THE WORLD TO PHILIPPINES DURING RIZAL’S TIME Flashcards
- In 1834, Spain, following the economic policy of other European countries, officially
opened Manila to world commerce.
● From 1834 to 1873, more ports were opened to foreign trading like Sual, Iloilo,
Zamboanga, Cebu and Legazpi stimulating vigorous economic activity that brought
prosperity to some Filipinos, mostly Spanish and Chinese mestizos.
● As a result, there emerged a new class: the Filipino Middle Class
● They did not only acquire material wealth but also improve their social standing and
influence.
OPENING OF THE PHILIPPINES TO WORLD COMMERCE
- Suez Canal, sea-level waterway running north-south in Egypt that was opened to
international shipping on November 17, 1869.
● 103 miles long, connects the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Suez and also to the Red
Sea and the Indian Ocean
● With the opening of this canal, the distance of travel between Europe and the
Philippines was shortened bringing the country closer to Spain.
● In previous years, a steamer from Barcelona had to sail around the Cape of Good Hope
(rocky headland on the Atlantic coasts) that can reach Manila in more than three
months.
● With this canal, the trip was reduced to only 32 days
OPENING OF THE SUEZ CANAL
+ In 1565, the religious orders took possession of the parishes for conversion of the
natives to Catholicism.
● By the 19th century, many Filipinos had become secular priests, but the regular priests
called friar curates did not want to relinquish their parishes to the seculars .
● The movement gradually became racial and national conflict with the friar curates on
one side and the Filipino clergy on the other.
THE SECULARIZATION MOVEMENT
- The political instability in Spain resulted in frequent changes of Spanish officials in the
Philippines caused further confusion and increased social and political discontent in the
country.
● In 1868, a provisional government was set up and the new government extended to the
colonies the reforms they adopted In Spain.
● These reforms included the grant of universal suffrage and the recognition of
freedom and conscience, the press, association and public assembly.
● General De la Torre was appointed by the provisional government in Spain as
Governor-General of the Philippines in 1869.
● The rule of the first liberal governor-general became significant in the birth of national
consciousness in the 19th century.
THE DEMOCRATIC RULE OF GOV. GEN. DELA TORRE
- His pro-people governance gave Rizal and other Filipinos a foretaste of a democratic rule and way of life.
● He put into practice his liberal and democratic way of living a simple life.
● He encouraged freedom and abolished censorship.
● He recognized freedom of speech and of the press which were guaranteed by the
Spanish Constitution. His greatest achievement was the peaceful solution to the land
problem in the province of Cavite.
THE DEMOCRATIC RULE OF GOV. GEN. DELA TORRE
Two historical events in the late 19th century that hastened the growth of nationalism in
the minds of Rizal, the reformists and the Filipino people were the Cavite mutiny and
the martyrdom of Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora,
popularly known as GOMBURZA.
● The Cavite mutiny was an uprising against the Spaniards in Manila on January 20, 1872
led by Sgt. Fernando La Madrid .
● However, it failed due to miscommunication between Sgt. La madrid and the Filipino
soldiers.
● The mutineers thought that soldiers in Manila would join them in a concerted
uprising, the signal being the firing of rockets from the city walls on that night.
● Unfortunately, what they thought to be the signal was actually a burst of fireworks in
celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Loreto, the patron of Sampaloc.
● Many Spanish officers were killed by the Filipino soldiers and, as a revenge, many
mutineers were killed, including La madrid.
THE CAVITE MUTINY AND THE MARTYRDOM OF GOMBURZA
- This unfortunate incident in Cavite became an opportunity for the Spaniards to implicate
the three Filipino priests who had been campaigning for Filipino rights, particularly
the rights of Filipino priests to become parish priests – the “Filipinization” of the
parishes in the country.
● They magnified the event and made it appear as a “revolt” against the government.
● The three priests were arrested and charged falsely with treason and mutiny under a
military court. With a farcical trial, a biased court the three priests were convicted of a
crime they did not commit.
● At sunrise of February 17, 1872, Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora were escorted
to Luneta and executed by Garrote before a vast crowd of Filipinos and foreigners.
● The execution of GOMBURZA hastened the growth of Filipino nationalism.
● The Filipino people resented the execution of the three priests because they knew that
they were innocent and were executed because they championed Filipino rights.
● Rizal dedicated his novel “El Filibusterismo” to GOMBURZA to show his
appreciation to their courage, dedication to Filipino rights and sense of nationalism.
THE CAVITE MUTINY AND THE MARTYRDOM OF GOMBURZA
- Spain introduced an obligation of supporting the Church’s mission of Christianizing the
natives and to contribute to the Spanish King’s welfare.
● These institutions included the encomienda the polo (forced labor) and the tribute
(tribute). - These colonial systems became the major sources of discontent of many natives during
the Spanish period.
● Because of the oppressive nature of these systems, many revolts and uprisings erupted
in various parts of the country which contributed to the weakening of Spanish rule in the
19th century .
DISCONTENT WITH SPANISH INSTITUTIONS
● The Catholic religion became the State religion.
● Under the arrangements between the Pope and the Spanish King called the
“Patronato Real de las Indias”, civil and church authorities must Christianize the
natives in the colony.
● Civil authorities support the material needs of the missionaries in building churches
and catechizing the inhabitants.
● The government provided salaries to the Spanish missionaries and the clergy,
technically making them government officials.
● With vast powers, both spiritual and political, in their hands, the Spanish friars and the
clergy held absolute powers in the colony.
● This attracted the attention of the reformists and Ilustrados led by Jose Rizal
resulting in a nationalist desire for reforms in the country.
UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE
● Is a form of social exclusion where people are prevented from having access to public
goods by virtue of their physical traits. It is an abusive behavior of one race against
another.
● Spanish authorities regarded the brown Filipinos as an inferior people and derisively
called them “indios” or Indians.
● This racial prejudice against native Filipinos existed in government offices, in the armed
forces, in courts of justice and in high society.
● To prevent that the natives were not inferior people, some talented and Intelligent
Filipinos endeavored to excel in their chosen fields.
● Juan Luna excelled in painting, Fr. Jose Burgos in Theology, Jose Rizal by
surpassing the Spanish writers in literary contests and winning fame as a physician,
man of letters, scholar and scientist, proved that a brown man could be as great or
even greater than a white man.
● The decline of Spanish rule in the 19th century and the popularity of Rizal and his reform
agenda were products of an interplay of various economic, social, political and cultural
forces.
● The revolutions liberal ideas gradually secularized societies in the 19th century and
thereby weakened the influence of religion in people’s mind, especially the well educated
reformists and ilustrados.
● Although the influence of the Catholic church in the 19th century led by the friars did not
diminish, the liberal and progressive ideas of Rizal and the reformists already awakened
the nationalist sentiment of the natives that soon became the catalysts for political
change in the late 19th century.
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
