You are on page 1of 12

Comparison between Pre-Colonial and Spanish Period in the

Philippines
Categories Pre-Colonial Spanish Period
Barangay-well-organized 1. Political System-The
1. Government independent village which Spanish quickly organized their
functioned much like a city-state new colony according to their
- was the dominant model. The first task was the
organizational pattern among reduction, or relocation of native
indigenous communities in the inhabitants into settlements.
Philippine archipelago. The The earliest political system
name barangay originated from used during the conquista
balangay, a Malay word period was the encomienda
meaning "sailboat". Historically, system, which resembled the
a barangay is a relatively small political system known as
community of around 50 to 100 Feudalism in Medieval Europe.
families. Most villages have only The conquistadores, friars and
thirty to one hundred houses native nobles were granted
and the population varies from estates, in exchange for their
one hundred to five hundred services to the King, and was
persons. A datu is the chief given the privilege to collect
leader of the barangay. He is tribute from its inhabitants. In
the resposible for making his return, the person granted the
barangay peaceful and to keep encomienda, known as an
it safe. He also makes laws that encomendero, was tasked to
a umalokohan annouced provide military protection to
throughout the barangay. the inhabitants, justice and
governance. In times of war,
the encomendero was duty
bound to provide soldiers for the
King, in particular, for the
complete defense of the colony
from invaders such as the
Dutch, British and Chinese. The
encomienda system was abused
by encomenderos and by 1700
was largely replaced by
administrative provinces, each
headed by an alcalde mayor
(provincial governor)[10] The
most prominent feature of
Spanish cities was the plaza, a
central area for town activities
such as the fiesta, and where
government buildings, the
church, a market area and other
infrastructures were located.
Residential areas lay around the
plaza. During the conquista, the
first task of colonization was the
reduction, or relocation of the
indigenous population into
settlements surrounding the
plaza.

As in Europe, the church always


had control over the state
affairs of the colony. The friars
controlled the sentiments of the
native population and was more
powerful than the governor-
general himself. Among the
issues that resulted to the
Philippine revolution of 1898
that ended Spanish rule was the
abuse of power by the religious
orders.

2. National Government-On
the national level, the King of
Spain, through his Council of the
Indies (Consejo de Indias),
governed through his sole
representative in the
Philippines: the Governor-
General (Gobernador y Capitán
General). With the seat of power
in Intramuros, Manila, the
Governor-General was given
several duties: he headed the
Supreme Court (Real
Audiencia), was Commander-in-
chief of the army and navy, and
was the economic planner of the
country. All known executive
power of the local government
stemmed from him and as vice-
regal patron, he had the right to
supervise mission work and
oversee ecclesiastical
appointments. His yearly salary
was P40,000. For obvious
reasons, the Governor-General
was usually a Peninsular
(Spaniard born in Spain) to
ensure loyalty of the colony to
the crown.

3.Provincial Government

On the provincial level, heading


the pacified provinces (alcaldia),
was the provincial governor
(alcalde mayor). The unpacified
military zones (corregidor), such
as Mariveles and Mindoro, were
headed by the corregidores. City
governments (ayuntamientos),
were also headed by an alcalde
mayor. Alcalde mayors and
corregidores exercised multiple
prerogatives as judge, inspector
of encomiendas, chief of police,
tribute collector, capitan-general
of the province and even vice-
regal patron. His annual salary
ranged from P300 to P2000
before 1847 and P1500 to
P1600 after it. But this can be
augmented through the special
privilege of "indulto de
commercio" where all people
were forced to do business with
him. The alcalde mayor was
usually an Insulares (Spaniard
born in the Philippines). In the
19th century, the Peninsulares
began to displace the Insulares
which resulted in the political
unrests of 1872, notably the
execution of GOMBURZA,
Novales Revolt and mutiny of
the Cavite fort under La Madrid.

4.Municipal Government

The pueblo or town is headed by


the gobernadorcillo or little
governor. Among his
administrative duties were the
preparation of the tribute list
(padron), recruitment and
distribution of men for draft
labor, communal public work
and military conscription
(quinto), postal clerk and judge
in minor civil suits. He
intervened in all administrative
cases pertaining to his town:
lands, justice, finance and the
municipal police. His annual
salary, however, was only P24
but he was exempted from
taxation. Any native or Chinese
mestizo, 25 years old, literate in
oral or written Spanish and has
been a cabeza de barangay of 4
years can be a gobernadorcillo.
Among those prominent is
Emilio Aguinaldo, a Chinese
Mestizo and who was the
gobernadorcillo of Cavite El
Viejo (now Kawit). Early officials
of the pueblo were taken from
the Maharlika class or nobles of
pre-colonial society. Their
names are survived by
prominent families in
contemporary Philippine society
such as Tupas, Gatmaitan,
Liwanag, Pangilinan, Panganiban
and Agbayani to name a few.

5.Barrio Government

Barrio government (village or


district) rested on the barrio
administrator (cabeza de
barangay). He was responsible
for peace and order and
recruited men for communal
public works. Cabezas should be
literate in Spanish and have
good moral character and
property. Cabezas who served
for 25 years were exempted
from forced labor. In addition,
this is where the sentiment
heard as, "Mi Barrio", first came
from.

6.The Residencia and The


Visita

To check the abuse of power of


royal officials, two ancient
castilian institutions were
brought to the Philippines. The
Residencia, dating back to the
5th century and the Visita
differed from the residencia in
that it was conducted
clandestinely by a visitador-
general sent from Spain and
might occur anytime within the
official’s term, without any
previous notice. Visitas may be
specific or general.

7.Maura Law

The legal foundation for


municipal governments in the
country was laid with the
promulgation of the Maura Law
on May 19, 1893. Named after
its author, Don Antonio Maura,
the Spanish Minister of Colonies
at the time, the law reorganized
town governments in the
Philippines with the aim of
making them more effective and
autonomous. This law created
the municipal organization that
was later adopted, revised, and
further strengthened by the
American and Filipino
governments that succeeded
Spanish.

2. Social Status Women became relegated to


second position in society. Their
place was considered to be in
the home or in the church.
After the colonization, the only
education available to women
was through the convent, and
this was only open to upper
class girls. Education largely
consisted of domestic subjects
such as embroidery, and
teaching was the only career
possible.

3. Economic Manila-Acapulco
Trade
Galleon

System
The Manila-Acapulco Galleon
Trade was the main source of
income for the colony during its
early years. Service was
inaugurated in 1565 and
continued into the early 19th
century. The Galleon trade
brought silver from New Spain,
which was used to purchase
Asian goods such as silk from
China, spices from the Moluccas,
lacquerware from Japan and
Philippine cotton textiles. These
goods were then exported to
New Spain and ultimately
Europe by way of Manila. Thus,
the Philippines earned its
income through the trade of the
Manila-Acapulco Galleon. The
trade was very prosperous and
attracted many merchants to
Manila, specially Chinese.
However, initially it neglected
the development of the colony's
local industries which affected
the Indios since agriculture was
their main source of income. In
addition, the building and
operation of galleons put too
much burden on the colonists'
annual polo y servicio. However,
it resulted in cultural and
commercial exchanges between
Asia and the Americas that led
to the introduction of new crops
and animals to the Philippines
such as corn, potato, tomato,
cotton and tobacco among
others, that gave the colony its
first real income. The trade
lasted for over two hundred
years, and ceased in 1815 just
before the secession of
American colonies from Spain.

Royal Society of Friends of


the Country

José de Basco y Vargas,


following a royal order to form a
society of intellectuals who can
produce new, useful ideas,
formally established the Real
Sociedad Economica de Amigos
del Pais. Composed of leading
men in business, industry and
profession, the society was
tasked to explore and exploit
the island's natural bounties.
The society led to the creation
of Plan General Economico of
Basco which implemented the
monopolies on the areca nut,
tobacco, spirited liquors and
explosives. It offered local and
foreign scholarships and training
grants in agriculture and
established an academy of
design. It was also credited to
the carabao ban of 1782, the
formation of the silversmiths
and gold beaters guild and the
construction of the first
papermill in the Philippines in
1825. It was introduced on
1780, vanished temporarily on
1787-1819, 1820–1822 and
1875-1822 and ceased to exist
in the middle of the 1890s.

Royal Company of the


Philippines

On March 10, 1785, Charles III


created the Royal Philippine
Company with a 25 year
charter.It was granted exclusive
monopoly of bringing to Manila,
Philippines; Chinese and Indian
goods and shipping them
directly to Spain via the Cape of
Good Hope. It was stiffly
objected by the Dutch and
English who saw it as a direct
attack on their trade of Asian
goods. It was also vehemently
opposed by the traders of the
Galleon trade who saw it as
competition. This gradually
resulted into the death of both
institutions: The Royal Philippine
Company in 1814 and the
Galleon trade in 1815.

Taxation

To support the colony, several


forms of taxes and monopolies
were imposed. The buwis
(tribute), which could be paid in
cash or kind (tobacco, chickens,
produce, gold, blankets, cotton,
rice, etc., depending on the
region of the country), was
initially was fixed at 8 reales
(one real being 8 centavos) and
later increased to 15 reales,
apportioned as follows: ten
reales buwis, one real diezmos
prediales (tithes), one real to
the town community chest, one
real sanctorum tax, and three
reales for church support.

Also collected was the bandalâ


(from the Tagalog word
mandalâ, a round stack of rice
stalks to be threshed), an
annual enforced sale and
requisitioning of goods such as
rice. Custom duties and income
tax were also collected. By
1884, the tribute was replaced
by the Cedula personal, wherein
colonists were required to pay
for personal identification.
Everyone over the age of 18
was obliged to pay.

Forced Labor (Polo y


servicios)
The system of forced labor
otherwise known as polo y
servicios evolved within the
framework of the encomienda
system, introduced into the
South American colonies by the
Conquistadores and Catholic
priests who accompanied them.
Polo y servicios is the forced
labor for 40 days of men
ranging from 16 to 60 years of
age who were obligated to give
personal services to community
projects. One could be
exempted from polo by paying
the falla (corruption of the
Spanish Falta, meaning
"absence"), a daily fine of one
and a half real. In 1884, labor
was reduced to 15 days. The
polo system was patterned after
the Mexican repartimento,
selection for forced labor.

4. Education In pre-Spanish times, education


was informal unstructured in
The Early Period

some areas. Children were During the early years of


provided more vocational
training and less academics (3 Spanish colonization, education
Rs) by their parents and in the was mostly religion-oriented and
houses of tribal tutors. When
the Spanish arrived in Manila, controlled by the Roman
though, they were surprised to
find a population with a literacy Catholic Church. Spanish friars
rate using a system of writing and missionaries educated the
known as baybayin which was
higher than the literacy rate of natives through religion with the
Madrid.
aim of converting indigenous
The most interesting populations to the Catholic faith.
paleographic peculiar
King Philip II's Leyes de Indias
characteristic of ancient
(Laws of the Indies) mandated
Philippine scripts is its being
Spanish authorities in the
traditionally written from bottom
Philippines to educate the
to top, with the succeeding lines
natives, to teach them how to
following on the right. However,
read and write and to
when theSpaniards attempted
learn Spanish. However, the
to use the script in their desire
latter objective was well-nigh
to spread Roman Catholicism,
impossible given the realities of
like printing the Doctrina the time.[2] The early friars

Cristiana in the Tagalog learned the local languages and

language and script, the the Baybayin script to better

direction of writing was changed communicate with the locals.

and consequently the axis of the Although by royal decree the

symbols also changed. These friars were required to teach the

changes may be described in Spanish language to the

brief: "the direction of writing natives, they reasoned that it

proceeded from left to right, would be easier for them to

with the succeeding lines written learn the local languages first

below the previous line; while than trying to teach Spanish to

the axis of the symbols was all the population.

rotated to a ninety degree


The Spanish missionaries
position, in which the symbols
established schools immediately
for i and u in composition with
on reaching the islands and
any consonant became above
wherever they penetrated,
and below, respectively. In the
church and school went
traditional position, the i and u
together. There was no
were on the right and left,
Christian village without its
respectively, of the consonant
school and all young people
with which they are composed."
attended.

In general, there are two


The Augustinians opened a
observable features of the
school immediately upon
ancient Philippine scripts. These
arriving in Cebú in 1565.
include:
The Franciscans arrived in 1577,

and they, too, immediately


 the curvi-linear
taught the people how to read
character -
and write, besides imparting to
 Tagbanwa
them important industrial and
 Tagalog script
agricultural techniques.
 Iloko
The Jesuits who arrived in 1581
 the lineo-angular trait -
also concentrated on teaching
 Hanunó'o script the young. When

The scripts found in the Samar- the Dominicans arrived in 1587,

they did the same thing in their


Leyte area as reported by Alzina first mission inBataan.[3]

straddle the two categories-they


Within months of their arrival
show both lineo-angular and
in Tigbauan which is located in
curvi-linear features.
the island of Panay, Pedro

Chirino and Francisco Martín had

established a school for Visayan

boys in 1593 in which they

taught not only the catechism

but reading, writing, Spanish,

and liturgical music.

The Spaniards of Arévalo heard

of the school and wanted

Chirino to teach their boys too.

Chirino at once put up a

dormitory and school house

(1593-1594) for the Spanish

boys near his rectory. It was the

first Jesuit boarding school to be

established in the Philippines.

Juan de Plasencia was one of

those friars who wrote a

Spanish-to-Tagalog Christian

Doctrine in 1593, which

transliterated from Roman

characters to Tagalog Baybayin

characters. Eventually, the

Baybayin script was replaced by

the Roman alphabet, providing

in this way the indigenous

people with more leverage when

dealing with the local Spanish

colonial administrators.

There were also Latin schools

where that language was taught


together with some Spanish,

since it was a mandatory

requirement for the study of

philosophy, theology and

jurisprudence in schools like the

University of Santo Tomás, run

by the Dominicans. The

Philippine priests and lawyers of

that time, with the exception of

the sons and daughters of

Spaniards, Principalías and

Ladinos, knew Latin perfectly

well because the educational

system was wholly religious.

The friars also opened many

medical and pharmaceutical

schools. The study of pharmacy

consisted of a preparatory

course with subjects in natural

history and general chemistry

and five years of studies in

subjects such as pharmaceutical

operations at the school of

pharmacy. At the end of this

period, the degree of Bachiller

en Farmacia was granted.

By the end of the 16 th century,

several religious orders had

established charity hospitals all

over the archipelago and

provided the bulk of this public

service. These hospitals also

became the setting for

rudimentary scientific research

work on pharmacy and


medicine, focusing mostly on

the problems of infectious

diseases. Several Spanish

missionaries cataloged hundreds

of Philippine plants with

medicinal properties. 

5. Religion The pre-Hispanic belief system Catholicism was the main


of Filipinos consisted of a religion during this period.
pantheon of gods, spirits, Church and state were
creatures, and men that inseparably linked in Spanish
guarded the streams, fields, policy, with the state assuming
trees, mountains, forests, and responsibility for religious
houses. Bathala, who created establishments. One of Spain's
earth and man, was superior to objectives in colonizing the
these other gods and spirits. Philippines was the conversion
Regular sacrifices and prayers of Filipinos to Catholicism. The
were offered to placate these work of conversion was
deities and spirits--some of facilitated by the absence of
which were benevolent, some other organized religions, except
malevolent. Wood and metal for Islam, which predominated
images represented ancestral in the south. The pageantry of
spirits, and no distinction was the church had a wide plea,
made between the spirits and reinforced by the incorporation
their physical symbol. Reward or of Filipino social customs into
punishment after death was religious observances. The
dependent upon behavior in this eventual outcome was a new
life. Christian majority of the main
Malay lowland population, from
Anyone who had reputed power which the Muslims of Mindanao
over the supernatural and and the upland tribal peoples of
natural was automatically Luzon remained detached and
elevated to a position of separated.
prominence. Every village had
its share of shamans and priests They introduced doctrina
who competitively plied their Christiana which based on
talents and carried on ritual tagalog language with baybayin
curing. Many gained renown for scripts.
their ability to develop anting-
anting, a charm guaranteed to
make a person invincible in the
face of human enemies. Other
sorcerers concocted love potions
or produced amulets that made
their owners invisible.

You might also like