Spanish Slavery in the Philippines[edit]

White represents the route of the Manila galleons in the Pacific and the flota in the Atlantic. (Blue
represents Portuguese routes.)

When Spaniards conquered the archipelago, the Laws of the Indies served as a compilation of royal
decrees for the Spanish colonies including the Philippines. This included a law stating that Spaniards
were forbidden to hold Filipinos as slaves since they were under the subjection of King Phillip II.
Observing the widespread practice of slavery among the native tribes, the Law was sometimes ignored
by soldiers, some acting on their own and seizing natives in various parts of the country. Governor-
General Legazpi, upon discovering this, freed the slaves and punished those who took them under the
jurisdiction of the monarchy.

Later on, the division of Luzon into encomiendas created a form of compulsory work for
the encomenderos, who were given the responsibility of evangelizing the natives working for them.
Many held workers for household chores. However, it is arguable whether these workers were slaves in
the common sense of the word. A Portuguese visitor noted that there was no Spanish soldier who did
not have an Indio or native worker. Even the religious houses held at least one. The king, however, after
hearing about this, appointed a minister, called the Protector of the Indios, to investigate and restore
the liberty of possible slaves. It seemed unfair to encomenderos to generally abolish slavery though and
it would cause economic disruption. The General Assembly of 1586 then proposed three points:

All children are to be born free.

No new slaves will be made.

Slaves will have to pay a fair price for freedom.

The king did not implement this, however, and enforced further laws to punish the Spaniards who
held Indio slaves. This opened for a new trend which was illegally importing foreigners, especially
Africans. Since they were not under the king's subjection, they were not included in the laws and they
were made slaves as a replacement for the Indios. Even some Filipinos acquired these foreign slaves and
by 1621, Black people constituted around one third of the Intramuros population. These foreign slaves
were mainly employed in Manila and not in the provinces. Some of them were also resold in Mexico
during the time of the Manila Galleon Trade to cover transportation costs.[citation needed]

End of Slavery in the Philippines[edit]

Although the king enforced laws to end Spanish slavery in the Philippines, he did not include laws that
may end the native Philippine slavery between the Filipinos. Although it was not completely abolished, it
underwent considerable changes during the Spanish occupation. The mangangayaw raids, which were
the raiding of barangays for obtaining slaves and territories, disappeared. Tyrannical enslavement also
disappeared since the datus were forced to free their slaves and the exchange of slaves in the weddings
was not allowed after most Filipinos were converted to Christians. By the middle of the 18th century,
Philippine slavery disappeared in areas under the Spanish control. In areas that were not under the
Spanish control like mountains in Mindanao and Cordillera, however, it was still present.

Spanish slavery, on the other hand, declined in the Philippines with the decline of slavery in Spain. It was
abolished in Spain in 1820, when Spanish liberals took power and reimposed the Spanish Constitution of
1812 on Ferdinand VII, in Puerto Rico in 1873, and in Cuba in 1886. It was completely abolished after
industrialization in all places took place during the nineteenth century.