Spanish Colonial System

• It took 44 years after

Magellan’s arrival and
another five expeditions
before Miguel de Legazpi
had successfully
conquered the island.
 Under a policy of divide and
rule strategy, hidden
contradictions of ancient
barangays were made to
surface and created conflicts
among the natives.
And as such the Spaniards
were able to employ
concentrated force anywhere
in the Philippines.
 Motives
• Economic Reasons
- primordial stimulus (new trade
routes, gold, spices/raw
materials)
 Political
(expansion of Spanish empire)
 Religious
(extend Catholic religion)
 Basic instruments of pacification
considered also as early policies were
enforced by the Spanish colonizers.
▪Divide and conquer
▪Christianization
▪Reduccion
Reduccion – resettlement of scattered
villages into one compacted
community called as “ plaza complex”
or poblacion-sitio-barrio complex
- was designed by Fr. Juan De
Plasencia
- for tax collection, proselytization and
to weaken the datu or chieftain’s
influence
 Other succeeding economic
policies implemented used as
instruments of pacification
were:
• Encomienda system
• Tribute
• Forced Labor
• Bandala
 Other Instruments of
Pacification
4. Encomienda
- not a land-grant but just an
administrative unit for tax
collection
Limitations placed by King of Spain
on the Encomiendero
• Limited the amount of land placed
under the jurisdiction of the
encomiendero

• Not hereditary beyond 3rd and 4th

generations.
• Land reverted back to the
Crown when the encomendero
dies.

• Prohibited draft labor.

 Abuses of Encomenderos
• forced Filipinos to pay tributes
beyond amount required of them
by law

• they created a crisis even in times

of good harvest lowering the
prices of commodities and forcing
the natives to pay in cash.
• They controlled the commerce
of the area under this
jurisdiction by selling the
goods at ceiling prices.
 Other Instruments of
Pacification

5. Tribute System
- tax levied on all Pinoys 19-60
years old.
Abuses of Tribute Collectors
• Collected more than what the law
required

• Those who could not pay tribute

were either tortured or imprisoned.

• The tribute could paid in cash or in

kind.
 Other Instruments of
Pacification
6. Bandala
- Assignments of annual quotas each
province for the compulsory sale of
products to the government.

-means virtual confiscation

BANDALA
SYSTEM
Filipinos were
required/force
d to sell their
agricultural
harvest to the
government.
 Problem/Abuses
• Products were not paid by the
government
• Government prices were lower than
the prevailing prices
• If the crops were destroyed, farmers
bought at higher prices from the
others only to sell this product to the
governments on loan or lower prices.
Other Instruments of Pacification

7. FORCED LABOR or POLO Y

SERVICIOS
-men between the ages of 16-60 except
the chieftains and eldest sons were
required to serve for 40 days a year in
the labor pool .
POLISTA- obligated to give personal
service to community projects like
construction / infrastructures on
roads, bridges, churches, repair of
Galleons

- can be exempted if he pays the

falla
REGULATIONS:

• Payment of ¼ real a day plus rice

ration to each polista

• Polistas are not supposed to be

brought to a distant place nor
required to work during planting
and harvesting
REGULATIONS:

• Private enterprises and non-

military public works were
prohibited from using polo labor

• Not to use polistas if Chinese

volunteers are available in the area
 ABUSES ON FORCED LABOR:
• Polistas nevers received their daily
wages, rice rations

• They were compelled to cut logs in the

forests and dragged them to shipyards

• They were forcibly taken away to work

in the shipyards and served in the
Spanish expedition during plantib
LATER POLICIES & IMPACT OF SPANISH
COLONIZATION
16th-17th Centuries 18th-19th Centuries
A. POLITICAL
CHANGES
• as is
• Centralization of
the Phil into one
(1) geo-political
unit
 POLITICAL STRUCTURE IN SPANISH ERA
ROYAL / MONARCHIAL GOVERNMENT
led by King or Queen
“ King

VICE-ROYALTY led by Vice-Roy

COUNCIL OF INDIES

INSULAR GOVERNMENT
led by Governor-General

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
“Alcaldias”
Led by Alcalde-Mayor (Prov’l Governor)

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT POLITICO-MILITARY DISTRICTS

“Ayuntamientos” “Corregimientos”
Led by “Gobernadorcillo”(town mayor) Led by ( Corregidor )

BARRIO BARRIO GOVERNMENT led BARRIO GOVERNMENT led by BARRIO GOVERNMENT led by
GOVERNMENT led by by Cabaza de barangay or Cabaza de barangay or Cabaza de barangay or
Cabaza de barangay or Barangay. Captain Barangay. Captain Barangay. Captain
Barangay. Captain
LATER POLICIES & IMPACT OF SPANISH
COLONIZATION
16th-17th Centuries 18th-19th Centuries
A. POLITICAL
CHANGES
• as is ( no change )
• Institution of the
Union of the
church and State
 LATER POLICIES & IMPACT OF SPANISH
COLONIZATION

16th-17th Centuries 18th-19th Centuries

B. ECONOMIC
CHANGES
• Closed Door • Open Door Policy
Factors:
policy
• Opening of Suez
* Galleon Trade
Canal
* Tobacco
• End of Galleon Trade
Monopoly til 1872
• Laissez Faire
 Effects of Open Door Policy
( Liberalization of the Economic Policies )
• Opening of Phil ports to international
trade
• Partial relaxation of trade laws
• Export cash crops
• Regionalization of crops
• Rise of haciendas & banks
• Development of infrastructures,
telecom, transportations & public
utilities
LATER POLICIES & IMPACT OF SPANISH
COLONIZATION
16th-17th Centuries 18th-19th Centuries
C. SOCIO-CULTURAL
CHANGES
• accreleration of • emergence of a new
the social principalia class
→ ilustrado class
stratification
• spread of liberal
• education was ideas
confined to elite
RESULTANT STRATIFICATION
( 16TH-17TH C )
Sub-urban Society
Peninsulares
Insulares / Creoles
Old principalia class
Native / Indios
Non-Catholic
Chinese
RESULTANT STRATIFICATION
( 16TH-19TH C )
Rural Society
Friars
( absentee landlords)
Inquilino class
(intermediaries)
Subtenants / Masses
RESULTANT STRATIFICATION
( 18TH-19TH C )
Sub-urban Society
Peninsulares
Insulares / Creoles
New principalia class
Old principalia class
Native / Indios
LATER POLICIES & IMPACT OF SPANISH
COLONIZATION
16th-17th Centuries 18th-19th Centuries
A. SOCIO-CULTURAL
CHANGES
• No one language • Education reforms
policy • education confined
to the elite only
• New customs,
practices &
institutions
LATER POLICIES & IMPACT OF SPANISH
COLONIZATION
16th-17th Centuries 18th-19th Centuries
C. SOCIO-CULTURAL
CHANGES
• Shift in the pattern of
•Education limited to resistance against
Spanish rule
the principales ( early revolts→ 1896
revolution )
• Domestication and
subjugation of • Secularization and
Filipino women Filipinization
LATER POLICIES & IMPACT OF SPANISH
COLONIZATION
16th-17th Centuries 18th-19th Centuries
C. SOCIO-CULTURAL
CHANGES
• Changing of • as is
Filipinos’ native
names into
Castillian names for
tax collection
 THE END

Prepared by:
Asso.Prof. OLIVA BORJA PARICO
Department of Social Sciences
CLSU