The Philippines: A Past Revisited

Rasheed D. Jalalain BSCHEM1-1 The Philippines: A Past Revisited Renato Constantino Renato Constantino is a historian who has written a number of books, including The Philippines: A Past Revisited, The Continuing Past, The Making of a Filipino, and others. Renato Constantino was motivated by his grandmother, who informed him about her abuses and the misery of her family under the American Colonization. This inspiration pushed him to discover the truth about the Philippines and the basis of all problems. As a result, he says that the Spaniards colonized us, which is the source of our sorrow. He wants to revisit and re-examine the past in order to obtain a better understanding of our colonial history and to address current challenges. He wants to make things right. Since colonial scholarship has distorted history to suit their own preferences and points of view, they have ignored what actually occurred and how it affected the people. Renato Constantino was an eye-opener for many Filipinos, prompting them to re-evaluate the issue of the current corrupted and awful system. Many Filipinos are oppressed and exploited by those in positions of authority. In his book The Philippines: A Past Revisited, he argues that colonial miseducation is to blame for the absence of critical thinking in the Philippines. This book also discusses how the people should take credit for all of the major achievements made by those in power because it was the people who battled and sacrificed to make it happen. During the pre-colonial era we already had a culture of our own and a dedicated system that they used. The Philippines then was composed of different groups that came from different part of Asia. With this they built their own writing, community, system and religion. Before the Spaniards came into the Philippines there were already an existing diverse society. The early Filipinos lived in settlements called barangays. The barangays are composed of 100 families. These Barangays are led by a Datu. This Datu is a chosen leader who has talent and abilities to lead and protect its people or the eldest child of the old Datu. They also have Elders who give advices to the Datu on making a law in the barangay. There is someone called Rajah whose leader of multiple barangays. The Filipino was unfortunate of being liberated four times during their entire history. The Spaniards were the first to "liberate" them from the "devil's enslavement," followed by the Americans who "liberated" them from American Imperialism, and finally the Americans who "liberated" them from the Japanese fascists. After every “liberation” they found their country occupied by foreign “benefactors” (Constantino, 1975). The first liberator are the Spaniards, Magellan was the first one to step on Cebu in March 1521. Ferdinand Magellan who headed first in the Philippines died in Mactan. Then King Philip II sent out another expedition which is Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, A Spanish who officially settled in Cebu, in 1565. Though the Filipino scholars are confused on what are the true nature of society when the Spanish conquered the Philippines. But they believed that the Spaniards are feudal. This made the Filipinos change what they were used to. The Spaniards change the culture of the Tribes and conquered them when they fought back. They taught them on how they thought to be civilized. The Spaniards also spread Catholicism which was huge success since now, it is the major religion in the Philippines. Though Spaniards didn’t conquer Mindanao which homes to many of the Muslims. They called the people in Mindanao, moros. They ruled the Philippines for 333 years. Many people fought for their freedom from the Spaniards, this includes Jose Rizal, and many more. As the Philippines was being colonized by the Spaniards, the Filipinos who are believing that we are learning and was being civilized, the Spaniards are colonizing us and taking advantage of our ignorance to what’s really happening to continuing their goal. This knowledge and wisdom that they taught us made the true story of our history to be lies and a cover to what they really are and what they have done. The Spaniards are capitalists whose goal is to expand and control other territories by means of colonizing them using knowledge and religion. This is what they used to us when they encountered the Philippines and called our current society as uncivilized. They took advantage of our underdeveloped society to gain control to our natural resources such as gold and other metals that has value. This way of thinking is stuck with us whenever we want to expand our business is that we want to profit and make our business big. As the Spaniards continue to reign over the Philippines the old feudal system is changing and altering the old economic system, culture, and how the people act and view the system they’re currently living in. The people are slowly transitioning from the ‘uncivilized’ to civilized and making the things that they once knew irrelevant to their growth. The introduction of Roman Catholicism was a huge success in the Philippines as the Spaniards use this as their cornerstone to colonize us and expand their economic prowess. The pope and Kings agreed to expand their territories with the introduction of religion. This allowed the Filipinos to believe everything the church is saying whether it is a lie. With the use of religion, the religion itself has no power in the development in revolutionizing the world it was the key and still have the power to everything as it is the backbone of the Spanish monarchy. As it has enormous and spiritual power in Spain. As stated in the book the Spaniards was the root cause of oppression in our country that was led by the friars into using their power into manipulating the Filipino minds. Using this power to expand their landholdings in any unreasonable methods, along with it is to manipulate Filipinos. The friars are so powerful that they have a lot of land and have huge economic power to manipulate whatever they deemed necessary. The Muslims are the ones who had the most developed society before the Spaniards came. This was due to the Islamization of Mindanao and Sulu. With the help of religion and the other communities that are also Muslims was the reason why Spaniards didn’t take over Mindanao. With the advance and powerful status of the Muslims the Spaniards wasn’t able to take over. The Philippines should take pride on the Muslims as they were the only ones who successfully resisted the Spaniards. As stated in the book the heroes who fought back to the colonization of the Muslims should be celebrated in the Philippine history. They should not be discarded; we should understand their point of view and make them part of our Philippine history. The Muslims resisted the colonization and wanted to preserve our indigenous and their culture. The Spaniards did not consider the Muslims as part of the developing country and deemed them a foreign territory. The Spanish colonizers called Muslims as “indios” and “Moros.” Luzon and Visayas were composed of barangays which homes to one hundred to five hundred persons. According to the book the reports of Legazpi he found that there are communities wherein they only have twenty to thirty people in Visayan villages. Some were a big village. In Manila they only had two thousand inhabitants. The villages are near the coast or riverine. Because the sources of their food are mainly sea and rivers. They also used the water for travelling, bathing, drinking and washing. Some villages also are dealing with traders like Chinese, Arabian, and Indian people. Legazpi blamed the Filipinos for not gathering their riches. He said that they were lazy and incomprehensible. With the Spanish conquest they changed the lives of the Native Filipinos with its introduction of a new religion and rules. They have integrated their past experience of colonizing. The Spaniards also have introduced new plants and animals that modified the eating habits and economy of the native Filipinos as they used it to produce commercially. The Spaniards focused on the galleon trade from Mexico which brought corn, arrowroot, cassava and sweet potato, cotton maguey, and many more. They also have brought livestock from Mexico, China, and Japan. The economy did not improve as a result of this trade because they did not uncover rich resources like they did in South America. They utilized the Philippines to go to other Asian countries such as Japan and China. The Philippines served as their empire's outpost. They placed a premium on trading in the Philippines, which caused the country to suffer. They were unable to trade in wealthy countries due to their failure. Except for the limited influence of encomenderos and Spanish authorities, as well as the friars who resided in the provinces, this has lasted for two centuries, leaving the Philippines economically undeveloped. In Manila, they concentrated on the galleon commerce with Mexico and China. With the neglect of the Philippine’s economic growth the Filipinos were put into forced labor. That’s why the scattered barangays are put together in a bigger village which was led by the friars and Spaniards. The native Filipinos are used to fishing and not to farming that’s why it’s not ideal for them to live in a compact village. The friars did a lot of things to encourage the natives to live in a single place, one of this is the religion. They used the church as the one that gathers them all. Using this technique, they gained more control and better supervised the natives to their likings. The friars accumulated a lot of land and forced labor to Filipinos using the money they collected from royal bequest, donations from church, and many more. By this they acquired land and enforced a forced labor to its farmers. Which made the farmers to become poor because the friars will blame and make the farmers pay if the harvest was bad. Making them in debt and mortgage their lands. They also gain lands by incorporating corrupt government officials and surveyors to conduct a survey that making them own a land or outright taking them and naming it to themselves as the land owners. The natives who live there will now become informal settlers. The natives protested but was denied as they were asked to show proofs that they own the land. With the Taxes and forced labor, and high rent pay made the natives to live a hard life. They have no choice but to work tirelessly and get little amount of payment. The native Filipinos are starting to notice the wrongdoings of Spaniards especially the friars. Other communities are starting to attain development, with the help of the Muslims and traders in other parts of Asia. Mercantilism is starting to be the goal of the Filipinos. With the growing knowledge of some communities, they are learning the true natures of the Spaniards and wanted to drive them away. They asked help to Bornean rules who were related to Japanese captain that will supposed to bring soldiers but then the Spaniards caught them and some of them were executed, exiled, and or got their property confiscated. The cause of the resistance was the people was resisting the tribute. The natives who are revolting didn’t pay any tribute for three years. One of the causes also is the force labor and they were sent to work by Spaniards in the gold mines of Ilocos and wasn’t allowed to go home. Many people have starved to death. The resistance is caused by the Spaniards and the friars with their actions. A significant development in Philippine financial life happened between 1820 and 1870. The development of a fair agricultural economy has finally provided a financial framework within which the still distinct Western, local, and Chinese economies have shown to be critical for an interconnected whole. A public market was forming, and inner prospering could be seen. The nation's financial unity aided in the regionalization of production. Tobacco became the most important crop in the North, sugar the most important crop in the West Visayas, and abaca the backbone of the Bicol region. The new native resistance was because of the growing wealth and new awareness that they gained from knowledge throughout the years. Many people felt compelled to act, so they revolted. The Philippines' economic transition in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw the emergence of new classes and the alteration of old ones. The class structure of Philippine society was altered by the interrelated forces of increased landlordism and economic commercialization. The Philippines have started to be freed from the isolation which happened on between the middle of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century which was the start of new business of the Philippines. This also helped the Philippines to be enlightened by different ideas. The new ideas were beliefs of individual liberty which became the core ideology of developing capitalism. Then the rise of the Illustrados that were Filipinos who has been given a chance to study during the Spanish era and they were the reason behind the economic development of the Philippines in the 19th century. They were known in 19th century as the Filipino education class in the Spanish colonial period. They studied in Spain. Their goal is to seek reform into fairer political and economic control structure under Spain’s supervision. The Illustrados were the ones pulling the string to start the Philippine Revolution in the late nineteenth century. Some of the National heroes were in this movement. The illustrados were from the wealthy family who was sent to Spain to study and become the people who will spark the idea of revolutionizing the Philippines from the Spaniards. The Illustrados were expressing the truth with their books by exposing Spanish colonialism and the friars. The movement was called the Propaganda movement and was the reason why many groups formed based of the writings of the Illustrados. One of the groups was filibusteros which are composed of people who were banished in Marianas. The members were in Madrid and Barcelona. The second group were the young men who were sent to or left the island to study in Spain. They were people who wanted to escape persecution. The known persons who were in the group were Graciano Lopez Jaena and Marcelo H. del Pilar (Constantino, 1975). Graciano Lopez wrote a tale who main character is Fray Botod, botod meaning full-bellied in Hiligaynon. The story was about the greed of the friars and what they have done, which was written in a manuscript. Because the Spaniards took notice that Jaena left the Philippines. Marcelo H. del Pilar as a propagandist was very popular among the Filipinos because he wrote his propaganda in a pamphlet and was in Tagalog. His writings such as the ten commandments and the catechism were his say in the Religion and the Spaniards. Jose Rizal was the most popular and a respected leader by as he showed his talents and intellect to his writings such as Noli Me Tangere that was noticed by the friars that made it banned in the Philippines. There were many writers who attempted to band together to call out the wrong doings of the friars and demand to change. La Solidaridad was an organization purely composed of Filipinos, this group was created in Barcelona on December 1888. This movement was devoted to liberate and reform the Philippines as it wanted to change how the friars dominate the Philippines. This movement also failed where Rizal and Lopez Jaena were the core members of it. As many of these attempts to publish a propaganda, many of them have lack of funds, unity, difference of opinion, petty jealousy and personal ambitions (Constantino, 1975). The new movement called the La Solidaridad was somewhat a more success movement. As it fought for many of the problems faced of the Filipinos like, equality, freedom of speech, etc. Graciano Lopez Jaena was the founding editor of La Solidaridad, although he was quickly replaced by Marcelo H. del Pilar is a fictional character. Their purpose was to attack the Spanish government and to educate the public about how unjust the Spanish government and friars are. They developed an anti-friar masonic movement that drew a large number of Filipino propagandists who considered the friars as reactionary pillars. Jose Rizal formed the La Liga Filipina. The goal of La Liga Filipina is to unite the whole archipelago into one compact, vigorous, homogenous body, mutual protection of every want and necessity, defense against all violence and injustice, encouragement of instruction, agriculture and commerce, and last was study and application of reforms. The society was later disbanded by the La Liga Filipina's Supreme Council. The leader discovered that the majority of the councils Bonifacio had created had stopped sending contributions to the Madrid propagandists. They concluded that nonviolent reform agitation was fruitless. The group splits into two groups: the first group was Cuerpo de Compromisarios that wants to continue supporting La Solidaridad and the second group was led by Bonifacio which was a secret society called the Katipunan. The two groups both have different agenda. First group Cuerpo de Compromisarios were the group who still believes that peaceful way of rebellion is the key, while the Katipunan switched to an armed revolution. Both groups were dedicated for the separation of Spain to the Philippines became more widespread as the masses believed that the only solution is revolution. Though Ilustrados presents the entire people. They were on the brink of assimilation and separation as others want reform and others want revolution. The people who have high economic status understands and will have stronger will into assimilation and reformism. This was evident when La Liga Filipina dissolved as the people with high economic status formed the Cuerpo de Compromisarios while the less prosperous was in the Katipunan. The Katipunan leaders scouted the mountains of San Mateo and Montalban for a possible base. They also tried recruiting more members but they struggled. With the insufficiency of weapons like guns are using bows and arrows. The Katipunan made a Katipunan newspaper called Kalayaan it was used for solitary and independence, but soon after it was raided by the government and ended the Kalayaan. The Kalayaan spread throughout the whole country. Other Filipinos were hostile about the revolution and want Bonifacio and Jacinto to release the list of documents of the rich Filipino family who were the contributor to the Katipunan. Then it later backfired some of the families were executed or imprisoned. The Katipunan were dealing with the betrayals like one of the Katipunero Teodoro Patiño who betrayed the Katipunan into revealing the names of the members. Which hundreds of members were arrested. Bonifacio then summoned the leaders of the Katipunan in Pugad Lawin and decided to cut ties with Spain which was tearing their cedulas. As time passes Bonifacio and other leaders set up a camp in the hills in Mariquina where they recruit a lot of men and grew larger. The first encounter between Spanish forces and Katipuneros happened in San Juan del Monte. This was the start where Governor-General Ramon Blanco proclaimed a state war on the Katipuneros where every day they search every home to look for the suspected rebels. Which resulted in many of the arrests and execution. This was also the time where Jose Rizal was executed in Bagumbayan on December 30, 1896, which deeply saddened many people. As this was going on provinces like Cavite, Nueva Ecija, and Bulacan had also joined the revolution. As the revolution in many parts of the Philippines grew larger, many of this ended in defeat. While revolution is ongoing, Emilio Aguinaldo was thinking of creating a new government under the new leadership. He wants to convince Filipinos to follow the example of a civilized European and American Nation. Aguinaldo is making his own movement and slowly discarding the Katipunan. He wants it to be recognized as the new Government Revolution. Bonifacio suffered defeat many times as their power to his men slowly become weaker. Aguinaldo is trying to break the Katipunan apart. Daniel Tirona wrote to the Cavitenos to not idolize Bonifacio as it says he’s uneducated. Aguinaldo’s plan is slowly working. Cavitenos believed the revolution was only in Cavite and want the leader to be also a caviteno. Because of this, they elected new officers for the Revolutionary Government which discarded the supreme council of Katipunan. The president became Emilio Aguinaldo. Many of the Cavitenos cannot accept that an uneducated man to be part of the committee. Bonifacio who believed the Magdiwangs were supposed to be his supporters didn’t vote for him to be the President. Bonifacio knew the assembly is a scheme of Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo didn’t approve of the new government and accused Aguinaldo’s faction of treason. Which was denied by the Illustrados as they believed that the leader is supposed to be educated. The result of this undermining of Andres Bonifacio led to his members the Katipuneros to abandon him. This betrayal resulted to the execution of Andres Bonifacio. Aguinaldo’s reign was soon cut short as the Spaniards took control on many parts of Cavite. Cavite was once again was part of Spaniards. There was a manifesto circulated which caused confusion to people because it was a notion that Spanish sovereignty would continue. The fight continued which turned many organizations to be in a guerrilla warfare with Spaniards. The Biak-na-bato was a disgrace to the Revolution that the Katipunan fought for. It had mocked the scream for freedom that was led by Andres Bonifacio. The agreement was none other than a business deal. The second coup occurred when the cruiser Maine inexplicably exploded in Havana harbor, providing the United States with justification to declare war on Spain. Roosevelt directed Commodore George Dewey to go to Manila and execute a "mock battle" against Spain on February 28, 1898. Felipe Agoncillo recommended to Rounseville Wildman, the American consul-general in Hong Kong, that the US assist the Filipinos with rifles and ammunition in exchange for US recognition of the Revolutionary Government. For the payment of the armaments, Agoncillo offered two provinces and the Manila customhouse. Agoncillo reassured Aguinaldo that colonization of the Philippines would be illegal under American law. The Filipinos eventually succeeded in ending the Spanish Colonialism without the help of Aguinaldo as he was in Hong Kong. As Filipinos fought for their freedom the Americans entered the scene making the Filipinos make fool of themselves as Independence was within reach. On May 24, 1898, Aguinaldo declared a dictatorship with the goals of protecting the lives and property of all foreigners, especially the Chinese, proper treatment of prisoners, respect for hospitals and ambulances, faith in US protection, and indifference in US occupation. Pedro Paterno, as president of the Consultative Assembly of the Spanish Government, became a part of the Biak-na-Bato accord. He was given the duty of writing a manifesto in which he urged people to be loyal to Spain. This was in vain, as many Illustrados defected to Aguinaldo from the Spanish government. Then on June 12, 1898, everything fell into place. The declaration of Philippine Independence from Spain was made by Emilio Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo’s success in emerging as the central figure of the struggle of the Philippines, he then changed the dictatorial government and turned it into a revolutionary government. Sooner Aguinaldo appointed his first cabinet members for establishing a new republic. It was also thanks to the Filipinos that the Philippines is now free from Spanish control. The Filipinos were not aware that Aguinaldo sold the Philippines to the Americans because of his naivety, because of this the Filipinos were instructed to not enter Intramuros. Which initiated the negotiations between Spain and America to stage a mock battle in Manila. As Aguinaldo maintain a friendly attitude towards the Americans was his undoing to know what US intentions are. On February 14, 1899, in San Juan bridge, An American patrol shot a Filipino soldier at the bridge. Which was the start of the Filipino-American War. Many struggles occurred within the Philippine Government as they don’t know to handle the conflicting interest of the Filipinos and Americans. With this, many repeated events happened during the Independence of the Philippines like the death of General Antonio Luna and the repeat of the Biak-na-Bato. Gen. Luna was suspected of forming a coup d’etat to take the position of Presidency. He was later then was appointed by Aguinaldo to become a new cabinet in Cabanatuan. When he arrived at Cabanatuan he was later shot and stabbed to death by bolos. With the death of Gen. Luna, the Aguinaldo Government suffered alienation from the people due to the abuses of military-civilian officials appointed by him. His administration was full of corruption and abuses which was similar to the Spanish rule. November 1899, American soldiers pursued Aguinaldo and his forces. Aguinaldo had to retreat to many places and eventually was cornered by the Americans. Gregorio del Pilar who was with Aguinaldo lost his life along with many of the soldiers. Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901. On April 1st, 1901, Aguinaldo took the oath of allegiance to the United States. Then, on April 19th, he issued a proclamation declaring that the Philippines had fallen into American hands and that the Philippines had lost the war against the United States. The Declaration of Independence as a whole was a falsehood. As the Americans take control over the Philippines many of the Ilustrados have surrendered to the Americans and many of the officials of Aguinaldo was appointed to the new Government by the Americans. Now the Filipinos are confronting the Americans without the help of the Ilustrados. The Americans were trying to dismiss various resistance groups but to no avail. Then they managed to distort the history with the American education. Because of this distortion in history, they didn’t acknowledge the American occupation but only the Spanish colonialism. With the new Katipunan arising with its leader General Luciano San Miguel. San Miguel was one of Aguinaldo’s generals during the Philippine-American war. He then attempted to regroup the Bonifacio and Aguinaldo factions but he was not successful. The new Katipunan made connections to the resistance unit in Central Luzon. Their group grew with 300 men and 200 guns even if there was an amigo act that was coined by the Americans to block all escape routes of the guerillas. The reconciliation in the affected areas has later revealed the hideout of the new Katipunan. The new Katipunan fought to the death. Faustino Guillermo became the new leader of the New Katipunan after the death of San Miguel. Faustino fought along with Bonifacio and Jacinto at San Juan del Monte. He was active in northern Rizal. He disbanded his force to return to their homes until he called for them. As he was transferred to Bulacan. Later, Guillermo was captured and deceived to access their hideout. Then was executed in the public square at Pasig in May 1904. With this, it halted the Rizal-Bulacan uprising. Many tried to revive the Katipunan but it ends up in failure. Then The Tagalog Republic was established by Mario Sakay. Many of the original members of Katipunan were in the lead of different subdivisions within the group. In April 1904, Sakay then declared they are the true revolutionaries. He then defended the independence of the country, issuing a warning to people who would violate the territory of the country. The Tagalog Republic grew in strength as they raid many parts of Luzon to gain arms and ammunition. The government issued three thousand soldiers for two years to destroy the Tagalog Republic. Many of the leaders were executed and were rewarded by the Americans. The Americans laid a trap to end the Tagalog Republic. Sakay then agreed to end his resistance in exchange for the safety of his men and his officers to be allowed to flee the country. Then Dr. Dominador Gomez agreed and guaranteed to uphold that exchange. Then sakay and his men left the mountain and went to Manila where they were welcomed as the popular resistance and were invited to banquets. But at the party, the Cavite Governor suddenly grabbed Sakay and disarmed his men. Sakay and his generals were charges of all sorts of crimes. Sakay and de Vega were sentenced to be hanged whole Montalan and Villafuerte received mercy and other men were sentenced to a long time in prison. The continued rise of the revolutionary movement was still fighting to remove the Americans and meet our true Independence. Filipinos eventually grew accustomed to American rule and lost interest to fight for Independency. The American's reign over the Philippines persisted until the first elected Filipino Independence in Jones Act and independence in the Philippines in 1946. In conclusion, how many struggles we face and what kind of government we are in people will rise for revolution to call out the wrongdoings of the current government. The people won’t stop fighting for what’s right and the betterment of the country. The story showed the different struggles of the Philippines under foreign rule. It showed the perseverance of the people to fight for their freedom. This is the reason why we should know the true truth of our past to better understand the different viewpoints of the people who are struggling and are oppressed. Though we are still not free from the remnants of the foreign countries who colonized us. I also learned that not everything that has been taught to us is true. References: Gorlinski, V. (n.d.). The Spanish Period. Britannica. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Philippines/The-Spanish-period CONSTANTINO, Renato R. (2017, January 11). Bantayog.org. Retrieved October 25, 2021, from https://www.bantayog.org/constantino-renato-r/ Constantino, R. (1975) The Philippines: A Past Revisited