M.K.K.M.

AGRARIAN RELATIONS AND

THE FRIAR LANDS
ORIGIN OF T HE
E S TAT E S

CHAPTER IV
 Agrarian Relations and the Friar
Lands
Agrarian Relations - social relationships pertaining to land and agricultural
production. - IGI GLOBAL
Friar Lands - these lands are not public lands but private patrimonial lands of
the government. - BATAS NATIN
Hacienda - a large business enterprise consisting of various moneymaking
ventures including raising farm animals and maintaining the cultivation of
fruit trees.
Sakdal Uprising - peasant rebellion founded by Benigno Ramos.
Barrio - a Spanish word that means "quarter" or "neighborhood".
Conquistadors - any of the leaders in the Spanish conquest of America.
Haciendas were the dominant form of land tenure in the region
surrounding Manila.

Four religious owners owned at least 21 haciendas in the provinces

surrounding Manila during the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

During 1903, the American colonial government bought 17 estates

for division and sale to the Filipino while 4 of them remained.

Three decades later, they were to become principals in the Sakdal

Uprising of 1936.

Over the next few years, the Church sold the last estate to the
Philippine government.
The DOMINICANS, which are the largest landlords in the region,
owned 10 estates.

The AUGUSTINIANS, with seven, the Order of St. John with the
large Hacienda Buenavista in Bulacan.

The RECOLLECTS, owners of two valuable and intensively

cultivated estates in Cavite.

The ARCHDIOCESE of Manila owned the remaining estate - the

Hacienda of Dinalupihan in Bataan Province.
During the 19th century, hacienda towns in the Philippines were
arranged in the following:
• They had a municipal center (munisipio) with a centrally located
plaza where the parish church, a government building, and
perhaps a jail usually would be found.
• The residence of the friar administrators (the casa hacienda) and a
granary were the only visible evidences marking the presence of
a friar estate.

The municipio was the home for the wealthier citizens of the town -
the traders,artisans, and tenants, who leased but did not actually till the
land.

Outside were the barrios where the peasants lived near the fields
they cultivated as sharecroppers and agricultural laborers.
The existence of FRIAR LANDS in the Philippines can be
traced back to the early Spanish colonial period when
Spanish conquistadors were awarded in the form of
haciendas for the loyalty to the Spanish Crown.

Approximately 120 Spaniards were granted either large

tracts called sitio de ganado mayor (1,742 hectares) or smaller
tracts called caballerias (42.5 hectares) while the larger grants
measeured two or three sitios and may have included a sitio
de gagado menor (774 hectares).
When the export of the agricultural crops started to blossom in
the 18th century, the inquilinato system was put into place. In this
system, one who rented the land for a fixed annual amount, an
inquilino, was expected to give personal services to the landlords.
If he or she failed to do so, he or she would be expelled from the
land.
Rizal's family became one of the principal inquilinos of the
hacienda. They rented one of the largest leased parcel of the
land measuring approximately 380 hectares. The main crop
was sugarcane since it was the most in-demand in the world
market then. The Rizal family got their income mainly from
the land they rented.
The dispute originated from a directive of Governor General
Emilio Terrero y Perinat ordering for the investigation of
estates owned by Dominican friars as an effort to resolve
agrarian issues and problems in collection of land taxes and
tenancy upon the request of José Rizal.