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 utilised 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 INSTITUTIONS

Religious Groups

Monotheistic
Religions that are based on single diety, such
as Christianity and Islam
Polytheistic
Religions that have many deities such as
Philippine pre-colonial beliefs

TYPES Religious
Groups

Church Sect Cult

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)