RESULTS OF THE PHILIPPINE AMERICAN WAR

In 1903, when Mabini was asked whether it was wise to go with armed resistance to
American rule or not, he gave this reply in part:

Let us not cease that the people may rest; that it may work to recover from its recent
proprietary losses. Let us conform to the opinion of the majority although we may recognize
that by this method we do not obtain our desires.

The Philippine American War resulted in great loss of lives and decreased economic
productivity which affected the whole population. Also, the Filipinos desire for
independence was crushed for the second time. The peasants dream to own land was
frustrated by both by the Filipino elite and the Americans. Perhaps, the countrys only victory
or gain form this cruller war was the birth of the Philippine Independent Church, where
many Filipino clergy became administrators of parishes and bishops of the church for the
first time independent from Rome and the friars.

Filipino Casualties and Losses

Historians find it difficult to give the exact figures of Filipinos who were killed in the
battlefields and the number of casualties, however estimated death of Filipinos ranges
250,000. General Franklin Bell, who took charge of the bloody campaigns in Batangas
admitted in an interview that over 600,000 people in Luzon had been killed and had died in
diseases. If numbers of those killed from Visayas and Mindanao were to be counted, it would
rise to millions. The same degree of loss could be said on economic side. 90% of the carabaos
died due to rinderpest, rice production went down to one-fourth of its normal production.
What used to be haciendas or fields of sugarcanes, coffee, tobacco, and abaca had been
turned into jungles, devastated and uncultivated.

The Disposition of the Friar Lands

Form the phase of revolution (1896 1898) to the second phase (1898 1902),
owning a piece of land, in addition to independence, was a major goal of the struggle. The
revolutionary government in Malolos confiscated the friar lands. As a result, these lands were
awarded to the illustrados and families with means. The peasants, who tilled small plots
before did not get their share. When the Treaty of Paris was signed, huge tracts of church
lands become the property of U.S. colonial government, but the friars protested and
demanded for repossession of their land. Governor Taft quickly negotiated with the Vatican
for the forced sale of the estates to the U.S. In 1905, the U.S. completed the purchase of these
lands from the Vatican for $6.9 million. The peasants, who fought and from whose ranks
thousands had died since 1896, remained poor and landless.
Filipinization of the Church

The story of the birth of the Aglipayan church (Iglesia Filipina Independiente) is to a
great extent the story of the struggle of the Filipino clergy to Filipinize the Catholic Church in
the Philippines. The struggle in a sense revived the secularization, later the Filipinization
movement, by Fathers Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora twenty-six earlier. The Spanish friars
opposed the appointment of Filipino to the powerful position of heads of parishes.
Since the great majority of the priests were Spaniards, it was natural that they sided
with the government during the Katipunan Revolution. It was for this reason that Apolinario
Mabini, accused the Spanish friars of helping the colonial government to oppress the
Filipinos in a letter to General Otis. Mabini pointed out that the friars were arming
themselves and fighting the Filipinos, he refused to release the friars that were captured by
the Filipino rebels.
In the second part of the Revolution which began when Aguinaldo returned to the
Philippines in 1898, the governor-general and the archbishop tried to win over the people to
the side of Spain. They sent Father Gregorio Aglipay to persuade the revolutionary leaders,
specially General Artemio Ricarte, Mariano Trias, and Emilio Riego de Dios, to side the Spain
against the American but failed to do it. Aguinaldo, had just returned from Hong Kong, sent a
representative to Aglipay to persuade him to join the Filipino cause. Aguinaldo requested
Aglipay to go Northern Luzon to spread the revolutionary cause. The archbishop, Bernardo
Nozaleda, urged Aglipay to investigate the condition of the parishes there. Aglipay did as he
was told and returned to Manila to report his findings to the Archbishop. Aglipay realized the
significance of the siege of the city went to Cavite and joined the revolutionary forces.

Aglipay Becomes Military Vicar General

Mabini felt happy over the new development. The Revolutionary Government in late
1898, recognizes the validity of civil marriage since the Revolution had separated the Church
and the State. The Revolutionary Government, in the instance of Mabini, refused the
authority of the archbishop. Mabini banned Filipino priests of accepting any position from
the Church without securing the approval of the Revolutionary Government to encourage
Filipino priests to join the revolutionary cause. On October 20, 1898, Aglipay was appointed
by Mabini as Vicar General, a religious leader of the Revolutionary Government.

Nozaleda Excommunicates Aglipay

Aglipays position in the Catholic Church and in the Revolutionary Government was
anomalous. As a priest, he must be loyal to the church, but as a Filipino he owed loyalty to the
Revolutionary Government. Faced by this situation, Aglipay chose to be Filipino first. The day
he had been appointed as Military Vicar General, he sent a circular to the Filipino priest
urging them to unite in the countrys awareness. The Revolutionary Government, is
supporting us in our aims because it cannot recognize as head of the Filipino clergy any
Spanish bishop, for the powerful political influence of the clergy in the Spanish Government
is proverbial, Aglipay said in his circular. He also suggested the creation of council which
will ask the Pope to appoint Filipinos to all Church positions. On October 22, 1898, Aglipay
urged the Filipino priests to organize themselves so as to occupy all vacant parishes. He
urged them to rally to the revolutionary cause which, he said, was favorable to the cause of
the Filipino clergy.
In April 1899, Aglipay was accused by Nozeleda of usurping power and suggest to the
Ecclesiastical Tribunal that the Filipino priest be punished. Nozaleda then issued a decree
excommunicating Aglipay effective May 5, 1899. Aglipay, also accused Nozaleda of starving
the Filipino masses and of collaborating with the American.

Mabini and the National Church

Being a patriot and a nationalist, Mabini, who no longer held a government position
was in vacation in Rosales, Pangasinan, where he issued a manifesto on October 22, 1899
urging the Filipino priests to establish a National Church. It was to be Catholic but under the
control and supervision of Filipino priests. According to Mabini in his manifesto to the
Filipino clergy:

Let the Filipino clergy show their zeal and love for the Church; let them show their
capacity to govern not only the parishes but also the diocese; let them show that the regular
orders are not needed in the Philippines to maintain alive the faith in the Catholic religion, and
the Pope who cannot separate from justice as a Vicar of Christ who is God has to recognize the
rights and the merits of the Filipino priests. This is the most opportune occasion which Devine
Providence offers them to obtain the reparation of their grievances: those who aspire to be
something more than mere coadjutors and pages must not let this occasions pass.

Mabini was against the destruction of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. He was
for its preservation. But this preservation, according to Mabini, must be based on the
appointment of Filipino priests to all positions. Thus, the National Church would still be
Catholic, recognizing the Pope at Rome, but a Filipino Catholic Church. It should, in the
opinion of Mabini, cooperate with the revolutionary government and not with the Spanish
colonial government.

The National Church

Mabinis suggestion that a Filipino National Chuurch be established was hailed by the
Filipino clergy. The Filipino priests now believed, especially because the Filipino
Government was favorable to their aspirations that the time had come for them to assert
their right not only to occupy parishes, but also to occupy high positions in the Church and
thus, manage it. October 23, 1899 Aglipay called a meeting of Filipino priests at Paniqui,
Tarlac, said that the Catholic Church in the Philippines should be Filipinized that is,
administered by Filipino priests. Provisional constitution of the proposed Filipino Church
was prepared. One of the cannons of the constitution forbade the recognition of foreign
bishops by the Filipino clergy except under extreme circumstances. Provisional constitution
of the Filipino church was a declaration of independence of the Filipino clergy from Spanish
control and supervision. The Philippine American War and its impending effects in the
country prevented the actual establishment of the Filipino National Church.

Opposition to Filipinization

The campaign to Filipinized the Catholic Church in the Philippines simultaneously
suffered a setback with the series of Filipino defeats on the battlefields. January 1900,
Monsignor Placido Chapelle announced that those who opposed the Spanish friars were the
enemies of religion and public order. He threatened the Filipino priests by saying that he
would dominate them by forcing because he was the Popes delegate to the Philippines. He
said that the heads of the revolutionary leaders should be chopped off, he added insult to the
injury by saying that the Filipino priests were incompetent.

The Separation from Rome

In Rome, two Filipino priests, Jose Chanco and Salustiano Araullo, appeared before the
Pope and told his Holiness about the problem of the Filipino clergy. Meanwhile, in Spain, a
Filipino writer and scholar, Isabelo de los Reyes, angrly demanded the establishement of a
Filipino Church independent of Rome. 1901, Isabelo de los Reyes returned to Manila and
founded the first labor union in the Philippines. The Union Obrera Democratica (Democratic
Labor Union).
August 3, de los Reyes called a meeting for his labor union and delivered a bitter anti-
friar speech that suggests the establishment of a Filipino Church independent of Rome, with
Aglipay as a Supreme bishop. The suggestion was loudly proclaimed by those present and the
new Church was called Iglesia Filipina Indepentiente (Philippine Independent Church). With
the founding of this church, the separation from Rome was complete.

Converts to the New Church

Isabelo de los Reyes made a list of what he considered to be sympathizers of the new
church. He included in his list such big names as Fernando Ma. Guerero, Martin Ocampo,
Trinidad H. Prado de Tavera, Manuel Artigas, and priests such as Adriano Garces, Jorge
Barlin, Manuel Roxas, Toribio Domiguez, and others. These mens were not hostile to the new
church, they were not prepared to join either.
Aglipay was not interested in the establishment of a new church without his
knowledge. He believed that all means should be exhausted in fostering an understanding
with Rome before taking any radical step.

Attempt to Win Back Aglipay

Aglipay was irritated upon learning that he was proclaimed Supreme Bishop of the
New Church. He was at that time conferring with a Spanish Jesuit House at Sta. Ana Manila.
The Jesuit invited Aglipay to a conference through Ma. Leon Guerero and Joaquin Luna.
Jesuits chose Father Francisco Foradada, S.J. to persuade Aglipay to return to the Catholic
Church. Aglipay actually had not yet left the Catholic Church, but he was working for the
Filipinization of the church, which meant that Filipinos not the Spaniards would
administered the Catholic Church in the country. On the fifth day of the conference between
Aglipay and Foradada, the latter asked Aglipay to sign a document which was a confession of
a catholic faith. Aglipay studied the document and refuse to sign it. Foradadas promise to
make him bishop or archbishop if he would sign the document made Aglipay angry. He
seized the priest by the back of the neck and shook him violently and left in anger.

Consecration of Aglipay as Bishop

Aglipays disillusionment with Father Foradada gave him the excuse to accept the
position of Supreme Bishop of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente and signified his intention
to accept the position. October 1, 1902 Aglipay presided the meeting of the council which
was summoned to frame a constitution for the new church. October 26, celebrated the first
mass as a Supreme Bishop. January 18, 1903, he was consecrated Supreme Bishop by the
bishops of Cagayan, Pangasinan, Isabela, Abra, Nueva Ecija, Cavite and Manila.
Another attempt to win back Aglipay to the Catholic fold was made around 1910. That
time Aglipay was the Supreme Bishop of the New Church, he was invited by the Jesuits to the
house of Father Theo Rogers, publisher of the Philippine Free Press. Father Joaquin
Villalonga had a talk to Aglipay, in spite of the kindness of Villalonga, Aglipay refused to
return to the Roman Catholic fold. Aglipay left, the attempts to win him back to the Roman
Catholic religion failed.

Importance of the New Church

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente, popularly known as the Aglipayan Church, was a
child of the Revolution. It was in line with the nationalistic spirit that dominated the Filipino
patriots who fought not only for political, but also for religious independence. Just as the
revolution was a violent reaction to Spanish injustice, the Aglipayan movement was a
reaction to the Spanish refusal to recognize the right of the Filipino priests to administer the
Catholic Church in the Philippines. Many of the Filipino priests dared to join the movement to
the independent from Rome was proof that they, too, were patriotic, like their countrymen in
arms against Spain and later against the United States.
More than 300 years, the Spanish priests in the Philippines ignored the Filipino clergy
and considered them incapable of holding high positions in the church. The discrimination
was squashed by the Filipino priests inspired by GomBurZa and headed by Aglipay, showed
their capacity to administer parishes and manage the church. By founding the Philippine
Independent Church, Aglipay and companions actualized a centuries-old goal of vibrant and
academic Filipinism.






























































Submitted by:

CADUCOY, LIECILLE S.
B.S Architecture IV-A


Submitted to:

Prof. Irish Salain