RISE OF THE CHINESE MESTIZO

AND THE INQUILINOS

GROUP 2
Alcalde, Edmon
Claros, Christen
Jade
Dandoy, Shekanah
Myka Dela Cruz,
Ronaldinho Domocol,
Jhanne Krisna Encilay,
Mark Adrian
Enjambre, Irene Flor
Torres, Christian
 Objectives:
1.Discover the different reasons behind the rise of the Chinese
mestizo and the rise of the Inquilino leading to economic
growth and development
2.Identify the factors affecting the rise of the Chinese mestizo
and the rise of the Inquilino that contributed to our
economic development
 The Formation of
“Chinese Mestizo”
Communities in the
Philippines, Pre-1850
The term mestizo (or Tisoy- a Tagalog colloquial term
meaning “mestizo”) in Philippine society today is often
used to refer to someone of Eurasian ancestry. No one of
mixed Chinese-Filipino ancestry is generally considered
as such.
However, during the Spanish colonial period in the
Philippines
(1565–1898), and particularly during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, the term was usually employed to
refer to the offspring of intermarriages between Chinese
men and local women.
The rise of the Chinese mestizo class in the
Philippines can be traced to the middle of
the eighteenth century. Specifically, they
rose to prominence between 1741 to 1898,
primarily as a landholder and middleman
wholesaler of local produce and foreign
transports although there are also mestizos
in the professions. As unions between
Chinese and local women, encouraged by
Spanish colonial policy grew in number, so
did the number of Chinese mestizo children.
 HISTORY OF THE CHINESE
As early as the 16th century, the Chinese were already
in the Philippine archipelago. But some historians
asserted that it was during the pre-colonial period that
the Chinese first arrived in the country as merchants
between the coasts of manila and china. Although it
was only during the Spanish colonial period that
Chinese immigrants became prominent in Philippine
society.
 In 1954, the Spanish governor
Luiz Perez Dasmariñas created
Binondo as a permanent
settlement for Chinese
MANILA
mestizos who converted to
Catholicism. In this part of
manila, Chinese merchants and
traders were free to do their
business.
Binondo also became the
place of intermarriages
between Chinese immigrants
and Filipino natives, thus the
emergence of Chinese
mestizos.
As the Chinese stabilization increased, the Spaniards
saw them as a threat to their own rule. They feared the
Chinese would be far less loyal to the Spanish regime
than the Indios. Nevertheless, one fact why Spaniards
couldn’t discount them was that the Chinese became
pro-vital to their colonial rule because they provided
valuable capital to manila. Thus governor Dasmariñas
realized they need the Chinese for economic reasons.

Chinese mestizo communities, aside from Binondo,

emerged in many other parts of the archipelago. In
manila, notable communities were Sta. Cruz and
Tondo. In the early 17th century, more than 100
Chinese individuals were married to native Filipinos
in Iloilo, Pampanga, and Cebu. In northern Luzon,
Chinese mestizos could be found in Pangasinan,
Benguet, and Mountain Province.
It was only 1741 that their legal status
was officially established when the
whole population of the Philippines
was reclassified into four according to
tax payment or tribute. These classes
are the Spaniards, Spanish mestizos,
Indios, Chinese, and Chinese
mestizos.
Spaniards and Spanish mestizos were not
required to pay taxes depending on their
income. More so, a policy that limited the
number of Chinese individuals who could
reside in the Philippines is restricted, their
area of settlement was implemented. At the
end of the 19th century, the Chinese mestizo
population in the Philippines exceeded
200,000, with 46,000 living in manila.
A Chinese person then was:
·Any person born of a Chinese father
and Indio mother;
·A Spanish mestiza and Chinese
mestizo
·A child of a Spanish mestiza and a
Chinese mestizo
Significance of the Chinese mestizo in the
Philippines

The expulsion of Chinese immigrants in the Philippines

enabled the Chinese mestizos to take over in the markets
that were previously controlled. Chinese mestizos then
became prominent and influential figures in the areas of
industry, commerce, and business during the Spanish
colonial period.
· They carried on a lucrative by collecting goods from
the north and selling them to Manila and nearby
provinces
· They monopolized the internal trading in the
Philippines while the Spanish mestizos were concerned
with foreign trade
 Significance of the Chinese mestizo in the
Philippines
The entrepreneurial power of the Chinese
mestizos gave way to the emergence of the
Philippine middle class described as “more
active and enterprising, more prudent and
pioneering, more oriented to trade and
commerce than the Indios” (Bowring, 1963).

Aside from contributing to economic stability, another significant role that Chinese
mestizos played in the Philippine society was the formation of Filipino identity.
This was evident during the latter part of the 19th century when they became
clearly influential in the economy of the Philippines as a Spanish colony. This
caused the Spaniards to be concerned with the ability of the Chinese mestizos to
cause discord in society.
Spaniards feared that the independent mindset and liberalism
of the Chinese mestizos might influence the political
consciousness of Indios. Evidently, these emergent middle-
class Chinese mestizos rekindled and intensified the growing
national opposition to colonial abuses and demanded
sweeping social reforms.
The most vivid manifestation of the budding sense of Filipino
nationalism appeared in the late 1870s in the writings of
Pedro Paterno and Gregorio Sanciano, who were both
Chinese mestizos.
Their writings were nurtured by Jose Rizal, a known pride
of the Malay race but also a Chinese mestizo. Rizal
descended from pure Chinese ancestors and the long line of
Chinese mestizos and mestizas.
Significance of the
Chinese mestizo in the
Philippines
The significant role of Chinese mestizos in
the making of the nation was highly evident
at the turn of the century. Their involvement
in the armed revolt against the colonizers
showed that they recognized Spain as the
enemy-the oppressor. The Philippine
Revolution of 1869 to 1898 was the act of
determination on the part of Filipinos-Indios
and Chinese mestizos alike-to claim for
themselves and for the future generations
the incomparable birthright of nationhood.
 Rizal and the Chinese mestizos
Rizal is a fifth-generation Chinese mestizo. However, he
and his father were considered as Indios. Some documents
and scholarly papers noted that Rizal dislike being called
Chinese mestizo or Tsinoy, and disassociated himself from
any Chinese relations.

Through his novels Noli me Tangere and El

Filibusterismo, Rizal exposed the abuses and
corruption of the Spanish authorities,
condemned the oppression of the people by
the colonizers, and ridiculed the hypocrisy
and overbearing attitude of the Spanish
friars.
THE RISE OF INQUILINOS
 Inquilinos
A laborer indebted to a landlord who
allows him to form a farm in parts of his
property
At least in modern Spanish, the term
Inquilino has the same meaning as the
english word “tenant”
The 19th-century Inquilino system in
the Philippines is better understood as
a qualified system of tenancy, or the
right to use land in exchange for rent.
Many Inquilinos were Chinese mestizos who,
through intermarriage with members of the
hereditary chiefly class, the principalia,
had grown to constitute a rural upper class
by the late nineteenth century,
particularly in Central Luzon.

Their riches not only guaranteed them a

steady stream of farmworkers and
followers but also allowed them to send
their sons to study law and medicine in
Manila or elsewhere.
 Did you know Jose Rizal was an
"Inquilino"?

José Rizal (1861–1896), the

national hero of the Philippine
Revolution (1896–1898) who was
executed by the Spaniards in 1896,
comes from a similar familial
background.
 During harvest time
● The administrator would collect the rent of the
Inquilinos
● Organize the delivery of the harvest to the local
market and
● Remit the income from sales and rents to the estate
owners
Inquilinos paid a fixed rent and the amount
was determined by the size and quality of
the land being.
With the expansion of land, the
proportion of farmlands leased to
inquilinos also increased, allowing
many of them to sub-lease parcels
of their land to sharecroppers or
kasamas.
This system eventually became
very profitable when some
inquilinos acquired lands of their
own and neutered into other
gainful commercial ventures.
Inquilinos
 Disputes occur regularly between villages and estates, with the latter
denying farmers their traditional communal privileges.
There were also conflicts between estate owners and workers. These
stemmed from a collection of excessive tax and land rent, the decline
of sharing agreements, extreme demands for labor services, and
capricious fixing of crops prices.

“.. the hacienda structure consisted of three

states: the estate owner, the leaseholder or
Inquilinos, and the tenant-sharecropper.
Between the owner and the Inquilino,
however, was the administrator who often
demanded a share of produce, over and
above the stipulated land rent.
Each year at harvest time, the inquilinos paid the land rent, separated the seed, and
divided the remaining crop equally between the sharecropper and himself. Since the
sharecropper was at the bottom rung of the hierarchy, he suffered most abuse and
demands of the two non- producing sectors above him.”
-(sobritchea,n. d)

With the rise of the Filipino middle class as

The impact of experts in agriculture has increased inquilinos
or the tenants have begun to accumulate
Inquilinos system wealth. And as members of the middle class,
in the context of they were able to send their children to
colleges and universities in Manila and even
society Europe. Their lifestyle has also changed,
their clothing and living also have been
affected with the change of their status.
 Rizal and the
Inquilinos
Don Francisco was a "mestizo sangley"
(Chinese mestizo) born in Bián, La Laguna.
Lam-Co, his great grandfather, was a Chinese
immigrant from Fjiàn, China. Juan Mercado
and Cirila Alejandro were his parents. He
studied in Colegio de San José, a grammar
school in Manila (now Intramuros) where he
studied Latin and Philosophy (the institution
eventually became a part of the Universidad
de Santo Tomás in 1875).
Don Francisco married Teodora Alonso Realonda of Santa Cruz, Manila,
when he was 29 years old. They had eleven children, nine girls and two
boys, and one of them was Dr. José Rizal, our country's most famous
national hero. In compliance with the Claveria Decree, the family
adopted the surname Rizal in 1849. The Rizal patriarch settled in
Calambá, La Laguna, and became a wealthy "inquilino" of the Dominican-
owned Hacienda de San Juan Bautista.

He was able to rent about 380 hectares, one of the hacienda's

largest leased holdings, with the help of his eldest son Paciano.
Don Francisco partitioned the lands and leased them out to
lower- paying tenants in order to increase his profit. This
enabled the family to enjoy a prosperous and comfortable
life, allowing the Rizal children to devote more time and
attention to their education.
 Thank You!

References:
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Chu, R. (2010). Chapter 6. Rethinking The Chinese Mestizos And
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https://brill.com/view/book/9789047426851/Bej.97890041733
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(2021). Retrieved 7 October 2021, from https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxEltANIOSo
Philippines - Chinese and Chinese Mestizos. (2021). Retrieved 7
October 2021, from http://countrystudies.us/philippines/7.htm
Borromeo-Buehler, S. (1985). The Inquilinos of Cavite: A Social
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