CHAPTER 2

19TH CENTURY PHILIPPINES AS RIZAL’S CONTEXT

THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT

A) The end of the Galleon Trade

B) The opening of the Suez Canal
C) The rise of the export of the crop economy
D) The established monopolies in the Philippines

THE END OF THE GALLEON TRADE

 Locals were already trading with China, Japan, Siam (now Thailand), India, Cambodia,
Borneo, and the Moluccas (Spice Islands) when the Spanish arrived.
 In 1565, the Spanish government closed the ports of Manila to all countries except Mexico,
giving birth to the Manila-Acapulco Trade, popularly known as the “Galleon Trade.”
 The Galleon Trade (1565-1815) was a ship (“galleon”) trade going back & forth between
Manila & Acapulco, Mexico.
 It started when Andres de Urdaneta, in convoy under Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, discovered a
return route from Cebu to Mexico in 1565.
 The trade served as the central income-generating business for Spanish colonists in the
Philippines.
 The mango de Manila, tamarind & rice, carabao, cockfighting, Chinese tea & textiles,
fireworks display, and tuba making went to Mexico.
 The return voyage brought numerous & valuable flora & fauna into the Philippines, including
guava, avocado, papaya, pineapple, horses, & cattle.
 Other consequences of this 250-year trade were the intercultural exchanges between Asia,
Spanish America, & onward to Europe & Africa.
 Manila became a trading hub where China, India, Japan, & Southeast Asia countries sent
their goods to be consolidated for shipping.
 Chinese mostly did the hard work.
 Chinese arrived in junks yearly, bringing goods & workforce.
 The Spanish feared the Chinese, taxed them, sent them out to the Parian, & when tension
rose, massacred some of them.
 The Manila Galleon Trade allowed modern, liberal ideas to enter the Philippines, eventually
& gradually inspiring the movement for independence from Spain.
 On September 14, 1815, the Galleon Trade ended with Mexico’s War of Independence.

THE OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL

 Suez Canal (artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt) connects the Mediterranean Sea to the
Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez Canal Company between 1859 & 1869 under the
leadership of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps.
 It was officially opened on November 17, 1869.
 The distance of travel between Europe & the Philippines was considerably abbreviated &
thus virtually brought the country closer to Spain.
  Before, a steamer from Barcelona had to sail around the Cape of Good Hope to reach Manila
after a menacing journey of more than 3 months. With the Suez Canal, the voyage was
lessened to only 32-40 days.
 The opening of the Suez Canal became a huge advantage for commercial enterprises,
especially between Europe & East Asia.
 The Suez Canal expedited the importation not only of commercial products but also of
books, magazines, & newspapers with liberal ideas from America & Europe, which ultimately
affected the minds of Rizal & other Filipino reformists.
 The availability of the Suez has also encouraged the ilustrados, especially Jose Rizal, to
pursue education abroad & learn scientific & liberal in European academic institutions.

THE RISE OF THE EXPORT OF CROP ECONOMY

 The exploitation of the Philippines’ natural resources & the progress of an export crop
economy were phenomena of the 19th century.
 Products such as sugar, Manila hemp, & coffee were produced for foreign markets while
imported goods of the European factory industry found their way into many parts of the
Philippines.
 The development of the export crop industry in the Philippines was motivated by the
commercial undertakings of North European & North American merchants, who provided
capital, organization, & access to foreign markets & sources of imports.
 Chinese distribute imports in the interior & buy up goods for exports.

MONOPOLIES

 After 1850, government monopoly contracts for the collection of different revenues were
opened to foreigners for the 1st time.
 The Chinese instantly took advantage of this commercial opportunity & thus enjoyed a pre-
eminent position in monopoly contracting in the Philippines.
 The opium monopoly was specially a profitable one.
 During the 1840s, Spanish government legalized the use of opium and a government
monopoly of opium importation & sales was created.
 There were monopolies of special crops & items, such as spirituous liquors, betel nut,
tobacco, & explosives.
 The most controversial & oppressive to locals was perhaps the tobacco monopoly.
 On March 1, 1782, Governor General Jose Basco placed the Philippines tobacco industry
under government control, thereby establishing the tobacco monopoly. It aimed to increase
government revenue.
 An order was issued for the widespread cultivation of tobacco in the provinces of Cagayan
Valley, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Isabela, Abra, Nueva Ecija, & Marinduque.
 These provinces planted nothing but tobacco & sold their produce only to the government
at a pre-designated price, leaving little or no profit for the local farmers.
 Fines and/or physical punishments were sanctioned to anyone who would transgress any of
the decrees under the system.
 The tobacco monopoly positively raised revenues for the government & made Philippine
tobacco prominent all over Asia & some parts in Europe. Negatively though, the monopoly
 brought about food shortages since the planting of basic crops like rice was somewhat
neglected & abandoned.
 The tobacco monopoly was abolished in 1882.
 A century of hardship & social injustice caused by the tobacco monopoly prompted Filipinos
in general & Novo Ecijanos in particular to seek freedom from colonial bondage.

THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND

A) Education
B) The rise of the Chinese Mestizo
C) The rise of the Inquilinos

EDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY

 European system of education was somewhat introduced to the archipelago.

 Schools were established & run by Catholic missionaries.
 Aiming to convert the natives to the Catholic faith & makes them obedient, the colonial
government & Catholic Church made religion a compulsory subject at all levels.
 King Philip II’s Leyes de Indias (Laws of the Indies) mandated Spanish authorities in the
Philippines to educate the locals, to teach them how to read & write, & to lean Spanish.
 The Spanish did not seriously teach the locals the Spanish language, fearing that the Indios
would become so knowledgeable & turn out to their co-equal.
 Less than 1/5 of those who went to school could read & write Spanish, & far fewer could
speak the language properly.
 The 1st formal schools in the land were the parochial schools opened in their parishes by the
missionaries, such as the Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, & Dominicans.
 Aside from religion, the native children were taught reading, writing arithmetic, & some
vocational & practical arts subjects.
 Aside from the Christian Doctrines, Latin was also taught to the students instead of Spanish
 The Spanish friars believed that the natives would not be able to match their skills, & so one
way for the locals to lean fast was to use strict discipline, such as applying corporal
punishment.
 Colleges were established for boys & girls. There was no co-education during the Spanish
regime as boys & girls studied in separate schools.
 The subjects taught to college students include history, Latin, geography, mathematics, &
philosophy.
 University education was opened in the country during the early part of the 17 th century.
Initially, colleges & universities were open only to the Spaniards & those with Spanish blood
(mestizos).
 It was only in the 19th century that these universities started accepting native Filipinos. Still
giving emphasis on religion, universities then did not earnestly teach science & mathematics.
 In 1863, a royal decree called for the establishment of a public school system in the
Philippines.
 Universities became open to the natives, though they limited their accommodations to the
sons of wealthy Indio families.
 A new social class in the country emerged, Ilustrados.
  Despite their wealth & education, the Ilustrados were still deemed by the Spaniards as
inferior.
 With the opening of the Suez canal, many locals took advantage of the chance to pursue
higher & better education in Madrid & Barcelona.
 Nationalism and the thirst for reform bloomed in the liberal atmosphere.
 Out of this talented group of students from the Philippines arose what came to be known as
the Propaganda Movement.
 The most prominent of the Ilustrados was Jose Rizal, who inspired the craving for freedom &
independence with his novels written in Spanish.

THE RISE OF THE CHINESE MESTIZO

 Some of the families which attained reputation in the 19th century have continued to play a
vital role in the country’s economics & politics.
 The fast rhythm of economic progress in the Philippines during the 19th century expedited by
some mentioned factors resulted in the rise of a new breed of rich & influential Filipino
middle class. This class composed of Spanish & Chinese mestizos ascended to a position of
power in the Philippine society & in due course became leaders in education & finance.

THE RISE OF THE INQUILINOS

 “tenant”
 The 19th century inquilino system in the Philippines is better understood as a qualified
system of tenancy, or the right to use land in exchange for rent.
 Inquilinos paid a fixed rent & the amount was determined by the size & quality of the land
being worked on.
 With the expansion of land owned by missionary congregations, the proportions of
farmlands leased to inquilinos also increased allowing many of them to sub-lease parcels of
their land to sharecroppers or kasamas.
 This system eventually became very profitable that some inquilinos acquired lands of their
own & entered in other gainful commercial ventures.
 Some inquilinos ceased becoming farmers & relegated the job completely to their sub-
tenants.
 Outlining the boundaries that separated these estates from communal lands became a
common cause of conflict.
 Disputes over communal woodcutting & grazing areas occurred regularly between villages &
estates, with the latter denying to the former their traditional communal privileges.
 Land border conflicts became so acute in these provinces that they served as catalysts for
agrarian uprisings.
 There were also conflicts between estate owners & workers. These stemmed from collection
of excessive taxes & land rent, the decline of sharing agreements, extreme demands for
labor services, & capricious fixing of crop prices.
 There were instances of peasants taking arms to protest the alleged abuses & usurpation of
their lands by the Jesuits, Dominicans, Augustinians, & the Recollects.
 The relative freedom, which the inquilinos acquired by sub-leasing their farms provided
them a tactical advantage for arranging & leading these peasant protest movements.
THE POLITAL LANDSCAPE

A) Liberalism
B) The impact of the Bourbon reforms
C) The Cadiz constitution

LIBERALISM

 Liberalism is a worldview founded on ideas of freedom & equality.

 It includes a wide range of political philosophies that consider individual liberty to be the
most significant political goal, & underscore individual rights & equality of opportunity.
 Liberals normally believe that government is necessary to protect individuals from being
abused by others though they are also aware that government itself pose a threat to liberty.
