THE PROTESTA DE CALAMBA

Introduction

The agrarian dispute at the Hacienda de Calamba was one of the most prominent sources of Filipino
resentment in Spanish colonial rule. Among those affected in the conflict was Rizal's family. Paciano
Rizal's endeavors resulted in Rizal's family to obtain the vast land of Pansol. The colonial government
believed the Calamba estate might not be paying all of its taxes, so the Public Treasury Department
decided to check on its returns by asking how much they were paying to the estate's administrators. This
was done while Rizal was staying in Calamba. Governor General Emilio Terrero ordered an investigation
of the friar landholdings. By contributing to the creation of an instructive report on the agrarian
situation in Calamba, Rizal was involved in this investigation. According to the tenants, they were losing
money, which favored the Dominican administration. Rizal claimed that the Dominicans increased their
wealth by arbitrarily raising the rent of the tenants. According to them, the hacienda raised rent every
year, and if the rentals could not be paid, the management of the hacienda would seize the carabaos,
tools, and homes of the tenants. It was claimed that the Dominicans who owned the hacienda did not
contribute even one centavo to the town fiesta. The tenants who helped clear the land were evicted
from those lands. There were high rates of interest charged for late rent payments, and the hacienda's
management threatened to seize the tenants' homes, carabaos, and tools if the rent was not paid.
Following the tenants' report, a petition to the government questioned the legitimacy of the
Dominicans' landholdings, or at least certain portions of them. When Rizal returned to Calamba in
August 1887 after studying abroad, he was by then the celebrated or should we say notorious author of
“Noli Me Tangere.” What we are not told is that on Dec. 30, 1887 (significant because this date is nine
years to the day he would be shot), the government wanted to check on taxes by asking the Calamba
tenants about rental paid to the Dominican hacienda. In January 1888 they replied with a petition
drafted by Rizal and signed by the principales of the town challenging the legitimacy of the land titles
supposedly held by the Dominicans. By February 1888, the Calamba tenants had refused to pay rent. A
year later, after trying in vain to collect rentals due, the Dominicans brought the case to the Justice of
the Peace in Calamba and lost, allegedly because the justice was in the pocket of Paciano Rizal who
allegedly dictated the decision favorable to the tenants. To cut the long story short, the Dominicans won
the case in a higher court in Manila as well as the Supreme Court in Madrid. Rizal’s heroism is rooted not
just in his subversive novels but also in an agrarian dispute that resonates in our times. The agrarian
dispute that occurred between 1887 and 1891 at the Hacienda de San Juan Bautista in theprovince of
Laguna was the loudest expression of peasant discontent in this far Spanish colony.
 Background Information

The author’s rationale for the law was to instill in the minds of the youth a sense patriotism
and nationalism in the 1950s when American neocolonialism in the country was strong and Soviet
socialism and aggression had to be opposed somehow. However, the Church was not on the same page.
Jose Rizal was the author of novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo that gave the Church a bad
name in the country. He caricatured its priests, the Spanish provincial ones specifically, as being arrogant
greedy, manipulative, and lustful. It should be no surprise that the Church did not want its reputation to
be tainted if not destroyed by the mass education of the Filipino youth on its oppressive and decadent
past. In the Philippines, students are required to take up a course on the life and works of the country’s
national hero Jose Rizal. This was mandated by Republic Act. 1425 which was authored by former
senator Claro M. Recto and supported by the freemasons, surviving veterans of the 1896 Revolution,
Alagad ni Rizal (Followers of Rizal) and the Book Lovers (a book club). However, the law had its
opposition from the Roman Catholic Church, established in the Philippine archipelago since the arrival of
the Spanish conquistadores over four hundred years ago, and its affiliates such as the Knights of
Columbus, Catholic Action of the Philippines, Catholic Teachers Guild and the Congregation of Missions.

Calamba is a city in Laguna, Philippines, a major economic, transportation, and tourist hub in
the Calabarzon region. It is the birthplace and ancestral location of the Philippines' National Hero, Jose
Rizal, and one barangay, Pansol, is home to various hot spring resorts near Mount Makiling. According to
a legend, the word “Calamba” was taken from the phrase “kalan-banga”. Kalan-banga was an earthen
jar being carried by a young woman whom a Guardia Civil stopped to ask for the name of the place.
Mistakenly thinking that she was being asked what she was carrying, she answered “kalan-banga”. The
dispute originated from a directive of Governor General Emilio Terrero y Perinat ordering for the
investigation of estates owned by Dominican friars as an effort to resolve agrarian issues and problems
in collection of land taxes and tenancy upon the request of José Rizal. Haciendas were developed as
profit-making enterprises linked to regional or international markets. Estates were integrated into a
market-based economy aimed at the Hispanic sector and cultivated crops such as sugar, wheat, fruits
and vegetables and produced animal products such as meat, wool, leather, and tallow.

The government was perplexed as to why the revenue paid by the Dominicans had remained
constant despite the expanding size of agriculture lands, so on December 30, 1887, they formally asked
the Calamba town council to assess whether there had been any expansion in the products and size of
the Dominican estate over the previous three years. Jose Rizal presented a petition in January 1888 in
response to the colonial government's request for a report on the income and productivity of the lands.
He gave the Administrator and the Gobernadorcillo of Calamba their statement. In the petition, the
complaints of the tenants were listed. According to the tenants, they were losing money, which favored
the Dominican administration. Rizal claimed that the Dominicans increased their wealth by arbitrarily
raising the rent of the tenants. According to them, the hacienda raised rent every year, and if the rentals
could not be paid, the management of the hacienda would seize the carabaos, tools, and homes of the
tenants. It was claimed that the Dominicans who owned the hacienda did not contribute even one
centavo to the town fiesta.

Proposed Solution

Hacienda de Calamba inhabitants were putting in long hours.They were even putting in more hours
because the Dominican Priests' territory had grown. It's also easy to claim that their property and rights
are being challenæd and violated. All of these factors together contributed to the hacienda's insecurity.
In addition. the appeared to have a stronghold on the hacienda's social climate.

It is to that life in Hacienda de Calamba was extremely corrupt at the time Rital composed the letter.
Regardless of their continued labor, the inhabitants were denied fair remuneration. Furthermore, Rizal
discovered that the corruption had a significant impact on the renters' quality of life, The fact that the
friars used force indicates that physical injury had an impact on their livelihood.

The tenants Me tired Of living in terror Of the priests, as evidenced by the numerous ways in which they
petitioned their control Of the hacienda. This simply demonstrates the actual social structure that
existed throughout the Spanish colonization period. The Spanish priest is shown as the ruling elite, While
the Filipino pecole and masses are portrayed as the marginalized.

Multiple people were involved in Jose Rizal's appeal on the land and agrarian reform case of Hacienda
De Calamba. The petition, which had about seventy signatories, was highly divisive at the time it was
created. The petition concerns the friars' alleged attempt at tax evasion, and the issue has had a major
impact on Rizal.

The Gobernadorcillo Of Calamba, the petition's addressee or the person to whom the petition is
directed, is the first party to be affected. Emilio Braw' was the one Who presented the Dominican friars
With an increase in output or land. The petition's 'Mr. Administrator" is the signatory mayors Of the
town in question, Who provided numerous details concerning the area in question. Finally, the petition's
two primary opposing sides were the petitioners, who were local citizens, and the appellants, who were
Domimcan friars.

However, Jose Rizal, Who was the petition's main addressor, was the most important person in the
petition. Given that Rizal was born and raised in Calamba, there is no doubt that he felt strongly about
this issue. Rizal's views on agrarian reform Were influenced by this as well. During the Spaniards'
colonization of the Americas, the paper became one of the most powerful petitions on land disputes.
 Recommendation

They are an important means of protection for us all, especially those who
may face abuse, neglect and isolation. Most importantly, these rights give us power
and enable us to speak up and to challenge poor treatment from a public authority.
Discrimination affects people's opportunities, their well-being, and their sense of
agency. Persistent exposure to discrimination can lead individuals to internalize the
prejudice or stigma that is directed against them, manifesting in shame, low self-
esteem, fear and stress, as well as poor health. Human rights include the right to life
and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression,
the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights,
without discrimination. Calamba protest will not happen again, let's fight for the
country and don't enslave foreigners and they won't abuse and oppress us.