Philippines' Colonization

Philippines’ Colonization
Maurice Deborah S. Tolentino

English PACE 1132 July 17, 2013

Maurice Tolentino, 1 Colonization is to build a colony that is under the control of a nation. But too bad our country was colonized by different nations. Nations that were too powerful to conquer our beautiful and rich islands from our benighted ancestors. The Philippines today is all but a product of its colonization in her adolescent years. The Republic of the Philippines, located in Southeast Asia, is built out of 7,107 islands and is separated in three main islands, namely, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao1. Our ancestors or ninunos came from four different tribes. They are the Negritos, Indonesians, Aetas, and Malays. Together, they begun the “migration theory” of the Philippines.1 During the colonial period of the Philippines, the first nation that was attracted to colonize our islands was Spain. It was Ferdinand Magellan, an explorer of Europe who first discovered our beautiful archipelago in 1521, landing in Leyte Gulf2. On November 19 or 20, 1564 a Spanish expedition, of a mere 500 men led by Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, begun to set sail to our island and arrived in Cebu on February 13,1565. In 1570, Legaspi conquered the kingdom of Manila through dispatching Martin de Gotti to Luzon and finally made Manila the capital of the Philippines3. These men are those who sought our island to be their own colony by using power and advance tactics in ruling, managing, and governing. The Philippines was an attraction of colonization because of its rich resources, its magnificent archipelago, and its people’s hospitality to neighbouring countries. During the Spanish regime to our country, the church and the state was united. The governor-general had the power over the church and the friars played a major role in the government. The Archbishops were the most powerful in the church but however, the church showed more authority over the Filipinos than the government, which is why is why the Philippines’ government was also called, “Frairlocracia”, a government controlled by friars. One legacy that seemed to be the best of all legacies the Spanish brought to our country was Christianity of Catholicism. It made us the only Christian country in whole Asia today. But though its result today was a positive one, the beliefs of it brought thousands of death and tortures of the residents during the colonial period5. Maurice Tolentino, 2 The economy of the Philippines today is a produce of the foundations the Spanish brought to us in the branch of businesses or trades. The Manila-Acapulco was the main source of income for the colony during its early colonial years. The trades were too affluent that it unkempt the development of our local industries. The trades lasted for over two hundred years, and then ended in 1821. Our economy before and until now has one common thing, they are both reinforced by taxation and monopolies. In the educational system, Spanish priests headed the formal education and its centre is Christian doctrines5. Spanish education played a major role in the transformation of our country. They built the first universities, colleges, and vocational schools and assembled the first modern public education system in the Philippines6. Spain sure was a mighty nation to conquer our country. Though in history, hey have shown more cruelty and less humility, they still are a huge part of our country’s story just like the name “Philippines”. By 1898, the Philippines was primarily in the same struggle against the Spanish during the Spanish-American War and there, we the Filipinos found ourselves under the authority of the United States. Before the colonial period of the Americans to the Philippines, during the Philippine Revolution against Spain, Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine Revolution, made an alliance with the Americans to strive for the Philippines’ independence from Spain8. But then, when the Americans refused to commit to paper the statement of their support for Philippines’ independence, it became clear that the American were in the island to stay9. After the Spanish-American War, the Treaty of Paris was signed that declares that the Philippines was therefore under the authority of the United State after buying it from Spain with the cost of 20 million dollars10. From then on the United States’ War Department brought all the islands of the Philippines under military control for a reason that states that the Filipinos were too “uncivilized”. This brought a huge astonishment to the Filipinos because they expected the Americans to help them struggle for independence. But not only did they not help the Filipinos to struggle for independence, they refused to grant them freedom for forty-five years (1898-1946)10. Conflicts broke out on February 4, 1899 that sparked the Philippine-American War11. This war led to tragic deaths of 4,234 Americans and about a

Maurice Tolentino, 3 million of Filipinos10. By 1942 until 1945, during the World War II, the Philippines changed into the hands of the Japanese but the U.S. saved the Filipinos once again. It was in July 5, 1945 that the U.S. conquered us for the second time but with the provisions of the McDuffie-Tyding’s Act of 1934, the Philippines finally gained its independence from the U.S.10. During the forty-five year colonization of the Americans to our land changes, transformations, and effects are not too far to be seen today. After the monarchy set by the Spanish, the Americans changed the Philippines into a Partisan government. Another effect was the implementation of municipal elections in the government12. If Spanish’ legacy to religion was Catholicism, then the Americans’ legacy to the Philippines’ religion is the better and right way of Christianity, Protestantism and one of the biggest part the Americans’ transformation in religion was the bringing of the Bible to our country. In the economic system; trades were still continued and Filipino products were already allowed to enter American markets that are free of duty within quota limits12.