PRESENTORS:

Module 3:
SPAIN AND PHILIPPINES
JOSE RIZAL IN RIZAL’S TIME
 The first Spanish settlement was founded at
Cebu by Miguel Lopez de Lagazpi in 1565.
The Filipinos had their own indigenous culture
and their own government before the conquest,
the barangay, headed by the indigenous chieftain
named, “datu”. The people learned how to read
Miguel Lopez de legazpi and write and they had the beginning of a native
literature and art.
The shape of government and laws has
changed. They were compelled to follow foreign
ways and Spanish Catholicism.
POLITICAL SYSTEM

Through the Ministry of Colonies (Ministro de Ultra Mar) located in Madrid

the King and other officials issued royal decrees governing the Philippines.

 Governor General – He is appointed by the King of Spain, led the central

government. He was the representative of the King in matters of government, and
was the patron saint of religious matters.

 Provincial Government – run by civil governors.

 Municipal government – called the “cabildo or ayuntamiento” and administered

by the mayor and deputy mayor, boh chief executives and chief justices.
POLITICAL SYSTEM

Local Government made up of barangays headed by the governorcillo (captain).

At the beginning of each year, the governorcillo was elected “principalia” made up of
the ex - cabeza de Barangay, the smallest government unit.

Cabeza de barangay – head of the barangay or neighborhood whose main

responsibility was to collect taxes and tributes from families. For his services, he
received two outlays (2 percent ) of the tax revenue an four (4) percent of the
‘sanctorum’ or tax paid to the Church every year to cover the cost of three feasts,
namely: All Saints Day, Holy Thursday, and Corpus Christi.
ABUSES OF THE GOVERNMENT

The governor general often lacked the moral strength to resist corruption because of
material advancement. Some positions in the government were filled by the highest bidder,
so many officials used their offices to recover their expenses and to enrich themselves.
The provincial government where the mayor was the administrator, judge, and military
commander was the most corrupt branch of the government. He was in control of provincial
trade. More taxes were collected tha required by law and the excess collections were
pocketed.
 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM DURING SPANISH REGIME

Parochial schools have been founded with Spanish missionaries as teachers. Teacher were
taught in local dialects because the Spanish claim that learning Spanish would make Filipinos
resist Spanish rule. Religion was the most important subject in the world. The children
attended classes on the ground floor of the convent or in a stable in the “casa real” or in the
darkest corner of the town hall. Such wretched schools were built by the friars to repress
human intelligence rather than nurture and grow it.
At the end of the Spanish era, the University of Santo Thomas (UST) was the only
university-level institution in Manila. It was established in 1611 solely for the Spanish and the
Mestizos. It opened the doors to Filipino students four decades before the end of the Spanish
regime so Jose Rizal and other heroes had come to study. San Juan de Letran College and
Ateneo De Manila were the primary schools for boys while secondary education was founded
in Manila led by Santa Isabel College, La Concordia, Sta. College of Catalina, Sta. Rosa and
Asilo de Lookan.
 EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM DURING SPANISH REGIME

Although Spanish colonial administration issued Educational Decree of 20 December

1863 declaring that “every major city in the Philippines should have at least one primary
school for boys and another for girls, and the medium of education is Spanish,” the friars did
not enact because they assume that if the Filipinos were to be taught, they would be influenced
by new ideas of democracy, liberty and justice.
Another good aim of Spain to develop the education system in the Philippines was the
Moret Decree of 1870. This policy was meant to secularize higher education in the colony;
once again, friars opposed this idea.
FRAILOCRACY

Due to Spanish political philosophy of the union of the church and the State, a unique
form of government emerged in the Philippines called “frailocracy” because it was the
“government of the friars”. History reveals that the friars (Augustinians, Dominicans, and
Franciscans) have dominated the religious and educational life of the Philippines. In the
29th century, they have gained tremendous political power, influence and wealth.
The colonial government, down to the mayors, were under the control of the friars.
Besides their priestly duties, the friar was overseer of municipal elections, school and tax
auditor, moral arbter, censor of books and comedies (stage plays), superintendent of public
works and protector of peace and order.
FORCED LABOR (Polo y Servicio

Filipino males aged 16-60 were forced to conduct forced labor for 40 days a year. The
Royal Decree of 12 July 1883 promulgated by the Council of State of 3 February 1885,
raised the minimum age of police officers (forcible workers) from 16 to 18 and shortened
the working days from 40 to 15.
The same Royal Decree provided that male Spanish residents aged 18 to 0 must
perform forced labor but it has never been implemented in the Philippines.
 THE ABUSES OF GUARDIA CIVIL CHURCH OFFICIALS
AND POLITICAL LEADERS

The last hated emblem of Spanish tyranny was the Guardia Civil (Constabularly)
created with the aim of maintaining internal peace and order in the Philippines. It was
modeled after the popular and well-disciplined Civil Guard in Spain.
They were notorious for their systematic crimes such as maltreatment of innocent
citizens, stealing their carabaos, chickens, and precious property, and raping poor women.
All officers (Spaniards) and citizens (Natives) were ill-trained and unruly unlike the
Guardia Civil.
Rizal witnessed the atrocities committed by the Guardia Civil against the people of
Calamba. He and his mother were victims of the violence of the lieutenant of the Guardia
Civil.
Through Elias in Noli Me Tangere, he exposed the Guardia Civil as a bunch of
merciless ruffians only “to disturb the peace” and “to persecute honest men”.
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