19th Century Philippines as Rizal’s Context

Agrarian Relations and

Friar Lands
 Pre- Spanish Era
Land ownership was communal in the sense
that the barangay had right to certain
territory.

The notion of private property was

unknown then.

Individual families had usufruct

rights to specific parcels of land as
long as they occupied it.
Spanish
Spanish Era
Era
(1521-1898)
(1521-1898)
 Spanish Era
One of the major initial policies of the
governorship of Legazpi was to
recognize all lands in the Philippines as
part of the public domain regardless of
local customs.

As such, the crown was at liberty to

parcel out huge tracts of Philippine
lands as rewards to loyal civilian and
military as rewards.
 Spanish Era
Communal ownership of land
gradually and slowly took the
backseat

Private ownership of land was introduced

Agrarian-related
Agrarian-related
Policies
Policies
 Encomienda System

 Began as a result of a Royal Order

promulgated in December of 1503
 By virtue of this Royal Order, encomiendas
were granted to favor Spanish officials and
clerics who were entrusted the
responsibility to look after the spiritual and
temporal developments of the natives in a
colonized territory.
 Encomienda System

 The encomienderos also enjoyed the right to

have a share in the tribute (tributo) paid by
the natives.
 Encomienda System

 The system, however, degenerated into

abuse of power by the encomienderos. The
tribute soon became land rents to a few
powerful landlords. And the natives who
once cultivated the lands in freedom were
transformed into mere share tenants.
 Spanish Era
In place of encomiendas, the Spanish
authorities began to group together several
barangays into administration units.

Pueblos or Municipios
Pueblos or Municipios
governed by

Gobernadorcillos
Gobernadorcillos
 Spanish Era
The cabezas and gobernadorcillos made up
of the landed class known as caciques.

They were given the prerogative of

collecting taxes as well.

 Caciquism as an institution became deeply rooted in the

Philippine soil. This paved the way to many present-day
agrarian problems and unrests.
 As the cacique system grew, it also became more oppressive.
 Spanish Era
Agrarian-related problems brought
many conflicts during this time.

The major sources of conflict and

rebellion were really the harsh Spanish
impositions such as: tributo, polo y
servicio, encomienda, etc.
 During
During the 19thcentury,
the 19 th
century,several
several
developments
developmentsoccurred
occurredthat
that
solidified
solidifiedthe
theland
landtenure
tenuresystem,
system,
and aroused antagonism over
and aroused antagonism over its its
injustices
injusticesand
andinequalities.
inequalities.
 Spanish Era
The Spanish government issued two Royal
Decrees: the Decreto Realenga (1880) and the
Maura Law (1894)

 ordered the caciques and natives to secure

legal title for their lands or suffer forfeiture
 Spanish Era
The Filipino peasants, either ignorant of
the processes of the law or of the Spanish-
written instructions, were just slow to
respond.

The caciques were quick to react. They

did not only register their own lands
but also took advantage of the
ignorance of the peasants lands
adjacent to their lands.
 Spanish Era
No option was left for those dispossessed
because documented titles to the land
prevailed over verbal claims.

Most Filipino landed peasants

become mere tenants in their own
lands.
The
TheRoyal
RoyalDecree
Decreeofof1894
1894(Maura
(Maura
Law) deprived many Filipino
Law) deprived many Filipino
peasants
peasantsofoftheir
theirown
ownlands
lands
through
throughscheming
schemingandand
treacherous
treacherousways
waysofofboth
both
Spaniards
Spaniardsandandcaciques.
caciques.
Mortrage system (pacto de retroventa) which is
equivalent of today’s mortrage system
(sangla) where a landowner (Chinese
mestizos) who has loaned a peasant some
money becomes this peasant landlord
Another
Anothersource
sourceofofland-related
land-related
conflict
conflict by the late 19thcentury
by the late 19 th
century
was the “friar lands”
was the “friar lands”
 Spanish Era
The existence of friar-lands in the Philippines
can be traced back to the early Spanish
colonial period when Spanish conquistadors
were awarded lands in the form of haciendas
for their loyalty to the Spanish crown.

The Spanish friars belonging to

different religious orders the richest
landlords, for they owned the best
haciendas.
 Spanish Era
The natives, who had been living in these
haciendas and cultivating them from
generation to generation became tenants.
This system was known as “inquilino”

In this system, an inquilino, was

expected to give personal services
to the landlords.
 Spanish Era
The inqulinos could also lease the land they
were renting from the landlord to a kasama
or sharecropper who would be responsible
for cultivating the land.

The inquilino system functioned as a

three-layered system with the landlords
on top, the inquilinos at the middle, and
the kasamas at the bottom.
 Spanish Era
Gov. Anda, realizing the danger of the
friar-owned haciendas to Filipino-Spanish
relations strongly recommended to the
Madrid government the sale of the friar
states.

This recommendation was ignored

that caused Filipino odium towards
the friars persisted unabated until the
end of Spanish rule.
 Spanish Era
Rizal, whose family and relatives were
tenant of the Dominican Estate of Calamba,
tried to initiate agrarian reform but in vain.

This ignited the wrath of the

Dominican friars, who retaliated by
rising the rentals of the lands leased by
his family and other Calamba tenants.
 Spanish Era

The story of Cabesang Tales in Rizals’

novel El Filibusterismo, underlines an
inevitable reality of the brewing agrarian
conflict during the 19th century that
concluded to a peasant revolt, an integral
ingredient of the 1896 separatist
revolution.
 According
AccordingtotoRizal,
Rizal,the
thefriar
friar
ownership
ownershipofofthe
theproductive
productivelands
lands
contributed
contributedtotothe
theeconomic
economic
stagnation of the Philippines
stagnation of the Philippines
during
duringthe
theSpanish
Spanishperiod.
period.
 Rizal
Rizalfully
fullyunderstood
understoodthatthatthe
theagrarian
agrarian
problems
problemsthatthatsurfaced
surfacedduring
duringhis
histime
time
was a socio-economic problem because
was a socio-economic problem because it it
affected
affectednot
notonly
onlythe
thefarmers,
farmers,or orpeasants,
peasants,
including
includingtheir
theirfamilies,
families,but
butits
itsimpact
impact
also
alsogenerated
generatedserious
seriouscircumstances
circumstanceslikelike
economic
economicdislocation,
dislocation,poverty
povertyandandrevolt.
revolt.
 Thus,
Thus,Rizal
Rizalknew
knewvery
verywell
wellthat
thatagrarian
agrarian
conflict
conflictcould
couldignite
igniteaanational
nationalrevolution.
revolution.
References:
https://books.google.com/books/about/Jose_Rizal.html?id=980uAQAAIAAJ
Date Accessed: July 25, 2020

https://www.dar.gov.ph/about-us/agrarian-reform-history/
Date Accessed: July 31, 2020

https://nelson.wisc.edu/ltc/docs/philippinesbrief.pdf
Date Accessed: July 31, 2020