POLITICAL & ECONOMIC

CHANGES UNDER
THE SPANISH RULE
 REASONS FOR SPANISH
COLONIZATION

 Spain claimed the Philippines by right of “discovery”

and by right of actual occupation or conquest. As
such, Philippines was a possession or property of the
King of Spain, therefore, a crown colony.
 POLITICAL CHANGES
1863 - under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the
Colonies or Overseas Ministry (Ministerio de Ultramar)
which was advised and aided in its work by the Council of
the Indies.
 
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
• Laws of the Indies, La Novisima Recopilacion, Leyes de Toro, and
the Siete Partidas.
• Highly centralized form of government
• The central government - headed by the governor and captain-
general or governor-general
 
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT 
GOVERNOR-GENERAL
o King’s official representative
o Possessed executive, legislative,
and judicial powers
o President of the Audiencia
o Vice royal patron in the
Philippines
o Commander-in-chief of the
armed forces
o Has the right of cumplase

Two branches of government :

executive and judicial
Miguel Lopez de Legazpi
The First Governor-General of The Philippines
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE AUDIENCIA
o The highest court insofar as civil and criminal cases
o Established in 1583 
o Abolished in 1589
o Re-established in 1595
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Provincial Government
• Pacified provinces – civil provincial governors
• Not fully pacified provinces – military officers

Provincial Governor – Alcalde Mayor

• Appointed by the Governor-General

Indulto de Comercio
• right to engage in trade
• led to graft and corruption
• abolished in 1844
Role as a judge
• In 1866, provincial governor should remain as a judge
only.
 POLITICAL CHANGES
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT
o Headed by the Gobernadorcillo
(also known as capitan or
municipal)
o Elected by 13 electors
 6 former cabezas de
barangay
 6 actual cabezas de
barangay
 Outgoing capitan
o Should be approved by the
Spanish-friar curate
o Aided by Tenientes and
Alguaciles
o Barrio or Barangay – headed by a
Gobernadorcillo
cabeza
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE CITY AND ITS GOVERNMENT
1st Century of Spanish Rule: Cebu and Manila
2nd Century of Spanish Rule: Cebu, Manila, Vigan, Nueva Segovia,
Arevalo and Nueva Caceres

Fort San Pedro, Cebu A calle in Intramuros, Manila Vigan City

Arevalo Nueva Segovia Church Nueva Caceres Cathedral

 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE CITY AND ITS GOVERNMENT
Ayuntamiento - consisted of two (2) alcaldes, twelve (12) regidores,
a chief of police, a city secretary, and few other lesser officials.

Ayuntamiento de Manila
 POLITICAL CHANGES
PROPAGATING THE CATHOLIC FAITH
• Augustinians (1565) – converted Filipinos to the Catholic faith
• Franciscan missionaries (1577) – spread the Catholic faith in Manila, in the
provinces near and around Laguna de Bay, such as the present provinces of
Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon. They also established missions in Camarines
and other parts of the Bicol provinces.
• Jesuits (1581) – spread Catholicism in Manila, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, Samar, and in
Mindanao
• Dominican missionaries (1587) - spread the Catholic faith in Manila, the Cagayan
region, and Pangasinan.
• Recollect missionaries (1606)
– propagated the faith in Manila,
Bataan, Zambales, Mindoro, Masbate,
Ticao, Burias, Cuyo, Romblon, Negros,
and some parts of Mindanao.

The Agustinians
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE UNION OF THE CHURCH AND STATE
o The governor-general had authority to appoint priests to the parishes.

o The clergy were active in the government and had political powers.

o Church officials who became acting governors-general

 Archbishop Francisco de la Cuesta
 Bishop Juan Arrechederra
 Bishop Miguel Lino de Ezpeleta
 Archbishop Manuel Rojo
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE CHURCH ORGANIZATION
Districts – geographic regions
Parishes – villages
Missions – areas or regions that were not
yet conquered and converted to
Catholicism

1578 – Manila became a diocese

1581 – Father Domingo de Salazar was
appointed as the first Bishop of Manila
1595 – The bishopric of Manila became an
archbishopric

Ecclesiastical Court or Archbishop’s

Court – court of justice of the Church
Father Domingo de Salazar,
First Bishop of Manila
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE INQUISITION
o searches for heretics and those that preach or practice religious
doctrines that were contrary to that of the Catholic Church.

 THE INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING

o Xylography – Christian doctrine in
Tagalog and in Chinese were
printed in 1593.
o Typography – introduced by
Father Francisco de San Jose
(Blancas de San Jose).
o Printing press in Tayabas – printed
the Vocabulario de la Lengua
Tagala in 1703. The Doctrina Christiana
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE RESIDENCIA AND THE VISITA

Governor-General Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera

Residencia – public investigation and trial of outgoing colonial officers.

Visita – secret investigation: done anytime
 POLITICAL CHANGES
 THE PLAZA COMPLEX
Houses of the natives were situated around a plaza or town center to
bring them close to the church, convent, municipio, marketplace, and
cemetery. Residences of the natives were “under the peal of the bells” or
bajo de las campanas.

Plaza Salcedo in Vigan, 1870

 ECONOMIC CHANGES
 THE ENCOMENDIA
It is the right to collect tributes or taxes from the inhabitants of an area
assigned to an encomendero.

It has three kinds:

• Royal Encomienda
• Ecclesiastical Encomienda
• Private Encomienda
 ECONOMIC CHANGES
 FORCED LABOR

The Spanish officials in the Philippines ordered the Filipinos to work

in the construction of churches, roads, bridges, ships, and in the
industries of hauling and cutting timber.
 ECONOMIC CHANGES
 FORCED LABOR
Conditions:
1. That the Filipinos to be drafted for work must be paid for their work
2. That the Filipino laborers should not be made to work in distant
places where they could not return to their families
3. That the drafting of laborers should not coincide with the planting
and harvest seasons
4. That men who are physically incapable should not be overworked
5. That forced labor should be resorted to only in cases of absolute
necessity
6. That the number of laborers drafted should be diminished as soon
as laborers from other countries had volunteered to work

Falla – a fee to be paid for exemption

 ECONOMIC CHANGES
 THE TRIBUTE
Filipinos were compelled to pay a tribute, a form of recognition of
one’s loyalty to the King of Spain.

Sanctorum – a small portion of the tribute went to the Church

 TAXES

Diezmos Prediales – a tax which consisted of one-tenth of the

produce of the land.
Donativo de Zamboanga – a tax specifically used for the conquest of
Jolo.
Vinta – a tax paid for the defense of the coasts from Muslim pirates.
 ECONOMIC CHANGES
 THE GALLEON TRADE
Ships from Japan, China,
Siam, India, Cambodia,
Malacca, and Indonesia
anchored in Manila to
unload their valuable
cargoes. These were
shipped by Spanish traders
to Mexico where they
commanded high prices.

The Manila-Acapulco Galleons

 ECONOMIC CHANGES
 THE MEXICAN SUBSIDY
The Mexican government sent to the Philippines an annual subsidy called
the situado. This amounted to Php 250,000 on average.

 THE ECONOMIC SOCIETY

Economic Society of Friends of the Country
 founded by Governor Basco in 1781
 a society “of selected persons who are
capable enough to produce useful ideas”
 received Php 960 a year from Spanish traders
of Manila encouraged agriculture and
industry
 founded the Academy of Drawing in Manila in
1824 and granted scholarships to those who
were interested in the art of dyeing
 founded an agriculture school in Manila in
1861. Governor Jose Basco y Vargas
 ECONOMIC CHANGES
 THE GOVERNMENT MONOPOLIES
Tobacco Monopoly – the government had the monopoly of the planting,
inspection, sale and purchase of tobacco and its manufacture into cigar and
cigarette.
 resulted to increased government revenues, development of agriculture
in provinces where tobacco is grown
ECONOMIC CHANGES
 THE ROYAL COMPANY

Royal Company of the

Philippines – established by
Governor Basco in 1785
• Aims to promote the
progress of the
Philippines
• Failed in its two-fold
aims
• Abolished in 1834
END