University of California Press Pacific Historical Review

The Cause of the Philippine Revolution
Author(s): Vincente R. Pilapil

Source: Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Aug., 1965), pp. 249-264
Published by: University of California Press
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The Cause of the Philippine
Revolution
VINCENTE R. PILAPIL
The author of this article is a member of the history

faculty in Loyola College, Baltimore.
EARLY HISTORIANS of the Philippine insurrec-

tion' against Spain in 1896 attributed the uprising to the tyranny of
the Spanish colonial government. American writers in particular did
so, and for two reasons. First, they based their works mostly on the
writings and propaganda leaflets of the Philippine revolutionaries
who, as one might expect, were extremely anti-Spanish. Second, these
fitted well with the supposed reason for American intervention. The
United States purportedly came to help the Filipinos fight against the
despotic colonialism of Spain. These writers were not conscious or
zealous apologists. Such respectable historians as W. Cameron Forbes
and Joseph Ralston Hayden merely accepted Spanish oppression as a
fact without feeling compelled to furnish any proofs. The knights-
errant who came forward to defend the Spanish rule in the Philippines
did not make matters any better. In their reaction they were just as
selective in handling historical facts and just as one-sided.
Philippine historians, almost without exception, would admit that
there was an atmosphere of relative progress in the islands in the nine-
teenth century.2 Many reforms were effected. Judging from the coun-
try's conditions alone, it would be impossible to understand the politi-
cal upheaval of 1896. This was still an insurrection, but it was the
most widespread since the very beginnings of Spanish rule. In fact,
after the initial defeat and with the help of the United States, it became
a fully developed revolution.
1 The armed uprising in 1896 was a confined rebellion-an insurrection. The term
"revolution" is used in the title and in other places not because I want to give in to the
sophistication of some who feel that the word "insurrection" is derogatory. Rather, it is
because we are dealing with successive and continuous events, which resulted in a revolu-
tion. Hence, when I refer to the whole movement, I use "revolution" instead of "insur-
rection."
2See Vicente R. Pilapil, "Nineteenth-Century Philippines and the Friar-Problem,"
The Americas, XVIII (1961), 127-148.
249
250 PACIFIC HISTORICAL REVIEW
The real cause of the Philippine revolution was the political matu-
ration and the national awakening of the Philippine people. This,
combined with the stirrings of liberalism, brought about the in-
evitable conflict. The more dramatic thesis that the Spanish govern-
ment was tyrannical and oppressive and that the Filipino people, no
longer able to suffer in silence and obedience, rose against it, leaves
many problems unexplained. The homespun analogy of a colony to a
grown-up son who finally decided to throw away the shackles of ma-
ternal control is the more correct one. Nationalism and liberalism,
then, constitute the theme of this essay.
By the second half of the nineteenth century there was a discernible
political maturation of the Filipinos as a people. The Philippine na-
tion was being impressed with its own individuality; the inhabitants
saw themselves as a distinct group. Many factors and events contribu-
ted to shape the Filipino people and made them aware of their na-
tional distinction.
During those hundreds of years that they functioned, the govern-

mental and administrative agencies introduced by Spain into the
Philippine colony had a considerable effect in welding the Filipinos
into an entity.3 Instead of the numerous petty barangays4 at war with
one another, which formerly had been the political state of the archi-
pelago at the arrival of the Spaniards, a centralized government was
established. Spain introduced one set of institutions and one set of
regulations. Everyone had to obey the same authorities-the repre-
sentatives of the Spanish crown. Being one in allegiance, the people
who were scattered throughout the archipelago, became bonded to-
gether into a whole. The native inhabitants gradually became more
conscious, not of their tribal differences, but of their similarities.
Furthermore, a distinction was drawn between the colonized natives
and the governing people which added to the cohesion of the former.
Catholicism, the single religion they professed, ought to be stressed
as an important factor. The notions of nationalism and liberty came
forth from such doctrines which preach the worth and dignity of the
human person-the same destiny which the Heavenly Father pre-
'When we talk about the Philippine nation, we are really referring to the main,
central portion of the country. Hence the inhabitants in those places which had not been
effectively governed and Christianized by the Spaniards, such as the primitive tribes in
the mountains of northern Luzon and the Mohammedans in Mindanao, are excluded
from the discussion.
'These are groups of clanlike political states independent from each other. Originally
called balangays, the term became hispanized into barangays.
The Philippine Revolution 251
pared for all men regardless of accidental differences. Consequently,

the people on whose ears these teachings fell created a new outlook
for themselves. If all men were of equal intrinsic value before God,
why did some have to be subject peoples in the world of men? These
thoughts implanted the seeds of a new awakening.
Of equal importance with the religious factor was the educational
factor. The education of the natives was a main provision in the
colonization system. The effects of education are rather obvious. One
cannot educate a person without stimulating his search for other real-
ities. Some of the colonials, having been sufficiently instructed, be-
came irritated with the thought of being dominated by a foreign gov-
ernment. Thus, in the early stages of the subsequent insurrection the
fight was first waged by men of higher learning, by those who had
studied in the colleges or in the universities. Most of the "propa-
gandists" were degree holders, a group destined to lead their country-
men due to their greater enlightenment. The foremost Philippine
hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, writing in his defense at his death trial, brilliantly
expostulated: "I have never believed nor can I believe that these
my aspirations (for the welfare and freedoms of my country) could
ever be criminal in the eyes of the Government: they are the aspira-
tions which my education-eminently Spanish and as such patriotic
-had brought forth in me." 6 One of the chief shortcomings on both
the part of the Spanish government and the Spanish friars was their
failure to recognize that they had provided the Filipinos new vistas of
thought and desires and, therefore, had to satisfy them in some
way.
For three centuries the above factors played their historic parts.
Slowly and gradually Philippine nationalism was being born and de-
veloped. Certain factors and events in the nineteenth century served
to quicken the pace of its growth.
The printing press has made major contributions in the history
of most nations. Its significance was great in the Philippines. In
1811 the colonial government published its official organ, Del Superior
Gobierno, which was the first gazette to be printed in Manila. A host
of other newspaper publications followed, serving to inform the peo-
ple of the current events both at home and abroad. Some sixteen
SJose Rizal, "Mi Defensa." This document has only been recently reprinted in Jesus
Maria Cavanna y Manso, C.M., Rizal and the Philippines of his Days (Manila, 1957), 18,
wherefrom this is quoted.
periodicals appeared in the years between 1822 and 1860. Significantly,

the printed word was the first weapon used by the Filipino reformers
for the achievement of their objectives. While still in the colony one
of the great leaders of the reform movement, Marcelo H. del Pilar,
started a daily (the Diariong Tagalog, 1882) for political purposes,
which due to strict censorship closed shortly thereafter. In Spain
Jos6 Rizal proposed to publish a book which was to be the communal
work of the Filipinos abroad in order to inform other peoples of the
conditions in their country. This project having failed due to lack of
co-operation, Rizal proceeded to write on his own. The product, his
Noli Me Tangere, is credited with the same impact as Harriet Beecher
Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The book was smuggled into the islands
and read eagerly and avidly by the people despite and because of its
prohibition and condemnation by the Spanish government.6
The other Filipinos in Madrid continued in their efforts to publish
a periodical and produced the Revista del Circulo Hispano-Filipino,
which did not last long and which was succeeded by La Solidaridad,
the official weapon of the reform movement, better known as the Prop-
aganda Movement. Aside from this, the propagandists-del Pilar,
L6pez-Jaena, Pedro Paterno, Mariano Ponce, to mention a notable few
-published pamphlets of a highly incendiary character. The reform
movement was essentially a campaign conducted through the written
word. It was after the failure of this campaign that guns and bolos were
used to take its place as more effective weapons. The lower-class, more
revolutionary Katipunan society itself did not fail to use the press.
This organization, too, printed the Kalayaan, which, in order to evade
the Spanish authorities, maintained the pretense of being published in
Japan. The potency of the press as used by the advanced reformists to
awaken their still lethargic countrymen cannot be underrated.
Likewise, the modern means of travel and communication served to
keep the people abreast of the currents of their times. Apolinario
Mabini, dubbed the "Brains of the Philippine Revolution," wrote that
in mid-nineteenth century "the echoes of the European way of life
clearly reached the ears of the Filipinos who, surprised by the novelty,
SThis novel was submitted for examination by the governor-general to the rector of
the University of Santo Tomas who reported: "... I have the honor to manifest to your
Most Illustrious Excellency that after examining the book, a committee of the Faculty
found it heretical, impious, and scandalous to the religious order, libellous to the Gov-
ernment of Spain and to its political policies in these islands." The text of this report is
given in Rafael Palma, The Pride of the Malay Race: A Biography of Jose Rizal, trans.
by Roman Ozaeta (New York, 1949), 94-95.
started to reflect." 7 Up to the early eighteen hundreds the Philippine

archipelago was pretty much isolated from the rest of the world. The
breaking down of these barriers, both natural and artificial, was largely
brought about by the laissez faire economic policies adopted at the
time. The law passed in 1814 providing that all colonial ports be
opened to foreign trade and allowing foreigners to enter and engage in
commerce, together with the royal order of 1834 which opened Manila
to foreign business and commerce, ushered in the establishment of
many foreign firms in the country. By 1858 fifteen foreign firms had
been established in the capital city. The presence of these foreigners
in the islands and the commercial relationship of the colony with
other countries brought about the dissemination of the liberal ideas of
the time.
Mabini assigned the beginning of the political revolution in the

Philippines to the opening of the Suez Canal on November 9, 1869.8
Much truth is contained herein. The new route shortened consider-
ably the distance between the Philippines and Europe. Formerly, a
trip from Barcelona to Manila by the Cape of Good Hope required
from three to six months. Through the Suez Canal the same trip would
take only thirty-two days. There followed a great influx of Spaniards
and Europeans into the colony and vice versa, which served to bring
the Philippines into the stream of contemporary affairs.
Three times in the history of Spanish rule, the Philippines was rep-
resented in the Cortes in Madrid. After the Spaniards had successfully
driven out King Joseph Bonaparte from Spain, the Junta Central,
which had provided the core of national resistance, decreed the re-es-
tablishment of the Cortes. Each colony was accorded one representa-
tive and the Philippines became duly represented in the parliamentary
sessions between 1810 and 1813. However, Ferdinand VII dissolved
the parliametary body upon his restoration in 1814. Six years later, in
order to keep his throne, the king decreed the reconvening of the
Cortes. This time it lasted for another three years. After Ferdinand's
death in 1833 a regency was established, and orders were once again
sent for another session of the law-making body.
In the Philippine capital an electoral board, composed mostly of
Spaniards, chose the representatives to be sent to Spain. At all times
the representatives were also Spaniards of high rank. Usually before
the selected delegates arrived, substitute delegates were chosen from
7Apolinario Mabini, La Revolucidn Filipina (Manila, Bureau of Printing, 1931), II,
282.
8l Ibid., 287.
Spanish residents in Madrid. When the delegates from the islands for
the Cortes of 1834 reached Madrid they found that they did not have
seats in that body. A provision had been passed to the effect that, be-
cause the constitutional provisions were inapplicable there, the Philip-
pine Islands would have to be governed by special laws to suit their
peculiar character. It is important to note that it was the first represen-
tative of the Philippines to the Cortes, Ventura de los Reyes, who
pointed out to his fellow delegates after the adoption of the Constitu-
tion of 1812 that its provisions could not be extended fully to the
Philippines. He argued that the colonized natives were not prepared
for the privileges and duties thereby provided and that, under the
system of one deputy for every 70,000 inhabitants, the Philippine
colony would have to be accorded twenty-five representatives which
was an impossibility taking only the cost of expenses into account.9
The Philippine representation, while it lasted, did not achieve even
modest benefits for the colony. But in all the programs for reforms the
plea for the return of the representation of the Philippines in the
Cortes always recurs. Not to leave out the theoretical consideration
that much of this representation could be used as a lever for the aspira-
tions of the Filipinos, the prime value lay on the fact that the Philip-
pines was being treated equally with the other provinces of Spain.
Equality--social and political-was the moving force of the propa-
ganda movement. The Filipinos might not have had a say in the selec-
tion of their representatives, their representatives might have spoken,
not for the interests of the majority of the inhabitants, but for those of
the upper classes; it did not matter. Representation in the Spanish
Cortes meant much to the nascent nationalists in Spain's Far Eastern
colony.
The political conditions of a colony can hardly be disengaged from
those of the mother country. Spain since the early eighteenth century
saw herself invaded by liberal ideas coming in from France. By 1812
these ideas of the Enlightenment found their way into the Spanish
constitution wherein the democratic principle that sovereignty is es-
sentially vested in the nation was laid down in the famous Article III.
This constitution was duly extended to the Philippines, and it was
promulgated in Manila in the following year. Its promulgation caused
some disturbance for the ignorant masses had not only taken it to
mean the granting of social and political liberties but also freedom
9Diario de las Cortes (official edition; Cadiz, Royal Press, 1812), XIII, 264-267; cited in
James A. LeRoy, The Americans in the Philippines (New York, 1914), I, 27.
from taxation and other obligations as well (just as the French peasants
did in the 1790's). Due to this, Jose Gardoqui de Garveita, the gov-
ernor-general at the time, had to issue a proclamation to dispel these
mistaken ideas of the people, who met the latter decree with resistance.
At any rate, Ferdinand, upon his accession to the throne, wasted no
time in repudiating the Constitution of 1812. The suppression of this
constitution sparked a revolt in the Ilocos provinces.
Moreover, the other Spanish colonies were setting examples. Start-
ing in 1809 the Latin American countries had begun to revolt and
succeeded in acquiring their independence. One after another they
seceded from Spain. Finally, Cuba, which fought unsuccessfully in
1869, again revolted in 1895, the latter struggle almost immediately
preceding the Philippine insurrection. The impact of such precedents
on the minds of the Filipinos can only be surmised.
The struggle between the right and left wing forces in Spain again
came to a head with the victory of the latter in 1868. Queen Isabella
II fled to France. Another liberal constitution was promulgated. This
time it guaranteed freedom of speech, press, association, and worship;
all told, no less than sixteen varieties of freedom.10 As before, this
constitution was proclaimed in Manila on September 21, 1869, and
its measures extended thereto. With the triumph of liberalism in
Spain, a liberal governor-general, Carlos Maria de la Torre, was ap-
pointed to the islands. The people enthusiastically responded to the
liberal regime and, when the constitution was proclaimed, there was
a celebration in Manila.
True to the political party he represented, Governor de la Torre

promulgated a number of liberal measures and even attempted to
secularize the University of Santo Tomas which had been in the hands
of the Dominican Order since the early 1600's. He also established an
assembly of reformists, which included Filipinos in its membership,
with the power to vote for reforms.1 Of these years a couple of Filipino
exiles nostalgically narrated in 1877 to the editor of the Revue des
Deaux Mondes that "currents of liberty electrified the Philippine peo-
ple, who with enthusiasm acclaimed the constitutional regime in the
Spanish peninsula proclaimed by the Revolution [of 1868]." 12
Conditions in Spain did not remain the same for long. In 1870
10 Edgar Allison Peers, Spain, the Church and the Orders (London, 1939), 87.
11 Cavanna, 40.
" Attorneys Antonio Ma. Regidor and Joaquin de Tavera, "Background of the Philip-
pine Revolution," in Austin Craig, The Filipinos' Fight for Freedom (Manila, Oriental
Commercial Co., 1933), 383.
Prince Amadeo of Savoy accepted the Spanish crown. The conservative

government replaced de la Torre, after two years of office, by appoint-
ing Rafael de Izquierdo governor-general. Reaction came in the form
of a return to the conditions prior to the liberal regime. The new
governor-general actually tried to turn the clock back. Sed quod fac-
turmin est, infectum non potest. The people had already tasted the
blessings of equality and liberty. In time they would look back to
those days and crave for their return. When in 1872 Governor
Izquierdo abolished some traditional privileges of the workers in the
arsenals of the Cavite shipyard, a revolt broke out. This revolt is one
of the landmarks in Philippine history.
The immediate effect of the 1872 uprising was the execution of three
Filipino priests. It reopened an old wound: the conflict between the
regular (Spanish) and the secular (Filipino) clergy; a conflict which
expanded into a general Spanish-Philippine race-fight.
The religious colonization of the Philippines was undertaken by
the friars-the members of the religious orders. When a native secu-
lar clergy finally developed, there did not seem to be any room for
them, except as assistants to the friars. Hence the conflict between the
Filipino clergy and the Spanish friars. In the second half of the
nineteenth century the most prominent leaders of the native clergy
were Padres Jose Burgos and Mariano G6mez. The former published
in 1864 a Manifesto in which be bewailed the racial indignities the
Filipino people were subjected to by the domineering Spanish author-
ities and pleaded that the wrong done to the Filipino priests be cor-
rected.'3 Father G6mez founded the publication, La Verdad, which
served as their mouthpiece. These two, together with Father Jacinto
Zamora,'4 were the priests executed after the Cavite revolt of 1872 on
the charge of having planned and conducted the uprising. Many be-
lieved them to be innocent and ascribed their death to the machina-
tions of the friars. That the archbishop of Manila refused to divest
these priests of their sacerodotal habits at the time of their execution
was an added argument in their favor. For the sake of historical truth,
it needs to be mentioned that two days after the execution, on Febru-
"a Manifesto to the Noble Spanish People which the Loyal Filipinos Address in Defense
of their Honor and Loyalty ... in Vicente M. Hilario and Eliseo Quirino, eds., Thinking
for Ourselves (Manila, 1932), 48-60.
" He was not a leader in the parochial secularization movement. The charge against
him seemed to have sprung from some circumstantial evidence. His investigators sup-
posedly found a letter in his possession which implicated him in the rebellion. Eufronio
M. Alip, Political and Cultural History of the Philippines (Manila, Alip and Brion
Publications, 1949), II, 79.
ary 19, 1872, Archbishop Gregorio Martinez issued a pastoral letter

condemning the revolt and bewailing especially the part played by
some members of the native clergy.'5 Be that as it may, the long-range
effects of the executions were hinted at by the eminent leader of the
reform movement, Jose Rizal, when he dedicated his second novel,
El Filibusterismo, to the three executed priests whom he designated
as "martyrs" and "victims of an evil which I set about to fight." 1e
Even more indicative were Rizal's reflections on this event as shown
in one of his letters where he indicated that without the rebellion
of 1872 there would have been no propaganda leaders, that he himself

would probably have become a Jesuit, and that instead of writing
books highly derogatory to the Spanish government and the friars,
he would have written the contrary?7 Later on, the secret and revolu-
tionary Katipunan society used the first syllables of these priests'
names, Gom-Bur-Za, as their password. Fathers G6mez, Burgos, and
Zamora became the heroes of an awakening people.
On the reasons why the Filipino priests should have been the first
among the natives to voice their complaints and clamor for equal
treatment with their Spanish brethren, why they became the first
outspoken advocates of Philippine nationalism, no better analysis
could be made than the one given by the governor-general in his re-
port to the government in Madrid. So well did he understand the
situation as laid down in the following passages:
Hence the native priest, having the Christian spirit, educated in the
seminary, enlightened by the friar ordinarily living with him, is probably
the most hostile and most dangerous of those who confront us. And this is
as it should be. When you instruct a man and give him a superior educa-
tion; when you ordain him, train him in the gospels; when he has become
familiar with the teaching of Jesus; when he has become expert in his
sacred ministry and has been ordered to preach everywhere good doctrines,
that man can be no one's servant. He will look as equal on the men who
exercise analogous functions, and he will hold himself the superior, if he
knows more. He will hate with all his soul those who would oppose his
enjoyment of the rank of which he has dreamed, and he will breathe forth
15 It is disconcerting to note that this fact is ignored by many historians to the present
day. The following words are a clear relation of this: "Fechada en su palacio el 19 de
Febrero, public6 el arzobispo de Manila, D. Gregorio Melit6n Martinez y Santa Cruz,
una extensa pastoral, en espafiol y tagalo, lamentando y condenando la insurrecci6n de
Cavite, y muy especialmente la parte que los expresados individuos del clero indigena
filipino habian tornado en ella." Josh Montero y Vidal, Historia General de Filipinas
(Madrid, 1887), III, 587.
e16 Jos6 Rizal, El Filibusterismo (Barcelona, 1911), "Dedication."
17 Letter from Rizal to Ponce and colleagues of "La Solidaridad," Paris, April, 1889,
Epistolario Rizalino (Manila, 1930-38), II, 166.
hate and vengeance from every pore if he has been humiliated, or believes
himself offended.
This is the position of the native priest; he is a sort of servant to the friar,
paid properly or improperly, but paid for the work of the native priest.
That is when he is a coadjutor. When he is given a parish, it must be a very
poor one, since the religious orders keep those which produce anything.
This explains the outcry for the expulsion of the friars, and that in every
reactionary programme a different distribution of the parishes and pre-
bends from the present one, figures.'s
The conflict between the secular and regular clergy inevitably be-
came interlaced with the general nationalistic campaign. As early as
1870 Archbishop Gregorio Martinez, writing to the king in his
defense of the native clergy, had clearly forewarned about this:
It is no longer possible to characterize as class hatred their [native
priests'] resentment against the friars, though that was the proper term
while the natives attributed their ill fortune to the ambition and the power
of the monastic order. Now, after repeated proofs, they are convinced that
the government is assisting the friars' immoderate aspirations; and that in
the opinion of some priests of the country there has been adopted the policy
of reducing them to insignificance, they pass over the ancient barrier, di-
rect their glances higher, and what was formerly only hostility to the friars
is changing into anti-Spanish sentiment.19
It did become an anti-Spanish struggle on a more general level. Some
Filipino priests became active in the revolutionary movements, con-
tributing articles to the "subversive" publications of the Katipunan
society20 and even holding high positions in this organization.21 The
leaders of the insurrection themselves had to take into account the
native clergy's aspirations, which did not stop short at the control of
the parishes, but also sought the highest ecclesiastical positions. Wit-
ness the case of Father Gregorio Aglipay.
The Spaniards in the Philippines were classified into two groups:
the peninsulares and the insulares. The former were those born in
the Peninsula; hence their name. This group was mostly composed of
18 Report of General Primo de Rivera to the government in Madrid, July 7, 1897.
Translated extract from John Rogers Meigs Taylor, "The Philippine Insurrection
Against the United States: A Compilation of Documents with Notes and Introductions,"
a five-volume work in galley proofs kept at the U.S. National Archives, Exhibit 6, 60FZ.
SArchbishop Martinez to the Regent of Spain, Dec. 31, 1870, in Austin Craig and
Conrado Benitez, eds., Philippine Progress Prior to 1898 (Manila, Philippine Education
Co., 1916), 127.
"0 Letter to Agustin Tantoco, a native parish priest, from the secretary and president
of the Katipunan. W. E. Retana, Archivo del Bibliofilo Filipino: Recopilacidn de Docu-
mentos (Madrid, 1895-1905), 149. Hereafter referred to as Archivo.
" Minutes of a session of the "Catipunan Sur" at the beginnings of 1896, ibid., 150-154.
the high government officials, the friars, and some few adventurers or
"fortune-hunters." They brought with them into the archipelago the
political divisions they had at home. Simply stated, they were conserva-
tives and liberals. The former preponderance of the Right was being
overbalanced by the influx of voluntary exiles from the mother
country. The voyage from Spain to the Philippines having been
cut short by the loss of the Spanish colonies and the opening of the
Suez Canal, a goodly number of discontented liberals and political
agitators found their way into the islands. Statistical figures show an
appreciable growth in the number of Spaniards in the colony; whereas
in 1810 there were only some 4,000 Spaniards, approximately 20,000
were present in 1870.22 Most of the Spanish liberals started spreading
their doctrines to the Filipinos, although the case of a liberal in Spain
who turned doctrinnaire conservative in the Philippines was not in-
frequent. Nevertheless, an official military report to the Spanish gov-
ernment had this to say on the matter: "Although it makes one blush
with shame, it is necessary to state that many peninsulares and among
The following is a statistical resume of the Spaniards in the Philippines during the
nineteenth century by E. H. Blair and J. A. Robertson:
"Comyn's Estado says that in 1810 the number of Spaniards born in the peninsula or
elsewhere, and of Spanish mestizos, of both sexes and all ages, classes, and occupations,
did not exceed 3,500 to 4,000. Diaz Arenas, Memorias historicas y estadisticas de Filipinas
(Manila, 1850), quotes official figures showing 293 Spaniards settled in the provinces,
outside of Manila and Tondo, in 1848; and he records 7,544 as the number of mestizos
in the islands, including Tondo, as Manila province was then called. Cavada, Historia
geografica, geologica y estadistica de Filipinas (Manila, 1876), taking his figures ap-
parently from the governmental statistics as to houses and their occupants for 1870,
gives for that year 3,823 Spaniards (all but 517 of them males) from the Peninsula, and
9,710 "Filipino Spaniards," the latter classification apparently including Spanish mestizos
with such pure-blooded Spaniards as had been in the Philippines. Among his Peninsular
Spaniards would be included over 1,000 members of the religious orders, an approxi-
mately equal number of soldiers, and the civil officials of Spanish blood (except a rela-
tively small number born in the islands themselves, mostly in the minor categories of
officials). J. F. del Pan, La Poblacion de Filipinas (Madrid, 1883) and F. Cafiamaque, Las
Islas Filipinas (Madrid, 1880) both report the parochial statistics of 1876 as showing
the total of Spaniards, apart from members of the religious orders, the civil service, and
the army and navy to be 13,265;... At least some of the Spanish mestizos in the islands
would appear to have been included in this total. A statistical resume for 1896 (La Politica
de Espafia en Filipinas, 1898, pp. 87-92) gives the number of Spaniards in the
Philippines at the end of Spanish rule as 34,000 (of whom 5,900 are credited as officers and
employees of governments, 3,800 as the normal number of Spaniards in army and navy,
and 1,700 as of the clerical estate). These figures, like various other estimates in pamphlets
of recent years, are considerably exaggerated; they are reconcilable only on the sup-
position that they include not only Spaniards of Philippine birth, but also Spanish
mestizos.... The foregoing estimates and figures do, however, show the great relative in-
crease of Spaniards and Spanish influence in the Philippines in the latter part of the
nineteenth century." Emma Helen Blair and James Alexander Robertson, eds., The
Philippine Islands (Cleveland, 1903-1909), LII, 115-116.
them some of high official position in the country have contributed to

this scandalous propaganda [against Spain]." 23
The other group of Spaniards were the insulares,24 those born in
the islands. They were as few as the peninsulares, if not fewer. There
simply were not enough incentives for the Spaniards to stay perma-
nently in the Philippines. Even among the religious, the only group
with a lasting interest in the Philippines, the insulares were none too
many. Thus when the government tried to introduce the alternativa25
in the Philippines, the peninsular friars protested on the ground
that there were not enough insulares among them to fill up the of-
fices.26 These foreign-born Spaniards occupied the high government
posts for which no peninsulares were available.
Contemporary writers have noted that the insulares acted and
claimed to be more Spanish than their Spanish counterparts them-
selves. The official commissioners, Sinibaldo de Mas27 and Manuel B.
Pizarro,28 of 1843 and 1877, respectively, saw in this group a real
danger to Spanish rule. In later years the insulares grew more restless
with discontent and envy. The interisland commercial and shipping
privileges and monopolies which had belonged rather exclusively to
them were fast dwindling away with the adoption of liberal economic
policies by the government. With great disfavor they looked upon the
growing number of Spaniards coming in from the peninsula and oc-
cupying more of the government posts. This is understandable. The
influx of the peninsulares restricted their promotions and limited the
number of offices they were to fill, thereby minimizing their hopes for
advancement. De Mas stated the crux of the conflict clearly:
The real cause, however, of the hatred [between the insulares and the
peninsulares] is economic, and a matter of posts. Each of the male Filipino-
Spaniards is seeking a post, but since there are only four hundred posts of
all kinds in the Islands, while the Filipino-Spaniards number about one
2A rchivo, III, 335.
In Spanish-American history these are termed creoles. "Insulares" is used here be-
cause it refers more specifically to the Spanish-Philippine Islanders.
' A system of alternately sharing the offices between the peninsular and insular Span-
iards.
a "Remonstrance of the Augustinians against the alternativa," Blair and Robertson,
XXVIII, 21-22.
SThe first recommendation he advised in order to conserve the colony was to reduce
the Spanish-Islanders to the least possible number. Ibid., LII, 31.
2 In his suggestions for "Reforms needed in Filipinas," Pizarro warned: "It ought to
be regarded as an incontestable truth that as soon as the Spanish race in Filipinas reaches
a greater number than that of the Europeans, and with this increase acquires a certain
degree of moral force, a war for independence will be declared .. " Ibid., L, 209.
thousand, the trouble must be continuous and must become exaggerated.

29
A veritable quarrel, which largely benefited the Filipinos, existed

between these two groups of Spaniards. In all probability, the in-
sulares would have been the first to challenge Spanish authority, as had
happened in most Latin American colonies, if they had any numerical
strength. Yet they could not participate in the revolutionary move-
ments led by others outside their class because they were aware that,
of the Spaniards, they had the most to lose. The peninsulares could al-
ways go home if Spanish power should crumble, while they, the
insulares, were naturally tied to the Philippine soil.
Next to the Spaniards in rank were the native caciques, more com-
monly called the principalia.30 Owing to the constant scarcity (until
the first quarter of the nineteenth century) of Spanish civil officials in
the Philippine colony, Spain had to rule the archipelago by using some
of the natives. For this purpose the government preserved the power
and prerogatives of the pre-Hispanic datus or chieftains, giving them
charge of the local government and the collection of taxes. In return,
they received many privileges such as the exemption from taxes and
personal labor. These men enjoyed much social and political prestige,
wielding great influence in the community. As part of a conquered
people, this class could not have fared better, and they were cognizant
of their privileged position. In the second half of the nineteenth cen-
tury laws were passed to put all natives on equal level. Fortunately for
the principalia, these laws mostly remained theoretical. To the end
they remained reluctant to change the status quo. The principalia, the
former leaders of the people, thereby gave up their position of leader-
ship in the struggle for national identity.
29 Ibid., LII, 34.
o The term refers to the old exclusive class made up of the hereditary cabezas or town
leaders. The U.S. Philippine Commission gives the following definition: "By principalia
is understood that aggregation or group formed in each town (pueblo), without fixed
number, comprising all those individuals who have held office or are holding office or who
pay $50 of land tax. More particularly, one at least of the following qualifications is de-
manded of those who became members of the principalia:
(1) to have been a gobernadorcillo under the old regime;
(2) to have been a lieutenant of justice;
(3) to be the "cabeza de barangay" (head of 80 or 100 men) or to have been the holder
of that office during ten consecutive years without any bad standing;
(4) to be a past captain (captain pasado);
(5) to have been a municipal lieutenant during the legal time without any bad
standing;
(6) to pay $50 land tax."
56 Cong, 1 sess., U.S. Sen. Doc. 138 (Washington, 1900-1901), I, 45.
A vague and undefined group was the mestizo class or the half-
breeds. In the Philippines there were two types of miscegenation:
the Spanish-Filipino and the Sino-Filipino. The Spanish-Filipino
mestizos were always a small group, usually confined to the main
cities. The mestizos, who were most prevalent in the South American
colonies, were comparatively few in the Philippines. First, there were
only few Spaniards there, and these "preferred to marry their own
kind, for marriage with a non-Spaniard seldom offered economic or
social advantages." 31 Second, unlike the South American colonies,
the native population of the country remained demographically sta-
ble, thus eliminating the need, which existed in the Americas, to fill
up the numerical decline of the natives with the mestizo population.
The Spanish-Filipino mestizo was a kind of an anomaly. He regarded
himself as superior to the natives and yet he was not completely ac-
cepted in the Spanish circles. Still in vogue was the concept that the
mestizos inherited the bad traits of both races.
Much more viable was the Chinese-Filipino mestizo. The Chinese,
in contrast to the Spaniards, who insisted on European acculturation,
adapted themselves easily to the Filipino way of life. Besides, the
Chinese were only too glad to be classified among the Filipinos for
this meant getting rid of the many legal, social, and economic handi-
caps imposed on their race. The Chinese were more numerous in the
Philippines than the Spaniards, and Sino-Filipino mestizos consider-
ably more numerous than the Spanish-Filipinos. This class repre-
sented a wealthy segment of the populace; mostly merchants, business-
men, and landed proprietors. They figured prominently in the events
of the 1880's and 1890's.
A new social group emerged in the nineteenth century: the en-
lightened middle class or the ilustrados. Their distinctive trait was
high learning and education. This was an open class, and it crossed
economic lines. A family acquiring enough wealth to send its chil-
dren to the higher institutions of learning automatically became of
the ilustrado class. Though not always the case, most of the ilustrados
were of sound financial standing since the colleges and the universities
were fairly expensive. It is not mere coincidence that most of the
propagandists were mestizos: Rizal, Ponce, L6pez-Jaena, and even the
revolutionary Aguinaldo. This is all too comprehensible because, as
was pointed out, the mestizos represented a rich portion of the in-
SJohn Leddy Phelan, The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and
Filipino Responses, 1565-1700 (Madison, 1959), 106.
habitants. From the halls of learning the ilustrados filed out to become
the leaders of the slowly shaping Philippine nation. Hence also the
fact that the propaganda leaders were young people. In age they
ranged between twenty-five to thirty-five years.
The ilustrado families, in an increasingly growing number, were
sending their sons to pursue still higher studies, usually to Spain.
Travel broadened their outlook and they started to interpret life ac-
cording to the standards they saw in those foreign lands. There,
through association and observation, they came in greater contact
with the liberal ideas of the West. The ilustrados could easily com-
municate with the western world because they knew Spanish, an ad-
vantage which the lower classes lacked.32 A psychological factor was
involved in the foreign travels of the ilustrado students. Many of them
journeyed through and studied in Spain; the decadence of Spanish
power and glory was laid bare before their very eyes. The greatness
of Spain, which they had believed in and which their countrymen
still believed in, proved to be a myth. For a people who were trying
to establish their worth this must have been shocking to behold and
yet uplifting for their patriotic spirits.
The ilustrados were very much aware that the greater part of the
Filipinos, the common masses, were not as yet catching up with them.
Therefore, they directed their efforts at awakening the political sense
and racial consciousness of the lagging masses, who were handicapped
by lack of means and higher education. The great bulk had to be
shaken out of their shell of indifference. This is what the propagan-
dists eventually aimed to do.
In sum, the insurrection of 1896 and the whole revolution-their
cause and actuality--can only be properly understood in the light of
the Filipino people's political maturation and their awakened na-
tionalism. The upholders of the Spanish-tyranny theory of the revolu-
tion may legitimately ask why, if the Philippines were going through
better times, did the complaints against the Spanish government grow
in volume toward the end of the century. The answer lies in the fact
that the educated Filipinos had started to look around them and
judged the state of their country, not in comparison with the past, but
SIt is baffling to note that, although the Philippines stayed under Spanish domination
for three and a half centuries, only a few natives knew and spoke Spanish. This fact has
been attributed by many to the conscious desire of the friars to hold the Filipinos in
ignorance in order to uphold their superiority. The truth of the matter is that oftentimes
the friar, being the only Spaniard in the provinces, found it easier to learn the dialect of
the natives than to teach them Spanish. In South America, where there were more
Spaniards, Spanish is spoken widely.
in terms of a desired ideal situation. The government officials had

committed many abuses, the colonial government was far from being
the best; but abuses and imperfection are not sufficient to explain the
Philippine Revolution. If the people were groaning under the yoke
of Spanish tyranny, the question why the leaders for reform, instead
of originally fighting for separation from such a despotic power, asked
for the assimilation of the Philippine colony with the mother country,
would remain unanswerable.
Rizal twice furnished the answers to why there were those innu-
merable complaints and heated charges against the Spanish adminis-
tration. He showed in all logical force how in a country that is domi-
nated by another there will be an inevitable race conflict.33 In another
occasion he said: "My purpose was different: It was to arouse the peo-
ple from their lethargy, and one who wants to arouse the people does
not make use of soft and light calls but of blows and detonations." 34
With this statement Rizal gave the most lucid reason on why the prop-
aganda writings were of a strongly derogatory character. It is in this
light that historians should use the propaganda material.
The political growth of the Filipino people also explains the fact
that the first to express their sentiments were the enlightened seg-
ments, lay and clerical, of the population since they arrived at the
stage of political maturity earlier than the rest of their countrymen.
Examining the aims and objectives sought for by the propaganda
leaders, one can unfailingly perceive that their appeals were the as-
pirations of a people, the earnest desires of a nation hoping to provide
a fitting rank for their national individuality. The propaganda leaders
were not a group voicing the anguishes of a maligned race; they were
the leaders who envisioned new dawns and vistas for their country-
men.
" Jose Rizal, "Filipinas Dentro de Un Cien Afios," Archivo, V 306-307. It is in this
treatise, more than in any of his other works, that Rizal showed his intellectual depth and
genius.
* Palma, 99.

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The Cause of the Philippine Revolution

Author(s): Vincente R. Pilapil

The author of this article is a member of the history

EARLY HISTORIANS of the Philippine insurrec-

During those hundreds of years that they functioned, the govern-

pared for all men regardless of accidental differences. Consequently,

periodicals appeared in the years between 1822 and 1860. Significantly,

started to reflect." 7 Up to the early eighteen hundreds the Philippine

Mabini assigned the beginning of the political revolution in the

True to the political party he represented, Governor de la Torre

Prince Amadeo of Savoy accepted the Spanish crown. The conservative

ary 19, 1872, Archbishop Gregorio Martinez issued a pastoral letter

of 1872 there would have been no propaganda leaders, that he himself

them some of high official position in the country have contributed to

thousand, the trouble must be continuous and must become exaggerated.

A veritable quarrel, which largely benefited the Filipinos, existed

in terms of a desired ideal situation. The government officials had

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