Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Sta. Mesa, Manila
A.Y. 2020-2021
READINGS IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY
GEED10033
Unit 4-B: Social, Political, Economic
and Cultural Issues
Submitted by:
Sect. Code: 1BSMAGEED10033
Submitted to:
Date: March 07, 2020
The Philippines is a highly diverse in a geographical aspect. This posed a
difficulty for the Spanish to spread Christianity among those that reside in locations
restricted by bodies of water and land. Consequently, bridges and roads became the
focus of the Spanish given the reason of religious congregations. It gave the friars more
power to abuse and the Filipinos to be maltreated.
These Filipinos, or polistas as they were used to be addressed, were slaves to
the duty of quarrying huge stones from the mountains that they then shaped and
manually transported. The natural resources we had were used for malicious intent and
our ancestor were highly wronged to be worked like that. It does not justify their actions
towards the people; if it were to happen now, numerous laws are to be violated and may
cause more wars. However, back then, Leyes de las Indias (The Laws of the Indies)
were one of the laws the country were practicing that states the communities should be
established permanently, must be safe from being raided, and must also be accessible
by land or sea which gave the act of building the bridges and roads a good excuse.
Furthermore, the bridges and roads supervised by military, civil authorities, and,
ultimately, friars, took the credit for these bridges being built even though the unsung
Filipino workers slaved.
These infrastructures resulted in accessibility and progress due to the increased
economic activity, but the boundaries of each local government unit became defined
from one another and divided them. What used to be a dominantly Muslims
transgressed further to Christianity. The Moro people resisted from the military
harassment and in turn, developed suspicion and intrinsic hatred towards the colonizers
as well as towards the Filipinos who became subjects to the Spanish. Such mentality
still existed in the modern times with the Muslims painted negatively while they were
only preserving their ancient liberties and culture.
When the Americans colonizers entered the picture, the Moros respected them
enough to settle in a civil way by petitioning their independence when they were to
conquer Muslim Mindanao which was not granted. They became, and are still, part of
the Republic of the Philippines that created a commission to cater the demands and
desires of the cultural minorities such as themselves. It still caused discontentment for
causes such as land problems, disparity in education, lack of livelihood opportunities,
and issues on health and transportation. The distrust is still jarring between the Muslims
and Christians because, although they have little to no formal education, Muslims
identify themselves with higher regards than Filipinos and Christians accused the
Muslims on being unmindful in the development of the country.
The development of the country under the Spanish in the 19 th century focused
more on social matters such as public health and education system. Several colegios
and universidades were built but they were mostly for the children of the Spanish,
mestizos, and affluent Filipinos. Specifically, two public elementary schools were
established in each town that segregates the students by their gender because the boys
are to learn reading and writing in Spanish, arithmetic, and catechism while the girls
focus on home nursing, embroidery, Spanish language and literature, and catechism.
This only shows one of the beginnings of gender discrimination and inequality even
though during the pre-colonial period, women hold themselves equal if not superior to
men in tribes. They are taught through pieces of advice, observation, and imitation from
day-to-day life. The education from then were unsystemic and undeliberate nonetheless
they had achieved and possessed high degree of cultural practices as well as have a
writing system like Baybayin among the other writing systems. At the time of the
Americans, they used the idea of education to entice the Filipinos when they expanded
the curriculum and made it a right. Next, the Japanese served their interest of putting
the Filipinos under their idealism of Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere or Asians
for Asians. They abolished foreign culture and traditions which is why the use of
Tagalog in correspondence and literature proliferated.
The identity of the Filipinos has been entangled with the colonizers to the extent
of inability to trace some of the ancestry of most Filipinos. One of its causes was the
Spanish prompting to adopt surnames for public order. Claveria Decree of 1849
ultimately resulted in a nationwide registration of names that allowed them to enforce
obedience like running after the people who have evaded tax. It fixed the issues of
ascertaining inheritance and legitimacy, and unexpected incestuous affairs between
unknown relatives. The impact of colonization engraved themselves in our system of life
even on our names which is sad.
