18

The Life and Works of Rizal

Chapter 2

19th Century Philippines as Rizal’s

Context
 19

Chapter 2
19th Century Philippines as Rizal’s Context
Introduction

The module 2 entitled “19 th

Century Philippines as Rizal’s Context” will help the students
to understand Rizal’s life within the larger context of the nineteenth century. It focused on the
economic, social, and political development in the century that shaped the world in which Rizal lived.

The Philippines, being part of the wider Spanish empire, underwent changes when the
Spanish Crown also had a dynastic shift in the eighteenth century. With this came the Bourbon
Reforms that brought new policies of economic reorientation for the colonies. With the development
of the cash crop economy and the opening of Manila and other cities to world trade, the economy
boomed in the nineteenth century.

This development in the economy also had a profound impact on the social and political
landscapes. The new economy resulted in changes in policies about education. And the nineteenth
century saw the ascendance of the Chinese Mestizos that would assert their relevance in society.

Specific Objectives

- Explain the circumstances of Jose Rizal in the context of the nineteenth century
- Understand Jose Rizal in the context of his times.

Duration

Chapter 2: 19th Century Philippines as Rizal’s Context = 3 hours

(2 hours discussion; 1 hour
assessment)
 20

19th Century Philippines as Rizal’s Context

 Philippine era was the era of challenges and responses.
 It is the period of major changes that affect man and society.
 Age of enlightenment

I. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

A. End of Galleon Trade

The Galleon trade (Kalakalang Galyon) is also known in New Spain as “La Nao de la China”
(The China Ship) because it carried largely Chinese goods, shipped from Manila.
When the Spaniards came to the Philippines, our ancestor were always trading with China, Japan,
Siam, India, Cambodia, Borneo and the Mollucas. The Spanish Government continued trade relations
with these countries, and Manila became the center of commerce in the East. The Spaniards closed
the ports of manila to all countries except Mexico. Thus, the Manila-Acapulco Trade, better known
as the “Galleon Trade” was born.

The Galleon Trade was a government monopoly. Only two galleons were used: One sailed
from Acapulco to Manila with some 500,000 pesos worth of goods, spending 120 days at sea; other
sailed from manila to Acapulco with some 250,000 pesos worth of goods spending 90 days at sea.
The Spanish trading ships which for two and a half centuries linked the Philippines with
Mexico across the Pacific Ocean lasted from 1565 to 1815.

B. Opening of Suez Canal

Opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 relatively became an easy passage between Spain and the
Philippines for Spanish trading. The Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas is
inaugurated in an elaborate ceremony attended by French Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.

In 1854, Ferdinand de Lesseps, the former French consul to Cairo, secured an agreement with
the Ottoman governor of Egypt to build a canal 100 miles across the Isthmus of Suez. An
international team of engineers drew up a construction plan, and in 1856 the Suez Canal for 99 years
after completion of the work. Construction began in April 1859, and at first digging was done by
hand with picks and shovels wielded by forced laborers. Later, European workers with dredgers and
steam shovels arrived. Labor disputes and a cholera epidemic slowed construction, and the Suez
Canal was not completed until 1869-four years behind schedule. On November 17, 1869, the Suez
Canal was opened to a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. When it opened, the Suez Canal was
only 25 feet deep, 72 feet wide at the bottom, and 200 to 300 feet wide at the surface. Consequently,
fewer than 500 ships navigated it in its first full year of operation. Major improvements began in
1876, however, and the canal soon grew into the one of the world’s most heavily traveled shipping
lanes.
 21

C. Opening of Ports to World Trade

The growing numbers of foreign merchants in Manila spurred the integration of the
Philippines into an international commercial system linking industrialized Europe and North
America with sources of raw materials and markets in the Americas and Asia. In principle, non-
Spanish Europeans were not allowed to reside in Manila or elsewhere in the islands, but in fact
British, American, French, and other foreign merchants circumvented this prohibition by flying the
flags of Asian states or conniving with local officials. In 1834 the crown abolished the Royal
Company of the Philippines and formally recognized free trade, opening the port of Manila to
unrestricted foreign commerce.

By 1856 there were thirteen foreign trading firms in Manila, of which seven were British and
two Americans; between 1855 and 1873 the Spanish opened new ports to foreign trade, including
Panay, Zamboanga in the western portion of Mindanao, Cebu on Cebu, and Legaspi in the Bicol area
of southern Luzon. The growing prominence of steam over sail navigation and the opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869 contributed to spectacular increases in the volume of trade.

D. The Rise of the Export Crop Economy

In 1851 exports and imports totaled some US$8.2 million; ten years later, they had risen to
US$18.9 million and by 1870 were US$53.3 million. Exports alone grew by US$20 million between
1861 and 1870. British and United States merchants dominated Philippine commerce, the former in
an especially favored position because of their bases in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the island
Borneo.

By the late nineteenth century, three crops-tobacco, abaca, and sugar-dominated Philippine
exports. The government monopoly on tobacco had been abolished in 1880, but Philippine cigars
maintained their high reputation, popular throughout Victorian parlors in Britain, the European
continent, and North America. Because of the growth of the worldwide shipping, Philippine abaca,
which was considered the best material for ropes and cordage, grew in importance and after 1850
alternated with sugar as the islands’ most important export. Americans dominated the abaca trade;
raw material was made into rope, first at plants in New England and then in the Philippines. Principal
regions for the growing of abaca were the Bicol areas of southeastern Luzon and the eastern portions
of the Visayan Islands.

Sugarcane had been produced and refined using crude methods at least as early as the
beginning of the eighteenth century. The opening of the port of Iloilo in Panay in 1855 and the
encouragement of the British vice consul in that town, Nicholas Loney (described by a modern writer
as “a one-man whirlwind of entrepreneurial and technical innovation”), led to the development of
the previously unsettled island of Negros as the center of the Philippine sugar industry, exporting its
product to Britain and Australia. Loney arranged liberal credit terms for the local landlords to invest
in the new crop, encouraged the migration of labor from the neighboring and overpopulated island
of Panay, and introduced stream-driven sugar refineries that replaced the traditional method of
producing low-grade sugar in loaves. The population of Negros tripled. Local “sugar-barons” --- the
 22

owners of the sugar plantations—became a potent political and economic force by the end of the
nineteenth century.

E. The Rise of the Monopolies

On March 1, 1782, Spanish governor general Jose V. Basco established the tobacco
monopoly as his economic program. Thus, the tobacco production in the Philippines was under his
total control. The provinces of Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Provinces, Nueva Ecija, and Marinduque were
ordered to plant tobacco. Only the government was allowed to buy the tobaccos. These tobaccos
were then bought to Manila to be made into cigar or cigarettes.

Why did Basco created the Tobacco Monopoly?

Expenses incurred in running the colony were usually paid for by a yearly subsidy called real
situado sent from the Philippines’ sister colony, Mexico. This was, however, insufficient. The Royal
fiscal, Francisco Leandro de Vianna, was prompted to devise a plan to be able to a raise revenue on
its own.

II. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

A. The Education System

A key factor in the emergence of nationalism in the late nineteenth century was the cultural
development consequent on the rapid spread of education from about 1861.
One of the major influences on the educational development of the nineteenth century was the return
of the Jesuits. Expelled from the Philippines and the rest of the Spanish empire in 1768, they finally
returned in 1859 to take charge of the evangelization of Mindanao. Having escaped, because of their
expulsion, from the general decline that in the early part of the nineteenth century affected the
Philippine church and the system of education that depended on it, they returned with ideas and
methods new to the Philippine educational system. Asked by the Ayuntamiento to take over the
municipal primary school in 1859 that became Escuela Municipal, later renamed Ateneo Municipal
de Manila in 1865, now Ateneo de Manila University and opened it to the Filipino students as well
as the Spaniards for whom it had been founded. by 1865, Ateneo Municipal. had been transformed
into a secondary school that offered a level of instruction beyond the official requirements and more
approximated today's college than high school. Aside from Latin and Spanish, Greek, French, and
English were studied. Rizal studied at Ateneo Municipal when this school was located at Intramuros,
Manila.
At the same time, such a role was given to the natural sciences that Rizal has the Filosopo
Tasio (Rizal's father, Francisco) say, "The Philippines owes (the Jesuits) the beginnings of the
Natural Science, soul of the nineteenth century." Under the direction of the Jesuits too was the other
new educational institution, the Escuela Normal Superior de Maestros (Superior Normal School) for
female teachers. It was opened in 1865 to provide Spanish-speaking teachers for the projected new
primary school system. The Escuela- Normal represented a hope of progress in the mind of the many
 23

Filipinos that just as it would be opposed by those for whom modern education for Filipinos pose a
danger to the continuance of Spanish rule.

 The Public School System in the 19th Century

Free access to modern public education by all Filipinos was made possible through the
enactment of the Education Decree of December 20, 1863 by Queen Isabella II. Primary instruction
was made free and the teaching of Spanish was compulsory. This was ten years before Japan had a
compulsory form of free modern public education and forty years before the American government
started an English-based public school system in the Philippines. The royal decree provided for a
complete educational system which would consist of primary, secondary and tertiary levels, finally
making officially available to Filipinos valuable training for leadership after three centuries of
colonization.
The Education Decree of 1863 provided for the establishment of at least two free primary
schools, one for boys and another for girls, in each town under the responsibility of the municipal
government. It also commended the creation of a free public normal school to train men as teachers,
supervised by the Jesuits. One of these schools was the Escuela Normal Elemental, which, in 1896
became the Escuela Normal Superior de Maestros de Manila (Manila Ordinary School for
Schoolmistresses). The Spanish government established a school for midwives in 1879, and Escuela
Normal Superior de Maestras (Superior Normal School) for female teachers in 1892. By the 1890s,
free public secondary schools were opening outside of Manila, including 10 normal schools for
women. The Philippines was ahead of some European countries in offering education for women.
In 1866, the total population of the Philippines was only 4,411,261. The total public school
was 841 for boys and'833 for girls. In 1892, the number of schools increased to 2,137, 1,087 of which
was for boys and 1050 for girls.

B. The Chinese and Chinese Mestizos in the Philippines

The sectors that greatly benefited from the changing economy were the Chinese and the
Chinese mestizos. Since pre-colonial times, the natives of the Philippines had had trade relations
with the Chinese. During the height of the Galleon Trade, it was also Chinese products that comprised
most the goods being traded. The influx of Chinese settlements in the Philippines made the Spaniards
suspicious of the Chinese. These feelings led to stringent state policies towards the sangley ranging
from higher taxes, the restriction of movement with the establishment of the Chinese enclave (the
Parian), to actual policies of expulsion.
The Chinese, however, proved to be "necessary outsiders" in Philippine colonial economy
and society. Although the Spaniards were wary of the Chinese, they realized the importance that the
latter played in sustaining the economy. From the goods loaded on the galleons to the development
of retail trade, the Chinese enlivened the economy. Eventually and gradually, they became integrated
into colonial society, giving rise to Intermarriages with indios that gave birth to Chinese mestizos.
The Chinese mestizos assumed an important role in the economy all throughout the Spanish colonial
period. They influenced the changing economy in the nineteenth century by purchasing land,
accumulating wealth and influence.
 24

 Impact on Life in the Colony

The economic developments, as mentioned, precipitated social, political, and cultural

developments as well. For example, the new economy demanded a more literate population to
address the rising need for a more professionalized workforce to man the trading activities in Manila
and other centers. This demand compelled the issuance of the colonial government order in 1836 that
required all towns to set up primary schools to teach the population how to read and write. It
eventually led to the passage of an education decree in 1863 that mandated free primary education.
Eventually, the nineteenth century also gave birth to many schools that addressed the growing
demand for more professionals. Schools like Ateneo Municipal were established during this time.
The complex nature of the developing economy also allowed the government to intensify
bureaucratization and to streamline colonial governance.
As Manila became a trading center, it became a viable destination for people seeking better
opportunities or those wanting to escape the worsening conditions in the farmlands. The increased
rate of internal migration raised several concerns. One, people flocked the centers of trade like
Manila. Overcrowding implied issues in living quarters, sanitation and public health, and increase in
criminality. 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 to adopt surnames. With the catalogo de
apellidos drawn up, the colonial government assigned surnames to people and forbade changing
names at will. Together with more policies like the registration and possession of a cedula personal
bearing one's name and residence, the colonial government sought to have a better surveillance
mechanism. To help carry out policies better, the guardia civil was eventually established. As the
new economy afforded the colonial state new oppurtunities, it also prompted the state to be more
regulatory and to assert its authority.

 Renegotiating Social Stratification

The Philippine society felt the impact of the developing economy. As a result, social relations
underwent redefinitions and the changing dynamics brought about a renegotiation of 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 (i.e., Spain)

 Insular- Pure-blooded Spaniard born in the Philippines
 Mestizo-Born of 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
 Principalia- Wealthy pure-blooded native supposedly descended from the kadatoan
class
 Indio- Pure-blooded native of the Philippines
 Chino infiel--- Non-Catholic pure-blooded Chinese

As the Spaniards lost economic power in the nineteenth century, they asserted dominance by
virtue of their race. This issue brought complications with the rising principalia and mestizo
populations who realized their indispensable position in society as movers and facilitators of the
 25

economy. The renegotiation continued throughout the century as the mestizos and principalia elite
eventually demanded social recognition that the pure-blooded Spaniards had consistently denied
them.
These wealthy mestizos and members of the principalia continued to amass economic and
cultural capital. They also availed themselves of the opportunity to obtain higher degrees of
education not only in the Philippines but also in Europe. These activities augmented their relevance
in society as it was from these ranks that articulations of nationalism would emerge.

C. The Rise of the Inquilinos (Hacienderos)

The rapidly growing population in the nineteenth century needed increased amounts of rice.
Thus, those who controlled large rice, sugar, and abaca-growing lands in the Central Luzon,
Batangas, parts of Bikol region, Negros, and Panay profited the mst. These included not only the
Filipino hacenderos of Pampanga, Batangas, and Western Visayas, and the friar orders owning the
large haciendas of Bulacan, Laguna, and Cavite, but also inquilinos of the friar haciendas. By this
time, many of these inquilinos were equivalently hacenderos in their own right, pass on from one
generation to the next the lands they rented from the flier hacienda and farming them by means of
their share-tenants or kasama. To the latter, they stood in a semi feudal relationship little different
from that which existed during Rizal's time in the Nineteenth-Century Context between owner¬
hacenderos and their tenants. The prosperity which the new export economy had brought to some
may be illustrated by the case of Rizal's Chinese ancestor Domingo Lam-co. When he had come to
the Biñan hacienda in mid eighteenth century, the average holding of an inquilino was 2.9 hectares;
after Rizal's father had moved to the hacienda, the Rizal family in the 1890's rented the hacienda
over 390 hectares. But on the friar haciendas, rising prosperity had also brought friction between
inquilinos and haciendas as lands grew in value and rents were raised. A combination of traditional
methods and modernizing efficiency led to disputes, ultimately over who should 'reap the larger part
of the fruits of the economic boom. Eventually, this would lead to a questioning of the friar's rights
to the haciendas. But it is a gross misnomer to speak of the Revolution as an "agrarian revolt" in the
modern sense. For it would not be the “kasama” who would challenge friar ownership, but the
prosperous inquilinos. And their motive would be as much political as economic — to weaken the
friars' influence in the Philippine political life.

III. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

The Spaniards ruled the Filipinos in the 19th century. The Filipinos became the Spaniard's
slave. The Spaniards claimed their taxes and Filipinos worked under the power of the
Spaniards.There was an appointment of officials with inferior qualifications, without. dedication of
duty and moral strength to resist corruption for material advancement. Through this power and
authority, the Spaniards possessed, they collected and wasted the money of the Filipinos.There were
too complicated functions to the unions of the church and the state.Through the power that the
Spaniards possessed, they had the right to appoint the different positions. The appointment of
positions is obtained by the highest bidder which is the Governor-general of the country. The term
of office which is the length of time a person (usually a politician) serves in a particular office which
 26

is dependent on the desire of the King of Spain. The Spanish officials traveled to various places and
the needs of the Philippines were ignored. They did not put too much attention to the needs of the
other people. There were inadequate administrative supervisions, they were unable to face and" solve
the problems regarding the Philippines. There were also overlapping of powers and privileges of
officials which made them competitive. Personal interest is over the welfare of the State.

They were corrupt during the 19th century and the Alcaldias/Alcalde is considered as the most
corrupt over the other corrupts. The Alcaldias/Alcalde includes the administrators, judges and
military commandants. They usually have P25/mo. Liberal allowances and privileges to take a
certain percentage of money from the total amount of taxes. There were also monopoly trades or
business practices known as indulto para comerciar.

A. Rise and Gradual Spread of Liberalism and Democracy

The principal ideas of liberalism- liberty and equality- were first realized successfully in the
American Revolution and then achieved in part in the French Revolution. This political and social
philosophy challenged conservatism in the European continent. -Liberalism demanded
representative government as opposed to autocratic monarchy, equality before the law as opposed to
legally separate classes. The idea of liberty also meant to specific individual freedoms: freedom of
the press; freedom of speech, freedom of assembly; and freedom from arbitrary arrest.
Democracy became a way of life in many European countries, like Britain, Belgium, and
Switzerland. Democracy was gradually established thru the following means: promulgation of laws
that advance democracy; undertaking of reforms thru legislation; abolition of slavery; adoption of a
liberal constitution; providing the citizens the opportunity to propose laws; adoption of manhood
suffrage; and granting of political, economic and social rights to the people.

B. Impact of the Bourbon Reforms

The Bourbon Reforms (Castilian: Reformas Borbonicas) were a set of economic and political
legislation promulgated by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon, mainly
in the 18th century. The strengthening of the crown's power with clear lines of authority to officials
contrasted to the complex system of government that evolved under the Habsburg monarchs. In
particular, the crown pursued state supremacy over the Catholic Church, resulting in the suppression
of the Society of Jesus in 1767 as well as an attempt to abolish ecclesiastical privilege (fuero
eclesiastico).
The reforms resulted in significant restructuring of the administrative structure and personnel.
The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology to modernize Spain. In
Spanish America, the reforms were designed to make the administration more efficient and to
promote its economic, commercial and fiscal development. The crown did so, hoping that it would
have a positive effect on the economy of Spain. Furthermore, the Bourbon Reforms were intended
to limit the power of Creoles and re-establish Spanish supremacy over the colonies such as the
Philippines.
The reforms achieved mixed results administratively but succeeded in alienating the local elites of
the Americas (who called themselves Criollos) and eventually led to the demise of all overseas
dominions of the Spanish crown.
 27

C. Cadiz Constitution of 1812

A Spanish constitution adopted by the constituent Cortes in Cadiz on Mar. 18, 1812, and
made public on Mar. 19, 1812, during the Spanish Revolution of 1808-14. The constitution declared
that "sovereignty resides in the nation, which retains the exclusive right to establish its own
fundamental laws" (art. 3). Spain was proclaimed a hereditary monarchy (art. 14), with legislative
power vested in the Cortes and the monarch (art. 15) and executive power represented by the monarch
(art. 16). The constitution proclaimed individual freedom and the inviolability of domicile (arts. 286
and 307) but declared Catholicism the official religion of Spain and prohibited the practice of any
other religion (art. 12). The constitution proclaimed the equality of Spaniards of the mother country
and those of the Spanish colonies (art. 18) and established a national militia in the provinces (art.
362). On his return to Spain, King Ferdinand VII revoked the constitution on May 4, 1814. Restored
at the outbreak of the Spanish Revolution of 1820-1823 (it was proclaimed by Riego y Nuñez on Jan.
1, 1820, and Ferdinand VII swore to uphold it on Mar. 9, 1820), it was again abolished on Oct, 1,
1823, by Ferdinand VII. On Aug. 12, 1836, the constitution went into effect for a third time in
response to the demands of the masses and remained in force until the adoption of a new constitution
on June 18, 1837.

References/Additional Resources/Readings

De Viana, A.V., Cabrera, F.C., Samala, E.P., De Vera, M.M., & Atutubo, J.C. (2018). Jose Rizal:
Social Reformer and Patriot. Rex Book Store, Inc.

Zaide, G.F. & Zaide, S.M. (2008). Jose Rizal: life, works and writings of a genius writer, scientist
and national hero. All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc.

https://www.britannica.com/place/Philippines/The-19th-century

https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/la-verdad-christian-college/bachelor-of-science-in-
accountancy-i/19th-century-philippines-as-rizals-context/11636319

https://pdfcoffee.com/the-philippines-in-the-19th-century-as-rizals-context-pdf-free.html