The Spanish Rule

Introduction

Spain reigned over the Philippines for 333 years, from

1565 to 1898. since Spain was far from the country, the
Spanish king ruled the Islands through the viceroy of
Mexico, which was then another Spanish colony. When
Mexico regained its freedom in 1821, the Spanish king
ruled the Philippines through a governor general. A
special government body that oversaw matters,
pertaining to the colonies assisted the king in this respect.
This body became known by many names. Council of the
Indies (1565-1837), Overseas Council (1837-1863), and
Ministry of the Colonies (1863–1898). It is implemented
the decrees and legal codes Spain promulgated although
many of its provisions could not apply to condition in the
colonies. It also exercised legislative and judicial powers.
 Overview

The Philippine colony was governed by Spaniards, by laws made in

Spain, and for the sole good of the mother country and its
representatives in the colony. Filipinos held only minor offices. They
were not given the benefits of public education and their rights and
wishes were almost completely ignored.
Philippines under Spanish Rule
The Spanish accomplished little in the Philippines. They introduced
Catholicism, established a Walled City in Manila but ultimately they were
disappointed because they couldn't find spices or gold (gold was only
discovered in large quantities after the Americans arrived).
  The Spanish were able to gain control of the coastal areas of the northern
and central islands, but not the southern islands, where Islam was deeply
rooted, and the jungle interior and highlands, where indigenous tribes,
including headhunters, were able to repel Spanish incursions. The most high-
status and affluent groups of people were Chinese entrepreneurs, lured by
business opportunities, and Spanish officials. They intermarried with the local
population, producing a new and distinctive culture.
 Philippines under Spanish Rule
  The Philippines was administered by the Viceroyalty of New Spain in present-
day Mexico but in many ways the Philippines was ruled by Catholic church.
Most Filipinos had little contact with the Spanish other than through the church.
Their acceptance of Christianity acted both to pacify the population and bond
them with the Spaniards. The church also acted as an administrative body.
The Spanish introduced the idea of land holding to native people—many of
whom previously had limited notions about private property—and took control
of large swaths of land owned for centuries by native groups. This way many
native Philippine people came to live on land that was owned by the Spanish or
people with close ties to the Spanish and they became tenants or paid laborers.
The Spaniards as Colonial Masters
The Political Structure

Spain established a centralized colonial government in

the Philippines that was composed of a national
government and the local governments that
administered provinces, cities, towns and
municipalities. With the cooperation of the local
governments the national government maintained
peace and order, collected taxes and built schools and
other public works.
The Governor General

As the King's representative and the highest-ranking official in

the Philippines, the governor general saw to it that royal decrees
and laws emanating from Spain were implemented in the
Philippines. He had the power to appoint and dismiss public
officials, except those personally chosen by the King. He also
supervised all government offices and the collection of taxes.
The governor general exercised certain legislative powers, as
well. He issued proclamations to facilitate the implementation
of laws.
The Governor General

• Compalse – the right of the governor-general the operation

of a royal decree or order relative to the Philippines if in his
opinion, the said order or decree would not be beneficial to
the administration of the country.
• The usual formula in the right of comples was “I obey but I
do not comply”.
The Residencia

This was a special judicial court that investigates the

performance of a governor general who was about to
be replaced. The residencia, of which the incoming
governor general was usually a member, submitted a
report of its findings to the King.
The Visita

The Council of the Indies in Spain sent a government

official called the Vistador General to observe
conditions in the colony. The Visitador General
reported his findings directly to the King.
The Royal Audiencia
Apart from its judicial functions, the Royal Audiencia served
as an advisory body to the Governor General and had the
power to check and a report on his abuses. The Audiencia also
audited the expenditures of the colonial government and sent
a yearly report to Spain. The Archbishop and other
government officials could also report the abuses of the
colonial government to be Spanish king. Despite all these
checks, however, an abusive governor general often managed
to escape stiff fines, suspension, or dismissal by simply
bribing the Visitador and other investigators.
The Provincial Government
The Spaniards created local government units to facilitate the country’s
administration. There were two types of local government units:
The Alcadia -led by the alcalde mayor, governed the provinces that had
been fully subjugated
The Corregimiento -headed by corregidor, governed the provinces that
were not yet entirely under Spanish control.
The alcalde mayors represented the Spanish king and the governor
general in their respective provinces. They managed the day-to-day
operations of the provincial government, implemented laws and
supervised the collection of taxes. Through they were paid a small salary,
they enjoyed privileges such as the indulto de comercio, or the right to
participate in the galleon trade.
The Municipal Government

Each province was divided into several towns or

pueblos headed by Governadorcillos, whose main
concerns were efficient governance and tax collection.
Four lieutenants aided the Governardorcillo: the
Teniente Mayor (chief lieutenant), the Teniente de
Policia (police lieutenant), the Teniente de Sementeras
(lieutenant of the fields) and the Teniente de Ganados
(lieutenant of the livestock).
The Encomienda System
Formal system of forced labor in Spanish colonies in Latin
America and the Philippines, intended to encourage conquest
and colonization. Under this system, leaders of the indigenous
community paid tribute to colonists with food, cloth, minerals,
or by providing laborers. In return, the laborers were given
military protection and the opportunity to be converted to
Christianity. The purpose of the encomienda system in the
Spanish Empire was to provide an incentive for conquistadors
to conquer new territories and to provide free labor to extract
wealth from the colonies. For the Catholic Church, the system
permitted indigenous peoples to be exposed to Christianity.
The Encomienda System
Spain owed the colonization of the Philippines to Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi, who valiantly and loyally served the Spanish crown. To hasten
the subjugation of the country, King Philip II instructed Legazpi to divide
the Philippines into large territories called encomiendas, to be left to the
management of designated encomenderos.
To show his gratitude to his conquistadors, the King made them the first
encomenderos in the colony. As the King’s representatives in their
respective encomiendas, the encomenderos had the right to collect taxes.
However, the encomiendas were not there to own. The encomenderos
were only territorial overseers who had the duty to: 1) protect the people
in the encomienda; (2) maintain peace and order; (3) promote education
and health programs; and (4) help the missionaries propagate
Christianity. Continue to The Galleon Trade.
The Polo y Servicio System
The Polo y Servicios is the forced labor without
compensation. In this system all men (16-60 years old)
are forced to work heavy works for town activities
such as roads, churches, bridges, schools, government
buildings and public structures.
Political System and the Sources of Abuses in
the Administrative System
The Spaniards ruled the Filipinos in the 19th century. The Filipinos became the
Spaniard’s slave. The Spaniards claimed their taxes and they worked under the power of
the Spaniards. Sources of Abuses in the Administrative System:
1. There was an appointment of officials with inferior qualifications, without
dedication of duty and moral strength to resist corruption for material
advancement. Through the power and authority the Spaniards possess, they
collected and wasted the money of the Filipinos.
2. There were too complicated functions to the unions of the church and the state
3. Manner of obtaining the position
4. Term of office
5. Distance of the colony
6. Personal interest over Welfare of the state
 LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS: SPANISH OUTPOST OF
EMPIRE
From 1565 to 1898, across the broad expanse of two oceans, Spain maintained her
sovereignty over the Philippine Islands. Too remote for direct governance, the
archipelago was ruled through Spain’s American empire – as a gobernación of the
Viceroyalty of Mexico. For the greater part of these 333-odd years, the Philippines, like
all the other Spanish colonies, was chiefly governed under three main laws:
• The Siete Partidas,
• The Nueva Recopilación; and
• The Recopilación de las Leyes de las Indias.
The chaotic state of colonial law is picturesquely described by Sinibaldo de Mas,
Spanish economist and diplomat, who had been dispatched to Manila in the mid-
nineteenth century by the central government. In a three-volume report entitled
Informe Sobre El Estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842, Sinibaldo de Mas minced no
words about the colonial justice system.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN SPANISH PHILIPPINES
The supreme judicial body in the colony was the Royal Audiencia,
established in 1584, headed by the Governor-General. In 1861, the
Audiencia was reorganized and divided into two divisions Sala de lo Civil
and Sala de lo Criminal with a Chief Justice as its head and eight Associate
Justices composing the Court. In 1893, a further reorganization established
two territorial Audiencias (Cebu and Vigan) subject to the appellate
jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Manila. Below the Audiencia were the
inferior courts: The Courts of First Instance (established in 1886) and the
Justice of the Peace Courts (established in 1885). It is interesting to note
how long this judicial structure lasted. It was not until the 1980’s that a
general reform of the court system in the Philippines discontinued the use
of the terms Court of First Instance and Justice of the Peace Courts.
 LAST-MINUTE REFORMS
Major reforms did come in the late nineteenth century, with the extension to, and
promulgation in, the colony of legislation of far-reaching significance. Among these
important laws were: 1. the Spanish Mortgage Law, which systematized the registration
of privately-owned land; 2. the Mining Law; 1. the Copyright Law; and 2. the Maura Law
of 1893, which introduced broad local government reforms and laid the basis for the
local-government system effective in the Philippines to this day.
The most significant of the new laws were the three major codes: the Código Penal,
in 1887; the Code of Commerce, in 1889, and, of course, the Código Civil, also in 1889.
These three codes formed much of the basis of Philippine private law and endured long
after Spain left the Islands in 1898. The Código Penal was not superseded until the
Revised Penal Code of 1932. Portions of the Code of Commerce remain in force to the
present day. The Código Civil was in force until 1950, when it was superseded by the
Civil Code of the Philippines, which resembles the Spanish Code so closely some
scholars consider it an English version of the Código Civil.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: CONTINUING
INFLUENCE OF SPANISH CIVIL LAW
The Americans set up a structure of civil government in the Philippines,
but the influence of Spanish law did not die. On the contrary, it continued to
grow and flourish. For one thing, both the Civil Code and the Code of
Commerce – being laws of a non-political nature – remained in force. For
another, young Filipinos in increasing numbers were enrolling in the law
schools and with the passage of the years became the law practitioners, the
judges, the law teachers, and the legal scholars of the new Amercian colony.
At the end of the Spanish sovereignty at the turn of the new century, there
were only two law schools in the Islands: the Facultad de Derecho Civil of the
University of Santo Tomás and the Escuela de Derecho. Both schools taught
the law courses in Spanish. In 1911, the newly-founded University of the
Philippines opened a law school, conducting its courses in English.
 Conclusion
The Philippine colony was governed by
Spaniards, by laws made in Spain, and for the
sole good of the mother country and its
representatives in the colony. Filipinos held
only minor offices. They were not given the
benefits of public education and their rights
and wishes were almost completely ignored.
Assessment
I. IDENTIFICATION
1. How many years that the Spain reigned the Philippines?
2. It is the system that where leaders of the indigenous community
paid tribute to colonists with food, cloth, minerals, or by
providing laborers.
3. Who is the king’s representative and the highest-ranking official
in the Philippines during the Spanish colonization?
4. Give the 4 lieutenants aided by Gobernadorcillo.
5. For the greater part of these 333-odd years, the Philippines, like
all the other Spanish colonies, was chiefly governed under three
main laws, what are they?