The friars in the

philippines
The Spanish Friars where the crucial elements of westernizing the Philippine
archipelago, and spreading the Christian faith in that part of the world.
Journeying with the first European explorers to these islands in the Far East.
They came with an intension to establishing Catholicism under the patronato
real of the kings of Spain.

After the conquistadores brought the Filipinos under the rule of the Spanish
crown, either by peaceful means of treaties and pacts or, alternatively, by war,
Spain did not send large standing armies to maintain its empire in the East.
The apostolic zeal of the missionaries followed the efforts of men such
as Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, and aided to consolidate the enterprise
of Hispanizing the philippines. The Spanish missionaries acted as de facto
conquerors; they gained the goodwill of the islanders, presented Spanish
culture positively, and in so doing won approximately 2 million converts.
Commenting on the very small standing army that protected the Spanish
government in the Philippines, an old viceroy of New spain was quoted: "En
cada fraile tenía el Rey en Filipinas un Capitan general y un ejercito entero (In
each friar in the Philippines the King had a captain general and a whole
army"). French historian Par J. Mallat made a similar observation. He stated:
"C'est par la seule influence de la religion que l'on a conquis les Philippines, et
cette influence pourra seule les conserver ("It is only by the influence of
religion that the Philippines was conquered. Only this influence could keep
these [islands]").
MARCELO H. DEL PILAR
(1850-1896)
 He was born in Kupang, Bulacan, on Aug. 30, 1850, to cultured parents. He
studied at the Colegio de San José and later at the University of Santo Tomas,
where he finished his law course in 1880. Also, He preached the gospel of work,
self-respect, and human dignity. His mastery of Tagalog, his native language,
enabled him to arouse the consciousness of the masses to the need for unity and
sustained resistance against the Spanish tyrants.

In 1882 Del Pilar founded the newspaper Diariong Tagalog to propagate

democratic liberal ideas among the farmers and peasants. In 1888 he defended
José Rizal's polemical writings by issuing a pamphlet against a priest's attack,
exhibiting his deadly wit and savage ridicule of clerical follies.

In 1888, fleeing from clerical persecution, Del Pilar went to Spain, leaving his
family behind. In December 1889 he succeeded Graciano Lopez Jaena as editor of
the Filipino reformist periodical La solidaridadin Madrid. He promoted the
objectives of the paper by contacting liberal Spaniards who would side with the
Filipino cause.
the aims of the newspaper were expanded to include removal of the friars and the
secularization of the parishes; active Filipino participation in the affairs of the
government; freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly; wider social and political
freedoms; equality before the law; assimilation; and representation in the Spanish
Cortes, or Parliament.

Before he died of tuberculosis caused by hunger and enormous privation, Del Pilar
rejected the assimilationist stand and began planning an armed revolt. He vigorously
affirmed this conviction: "Insurrection is the last remedy, especially when the people
have acquired the belief that peaceful means to secure the remedies for evils prove
futile." This idea inspired Andres Bonifacio's Katipunan, a secret revolutionary
organization. Del Pilar died in Barcelona on July 4, 1896.