The Philippine Revolution

Resistance against Spanish Rule

By: Agoncillo and Guerrero
The
Spaniards,
however,
invariably
triumphed because the native institution ,
skills and ideas which the people employed
to resist them were pathetically inadequate
against the latters military superiority and
political organization .
The miserable conditions brought about by
Spanish political and economic politics
threw the natives into rebellion against the
ruling power.
19th century agitation against Spanish rule, however grew
in intensity with the development of national
consciousness.
Uprising Against Spain: Causes
-in the early decades of Spanish rule against
Spain had been sparked by native chieftains
and religious leaders.

-the native priests, who had controlled the

craft of magic and idolatry, lost most of their
powers to the Christian missionaries.
A. Personal Grievances
-the uprising led by Lakan Dula and
Sulayman (1574), the conspiracy of 15871588 as well, as the revolts of tamblot (16211622) and Bankaw (1621 or 1622)
1587
Martin Pangan and Agustin de Legaspi,
relatives of Lakan Dula, led a conspiracy to
overthrow Spanish sovereignty in the
Philippines. Among those who joined the
attempt to regain the freedom and lordship
which their fathers had enjoyed before them
were the former rulers of Tondo, Polo,

Pandacan,
Calamias.

Navotas,

Candaba,

Cuyo

and

17th centurytwo rebellions of a religious nature occurred

in the Visayas.
1621
a native priest or babaylan called, Tamblot
rallied hundreds of Boholanos to his cause. A
Spanish expedition from Cebu, consisting of
no more than 50 Spanish soldiers, ably aided
by more than 1,500 Filipinos, subdued the
revolt.
1744
Dagohoy, angered and humiliated by the
refusal of a Jesuit priest to give a Christian
burial to his brother; incited the natives of
Bohol to revolt.
B. Opositon to Spanish Impositions
-when a Spanish demands and exactions
became
intolerable,
some
of
these
manifestations of discontent, though in the
beginning unusually uneventful, crossed the
Luzon and the Visayas and spread like
brushfires. It was in this manner that the
revolts of Magalat (1596); Sumoroy (16491650);
the
pampango-Pangasinan-Ilokos
uprising (1660-1661); the Palaris (17421764); and the Diego Silang revolt (17621763) took place.
1596
- arbitrary and illegal collection of the tribute,
among other objectionable aspects of
Spanish rule, caused the revolt that Magalat
fomented in Cagayan.
1650
- a government expedition composed of
Spaniards and native mercenary soldiers
captured the leaders of the movement in the
mountains of Samar, after which they easily
suppressed the revolt.

*in the middle of the 17th century, uprisings

took place
almost simultaneously in the
provinces of Pampanga, Pangasinan and
Ilokos.

The death of Silang weakened but did not

end the revolt because his wife, Gabriela, and
his uncle Nicolas Carino, continued the
resistance.

Francisco Maniago

C. Religious Uprisings-

-led the natives of the province in a revolt

against the government practice of forcing
them to cut timber and hauling them to
Cavite for construction of the galleons.

1601-

Andres Malong
headed the uprising in Pangasinan, which
soon spread to Pampanga, Ilokos, Zambales
and Cagayan.
1762
- the natives of Binaongan, Pangasinan ,
taking advantage of the situation, broke out
in the revolt, demanding the abolition of the
tribute and the removal of Joaquin Gamboa,
alcalde mayor of the province who had been
committing irregularities in tribute collection.
Diego Silang
take advantage of the Spanish preoccupation
with the British in Maynila,he started the
revolt in Vigan, Ilokos Sur and extended it to
as far Pangasinan and the Cagayan Valley.
-while collecting a massive force in
Pampanga that would be sent against Silang,
Governor Simon de Anday Salazar issued an
ultimatum to the rebel leader.
Bishop Ustariz
virtually a prisoner in Vigan, issued an
interdict over Silang and his followers and
exhorted the people to stop supporting the
rebel leader.
-with the obvious approval of the Bishop,
Miguel Vicos, a Spanish mestizo who wished
to take revenge against Silang, and Pedro
Becbec, and old friend and trusted aid of
Silang conspired to assassinate the rebel
leader.

The Ilongots revolted against the insistent

Spanish attempts to convert them to
Christianity.
-in the Cagayan Valley (1625 and 1627) and
Oton, Iloilo (1663) on the other hand, the
Spaniards assisted by native volunter
soldiers, suppressed attempts of the natives
to found a new religion.
1840The Dominicans refused to accept Apolinario
de la Cruz, who wanted to pursue a priestly
vocation under the religious order, on the
ground that he was a native,

- He also established a religious brotherhood

called the Cofradia de San Jose in Tayabas
(now Quezon province).
De la Cruz also called Hermano Pule
sought the recognition of the brotherhood
but the Spaniards respond by arresting
hundreds of his followers.
1841De la Cruz and his followers took up arms in
Tayabas and murdered the provincial
governor. The Spaniards, however, eventually
overwhelmed the rebels, captured de la Cruz
and executed him publicly.
D. Agrarian Complaints
-

Growing
agrarian
distress
found
expression in sporadic revolts, which
became increasingly frequent as large
estates
passed
from
the
encomenderos to the religious orders.

The absence of a proper land title

system aggravated the problem of the
ignorant Filipinos who fell easy prey to
the surveyors of the government and
the religious orders.

Juan MatienzaUnder his leadership, the natives of Lian and

Nasugbu in Batangas raised the standard of
revolt in protest against the unconditional
appropriation of their land to the Jesuits.
-During the 18th century, the Dominicans and
Augustians also increased the acreage of
their estates by arbitrary alienation of land
occupied by hundreds of farmers in Bulacan
Pedro Calderon Enriquez
- A solicitor oidor of the Real Audiencia, who
was sent to investigate agrarian conditions in
the province, required religious orders to
present titles to their estates.
E.
Consequences
Resistance
-

of

Fragmented

Revolts and peasant outbursts of

violence were the principal actions
engaged by the Filipinos to protest
their economic exploitation and social
degradation.
The Spaniards possessed not only a
superior military technology and
strategy, but they also employed
native volunter or mercenary soldiers
from one part of the country to
suppress the rebels in another.
Until 1896, the Spaniards numbered,
they were able to maintain Spanish
sovereignty in the colony.

CONTRIBUTARY
FACTORS
to
the
DEVELOPMENT of PHILIPPINE NATIONALISM
Belated Development
Nationalism:

of

Philippine

Cause. Nationalism or devotion or advocacy

of national unity and independence is the

most important prerequisite to the formation

of national consciousness, indeed the sine
qua non to the development of national
identities.
As a historical development, it is relatively
new concept, a product of ferment and
political upheavals of the18th century and a
child of the French Revolution, which was
exported to the other nations of Europe
during the Napoleonic Wars and later, by war
and commerce, by colonialism itself, to other
parts of the world.
The different ethnic groups in the country
shared the same basic elements of
nationalism such as similarities in racial and
cultural features, but Spanish colonial policy
as well as certain national barriers retarded
the development of nationalistic feelings
among the Filipinos.
The Filipinos from different parts of the
country, therefore, failed to realize the
similarities of the grievance and the
existence of a common source of suffering
and misery.
Linguistic differences and the absence of a
common language, aggravated by the
deliberate refusal of the Spaniards to
propagate the Spanish language, weighed
heavily in fomenting regionalism and
prevented the people from developing a
national language that would have unified
them.
Filipino Nationalism: Contributory Factors
The transformation of the Philippine economy
into a raw material market for Europe
unavoidably brought the Filipinos in touch
with the intellectual tradition of the West,
particularly those liberal and revolutionary
ideas that had earlier changed the face of
Europe. Improved economic conditions broke
down the walls of isolation among the
Filipinos and increase their contract with the
outside world.

A. Opening of the Philippines to International

Trade
The opening of several ports in the
Philippines
between
1834
and
1873
stimulated the commercial cultivation of
certain export crops to the world market. The
application of increased capital-including
British and American and scientific
techniques to agricultural production and the
increasing demand of these products brought
prosperity to the hitherto sequestered colony.
The growth of commerce and industry,
therefore, fostered alteration of the native
social hierarchy with the principalia or the
political and social aristocracy constituting
the upper class, the masses which occupied
the lowest rung of the social ladder and the
new middle class intermediate between these
two classes.
The term middle class, however, as applied
to this emergent stratum in Filipino society
differs in meaning and significance from that
of the European middle class, or for the
matter, the French bourgeoisie.
The opening of the Suez Canal and the
subsequent shortening of the route between
the Philippine and Europe enabled many
Europeans of liberal orientation to come to
the Philippines and come into contract with
some Filipinos who had been educated in
Europe. Ideas as well as woks of well-known
liberal thinkers and philosophers trickled into
the colony.
B. Rise of the Middle Class
The middle class or the Filipinos who
participated in agricultural production and
commerce acquired not only wealth and
property but also improved their social
status.
They
sent
their
children
to
educational institutions which before were
close to them and when possible even to
colleges in Spain.
The Spaniards and the old aristocratic
families looked down on the emergent

bourgeoisie with open

contempt and
scornfully labeled them bestias cargadas de
oro or beasts loaded with gold.
The middle class became increasingly critical
of the superciliousness of the friar curate, the
importunities
and
excesses
of
the
bureaucrats, both high and low, but they
particularly resented the governments
deliberate policy of awarding colonial
appointments only to fill-blooded Spaniards,
more particularly to those born in Spain.
C. Impact of European Liberalism
The political fortunes of the adherents of
liberalism were sometimes reflected in the
appointment of liberal governors and
bureaucrats when the liberals in Spain won
in
their
see-saw
struggle
with
the
conservatives, sometimes in the exodus of
the Spanish liberals when the conservatives
gained ascendancy.
These liberal bureaucrats and refugees, along
with other European and American liberals,
no doubt influenced Filipinos from the ranks
of the middle class with their thought and
orientation.
New political ideas, products of intense
intellectual ferment, humanitarianism and
cosmopolitanism in Europe during 17th and
18th centuries, trickled into the archipelago.
The
appeal
of
the
enlightenment
philosophers, notably John Locke in his Two
Treatises of Government and Jean Jacques
Rousseau in his Le Contrat Social (The
Social Contract), proved particularly strong to
the educated Filipinos.
Both thinkers maintained that no government
is legitimate unless it represents and
enforces the absolute and inalienable will of
the people.
The ideas of masonry- free thinking, anticlerical, and humanitarian- also influenced
members of the middle class and enabled
them to meet on common grounds for
propaganda purposes.

The French Revolution on the other hand,

provided one of the intellectual bases of
Filipino nationalism.
The situation of France in 1789 closely
paralleled the conditions prevailing in the
Philippines in 1896. The upper classes held a
monopoly of political and administrative
powers and refused to acknowledge and
existence of a growing bourgeoisie, which, in
18th century, chafed at the refusal of the
authorities to grant it political and social
representation.
The church owned vast tracks of lands,
controlled education and even commerce,
exercised excessive power
throughout
Europe and sometimes directed all internal
political administration. The masses, on other
hand, continued to bear the crushing burden
of taxation and other imposition of Church
and Government.
The ilustrados, who formed the vanguard of
the Propaganda Movement, exposed the
great spiritual crisis that engulfed the
Filipinos and attempt to convince the Spanish
authorities of the imperative need for far
reaching reforms to avert the outbreak of
revolution. When these were not forthcoming,
the revolutionist inspired no less by the
French Revolution, launched the struggle for
freedom and independence.
D. Racial Prejudice
The Spaniards regarded the Filipinos as
belonging to the inferior races and could
not possibly be expected to rise beyond the
limited intelligence nature has endowed
them. the term Filipino, which referred to the
Spaniards born in the Philippines, was applied
to the natives only very much later.
In the 19th century, the Spaniards waged a
campaign of open vilification against the
Filipinos. Journalist like Pablo Feced, Francisco
Caamaque, and W. E. Retena, and others
paid hacks of the friars, took turns in
debasing the Filipino who was described as a
machine that walks, eat, sleeps and simply

exist, an incomplete whole, a confusion of

sentiments, instincts, desires, energies,
passions, colors that crowd each other
without forming a single particular one.
The prejudiced notion that the Filipinos were
impossible to expose to curiosity and
philosophical studies justified the policy of
depriving
them
of
education
and
enlightenment.
The constant insinuation at the racial and
cultural inferiority of the Filipinos constrained
Rizal to prepare a new edition of Antonio
Morgas Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas which,
with his copious annotations and criticisms,
debunked the allegations of the Spaniards
that the Filipinos were savages and no culture
before the advent of the conquerors.
Racial
prejudice
may
have
wrought
irreparable damage upon the mentality of the
Filipinos, who began to regard Western
culture as completely superior to their own,
but it also proved to be unifying factor among
the
geographically
separated
and
linguistically divergent groups of Filipinos.
E. Secularization Controversy
The conflict between the Spanish clerics
trying to protect their position as the peoples
religious caretakers and the Filipino priest
agitating for an equitable representation in
parish administration provided the Filipinos
ample proof that the Filipinos were denied
social and political equality not because of
their alleged congenital inferiority and lack of
training, but because they were natives.
Council of Trent (1545-1563)
State that the secular priests be appointed to
administer the new parishes. Owing to the
scarcity of the secular priests, however, Pope
Pius V issued in 1567, upon the request of
King Philip II, the Exponi Nobis, an apostolic
brief that allowed regulars to serve as parish
priests without diocesan authorization and
exempted them from the bishops authority
and jurisdiction.

The appointment of regular priests to the

Philippine parishes brought them into conflict
with the archbishop and the bishops. The
latter maintained that they were responsible
for the proper administration of parishes and
such as they should be given commensurate
power and authority over the friar curate or
curra parroco, as the regular serving as
parish priests was popularly known.
In the 18th century, however, Archbishop
Basilio Santa Justa, determined to assert
diocesan supremacy over the friar curates,
accepted the resignation of the regular
priests and appointed secular priests to the
vacated parishes.
The death of seculars impelled Santa Justa to
ordain Filipino secular seminarians and
appoint them as parish priests. A royal
decree promulgated on November 9, 1774
ordering the secularization of parishes (or the
turnover of the parishes administered by friar
curates to the seculars ) sanctioned Santa
Justa's campaign.
The Spaniards continued to make
parishes the exclusive reserved of
regulars and in the 19th century, in
complete disregard of the injunction of
decree of 1776 , adopted a policy
despoliation or desecularization.

the
the
the
the
of

parishes in Mindanao which the Jesuits held

before their expulsion be returned to them.
The friars engaged the Filipino priests in a
better fight over two of the richest benefices
in the country, the shrine of Antipolo and the
curacy of San Miguel, Bulacan, which had a
long been administered by Filipino secular
priests. The curacy of Antipolo, regarded as
the pearl of Philippine curacies, was a very
rich parish the collection of May alone when
thousands of pilgrims visited the shrine,
provided the parish more then enough
income to support it for the rest of the year.
When the parish priest of Antipolo died in
1862, Father Pedro Pelaez, the ecclesiastical
governor of the archdiocese of Manila,
appointed Francisco Campmas, a Filipino
secular priest to succeed him.
In 1869, the parish of San Rafael, Bulacan,
also became vacant.
The government cancelled the competitive
examination for which 17 Filipino priests had
qualified because the Recollects, invoking the
1861 decree, claimed that the parish should
be given to them. The native clergy protested
in vain. They lost in similar disputes with the
regulars the rich parishes in Bataan,
Zambales and Pampanga.

The influx of many religious priests in the

colony, encouraged by the opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869 and the growing
liberalism and revolutionary sentiments that
had destroyed their power in Spain, was
made to justify such a policy.

Father Pelaez wrote a memorial to the Queen

of Spain protesting the decree of 1861 as
illegal because it violated the provisions of
the Council of Trent and was extremely
prejudicial to the interests of the native
clergy.

A decree enacted in 1825 deprived many

secular priests of parishes, which they had
held for nearly fifty years. Another decree in
1849 gave seven curacies in Cavite, which
were administered by the secular clergy, to
the friars.

He launched a spirited campaign for the

secularization of the Philippine parishes, and
edited, with several others, El Eco Filipino, a
newspaper that worked for justice and equal
representation for Filipino priests.

The return of the Jesuits in1859 was also

made to justify the policy of despoliation at
the expense of well-qualified Filipino secular
priests. The authorities ordered that the

The archbishop of Manila, Gregorio Meliton

Martinez, and the prelates of Cebu and Nueva
Caceres, on the other hand, supported the
beleaguered native clergy.

Archbishop Martinez, in particular, sent a

memorial to the Queen Regent in December,
1871 in which he advocated the repeal of the
decree of 1861 and the establishment of a
definite program of training seminarians for
Philippine parishes.

De la Torre antagonized the friars, particularly

so when he implemented the educational
decrees of 1870 which provided for the
limited secularization of education and
government-controlled University of the
Philippines.

Secularization had been going on since the

time of Anda, encouraging many Filipinos to
join the priesthood in increasing numbers.
Many native priests had proved their
capabilities by passing rigid competitive
examinations for parishes and at the turn of
the 19th century, many qualified Filipino
priests were running parishes in Pampanga,
the Tagalog provinces and the archdiocese of
Manila.

The Moret Decree provided for the fusion of

certain sectarian schools run by the Jesuits
and Dominicans, among them the Ateneo de
Manila, the colleges of San Juan de Letran
and San Jose into one school called the
Philippine Institute. The decrees proposed to
improved the standard of education in the
Philippines
by requiring
the
teaching
positions in such schools to be filled by
competitive examinations.

Father Pedro Pelaez, a Spanish mestizo,

became Vicario captitular of the Manila
Cathedral and for three years was virtually
archbishop of Manila, wielding ecclesiastical
prerogatives until the arrival of Archbishop
Meliton Martinez.

The Natives become Filipinos

The friars occupied 817 parishes out of the

967 in the entire colony.

July 7,1892 - Andres Bonifacio formed a

secret society to liberate the Philippines from
Spanish
rule.
Along
with
Valentin
Diaz,Teodoro
Plata,Ladislaw
Diwa
and
Deodato Arellano and a few others to form
the
Kataastaasan,Kagalang-galangang
Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Most
Exalted and Most Respected Society of the
Sons of the People) .

LATE 19th Century

Emilio Jacinto - Bonifacios trusted adviser

The religious ceased to be one of the

secularization
and
became
one
of
Filipinization.

- commonly referred to as the Brain of the

Katipunan

F. Liberal Regime of Carlos Ma de la Torre

(1869-1871

- took charge of the recruitment of members

and assisted Bonifacio in the organization of
the secret society .

1898

Carlos Ma. De la Torre arrived in 1869 to

become the most liberal and most loved
governor-general of the Philippines.
He dismissed his bodyguards and walked
about the city in mufti, mingling with the
natives and mestizos. He entertained the
Filipinos in receptions in his official residence
and in one such party he said to have
encouraged the agitation of the native clergy,
led by Father Burgos, Gomez and Zamora for
the secularization of the parishes.

Three governing bodies :

a. Kataastaasang
Supreme Court

Sanggunian

or

the

b. Sangguniang Bayan or Provincial Court

c. Sangguniang Balangay or Popular Court
The Discovery of the Katipunan
The nightly meetings of a great number of
Filipinos from various secret places in the

suburbs of Manila aroused the suspicionof the

Spanish authorities particularly the friars.
Father Mariano Gil the Augustinian parish
priest of Tondo.

*Andres
Bonifacio,
the
contemporary
Supremo (supreme leader) of the Katipunan
presided over the election. He secured the
unanimous approval that the decision would
not be questioned.

August 19,1896 - marked the discovery of the

Katipunan and the beginning of an open
struggle for liberation .

*Aguinaldo, who was busy at a military front

in Imus, won the election. Bonifacio's position
fell to Director of the Interior.

Teodoro Patio - the loose-tongued member

of the Katipunan .

Bonifacio,who was not formally educated,

accepted the decision but not before insisting
on a recount of the votes. However, Daniel
Tirona, a native of Cavite, objected that the
post should not be occupied by a person
without a lawyer's diploma.

- revealed everything he knew about the

secret society to Father Mariano Gil.

The discovery of the Katipunan has

brought tension and terror to the
archipelago as the Spanish civil
authorities
arrested,
imprisoned,
deported and executed suspected
Katipuneros.

The Cry of Pugad Lawin

The Cry of Pugad Lawin , alternately and
originally referred to as the Cry of Balintawak
(Filipino: Sigaw ng Balintawak, Spanish: Grito
de Balintawak) symbol of defiance of the
Spanish rule and separation
from Spain,
Bonifacio ordered his men to tear their
cedulas .
Emilio Aguinaldo the young mayor of the
town of Kawit ,led the attack on the Spanish
headquarters and succeeded in routing the
defenders, who were taken by complete
surprise.
-born on March 22,1869 in Kawit,Cavite.
The Katipuneros in Cavite were divided into
two factions :
the Magdalo faction - led by Baldomero
Aguinaldo, the cousin of Emilio .
the Magdiwang faction led by Mariano
Alvarez , the uncle of Gregoria de Jesus .
Tejeros Convention
-

it was a meeting held between the

Magdiwang and Magdalo factions .

He suggested a Caviteo lawyer, Jose del

Rosario, for the position . Bonifacio, clearly
insulted, demanded that Tirona retract the
remark.
In an attempt to unify the revolutionary
forces, Aguinaldo attempted to persuade
Bonifacio to cooperate with the newly
constituted government that he led .
Unfortunately,
Bonifacio
refused
and
proceeded to Limbon,Indang with the
intention of returning back to Manila to run
his government .
Upon the suggestion of his advisers,
Aguinaldo ordered the arrest of Bonifacio.
May 4, 1897 - Andres and Procopio were
found guilty of treason and sedition .
May 8,1987 - Emilio Aguinaldo commuted the
death sentence to banishment . Out of fear
that Bonifacio was a threat to the unity of the
revolutionary forces , Generals Mariano Noriel
and Pio del Pilar rushed to Aguinaldo.
May 10,1897 the two brothers were brought
out from jail and shot at Mount Buntis,a small
mountain near Maragondon .
The Campaign for Reform
The unjust execution of the three Filipino
priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and
Jacinto Zamora was a turning point in the

Philippine history, for it ushered in a new erathe reform movement.

Realizing the danger for their cause on the
home front, the sons of the wealthy and wellto-do Filipino families migrated to Europe to
breathe the free atmosphere of the Old
World.
These they initiated a sustained campaign for
reforms for the administration of the
Philippines.
The unjust execution of the three Filipino
priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and
Jacinto Zamora was a turning point in the
Philippine history, for it ushered in a new erathe reform movement.
Realizing the danger for their cause on the
home front, the sons of the wealthy and wellto-do Filipino families migrated to Europe to
breathe the free atmosphere of the Old
World.
These they initiated a sustained campaign for
reforms for the administration of the
Philippines.
The role of the Middle Class
The rise of the Filipino middle class,
composed of Spanish and Chinese mestizos,
rose to a position of power in the Filipino
community and eventually became leaders in
finance and education.
The Spanish authorities looked down upon
them, for they did not belong to the inner
circle of peninsulares- Spaniards born to
Spain- whose prerogative it was to rule and
govern. This attitude was not surprising, for
Spanish society in the Philippines was a sort
of caste of consisting of two well-defined
classes: the peninsulares or Spaniards born in
Spain and insulares or Spaniards born in the
Philippine.
The natives, on the other hand, were
invariably Indios. It was not until Governor
General Basilio Agustin called for the loyalty
and aid of the Indios in 1898 that the latter

were called Filipinos. Before 1898, then, the

Filipinos were called indios and the insulares
Filipinos.
The chance of the middle class to show their
political color came when General Carlos
Maria de la Torre became governor in 1869.
Identified with the revolutionary forces in
Spain, de la Torre showed his democratic
tendencies when he dismissed the palace
halberdiers, live simply within his means,
walked the streets in mufti, and abolished
flogging as punishments.
The natives, on the other hand, were
invariably Indios. It was not until Governor
General Basilio Agustin called for the loyalty
and aid of the Indios in 1898 that the latter
were called Filipinos. Before 1898, then, the
Filipinos were called indios and the insulares
Filipinos.
The chance of the middle class to show their
political color came when General Carlos
Maria de la Torre became governor in 1869.
Identified with the revolutionary forces in
Spain, de la Torre showed his democratic
tendencies when he dismissed the palace
halberdiers, live simply within his means,
walked the streets in mufti, and abolished
flogging as punishments.
From then on, the middle class led the reform
movement, which was temporarily silenced
during the decade from 1872 to 1882, when
the Filipino intelligentsia, a segment of the
middle class, took over the leadership from
the wealthy segment.
The Nature of the Reform Movement
The dissatisfaction of the Filipino men of
wealth and intellect was centered around the
abuses of the Spanish authorities, civil as
well as clerical.
From then on, the middle class led the reform
movement, which was temporarily silenced
during the decade from 1872 to 1882, when
the Filipino intelligentsia, a segment of the

middle class, took over the leadership from

the wealthy segment.
The Nature of the Reform Movement

expression in the works of Lopez Jaena, Rizal,

Del Pilar, Eduardo de Lete, Pedro Govantes
and others, who left the Philippines in search
of freedom elsewhere.

The dissatisfaction of the Filipino men of

wealth and intellect was centered around the
abuses of the Spanish authorities, civil as
well as clerical.

With the arrival of Marcelo H. del Pilar in

Barcelona on New Years Day, 1889, the
founding of the Filipino organ gained
acceptance from all Filipinos in Spain.

The assimilation of the Philippines to Spain,

that is to say, the transformation of the
Philippines to a province of Spain and making
the Filipino fellows- Spaniards, was to be
accomplished in a peaceful manner.

On February 15,1889, the first number of La

Solidaridad came out in Barcelona. The paper
was a fortnightly dedicated to the expositions
of the conditions in the Philippines, the
defense of the Filipinos against the malicious
and slanderous attacks of the hired writers of
the friars, and the publication of studies
about the Philippines and the Filipinos.

The rich and intellectuals then, were

reformers, not revolutionist, for they believed
in the power of words, and not of the sword,
to achieve their purpose.
La Salidaridad
The last two decades of the 19 th century were
characterized by political activities never
before witnessed among the Filipinos. It was
an era of growing social and political
consciousness and discontent which found
expression in the works of Lopez Jaena, Rizal,
Del Pilar, Eduardo de Lete, Pedro Govantes
and others, who left the Philippines in search
of freedom elsewhere.
La Salidaridad
The last two decades of the 19 th century were
characterized by political activities never
before witnessed among the Filipinos. It was
an era of growing social and political
consciousness and discontent which found
expression in the works of Lopez Jaena, Rizal,
Del Pilar, Eduardo de Lete, Pedro Govantes
and others, who left the Philippines in search
of freedom elsewhere.
La Salidaridad
The last two decades of the 19 th century were
characterized by political activities never
before witnessed among the Filipinos. It was
an era of growing social and political
consciousness and discontent which found

The first editor of the Soli was Lopez Jaena,

but he turned over the management to del
Pilar in December 1889. the news of the birth
of the Soli reached the Philippines within two
months and soon the nationalists began
sending their contributions to Spain.
In the writing of the Soli, the Filipino
reformists used pen names for obvious
reasons. Rizal used Dimas Alang and Laong
Laan; Mariano Ponce hid under the pen
names Tikbalang; Naning and Kalipulako;
Antonio Luna used Taga-Ilog; Marcelo H. del
Pilar hid under the pen name Plaridel; and
Jose Ma. Panganiban wrote as Jomapa.
The Soli may not have succeeded in
influencing the peninsular Government to
grant the reforms demanded by the Filipinos,
for it was not disposed, in the first place to
humor them, but in its more than six years of
existence the Sol represented the ideals of
the Filipino reformist group.
At the same time, it also succeeded in
exposing the evils in Philippine society and in
belying the claims put forth by such antiFilipino writers as Wenceslao E. Retena,
Vicente Barrantes, and Pablo Feced that the
Filipinos had no civilization before the coming
of the Spaniards. Thus , when Barrantes
claimed that the Filipinos had no theater,

Rizal, writing in the Sol, ridiculed him and

exposed not only his prejudice, but also is
profound
ignorance.
The
Soli,
then
represented in the age the spirit of the
Filipinos. Having played its role creditably,
the newspaper bowed out of existence in
Madrid with its last number dated November
15, 1895.
The Hispano-Filipino Association
At first the reformist worked individually, but
later on, realizing the advantages of pooling
their resources and efforts in the campaign to
have their own voices heard by the
Peninsular
Government, they banded
together to form a society. The society,
conceived as early as July 1888, was
inaugurated on January 12, 1889 in Madrid.
Since it was composed of Filipinos and
Spaniards who favored the granting of
reforms in the colony the society was called
Hispano-Filipino
Association.
Prominent
among the Spanish members of the society
were Miguel Morayta, professor of history at
the University Central of Madrid. And Felipe
de La Corte, author of the several works on
the Philippines.
Morayta was elected President of the society.
To make the propaganda work effective, the
society was divided into three sections: the
political section under Marcelo H. del Pilar;
the literary section under Mariano Ponce; and
the sports section under Tomas Arejola. The
Central Directorate of the association
outlined the reforms needed in the
Philippines, among the most important which
were (1) the compulsory teaching of Spanish
in all schools (2) the suppression of inhuman
punishments in all jails and tribunals of
justice; (3) the establishment of the civil
register and the register of deeds; (4) the
abolition of the diezmos prediales and the
sanctrum;
(5) the establishments of secondary schools
in two or three provinces of the archipelago;
(6) reforms in the University of Santo Tomas
in order to raise it to the rank of the
universities in Spain; (7) the establishments

of agricultural banks (8) the initiation of

reforms in the public administration; and (9)
construction of good roads and railways.
The concerted campaigns of the HispanoFilipino Association resulted in the passage of
laws in the Cortes which would have been of
benefit to the Filipinos had they been carried
out.
It was this society, which urged no less than
52 Spanish towns to petition the Cortes to
favor parliamentary representation of the
Philippines. The petition was presented to the
Cortes by Representative Emilio Junoy on
February 21, 1895, but nothing came out of
it.
The society also secured the passage of the
Maura Law in 1893; the law for the
compulsory teaching of Spanish; and the laws
proving for the initiation of reforms in the
judiciary.
La Liga Filipina
Almost simultaneously with the introduction
of Masonry in the Philippines, a civic society
called La Propaganda was established.
Its members, composed mostly, if not
exclusively, of the middle class, contributed
money to defray the expenses of the Filipino
reformers in Spain who were waging a
campaign to obtain political concessions from
the Mother Country.
(4)Capital shall be loaned to the members
who shall need it for an industry or
agriculture;
(5)The
introduction
of
machines
and
industries, new or necessary in the country,
shall be favored; and
(6)Shop, stores, and establishments shall be
opened, where the members may be
accommodated more economically than
elsewhere.
Innocent as the society was the Spanish
authorities considered it dangerous and on

the night of July 6, 1892, Rizal was secretly

arrested.
The Liga languished for a while, but some
members continued to support it. The aims
remained the same. But it was agreed that all
should contribute toward the support of La
Solidaridad in Spain.
The Liga was first active, but later on its
members tired of paying their dues, alleging
that the Spanish government did not heed
the La Solidaridad, which they were
financing. The middle class members of the
society believed that something could be
done by La Solidaridad in its campaigns for
reforms. The poor members led by Andres
Bonifacio thought that there was no hope of
reforms.
The Failure of the Reform Movement
The intensive campaign of La Solidaridad for
reforms did not yield any tangible result in
the form of changes in the administration of
the Philippines.
Then, too, the friars were too powerful even
in Spain to be sidetracked by the Spanish
authorities,
so
that,
whatever
good
impressions the Sol had created in the minds
of the Spain were counteracted by the
influential and powerful newspaper of the
friars, La Politica de Espena en Filipinas.
In the second place, the society established
in the Philippines whose purpose was to
campaign for reforms did not have sufficient
means with which to carry out their aims.
Some of the members of these societies
realized the futility of the peaceful
propaganda, considering that in its more than
six years of existence the Sol had not
succeeded in convincing the government of
Spain to grant the needed reforms in the
administration of the colony.
In the third place, the propagandists were
divided
against
themselves
by
petty
jealousies. The result was the weakening of
the ties that bound them together. Most of

the members of the middle class were

conservatives and lacked the courage and
vigorous hope necessary to continue an
unequal struggle. Hence, the failure of the
peaceful campaign for reforms.
The Founding of the Katipunan
The abject failure of the Filipino reformist,
most of whom were expatriates, to bring
about the desired changes in the social,
political, and economic patterns in the
Philippines led a segment of the people to
believed that the peaceful propaganda was
useless.
Marcelo H. del Pilar, Jose Rizal, the Luna
brothers, Jose Panganiban, Mariano Ponce
and others utilized their organ La Solidaridad
to focus the so called Philippine problem to
the attention of the authorities in the
Peninsula.
But the Spanish friars used their power and
money to offset the propaganda activities of
the Filipino expatriates by paying the likes of
Deseganos (Wencelo Emilio Retena) and
Quicquiap (Pablo Feced) to carry on a
campaign of vilification against the Filipinos
and their leaders.
The status quo had to be preserve at all
costs, and the friars did not count the costs
to preserved it against the inroads of what
was then termed as Protestant ideas.
Rizal, tired and disillusioned,
decided to
return to the Philippines and offered himself
as sacrificial lamb to the authorities to stop
the persecution of the innocent members of
his family and his friends.
He founded the idealistic but innocuous La
Liga Filipina in 1892 with purely civic alms.
But the Spanish authorities, goaded by the
friars, saw in, the Liga the germ of a
subversive movement.
On July 6, 1892, Ramon Despujol, GovernorGeneral Eulogio; Despujols nephew, politely
asserted Rizal to Fort Santiago.

The following day, the Governor-General

issued a decree deporting Rizal to one of
the islands in the south and prohibiting
the introduction and circulation in the
Archipelago of all the works of said author,
whether they be proclamations or flying
sheets which directly or indirectly assail the
Catholic religion or the national unity.
In the flickering light of a table lamp, the men
performed the ancient blood compact and
signed their membership papers with their
own blood.
Six important points were approved:
(1) the establishment of a secrete society to
be known as Kataastaasang Kagalanggalangan na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng
Bayan (Highest and Most Respectable
Society of the Sons of the People);
(2) recruiting members through the method
known as the triangle;
(3) the payment of an entrance fee of one
real fuerto (approximately twenty-five
centavos), and monthly due of a medio
real;
(4) the establishment of a balangay or a
chapter in each district of the city;
(5) the prosecution of the societys aim by
concerted effort and;
(6) agreement by those present to all
reforms based on the societys aims.
The three-cardinal objectives were laid down
by Bonifacio to be pursued by all members of
the society:
(1) Political: to seek separation from Spain
if the latter continued to resist the clamor for
the expulsion of the friars;
(2) Civic: to help and defend the poor and
the oppressed and;
(3) Moral: to teach good manners, hygiene,
and democratic morality: and to fight
religious fanaticism, weakness of character,

and the policy of character , and the policy of

obscurantism.
The
Katipunan
was
thus
a
plebian
organization, for its charter members
belonged to the lowest stratum of society.
Throughout its history, the Katipunan had
been dominated and moved by the masses
and their leadres.
Realizing the danger of discovery, Bonifacio
and his men recruited members through the
circuitous method known as triangle. So
clumsy was this method that in October 1892
the Katipunan decided to junk it and to allow
the members to take into the brotherhood as
many persons as they could get.
When the membership of the Katipunan
reached 100 or more the first Supreme
Council was established with Deodato
Arellano as president, Andres Bonifacio as
inventor, Ladislao Diwa as Fiscal, Teodoro
Plata as secretary, and Valentin Diaz as
treasurer.
In February 1893, Bonifacio deposed Arellano
and installed Roman Basa as president.
Bonifacio, then from the inception of the
Katipunan to March 1897, was the guiding
spirit of the Katipunan, through Rizal, without
his knowledge, was its rallying cry.
Unashamed apologists of the friars believe
that Rizal was the guiding spirit of the
Katipunan, thereby making Rizal guilty of
having been directly responsible for the
outbreak of the Revolution and therefore,
meriting death.
This indeed, is a subtle way of vilifying Rizal
even beyond his grave.
Liken Masonry, from which the Katipunan
borrowed its ceremonial rites, the Society
divided its member into grades.
(1) Katipon (member) : wore a black
hood in all meetings. The hood had a
triangle of white ribbons, inside of
which were the letters Z, Ll, B., the
Katipunan characters corresponding to

the Roman A ng B, meaning Anak ng

Bayan (Son of the People) the
password of the Katipon.
(2) Kawal (soldier) : wore a green hood
with a triangle composed of white
lines. At the three angles were the
letters Z, Ll, B. that is Z in one angle, Ll
in another, and B in the third.
Suspended from the neck of a Kawal was a
green ribbon
with a medal at the
end, the letter K in the ancient Tagalog
syllabary appearing in the middle of the
medal. The password was Gom-Bur-Za, taken
from the names of the martyred priest
Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora.
(3) (3) Bayani (patriot) : wore a red
mask and sash with green borders,
symbolizing courage and hope. The
front mask had white borders that
formed a triangle with the three Ks
arranged as if occupying the angels of
a triangle within the first triangle. At
the letters base the letter Z, Ll. B.,
were placed in a horizontal row, thus.
The Kawal became a Bayani upon becoming
an officer of the Katipunan. It is known when
this method of dividing the members into the
three grades came to end, but in January
1896 the system was no longer in vogue.
The neophyte is then seated near a small
dimly lighted table on which are a revolver, a
bolo, a skull and a formulary containing three
question that he must answer satisfactory.
The question were: First, What was the
condition of the Philippines in early times?
Second, What is the condition today? Third,
What will be the condition in the future?
Coached previously by his sponsor, the
neophyte answers that the Filipinos before
the coming of the Spaniards had their own
civilization and political liberty, their own
religion and alphabet, and had commercial
and diplomatic intercourse with the nations of
Asia. In a word, the Filipinos were happy and
independent.

As to the second question, the answers was

that the so-called friar missionaries had done
nothing more than teach the forms of
Catholicism in its shallow trappings. Blinding
the
Filipinos
with
the
apparatus
of
magnificent religious festivals, which cost
them so much and benefit only the friars.
The third answer is that with faith, courage
and constancy, all the brutalities and
iniquities of the Spanish authorities will be
remedied in time and freedom will be
redeemed.
The dangers that faced the Katipuneros led
the leaders to evolved a system of writing
that would lessen, if not totally remove the
risk of discovery by the authorities.
When the Katipunan was discovered and its
alphabetical key decoded. Bonofacio, in a
signed statement dated at Balintawak on
August 21, 1896, ordered that, From now on
all papers shall not be written in cipher
(alphabetical) but in numbers.
This key was again changed after the
tumultuous Tajeros Convention of March 22,
1897 when the rivalry between the two
factions of the Katipunan in Cavite reached
serious proportions.
At the top of the organization was the
Supreme Council composed of a president, a
secretary, a fiscal, a treasurer, and six
members of councilors. In every province a
popular council (sangguniang bayan) was
established, while in every town a section
(sarigguniang balangay) was organized. Both
had the same set of officers as the Supreme
Council.
In every province, moreover, there was a sort
of provincial court, called sangguniang
hukuman, upon which the popular councils
and sections depended and had, as its names
connotes, the attributes of a judiciary that
passed judgment on questions arising
between the members.

With a sort of government machinery

compete, the Katipunan turned its attention
to the symbol of its authority. A flag was
made by Benita Rodriguez, with the help of
Gregoria de Jesus. The flag consisted of a red
rectangular piece of cloth with three white
Ks arranged horizontally at the center. The
first was, however, the one sanctioned as the
official banner of the Katipunan.
General Mariano Llanera of Nueva Ecija used
a black banner with a skull above two-cross
bones and letter-X, all in white. Bonifacio
humorously called this banner Llaneras
skull. Bonifacio himself had his own flag
distinguished from the rest by having a white
sun with an indefinite number of rays in red
field. Below the sun were the three Ks, also
arranged horizontally.

But from the middle of March to outbreak of

the Revolution, the membership soared to
about 30,000. the Kalayaan had done its
best, and the people were now prepared for
the supreme sacrifice.
A Republic Is Born
The Tejeros Convention
On March 22 at the state house of Tejeros, a
convention was held which was presided by
Bonifacio. The members present agreed to
form a new government.
Officials of this government were to be
elected by those present in the convention. It
was also agreed that unanimously that
whoever would be elected would be
respected by all.

When the revolution flared, the Magdalo

rebels of Cavite made their own flag. It was a
rectangular banner, with a white K in the
ancient script in the center of a sun,
represented by a white circle, with an
indefinite number of white rays.

The result of this election was:

Later on, the rays were limited to eight to

represent the first eight provinces that took
up arms against the Spaniards. In the Naik
Assembly of March 17, 1897, the military
leaders again decided the change the design
of the revolutionary flag. It was agreed to
adopt the Magdalo banner with the addition
of a sun with eyes, nose, mouth and
eyebrows. This flag became the first official
flag of the Filipinos.

Director of War- Emiliano Riego de Dios

About the end of March 1896, when copies of

the Kalayaan had been distributed far and
wide, hundreds of people nightly joined the
Katipunan in the municipalities of San Juan
del Monte, San Felipe Neri, Pasig, Pateros,
Marikina,
Kalookan,
Malabon and other
towns.
The people became conscious of the rights
and their duty to their country. The arm of the
Katipunan was extended to the provinces of
Batangas, Cavite, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija,
Pampanga and Laguna.

President- Emilio Aguinaldo

Vice president- Mariano Trias
Captain-general- Artemio Ricarte

Director of
Boniface

the

interior

Andres

The biyak-na-bato republic

The filipinos were tired of spanish
promises. For more than three hundred
years,
they
heard
nothing
but
promises. They now wanted to live a
new life.
Before july or early in july, aguinaldo
established a republican government
at biyak-na-bato. The constitution on
its preamble, declared the aim of the
Revolution as the separation of the
philippines from spain. Provided that
Tagalog shall be the official language
of the republic.
November 02, 1897, the rebels elected
their officials:

 Emilio Aguinaldo, president

Mariano Trias , vice president
Antonio Montenegro,
foreign affairs
Isabelo artancho,
interior

secretary

secretary

of

of

the

Emilio riego de dios, secretary of war

Baldomero Aguinaldo, secretary of the
treasury
The truce of biyak-na-bato
Pedro A. Paterno
>a filipino of chinese blood, offered himself
as mediator. He was negotiating with the two
camps on how to end the bloody struggle.
Resulting the truce of the biyak-na-bato
had three documents signed
on november 18, 1897, provided for
the surrender of the rebels weapons,
particularly rifles, and the grants of
amnesty to those who would lay down
their arms.
The second document, known as the
programme, signed on December 24,
provided
for
the
schedule
of
Aguinaldo's departure for hongkong.
The third document, signed on
December 15, provided for the
payment to Aguinaldo of the sum
400,00
upon
his
departure
for
hongkong, another 400,000 to be paid
by government only on the condition
of the agreement being fulfilled on the
other part, and 900,0000 to be paid
to those Filipinos , not engaged in
warfare against the Spaniards, who
suffered the evils of war.
Failure of the truce
The month of january 1898 was a
happy one for the spaniards. Peace

having been established, they enjoyed

themselves by attending horse and
boat races, and by going to the
theaters.
Meanwhile, the filipino military officers
left at biyak-na-bato to attend to the
surrender of firearms.
The Spanish American War 1898
The SpanishAmerican War was a conflict
in 1898 between Spain and theUnited States,
effectively the result of American intervention
in the ongoingCuban War of Independence.
Philippine declaration of independence
The Philippine
Declaration
of
independence was proclaimed on
June 12, 1898 in Cavite II el Viejo
(present-day Kawit,
Cavite), Philippines. With the public
reading of theAct of the Declaration of
independence (Spanish: Acta de la
proclamacin de independencia del
pueblo Filipino), Filipino revolutionary
forces
under
General Emilio
Aguinaldo proclaimed the sovereignty
and independence of the Philippine
Islands from the colonial rule of Spain.
Treaty of Paris
Negotiated on terms favorable to the
U.S.,
which
allowed
temporary
American control of Cuba and,
following their purchase from Spain,
indefinite
colonial
authority
over Puerto
Rico, Guam,
and
the Philippines.