QUESTION: Why did the Spaniards partake in the blood pact with the precolonial

Filipinos?

According to Filomeno V. Aguilar According to Vicente Rafael

 Pacto de Sangre was based on the custom among  Vicente Rafael expounded that a bond of
the ancient Filipinos of sealing a treaty of alliance
and friendship by mixing the blood taken from an
incision in the arms of the two leaders entering in
an alliance.
 According to Filomeno V. Aguilar’s writing, the
context from Marcos was that in the solemn ritual
of the Pacto de Sangre made by the Filipino and
Spaniard that though the blood had blended the
minds of the two parties remained apart. To the
Filipino, the blood pact or “sandugo” was to signify
an agreement, a pledge of eternal fraternity and
alliance of equal parties. To the Spaniards, it was
an event between a victor and a vanished foe.
Under Filomeno V. Aguilar’s writing was the query
of Cesar Adib Majul that the Pacto de Sangre was
an assertion that the Philippines came under
Spanish sovereignty.
 There were numbers of existing literature that
interprets or constructing meanings as to why the
Spaniards look part on the blood pact with the
Filipinos. Through all the readings included in
Aguilar’s writings, it was clear as the sky that the
event was one-sided. The Filipino local chief
wedded the Filipinos with the mixing and drinking
of blood and wine to empower the fraternity
between two nations, which was different to the
knowledge of the Spaniards.
Your thoughts about the blood compact
friendship and mutual support
characterized the initial relationship
between indios and Spaniards sealed by a
blood pact or Pacto de Sangre. The
importance of the original social contract
was betrayed by the Spanish duplicity and
oppression, and Filipinos would respond
by rebelling. The Spaniard’s perspective of
the blood pact was clouded by the greed
of wanting to reign over the Filipinos
which led both parties to break the law of
the ritual.
 The immediate deceiving of the Spaniards
made the Filipinos broke out the pact
which is inappropriate and lacks respect.
The Spaniards defended their duplicity by
stating that the chief who made the pact
was just a local chief who could not decide
for the whole archipelago. Due to this, the
Filipinos was titled “Indios” who were
known to many nations that they are
people who can be bought and be a slave.

 There were numbers of existing literature and

accounts that gives different perspective on the
blood pact of the Spaniards and the pre-colonial
Filipinos. The Spanish conquest symbolized a
launching event, a big milestone for the Spaniards
including the Philippines. The event was still

This study source was downloaded by 100000858091331 from CourseHero.com on 12-06-2022 19:50:25 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/95644139/3docx/
 studied and interpreted by many. In the
perspective of the Filipinos, it was a devastating
cataclysm on the national discourse while on the
other party it was a mere understanding or an
opportunity that should not be shutdown. The
blood compact depicts a peaceful and friendly
meeting of a two culture, beliefs and morality,
through the sandugo ritual between Datu Sikatuna
de Bohol and Miguel Lopez Legaspi in 1965. as a
Filipino youth, we are part of that history where
our people abused by the people who we tried to
make a bond but still did took advantage of the
lack of understanding. We may have ignorance but
it is not a reason to embark our lands on broad
daylight by foreign blood. Moreover, Filipinos are
at fault when they broke the pact for it shows
disrespect to the bloodline. It was all a blur but a
clear travesty.

REFERENCES:

Ocampo, Ambeth (18 October 2013). "Bohol and the blood compact". Philippine
Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 5 March 2014.

"The Blood Compact" by Juan Luna Archived 2010-02-26 at the Wayback Machine,
from Lizares: The Passionate Juan Luna, sunstar.com

Guevarra, Anna Romina. 2010. Marketing Dreams, Manufacturing Heroes: The

Transnational Labour Brokering of Filipino workers. New Brunswick, New
Jersey: Rutgers University Press. Google Scholar

Rodriguez, Robin Magalit. 2010. Migrants for export: How the Philippine state
brokers Labour to the world. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.

Vicente L. Rafael, 2009. Contracting colonialism, Translation and Christian conversion

in Tagalog society under early Spanish rule.

This study source was downloaded by 100000858091331 from CourseHero.com on 12-06-2022 19:50:25 GMT -06:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/95644139/3docx/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)