such as the Baptist
• Islam
• Iglesia ni Cristo
• Buddhism
• Indigenous beliefs

Pre-Colonial Philippines
• Pre-colonial Tagalog societies believed in Bathala, who created the earth and
man and was superior to other gods, spirits, and creatures that guaranteed nature
• In Visayan societies, the babaylan were spirit mediums. From the words babaye
lang (women only), tha babaylan were usually women, and men had to dress up
as women in order to invoke the gods and proceed with the rituals (Santiago, 2005,
pg. 6)

Christianity and Islam

• In 1350, Islam started spreading northward from Indonesia to the Philippines
• Before Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in 1565, Islam already firmly established in
Mindanao and Sulu, with Islamic communities in Cebu and Manila
• When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the Christianization process
started
• The Muslims in Mindanao and Sulu were not dominated by the Spaniards, who
made trade treaties with them instead
 • The Spanish Crown assigned five religious orders to Christianize the natives:
Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, and the Recollects
• Reducciones were measured by bajo de la campana, or “under the bell” which
means rounding up the natives in settlements near the church for their conversion

“Although, according to the decree of the king, the bishop and the minister of the
doctrina discharge the encomendero of many obligations that, otherwise where they
(Bishop or minister) were not present, the encomendero would have, nevertheless, even
where there are ministers of the Gospel, the encomendero is obliged to gather in towns
the Indians isolated in the mountains and the grasslands”

• Philippine Christianity is largely folk in nature, manifesting a mixed influence of

Christian monotheism and indigenous animism. For example, a farmer may also
seek religious blessings to prevent rice field destruction or before planting begins.
• There are also folk healers who use Roma Catholic symbols while performing their
healing rituals

American Period
• The Americans focused on strengthening mass education
• Most of the American teachers, however, were Protestants
• This resulted in a shift in the balance of Catholic influence since Protestant groups
controlled the system of public education in the country

Sects
• During the Philippine Revolution against Spain, the Catholic church stood for the
Spanish oppressors, and so revolutionaries like Apolinario Mabini recognized the
importance of building a native church (Arcilla, 1997 p.80)
• Gregorio Aglipay was appointed to organize a nationalized church and thus
became the first leader of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (commonly known as
Aglipayan)
• In the twentieth century, 25 to 33 percent of the population was Aglipayan
• In 1914, Felix Ysagun Manalo founded the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC). He was said to be
the
• “Restorer of Church of Christ, and the God’s last messenger”
• By 2015, INC became the third largest religion in the Philippines
• Aside from Iglesia ni Cristo, many religious groups were established through time
to challenge the supremacy of the Catholic Church, such as Seventh-Day
Adventist, Jehovah’s
• Witnesses, and the Rizalist, who considered Noli me tangere as the Old
• Testament and the El filibusterismo as the New Testament (Hau, 2018, p. 86n2)