Late Development of Nationalism Among Filipino During Spanish Period

The late development of nationalism among the Filipinos during Spanish period Nationalism is the emotion we get every time we think for our country. During the period of Spanish colonialism, there was no national feeling among Filipinos. Nationalism did not exist in the Philippines. The ideas of nationalism were filtered only through the Philippines in the nineteenth century. The Filipinos before were all under control of the Spaniards and the Spaniards made sure that the Filipinos would never have the hope to be free. Those people called “Filipinos” were Spaniards born in the Philippines and the indigenes were derogatorily were called “Indios”. The Indios were not united by words and deeds for that time the archipelago has different forms of language and there is no lingua franca. The revolts were not compact and are rather sporadic, thus resulting from their defeat against Spaniards. They also used primitive form of strategies in war and weaponry. Spanish rule in those times which our country was colonized was indeed abusive. Many of its colonies were abused by taking their lands, natural resources and its wealth. The Spanish policies were made for the benefit of the colonizers rather than for the betterment of the Filipinos. It was all for the benefit of the Spaniards in such a way that even friars and the church had its way of influencing the government. Spanish rule maybe seen and felt all over the place back then when the guardia civil was all around with their guns unto them that really scared the people on those times. The greed of the friars upon land and wealth was also a huge factor for the Filipinos to be anguish with their government. Filipinos during those times were treated as if they were the unaccepted in their own country. Those who were rich and powerful were the only ones at least treated fairly. The church like what the accounts say was abusive. Friars exploited in terms of overpricing tax collection. It was one of the reasons for why the Filipinos developed grudge against the church. In addition, taxes and forced labor was strictly implemented that fill up the patience of those industrious Filipinos. These abusive and exploitative ways of governing policies are the reasons why the Filipinos realized that there must be a change in the system, that they should be free, and that they needed independence. What truly sparked Filipino Nationalism was the idea that Filipinos were no longer in control of their own land, rather the Spaniards were the one ruling over them. The Spaniards underestimated the Filipinos, the Filipinos developed nationalism and it was all because of the Spaniards themselves. But even though our country back then don’t have centralized government simply because of the geographic topography we still managed to have this lingering sense of nationality when the Spaniards came.