Readings on Philippine History

2MT-P

Essay on National Integrity

(Monastic Supremacy in the Philippines by Marcelo H. Del Pilar)

Having an integrity means that a certain entity holds firmly to what they believe
as a whole, unity and moral uprightness indeed. Thus, having a national integrity is a
foundation of what the nation stands for, as the citizens must possess harmony and
coherence to one another especially when governing their land. However, during the time
of Spaniard colonization in the Philippines, in accordance to the accounts of Marcelo H.
Del Pilar in his “La Soberenia Monacal en Filipinas”, due to the monastic supremacy
imposed by the Spanish friars, the national integrity of the Philippine government and the
whole country was at risk. Del Pilar’s work highlighted the effects of frailocracia in the
aspect of politics, religion, and economic state of the Philippines in which the Filipinos
were obliged to comply to the friars’ rule or else they will be punished by the Spaniards.

With this, as stated in the accounts of Del Pilar in terms of political aspect, the
basis of having an unbeatable monastic power is the lack of union between the Filipinos
and the government kept by fueling first’s anger and second’s cruelty. Through diversity
of the people’s language caused by lack of education, the rulers stayed on the top while
the ruled has been continuously oppressed. To prove this, Filipinos pay direct and
indirect taxes such as personal cedula, urban tax, industrial subsidy, additional municipal
tax, provincial tax, personal loan and others. Another burden to the Filipinos was to pay
for religious festival tax which is costly due to lavishly celebrations that most of the poor
people cannot afford.

Moreover, in terms of religious aspect, municipal officials mostly depends on the

friars making them the ones who held the records of residents’ census, conscription of
eligible young men, and official documents that must include their signatures. In this
way, they know who were the people to be controlled. In reality, the guarantee of having
the integrity was not with the Filipino nor the church, but with the friars themselves.
Lastly, it was also stated that during that time, the Philippine government lacks
resources to undertake public works while the monastery was able to build grand and
costly convents. Likewise, the government was having a hard time to collect taxes
making them financially unstable while the friars were easily paid by the public due to
their heavenly promises. The Philippine government also refrains from making new
revenue to lessen the burden of the people but the friars continue to invent new devotions.
With this, the public was forced to pay not for the sake of faith but due to the threat of
friars. Undeniably, the friars were using the church to gain power and wealth from the
Philippines.

The lack of national integrity during the monastic supremacy was mainly due to
the fact that the Filipinos insufficiently educated. They silently suffer from the oppression
of the Spaniards since they were unaware of their rights. Thus, educated Filipinos such as
Marcelo H. Del Pilar and others were vital in enlightening of national integrity among
Filipinos. In the present time, national integrity is truly timely and essential to maintain
the stability of ones nation. With this, we can provide opportunities and protection for
the people. Likewise, variation among people will still be present but then it is always
aided by equality making the integration stronger. The people and the government seals
the gap as they are united with a common goal and policies that are beneficial to all.

Through studying the history of how we came up on realizing the national

integrity, we can observe a trend of a progress in the growth of the people, the
government, and the land. Thus, today, we live in a free and safe country that we can be
proud of being ours.

Reference:
Ligan, V., Espino, L., Marzan, B., Galang, E., Cabanero, E., & Cao, H. (2018). Readings
in Philippine History (pp. 88-92). Mutya Publishing House, INC.