Spanish settlement and rule (1565–1898)

Early Spanish expeditions and conquests

Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines in 1521.

Parts of the Philippine Islands were known to Europeans before the 1521 Spanish expedition around the world led by Portuguese-born Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who were not the first Europeans in the Philippines.[clarification needed] Magellan landed on the island called Homonhon, claiming the islands he saw for Spain, and naming them Islas de San Lázaro. He established friendly relations with some of the local leaders especially with Rajah Humabon and converted some of them to Roman Catholicism. In the Philippines, they explored many islands including the island of Mactan. However, Magellan was killed during the Battle of Mactan against the datu Lapu-Lapu.

Over the next several decades, other Spanish expeditions were dispatched to the islands. In 1543, Ruy López de Villalobos led an expedition to the islands and gave the name Las Islas Filipinas (after Philip II of Spain) to the islands of Samar and Leyte. The name was extended to the entire archipelago in the twentieth century.

A late 17th-century manuscript by Gaspar de San Agustin from the Archive of the Indies, depicting López de Legazpi's conquest of the Philippines

European colonization began in earnest when Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi arrived from Mexico in 1565 and formed the first European settlements in Cebu. Beginning with just five ships and five hundred men accompanied by Augustinian monks, and further strengthened in 1567 by two hundred soldiers, he was able to repel the Portuguese and create the foundations for the colonization of the Archipelago. In 1571, the Spanish occupied the kingdoms of Maynila and Tondo and established Manila as the capital of the Spanish East Indies.

Legazpi built a fort in Maynila and made overtures of friendship to Rajah Lakandula of Tondo, who accepted. However, Maynila's former ruler, Rajah Sulaiman, refused to submit to Legazpi, but failed to get the support of Lakandula or of the Pampangan and Pangasinan settlements to the north. When Sulaiman and a force of Tagalog warriors attacked the Spaniards in the battle of Bangcusay, he was finally defeated and killed.

In 1587, Magat Salamat, one of the children of Lakan Dula, Lakan Dula's nephew, and the lords of the neighboring areas of Tondo, Pandacan, Marikina, Candaba, Navotas and Bulacan were executed when the Tondo Conspiracy of 1587-1588 failed in which a planned grand alliance with the Japanese admiral Gayo, Butuan's last rajah and Brunei's Sultan Bolkieh, would have restored the old aristocracy. Its failure resulted in the hanging of Agustín de Legazpi (great grandson of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and the initiator of the plot) and the execution of Magat Salamat (the crown-prince of Tondo).

Spanish power was further consolidated after Miguel López de Legazpi's conquest of the Confederation of Madya-as, his subjugation of Rajah Tupas, the King of Cebu and Juan de Salcedo's conquest of the

provinces of Zambales, La Union, Ilocos, the coast of Cagayan, and the ransacking of the Chinese warlord Limahong's pirate kingdom in Pangasinan.

The Spanish and the Moros also waged many wars over hundreds of years in the Spanish-Moro Conflict, not until the 19th century did Spain succeed in defeating the Sulu Sultanate and taking Mindanao under nominal suzerainty.

Spanish settlement during the 16th and 17th centuries

It has been suggested that End of Dutch threat in the Philippines be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2011.

The "Memoria de las Encomiendas en las Islas" of 1591, just twenty years after the conquest of Luzon, reveals a remarkable[says who?] progress in the work of colonization and the spread of Christianity. In the city of Manila was built a cathedral with an episcopal palace, Augustinian, Dominican and Franciscan monasteries and a Jesuit house. The king maintained a hospital for the Spanish settlers and there was another hospital for the natives run by the Franciscans. The garrison was composed of roughly two hundred soldiers. In the suburb of Tondo there was a convent run by Franciscan friars and other by the Dominicans that offered Christian education to the Chinese converted to Christianity. The same report reveals that in and around Manila were collected nine thousand four hundred and ten tributes, indicating a population of about thirty thousand and six hundred forty souls who were under the instruction of thirteen missionaries (ministers of doctrine), apart from the monks in monasteries. In the former province of Pampanga the population estimate was 74,700 and twenty-eight missionaries. In Pangasinan 2,400 people with eight missionaries. In Cagayan and islands Babuyanes 96,000 souls but not missionaries. In La Laguna 48,400 souls with twenty-seven missionaries. In Bicol and Camarines Catanduanes islands 86,640 souls with fifteen missionaries. The total was 667,612 souls under the care of one hundred forty missionaries, of which seventy-nine were Augustinians, nine Dominicans and forty-two Franciscans.

The fragmented nature of the islands made it easy for Spanish colonization. The Spanish then brought political unification to most of the Philippine archipelago via the conquest of the various states although they were unable to fully incorporate parts of the sultanates of Mindanao and the areas where tribes and highland plutocracy of the Ifugao of Northern Luzon were established. The Spanish introduced elements of western civilization such as the code of law, western printing and the Gregorian calendar alongside new food resources such as maize, pineapple and chocolate from Latin America.

Library of the University of Santo Tomás in Manila, 1887

Education played a major role in the socioeconomic transformation of the archipelago. The oldest universities, colleges, and vocational schools and the first modern public education system in Asia were all created during the Spanish colonial period, and by the time Spain was replaced by the United States as the colonial power, Filipinos were among the most educated subjects in all of Asia. The Jesuits founded the Colegio de San Ildefonso on August 1, 1595, after the expulsion of the Society of Jesus, the Colegio closed down. On April 28, 1611, through the initiative of Bishop Miguel de Benavides, the

Universidad de Santo Tomás was founded in Manila. The Jesuits also founded the Colegio de San José (1601) and the Ateneo Municipal, later to be called the Ateneo de Manila University (1859). All institutions offered courses included not only religious topics but also science subjects such as physics, chemistry, natural history and mathematics. The University of Santo Tomás, for example, started by teaching theology, philosophy and humanities and during the 18th century, the Faculty of Jurisprudence and Canonical Law, together with the schools of medicine and pharmacy were opened.

Outside the tertiary institutions, the efforts of missionaries were in no way limited to religious instruction but also geared towards promoting social and economic advancement of the islands. They cultivated into the natives their innate[citation needed] taste for music and taught Spanish language to children. They also introduced advances in rice agriculture, brought from America corn and cocoa and developed the farming of indigo, coffee and sugar cane. The only commercial plant introduced by a government agency was the plant of tobacco.

Church and state were inseparably linked in Spanish policy, with the state assuming responsibility for religious establishments. One of Spain's objectives in colonizing the Philippines was the conversion of the local population to Roman Catholicism. The work of conversion was facilitated by the absence of other organized religions, except for Islam, which was still predominant in the southwest. The pageantry of the church had a wide appeal, reinforced by the incorporation of indigenous social customs into religious observances. The eventual outcome was a new Roman Catholic majority, from which the Muslims of western Mindanao and the upland tribal peoples of Luzon remained detached and alienated (such as the Ifugaos of the Cordillera region and the Mangyans of Mindoro).

At the lower levels of administration, the Spanish built on traditional village organization by co-opting local leaders. This system of indirect rule helped create an indigenous upper class, called the principalia, who had local wealth, high status, and other privileges. This perpetuated an oligarchic system of local control. Among the most significant changes under Spanish rule was that the indigenous idea of communal use and ownership of land was replaced with the concept of private ownership and the conferring of titles on members of the principalia.

From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as a territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from Mexico, via the Royal Audiencia of Manila, and administered directly from Spain from 1821 after the Mexican revolution, until 1898.

The chico (sapodilla) is a popular fruit in the Philippines indigenous to Aztec America.

Many of the Aztec and Mayan warriors that López de Legazpi brought with him eventually settled in Mexico, Pampanga where traces of Aztec and Mayan influence can still be found in the many chico plantations in the area (chico is a fruit indigenous only to Mexico) and also by the name of the province itself.

Location of the "Capitanía General de las Filipinas"

The Manila Galleons which linked Manila to Acapulco traveled once or twice a year between the 16th and 19th centuries. The Spanish military fought off various indigenous revolts and several external colonial challenges, especially from the British, Chinese pirates, Dutch, and Portuguese. Roman Catholic missionaries converted most of the lowland inhabitants to Christianity and founded schools, universities, and hospitals. In 1863 a Spanish decree introduced education, establishing public schooling in Spanish.

Coat of arms of Manila were at the corners of the Cross of Burgundy in the Spanish-Filipino battle standard.

In 1646, a series of five naval actions known as the Battles of La Naval de Manila was fought between the forces of Spain and the Dutch Republic, as part of the Eighty Years War. Although the Spanish forces consisted of just two Manila galleons and a galley with crews composed mainly of Filipino volunteers, against three separate Dutch squadrons, totaling eighteen ships, the Dutch squadrons were severely defeated in all fronts by the Spanish-Filipino forces, forcing the Dutch to abandon their plans for an invasion of the Philippines.

Spanish rule during the 18th century

Colonial income derived mainly from entrepôt trade: The Manila Galleons sailing from the Fort of Manila to the Fort of Acapulco on the west coast of Mexico brought shipments of silver bullion, and minted coin that were exchanged for return cargoes of Asian, and Pacific products. A total of 110 Manila galleons set sail in the 250 years of the Manila-Acapulco galleon trade (1565 to 1815). There was no direct trade with Spain until 1766.

The Philippines was never profitable as a colony during Spanish rule, and the long war against the Dutch in the 17th century together with the intermittent conflict with the Muslims in the South nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury. The Royal Fiscal of Manila wrote a letter to King Charles III of Spain, in which he advises to abandon the colony.

The Philippines survived on an annual subsidy paid by the Spanish Crown, and the 200-year-old fortifications at Manila had not been improved much since first built by the early Spanish colonizers. This was one of the circumstances that made possible the brief British occupation of Manila between 1762 and 1764.

British occupation (1762–1764)

Sign in Fort Santiago Manila, next to the departure point of Simón de Anda.

Britain declared war against Spain on 4 January 1762 and on 24 September 1762 a force of British Army regulars and British East India Company soldiers, supported by the ships and men of the East Indies

Squadron of the British Royal Navy, sailed into Manila Bay from Madras, India. The expedition, led by Brigadier General William Draper and Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish, captured Manila, "the greatest Spanish fortress in the western Pacific", and a Manila galleon carrying silver.

Oidor Simón de Anda y Salazar was dispatched by the Real Audienca to the provincial town of Bulacan to organize resistance to the British once Manila fell and he took with him a substantial portion of the treasury and official records. He also assumed the position of Governor and Captain-General under statutes of the Indies, as he was the only member of the Audienca not taken captive by the British.

The British looted and plundered many of Manila's establishments during the Battle of Manila and secured a written surrender of the Philippines from Archbishop Manuel Rojo on 30 October 1762,. This was rejected by Anda as he was now legally the Governor. The British forces were unable to expand their control beyond Manila and nearby Cavite. Frustrated by this, they freed Sultan Azim ud-Din I and supported the insurrectionists, Diego and Gabriela Silang, to destroy the support for the Spanish in the countryside but the insurrection was suppressed and Oidor Anda as the countryside was secured by Spanish-Filipino forces that left the British in Manila increasingly isolated. Anda also prevented any more Manila Galleons from falling into British hands by intercepting and re-directing them. After the Seven Years War was ended by the Treaty of Paris (1763), the city was returned to the Spanish Crown.

Suffering frustration, command dissensions and troop desertions, as a result of their failure to secure control of the Philippines, the British ended their occupation by sailing away from Manila and Cavite in April 1764 as agreed to in the peace negotiations in Europe. However, a number of Indian soldiers known as Sepoys, deserted the British forces and settled down in Cainta, Rizal, which explains the uniquely Indian features of generations of Cainta residents. The Spaniards then persecuted the Binondo Chinese community for its role in supporting the British.

Spanish rule in the second part of the 18th Century

The Cross of Burgundy served as the flag of the Viceroyalty of New Spain

In 1766 was established direct communication with Spain and trade with Europe through a national ship based on Spain. Those expeditions were administered since 1785 by the Real Compañía Filipina, which was granted a monopoly of trade between Spain and the islands that lasted until 1834, when the company was terminated by the Spanish crown due to poor management and financial losses.

In 1781, Governor-General José Basco y Vargas established the Economic Society of the Friends of the Country.[81] The Philippines was administered from the Viceroyalty of New Spain until the grant of independence to Mexico in 1821 necessitated the direct rule from Spain of the Philippines from that year.

Spanish rule during the 19th Century

During the 19th century Spain invested heavily in education and infrastructure. Through the Education Decree of December 20, 1863, Queen Isabella II of Spain decreed the establishment of a free public school system that used Spanish as the language of instruction, leading to increasing numbers of educated Filipinos. Additionally, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cut travel time to Spain, which facilitated the rise of the ilustrados, an enlightened class of Filipinos that had been able to expand their studies in Spain and Europe.

Puente de Claveria (Quezon Bridge)

A great deal of infrastructure projects were undertaken during the 19th century that put the Philippine economy and standard of living ahead of most of its Asian neighbors and even many European countries at that time. Among them were a railway system for Luzon, a tramcar network for Manila, and the Puente Colgante (now known as the Quezon Bridge), Asia's first steel suspension bridge.[83] On August 1, 1851 the Banco Español-Filipino de Isabel II was established to attend the needs of the rapid economic boom, that had greatly increased its pace since 1840 as a result of a new economy based on a rational exploitation of the agricultural resources of the islands. The increase in textile fiber crops such as abacá, oil products derived from the coconut, indigo, that was growing in demand, etc., generated an increase in money supply that led to the creation of the bank. Banco Español-Filipino was also granted the power to print a Philippine-specific currency (the Philippine peso) for the first time (before 1851, many currencies were used, mostly the pieces of eight).

Spanish Manila was seen in the 19th century as a model of colonial governance that effectively put the interests of the original inhabitants of the islands before those of the colonial power. As John Crawfurd put it in its History of the Indian Archipelago, in all of Asia the "Philippines alone did improve in civilization, wealth, and populousness under the colonial rule" of a foreign power. John Bowring, Governor General of British Hong Kong from 1856 to 1860), wrote after his trip to Manila:

Credit is certainly due to Spain for having bettered the condition of a people who, though comparatively highly civilized, yet being continually distracted by petty wars, had sunk into a disordered and uncultivated state.

The inhabitants of these beautiful Islands upon the whole, may well be considered to have lived as comfortably during the last hundred years, protected form all external enemies and governed by mild laws vis-a-vis those from any other tropical country under native or European sway, owing in some measure, to the frequently discussed peculiar (Spanish) circumstances which protect the interests of the natives.

In The inhabitants of the Philippines, Frederick Henry Sawyer wrote:

Until an inept bureaucracy was substituted for the old paternal rule, and the revenue quadrupled by increased taxation, the Filipinos were as happy a community as could be found in any colony. The population greatly multiplied; they lived in competence, if not in affluence; cultivation was extended, and the exports steadily increased. Let us be just; what British, French, or Dutch colony, populated by natives can compare with the Philippines as they were until 1895?." ”

The first official census in the Philippines was carried out in 1878. The colony's population as of December 31, 1877, was recorded at 5,567,685 persons. This was followed by the 1887 census that yielded a count of 6,984,727, while that of 1898 yielded 7,832,719 inhabitants .

The estimated GDP per capita for the Philippines in 1900, the year Spain left, was of $1,033.00. That made it the second richest place in all of Asia, just a little behind Japan ($1,135.00), and far ahead of China ($652.00) or India ($625.00).

Spanish influence on Filipino culture

Hispanic influence on Filipino culture are customs and traditions of the Philippines which originated from three centuries of Spanish[1] colonization. Filipinos today speak a variety of different languages; the most common being Ilocano, Tagalog, Cebuano, English and Chavacano. There are thousands of Spanish loan words in most Filipino languages and a Spanish-Based creole language called Chavacano is spoken by about more than a million Filipinos in the southern, Northern Philippines, parts of Luzon, the Visayas, in Sabbah, Malaysia and in the Filipino diaspora such as in Latin America, Europe and the United States. The Philippines, having been one of the most distant Spanish colonies, received less migration of people from Spain, compared to the colonies in Latin America. Most of the influence from the colonial period is from Mexico, rather than Spain. Mexican influence is evident in Architecture, religion, ethnicity, language and traditions.

History

Before the Spanish colonization, there were already a mixture of cultures, the native people similar to Melanesians and Australian Aborigines, a majority population of Malays and Polynesians, and small groups of people from other Southeast Asian countries. The Philippines and Guam were the furthest colonies from Spain, and it was decided that they would be governed from Mexico, as it was a lot closer. Because of this the Philippines received significant influence from Mexican culture.

Language

The most common language spoken in the Philippines today is English and Filipino which is based on Tagalog. Spanish was an official language of the country until the change of government in 1987, which led to Spanish being dropped as an official language for political reasons. The Filipino government then chose Tagalog and English as the official languages. There are a minority of people who still speak Spanish in public; these people are mostly of Hispanic origin.

The Spanish spoken in the Philippines today has a great affinity with Mexican Spanish. Filipino Spanish contains many Mexican Spanish loanwords of Nahuatl origin which were first incorporated into Mexican Spanish, and which do not exist in European Spanish. Examples include nanay (nantl), tatay (tatle), bayabas [from guayaba(s), guava], abokado (avocado), papaya, sayote, zapote, and palengke.

Various Filipino languages have significantly assimilated aspects of the Spanish language, and contain thousands of loanwords. Numerous words, and some grammatical concepts of the Spanish vocabulary, are used in Chavacano, Cebuano, Tagalog, Bicolano, and Ilocano.

Name of the Philippines

The name of the Philippines comes from the king of Spain Philip II. It was given by the Spanish explorer Ruy López de Villalobos who named the islands of Samar and Leyte "Las Islas Felipinas" (The Philippine Islands), during his expedition in 1543. Throughout the colonial period, the name Felipinas (Philippines) was used, and became the official name of the Philippines.

There are many provinces in the Philippines with Spanish names, such as Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Isabela, Quirino, Aurora, La Union, Marinduque, Antique, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Valle de Compostela.

Many cities, and towns are also named in Spanish, such as Medellin, Santander, Nueva Valencia, Naga City (prior to 1919 was known as Nueva Cáceres), Las Piñas, Prosperidad, Isabela City, Sierra Bullones, Angeles, La Paz, Esperanza, Buenavista, Pilar, La Trinidad, Garcia Hernandez, Trece Martires, Los Baños, Floridablanca and many more. There are numerous other towns and cities named after saints, such as San Fernando, Santa Rosa, Santa Rita, San Jose, San Pablo, and San Marcelino, as well as after Spanish cities, such as Sevilla, Toledo, Cadiz, Zaragoza, Lucena, and Salamanca.

Other native Filipino names are spelled using Spanish orthography, such as Cagayán de Oro, Parañaque, and Cebú.

Filipino Spanish surnames

On 21 November 1849 the Spanish Governor General of the Philippine Islands, Narciso Clavería, decreed the systematic distribution of surnames and the implementation of the Spanish naming system for Filipinos and Filipinas, thereby producing the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos (“Alphabetical Catalogue of Surnames") listing Spanish, Filipino, and Hispanicised Chinese words, names, and numbers. Thus many Spanish-sounding Filipino surnames are not surnames common to the Hispanophone world. However, Spanish nobility and colonial administrator surnames were explicitly prohibited.

The colonial authorities implemented this decree because too many (early) Christianized Filipinos assumed religious-instrument and saint names. There soon were too many people surnamed "de los Santos" (“of the Saints”), "de la Cruz" (“of the Cross”), "del Rosario" (“of the Rosary”), "Bautista" (“Baptist”), et cetera, which made it difficult for the Spanish colonists to control the Filipino people, and most important, to collect taxes. This Spanish naming custom countered the native Filipino naming custom wherein siblings assumed different surnames, as practised before the Spanish Conquest of the Philippine islands.

Moreover, because of this implementation of Spanish naming customs (given name -paternal surname -maternal surname) in the Philippines, a Spanish surname does not necessarily denote Spanish ancestry

People

The majority of Filipinos are descendants from Malayo-Polynesians. These people are closely related to the Chamorro people in Guam and the Mariana Islands. Although there are lots of other ethnicities in the Philippines, such as the native population related to the Aborigines of Australia and Melanesians. There are also Mexicans, French, Spanish, Chinese and Malaysians.

Official percentage of Filipinos with Spanish ancestry is unknown. The Philippine Statistics Department does not account for the racial background or ancestry of an individual. Different estimates of this mixed descent, either by the parent side, it is calculated that some 3,500,000 to 5,000,000. In other cases it is also estimated with a proximity of 17,000,000 to 36,550,197 people of Hispanic descent. But none of these estimates are supported by genetic studies. [2]

Religion

The statue of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is being brought to the altar before the celebration. Manila Cathedral.

The Philippines is one of two predominantly Roman Catholic countries in Asia, the other being East Timor. About 90% of the population are Catholics. About 5% are Muslim, and about 5% practiced other religion, and those with no religion.

Filipinos at home set up altars in Hispanic tradition, adorned with Catholic icons, flowers, statues, and candles. On festival season, most barrios organized religious church service, and processions in honor of their patron saint, and cooked a variety of Filipino food.

Festivities

All major Roman Catholic holy days are observed as official national holidays in the Philippines. Spanish-Mexican culture and Christianity has influenced the customs and traditions of the Philippines.

Every year on the 3rd week of January, the Philippines celebrates the festival of the "Santo Niño" (Holy Child Jesus), the largest being held in Cebu City.

Holiday

January 1 - New Years Day (Año Nuevo or Bagong Taon)

March or April - Semana Santa (Holy Week or Easter)

October 31 to November 2 - Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), Araw ng mga Kaluluwa/Día de las almas (All Souls' Day), and Todos Los Santos (All Saints' Day) where families spend much of the 3 days and 3 evenings visiting their ancestral graves, showing respect and honoring the departed relatives by feasting, decorating and offering prayers.

December 24 - Nochebuena (Good night or Christmas Eve)

December 25 - Christmas (Navidad or Pasko)

Arts, literature and music

Main articles: Arts of the Philippines, Literature of the Philippines, and Music in the Philippines

Hispanic influence is based on Indigenous, and European tradition. Folk dance, music, and literature have remained intact in the 21st century. These were introduced from Spain, and Mexico in the 16th century, and can be regarded as largely Hispanic in constitution, which have remained in the Philippines for centuries.

Cuisine

The cuisine in the Philippines reflects the influences of Spanish and Asian cuisine.

They include:

Afritada Albondigas

Arroz a la valenciana

Arroz Caldo

Avocado

Bistek

Brazo de Mercedes

Calabaza

Caldereta

Champorado

Galantina

Caldereta

Camote

Chicharrón

Chorizo

Dulce de membrillo

Dulce de leche

Dinuguan

Empanadas

Estopado

Ensaymadas

Escabeche

Flan

Jamonada or Endulzado

Galletas

Jamón

Lechón

Longaniza

Maíz con hielo

Mantequilla

Mazapan

Mechado

Natilla

Paella

Pan de sal

Pastel de lengua

Pastillas de leche

Pescado

Picadillo

Pionono

Picadillo

Pochero de bacalao

Polvoron

Quezo de Bola

Relleno

Tamal

Tamales

Torta del cielo

Tortas

Tortilla quesada

Tocino

Tocino del Cielo

Turrones de Casuy

Business

In the business community, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) plays an integral role in the economic, political and social development of the nation. Historically, the chamber can be traced back as early as the 1890s with the inauguration of the Cámara de Comercio de Filipinas. This organization was composed mainly of Spanish companies such as the Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas, Fábrica de Cerveza San Miguel, and Elizalde y Cia, among other Spanish, and Philippine companies.

During the first half of the 20th century commerce, and industrial trades with other Hispanic countries declined due to the United States administration of the Philippines. However, the resurgence of trade between Spain and Latin American nations had risen toward the closing of the century. 1998 marked the centennial celebration of Philippine independence, and opened a new opportunity for both Hispanic and Filipino businesses to reconnect their historic ties as trade partners

Literature

The vast majority of Classical Filipino literature is written in Spanish.

Many of the early Filipino nationalists were masters of the Spanish language, such as Jose Rizal, Juan Luna, Andres Bonifacio, etc.

Books include Noli mi Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Poems include "Filipinas" by Juan Luna which later became our national anthem (originally sung in Spanish).

Unfortunately many of these Spanish-Filipino works are now in storage rooms in the national archives, almost ceasing to exist with the lack of interest in the Spanish language.

There are hundreds of unpublished Spanish literary works by Filipinos in the archives which are only recently been revived.

The oldest and most prestigious literary award in the Philippines is the Premio Zobel, and it is only awarded to Spanish literary compositions by Filipinos.

Colonial Literature (16th-18th Century)

The arrival of the Spaniards in 1565 brought Spanish culture and language. The Spanish conquerors, governing from Mexico for the crown of Spain, established a strict class system that was based on race and soon imposed Roman Catholicism on the native population.

While it is true that Spain subjugated the Philippines for more mundane reasons, this former European power contributed much in the shaping and recording of our literature. Religion and institutions that represented European civilization enriched the languages in the lowlands, introduced theater which we would come to know as komedya, the sinakulo, the sarswela, the playlets and the drama.

The natives, called indio, generally were not taught Spanish, but the bilingual individuals, notably poet-translator Gaspar Aquino de Belen, produced devotional poetry written in the Roman script in the Tagalog language.

Literature from this period may be classified as religious prose and poetry and secular prose and poetry.

Religious lyrics written by ladino poets or those versed in both Spanish and Tagalog were included in early catechism and were used to teach Filipinos the Spanish language. Another type of religious lyrics is the meditative verse like the dalit appended to novenas and catechisms. It has no fixed meter nor rhyme scheme although a number are written in octo-syllabic quatrains and have a solemn tone and spiritual subject matter.

Secular works appeared alongside historical and economic changes, the emergence of an opulent class and the middle class who could avail of a European education. This Filipino elite could now read printed works that used to be the exclusive domain of the missionaries.

The most notable of the secular lyrics followed the conventions of a romantic tradition: the languishing but loyal lover, the elusive, often heartless beloved, the rival. The leading poets were Jose Corazon de Jesus (Huseng Sisiw) and Francisco Balagtas. Some secular poets who wrote in this same tradition were Leona Florentino, Jacinto Kawili, Isabelo de los Reyes and Rafael Gandioco.

Another popular type of secular poetry is the metrical romance, the awit and korido in Tagalog. The awit is set in dodecasyllabic quatrains while the korido is in octosyllabic quatrains. An example of this is the Ibong Adarna (Adarna Bird). There are numerous metrical romances in Tagalog, Bicol, Ilonggo,

Pampango, Ilocano and in Pangasinan. The awit as a popular poetic genre reached new heights in Balagtas's Florante at Laura (ca. 1838-1861), the most famous of the country's metrical romances.

First book of the Spanish Philippines

In territories under the control of the Spanish Crown, books could not be printed except by royal licence. In 1556 a royal cedula prohibited the printing or sale of books concerning the Indies without a special licence. In 1584 King Philip II of Spain gave instructions to the Real Audiencia in Manila, "when any grammar or dictionary of the language of the Indies be made it shall not be published or printed or used unless it has first been examined by the Bishop and seen by the Real Audiencia."

Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, Governor and Captain-General of the Spanish Philippines, wrote to King Philip on 20 June 1593 saying, "Sire, in the name of Your Majesty, I have for this once, because of the existing great need, granted a license for the printing of the Doctrinas Christianas, herewith enclosed - one in the Tagalog language, which is the native and best of these islands, and the other in Chinese - from which I hope great benefits will result in the conversion and instruction of the peoples of both nations; and because the lands of the Indies are on a larger scale in everything and things are more expensive, I have set the price of them at four reales a piece, until Your Majesty is pleased to decree in full what is to be done." [

Prior to this, the Dominicans, "notably (later Archbishop) Benavides and Cobo - had already prepared a simple catechism in Chinese characters." "Such was the urgent need of the Dominicans for a catechism to convert the Chinese of the Parian outside the walled city of Intramuros, numbering several thousands, that it was printed from wooden blocks (the xylographic method of printing) and distributed among prospective Christians.

The first book known to be printed by the Spanish in the Philippines was thus a Chinese language catechism using the Chinese method of printing, and printed by the non-Christian Chinese printer Keng Yong in Manila, who was paid by the Spanish Dominicans for the work. The Spanish historian Carlos Sanz believes that this catechism, Doctrina Christiana en letra y lengua China, compuesta por los madres ministros de los Sangleyes, de la Orden de Sancto Domingo. Con licencia, por Keng Young, China, en el Parian de Manila was printed between 1590 and 1592.

The Chinese method of preparing block prints "was used in Manila by the early printers." "The wooden block" was "probably made of batikuling or a similar wood." "The Chinese printer usually held in his right hand two brushes at the opposite extremities of the same handle; with one he inked the face of the characters and, the paper being then laid on the block, he ran the dry brush over it so as to take the impression. This was done with such speed that one man could finish a couple of thousand copies in a day."

The implication is that Keng Yong was an established printer in the Chinese quarter, and that the Chinese had been printing in Manila for some time using the traditional Chinese wooden block method, perhaps since before the ascendancy of the Spanish in Manila. Since the first known book printed under Spanish (church) authority was Keng Yong's printing probably between 1590 and 1592, the suggestion that the Spanish introduced printing to the Philippines has no basis in historical fact.

FOLK SONGS

Performing Arts

Music

The Philippine Palabuniyan Kulintang musicians performing the Kulintang instruments which is the music of the Maguindanao people.

The early music of the Philippines featured a mixture of Indigenous, Islamic and a variety of Asian sounds that flourished before the European and American colonization in the 16th and 20th century. Spanish settlers and Filipinos played a variety of musical instruments, including flutes, guitar, ukelele, violin, trumpets and drums. They performed songs and dances to celebrate festive occasions. By the 21st century, many of the folk songs and dances have remained intact throughout the Philippines. Some of the groups that perform these folk songs and dances are the Bayanihan, Filipinescas, Barangay-Barrio, Hariraya , the Karilagan Ensemble, and groups associated with the guilds of Manila, and Fort Santiago theatres. Many Filipino musicians have risen prominence such as the composer and conductor Antonio J. Molina, the composer Felipe P. de Leon, known for his nationalistic themes and the opera singer Jovita Fuentes.

Modern day Philippine music features several styles. Most music genres are contemporary such as Filipino rock, Filipino hip hop and other musical styles. Some are traditional such as Filipino folk music.

Dance

A Chavacano dance in Philippine Hispanic tradition.

Philippine folk dances include the Tinikling and Cariñosa. In the southern region of Mindanao, Singkil is a popular dance showcasing the story of a prince and princess in the forest. Bamboo poles are arranged in a tic-tac-toe pattern in which the dancers exploit every position of these clashing poles. Guide to Philippine Cultural and Folk Dances