PHILIPINE HISTORY

GROUP 1CHAPTER 8

“THE BEGINNING OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM(MID 1700`s-1900`s)

Up to the 1700`s , Filipino revolts were fragmented and local with various and oftentimes unrelated purposes among which are:*to retake one`s lost kingdom or

chiefdom;*to resist forced labor that separated the men for long periods from their families;* to get rid of the oppressive tribute;*to return to their ancient religion, the worship of Bathala and the anitos.

“Certain events and developments in the 1800`s-1900`s:”* The British invasion in the colony that exposed Spain`s vulnerability;*The Silang and Palaris revolts that demonstrated the capability of the regions to unite and expel the Spaniard from their territory;*The united Basi revolt in the north against Governor-General Basco`s tobacco and wine monopolies;*The opening of foreign ports and the Suez Canal that allowed entry of advanced technology and liberal ideas from the Americas and Europe;*The secularization movement led by Indio and mestizo secular priests to fight for the right to administer parishes that were held by Spanish regular priest. The controversy ended with the execution of the three leaders of the movement, Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora.

British invasion and occupation

In 1761 Spain and France entered into a treaty of alliance against England`s ambition for supremacy. During the seven years war in Europe between France and England ,Spain was naturally drawn into the conflict. Archbishop Manuel Rojo was acting governor-general when the British , with 6000 men including sepoys from Babayu, bombarded intramuros, Malate , Ermita and Bagumbayan (now Luneta) on September 22, 1762.

The Silang and Palaris Revolts

1762 Juan dela Cruz Palaris led a widespread revolts in Pangasinan, demanding for the end to the –payment of tributes and countless abuses by the Spanish officials. The revolt started in Binalatongan, spread to the town of Bayambang , Paniqui (then a part of Pangasinan) Dagupan, Calasiao, Santa Barbara , Mangaldan, San Jacinto and Malasiki. Upon the conclusion of the war with France and Spain, the British left in 1764. Spain now rid of Gabriela Silang , sent 3000 Ilocano troops to Pangasinan to quell the revolt.

Basco`s Economic Plans

The economy developed slowly for several reasons such as:1. The incompetence of Spanish officials.2. Graft and greed of the merchants and religions corporations engaged in the galleon trade.3. restrictive economic policies which closed parts of the country to other foreign countries ;4. the constant quarrels between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities assigned in the colony.

In the 1778, Jose Basco y Vargas who was appointed governor-general of the Philippines , surveyed the economic condition of the colony and found it to be far from satisfactory. Governor Basco encouraged the cultivation of crops for export like indigo, coffee , cocoa, sugar, hemp, mulberry trees, and cotton. Governor Basco founded the economic society of friends of the country in 1781 and established the royal company in 1785. Basco`s established of government monopolies in 1782 apparently negated most of his positive economic project. The monopolies for tobacco and wine in particularly , while turning out to be profitable for the government had devastating effects on the people. In 1807, some 10,000 rebels in Ilocos revolted against the government monopoly of a locally produced wine sugarcane called Basi.

Laissez-Faire and the opening of ports

Laissez-faire or “let alone policy” in commercial and trading ventures by the Europeans soon caught6 the interest of the Spanish king.in 1834 the king realizing the futility to foreign traders.in 1842, manila could boast of American, one Danish and eight British commercial firms. The ports of Iloilo , Zamboanga, and Sual (in Pangasinan)were Tacloban and Legazpi in 1873.Batangas produced coffee; Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon and Albay produced hemp; Indio and tobacco came from the ilocos and Cagayan Valley. Sugar cane was produced in Negros and Iloilo in the Visayas and Pampanga , Laguna and Batangas in Luzon. The British vice consul in Iloilo , Nicolas Loney, introduced the first modern machinery that converted sugar cane into refined sugar.

The rise of the “Filipino” middle class

As exports in agricultures increased, inquilinos or the tenants in the haciendas and their families began to accumulate wealth. As members of the middle class , they were able to send their children to colleges and universities in Manila and even to Europe. Hence , the wealthy and highly educated Filipinos called ilustrados compose the middle class in Philippines colonial society under Spain. Spaniards born in Spain , working or residing in the country were called Españoles or peninsulares. The rest were either mestizos or Indio's. Belonging to the middle class also meant changing their former lifestyle, clothing , houses, forms of amusement and cultural activities to those that were similar or closer to what Spaniard and Europeans did and maintained which were comfortable and expensive . The first event was the Tagalog publication of Florante at Laura in 1838 by Francisco Baltasar or Balagtas . The revolt by Apolinario de la Cruz of “Hermano Pule in Tayabas (now Quezon province) in 1841. The Spanish authorities were alarmed by its pure Indio membership under the guise of a confradia, whose aim was to revive the ancient catalonan. Teachings within the Catholic church. Hermano Pule had become so popular that the Tagalog in the regions called him” king of the Tagalog's”

The education of some Filipinos

The Spaniard in the Philippines founded many colleges for men and women . But these colleges and universities were exclusively for the Spaniards and the Spanish mestizos. These included San Juan de Letran, San Jose , San Felipe and others. The schools for women included the College of San Potenciana, Santa Isabel College, the Santa Rosa College, among others. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that these college ,including the Universities of Santo Tomas , admitted natives. As a result , a good number of those children became lawyers, physicians, pharmacist, teachers, land surveyors and merchants. The Spaniards feared it was the illustrados who later ask embarrassing questions about Spanish misdeeds, incompetence , inefficiency, greed and corruptions. And most dangerously they pushed the idea of the Indio's as “Filipinos “ with equal rights as the Spaniards in the country.

The opening of the Suez Canal

The changes that took place in the second half of the nineteenth century had far reaching effects on the Filipinos . One of these important changes was the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. this resulted in the shorter route and travel time between Spain and the Philippines. Among them were exiled creoles from Mexico like Varela and Novales, whose subversive ideas and activities advocated freedom and liberties. Later on, they influence some educated Filipinos and soon both were asking the government to introduce changes in the administration of the colony. These books and periodicals were read by the educated Filipinos who learned about democratic practice in Europe , such us freedom of the press, freedom of speech , and the free exchange of ideas among people. Printed Literatures and magazines, plus the introduction of modern technology such as the mail (1854). The telegraph (1873),the telephone and the Manila – Dagupan railway (1890), hastened the spread of these ideas and awareness of the happening s between the cities and country-side. Before the opening of the Suez Canal , the voyage from Spain to the Philippines and vice versa took time and was often dangerous that many Filipinos who could afford to go to Europe did not bother to travel.

Liberalism in the PhilippinesIn 1868, a revolutions took place in Spain. The revolutionists were against the autocratic reign of Queen Isabel II. It lasted from 1868- 1868. the triumph of the Spanish revolutionists who fought for popular suffrage and freedom of speech , the press , and of religions , brought to the country same liberal and progressive Spaniards. One of them was Governor- General Carlos Maria de la Torre.. When he arrived in Manila in 1869, he put into practice the liberal principles of the revolutionists in Spain. The educated Indio's , mestizos and Spaniards born in the Philippines who sympathized with liberalism and Governor de la Torre, serenaded him to show their appreciation of the governor`s kind attention and democratic ways.De la Torre`s administration of the Philippines was significant because of the following reasons:* He abolished the censorship of the press,*He abolished flogging as a punishment * He solved the agrarian unrest in Cavite. To many Filipinos , mestizo, and Spaniards who embraced progressive ideas , Governor de la Torre was the best governor-general the Philippines has ever had.

The return of autocracy

The Filipinos and their allies among the mestizos and the progressive Spaniards, the administration of Governor de la Torre was brief. The republic of Spain ended in 1870 when the monarchy was restored and a new king assumed the Spanish throne . One of these was Rafael de Izquierdo, who was appointed governor –general in 1871 to replace de la Torre; Being an autocrat, he boasted that he would rule the Philippines “with a cross in one hand and a sword in the other “. He disapproved the establishment of a school of arts and trades in Manila because he was afraid that it might be used as a political club. Those who were known to have favored the administration of de la Torre were considered suspects and were spied upon. The friars and the monarchists among the Spaniards became his staunch supporters and were happy over his reactionary attitudes.

The campaign for secularization

Priesthood during the Spanish period was composed of two classes; the regular and the secular. The regular priests were those who belo9nged to the religious orders like the Dominicans, the Recollects, the Augustinians , and the Franciscans. The Secular priests were not member of any religious orders. The regular priests or simply regulars, have a mission to fulfill,i,e, to convert non-Christian people to Christianity. In the Philippines the friars or members of the religious order not only made converts to Christianity but they also occupied parishes. At first the Spanish archbishop and some governor supported their demands and a few Filipino seculars become parish heads. This led to the campaign called secularization . Initially , the leader of the Filipino campaign to secularize the parishes was Fathers Pedro Pablo Pelaez (1812- 1863) , a Spanish mestizo . After his death he was succeeded by Farther Jose A. Burgos (1837-1872) , another Spanish mestizo ; other secular priests involved in the secularization movement who were either Spanish Mestizo , Chinese mestizo, or Indio's i9ncluded Fathers Jacinto Zamora , Mariano Gomez, Toribio del Pilar, Mariano Sevilla, Pedro Dandan, Jose Guevara and many more.

The Cavite Mutiny

The relations between the Filipinos seculars and Spanish regulars grew from bad to worse. The Spanish regulars who continued to occupy the parishes blamed the Filipino priests by saying that latter were not prepared to administer parishes. At the height of the secularization controversy, the Cavite mutiny occurred on January 20, 1872, involving a number of workers and some privilege of shipyard workers to be exempted from forced labor and from paying tribute by governor-general de Izquierdo. The mutineers included Indio's , mestizos, and criollos. (Spaniards born in Mexico and exiled in Cavite) they were led by a military sergeant named La Madrid. The leaders and the participants were arrested and later shot to death . The government , believing it to be a rebellion, ordered the arrest of Filipino and mestizo who were allegedly behind it. Among those arrested were Fathers Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez, Jacinto Zamora , Pedro Dandan, Toribio del Pilar , Mariano Sevilla, Agustine Mendoza, Jose Guevara and others. Among the civilians arrested were Pedro Carillo, Antonio Regidor, Joaquin Pardo de Taversa and others. They were sentenced to be banishes to Guam, while Gomez, Burgos and Zamora were sentenced to death.

The execution of GomBurZa

The priests , Gomez ,Burgos and Zamora were jailed in Fort Santiago before they were tried for rebellion . Priests , both regulars and seculars were allowed to see them. During the trials , the government failed to prove convincingly with the January mutiny . The governor –general promised to present documents to prove that the three priests were guilty of “rebellion” which to many was actually a mutiny . But he never presented any documents and to this day, no documents had been found to show that Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora were in any way, connected with the mutiny. On February 17, 1872, the three priest marched from Fort Santiago to Bagumbayan Field ( now Luneta). It is said that Zamora lost his mind and silently accepted to e garroted. While they being executed one by one, first , Zamora then Gomez, and lastly Burgos, the witnesses of the event took off their hats and knelt to pray for the souls of the innocent priests. The importance of the execution of the three priests rested on the fact that the Filipinos who witnesses the execution began to thinks and feel as Filipinos, not as Ilocano's , Tagalogs, Visayans, Bicolanos,and others. Rizal who was eleven years old at that time , would later dedicated his second novel El Filipibustirismo (The Rebel) , to the memory of the three martyred priest. He wrote:

The church by refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime that has been imputed to you; the government , by surrounding your trials with mystery and shadows, causes the belief that there was some error committed in fatal moments; and the Philippines , by worshipping your memory in no way recognizes your culpability. The execution of Gomez, Burgos, Zamora may have halted the secularization movement but not its advocacy for “ Filipinization” of the parishes. Nevertheless, the seeds of the Filipinos nationalism had been planted on fertile ground.

Prepared by: Alcones , Mirylyn G.

Cagape , Mheapelia T.

Sir. Bonifacio, AndresProfessor