The Philippine Polity: A Japanese View

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Survey of Spanish Rule in the Philippines

SECTION

I. MOTIVES AND BACKCROUND OF SPANISH COLONIZATION OF THE PHII-IPPINES

lv{agellanrs "Discovery', of the philippines

It is cornrnonplace to read in any textbook on philippine his_ tory that Ferdinand Magellan discovered the philippines in I52 1. We rnay inquire first in what sense we are justified in saying that the Philippines were rrdiscovered,, by Magellan.

At the time of \4ageIIan's rrdiscovery,n already as many as 500, 000 people were reported -to be inhabiting these islands. Moreover, f or several centuries past, inhabitants of the is _ lands had already been under the influence of Hindu culture, and aIso, through traders and irnmigrants, had been in touch wi.th southern china, and hence under the latterrs econornic influence. The inhabitants also had some experience with Arabian social and political organization through Mohamrnedan migration into these islands. Therefore, it is certainly in_ correct to say that the Philippines were introduced to the world or to East Asia for tle first time by the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan. On the other hand, at the tirne of Magellan's arrival., the in_ habitants were scattered over the islands as independent, pettv cornmunities. There existed no corn*unal connections bctween such .rillages or comrnunities; there was no social unity or political solidarity arrrong thern. I Racially speaking, thcy were closely related to peoples of palawan, Sulu, Borneo, or Java. At any rate, these inhabitants lived in more or less cornplete ignorance of one another. They naturally spoke dif_ ferent languages. Following Magerlanrs arrival, these natives, differing in language and unconnected in cornrnunal 1ife, were for the first tirne brought together under the unifying influence

this angle, therefore, 1t ! Spanish colonizati.on. Viewed from phili.ppines were "disJ not altogether wrong to say that the fvered" by Ferdinand Magellan in l52l. Spanish Motives for the Occupation of the Islands Significance in World History

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Magellan's coming to the philippines was accidental.

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The discovery took place at the tirne when Spain's at its zenith, its chief

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Mention should be made of the a1l-important, allpervading zeal then existing in Spain for spreading

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of the Philippines, following discovery by Magellan.

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accidental discovery of the philippines while he $"ff"n's L seeking to reach the spice Islands is a very signifi.cant : :" 1,""'J,? l":'11: r : LT : i ; i :li : ff : l; II,H::T, ":Y ilroute ecorro*ic considerations: finding a direct to the so?

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Granting that Magellan's voyage to the Orient could be traced, as suggested above, directly to the economic rnotive of discovering a direct rpute to the Spice Islands, if it had been a rnere expedition un'related to world movements, we feel it would not rnerit our speciai attention. Ttre fact, however, is that Magellanrs expeditionary party not only trdiscoveredrr the Philippines, but, by continuously sailing westward and returning to Spain, disproved concretely for the first time in human history the common belief that the earth was flat. Z The capture of Constantinople by Ottornan Turks in 1453 practically blockaded two of the three then existing trade routes to the East and by virtue of technical as well as political irnpedirnents, rnade spices and other trade goods from the East extrernely expensive. This condition of affairs incidentally stirnulated stil1 further the Renaissance rnovement then in vogue in Italy, and it in turn exerted sorne far-reaching effects upon Europers relations with the Orient. For instance, the rernarkable progress made in the science and technique of navigation forced, as it were, the countries of western Europe, particularly Portugal and Spain, to enter into competitive ventures for overseas navigation and exploration. This tendency was given added irnpetus by tlie heightened zeal and curiosity rnanifested by rnonarchs and rnerchants at the tirne. From the Iater years of the l5th century to the beginning of the I5th, Portugal discovered and cultivated a shorter sea route to India and Malacca by skirting the southern coast of Africa; and Spain, following Colurnbustdiscovery of the Arnericas, renewed efforts to opening up routes to the Moluccas and India by westward sailing across the Atlantic. Magellan's discovery of the Philippines was, hence, rnerely an accidental result of the general efforts in which kings and merchants of Europe were feverishly engaged at that tirne.

Portuguese marine exploration and occupation of geopolitically strategic regions were chiefly airned at the opening and rnaintenance of trade routes to India and the Orient by eastward navigation via the southern tip of Africa. Spanish e{forts were, in contrast with those of the Portuguese, chiefly directed toward reaching the same goal by westward sailing. We can readily see, therefore, that the Spaniards' discovery of the Philippines and subsequent settlernent and colonization of the islands were, at least in part, also conditioned by the political objective of enlarging their colonial empire.

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grantirig, howctver, that the backgror.rnd for thc ,"lrsc,r.".y ,rnd subsequent settlerncnt of the Philippines by Sparrior,is uas r,t:onorrric anci t.enturous in natulc-', .inrl assurning also tlr;rt the li1,lanLsh were under the infiuence of the er:-rpirc' building -rn;rnia lht:n i.n vogue, of seeking after ventures rt'hich prornised reItrrns in the fornr of political glory;rbroad, 'w8 arLr still Iorced Io conclude that tl-re execution and rnaintenance of Spanish ef lorts at settlement and colonization of the F']hilippines .1 cr( lrrstained rnost emphatically by their zealous sense of rreis rrion in spreading christianity in the newly discoverecl rcgions ol the Orient. There can be little roorn for disagreernent ;rntong students of history that the success of spanish settlelrr.nt anc] colonization of the islands was (rhiefly due to this l"'(:uIi.ar sense of nrission. I,)ven

W(: are led to rnake the general assumption that the prirnary Ulrjcctive r,r'hich the Spaniards at the tirne sought to attain in llrcir efforts at ernpire building was reli.gious, rather than lr()litical or economic. In this sense, Spain offers an interesttrrg historical contrast with Portugal in that the latter's venIrrt't's in empire building were more gener-ally rnotivated by J This generai obr r onornic or conlrrtercial considerations. ,r, r'vation seerns to be arnply justified r.l'hen we exarnine the , lr,r racter of the Legaspi-Urdaneta expedition-settlernent ett,,r'ls forty years after Magellan's historic voyage to the Philr1,1,irres, or when we trace carefully the general process foland the forrns and 1r,11',..1 in the conquest of new territory, We are left islands. of the governance of Spanish l,ur'l)()ses ,r.rllrout doubt, accordingly, that the primary and basic rnoti, irling force behind Spain's occupation, coionization, and r,lrrrirristration of the Philippines was the Spaniards' sense of ,,'r',riion for enlarging and extending Christendom.

:iI.]CTION

II. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS Or. SPANISH RULE IN THE PHILIPPINES

briel historical survey of the three years of Spanish colonial regirne in llrI l'lrilippines, fronr Magellan's discovery to the end of Spanlrlr r.vt,rcignty, under the following heariings: (1) the period tV,' rtlr:rll atternpt below a

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Lt 'il,.rrrish r.on(.lr.1(rst, (2) the period of infiltration and stagnation ,rl l,;'.rrrrslr rrrthority, antl (3) the period of disintegration of llrnrrr'.lr s,,r,'r', i1,111v itr llr,'l'lri'l i1,pilrcs.

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1. Factors Operating at the Tirne of Spanish Conquest

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During the interval of forty-odd years from Magellan to Legaspi, Spain dispatched three expeditionary parties to the t4olrrccas. There is no evidence that Spain exhibited any particular enthusiasrn for settlernent and col0nization of the Philippines. The struggle for control of the Moluccas between fortrrgat and Spain during the middle of ttie l6th century constituted a center of power gravitation for hegemony of the Orient between these two ernpires. An expedition was dispatched frorn Mexico in 1542, headed by Villaloboa, for setilernent and colonization of the Philippines. The party, though it landed in the 'rWestern Islands,tr failed to found a settlernent in the lslands and finally had to surrender to the Portuguese in the Moluccas, sharing the fate of their Predecessors' Consequently, Spanish efforts at occupation and colonization of the Philippines showed no tangible results for forty-four years' until I565. An expedition under the cornrnand of Mi'guel Lopez de Legaspi sailed frorn Navidad, Mexico, in Novernber I564' The party reached the Philippines the following spring and, toward the Iatter part of ApriI, Legaspi'succeeded in establishing in cebu the {irst perrnanent Spanish settlernent in the Archipelago' The inhabitants of Cebu, however, were not friendly toward the Spanish invaders, and the party found it difficult even to obtain sufficient food in the region. Moreover, fearing a new exPansion of Spanish influence in a region too near to be cornfortable, the Portuguese dispatched expeditions froi-n the Moluccas to underrnine the new Spanish settlernents to the north' Under the circurnstances, Legaspi found it both necessary and expedient to avoid the Portuguese by transferring his headquarters northward. This gradual rnovernent northward was effected.by Legaspi and his rnen arnidst constant attacks and incursions frorn the natives and pirates on the way' In I570' Lcgaspi dispatched an expedition, under Martin de Goiti, of about 120 Spaniards and 600 Visayan fighters to Manila' At this ti.rne, Manila was a Moro settlernent, the southern banks of the Pasig being under the rule of Rajah Solirnan' Goiti sttcceecled in concluding a friendship agreernent, but the outpost thus establishecl was destined to be short-Iived. Fighting broke olrt soon between Solirtan's men and the Spanish newcorners, rcsulting in rnany casualties and the burning of the

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pettlement. Solirnan and his men withdrew from Manila. poiti, fearing Solirnants counterattacks, did not wish to reprain there long and soon left for panay, the headquarters ]f Legaspi. Soliman, naturally, returned to his old strong]old and comrnenced to rebuild the burnt settlernent. fhe following year (I5?l) Legaspi, heading a powerful party ff Spaniards and Visayan adherents, appeared in Manila Bay" fajah Soliman burned his settlement again and sought the as_ Jistance of Lacandola, his uncle on the northern banks of the Jasig. Chief Lacandola of Tondo was more sagacious and ]plomatic than his nephew. Realizing the uselessness of reJsting an overwhelmingly powerful invader, Lacandola and ]liman sought peace with Legaspi. Legaspi accepted the of _ !r, but the new peace between the chiefs of Manila and the ]aniards could not last long. Soliman, for one, could not ]concile his pride with the hurniliating loss of Manila to the So, encouraged by the aid of neighboring settle_ ]aniards. Solirnan, in a fatal attempt to regain his former pres_ Jents, lBe and power, attacked on June 3, l5ZI. The overwhelmlglV sunerior power of the Spaniards made the outcome a fregone conclusion. soliman himself was killed in the battle. !a failure ended aII hopes of Malayan independence and the J:rtinuation of Mohammedan influence in Luzon. On June 24, founded the city of Manila and declared !?l Legaspi forrnally ]'the capital of the philippines. founding of Manila, the "pacificationr campaign of ffitfr tfre progressed fflon was carried with cornparative easec The conquest of out chiefly under Martin de Goiti and Juan $zon By the tirne Salcedci died at Vigan in l5?5, alrnost f,Salcedo. areas th" of the archipelago over which Spain was ever to n, effective sovereignty had been brought under the f,rcise flag. No tangible extension of Spanish dornain in the fnish was made during the next three hundred years.

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ro the Philippines during the initial stages of conquest and settlernent were exemplary leaders. A more important factor, however, and one that rnade their feat possible, was the nature of the social organization which the Spaniards found arnong the inhabitants of the archipelago at the time of Legaspi's arrival. There existed no tangible bonds of solidarity or social cohesion between the various native groups. The inhabitants possessed no political organization, at the tirne, strong enough to offer effective resistance against the invading influence. In a word, the inhabitants lacked the sinews of national unity. The scattered habitats of the various racial groups enabled the invaders to govern the new territory under the principle of divide et irnpera. The S paniards, for example, were able i6use freely forces recruited from among the inhabitants of the Visaya region in the subjugation campaign of Luzon. The task of territorial conquest of the. Philippines was accorrrplished in ten years by rnilitary campaigns conducted under Legaspi, Goiti, and SaIcedo. But the transformation of mere rnilitary control of the islands into a colonial establishrnent under full sovereignty of Spain was a result, rrrore than any other single factor, of the sacrificial efforts of Catholic mis sionaries. Toward the latter'part of the l5th century, implantation of Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines was already cornplete, and Spainrs clairn to authority as a colonial power stood on firm foundations. Z

Conditions Existing during the Period of Penetration and Stagnation

The two hundred and fifty years frorn the beginning of the 17th century to the rniddle of the I9th saw in the Philippines a gradual infiltration of Spanish influence throughout the entire fabric of native life and produced a condition of what rnight be terrned administrative stagnation. This was the period when the condition of insulation or isolation of the Philippines was rnost complete, and duri.ng which the Philippine colonial administration exhibited its rnost typically Spanish character. Throughout this period small- scale uprisings were interrnittently re ported in Luzon and Visaya" These occasional outbreaks, however, were local in extent and hence in no sense national or political in scope.

Throughout this period, moreover, the archipelago was trou_ bled with threats and invasions from neighboring islands by foreign powers, particularly the Netherlands and England. The British occupation of Manila during 1762_64 was a con_ lpicuous example. Threatened further by portuguese, Chi_ ncse, as well as Moro incursions, Spanish authority in the Philippines was harassed internally and externally, and was ncver free from political or strategic vulnerability. Even though encumbered by such limitations the spanish feudalism , gf mediaeval Europe, including its culture, was transplanted lnto the Philippines during these two and a half centuries. At thc sa''e tirne, however, spanish colonial rule in the archiprlago was gradually heading toward corlapse, the poritical i lule of the catholic church being the pivotal issue. In section' lll below, we shall attempt a more systematic analysis of the llpanish colonial system in the philippines. |

l. Factors surrounding the Gradual Disintegration of spanish Rule in the Philippines Tho churchly ki.ngdorn under spanish sovereignty, estabrished lmmcdiately following military conquest, under the special roclrl and religious as well as political lirnitations already refrrred to, began to show signs of crumbling in the early lgth tt;ntury. By the dawn of the 2Oth century Spain had lost for_ tvot ltr sovereignty over the archipelago. we are thus faced wlth the necessity of rnaking a brief analysis of factors which €antrlbuted to the collapse of the Spanish system. 1.,r,r', lr rrul.hority, irnplanted as it was in the long course of tl', ' lrrrr(lrcr.l years, naturarry did not crurnble ari of a sudden, r.,rr r;rll*.1-;rs the culmination of various causes rernote and ,,,,rrr,,lr,rlr.. In our survey, .,ve shaII be content with ana11,7ipg ,,1 rlr.rr, l;rr.tors rvhich we consider to be the imnrediate

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r,., t. r,;1 f-i11y11s cxpres sions of discontent and resistance ,, | .1,,,,r,rlr political oppression, and finaliy der.eioping , ,,,rr,,r,... r,l. n)oventent for political independencc fror_rr : r 'r' , ' ' r, rrnl v itself . We art-. faced, at tLris juncture,

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with the guestion of how and through what process those vari_ ous groups of native inhabitants whorn Spaniards found scattered throughout the archipelago, having no social or economic relations between them and totally lacking in the sentiment of political solidarity, grew into a people united by modern na_ tionalisrn, which ultimately led to the crumbling of Spaniah authority. rhe imrnediate bacl..gr.ound for the breaking up of the condition of sociopolitical and,