WHO ARE HEROES?

- A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities
- A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is
regarded as a model or ideal.

Dr. Jose P. Rizal was chosen as the greatest Philippine national hero:

- The NOLI MI TANGERE and EL FILIBUSTERISMO provided the ember that awakened Filipino
nationalism and paved the way for the Philippine Revolution of 1896.
- He proved that “PEN IS MIGHTIER THAT THE SWORD” to redeem the people from their political
slavery.

William Howard Taft

- Chairman of the Philippine commission

Nominated heroes:

1. Jose P. Rizal
2. Marcelo H. Del Pilar
3. Gen. Antonio Luna
4. Gregorio Lopez Jaena
5. Emilio Jacinto

Dr. Otley Bayer

- Anthropologist and technical member of the panel of the Philippine Commission recommended
the following criteria in choosing national hero.
a. He should be a Filipino
b. He is a peace-loving person
c. He has high ideals and love of country
d. He died for the country as a martyr

REASONS WHY RIZAL WAS CHOSEN AND DECLARED AS THE PHILIPPINE’S NATIONAL HERO

1. He was the first to unite and awaken the Filipino people to peacefully rise for independence.
2. He is model for being a peacemaker by his complete self – denial, his complete abandonment of
his personal interest and to think of his country and people
3. He was towering figure in the propaganda campaign from 1882-1896.
4. He was martyr at Bagumbayan where he willingly died for our country
HONORS ACCORDED TO RIZAL AS PHILIPPINE NATIONAL HERO:

1. The day of his birth ( JUNE 19, 1861 – holiday in Laguna) and day of execution ( DECEMBER 30,
1896) are fittingly commemorated by all classes of people through the country and other
Filipino abroad.
2. No other Filipino can surpass Rizal in number of monuments erected in his honor, in towns ,
barrios , and schools.
3. His name is byword in every home and his picture is printed and used in postage stamps.
4. The paper money/ coins with his image have the widest circulation that the poorest of the poor
can hold.
5. Streets, boulevard, educational institution and persons were named RIZAL.
6. His noble thoughts and teachings had been frequently invoked and quoted by speakers.
7. The union of manila and morong to be a province was named after the illustrious Filipino hero
thus the Rizal province was established.

PHIIPPINES BEFORE SPANISH COLONIZATION:

1. They had their own indigenous culture
2. They had their own government
3. People know how to read and write (ALIBATA)

PHILIPPINES UNDER SPANISH REGIME

Miguel lopez de Legazpi

- Establish the first Spanish settlement in 1565 in Cebu.

- Establish Manila and made administrative center of Spanish colony after the defeat of Raja
Sulayman.

The Philippines became a colony of Spain and she belonged to the king of Spain. From the beginning
of Spanish rule up to 1821 the Philippines was administered by the Mexican Viceroy, in the name of
Spanish king.

1821- Mexico gained independence from Spain, the Philippines was directly ruled from Madrid.

POLITICAL SYSTEM:

The king and the other officials issued royal decrees governing the Philippines through Ministry of
Colonies based in Madrid. This body helped the Spanish monarch manage the affairs of colonies and
govern Philippines through centralized government in Manila exercising executive, legislative and
religious power.
Governor General

- Appointed by the Spanish king headed the central administration

- He was the Vice –Royal Patron over religious affairs and can nominate priest for ecclesiastical
administration of the parishes
- (Cumplase Power) the power to decide whether a royal decree should be implemented or
disregarded in the colony.
- Commander-in-chief of the military
- Legislative power
 - Judicial Power, because he is an ex-officio president of Royal Audencia.
- Power to appoint or dismiss government official, except those personally chosen by the king.

Residencia

- Special judicial court that investigates the performance of a governor general who was about to
be replaced.
- Incoming governor general was usually a member in residencia.
- Report its findings to the king.

Visitador General

- Observe the condition of the colony and report his findings to the king

Royal audencia

- Highest court in land.

Alcaldias

- Provincial government headed by Alcalde Mayor.

- Implementing laws and supervised collection of taxes was th3 duty of alcalde mayor
- Province is fully subjugated
- Indulto de commercio, it is a right to trade given to alcaldias.

Corrigiemento

- provincial government headed by Corregidor

- Implementing laws and supervised collection of taxes was the duty of Corregidor
- Province not fully subjugated

Ayuntamiento- larger towns or cities

- Headed by Cabildo or municipal council

- Cabildo is composed of
a. Alcalde(Mayor)
b. Regidores ( councilor)
c. Alguacil mayor (police chief)
d. Escribando (secretary)

Gobernadorcillo (later called Capitan)

- Headed the towns or pueblos (municipal level)

- They had small salaries but exempt from paying taxes
- Any native or Chinese mestizo (Principalia) can be appoint as gobernadorcillo
- First they were elected by all married males, then in 19th century, he was voted by 13 electors
who are the incumbent cabeza de barangay chaired by the outgoing gobernadorcillo.
- Principal function is tax collection
4 lieutenants aided the Gobernadorcillo:
 a. Teniente Mayor (Chief Lieutenant)
b. Teniente de Policia (Police Lieutenant)
c. Teniente de Sementras (lieutenant of the fields)
d. Teniente de ganados (lieutenant of the livestock)

Cabeza de barangay

- Headed the barangay or barrio.

- Collect taxes and tribute from families, responsible for peace and order of the barrio, recruited
men for public works.
- He received 2% of the tax proceed and 4% of the “Sanctorum”, or the tax paid to the church
each year to cover the cost of three fiestas, namely; All Saint day, Holy Thursday and Corpus
Christi.

Filibusteros

- Enemies of the government

Erehes

- Enimies of Catholic church

Social structure
a. Peninsulares- Spaniards who are born in Spain
b. Insulares- Spaniard who are born in Philippines
c. Creoles
1. Illustrado – enlightened one, those who study abroad (Rizal belong in illustrado)
2. Principalia- those who had relative in government or had royal blood.

3 types of Mestizos:

1. Mestizos de Sangley- mixed Chinese and Filipino ancestry

2. Mestizos de espanola- Spanish- Filipino
3. Tornatras- mixed Spanish, Filipino and Chinese ancestry
d. Indios- lowest class

Educational system

- Parochial Schools were established with Spanish Missionaries as the Teachers. Friars occupied
dominant positions.
- Students were taught in native dialect although there is a law requiring children to be taught in
Spanish, because they believe that learning Spanish would make Filipino people to oppose
Spanish rule.
 - UST established by Dominican in 1611, solely for the Spaniards and mestizos.
- The intelligence of student is measured by memorizing the book, even they don’t understand.
- Educational decree of 1863, require that each town in the Philippines should establish atleast
one primary schools for boys and another girls, that the medium of instruction is Spanish, but
friars did not implement its decree.

Weakness of educational system

1. Limited and irrelevant curriculum

2. Poor classroom facilities
3. Absence of teaching material
4. Over emphasis on religion
5. Absence of academic freedom
6. Racial prejudice against Filipino in academic school

Polo y servicio (force labor)

- All male must render 40 days’ service to the church or government for free.
- Falla, it is the payment given to in order not to render polo y servicio.

Economic system

Encomienda System

- It is a system from which the king has the right to transfer the authority of a particular land to
any Spanish individual or institution.
- Titulo is a proof of land ownership
- Headed by Encomienderos later it was replaced by Alcalde Mayor.

Sanctorum

- Tax being paid to support the church

Tribute(buwis)

- Tax or rent given to the landlord. It maybe cash or in kind.

Cedula

- Required to pay for personal identification.

- Everyone over the age of 18 is required to pay

Galleon trade(1565-1815)

- Manila to Acapulco Mexico

- The Spanish Crown owned the ships and restricted the number of voyages to one per year
between Mexico and Manila.