Nicole R.

Villanueva
4-BSP
Rizal HW
Aug. 18, 2016
SOME FACTORS THAT GAVE BIRTH TO FILIPINO NATIONALISM
1. Opening of the Philippines to World Trade (1834)
During September 6, 1834, the Spanish King and Governor-General Basco
issued the Royal Decree of September 6, 1834, which officially opened the
port of Manila to the world. The opening of the Philippines to world trade in
1834 transformed the economic landscape of the country greatly. The
economy of the Philippines rose rapidly. A small flow of European immigrants
came with the opening of the Suez Canal, which cut the travel time between
Europe and the Philippines by half. People around the world have build up a
business in the Philippines due to this world trade. In 1787, a Frenchman
named Sebir set up a business in Manila. In 1821, George W. Hubbell and his
brother Henry, English men, had businesses in Manila and founded Hubbel
Company. The local industries are booming as well. Most local industries in
Manila are developed to satisfy the rising demands of Europe.
2. Opening of Suez Canal
The Suez Canal, which connected the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea,
was inaugurated in 1869. It was built by a French engineer named Ferdinand
de Lesseps. By passing through the Canal, vessels journeying between
Barcelona and Manila no longer had to pass by the Cape of Good Hope, at
the southern tip of Africa. Thus, they were able to shorten their traveling time
from three months to 32 days. November 17, 1869 was the grand opening of
the wonderful Suez Canal in Egypt. It is one of the most important artificial
sea-level waterway in the world. It was the one that paved the way for our
country, the Philippines, do direct commercial relations with Spain, instead of
doing what we used to do -- We do commercial relations with Mexico to be
able to get it to Spain but with the birth of Suez Canal, we won't do
commercial trades with Mexico to Spain anymore. We can do direct importexport thing with Spain. There were a lot of effects in the Philippines because
of the Suez Canal. It became easier and faster to communicate with Spain.

There were developments in agricultural exports as well as Manila to the

world trade. There are a lot of foreign merchants in the Philippines that
brought and spread their liberal thoughts. There were emergence of elites
among the native population, they are Ilustrados. Thanks to the Suez Canal,
trading in the Philippines became increasingly profitable. More and more
foreign merchants and businessmen came to the colony, bringing with them a
lot of progressive ideas. The Filipinos not only gained more knowledge and
information about the world at large; they also gained the desire for freedom
and improvement in their lives.
3. SECULARIZATION CONTROVERSY
Based from what I have read, there are two kinds of priests served the
Catholic Church in the Philippines. These were the regulars and the seculars.
The regular priests belonged to religious orders. Their main task was to
spread Christianity. The regular priests are the Franciscans, Recollects,
Dominicans, and Augustinians. Secular priests did not belong to any religious
order. They were trained specifically to run the parishes and were under the
supervision of the bishops. Conflict began when the bishops insisted on
visiting the parishes that were being run by regular priests. It was their duty,
they argued, to check on the administration of these parishes. But the regular
priests refused these visits, saying that they were not under the bishops
jurisdiction. They threatened to abandon their parishes if the bishops
persisted. During 1774, Archbishop Basilio Santa Justa decided to uphold the
dioceses authority over the parishes and accepted the resignations of the
regular priests. Then he assigned secular priests to take their place. Since
there were not enough seculars to fill all the vacancies the Archbishop
hastened the ordination of Filipino seculars. On November 9, 1774, there was
a royal decree to which provided for the secularization of all parishes or the
transfer of parochial administration from the regular friars to the secular
priests. The regulars resented the move because they considered the
Filipinos unfit for the priesthood. Among other reasons they cited the Filipinos
brown skin, lack of education, and inadequate experience. The controversy
became more powerful when the Jesuits returned to the Philippines. They
had been exiled from the country because of certain policies of the order that
the Spanish authorities did not like. The issue soon took on a racial slant. The
Spaniards were clearly favouring their own regular priest over Filipino priests.
Monsignor Pedro Pelaez, ecclesiastical governor of the Church, sided with
the Filipinos. Unfortunately, he died in an earthquake that destroyed the
Manila Cathedral in 1863. After his death, other priests took his place in

fighting for the secularization movement. Among them were Fathers Mariano
Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora.
4. Cavite Mutiny of 1872
In 1872, it was the time where an important outbreak known as the Cavite
Revolt or Cavite Mutiny of 1872. 200 native soldiers rose at the Caite arsenal
and killed their head officers. They all shouted "Death to Spain!". They belived
that it would give rise to a revolution. They had fellow conspirators among the
troops in Manila but the plans backfired. This revolt was a failure and was
easily suppressed. A large number of Filipinos were immediately arrested,
who had been conspicuous in La Torres time and who were advocates of
reform. This number included the three priests famously known as
'Gomburza', Fathers Burgos, Zamora, and Gomez, besides Don Antonio
Regidor, Don Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Don Pedro Carillo, and others. The
council had the final say and they said that the forty-one of the participants in
the Cavite riot will die. They were shot in the morning of January 27, 1872 in
Bagumbayan. On February 6, 11 more soldiers which were in charge of the
regiment of artillery were sentenced to life imprisonment instead of death. On
February 15, the garrote, GOMBURZA and Saldua were executed.
5. EXECUTION OF COMBURZA
On February 17, 1872, Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jocinto
Zamora (Gomburza), all Filipino priest, was executed by the Spanish
colonizers on charges of subversion. The charges against Fathers Gomez,
Burgos and Zamora was their alleged complicity in the uprising of workers at
the Cavite Naval Yard. The event was the Cavite Mutiny of 1872. The death of
Gomburza awakened strong feelings of anger and resentment among the
Filipinos, especially Paciano, the brother of Dr. Jose Rizal. Ever since that
day, a lot of Filipinos have questioned Spanish authorities and demanded
reforms.

6. Governorship of DELA TORRE

 He was a Spanish soldier and politician. He was the Governor-General in the

Philippines from 1869 to 1871. He was a very liberal person. He supports
democratic priniples and proposed imposing liberal laws to the Philippines.
He was the one who established the Guardia Civil in the Philippines. He was
the one who gave amnesty to the rebels. He removed flogging, relaxed media
censorship and began limited secularization of education. He was very close
to the ilustrados. He was single but had a mistress who deeply influenced
him. Her name is Maria del Rosario Gil de Montes de Sanchiz.
7. GOVERNORSHIP of Rafael de izquierdo
His full name is Rafael Geronimo Cayetano Izquierdo y Gutierrez. He was a
Spanish Military Officer, politician and statesman. He served as a GvernorGeneral after dela Torre, from April 4, 1871 up to January 8, 1873. He was
famous for being the Iron Fist. He was the one held responsible for the 1872
Cavite Mutiny which led to the execution of 41 mutineers, including the
GOMBURZA martyrs.
8. Spanish revolution
The Philippine Revolution (1896 - 1898) was an armed military conflict
between the people of the Philippines and the Spanish colonial authorities
which resulted in the secession of the Philippine Islands from the Spanish
Empire.
The Philippine Revolution began in August 1896 upon the discovery of the
anti-colonial secret organization Katipunan by the Spanish authorities. The
Katipunan, led by Andrs Bonifacio, was a secessionist movement and
shadow government spread throughout much of the islands whose goal was
independence from Spain through armed revolt. In a mass gathering in
Caloocan, the Katipunan leaders organized themselves into a revolutionary
government and openly declared a nationwide armed revolution. Bonifacio
called for a simultaneous coordinated attack on the capital Manila. This attack
failed, but the surrounding provinces also rose up in revolt. In particular,
rebels in Cavite led by Emilio Aguinaldo won early victories. A power struggle
among the revolutionaries led to Bonifacio's execution in 1897, with command
shifting to Aguinaldo who led his own revolutionary government. That year, a
truce was officially reached with the Pact of Biak-na-Bato and Aguinaldo was
exiled to Hong Kong, though hostilities between rebels and the Spanish
government never actually ceased.

In 1898, with the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, Aguinaldo

unofficially allied with the United States, returned to the Philippines and
resumed hostilities against the Spaniards. By June, the rebels had conquered
nearly all Spanish-held ground within the Philippines with the exception of
Manila. Aguinaldo thus declared independence from Spain and the First
Philippine Republic was established. However, neither Spain nor the United
States recognized Philippine independence. Spanish rule in the islands only
officially ended with the 1898 Treaty of Paris, wherein Spain ceded the
Philippines and other territories to the United States. The Philippine-American
War broke out shortly afterward.
9. Restoration of the reactionary regime in Spain
With the restoration of the Spanish monarchy and the return of conservatism
in Spain, dela Torre was removed from office. He was replaced by the
reactionary Rafael de Izquierdo, who boasted that he came to the Philippines
with a cross on one hand and a sword on the other.
10.

Influx of liberal law

Liberal Regime of Carlos Ma. dela Torre The fall of Queen Isabella and the
triumph of liberalism in Spain resulted into the appointment of dela Torre as
Governor-General in the Philippines. With his assumption into office, he
demonstrated his democratic and liberal philosophy in governing the country.
11.

Racial discrimination

Racial Discrimination Another factor that contributed to the development of

the Filipinos sense of nationhood. The Spaniards considered the Filipinos an
inferior race and sarcastically called them Indios. Discrimination towards the
Filipinos were prevalent in the universities, government offices, church, and
the Court of Justice.
12.

Rise of the middle class

In the mid-18th century (1750s), there were 5 principal social classes in the
Philippines. These were the Peninsulares, the Insulares, the clase media or
middle class, the Chinese and the indio. The Peninsulares, which included
the Spanish friars, were the Spaniards born in Spain, ( the Iberian peninsula)
and were the wealthiest and most politically powerful among the social

classes. The Insulares were the Spaniards born in the Philippines. The clase
media consisted of three subclasses: the Spanish mestizos or mestizos de
Espaol; the principalia; and the Chinese mestizos or mestizos de Sangley.
The Chinese and the indio or natives made up the lower half of the social
pyramid. The mestizos or half-breed, which initially referred only to those of
Spanish-native descent, had an indio parent and a Spanish or Chinese
parent. Usually, Spanish who married indios were in the lower strata of
Spanish society. Mestizos, in general, constituted no more than 2% of the
population but because of the even smaller population of creoles in the
Philippines, they were able to take some control over commerce and industry
and acquire (and dispense of) a disproportionate share of wealth. Chinese
mestizos who had a higher position in society compared to the pure Chinese,
separated from the Chinese community and set up their gremios or guilds.
They also competed with the Chinese in the business sector. A gremio is a
self-governing organization. Each gremio had a cabecilla. The cabecillas elect
the gobernadorcillo de chino who acted as the mediator between the Spanish
and the Chinese. Initially, the Chinese mestizos had several advantages over
the Chinese. Spain perceived the Chinese as foreigners and forbade them
from changing their residence, a restriction was only removed in 1839 when
Chinese were given the right to choose their occupation and residence but
which still required those who traveled between Manila and the provinces to
obtain a permit good for three months. Chinese expulsions were also carried
out against the Chinese in 1755 and 1766, because of Spanish suspicion, but
they were repealed in 1788 when the Spanish recognized the contributions
the Chinese could make to the Philippine economy. Another advantage that
the mestizos had was the fact that they were legally entitled to all the rights of
a Spanish citizen or vecino. The indio are the common Filipino who are very
discriminated especially the Spaniards.
SOURCE:
https://www.megaessays.com/