LESSON 2: THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND:

The social background of the 19th century

Philippines focused on the following topics:
A. Education
B. The rise of Chinese Mestizo, and
C. The rise of the Inquilinos.

Members: Mr. Jefferson Cabreros

MS. Carla Mae S. Castro Mr. Mc dennielle Cator
James Calma
Ms. Renalyn Cabral Mr.
A. EDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY

 King Philip II mandated the government in the Philippines to educate and teach the natives how
to read and write the Spanish language.
 Arithmetic, vocational, and practical art subjects including religious doctrines
 through strict disciplines, such as applying corporal punishment.
 First formal schools established are parochial schools by the Roman Catholic missionaries in the
Philippines.
 Colleges were then opened as boys’ and girls’ study separately.
 Subjects were History, Latin, Geography, Mathematics, and Philosophy.
 During the 17th century, universities were opened for Spanish citizens and Spanish Mestizos only.
 In1863, a Royal decree instituted the establishment of a public-school system in the Philippines to
accommodate more students from the different social stratification like Spanish Citizens,
mestizos, and Filipino natives.
 Growing numbers of educated Filipino natives give birth to a new social class called as
ilustrados.
 With the opening of the Suez Canal this illustrados were attracted to seek for a higher
education in Europe.
 Nationalism bloomed in the liberal atmosphere.
B. The rise of Chinese Mestizo
 In 1954, the Spanish Governor Luiz Perez Dasmarinas created Binondo as a
permanent settlement for Chinese mestizos who converted to Catholicism. In this
part of manila, Chinese merchants and traders were free to do their business.
Binondo also became the place of intermarriages between Chinese immigrants
and Filipino natives.
 (Mañebog et al., 2018). “The ilustrados who belonged to the landed gentry and
who were highly respected in their respective pueblos or towns, though regarded
as filibusteros or rebels by the friars. The relative prosperity of the period
enabled them to send their sons to Spain and Europe for higher studies. Most of
them later became members of freemasonry and were active in the Propaganda
Movement. Some of them sensed the failure of reformism and turned to
radicalism and looked up to Rizal as their leader." (Vallano, n.d.)
 The Chinese mestizos were an important element of Philippine society in the 19th
century. They played a significant role in the formation of the Filipino middle
class, in the agitation for reforms, in the 1898 revolution, and in the formation of
what is now known as the Filipino nationality. In contemporary times their role
in nation-building continues.
 Performing multiple services as traders, artisans and domestic servants,
the Chinese became indispensable to the needs of the capital.
C. The rise of the Inquilinos.
 The term inquilino has the same meaning as the English ―tenant." Contextually, the
19th Century Inquilino system in the Philippines is better understood as a qualified
system of tenancy, or the right to use land in exchange for rent.
 This system started in the Philippines after the end of the Galleon trade and the opening
of the Suez Canal that requires intensive cultivation of the land for mass production of
crops.
HIERARCHY IN THE INQUIUNO SYTEM.
 Farm land in the Philippines are mostly owned by friars and Secular Spanish.
 The estate management was granted to an administrator who is a Spanish mestizo or
Filipino lay brother. The administrator collects the rent of the inquilinos and remit to the
estate owners
 Inquilinos paid a fired rent and the amount was determined by the size and quality of the
land being worked on. Some inquilinos would make innumerable and irrational demands
from farm workers.
 With the expansion of land owned by missionary congregations the proportions of
farmlands leased to inquilinos also increased allowing many of them to sublease parcels
of their land to sharecroppers or kasamas.
Thank you