What is my assessment of the Philippine Revolution?

I personally believe that the absence of a political unity involving all or the
majority of the people of the archipelago allowed the Spanish conquistadores to impose
their will on the people step by step even with a few hundreds of colonial troops at the
start. Since Magellan employed the standard tactic of divide-and-rule when in 1521 he
sided with Humabon against Lapu-lapu. It can also be derived that he started a pattern
of inveigling certain barangays to adopt the Christian faith and then employing them
against other barangays which resisted colonial domination. However, the book
History of the Philippine People by Agoncillo stated that it was Legazpi who in 1565
and thereafter succeeded in deceiving a large number of barangay chieftains represented
by Sikatuna in quelling unruly barangays with the sword and in establishing under the
cross the first colonial settlements in Visayas and subsequently in Luzon. It is likely n
eventful experience for the fellow Indio that could have triggered suspicion and
noncompliance to the Spanish Authority at that time. In that type of setup, it is evident
that the kind of society that developed in more than three centuries of Spanish rule was
colonial and feudal. It was a society basically ruled by the landlord class, feudal lords
to be particular which included the Spanish colonial officials. In addition, the Catholic
religious orders and the local puppet chiefs were also powerful figures. Sadly, the
masses of the people were kept to the status of serfs and even the freemen became
dispossessed.
To give a broader concept of society back then, it was in 1570 that the Spanish
colonialists started to integrate the barangays that they had subjugated into larger
administrative and economic units called the encomiendas. Wide areas of land, the
encomiendas were awarded as royal grants to the colonial officials and Catholic
religious orders in exchange for their meritorious services in the conquest of the
native people. Also, the encomienda system of local administration would be phased out
in the 17th century when the organization of regular provinces was already possible and
after it had served to establish the large-scale private landownership of the colonialists.
Under the objective of looking after the spiritual welfare of the people, encomenderos
collected tribute, enforced forced labor and conscripted native soldiers. This however,
resulted in a minor subject that affected Filipino natives because of the fact that the
Spaniards randomly extended the territorial scope of their royal grants, usurped
ownership over the lands previously developed by the people and put more land to
cultivation by employing more labor. This put the fellow native at harsh working
conditions since they are subjected to Polo e servicio and they are the only ones
expected to work mostly for the family. In contrary, it was convenient for the
colonialists to convert into agricultural lands the clearing made from the forests as a
result of the timber-cutting necessitated by various construction projects but a
devastating effect to the livelihood and integrity of the Filipino natives.

Moreover, public building, private houses, churches,, roads, bridges and ships for
the galleon trade and for military expeditions were built. These entailed the Filipino
mass conscription of labor for quarrying, timber-cutting, hauling, lumbering, brick
making and construction work of Filipinos in nearby or faraway places. A suppressing
motivation that is brought about as long as abuses are present, this was highlighted
during class and group discussions. I am intrigued on the central government, despite
its set up in Manila to run the affairs of the colony. Evidently, its head was the Spanish
governor-general who saw to it that the Filipino people were compelled to pay taxes,
render free labor and produce an agricultural surplus sufficient to feed the parasitic
colonial officials, friars and soldiery. It is a very alarming state for me and most
especially the Filipino community. On one hand, the governor-general had the soldiery
to enforce the colonial order. On the other, he had the collaboration of the friars to keep
the people in spiritual and economic enslavement. He enriched himself fast within his
short stay in office by being the chief shipper on the Manila-Acapulco trade galleons
and by being the dispenser of shipping permits to merchants. It eventually declined and
was replaced by the more profitable export of sugar, hemp, copra, tobacco, indigo and
others. The large-scale cultivation of these export crops was imposed on the toiling
masses to provide more profits for Spanish colonialism. This is showing a narrow
representation of exploitation of the Filipino natives which cost them more than what
they can handle.
I will further elaborate on these upsetting of the Filipino people. Firstly, At the
provincial level was the alcalde - mayor as the colonial chieftain. He exercised both
executive and judicial powers, collected tributes from the town and enjoyed the
privilege of monopolizing commerce in the province and engaged in usury. Abruptly, he
manipulated government funds as well as drew loans from the obras pias, the friars
chest for charities, to engage in unlawful commerce and lending practices. At the
town level was the gobernadocillo , the top puppet official formally elected by the
principalia. The principalia was composed of the incumbent and past gobernadorcillos
and the barrio chieftains called the cabezas de barangay. It essentially reflected the
assimilation of the old barangay leadership into the Spanish colonial system. Accoring
to the book, the most important regular duties of the gobernadorcillo and the cabezas de
barangay under him were the collection of tribute and the enforcement of forced labor.
Their property was answerable for any deficiency in their performance. However, the
gobernadorcillo usually made the cabezas de barangay to be held responsible. For me, it
is a sort of cunning escape key to avoid bankruptcy and keep themselves in the good
graces of their colonial masters, A sad truth that these puppet officials made sure that
the main burden of colonial oppression was held liable by the peasant masses.
In the classic fashion of feudalism, the union of church and state infuse the entire
colonial structure. All colonial subjects fell under friar control from birth until death.
The pulpit and the confessional box were expertly used for colonial propaganda and
espionage, respectively. The catechetical schools were used to poison the minds of the

children against their own country. Surprisingly, the colonial bureaucracy did not find
any need for natives in the higher professions. Among the masses, the friars propagated
a small-minded culture of beliefs, religious feasts and ceremonies. Consecutively,
Filipinos where overwhelmed, since the friars had burned and destroyed the artifacts of
pre-colonial culture as the handiwork of the devil and assimilated only those things of
the indigenous culture which they could use to facilitate colonial and medieval
indoctrination. In the material base as well as in the superstructure, friar control was
total and most oppressive in the towns situated in vast landed estates owned by the
religious orders. In the colonial center as well as in every province, the friars exercised
vast political powers. They supervised such diverse affairs as taxation, census,
statistics, primary schools, health, public works and charities. It is a fact that
heightened the Filipinos impending defiance against the superpower. But still there
were irregularities experienced that they considered. Still, t hey intervened in the
election of municipal officials. As a matter of fact, they were so powerful that they
could instigate the transfer, suspension or removal from office of colonial officials,
from the highest to the lowest, including the governor-general. In line with their feudal
interests, it is a surprising reality that they could even murder the governor-general with
impunity. As they could be that vicious within thei r own official ranks, they were more
so in witch-hunting and suppressing native rebels whom they condemned as heretics
and destructives. This clearly explains the mind setting of this so-called Christians
as reiterated by my class professor.
Throughout the Spanish colonial regime, revolts broke out sporadically all over
the archipelago against the tribute, forced labor, commercial monopolies, excessive
land rent, land grabbing, imposition of the Catholic faith, arbitrary rules and other cruel
practices of the colonial rulers. There were at least 200 revolts presented at the book by
Agoncillo. I strongly believe that these grew with cumulative strength to create a great
revolutionary tradition among the Filipino people. The most outstanding revolts in the
first century of colonial rule were those led by Sulayman, 1564 and Magat,1587-88 in
Manila and Magalat,1596 Cagayan. Igorots in the central highlands of Northern Luzon
rebelled against attempts to colonize them and used the favorable terrain of their
homeland to maintain their independence. Almost simultaneously, Tamblot in Bohol
and Bankaw in Leyte raised the flag of revolt. There is now acceleration even at the
extent of small-scale revolts. Remarkably, revolts also broke out in Nueva Vizcaya and
Cagayan in 1621 and 1625-27, respectively. The most widespread revolts that occurred
were those inspired by Sumuroy in the southern provinces and northern provinces of the
archipelago. All throughout the Spanish colonial rule, the Muslims of Mindanao as well
as the mountain people in practically every island, especially the Igorots in Northern
Luzon, kept up their resistance. Aside from these consistent anti-colonial fighters, the
people of Bohol fought the foreign tyrants for 85 years. Led by Dagohoy and
subsequently by his successors. At the peak of their strength, they were 20,000 strong
and had their own government in their mountain bases.

Despite previous a defeat which was a defining moment, the people of Pangasinan
and the Ilocos provinces repeatedly rose up against the colonial rule. Amazingle, the
revolt led by Palaris spread throughout the large province of Pangasinan and the one led
by Diego Silang. These revolts tried to take advantage of some British and Spanish war.
The anti-colonial revolts of the people increasingly took the character of conscious
opposition to feudalism in sometime of the 18
th
century. Previously, the hardships and
torment of hash labor were the frequent causes of revolt. The expansion of friar lands
through fake surveys and also the arbitrary raising of land rent inflamed the Filipino
people, especially in Central Luzon and Southern Luzon. Sufficient evidence
propagated by the monopoly and abuses of these friars. In quelling all the revolts
precedent to the Philippine Revolution of 1896, it is a sinister action that the Spanish
colonialist conscripted large numbers of peasants to fight their own brothers. Military
conscription thus became a major form of oppression as the development of revolts
became rapid and widespread.
In the late 19th century there was increasing insurgency against Spain, which finally
formed a response of the natives towards demanding independence. It saw the intensification
and ripening of the colonial and feudal system of exploitation .It is good to know that
since it is a reaction of the natives inferred to some idea. Under the strain of increasing
exploitation, the national and democratic aspirations of the broad masses of the people
rose. As oppression was stepped up, the spirit of resistance among the ruled, especially
the peasant masses became heightened. It is like a personal motivation towards the same
goal. From the illustrados came a group of students who formed the Propaganda Movement.
They did not wish separation from Spain, but did demand equality and political rights. They
spoke out against the injustices of the colonial government and especially the Catholic friars.
Among the propagandists were Jos Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, and Graciano Lpez Jaena.
Rizal, the most famous of the propagandists, experiencing individual hardships and struggles but
there was no hint for the absence of nationalism. The injustices of the Spanish had led to many
uprisings. The uprising, in Cavite, was notable since it had a large effect on the country. The
Spanish put this down by executing three Filipino priests: Burgos, Gomez, and Zamorz. I might
agrre that the execution of these priest marked the start of the Philippine Revolutionary Period.
Andres Bonifacio founded a revolutionary society called the Katipunan., Filipinos were openly
rebelling against the Spanish and the revolution was spreading throughout the islands. The
Filipinos succeeded in taking almost all Philippine territory, except for Manila. The Philippine
Revolution of 1896 was noted as a national-democratic revolution of the old type. To
ensure the democratic character of the revolution, it was replaced by revolutionary
government. To make it short it suffered defeat after defeat due to inconsistencies.
Nevertheless, even as the yoke of colonial oppression was mainly carried off despite all
ways to counter it. However, a large composition of Filipinos created a distinct and load
message to forego national equality and liberal thinking that demands theyre voices be
heard in a self-less deed to overthrow the Spanish colonial regime. All in the name of
the Philippine Country and its People!

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