COLONIALISM AND TRADITIONS

The Spanish expeditions from 1521-1565 were accompanied by religious

missionaries who were all prepared to preach the Christian faith. Christianity which had a
great impact in the early Philippine societies, it greatly affected their religion. It’s the way of
the spaniards to explore and exploit the material resources of the colonies. Spanish
expeditions to the islands leds to the growth of the Spanish colony. Spain uses religion as
their way to colonize like when Magellan landed on Limasawa, the first significant act taken
besides the procurement of needed provisions, was the celebration of the mass. And then
the conversion of high ranked people like Rejah Humabon and King Tupas. System of
colonial rule Spain established in the Philippines was determined by various colonial aims.
Political, Economic, Social and cultural aspects of administration had to be effectively
designed to insure that power, wealth and status in the colony were conveniently and
exclusively enjoyed by the Spaniards.

Spanish colonial aims necessitated the establishment of definite institutions to bring

in the economic and material benefits expected from the colony. It involves effective use of
the components of national economy represented by income or benefits derived from land,
trade and commerce, and labor. This all leads to the policies and practices which also
encouraged abuses and oppression. Spanish rule for the first 100 years was exercised in
most areas through a type of tax farming and known as the encomienda. But abusive
treatment of the local tribute payers and neglect of religious instruction
by encomenderos (collectors of the tribute), as well as frequent withholding of revenues
from the crown, caused the Spanish to abandon the system.

The Manila - Acapulco galleon trade transformed the Philippine colony into a
Spanish regional center of trade in Southeast Asia. The Philippines was opened up for world
commerce as the galleon trade attracted products from different parts of the world. The
galleons bound for Mexico transported trade goods such as spices from the Moluccas.The
fortune from the trade benefitted only a portion of privileged Spaniards. Filipinos, on the
other hand, were exposed to exploitation, the great majority of the galleons used for
trading. The tributes and dues that were imposed on the people and were used for the
benefit of the Spanish community and very little went into improving native conditions. The
Colonial laws/ordinances required the natives to provide either free labor or labor with
nominal compensation for all sorts of Spanish needs, from domestic services at home to
military services in Spanish expeditions. Colonialism needed a kind of power arrangement
that would allow the realization of colonial aims thus the creation of dualistic-hierarchical
pattern. The colonial system allowed the natives to preserve their ancient political structures
because they found its preservation and use effective in the collection of tributes and in
suppressing one group of natives by another under the policy of “divide and rule” which
means to gain and maintain power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into
chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy.

The relation of the spaniards to the natives more on superior-inferior; civilized-

primitive. Datu, timawa, and the alipin or oripon were just one class level (lowest class) in
the colonial society, not entitled to any social importance and rights except to serve those
above them. In other words, rank or status in the native structure is set aside. Even by the
ordinary Spaniards, datus were not treated as important native.
 The Muslims learned the lessons of dealing with colonialism when they were
defeated and succeeded by Spain on 1570. Their subsequent action was marked by
uncompromising battles against Spanish expeditions sent frequently against muslim bases in
Mindanao and Sulu, the two centers of Sultanate. The other non-Christians that were not
Islamized had withdrawn from the pressures of colonialism. The Cordilleras was quite
inaccessible under normal circumstances. The religious missions did not achieve the level of
success as achieved in the lowland communities.