1. PHILIPINE HISTORY
GROUP 1
CHAPTER 8
“THE BEGINNING OF FILIPINO
NATIONALISM
(MID 1700`s-1900`s)

2. 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.

3. “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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. In the 1778, Jose Basco y Vargas who was appointed governorgeneral 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.

8. 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.

9. 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”

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Liberalism in the Philippines
In 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.

13. 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.

14. 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 nonChristian 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.

15. 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.

16. 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:

17. 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.

18. Prepared by:
Alcones , Mirylyn G.
Cagape , Mheapelia T.
Sir. Bonifacio, Andres
Professor