LIFE, WORKS & WRITINGS OF RIZAL

CHAPTER 5: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY PHILIPPINE

ECONOMY, SOCIETY, AND THE CHINESE MESTIZOS

VOCABULARY

 CASH CROP – crops cultivated for export.

 DECREE – an order issue by a legal authority; a policy pronouncement.
 GALLEON TRADE – trade 1564-1815, this was the form of trade between the Philippines and
Mexico. The galleons would sail to Mexico loaded with goods and return to the Philippines
carrying the payment of silver.
 INSULAREs – pure-blooded Spanish born in the Philippines.
 MESTIZO – a person with mixed ancestry- one parent is Chinese or Spanish and the other is
native.
 MERCHANT HOUSES – firms established in manila and other cities by foreign traders.
 PACTO DE RETROVENTA – an agreement that allowed a landowner to sell his/her land with the
guarantee that she/he could buy the land back at the same price.
 PARIAN – Chinese enclave established in 1581 outside the walls of Intramurous. The Chinese
were forced to live in the Parian.
 PENINSULARES – pure-blooded Spanish born in spain.
 PRINCIPALIA – wealthy pure-blooded natives said to have descended from the kadatoan class.
 SANGLEY – a term that proliferate in the Spain Philippines to refer to people of pure Chinese
descent; came from the Hokkien word, “seng-li” meaning business.
 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION – a way by which people in a society are categorized based on socio-
economic as well as political standards.

THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF PHILIPPINE ECONOMY AND SOCIETY

 During this period, vast economic, political, social, and cultural currents were felt
 By late 18th century, the monarchy in Spain experienced a dynastic shift from Habsburgs to
Bourbons.
 The first governor-general to the Philippines under the Bourbon mandate was Jose de Basco y
Vargas. (1778)
 By the time of Basco, the Galleon Trade, the main economic institution existing in the
Philippines.
 To better facilitate the envisioned reorientation of the economy, Basco established Royal
Philippine Company in 1785 to finance agricultural project.
 It also did not help that the Royal Philippine Company was fraught with issues and
mismanagement and corruption.

REFORMS

1. He lifted a ban on Chinese merchants;

2. Initialized the development of cash crop farms;
3. Relaxed certain policies that allowed the gradual opening of Manila foreign markets; and
4. Established the Tobacco Monopoly to maximize the production of this export good.
 LIFE, WORKS & WRITINGS OF RIZAL

 By 1810, the Mexican War of Independence ratted the Spanish empire, ass it would eventually
lead to the loss of precious Latin America colonies.
 With this came the eventual end of the Galleon Trade which became a concern in the
Philippines.
 Manila was opened to world trade by 1834.
 The rapid development of the economy began to flow in the Philippines through cash crops.
 By the first half of nineteenth century, majority of the exports of the Philippines came from cash
drops like tobacco, sugar, cotton, indigo, abaca and coffee.
 The farmers felt the pressure of the economy while the hacienderos grabbed the opportunity.
 For example: when a small landowner needed capital and money, he would engage in a pacto
de retroventa, an agreement of sale guaranteeing that he could buy the land back at the same
price at which it was sold.
 Eventually, they would be forfeit the land and would be forced to become tenant farmer, or
kasama.
 As form this mode, land acquisition also came in the form of land-grabbling.
 As the growing economy required better management of lands, inquilinos emerged, renting
land to sublet it to smaller farmers.
 These factors would bring change to the social stratification in the countryside.

THE CHINESE AND CHINESE MESTIZOS

 The sectors that greatly benefited from the changing economy were the Chinese and the
Chinese Mestizos.
 During the height of Galleon Trade, it was also Chinese products that comprised most the goods
being traded.
 These feeling led to stringent stake policy towards the sangley ranging from higher taxes.
 The restriction of movement with establishment of the Chinese enclave (Parian), to actual
policies of expulsion.

IMPACT ON LIFE IN THE COLONY

 The economic developments, precipitated social, political, and cultural developments as well.
 As Manila became trading center, it became viable destination for people seeking better
opportunities of those wanting to escape the worsening conditions in the farmlands.
 The increased rate of internal mitigation raised several concerns.
 One, people flocked to the centers of trade like Manila.
 Two, the continuous movement of people made tax collection extra difficult.
 In order to mitigate these concerns, one measure implemented was the 1849 decree of
Governor-General Narciso Claveria that urged the people in the colony tp adopt
surnames. Catalogo de apellideos drawn up.
 Together with more policies like the registration and possession of cedula personal bearing
one’s name and residence, the colonial government sought to have a better surveillance
mechanism (Guardia Civilia).
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RENEGOTIATING SOCIAL STRATIFICATION

 With the growing relevance of the mestizo population, new lines were drawn with the following
social strata:
 PENINSULAR – pure-blooded Spaniard born in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain).
 INSULAR – pure-blooded Spaniard born in the Philippines.
 MESTIZO – Born mixed parentage, a mestizo can be:
 SPANISH MESTIZO – one parent is Spanish, the other is a native; or
 CHINESE MESTIZO – one parent is Chinese, the other is a native.
 INDIO – pure-blooded native of the Philippines
 CHINO INFIEL – non-Catholic pure blooded Chinese.