THE RIZAL LAW, LITERATURE & SOCIETY

(CHAPTER 1)

History of Rizal Law

 Educational Institutions in the Philippines are mandated to include Rizal’s life and
writing in the curriculum
 Republic Act No. 1425 or “RIZAL LAW”
 Obliged all public and private schools, colleges, and universities nationwide to
educate students about Rizal’s views which were greatly depicted in his famous
writings like the Noli and El Fili
 Catholic Church condemned Rizal’s firmness toward the abuses of the
Spaniards and the role played by the Catholic Church to promote such
misconduct during those days
 Roman Catholic Church in Philippines strongly opposed printing and
distribution of Rizal’s work because they would corrupt the Catholic faith of the
new generation
 Opposition persisted until the 1955 Senate Election
 Sen. Claro M. Recto-main proponent of the bill and sought sponsorship to
accuse the opposition as communist action.
 Catholic churches argued: The bill defied the freedom of religion
 Fr. Jesus Cavanna stated that Rizal’s works in view of the past injustices would
corrupt the present setup of Catholic churches in the country
 Archbishop Rufino Santos of Manila-asserted that Catholic students would be
affected if the mandatory reading of uncensored writings of Rizal would prevail
 Mariano Cuenco-argued that Rizal directly attacked the practices, beliefs and
creed of the Church
 Led to the threatening of various Catholic schools to close down if the bill was
passed
 OPPOSITION OF THE BILL SUPPORTERS OF THE BILL

Catholic Action of the Veteranos la Revolucion (Spirit of

Philippines 1896)

Congregation of The Mission Alagad ni Rizal

Knights of Columbus Freemason

Catholic Teachers Guild Knights of Rizal

Francisco Soc Rodrigo Jose P. Laurel (co-written of the bill)

Mariano Jesus Cuenco Senate Committee on Education

Decoroso Rosales

 Counterattacks:
 Jesus Paredes, a radio commentator, argued that Catholics were not
deprived of their right to decline reading Rizal’s novels if they felt like they
could threaten their salvation
 Closing of Catholic schools: Recto-said that if such dilemma in the
educational sector happened, schools would be nationalized
 Recto argued that the people who eliminated Rizal’s writings from schools
buried his memories as national hero. It’s not a fight against him but fight
against Rizal
  The Chairman of the Committee of Education catered to the views of
the Catholic Church and made adjustments to compromise the opposition
and the approbation of the supporters of the Rizal bill
 May 12, 1956, the inserted compromise (contents) on the bill, which
specified that only college (university) students would have the option
of reading unexpurgated versions of clerically contested reading materials,
such as Noli and El Fili, was approved unanimously. The bill was enacted
on June 12, 1956

HONORING FILIPINO NATIONAL HEROES

 March 28, 1983-Pres. Fidel v. Ramos issued Executive Order No. 75 titled
“Creating the National Heroes Committee under the Office of the President”
 The committee was created to learn, assess, and suggest national personalities
in recognition of the impact that such people made on Philippine history

Criteria that would be officially proclaimed as national heroes:

(Submitted by National Heroes Committee)
1. Heroes are those who have a concept of nation and thereafter aspire and
struggle for the nations’ freedom, heroes are those who define and contribute to
a system or life of freedom
2. And order for a nation
3. Heroes are those who contributed to the quality of life and destiny of a nation

PHILIPPINE NATIONAL LITERATURE

  Rizal was equipped with extraordinary literary skills
 Rizal masterpieces, the Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibustirismo. The
Noli dealth with the country’s present and the Fili pointed to its future.
 Considered as constant and inspiring sources of patriotism and nationalism for
the youth during their formative years
 The novels portrayed the Filipino people whose national character had been
shaped by literary works and the reading of these works
 Rizal’s remarks of Morgas’ sucesos de las Islas Filipinas traced the lineament of
the country’s past.
 Writing had become his tool for reforms to awaken the filipinos from the abuses
that the colonizer’s had been doing for centuries in the country
 Literature gives importance to nationalism
 Literature has always been reliant on history, bringing people back to the past
where social, psychological, and linguistic resources portray old events that
impact the present time

2 Presuppositions exist in the vitality on nationalism accorded to literary works

and vice versa:
1. The ability of literature to honestly present history and to intervene in history
2. It opens the door leading to significant events, which describe certain setups,
behaviors and current image of society today (Mojares, 2013)

 Literature can be a good basis of history and taking a glance of the past
attributes of Filipinos
 Intervening Function:
 Rizal’s novel was artefactual: mixture of reality best portrayed by fiction
characters, which represents the people back then.
 It was all result of Rizal’s observations and experiences in the Philippine society
 Literature was his way of showcasing society’s creative hard work and ambitions.
 Filipinos back then were able to acquire, preserve, and reshape their culture
through literature
 Literature is a good driving tool to execute authority and command one’s country
 Rizal argues that Tagalog literature is living and vigorous
 Through writing people can exercise authority, hence, Filipinos ought to be
participative in the literary field, esp. in matters affecting the country as a whole
 Rizal has written a Tagalog novel after the appearance of El Fili
 1891-1892, he wrote his 3rd novel “Makamisa”
 This novel was written for the Tagalog readers and not for the Europeans.
 At the time he had written such novel he was on his way back to the Philippines,
and the propaganda movement was starting to shift
 His motive was to write a novel that would deal exclusively with the usages,
virtues, and defects of the Tagalogs
 Though it was aborted (his 3rd novel), Rizal’s “turn to the native” was not in vain, if
taken as a sign of the desire for a literature more deeply anchored in the realities
of home (Mojares, 2013)

Socio-political & economic condition of the Philippines

(the Philippines in the 19th century)
Philippines in the 19th Century: SOCIAL STRUCTURE

 The product of Spanish colonization which upheld the landholding system

brought by the arrival of the conquistador, made the Philippines feudalistic in
setup
 Dominion toward the land owned was practiced wherein the authority and power
resided in the hands of the wealthy few.
 There was a huge gap between the landlords and their tenants; resulted in a
pyramid structure of social divisions

 Spanish occupation shaped the social structure of the Philippines

 It made them embrace the “master-slave” relationship allowing the elites to hold
the indios captive
 Exploitation was rampant
 Spaniards’ tax and mandatory contribution dragged the poor down
 The powerless reclaimed helpless and the rich increased in power

Philippines in the 19th Century: POLITICAL SYSTEM

  The Spanish Monarch held the executive, legislative, judicial, and religious power
 Such power was executed in the Philippines through the Ministro De Ultramar
(Ministry of the Colonies) established in Madrid in 1863.
 Through Ministro De Ultramar , the Philippine affairs were governed in
accordance with the will of the Spanish monarch; its duty also was to report to
the King of Spain
 As commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he held the civil guards and all
government officials in the Philippines

Governor-General held the following:

 Supreme authority in the economic and financial dealings of the country
 In 1784, acquired a portion of the Intendant-General’s power
 Executive & Judicial power; Extended up to the legislative processes
 Had power to suspend local laws or any decree coming from the Spain
 Led the Royal Audencia, known as Supreme Court, which last until 1861
 Depicted also in the field of religion; given the privilege to select a priest
who would occupy a certain position in the church and society
 Administration of Justice; Disciplinary powers which were often weak
because of biases and decisions made through impulse

 The Philippines’ centralized system put governance in the hands of one person,
the governor-general, who moved in accordance with the mandate of the
Spanish government
 Lieutenant-General or General Segundo Cabo- assisted the governador-general
with regard to the matters of the nation
 In 1874, the Secretariat of the Central Government- was made to further assist
the governor-general and his growing power
 Board of Authorities advised the governor-general on matter raised to them
 Council of Administration was being heard with regard to the administrative
agenda
  Secretariat of the Council of Government was made to further assist the
governor-general in 1874
 Directorate of the Civil Administration was being introduced by the central
government later on with a bigger body of administrative advisers.
 The national or central government was followed by the operating hierarchy of
governance starting at the top, which was the Provincial Government, known as
Alcadia

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT-Alcalde Mayor/Civil Governors

• CITY GOVERNMENT (known as Cabildo or Ayuntamiento)- 2 Alcaldes:Mayor
and Vice Mayor
GOBERNADORCILLO (fondly called Capitan)
• Serve as the chief executive and judge of the towns he ran
• Attaining such position demanded a yearly winning vote coming from the
board: members of the town principalia: former cabeza de barangay or
people of high standing in the community
BARRIO OR BARANGAY
• CABEZA DE BARANGAY-The leader of the smallest unit of government
• Usually given to Mestizo or Filipino Chinese people who were responsible
for levying taxes and maintaining peace in the barangay

• The Courts were ruled by the Royal Audiencia- the acting judicial body and the
highest court that litigated cases and was composed of Spaniards
• Royal Audencia also acted as auditor of the finances of the government
• Governor-general of the Royal Audencia, acting separately or together,
occasionally made laws for the country called autos acordados
• In each town, an Alferez or second lieutenant headed the corps of guardia civil
• Peace and order in the country was upheld by the guardia civil or cuardrilleros
who served as the peace forces that did police duties
• Philippines government had no official body in charge of the enactment of laws.
• Laws that were applied in the Philippines during the Spanish colonization
emanated from various sources
 • The Laws did not seek equality and fairness, but they were made to hold the
Philippines captive under the mandates of Spain (Videl, 1904)
• Examples:
• Laws of the Indies or Leyes- were royal decrees issued several times by
the King of the Spain intended for Spanish colonies
• Codigo Comercio
• Codigo Penal
• Codigo Civil
• Las Siete Partidas
• Las Leyte de Toro

Philippines in the 19th Century: EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

• The Philippine educational system during those times was pitiable and limited
to the wealthy few.
• Intellectual growth can be seen in the middle class and was always censored by
the friars for fear that the knowledge would expose the injustices that had been
going on in the country
• Having friars take hold of the educational system resulted in an overemphasis on
religious matters, outdated teaching methods, poor classroom facilities, limited
curriculum, and lack of teaching materials, such as books
• There was negligence in the promotion of primary schools resulting from the
absence of academic freedom
• Corruption in education existed to maintain control over the Philippines territory
• There was inadequate educational system in the country for almost three
centuries
• Government intervention in schools was nonexistent; hence, schools could
freely add or omit topics in their curricula
• Indios remained inferior, in the belief that they were incapable of growth and
acquiring a higher status in society because of their race.
• Obedience to the friars was preached as the gateway to being close to God, thus
the natives remained under the control of the friars (de Tavera, 1905)
• The Philippine educational system was a mirror of Spain’s outdated
educational system.
• Students memorized and repeated the contents of books, which they did
not understand.
• In most cases, knowledge was measured in terms of the ability of the
students to memorize, largely hampering intellectual progress
• Middle class Filipinos were humiliated in class by Spaniard classmates and
their teachers.
• Despite of the fact that they could level up with the Spanish students, still they
were belittled because of their race
• The natives never have the chance to prove themselves worthy of education, like
the Spaniards
• At the end of Spanish period, the College of San Juan de Letran was the only
official secondary school in the Philippines although secondary education was
also offered at the Ateneo de Manila
• Initially established solely for Spaniards and mestizos, the University of Santo
Tomas opened its doors to Filipino students four decades before the end of
the Spanish rule up to the end of their regime
• It was the only institution of university level in Manila ( Reports of the
Philippine Commission, 1900)
• Public Schools in the Philippines were welcomed in the year 1855, when the
government of Spain recognized the need to educate indios in primary education
• In that year, Gov. Manuel Crespoy Cebrian (1854-1856) organized a
commission to study and recommend remedial measures to improve elementary
education in the Philippines.
• The commission completed its work after 6 years and in 1861 the report was
forwarded to Spain.
• Such measure were put into action when the Educational Decree of December
20, 1863 was issued.
• The decree obliged all major towns in the Philippines to establish one
primary school for boys and girls
• Educators of Primary schools were trained at a normal school for men opened
in 1865.
 • Spanish was the medium of instruction in the school which that was placed
under the supervision of the Jesuits
• This school started as the Escuela Normal Elemental, and by 1893 it was
training male teachers for work in the secondary schools
• Such decree asked, for government supervision in public schools, as well as a
training school for teachers.
• Absurdly, the friars assigned to implement the educational decree from Spain
were among the most vocal and were against the teaching of Spanish to the
Philippines.
• For them teaching the indios the native language of the Spaniards would
increase their knowledge and encourage the people to clash with the
Spanish rule
• Friars blocked the enforcement of the Madrid orders regarding education.
• A case in point was the Moret Decree in 1870, which intended to secularize
higher education in the colony
• The friars strongly opposed the idea of government control over higher
education in the Philippines
• Such corrupt conditions in education urged Rizal and some of his fellow
ilustrados to continue their studies abroad.
• Students fought for their right to freedom of education and for equality of learning
• The biases in the Educational system encouraged the students to petition in
1870 led by Felipe Buencamino at the University of Santo Tomas
• Inspired by the Moret Decree, the students circulated anonymous letter that
criticized the Dominican methods of instruction, demanded better professors,
and government control of the university, and suggested keeping the university
updated on academic developments in Spain.
• Authorities considered such petition as an act of rebellion against the King of
Spain, and the petitioners were sought, but nobody was hurt during the heat of
such issue

SOURCES OF ABUSE IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM

 The reason for the Philippine’s weak administration system was the inadequacy
of the people seated in the position
 People who ran the country lacked of qualifications, skills, and leadership
traits
 The government in the administrative level was occupied by appointed people
who held office in accordance with their selfish motives
 The results of such actions were injustices, lack of coordination among
officials, and increased financial abuses
 The courts rendered poor judgment caused by biased and discrimination
 The principal officials of the administrative system gained their positions by royal
appointment while the rest of the positions were either filled by the governor-
general himself or sold to the highest bidder (Corpuz, 1980)
 The King’s appointees in the Philippine has a tenure of office based on the
King’s impulse
 He preferred to appoint people who were ignorant of the Philippines and
transferred them casually to prevent attachment to the Indio’s way of life
 The distance of the colony, the inadequate administrative supervision, and
the overlapping of powers and privileges of these officials, contributed to the
perpetuation of anomalies in the government
 Many officials exploited their office and its wide powers to recover their expenses
and enrich themselves
 Officials who sought to advance their own self-interest did so by collecting
higher taxes than the usual
 The alcalde received a salary of 25 pesos and liberal allowances; the most
fraudulent official
 Discontented of their salaries and allowances, such officials increased
contributions and financially abused the Filipino hacienderos
 Rampant abuses and exploitation prevailed within a monopolized trading setup;
trading were one of the highest sources of financial abuses
 Those who wished to participate in such activity needed to pay a very high
price just to get a license; such payment was called indulto para comerciar
 Goods produced by the natives were brought for a very low price and sold back
to them expensively
 The alcalde who was also provincial judge controlled a court loaded with biases
in favor of the mischievous deeds of the Spaniards
 This led to the closure of the numerous businesses owned by some natives,
increasing the number of the poor in the country
 Complaints increased as the abuses continued
 Natives had sought assistance and help from more responsible officials in Spain
led to the promulgation of two decrees intended to end corruption
 2 Decrees:
1. Issued in 1844- which provided a fix salary of P1,500 or P1,600 according
to the rank for provincial governors & imposed specific qualifications that
only lawyers or persons with two years of legal experience in some law-
related offices could become a provincial governor; the decree also
abolished the participation of provincial governors in the trading sectors
2. Issued in 1866- disjoined the judicial and executive duties of provincial
governors; this led to the creation of appointed official called Civil
Governors who assumed administrative duties (De Mas, 1904)
 Total eradication of corruption was unlikely.
 Natives were limited in their participation in the government
 They were located in the lowest portions of the administrative hierarchy, known
as the gobernadorcillo of the town and the cabeza de barangay of the barrio
 These officials were massively abused, acquiring numerous responsibilities but
receiving a small amount of honorarium
 Responsibilities of the harassed officials were usually the following:
 Responsible for the municipal building
 The care of the town prisoners
 Purchased of desks, paper and inks
 Construction of the tow bridges
 Their responsibilities were not compensated adequately and this led to the poor
performance of their jobs
 Collected money from the other natives was not used to improve a certain
province they ran, but it was gained for the self-betterment of the officials
 This existence of dishonest gobernadorcillos of prosperous town made the
position attractive to some men
 The negligence of the central government to aid towns increased the people’s
taxes based on the amounts arbitrarily decided by the Spaniards.
 Injustices prevailed as:
 Homes of the natives were search without warrants;
 People were convicted and exiled for being filibusteros
 Books, magazines, and any other written materials could not be published
and introduced in the country without the prior approval of the Board of
Censors
 Organized assemblies and any other political meetings initiated by the
indios were curtailed
 Incompetent judge comprised the judicial courts, which legal procedings
highly expensive and biased; the poor were often declared guilty without
any due process of law; Merits of cases were simply based on money,
race, and link with influential people (Videl, 1904)

RIZAL’S SOCIAL ORIGIN & HISTORICAL CONTEXT

RIZAL’S CHINESE ANCESTRY

 Within the walls of Intramuros lived the Spanish rulers and few other persons
who the fear and jealousy of the Spaniards allowed to come in.
 Some were Filipinos who ministered to the needs of the Spaniards, but a
greater numbers were the Sangleys or Chinese, the mechanics in all trades
and excellent workmen.
 Domingo Lam-co was a native of the Chinchew district, where the Jesuits, and
later the Dominicans, had a mission and he perhaps knew something of
Christianity before leaving China
 One church account indicated his home definitely, for its specified Siongque, an
agricultural community near the great city
 He was baptized in the Parian church of San Gabriel on a Sunday June of 1697
 Following the customs of the other convert on the same occasion, Lam-co took
the name Domingo, the Spanish for Sunday, in honor of the day.
 Domingo Lam-co was influential in building Tubigan barrio, one of the richest
parts of the great estate
 In name and appearance, it recalled the fertile plains that surrounded his native
Chinchew, “the city of the springs.”
 His neighbors were mainly Chinchew men;
 His wife was also from Chinchew, who was Inez de la Rosa
 The couple suffered a great loss in 1741 when their baby daughter, Josepha
Didnio, lived only for five days
 They had at that time one other child, a boy of ten, Francisco Mercado, whose
Christian name was given partly because he had an uncle of the same name
 Among the Chinese, the significance of a name count much, and it is always
safe to seek a reason for the choice of a name
 The Lam-co family was not given to the practice of taking the names of their
god- parents
 “Mercado” recalls an honest Spanish “encomendero” or merchant
  Francisco, therefore, set out in life with a surname that would free him from
the prejudice that followed those with Chinese names reminding of his
Chinese ancestry (Wickberg, 2000)

Liberalizing Heredity Influence

 Francisco Mercado lived near enough to hear the “cajas abiertas” (exiles) and
their ways
 He did not live in a Jesuit parish but in the neighboring hacienda of St. John the
Baptist of Calamba
 He got married on May 26,1771 to Bernarda Monicha, a Chinese mestiza of the
neighboring hacienda of San Pedro Tunasan (Craig, 2005)
 They had two children, Juan and Clemente (both were boys)
 In 1783, he was the alcalde or chief officer of the town, and he lived til 1801
 His name appears so often as godfather in the registers of baptisms and
weddings that he must have been a good nurtured, liberal, and popular man
 Mrs. Francisco survived with her husband by a number of years
 She helped nursing the baby ailments of their grandson, who also named
Francisco, the father of Jose Rizal, and son the Juan, the eldest of Francisco
 Juan built a fine house in the center of Binan
 At 22, he married a girl of Tubigan, who was 2 years his senior, Cirila Alejandra
 Juan Mercado was three times chief officer of Binan in 1808,1813, & 1815
 Young Francisco was only 8y/o when his father died but his mother and sister
Potenciana looked after him very well
 He attended first a Binan Latin School and later seemed to have studied Latin
and Philosophy at the College of San Jose in Manila
 After their mother’s death, Potenciana and Francisco moved to Calamba
 Francisco, in spite of his youth, became a tenant of the estate
 The landlords early recognized the agricultural skill of the Mercados by further
allotments, as they could bring more land under cultivation
 A year after his sister Potenciana’s death, Francisco married Teodora Alonzo,
a native of Manila, who for several years had been residing with her mother in
Calamba
 Her father, Lorenzo Alberto, was said to have been very Chinese in
appearance; he had a brother who was a priest, and a sister Isabel, who was
quite wealthy
 Lorenzo was the municipal captain of Binan in 1824
 The grandfather, Captain Gregorio Alonzo, was a native of Quiotan barrio,
and he was municipal captain 2x, in 1763, and 1768
 Lorenzo was educated to be a surveyor
 He was wealthy and had invested a considerable sum of money with the
American Manila shipping firms of Peele, Hubble and Co., and Russell Sturgis
and Co.
 Her mother, Maria Florentina was from the famous Florentina family of Chinese
mestizo originating from Baliwag, Bulacan,
 And her father was Captain Mariano Alejandro of Binan
 Mrs. Rizal was baptized in Santa Cruz, Manila on November 18,1827 as
Teodora Morales Alonzo
 She was given an exceptionally good fundamental education by her gifted
mother and completed her training at Santa Rosa College, Manila, which was
in charge of Filipino sisters.
 All the branches of Mrs Rizal’s family were much richer than the relatives of
her husband
 There were numerous lawyers and priests among them, old-time proofs of
social standing, and were influential in the country
 Relatives of Mrs. Rizal that would help us understand the prominence of the
family:
 Felix Florentino-uncle, first clerk of the Nueva Segovia (Vigan) court
 Jose Florentino-cousin-germane; was a Philippine deputy in the Spanish
cortes
 Manuel- a lawyer
 Fr. Leyva-the priest of Rosario, Vicar of Batangas Province; half-blood
relation
 Fr. Alonzo-another relative priest, Mrs’ Rizal’s paternal uncle
  The most obscure part of the Rizal’s family tree was the Ochoa branch, the
family of the maternal grandmother, for all the archives (church, land, and court)
disappeared during the late-disturbed conditions of which Cavite was the center
(Craig, p.70-71)

The Chinese Mestizo

 Early in the 15th century, Chinese mestizos were already established in the
region particularly in Luzon.
 The Chinese had been significantly involved in the economic and social affairs
in the Philippines
 Direct contact between China and Philippines existed from at least the Sung
Period (960-1279)
 Through the junk trade several points in the Philippines enjoyed regular
commercial and cultural contacts with the Chinese
 The arrival of the Spanish conquerors in the Philippines in the 1560’s meant new
opportunities for the Chinese
 Chinese merchants carried on a rich trade between Manila and the China coast
and distributed the imports from China to the area of Central Luzon, to the
immediate north of Manila
 The Chinese established themselves at or near Spanish settlements, serving
them in various ways: as provisionary of food, as retail traders, and as
artisans (Wichkerberg, 1964)
 By 1603, barely 32 years after the founding of Manila as a Spanish settlement,
the Chinese population was estimated at 20,000 in contrast to perhaps 1,000
Spaniards
 They were classified into 4 categories by the Spanish Government in the
Philippines:
1. Those who did not pay any tribute (which include Spaniards and Spanish
mestizos)
2. Indios (Malayan inhabitants of the archipelago who are now called
Filipino)
3. Chinese
 4. Chinese Mestizos
 The last three groups were considered tribute-paying classes but the amount
of their tribute payments and the services demanded of them varied.
 Normally, the indios paid the lowest
 The Chinese mestizo paid double the tribute paid
 The maintenance of these categories in orderly fashion was provided by the
Spanish legislation
 Legal Status- as Chinese, mestizo, indio- by the terms of its legislation, was not
ordinarily a matter of personal choice or orientation
 Rather, it was the status of the parents, particularly the father, that was the
most important
 The son of a Chinese father and an indio or mestiza mother was classified as a
Chinese mestizo.
 Subsequently, male descendants were inalterably Chinese mestizos
 The status of female descendant was determined by their marriages
 A mestiza marrying a Chinese or mestizo remained in the mestizo classification,
the same also with her children
 But by marrying an indio, she and her children became in that classification
 Thus, females of the mestizo group could change their status but males
could not
 Binondo was founded as a Chinese town in 1594.
 A royal order was passed for the expulsion of all Chinese from the Philippines;
however, Governor Dasmarinas realized that the city of Manila, the largest
Spanish settlement, needed to retain at least a small group of Chinese for its
economic services
 Therefore, he purchased a tract of land across the river from the walled city and
gave it to a group of prominent Chinese merchants and artisans as the basis for
a new Chinese settlement.
 In the beginning, religious and cultural questions were not involved,
 But the missionary enterprise of Spanish Dominicians fathers soon made
Binondo a kind of acculturation laboratory, where the Dominicans made it a
community of married Catholic Chinese
 On the other hand, non Catholics in areas within Binondo were proselytized,
baptasized, married and added to the community of married Catholics, reaching
500 or more in 1600.
 The Chinese had founded Binondo on the basis of Dasmarinas’ land grant to be
tax free and inalienable to non-Chinese and non-mestizos
 The grant was accompanied by limited self-governing privileges.
 Thus, during the 17th century, Binondo was intended to be a settlement for
Catholic Chinese and their mestizo descendants
 However, Indios began to settle in Binondo that eventually resulted to formation
of the separate communities, mestizos, and indios within Binondo
 Later, when the mestizo population grew and became the leading element in
Binondo, they broke away from the Chinese forming their own Gremio de
Mestizo de Binondo in 1741
 They were recognized as a distinct element in Philippine society, sufficiently
numerous to be organized and classified separately
 They were bulked in the three central Luzon provinces of Tondo, Bulacan,
and Pampanga, comprising 60% of the mestizos in the Philippines
 The Province of Tondo alone accounted for almost 30% of the mestizo
population
 But only 10% mestizos were spread in few spots on the other island- notably in
the provinces of Cebu, Iloilo, Samar, and Capiz; 90% of them were in Luzon
 By the middle of 19th century the position of the Chinese mestizo in the
Philippine economy and society was firmly established, 1750-1850, which
brought some interesting changes in their geographic distribution
 Though they were still numerous in Central Luzon, but they began to be noticed
in farther Luzon –Abra and esp. in nueva Ecija
 In the Visayas, the largest group of mestizo before was in Cebu, but afterward
there were a number of them in Antique
 In Mindanao, they were already noticed in the eastern part of the island (Caraga
province) and in Misamis (Wickerberg, 1964)
 In terms of economic position, it became stronger than ever.
 Not only did they have substantial land interests, but they were well on the way to
monopolizing internal trading with only the provincial governors as their
competitors
 Manila’s retail commerce was handled exclusively by the Chinese mestizo and
the Chinese also had the majority of artisan’s shops and were active in urban
wholesaling.
 They were even described by Bowring, a noted historian, upon his visit in the
Philippines, as being the most industrious, preserving, and economical element
in the Philippines
 It was mestizos who made Cebu wealthy
 From Cebu, the mestizos sent their purchasing agents eastward to Leyte and
Samar, southward to Caraga and Misamis, and westward to Negros and Panay
to buy up local products for sale to foreign merchants in Manila
 They bought up tobacco, sea slugs and mother-of-pearls, cacao, coconut oil,
coffee, and wax, among some other precious native products
 Mestizos in the other parts in the Visayas had their own ships and had invested
in the trade
 It was even noted that the mestizo’s strength in these engaging economic
activities made the Philippines known to some other parts of the world
 Products were exported to overseas markets
 Philippine products, like the hem and sugar, had already been exported in
quantity
 While the products of European factory industry, particularly the English
Textiles began to find markets in the Philippines
 The rise of the mestizo to economic importance was paralleled by the rise in
social prominence
 Indeed, the mestizo’s wealth and the way they spent it made them, in a sense,
the arbiters of fashion in Manila and in others settlements.
 Although they built up their savings, sometimes into real fortunes, the Chinese
mestizos were fond of gambling and ostentation, especially in dress
 Besides entertaining friends and other with sumptuous feasts, mestizo families
often expended great sums of money on feast days
 Hence, a great prestige came to be attached to the name mestizo
 Indeed, there were some places in Central Luzon where everyone in the region
claimed to be mestizo
 The best illustration of this kind of mestizo-craze attitude might be found in the
character of Capitan Tiago in Rizal’s novel
 Capitan Tiago is an excellent example of an indio cacique which means who
wished to be regarded as a Chinese mestizo and was able to purchase for
himself a place in the wealthy and famous Cremio de Mestizos de Binondo
(Wickerberg,1964)
 With the rise of the mestizos to a position of affluence and prestige, their
relations with the indios became a matter of increasing concern to the Spaniards
 It was from this time- the middle of the 19th century- that we began to find the
“divide and rule” theme in Spanish writings
 The indios and the mestizo must be kept separated
 The brains and money of the mestizos must not be allowed to become allied to
the numerical strength of the indios
 The separate gremios should be maintained and their rivalries encouraged
wherever possible
 From this time onward, Spanish conservatives were haunted by fears of an indio
revolution led by the mestizos
 The last half of the 19th century was so-called period of occupational
rearrangement and social Filipinization
 To a large extent, these two phenomena were the results of changes in Spanish
policy
 Free enterprise was given an opportunity to make the Philippines a profitable
colony for Spain
 As part of this general policy, in 1844, the Spanish government revoked the
indulto de comercio and henceforth forbade Spanish officials to involve
themselves in trading
 This measure eliminated the last obstacle of the mestizo in their dominance in
international trade
 Spanish policy also pushed aside the barriers to Chinese immigration and
residence, thus Chinese could come to the Philippines without any restriction
 By the 1880s, the Chinese population had soared to almost 100,000; Chinese
were found in every corner of the Philippines (Wickerberg, 1964)
 Purely in terms of his ancestry, Rizal might be considered a 5th generation
Chinese mestizo
 His paternal ancestor, a Catholic Chinese, married a Chinese mestiza
 Their son and grandson both married Chinese mestizas
  This grandson, having achieved wealth and status in his locality, was able to
have his family transferred from the mestizo pardon, or tax census register, to
that of the indios
 Thus, Rizal’s father and Rizal himself were considered an indio (Craig, 41)

The Cavite mutiny & the Gomburza execution

 From the beginning, it had been its practice in the long and uninspiring record of
the Spanish occupation in the Philippines: sore oppression leading to the
inevitable revolt and then savage vengeance
 With the rest of these victims of insensate rage, marched on the morning of
February 28,1872, three beloved priests and servants of God, who were put to
death by the Spanish authorities (Schumacher, 1972)
 Their death marked a turning point in the history of Filipino nationalism, a
catalyst that brought together the liberal reformist elements in the Philippines
society with the growing self-awareness of a people into a movement that before
long would be directed at independent nationhood
 Jose Rizal himself looked to that date, as decisive in his own development as a
nationalist, in a letter to his fellow Filipinos in Barcelona in 1889: To quote:

“Without 1872 there would not now be a Plaridel, a Jaena, Sanciano, nor would
the brave and generous Filipino colonies exist in Europe. Without 1872, Rizal
would now be a Jesuit and instead of writing the Noli me Tangere, would have
written the contrary. At the sight of those injustices and cruelties, though still a
child, my imagination awoke, and I swore to dedicate myself to avenge one day
so many victims. With this idea, I have gone on studying, and this can be read in
all my works and writings. God will grant me one day to fulfill my promise.”

 Their death witnessed the long struggle of the Filipino priests in the aspect of
religion
 Although the struggle for the rights of the Filipino clergy suffered an eclipse with
the death of the three priests, the concern of Burgos for the equality of Filipinos
with Spaniards and for justice to all remained at the core of the nationalist
aspirations and representations
 These ideal and aspirations had taken root in the course of the dispute over
the rights of Filipino secular priests to the parishes, an intra-church
dispute
 The roots of controversy went far back in the history of the church in the
Philippines, even to its foundation and fundamental structure
 They are to be found in 3 elements in the history:
 The structure of the patronato real
 The visitation controversy
 The late and erratic development of a native clergy
 With the grant of the patronato real, the Spanish crown received most of the
control over the church in the indies, including the Philippines, in exchange for
its commitment to financially support the missionary enterprise
 Their influence increases at the passing of time, the clergy came
increasingly to be considered as employees of the state, and the religion as
a means of government
 With the dissolution of the religious orders in the Peninsula in 1836 and the
confiscation of much of the church properties, the continued existence of the
religious orders in the Philippines was totally dependent on their political
usefulness to a government that had little faith in their religious mission
 The age-old visitation controversy was the second element at the root of the
movement of the secularization of the parishes
 It was a struggle of the religious orders or regular clergy to maintain the
corporate freedom of action and unity against the desire of the bishops to
exercise the authority of their office in the governance of their diocese
 With the establishment of a hierarchy, almost every new bishop attempted to
exercise the right and duty of his office to conduct visitation of inspection in
the parishes of his diocese
 The religious, anxious to preserve their corporate structure and their
subordination to their own superiors, resisted such visitation, basing
themselves on their papal privileges
 When pushed to the wall, they responded by threatening to abandon all the
parishes, a threat more than once temporarily carried out (Schumacher, 1972)
 The long failure of the bishops to enforce their rights to visitation was closely
linked to the third factor, the failure of the Spanish missionaries to
encourage the development of a native Filipino clergy
 Accounts were made that there were no native Filipino, or indio, priests ordained
before 1698
 The only first serious efforts in the direction of the Filipino clergy were taken at
the end of the 17th century
 The resistance of the native Filipino priests was under the leadership of Fr.
Pedro Pelaez, seconded by Fr. Mariano Gomez.
 With the tragic death of the former, the latter was being passed on the
leadership until his execution in 1872 signaled the failure of the Filipino priests
to obtain their rights
 In the process of resistance, however the ecclesiastical dispute was to become
an overly nationalist question, as the Filipino clergy replied to racial
discrimination with a firm and ringing assertion of their equality as priest in
the one Catholic Church (Schumacher, 1972)
 During the term of Gov-Gen Carlos Maria Dela Torre (1869-1821), he showed
that he was democratic in his sympathies and quickly named a series of reform
committees for every aspect of government in the Philippines
 However, documents proved that he was suspicious of the Filipino liberals,
particularly of the Filipino accused of anti-Spanish sentiments were placed
under surveillance, and their mails subjected to government inspection
 Though he remained intent on reforms within the government, Dela Torre did
not intend to allow any liberalization, which might endanger Spanish rule in
the Philippines
 Fr. Burgos challenged openly the religious sector by writing articles in the
Madrid newspaper La Discusion (a republican and anti-clerical newspaper &
appeared to have been the vehicle for a series of attacks on the continued
existence of the friars in the Philippines)
 In retaliation, Fr. Joaquin de Coria, procurator in Madrid of the Philippine
Franciscans, published a series of articles in defense of the Filipino clergy to
extol the works of friars
 Because of opening his identity in criticizing the friars and defending the clergy,
Fr. Burgos temporarily ruptured his friendship with the Jesuits
 Fr. Pedro Bertran, the Jesuit superior, upbraided him for bringing ecclesiastical
questions into the public press, above all in anti-clerical publications, such as La
Discusion
 The anti-clerical activities of the Filipino clergy were supported by the Filipino
liberals in Madrid
 They had their own press organ in Madrid to defend their interests and promote
their aspiration
 The chief contact, at least of the priests, was Manuel Regidor, a colleague of the
republican politician Rafael M. Labra, who was publishing the newspaper El
Correo
 About the same time, a newspaper devoted totally to the Philippines, El Eco
Filipino, begun to published in Madrid by Fr. Federico Lerena, a peninsular
who was brother-in-law of Jose Ma. Basa
 It survived until the time of the Cavite Mutiny.
 While, the policy of vigilance and suspicion on the part of Dela Torre was
replaced by one of the active repressions
 With the change of government in Spain, a new Gov-Gen Rafael de Izquerdo
(1871-1873), had been sent to replace Dela Torre
 His ideas on the governance of a colony were in no way influenced by
liberalism
 Thus, the tentative liberalization was quickly abolished
 It was in this atmosphere that the outbreak of January 20,1872 took place in the
arsenal of Cavite
 According to the official version that survives, the revolt on the part of the
garrison which took place was only part of a much larger revolt, carried out not
only by the army but also but the naval forces directed from Manila with
accomplices in the provinces as well
 The purpose was to put to death all Spaniards and to proclaim a provisional
government under Fr. Burgos, to prepare the way for a more permanent
government
 The principal organizers in Cavite itself were sergeant Lamadrid and Francisco
Zaldua (executed together with GOMBURZA) who were in contact with the junta
headed by Burgos, Pardo de Tavera, Regidor, and some other lawyers and
priests (Schumacher,1972)