HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

IN THE PHILIPPINES (1521-1898)1

page
1. Religious Ideas and Practices Before the Arrival of the Gospel; Discovery,
Conquest and Colonization of the Philippines; Apostolic Work of the
Religious Orders … … … … … … … … … … 2

2. Dioceses; Parochial Organization; the Secular Clergy … … … … … 13

3. The Church and Education; Works of Charity … … … … … 20

4. Councils and Synods; the Royal Patronage; Diocesan Visitation … … … 28

5. Secularization of the Parishes; Jurisdiction Conflicts Between the Church and the
Civil Authorities … … … … … … … … … … 37

6. Faith and Customs; Sacramental Life; Other Religious and Liturgical Practices … 47

7. Exemplars of Virtue and Sanctity … … … … … … … 60

8. The Church as Peacemaker; the Church During the British Invasion; the Church
at the Service of the State and the Filipino People During the Moslem Raids … 67

9. The Catholic Church and the Development of Agriculture in the Philippines;

Commerce and Industry; Projects for Material Progress … … … … 76

10. The Church and Some Social Problems; Material Goods of the Church in the
Philippines; Friar Lands … … … … … … … … … 87

11. Religious Causes of the Philippine Revolution and Charges Against the Religious
Orders; the Church During the Philippine Revolution (1898-1900) … … … 97

12. The Take-Over of the Americans; Adjustment After the Revolution … … 110

1 Notes from (A) Pablo Fernandez, O.P., History of the Church in the Philippines (1521-1898), Metro Manila, 1979.

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 Chapter 1

Religious Ideas and Practices Before the Arrival of the Gospel;

Discovery, Conquest and Colonization of the Philippines;
Apostolic Work of the Religious Orders
1. Religious Ideas and Practices Before the Arrival of the Gospel.
Before the coming of the Gospel, the religious ideas and practices of the Filipinos were only vaguely
conceived, variform and many. This was due to a minimal inter-island exchange among them, the diversity
of dialects, and the ceaseless fighting among the different ethnic groups, as well as within the individual
groups themselves. Here we shall mention only the more noteworthy of their religious tenets.
Belief in a Supreme Being.
Before the arrival of the missionaries, the Filipinos already believed in a supreme being, which the Tagalogs
called Bathala Maykapal (God, the Creator), the Visayans Laon (Old Man, or The Ancient), and the Ilocanos
Cabunian. Bathala dwelt in a place named Languit (sky) which the natives could describe only very vaguely
and confusedly. They considered the supreme being as one without limits, creator of heaven and of earth
lawgiver, judge of the living and of the dead. In their way of thinking, he was so high above men, so far
beyond their reach, so little concerned about their affairs. Thus, their god, in contrast to the true God, had
no care for his creatures. Even if they had come to guess some of his attributes, they could not define his
essence, even vaguely.
They dared not even pronounce his name. If they did, it was with some sign of reverence mixed with fear.
They did not address prayers to him. They did not offer the tribute of their worship, did not sacrifice to
him.
Polytheism: Secondary Deities.
And so, in their needs, they turned their eyes to a cohort of secondary deities, equivalent to the mythological
beings of Greece and Rome. These deities were quite numerous, since, in the manner of those nations,
here was a god for each village. There were also gods for the mountains, rivers, reefs, the rainbow, the
rocks and many other natural objects. The following were the more important ones:
‒ Kaptan dwelt in the sky with Bathala. He was the god who planted the first bamboo from which human
life sprang. He was lord of the thunder, the cause of men’s diseases and of the plagues of nature. He
had also the power to resurrect the dead.
‒ Manguayen had some of the attributes of Kaptan. In addition, he was charged with ferrying in a boat the
dead to hell. But the task of presenting these to the god of hell belonged to Sumpoy who lived there.
‒ Sisiburanin, the lord of hell, punished the souls presented to him, unless the living offered a sacrifice on
their behalf.
‒ Lalahon was the goddess of agriculture, who presided over the good and the bad harvests.
‒ Varangao lived in the rainbow and carried the souls to heaven.
Like the gods of pagan mythology, these divinities were not pure spirits. More often, they put on human
and animal forms, and were subject to human passions and weaknesses. They took part in the wars of
men, were cruel and vindictive, and were appeased only by sacrificial gifts and offerings.

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The Worship of Spirits.
The natives also had faith in spirits which, according to the more accepted
opinion, were nothing else but the souls of the dead. They believed in good spirits
which they called anito(s), and in bad spirits called mangalo(s) in Tagalog. Among
the Visayans, the good spirits were named diwata(s). According to some, the good
spirits were the same as our angels, i.e. the messengers of Bathala who sent them
to the world to help men. The anitos carried on a ceaseless war with the mangalos.
The natives carved images of stone, wood, ivory and bone in their honor. But the
worship offered them seems rather selfish, motivated only by the desire to win
favors from them. The natives had neither temples nor special sites designated
for worship. Nevertheless, they busied themselves in continual offerings of
prayers and sacrifices to win the gods’ favor. This was the role assumed by certain
priestesses, generally old women, called katalonan(s). They offered animal sacrifices to their gods frequently
and, in a rare instance in Isabela and Nueva Ecija which Dominican missionaries witnessed, human
sacrifice.
Superstitions, Soothsayers and Sorcerers.
They believed in the existence of ghosts, like the aswang; or beings who would put on at nightfall the form
of an animal, such as a pig, a horse, etc., and go in search of a victim which was ordinarily a sick person or
a pregnant woman.
The Magtatangal was a nocturnal vagabond without head or members, but who assumed a complete human
form at sunrise.
The Mangagaway had power to grant health or inflict sickness by means of herbs or medicinal plants.
As so many other peoples, the Filipinos believed in seers, individuals to whom they attributed the power
to foretell the future. They also had magi and quack doctors who undertook to cure sicknesses by applying
homemade medicines which ordinarily consisted of herbs or unguents, or by invoking the malignant spirits
or mangalo(s).
The Genesis of the World and the Origin of Man
Concerning the origin of the world, the seacoast and mountain dwellers gave different versions:
For the mountaineers, there existed only the sea and a bird like a spirit flying through the sky. One day he
became tired for there was no place where he could alight or rest. In his anger, he took water from the sea
and threw it furiously against the sky. In turn, the sky gave vent to its wrath and cast down upon the sea
boulders of rocks and earth from which sprang the islands, the mountains, the valleys and hills of the
continents. The bird then had some spot where he could rest, which he did so at once by the seashore. A
floating bamboo launched by the waves and the winds came to hurt his fragile feet. His wrath was aroused,
and in his anger, he picked up the piece of bamboo so mightily that it broke in two, and from its nodes
sprang the first man and the first woman.
The seacoast dwellers related the same story in a different way: For them, the earth and the sea had existed
from all eternity. When the wind of the sea came in contact with the wind of the earth, the latter gave
birth to a bamboo reed. The god Kaptan planted this reed, which on maturing broke in two, from which
came man and woman. Now, the first man was called Silalag, and the first woman Sicauay. Silalag sought
the hand of Sicauay in marriage. She refused him because he was her brother. They decided to consult the
tunnies of the sea, then the dove, and finally the earthquake. The last said that it was convenient for them
to get married, and they did. From this union were born several children.

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Death and Future Life.
Dead bodies received the utmost care. They were washed with water and rubbed with the gum of the
storax tree and other aromatic spices. Ancient Filipinos poured preservative juice into the mouths, ears
and nostrils of corpses so effectively that they remained incorrupt for many years. Besides careful
treatment, dead bodies were dressed elegantly, keened, and then buried. In the early days, there were no
common cemeteries nor burial grounds. A corpse would be buried amidst great sorrow in any place, which
could be near his house, in a cave, or in the headlands overlooking the sea and, at times, thrown with a
gesture of finality into the sea, especially if the dead had been a fisherman.
Ancient Filipinos believed in the spirituality and immortality of the soul, although their ideas on this matter
were not too clear or precise. They believed in a future life, whereby the good would receive the reward
for their goodness in the other life in heaven, and the bad their punishment in hell. They also believed in
some kind of risen life. The Cagayanos affirmed that their fathers would someday return to this world to
rejoin their sons. In their beliefs, at times the souls of the good would be changed into good spirits (anitos),
and those of the bad into bad spirits (mangalos). In the future life as here below, each one would have the
same social rank, and would exercise the same office.
Conclusion.
We could say that the beliefs of the Filipinos before the arrival of the Gospel were a reflection of a primitive
revelation. But they were quite strongly modified by errors, which naturally obscured human intelligence
when the light of faith is absent, and there is no divinely constituted authority to watch over it lest it lose
its direction towards eternity. The same thing happened to other pagan peoples. (A, pp. 1-9)

2. Discovery, Conquest and Colonization of the Philippines.

The Expedition of Magellan.
On 10 August 1519, a fleet of five boats (Trinidad, Victoria, Concepcion, Santiago, San Antonio) sailed
westward from Seville in search of a passageway to the Moluccas. It was manned by a crew of 270 men
under the command of the Portuguese Fernao Magalhaes (Ferdinand Magellan). After various incidents
suffered, from men and from the elements as it sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and down the South
American coast, the fleet reached in the last days of October 1520 the strait which now bears their leader’s
name. In November, they turned north towards the vast expanse of the Pacific. But by this time only
three boats were left (Trinidad, Victoria, Concepcion).
On 6 March 1521, after an exhausting voyage across the Pacific Ocean, the explorers reached the Ladrones
Islands. Here they veered southwards in the direction of the Moluccas. But on 16 March, the coast of
Samar unexpectedly arose before the eyes of the weary sailors. Without stopping to disembark, they sailed
on until, on the 17th, they reached
Homonhon Island, where they
rested from the fatigue of such a
long-drawn out navigation thanks
to the friendly welcome of the
natives. Moving further south to
Limasawa Island, Magellan struck a
pact with Rajah Colambu, and the
islanders attended the first Mass
celebrated on Philippine soil on 31
March 1521.
On 7 April the fleet entered the port
of Cebu. What happened here is

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too well known for us to detail. Suffice it to say that on the urging of Magellan, Humabon, the kinglet of
Cebu, accepted Baptism together with his wife and some 800 subjects—a forced conversion it seems, if
we are to judge from what followed. Indeed, consequent upon Magellan’s ill-fated excursion to Mactan
where he lost his life on 27 April, the Cebuanos repudiated the alliance with the explorers, and even killed
twenty of them. The rest withdrew from those shores, after burning the Concepcion, a boat they could
not man for lack of hands.
Of the fleet that had set sail three years before, only the Victoria under the command of Juan Sebastian
Elcano succeeded in accomplishing the epic feat of circumnavigating the globe. On 8 September 1522, it
anchored at Seville with 18 survivors on board.
The Expedition of Villalobos.
Encouraged by the partial success of Magellan’s expedition, Charles V ordered the sailing of another fleet
for the Moluccas; but this expedition met an unfortunate ending. This did not weaken the resolve of
Charles V to instruct the viceroy of Mexico to prepare another armada for the East. This departed from
the coast of Mexico on 1 November 1542, commanded by Ruy Lopez de Villalobos who received orders
to colonize the Western Islands, which he renamed Filipinas in honor of Don Felipe, Prince of Asturias.
Due to the unfriendly welcome they received from the natives of Mindanao, the fleet sailed northwards to
Cebu. But contrary winds blew it to the coast of Leyte where the islanders met them in a hostile attitude.
Determined to reach the Moluccas because of the critical condition of the boats and the men, they reached
Tidore on 14 April 1544. After suffering from the hostility of the Portuguese, they proceeded to Amboina,
where their leader Villalobos died in the spring of 1546. The armada fell apart soon after this, with some
of the crew staying on in the East, and others returning to Europe on Portuguese boats. Among the latter
were four Augustinian Fathers, Jeronimo Jimenez, Nicolas de Perea, Sebastian de Trasierra, and Alonso de
Alvarado. The enmity of the Filipinos, the severity of the elements, the lack of supplies, and finally the
opposition of the Portuguese forced the Spaniards to abandon for the moment the Philippine Islands.
The Expedition of Legaspi.
In 1559 Philip II, successor to Charles in the Spanish
dominions, ordered the Viceroy of Mexico to equip an
armada for the spiritual and material conquest of the
Philippines. The fleet left Mexican waters on 21 November
1564, commanded by the royal scrivener Don Miguel Lopez
de Legaspi, a nobleman from Vizcaya, who combined in his
person great military and administrative talents as
subsequent events proved. The expedition reached Leyte
waters in February, and the famous pact between the
Spanish leader and Sikatuna was forged in the neighboring
island of Bohol.
After hearing the opinions of the captains of the fleet,
Legaspi went on to Cebu. By the power of his tact and
patience, he was able to stave off the open enmity of the
islanders which could have caused unfortunate results for
the expedition. He preferred to win the affection of the
Cebuanos through broadminded and equanimous dealings
with them. In the end, he convinced Tupas, kinglet of Cebu Island, to acknowledge the sovereignty of
Spain, and later to accept Christianity. Soon, Legaspi began the reconstruction, the beautification and the
reorganization of the city of Cebu, where he had decided to seat the government of this Oriental possession
of Spain.

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In August 1568, Juan Salcedo, youthful grandson of Legaspi, arrived in Cebu. The natives of Panay had
by this time accepted Spanish sovereignty and were paying tribute regularly. To reduce the island of
Mindoro, some companies had to be detached under the command of Salcedo, who carried out the task
to its happy end. In this way, this gallant soldier began a brief but fruitful career which put Spain in
possession of some of the better provinces of the Philippine archipelago.
Occupation of Manila; Conquest of Luzon.
All the time he was engaged in the conquest of the Visayas, Legaspi heard frequent reports of the
advantageous location of the city of Manila. Convinced of fixing the royal government there, in 1570 he
sent ahead the Master of the Camp Martin de Goiti, and his grandson Salcedo. Goiti lost no time in
establishing friendly relations with Raja Matanda and Raja Soliman, lords
of Manila. This good will lasted only a short time because Soliman, who
loved his independence, plotted a surprise attack on the Spanish
squadron. But Goiti sense it and successfully assaulted the entrenchment,
capturing his entire artillery. Immediately after, the conqueror set sail for
Panay where Legaspi, who by this time had already received the title of
“Adelantado”, awaited him.
In the spring of 1571, the Spaniards under the personal command of
Legaspi appeared a second time in Manila Bay. Raja Matanda presented
his respects to the Spanish commander, begging him to be good enough
to pardon Soliman for proving disloyal to his plighted word. Later,
Soliman also came to offer his vassalage to the king of Spain. In view of
all this, the Adelantado debarked all his forces to take possession of the
city in the name of the crown of Castille.
The people around Manila acknowledged without resistance the
supremacy of the Spaniards, except some groups headed by Soliman
which suffered a decisive defeat at Bankusay, north of Pasig and near
Tondo. Likewise, places like Cainta and Taytay bordering the Laguna de
Bay refused to accept vassalage under the conquerors; but Salcedo
subdued them after breaking their stubborn resistance. Elsewhere, Goiti,
after a rapid march, reduced the bellicose inhabitants of Betis who still
fought to keep their independence.
After a daring raid into the mines of Paracale in the Bicol region, Salcedo undertook the exploration of the
northern coast of Luzon in 1572. He discovered and explored the mouth of the Ibanag River in Cagayan,
the deepest river in the island. On his return, he received the sad news of the death of his illustrious
grandfather Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, which took place on 20 August. A malignant fever would also carry
off the young Salcedo from the living in 1576, in the city of Vigan, the capital of Ilocos.
Salcedo is called the last of the conquistadores for having carried the colors of Spain to remote and vast
regions of the Philippines. However, he was unable to subjugate the entire archipelago of the Philippines,
for at his death there still remained to be reduced the Cagayan Valley, parts of Ilocos, the present Mountain
Province, the Babuyan Islands, the Batanes Islands, and Zambales; above all, all of Moroland, i.e. almost
all of Mindanao and the adjacent islands. The task of conquering these lands was reserved for other
captains, but above all to the missionaries.
Colonization.
The colonization of the Philippines consisted in founding cities, like Cebu (1565), Manila (1571), Vigan
(1572), Nueva Segovia (1581), Villa de Arevalo (1581) and others; in establishing a central government

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advised by the Royal Audiencia2 (founded in 1584 and suppressed in 1863) and the provincial governments
for each province administered by alcaldes mayores. The gobernadorcillos, nominated from the native sector,
were the counterpart of the present municipal alcaldes or town mayors. They were advised and aided in
their government by some officials known by the names juez teniente (deputy judge) and alguacil (constable).
The Spaniards preserved the barangay (head of the barangay).
The encomienda system gradually disappeared and ceased to exist in the 18th century. It consisted in this:
that the governor, in the king’s name, “apportioned” certain lands and a certain number of natives to those
who had distinguished themselves in the conquest of the islands. Those who were thus favored received
the title encomendero with the privilege of collecting tributes to their own and the king’s benefit; but they had
the obligation of providing a minister of Christian doctrine for those in the encomienda. Only two
generations were benefited by the encomienda: the grantee and his children. Then it reverted to the crown,
i.e. to the king. Once they were subjects of the king of Spain, the Filipinos were obliged to pay a tribute
until, from 1884, the system of personal cedulas was introduced. (A, pp. 10-18)

3. Apostolic Work of the Religious Orders.

The Augustinians.
The Augustinians came to the Philippines with Legaspi’s
expedition. There were five of them, eminently apostolic men:
Andres de Urdaneta, Martin de Rada, Andres de Aguirre, Diego
de Herrera and Pedro de Gamboa. After Legaspi took
possession of Cebu City, he allotted a piece of land to them where
they later erected a church and convent dedicated to the Holy
Infant. This foundation was the center of their apostolic journeys
throughout the Visayas and Mindanao in the years that followed.
Soon they began to administer Baptism to the natives,
infrequently at first and with caution. The first to accept Baptism
was a niece of Tupas who received the name Isabel. Tupas
himself obtained the same grace on 21 March 1568. From Cebu,
the Augustinians went on to Panay (Iloilo), Masbate, and
Camarines.
When Legaspi founded Manila in 1571, he gave them an
extensive lot there beside the sea. Here they raised the beginning
in bamboo, wood and nipa, of what would be the church and
convent of St Paul, popularly known by the name “San Agustin”.
From this mother house and center of their apostolate, they went
forth to several provinces in Luzon and the Visayas. But in the
beginning, they had no seat or permanent base of work, since
they were too few for so many towns. And so, in the first years
of their missionary activity we find them preaching in Tondo and
around Manila, in Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Ilocos, and Cagayan.
After the official division of the provinces among the religious orders working in the Philippines at the
time (royal cedula, 27 April 1594), the Augustinians were engaged more or less permanently in the following
missions: the surrounding area of Manila, Tondo, Tambobong, Tinajeros, Navotas, Novaliches, Malate,
Parañaque, Pasig, Cainta, Caloocan, and others. The following provinces in Luzon were allotted to them:

2 The Real Audiencia, or simply Audiencia, was an appellate court in Spain and its empire. Each Audiencia had oidores (judges,
literally, “hearers”).

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Batangas, north Bulacan, all of Pampanga, some towns in east Tarlac, a good part of Nueva Ecija, La
Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Abra; and in the 19th century, the districts of Lepanto, Bontoc, Benguet,
the military post at Amburayan. In the Visayas they evangelized Cebu Island, some towns in Negros which
they later handed over to the secular clergy, Iloilo, Capiz, and Antique. In 1768 when the Jesuits were
expelled, they administered some of the towns in Leyte, which in 1804 passed on to the secular clergy, and
later to the Franciscans. At the outbreak of the revolution in 1898 the Augustinians had under their care
2,320,667 souls, distributed among 231 parishes and missions in 22 provinces.
In 333 years of Spanish rule in the islands, a total of 2,830 Augustinian friars came to the Philippines.
Besides being emissaries of the Gospel—the common task of the five religious families—they
distinguished themselves in erecting magnificent churches, as the church of San Agustin (Intramuros,
Manila), that of Taal (Batangas), of Oton (Iloilo), as well as in literary endeavors and programs of material
improvement.
The Franciscans.
The Franciscans arrived in Manila on 24 June 1578. They were housed with the Augustinians for a while,
until they finished a convent of light materials dedicated
to our Lady of the Angels. From here they spread around
Manila and the provinces. Among others, they either
established or received the missions around the capital:
Santa Ana, Paco, Sampaloc, San Juan del Monte, San
Francisco del Monte, and Pandacan. They also
evangelized the province of Laguna, and the towns east
and south of the lake which formerly belonged to the
district of Morong. Further south, they were entrusted
with the provinces of Quezon, Camarines Norte,
Camarines Sur, Albay, and Sorsogon. East of Quezon
province, they evangelized certain regions along the coast:
the ancient districts of Infanta and Principe, extending as
far as Palanan, Isabela. Likewise, they founded some
towns in Mindoro and Marinduque. In 1768 the
government assigned to them the Jesuit missions in Samar
and, in 1843, they took care of certain towns in Leyte.
By the end of the 19th century, the Franciscans were
ministering to 1,096,659 souls in 103 towns in 15
provinces.
The Franciscans were noted above all for many outstanding institutions of charity which they founded or
administered. They were strict observants of the religious vow of poverty and, in contrast to other religious
orders, they did not acquire property.
The Jesuits.
The first Jesuits who arrived in Manila on 17 September 1581 were Fathers Antonio Sedeño and Alonso
Sanchez, and Brother Nicolas Gallardo. At first, they lived in a temporary residence at Lagyo, the section
between the present districts of Ermita and Malate. Later, they moved to Intramuros, to a house near the
southeast gate, the Royal Gate (Puerta real). Their first missions, Taytay and Antipolo of the modern
province of Rizal, date from 1593. At about this time, too, they included Panay Island (Tibauan) to their

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apostolate. During the next years, they set up fixed
residences in Leyte and Samar, while Father
Chirino3 opened a central mission house in Cebu
(1595). Before the end of the 16th century, they
had established permanent missions in Bohol.
They also took charge of some towns in Negros,
besides starting or accepting other ministries near
Manila, like San Miguel, Santa Cruz, and Quiapo;
and in the province of Cavite, like Silang,
Maragondong, and Kawit.
Raised to a province in 1605, the Jesuits looked
with confidence to the future. And so, we find
them in the 17th century opening the missions in
Mindanao, which caused them so much difficulty.
They first founded Dapitan mission in the north
coast; next Zamboanga in 1635, and finally Jolo in 1639 under the shadow of the Hispano-Filipino military
garrison which job it was to keep the Moslems in check. In general, these missions shared the good or the
bad fate of the garrisons that shielded them. The garrison in Zamboanga, recalled by Governor Manrique
de Lara in 1662, was not reestablished until 1718. It was in the 18th century that the sons of St Ignatius,
unabating in their missionary effort, reached the present site of Cotabato City. Unfortunately, everything
came to a stop when the Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines in 1768, when their missions were
transferred to other hands: those in central Luzon to the diocesan clergy; Samar, and in 1843 Leyte, to the
Franciscans; Bohol and some centers in Cebu, Negros, Panay, and all of Mindanao to the Recollects; four
missions in Negros and four others in Panay to the Dominicans.
The Society of Jesus, restored in 1814, did not return to the Philippines until 1859. The Bishop of Cebu
petitioned the Spanish government for them to work in the Mindanao missions. And so, from 1860 on,
the Jesuits established their missions, first in Cotabato, then in Zamboanga, and finally in Basilan island.
Meanwhile, the Recollect Fathers, through government intervention, handed over to them all their
missions except seven. In 1896, the number of Christians mini stered to by the Jesuits totaled 213,065 in
36 mission parishes in Mindanao.
However, despite the efforts exerted by the Jesuits in Mindanao, despite their excellent missionary
methods, progress was slow because of the stubborn resistance of the Moslems to Christianity.
Nonetheless, their zeal won over to the Faith sizeable communities of natives in the northwestern coast of
the island. Furthermore, the Jesuits spared no efforts in the educational apostolate, where they won here
and elsewhere much renown. In this respect, they distinguished themselves from the other religious orders,
except the Dominican.
The Dominicans.
On 21 July 1587 the first Dominicans, the founding Fathers of the Religious Province of the Most Holy
Rosary of the Philippines, arrived in Cavite. Of these, five stayed in the Manila residence that would be
called the Convento of Santo Domingo. Four left for Bataan, and the remaining six took the trail to
Pangasinan. The missions that the Dominicans established or administered were: Baybay, Binondo, and
the Parian located near Manila for the Chinese; almost the whole province of Bataan; the province of
Pangasinan; some towns in north Tarlac; the entire Cagayan Valley, i.e. the present provinces of Cagayan,

3Pedro Chirino (1557-1635) was a Spanish priest and historian who served as a Jesuit missionary in the Philippines. He is most
remembered for his work, Relación de las Islas Filipinas (1604), one of the earliest works about the Philippines and its people that
was written.

page 9
 Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya, including the eastern slopes
of Central Cordillera and the western side of the Sierra
Madre mountain range, the Babuyan Islands, with
interruptions from 1619 on; and the Batanes Islands, a
permanent mission since 1783.
After initial difficulties, the Dominican missions near
Manila and those in Bataan and Pangasinan flourished
peacefully with only a slight interruption: Binondo,
Parian, and Bataan were under the care of the secular
clergy for about 70 years, i.e. from 1768 until the middle
of the 19th century more or less. In Pangasinan, we can
mention, among other events, the uprising of 1763 which
cost so much blood, destruction and hatred. The Cagayan
Valley missions were dearly paid in human life, money
and sacrifice, mainly because of unfavorable climatic
conditions and long distances, but likewise due to the
heathenish mountain tribes who generally were
indifferent to Christianity and committed frequent killings and robberies in the open, forcing the
missionaries to seek protection from military escorts.
The Dominicans conquered for Christ practically all of Cagayan and north Isabela towards the last years
of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century. The conversion of south Isabela took several
long years, from 1673 to about the middle of the 18th century. It was much harder bringing into the fold
of the Church Nueva Vizcaya province; but it was done finally by about the middle of the 18th century,
thanks in great part to the aid of the Augustinians who, starting from the south, had preached and spread
the good news until Bayombong from 1716 to 1740. The missions in the eastern slopes of Central
Cordillera were established, with scant success, in the second half of the 19th century. By the end of that
century, the evangelization of the Ilongots began.
The Babuyan and Batanes missions proved to be the grave of several Dominicans, due to the deadly climate
of the islands.
These were the provinces that the Dominicans evangelized and administered as their specific section in
the Philippines. For various reasons they had to assume charge of Zambales province for a while (1678-
1712), eight towns in the Visayas briefly as we have already noted, and some towns in Cavite and Laguna
during the second half of the 19th century. When the revolution forced the Dominicans to abandon their
parishes and mission centers, they were caring for 735,396 souls in 73 parishes and 36 missions in 10
provinces. The Dominicans also excelled principally in their educational endeavors and famous missions
abroad.
The Recollects.
In May 1606, the first Recollect mission of ten priests and four lay Brothers disembarked at Cebu. The
following June, they proceeded to Manila. They lived for a few days in Santo Domingo, then in San
Agustin, until they had their own house in Bagumbayan (the present Luneta or Rizal Park) near Intramuros.
Finally, they transferred to the walled city. The next year, three Recollect Fathers left to open the Zambales
mission, which they administered until the end of the 19th century with the interruption noted, and another
from 1754 to 1837. During this interregnum, they took charge of the towns of Mabalacat, Capas and
Bamban, and laid the foundations for the missions of O’Donnell and Moriones in Central Luzon.
In 1622 the Recollect Fathers were charged with Palawan and Calamianes, and Caraga district in eastern
Mindanao where they often had to erect forts and arm the Christians for defense against the Moro

page 10
depredations. But repeated Moro assaults
forced them to give up these missions.
However, on petition by the Royal Audiencia,
they had to stay put. Palawan entered a
period of peace and prosperity in the second
half of the 19th century. The mission and
subsequent town of Puerto Princesa dates
from 1881. After the revolution, the
Recollects returned to Palawan. They still
administer it as an apostolic vicariate.
The evangelization of Romblon by the
Recollects began in 1635. Besides Moro
hostility, they met with other difficulties, as the isolation of one island from another, and the poverty of
the soil. But all this was overcome by those brave and long-suffering missionaries.
In 1679, they took charge of Mindoro in exchange for the loss of Zambales which had passed to the hands
of the Dominicans, as was said. In Mindoro they met the same difficulties they found elsewhere which
had tested their patience and heroism, especially the attacks of the devotees of Mohammed. However, it
must be admitted that other religious groups, including the diocesan clergy, helped evangelize this island;
but none persevered with the firmness and permanence of the Recollects.
From 1688, they also evangelized, with the labor that it demanded, the islands of Ticao, Masbate, and
Burias. But in 1791, they abandoned these to strengthen the ministries in Bohol, Mindanao, and the
Mariana Islands which the government had entrusted to them after the expulsion of the Jesuit Fathers.
Their residence in Cebu, the central house of their Visayan missions, was founded in 1621. But the
Recollect missions in this island date from a much later period, i.e. from 1744. They gradually spread along
the coast, from the city of Cebu up to Catmon.
In 1768, because of the expulsion of the Society of Jesus, the Recollects had to assume charge of Bohol.
But it had practically separated itself from Spain after an internal uprising. In the end, after long years of
laborious negotiation, they were able to pacify the island and initiate its progress in all aspects.
But the Order of Augustinian Recollects showed its truly remarkable and fruitful zeal especially in the
island of Negros, which the government had entrusted to it in 1848. Suffice it to say that from this date
until 1896, the population increased from 30,000 inhabitants to 363,255, and the centers of ministerial
work from 11 to 77. The parish and missionary work of the Recollects reached out in 1896 to 1,249,399
souls in 203 towns of 20 provinces.
To honor these truly self-denying religious, let it be said that it fell to their lot, in general, to minister to the
poorer and more hazardous islands; and at cost of so much sacrifice, they were able to keep them for Christ
and for Spain. Their special glory lies in this, that they were able to overcome the sectaries of Islam, with
the enthusiastic cooperation of their Filipino faithful and the dedication of their religious who lost their
lives in the effort.
Epilogue.
These five religious orders which for the duration of three centuries carried the brunt of the task of
evangelizing the Philippines, drew their mission personnel and their teachers from Spain and elsewhere.
But, beginning with the 18th and the 19th centuries, they had to seriously consider ways and means to avail
themselves of their own resources, inasmuch as it had become harder and harder to recruit personnel from
other religious provinces of Europe and America. And so we find the Augustinians founding the Colegio
de la Vid (1743); the Recollects the Colleges of Alfaro (1824), Monteagudo (1829), and San Millan de la

page 11
 Cogulla (1878); the Dominicans the Colleges of
Ocaña (1830) and Santo Tomas de Avila (1876);
and the Franciscans the Colleges of Pastrana
(1855) and Consuegra (1867).
Let us mention here, otherwise this chapter will
be incomplete, the arrival of the Fathers of San
Juan de Dios in 1641, the Vincentians (Paules) in
1862, and at the eleventh hour the Capuchins
and Benedictines in 1886 and 1895 respectively.
(A, pp. 19-27)

page 12
 Chapter 2

Dioceses; Parochial Organization; the Secular Clergy

4. Dioceses.
The Archdiocese of Manila.
In 1578, Fray Domingo de Salazar was presented by Philip II as bishop of Manila, but he was consecrated
only in 1579 upon receiving the bulls of nomination. Arriving in the Philippines in September 1581, he
erected the episcopal see of Manila by virtue of the bull Illius fulti praesidio signed by Gregory XIII on 6
February 1578.
In 1591, Bishop Salazar journeyed to Spain to picture personally before King Philip II the spiritual
condition of the Philippines, and to petition a remedy for several abuses. One of the many concessions
obtained from the king was the raising of his far-flung diocese into an archbishopric with its see in Manila
and with three suffragan dioceses, that of Nueva Segovia, of Nueva Caceres, and of Cebu. In a brief dated
14 August 1595, Pope Clement VIII approved the
promotion of Manila into a see, and the others as
suffragan sees. Bishop Salazar would certainly have
become the first Archbishop of Manila, but he died
on 4 December 1594. Fray Ignacio de Santibañez, a
Franciscan, was named in his place, but he also died,
having occupied his see for only a few months in
1598.
Construction of the cathedral began in 1581, and it
was finished four years later. Ruined by earthquakes
in 1645, it was rebuilt by Archbishop Miguel Poblete.
The new edifice crashed to the earth during the
earthquake of 1863. A third cathedral, inaugurated
by Archbishop Pedro Payo (1876-89), was destroyed
during the battle for the liberation of Manila from the
Japanese in 1945.
The territorial jurisdiction of the old archdiocese of Manila included the civil provinces of Nueva Ecija,
(the southern half of) Tarlac, Zambales, Pampanga, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Batangas, and Laguna, and the
islands of Mindoro and Marinduque.
The Diocese of Cebu.
The diocese of Cebu, under the patronage of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, was created by Pope Clement
VIII by the bull Super specula militantis ecclesiae dated 26 August 1595. The first bishop was Fray Pedro
Agurto of the Order of Saint Augustine.
This was the most extensive and the most taxing of the four dioceses in the Philippines. It included the
Visayan Islands, Mindanao, and the Mariana Islands. It is no surprise then that the bishops made their
visitation rarely, amid no mean share of difficulties and dangers. No prelate visited the Mariana Islands
until the bishopric of Romualdo Jimeno (1847-1872). Because of the vast spread of his jurisdiction and
the many problems encountered during his visitation, this prelate succeeded, after repeated requests, in
getting the Spanish government to petition the Holy See for the creation of the diocese of Jaro in 1865.
The Diocese of Nueva Caceres.
Created at the same time as Cebu, it bore the name of Nueva Caceres since the beginning, in memory of

page 13
the city of Caceres in Spain. It included the present provinces of Quezon, Camarines Norte, Camarines
Sur, Albay, and Sorsogon, and the islands of Catanduanes, Masbate, Burias, and Ticao.
The first bishop should have been Fray Luis de Maldonado, former Lector in Salamanca and later
Commissar in the Philippines. Appointed by the Sacred Congregation of the Consistory on 14 August
1595, he died before receiving the nomination. Some historians think that Saint Peter Bautista was
appointed bishop of Nueva Caceres, but the latest exhaustive research done by the Filipino historian
Domingo Abella denies this. Francisco de Ortega, an Augustinian, was the second appointed bishop (13
September 1599), but he also died in Mexico before taking possession of his diocese.
The Diocese of Nueva Segovia.
The Diocese of Nueva Segovia owes its creation to Pope Clement VIII who erected it on 26 August 1595
together with the diocese of Cebu. Its first bishop
was Fray Miguel de Benavides, a Dominican who
chose Nueva Segovia (now Lal-lo, Cagayan) as the
see. But because Vigan was better situated, the
latter became the capital of the diocese
provisionally until, in answer to the petition of
Bishop Juan de la Fuente y Yepes, King Ferdinand
VI authorized the definite transfer to Vigan in a
royal cedula4 from Villaviciosa dated 7 September
1758. From 1762, through the continued efforts
of Bishop Bernardo Ustariz, the successor of
Bishop de la Fuente, the town of Vigan became
legally the capital city of the diocese of Nueva
Segovia.
The Diocese of Jaro.
Already in 1831, Bishop Santos Gomez Marañon of Cebu had requested the Holy See to divide the diocese
of the Most Holy Name of Jesus into two. But the suggestion fell on the deaf ears of the government.
Twenty years later, in 1851, Bishop Romualdo Jimeno, the successor of Marañon, initiated a series of steps
towards the same end. Finally, after many difficulties, he obtained a government decree from Spain dated
17 January 1865 creating the diocese of Jaro under the patronage of Saint Elizabeth. The new diocese,
according to the first two articles of the decree, would include the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique,
Calamianes Islands, Negros, Zamboanga, and Nueva Guipuzcoa (the present Davao provinces). On 27
May of the same year, the Holy See announced through a brief Qui ab initio that Pope Pius IX had
recognized the government action.
The first bishop of Jaro, nominated on 20 September 1867 and consecrated on 30 November of that year,
was Bishop Mariano Cuartero, O.P. He took possession of his diocese on 25 Aprilar 1868, and spared no
effort to provide the new see with the necessary buildings: the episcopal palace which he finished in a year;
the cathedral church, begun in 1869 and inaugurated on 1 February 1874; and lastly, the conciliar seminary
dedicated to Saint Vincent Ferrer, finished in 1874. (A, pp. 28-35)

5. Parochial Organization.
In the Philippines, for more than two centuries there were no parishes except those administered by the

4A cédula or real cédula was a form of legislation issued by the sovereign to dispense an appointment or favor, resolve a question,
or require some action. When initiated by the Council of the Indies, it was a cédula de oficio. A cédula began with the heading El
Rey or La Reina and was signed by the monarch or in his or her name. As a direct communication from the monarch, a cédula
took precedence over royal decrees or orders issued by the Council of the Indies or royal ministers.

page 14
secular clergy. The other centers of ministry, founded and maintained by the religious orders, were
considered “missions” until the arrival in Manila of Archbishop Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina. Backed
by royal power and the governors-general, he was able to convert into parishes the missions attached to
the archdiocese of Manila into parishes, but with great difficulty. Following the lead of Manila, the other
bishops did the same. Since then, i.e. from 1776 on, the parochial system was followed by the religious
orders. And so from the 16th century there were: parishes, mission-parishes, and active missions.
Mission-parishes were those administered by the religious, but which had grown into the self-sufficiency
of parishes. But, because they were not subject to the laws of Royal Patronage and to diocesan visitation,
they were classified as “missions” according to the Laws of the Indies.
Active missions, as they were later called, were the mission-parishes still in the stages of development.
Before the arrival of Archbishop Basilio Sancho, almost all the ministries in the Philippines were mission-
parishes; after his arrival, the parishes outnumbered the missions.
No parish in the Philippines could be erected without approval from the Ordinary and from the civil
government. In the 19th century, many new
parishes were formed by separating them
from older ones. This was due to the great
increase in population. It was customary to
demand the local gobernadorcillo to build at
least temporary buildings for public
worship and for the priest’s residence.
Once they had these, the Church
authorities or the religious Superior had no
difficulty assigning a parish priest. The
ideal of the pastors was to have all the
faithful bajo campana (within earshot of the
bell tower) as they used to say, and for
parishes to serve as a nucleus or center of
residence in the style of European towns.
But this proved to be impossible, since the
Filipinos then were very attached to their fields, and only with difficulty parted from them. This explains
the development of the visitas, of which several eventually became parishes.
There were four parochial buildings: the church, the parochial house (in the Philippines called convento),
the chapels in the visitas (or subsidiary chapels in the barrios), and the cemeteries. In the beginning, the
churches were weak structures of nipa and bamboo, but in time they gave way to edifices of more solid
materials (stone, brick, tile, wood). Fires, earthquakes and typhoons, so frequent in the Philippines, taught
the missionaries and pastors to construct the edifices of the parish solidly, except the barrio chapels which
were used infrequently and so built provisionally. For this purpose, they taught the Filipinos how to make
lime and brick, how to cut stone and erect stone walls—in general, to master the arts of carpentry and
brickwork. Wood they obtained from neighboring forests. Because of the lack of means, the construction
of a church would be delayed for many years.
Because of their knowledge of the idiom and customs of the place, because of the prestige and influence
they generally had over the faithful, because of their tireless dedication to improve the material and moral
condition of the towns, the religious pastors were like the axis around which revolved the governmental
wheel in the Islands. They were the indispensable elements which both the church and the civil authorities
had to use to institute reforms or whatever important measures they wanted to effect among the people.
If the pastors supported the will of the authorities, all went well. If secretly or openly they were opposed,
the ruling powers were like inviting failure. The religious parish priests won their ascendancy and influence

page 15
over the people through their selfless labor, and by acting as their defender against the abuses and outrages
committed by both foreigners and natives. Nonetheless, one must admit that, because they had almost
always through force or necessity served as the support of government action in purely civil, and sometimes
hateful, matters, they incurred on themselves the hatred of those who disagreed with government policies
at the time, or of those who had suffered personally because of the pastors’ intervention. In the end, this
led to the loss of their parishes.
The religious pastors supervised public instruction, maintained several schools, and on occasion purchased
school furnishings with their own funds and paid the teachers when necessary. In several places, they took
care of the physical sufferings of the faithful, giving them medicines. And in time of great calamity like
earthquakes, droughts, fires, typhoons, raids by pagan tribes or by the Moslems, they spoke for them before
the government and before the public, seeking to alleviate their penury. (A, pp. 36-43)

6. The Secular Clergy.

The Secular Clergy in the 16th and the 17th Centuries.
The first Spanish secular priest to set foot on Philippine soil was Father Pedro Valderrama, one of the
chaplains to Magellan’s expedition. Later in 1566, while the conquest was going on, another Spanish
secular priest, Father Juan de Vivero, arrived at Cebu. After him
came others. Finally, in 1581 the Most Reverend Domingo Salazar,
the first bishop of Manila, brought along with him a contingent of
five clerics on whom he intended to confer the benefices of the
cathedral and to entrust with the care of several parishes.
Obviously, in the beginning there could only be foreign priests in the
Philippines, both regular and secular. But almost from the start,
Salazar was thinking of raising a native priesthood under the
guidance of the foreign clergy. These would be: creoles of Spanish
parentage born in the Islands; Spanish-Filipino and Chinese-Filipino
mestizos; and indigenous Filipinos of the Malay race. Salazar’s idea
was to entrust the benefices and positions of dignity and
responsibility to the clergy from Spain and Mexico in the meantime.
But later, when the natives will have given sufficient proof of virtue
and capabilities, he would open to them the path to priesthood, and
charge them with responsibility.
To effect this worthy plan, both the Bishop and Governor-General
Gonzalo Ronquillo, as well as the ecclesiastical chapter and the
Jesuits, petitioned the king in 1583 for the foundation of a college to
serve as a seminary where the sons of Spaniards, as well as the mestizos and natives (these last the sons of
the old Philippine aristocracy) who felt the call to the priesthood and the apostolate, could receive the
proper training. Philip II approved the project in 1585; but nothing was done, probably because of the
lack of means to realize the Archbishop’s desires. Years later, in 1595, the Jesuits wanted to carry out the
idea of the by-then defunct prelate; but, again, there were no funds. This was the last attempt in that period
to form a distinctly Filipino clergy.
Perhaps the South American experience, which had not succeeded in forming a respectable native clergy,
had prejudiced the minds of those who initially had taken a great interest in the creation of a native or
indigenous clergy in the Philippines. What is certain is a report sent to King Philip III by Governor Pedro
de Acuña dated 15 July 1604:
It seems to me that, although this work is very good and holy, it would be preferable that said college be
founded for poor Spaniards, sons of residents or those who came to settle, in order that they may study

page 16
 and learn virtue and letters so as to be more fit later on to govern and administer the colony and be parish
priests and missionaries. This would be a greater benefit than any which can be derived from a college of
natives, since the sum of what these will learn is reading and writing and nothing more, for they can neither
be priests nor officials, and after they shall have learned something they will return to their homes and
take care of their farms and earn their living.
In the years that intervened between 1604, the date of the document cited above, and 1705 when the first
seminary for native Filipinos was opened, an entire century passed during which time there was no known
native-born raised to the priesthood. In the 17th century, only the creoles, perhaps one or two Spanish
mestizos, and certainly some Chinese mestizos, received the priestly dignity. The only centers of teaching
which prepared candidates for the priesthood during that century were the University of Santo Tomas and
the Colleges of San Juan de Letran and San Jose. These centers, administered under the appellation of
seminary-college, provided a fertile training ground for many excellent priests, some of which by their
erudition and their virtue, merited the highest of the ecclesiastical dignities. But they were priests definitely
Spanish by birth or by descent.
The movement to train a Filipino clergy was not undertaken again until 1677. It seems that a report by the
French bishop Monsignor Francois Pallu, founder of the Paris Foreign Mission Society who had visited
Manila and returned to Europe, occasioned the intervention of Charles II of Spain and the Holy See. But
it is certain that in 1880, Monsignor Urbano Cerri, secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Propagation
of the Faith, memorialized Pope Innocent XI indicating certain deficiencies in the Church in the
Philippines. Among these was the fact that the natives were not raised to Sacred Orders, although they
fulfilled the prerequisite conditions to receive them.
Three years before this date, the Archbishop of Manila, His Grace Felipe Pardo, O.P., received a royal
cedula dated 2 August 1677 ordering him to provide the natives with a program of studies aimed at the
priesthood. He was to ordain at the proper time those who showed an aptitude for the priesthood and
had been properly prepared. And finally, the colleges run by the Dominicans and the Jesuits were to open
their doors to them until a seminary could be established. At the same time, the Provincial of the
Dominicans received another cedula dispatched the same date for the same purpose. And likely, the Jesuit
Provincial received another one of the same tenor. But so far as we know, the Archbishop took no decisive
step on the matter until 1689. In fact, on 12 March of the same year, he offered in a letter to the Dominican
Provincial a legacy of P13,000 signifying his desire that Letran College be a school exclusively for
indigenous and mestizo students, so that someday these could merit the priesthood after sufficient training.
There is no doubt that the Archbishop thought at that time that the
natives were not ready for the priesthood; but he nursed a strong
hope that, properly formed, they could ascend the steps of the altar
someday.
The Seminaries of San Clemente and San Felipe.
Interested in pushing forward the plan for the formation of a native
clergy, King Charles II ordered the governor of the Philippines
through a cedula in 1697 to inform him if there was a seminary-college
in the archdiocese of Manila and to indicate, if there was none, how
much it would cost to subsidize it. The governor’s reply dated 13
July 1700 included the opinion that there was no need for the time
being to open a seminary-college. A royal cedula dated 28 April 1702
signed by Philip V provided for the foundation of a seminary in
Manila for eight native seminarians, but not even this royal mandate
was implemented. And although Archbishop Diego Camacho
certainly took the initial steps to open a seminary, his efforts were
stymied by legal blocks.

page 17
This was the situation when Abbe Sidotti arrived in Manila in 1704. He came in the entourage of the future
Cardinal Charles Thomas Maillar de Tournon, legate a latere of His Holiness Pope Clement XI to the
mission countries in the Far East. On the initiative of this worthy ecclesiastic, and with the approval of
Governor Domingo Zabalburu and Archbishop Camacho, a seminary known as San Clemente was
inaugurated in 1705. Its doors were immediately opened to 72 students, of which 8 were native-born
Filipinos. Unfortunately, the king, appraised of this foundation set up without the royal will, quashed it;
and the seminary remained aborted. At the same time, however, the king ordered that the royal cedula of
1702 be followed. The result of this manifestation of the king’s mind was the opening in 1712 of the
Seminary of San Felipe. Thus, the groundwork for a native clergy in the Philippines was prepared.
The Seminary of San Carlos (Archdiocese of Manila).
Archbishop Basilio Sancho, a man of great talents but impetuous and a bit violent, arrived in Manila in
1767. One of the many plans he carried out with the tenacity that marked him—he was not Aragonese
for nothing—was the establishment of a conciliar seminary for the archdiocese of Manila. Actually, making
use of the residential buildings left vacant in Manila by the Jesuits expelled from the Philippines in 1768,
he won from the government the concession to use them for a seminary. And so, beginning with the year
1773, this new seminary named San Carlos in honor of King Charles III began to function. Its
administration was in the charge of the Miter, and its internal policies were in the hands of a cleric who
acted as Rector; the seminarians followed courses at the University of Santo Tomas.
The Seminary at Cebu.
At the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Philippines in 1768, the Bishop of Cebu Most Reverend Mateo
Joaquin Rubio de Arevalo petitioned the king for the buildings and lands of the ancient College of San
Ildefonso which had belonged to the Society of Jesus, to use them for the conciliar seminary of the diocese.
His Majesty granted the Bishop’s request, and the city government subsequently made the legal bequest of
the properties on 23 August 1783. The
seminary, administered by a Director or
Rector from the secular clergy, was for a
long time a seminary and a college for
secondary education.
In 1867, at the request of the Most
Reverend Romualdo Jimeno (1847-1872),
the Vincentians arrived in Cebu to take
charge of the seminary. For the next years,
these Fathers, without neglecting the
spiritual and scientific formation of the
seminarians, tried to renovate the ancient
edifices which were already in a ruinous
condition, and erected new roofs for the
growing number of students.
The Seminary of Nueva Caceres.
The seminary of Nueva Caceres was founded on 7 March 1783 by Antonio Gallego del Orbigo,
Archbishop of Manila and apostolic administrator of the diocese of Nueva Caceres. He constructed a
building solid enough but rather simple which lasted until the earthquake of 1863. Bishop Francisco
Gainza rebuilt the old building a short time after the earthquake, and confided the direction of the seminary
to the Vincentians who took possession on 7 May 1865. Among the rectors of the seminary in this second
half of its history, Father Antonio Santonja stands out in a special way. He raised the institution to an
eminent degree of success in all aspects. To him and to his successors are due the enlargement of the

page 18
building and the admission of a great number of students. Consequently, when upheavals shook the
country in 1898, the diocese faced the dearth of secular priests with better success than in the rest of the
Islands.
The Seminary of Vigan.
The seminary of Vigan was founded in 1821 by the Most Reverend Francisco Alban. Closed in 1848 for
lack of students, it was opened again in 1852. In 1872, at the petition of Bishop Juan Aragones of Nueva
Segovia, the Vincentian Fathers took charge of this seminary, but only until 1875. In 1882, the Recollects
came to administer it, and they converted it into a seminary-college, opening its halls to secular students.
Finally, from the year 1895 until the revolution, it was in the charge of the Augustinians. Temporarily
closed, the same Fathers took charge of it again until the arrival of the Most Reverend Dennis Dougherty,
the first American bishop of the diocese.
The Seminary of Jaro.
Mr. Mariano Cuenco founded the seminary of Jaro in 1858 and entrusted it to the care of the Vincentians
in the following year. In 1871, they started the construction of a magnificent building, which was ready
the following year to provide shelter to the seminarians, thanks to the unstinting efforts of the Bishop and
of Father Aniceto Gonzalez, Rector of the institution.
A Glance in Retrospect.
If we look over the period which stretches from Bishop Salazar to the year 1898, we will easily notice that
it was a slow and laborious task. Some writers have censured both civil and ecclesiastical authorities for
their apparent failure in the formation of a native clergy, especially Bishop Pardo. Others, on the contrary,
have seen only the defects and shortcomings of the clergy who had been formed during the period.
Although there were failings on both parts, we believe that the authorities did what they conscientiously
understood to be necessary under those circumstances.
The main accusations levelled against the Filipino clergy were: little interest in the maintenance and repair
of ecclesiastical buildings and sacred objects; over-attachment to their relatives; violation of their priestly
celibacy; weakness in fulfilling their ministerial obligations; and a marked inclination towards money. But,
in defense of the Filipino clergy, we ought to affirm that these defects, partly excusable when viewed against
the situation of the country and the idiosyncrasies of the race, can be explained in the light of a very
important fact—the deficient training which those priests received in seminaries badly equipped materially
and almost always suffering from a lack of competent faculty and personnel. These detractors of the clergy
would do well to read with attention these words taken from an Exposicion presented by the Ayuntamiento
of Manila in 1804 to his Majesty:
The weakness and loss of spirit, which for some time now has been noted in these Islands, does not leave
them that strength of character in keeping with the priestly calling and the high ministry of the curé of
souls, unless a solid education sustained by doctrine and zeal in the conciliar seminaries breathe into their
hearts the noble ideals needed to maintain them in their dignified calling. In the three capitals of provinces
graced with episcopal sees, there are seminaries where a young priest may develop himself in discipline
and wisdom, but they merely consist in their fabric or material building with the name of seminary. In
them, very bad Latin and a little of morals by Larraga are hardly ever taught by one or two native clerics.
Bishop Pedro Payo, in a Relatio Status Ecclesiae Metropolitanae Manilae sent to the Holy See in 1883, summed
up the moral condition of both Filipino and Spanish secular clergy in the archdiocese of Manila in the
following words, which we believe agree with the impartial judgment of various observers: (A, pp. 44-52)
There are certainly some among the native priests who are outstanding for their high moral conduct; but
others, of course, forgetting their dignity, are a scandal to the faithful. Even the Europeans who receive
prebendaries in the Catholic church do not show that ideal of character which inspires the rest of the
clergy and the people. Unchastity is spreading far and wide.

page 19
 Chapter 3

The Church and Education; Works of Charity

7. The Church and Education
Primary Instruction.
The religious missionaries who came to evangelize the Philippine Islands did not plan to create a system
of primary instruction; but were content, with a few exceptions perhaps, to open schools inasmuch as they
considered them a means to win souls for Christ. In the beginning, they had to be satisfied with oral
teaching, for there were no books. Even if there had been some, few Filipinos would have been able to
read them. Later, they trained some bright, perceptive Filipinos who in turn would teach their compatriots,
with the few books that began to be published, how to read, write, count, and above all Christian Doctrine.
Because there were no special buildings for teaching, this was held in the Church, in the convento in particular
instances, or in the open air.
The first school started by the missionaries was the one in Cebu in 1565. Shortly after their arrival, the
Augustinian Fathers obtained permission from the city residents to bring together their sons in order to
teach them deportment and Christian doctrine. Attracted by the purity of life of the missionaries, the
Cebuanos presented no difficulties against entrusting their sons to the Fathers for the purpose for which
they had been invited. The provincial chapter of the Augustinians in 1598 decreed that schools be opened
in towns, ranches and barrios, and that they oblige the boys to attend them.
The Franciscans, for their part, contributed as much to
primary instruction in the Philippines as their means allowed.
In this task, the efforts of Father Juan de Plasencia since his
arrival in the Philippines in 1578 were outstanding. This
innovator and scholar, in the manner of so many of his
contemporaries, seems to have taken upon himself the
civilizing mission of founding towns and schools wherever
he went. His plan was to form good and responsible
Christian citizens by teaching them the rudiments of learning,
namely, reading, writing, and some basic arts and tasks.
In a minor scale, the Dominican Father Pedro Bolaños did
the same work in Bataan beginning in 1587.
Neither did the Jesuits neglect this means of evangelization. Hardly had they arrived in the Philippines, we
see them opening primary schools in Tigbauan (Panay Island), Antipolo, and around Manila. About a
school they opened in Carigara (Leyte), Father Colin says:
The second task we undertook was to start a school for boys, supporting them in our residence with the
alms received from the encomenderos. With the help of some bright Indios brought along for the purpose,
we teach them how to read, sing, draw, as well as the divine office which is now sung solemnly. It is cause
for praising God, watching the fervor with which these boys have dedicated themselves to learn matters
of our Faith such that, grouping themselves in fours, or more, and using some pebbles or short sticks they
are wont to mark the words, they have learned in a few days all the prayers in the language, some in Latin,
and how to serve Mass.
Such were the humble but praiseworthy beginnings of primary instruction in the islands under the aegis of
the Church. Progress through the 17th, 18th, and the first half of the 19th century was slow and painful.
Reading the mountain of documents for this period leads to the conclusion that neither the State nor the
Church could give the schools the attention that in our days we give them. It is because the times did not
care as much, for even in cultured Europe practically the same thing happened.

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A certain author has said that in the 17th century there were already a thousand parochial schools in the
Philippines. If we reduce the figure to 100, we would be nearing the truth. All the parishes and missions
put together would not total more than 250, and it must be admitted that in many of them there were no
schools at all, at least in any formal sense.
Nonetheless, the missionaries, supported by the Government, worked in such wise that by the beginning
of the 19th century there were, as a general rule, two schools in each town: one for boys, and another for
girls.
This was the situation when the government took control of primary instruction in 1863, which till then
had been borne almost exclusively on the shoulders of the missionaries and parish priests. On that year,
the superior government decreed the establishment of a Normal School for primary school teachers,
entrusting the Fathers of the Society of Jesus with its administration. The decree also provided that
education would be obligatory in the future, charging with this responsibility the parents, the teachers and
the guardians of children.
Among other dispositions on behalf of education which were issued by the Supreme Authority in the
archipelago, the one of 30 October 1867 is worth noting. In order to ensure the better progress of
education, instructions were sent to the parish priests that henceforth they would be the local inspectors
of primary instruction.
But all of these instructions as well as others that followed did not effect the desired results. There was a
dearth of public funds; there were no provincial inspectors who could have coordinated the activities of
the parish priests; there was no interest among many gobernadorcillos and parents to oblige their children to
go to school; there were not enough good teachers, or there were too many children in the individual
classes; and frequently there was an absence of educational facilities such as desks, blackboards, books,
paper, etc. The parish priests tried to ease the situation within their limited means, often paying teachers
from the parochial funds, purchasing equipment, constructing schools, and allowing at times the use of
the lower floor of the convento as a classroom. Because of these difficulties, parents in many families truly
concerned about the education of their children were forced to send them to study in Manila or entrust
them to private tutors.
School buildings were made of bamboo and nipa, wood or brick. Christian Doctrine and Sacred History
were principal subjects of the school curriculum. The number of schools which in 1877 reached 1,016 had
risen to 2,500 by 1898, with an enrollment of 200,000 school children.
Secondary Teaching.
There was no secondary education (according to the modern system of education) in the Philippines until
1865. On 9 January of that year, the superior government memorialized the Metropolitan5 government on
the need to improve the program of secondary education. In accordance with the wishes of the insular
government, after listening to the opinions of the Council on Public Instruction, Queen Isabel II enacted
by way of experiment that the University of Santo Tomas and the colleges affiliated to it by the
corresponding royal order should restructure their program of education in conformity with the reform
projected by the superior government.
By another royal order dated 28 January 1867 and endorsed in Manila by Governor Gandara on 4 April,
the Spanish government definitively laid the ground for implementing the new norms of education. In
this decree, centers of secondary education would henceforth be classified as public or private schools.
Only the University of Santo Tomas would enjoy the rank of public school. The private colleges would
be divided into private schools of the first class and private schools of the second class. The first-class private
schools were those that offered in their program of studies all the subjects required for the degree of

5 The Metropolitan is the primate of an ecclesiastical province.

page 21
Bachelor of Arts; those that offered only some subjects were classified as second-class. Among the first
were the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and Ateneo de Manila. Only the University of Santo Tomas, as a
public institution of learning, had the power to grant academic degrees. It had the right besides to inspect
the instruction given in the other colleges.
San Juan de Letran. This college had a double origin. Towards the year 1620, there lived in Manila one Juan
Geronimo Guerrero, a Spaniard. Touched by the lot of many Spanish orphans, ordinarily sons of dead
soldiers, he gathered them into his house and provided them with food and education from the alms he
collected from charitable persons. His Majesty gave his approval to this project in 1623. Years later, a lay
Brother Fray Diego de Santa Maria started a similar work in the rooms adjacent to the lobby of Santo
Domingo. The latter absorbed the first when in his old age Guerrero entrusted his foundation, together
with an encomienda the governor had granted to him, to the Dominicans in 1638. Officially accepted by the
Order of Preachers in 1652, for more than half a century it bore the name Seminario de niños huerfanos de San
Pedro y San Pablo (Seminary of Saints Peter and Paul for Orphan Boys). Its program of studies did not go
beyond the level of elementary schooling, until about 1707 when two chairs on the Humanities were added.
The students had until then attended the secondary school of the University of Santo Tomas.
From 1867 on, the first four courses of the
secondary curriculum were given jointly for
the Letranites and the Tomasites in the
building of Letran college; but the former had
to go to the halls of Santo Tomas for the fifth
course. Letran reached a high level of
development because of the implementation
of the decrees on secondary education.
During the 17th century and part of the 18th
century, many of its graduates reached
sacerdotal ordination after completing higher
studies in Santo Tomas. Although only the
sons of Spaniards were accepted in the
beginning, in time many mestizos and natives
were given the same privilege.
Ateneo de Manila. The college of the Immaculate Conception, named Ateneo Municipal de Manila, started
in 1859. While the first Jesuit arrivals in Manila in 1859 were awaiting the opportunity to proceed to
Mindanao at this moment beset with difficulties, the Captain-General Don Fernando Norzaragay,
insinuated to the city council of Manila that they approach the Superior of the mission Father Jose Cuevas
and ask that the Jesuits take charge of a primary school for about
thirty boys which at that time was run by a lay man. Father
Cuevas welcomed the idea, foreseeing the undeniable benefits
which the proposed change would bring to Filipino youth. It
was in this way, briefly, that the Society of Jesus took charge on
10 December 1859 of what was called the Escuela Pia of Manila.
In 1865, Her Majesty Queen Isabel II elevated the school to the
rank of a college of secondary teaching, now entitled Ateneo
Municipal de Manila. In later years, the Jesuit Fathers added
important improvements to the building, even setting up a
Laboratory of Physics and a Museum of Natural History.
Other Colleges. The Dominican Fathers inaugurated a first-class college for secondary teaching in Dagupan
in 1891 under the patronage of Saint Albert. At this time, another college of secondary education was
opened in Bacolod (Negros) under the direction of the Recollect Fathers.

page 22
Higher or University Learning.
Only the Dominicans and the Jesuits engaged in the task of higher learning, the latter from the 16th century
to the 18th century, the former through the three centuries that embraced the period which we are
investigating.
College of San Jose. Hardly had they arrived in the Philippines, the Jesuit Fathers immediately gave serious
thought to the establishment of a center of higher studies. We have already seen how their first essay,
begun in 1583, ended. Much later, they finally succeeded in 1595 amid great difficulties to lay the
foundations of a college which would afterwards be called Maximo or University of San Ignacio. This
college or University, set up in the residence of the Fathers near the church of San Ignacio, was a different
entity from the College of San Jose which occupied a separate building.
The foundation of the College of San Jose, which by its renown came to eclipse almost completely the
Colegio Maximo, was due to the Visitator Father Diego Garcia. In 1599, he told Father Pedro Chirino to
settle its foundation under the patronage of Saint Joseph. With the corresponding permits, the college was
inaugurated on 25 August 1601 under the administration of Father Luis Gomez, its first Rector. In 1610,
after the Fathers of the Society took possession of the property bequeathed them by Adelantado Esteban
Rodriguez in a testament legalized in Arevalo (now Iloilo) on 16 March 1596, the college began a second
foundation as it were, so that it could admit scholars who had to be, according to the will of the founder,
“sons of Spaniards of good birth.” By 1636, Humanities, Philosophy and Theology were being taught
there.
On 3 May 1722, San Jose was granted the title
Real Colegio, and in 1734 it received the license to
open the Faculties of Civil and Canon Law.
When the Jesuits lost this school in May 1768,
the Archbishop of Manila immediately
converted it into a conciliar seminary, with the
consent of Governor Raon. But the king’s royal
cedula of 21 May 1771 disapproved this move,
decreeing that San Jose be reverted to its original
character. However, with the change in
administration, the College led a languid life
under the direction of a secular priest, until by a
royal order in 1875 the government ceded the
administration, the property and the buildings to the Rector of the University of Santo Tomas, in order
that he make use of them to support the Faculties of Medicine and of Pharmacy.
University of Santo Tomas. The center of higher learning which left the deepest imprint on the history of the
Church in the Philippines is, without doubt, the University of Santo Tomas.
At times we hear mention of the College, at other times of the University, of Santo Tomas. The College
was only a boarding school. Founded in 1611 by the Dominican Province of the Most Holy Rosary with
the aid of the bequest of Archbishop Benavides and others, it offered free shelter, free food and clothing,
and free education to about 40 poor students, sons of Spaniards. Mestizos and native sons also formed
part of the boarding school in diverse periods, but they were classed as servants or captistas. Others gained
admission if they paid some amount of money as a kind of tuition. From this college proceeded graduates
who later brought distinction to their Alma Mater in the episcopate, in cathedral dignities in magistracies,
and in civil administration.
The University, which included different faculties, was inaugurated on 15 August 1619. In the beginning,
only the Faculties of Arts, Philosophy and Theology were open. In the course of many years, other faculties

page 23
were opened: Civil and Canon Law (1734), Spanish Law (1835), Medicine and Pharmacy (1871), Notary
Public (1878), Philosophy and Letters (1896), Sciences (1896).
This institution received the power to grant academic degrees from a Brief of Pope Paul V on 11 March
1619; the title of University from Pope Innocent X on 20 November 1645; the title of Royal from King
Charles III on 7 March 1785; the title of
Pontifical from the Pontiff Leo XIII on 17
September 1902; and finally the
qualification Catholic from His Holiness
Pope Pius XII on 30 April 1947.
The building was located for more than
three centuries in Intramuros, next to the
Church of Santo Domingo, the site which
the founders had purposely acquired. In
1945, when the whole building was
completely destroyed, the Dominican
Fathers moved to the present campus in
Sulucan the Faculty of Laws and
Medicine, the only ones that had remained
in the former site when the new building
was inaugurated in Sulucan in 1927. (A,
pp. 53-62)

8. Works of Charity
Hospitals.
In this work of charity, none surpassed the Franciscan Fathers who, carried by the wings of love for God
and for neighbor, founded or administered as many if not perhaps more hospitals as all the other groups
together.
The Royal Hospital. When they arrived in Manila in 1577, they already found in operation the Royal Hospital
which was opened to care for the sick among the Spanish soldiers and sailors. Such was the love for the
sick of these religious that the Spaniards themselves petitioned the Government to entrust to them the
administration of the hospital. And so, its first Administrator-Chaplain Father Agustin de Tordesillas
assumed its direction in 1578. The building, which was of light materials at first, disappeared in the fire of
1583. Built anew thanks to the support of charitable persons and of Governor Santiago Vera, it had to be
raised again after the earthquake of 1603. Unfortunately, continued interference of the civil authorities in
the spiritual and temporal progress of the hospital especially during Governor Corcuera’s time who, against
the express will of the monarch, ended Franciscan control in 1640, forced the Franciscans to give it up
definitively in 1704, never again to assume charge despite the repeated invitations of the insular
government. On 21 August 1862, the Daughters of Charity accepted it.
San Juan de Dios Hospital. The hospital owes its foundation to a Franciscan lay Brother Fray Juan Clemente.
In 1578, Fray Juan began to aid the poor and the sick who gathered at the doors of the poor convent of
Saint Francis, asking for food and medicine. Because the place was not suitable for so great a demand, the
good Brother thought of building a hospital. In a short time, aided by the poor themselves, he raised two
spacious halls on the site now occupied in Intramuros by the Jose Laurel Lyceum. Destroyed during the
fire of 1583, he had to construct it again. Years later, the holy priest Juan Fernandez de Leon offered his
services to the hospital. He constructed a third hall in 1593 with his own means and the alms solicited
from charitable people, but everything went down during the earthquake of 1603. The greatest aid this
virtuous priest gave to the hospital was the establishment on his own initiative of the Mesa de la Misericordia

page 24
in 1594. In the future, it would take care of
providing the means of support for the wing
which he had built.
After 1603, the Franciscan Fathers decided to
build a leprosarium in the outskirts of Manila
for the lepers they had already sheltered. They
also donated the site of the ruined hospital to
the Mesa de la Misericordia. Although this entity
built a new edifice and was charged with its
administration, the spiritual care of the sick
continued in the hands of the Franciscans. On
13 May 1656, the Confraternity entrusted the
direction of the hospital, since then called San
Juan de Dios Hospital, to the Religious Hospitallers from whose hands it passed to the care of the
Daughters of Charity by express will of Queen Isabel II in 1865. From this date, the Spanish government
which enjoyed higher supervisory powers over it because of the Patronato Real decided, in agreement with
the ecclesiastical authority, to name a Board of Inspectors to oversee the proper functioning of this
charitable institution. The presidency of the Board was given to the Franciscan Order through a royal
order in 1891. Immediate direction and supervision had been in the charge of the Daughters of Charity
since 1896, in virtue of a decree of the Governor-General dated 17 August 1865.
Holy Spirit Hospital in Cavite. In Cavite port, on the site donated by a Spaniard Don Felipe Correo, the
Franciscans built a second hospital in 1591 under the patronage of the Holy Spirit. It was intended to
provide rest for the sailors and the laborers of the arsenal there. In 1610, through a deed signed that year,
two pious men donated to it a piece of land in Santa Ana which henceforth would be the basis of its
income. In 1640, Governor Corcuera removed the Franciscans from the hospital, and in 1662 the building
was demolished on orders of Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lara as a defense measure against the threatening
Chinese pirate Kuesing.
Saint James Hospital in Naga. Before the city of Naga was raised to the rank of city and head of the diocese,
the Franciscan missionaries already opened a hospital there which they named Saint James Hospital,
although the people used to call it Saint Lazarus. In time, this charitable institution fell away. Its
administration, by royal disposition, passed from the hands of the religious to those of lay supervisors, and
in 1691 it folded up completely. Various bishops strove in later years to have it reopened, but in vain. This
resurrection was reserved to Bishop Francisco Gainza who, with the aid of the Franciscans, had the
satisfaction of inaugurating it on 12 May 1873 amid great difficulties. And in a magnanimous act of
detachment, he handed it over to the Franciscans. This new hospital was located in a spot near Naga called
Palestina.
Holy Waters Hospital in Los Baños. The foundation of this hospital, due to the initiative of Saint Pedro
Bautista, goes back to 1590. The discovery of thermal springs on the site was what led this sainted martyr
to open the hospital, since the hot springs were known to cure certain illnesses. But the soul of this
foundation in its early years was the lay Brother Fray Diego de Santa Maria who, besides his evangelical
charity, possessed no mean knowledge of medicine and surgery. By a decree of 21 July 1602, confirmed
sometime later by the government, the Cabildo authorized Fray Diego to open a hospital there. And
putting hands to the task, a building of light materials was constructed out of nothing, which he named
Holy Waters Hospital of Mainit. In 1608, some rich natives donated land to the hospital. With this and
other donations, with the work of the religious, and with the aid of the government, the Holy Waters
Hospital quickly reached a high level of prosperity. A big building of stone was constructed in 1671. But
with the years, after the Franciscans had surrendered its supervision to the Patronato, it began to decline
visibly until in 1727 it disappeared completely in a fire. Initiated by Governor Domingo Moriones, the

page 25
Franciscans rebuilt it in 1877; but they did not bind themselves to take charge of its administration even
though the government had offered it to them.
Other Hospitals. There were other hospitals, not founded by the Franciscans although they had helped much
to make them prosper. For example, such were Saint Joseph Hospital in Cebu founded in 1864 by Señor
Romualdo Jimeno; the Casa de Socorro established in 1884 by Bishop Martin Garcia Alcocer, and the Lucena
Hospital founded in 1892 which was administered by the Franciscan tertiaries.
Leprosaria.
One leprosarium worth mentioning because of its brilliant history through the centuries is that of San
Lazaro. Here as in so many other works of charity, the Franciscans took the lead. As we have already said,
it began in 1578 near the door of
the convent of San Francisco. In
1632, the Emperor of Japan
expelled 130 poor lepers criminally
guilty just because they were
Christians. Their arrival in the
Philippines won the compassion of
the Franciscans and the attention
of the government. The former
sheltered them in a house they had
built in Dilao right after the
destruction of their building in
Intramuros during the earthquake
of 1603. The secular government
aided them with generous alms. Years later, Corcuera removed the Franciscans from administering this
institution of charity. But the king restored them in 1641, in answer to their justified complaints.
A decree signed by Governor Basco in 1784 and approved by the king in 1785 transferred the leprosarium
to Mayhaligue, the site it now occupies on Rizal Avenue. In succeeding years, this institution had to pass
through difficult periods due to lack of funds. The building was not sufficient and the hacienda, which
was mismanaged, did not provide enough to support the sick. From these straits, the energetic Father
Felix Huertas came in 1859 to rescue the hospital. He improved the buildings and rectified the
administration, so much so that by the end of the 19th century San Lazaro was well established and had
adequate means of support. This was the situation when the Archbishop of Manila, who had succeeded
to the Spanish Government as Patron of the hospital, removed it from the administration of the
Franciscans in 1907 and ceded it to the American government, which in exchange had given up its
pretentions to the other pious foundations.
Asylums.
Just as the Franciscans were outstanding in hospitals, so the Augustinians distinguished themselves in
asylums. The first asylum that they opened was the Beaterio of Saint Rita in Pasig. The building which was
constructed by Father Felix Trillo goes back to 1740. It was planned to offer shelter and education to
native orphan girls.
In 1882-1883, an epidemic broke out in Manila and the suburbs. With the lives of many parents snuffed
out, many native boys and girls were left orphans. To help them, the Augustinians and some charitable
ladies thought of opening two asylums, one for boys and another one in Mandaluyong for girls. The first
one, built in San Marcelino (Paco) in 1883, was transferred the following year to the magnificent convent
of Guadalupe. From there, it was transferred to Malabon de Tambobong where the Augustinians built
two solid and commodious halls on an extensive piece of land, to serve at the same time as home and

page 26
school of arts and trades for the inmates. When the revolutionaries pillaged it in 1898, there were well-
established printing shops, binderies, lithographies, etc.; and it served as home for about 150 boys. When
the boys left the asylum, they received a sum of money equivalent to the work they performed in the shops.
The girls’ asylum under the Spanish Augustinian tertiaries was transferred from Paco to the casa-hacienda of
Mandaluyong. For some years, it admitted only orphans. But in 1895, Father Benito Ubierna enlarge the
building in order to accommodate boarders, too. When the Revolution occurred, this asylum supported
some damage from the bombardment of the American warships in February 1899. The wards who reached
the age of 20 years in the asylum received, when they married, a gift of from P50 to P200 as dowry. Those
who left the asylum freely but were not married received a similar gift, as long as they had reached the age
of 20 years and had lived there for at least for 10
years.
Another asylum that deserves our notice is the
Asilo-Colegio de San Vicente de Paul at Looban
Street (Paco). It was founded in 1885 by a
Daughter of Charity Sor Asuncion Ventura who
was a native of Pampanga. With her Superiors’
permission, she donated her property on behalf
of neglected children. Its inauguration was held
on 26 July 1885, and since then the Daughters of
Charity have been directing it.
Hospices.
In 1782, a pious couple, Don Francisco Gomez Enriquez and Doña Barbara Verzosa, ceded to the
Archbishop a great part of their property to help found a hospice for the old, the demented, and orphans.
Three years later, Manila had the first foundation
of its kind. At first, it was located in Pandacan,
then in Binondo, and later on the left side of the
descent of Ayala bridge in San Miguel. In 1895,
the island which rises in the middle of the Pasig
just below Ayala bridge was ceded by the
administrators of San Juan de Dios Hospital.
This island was formerly known as the Isla de
Convalescencia (Island of Recuperation), because
the patients of San Juan de Dios used to go there
to convalesce. That year, the Hospice transferred
to the island. The Daughters of Charity have
been in charge of this institution since 1865.
Epilogue.
The following phrases which flowered from the pen of Rev. Mackinnon, chaplain of the American troops
in Manila in 1898, are especially fitting: (A, pp. 63-70)
Because in no other part of the world is Christian charity more in bloom and more widespread than in the
Philippines; and the hospitals, the maternity houses, the industrial schools and other like institutions would
bring honor to any nation. Enormous are the sums which each year are expended for charity.

page 27
 Chapter 4

Councils and Synods; the Royal Patronage; Diocesan Visitation

9. Councils and Synods.
The First Synod in the Philippines Held in 1582.
A resume of its acts, apparently incomplete and published in Philippiniana Sacra, carries the following
epigraph: “A Summary of A Meeting which was held in the form of a Council in the year 1582, in order
to provide a basis for questions touching the spread of the Faith and to justify the conquests made and still
to be made in the future by the Spaniards.”
Present at this meeting besides Bishop Salazar were the prelates and learned men of the religious orders,
some jurists and, on occasion, experienced captains. They worked to gain information about the land, and
make sure that the discussions proceeded in truth and in justice.
The Summary consists of two parts. Part One with five brief chapters;
Part Two with six chapters divided into paragraphs according to the
following topics:
1. The King’s Concerns
2. Governors
3. Royal Officials
4. Alcaldes Mayores and other Administrators of Justice
5. Captains and Soldiers Engaged in the task of Pacification,
otherwise known as “Conquest”
6. Encomenderos, Hacenderos, Collectors, their Servants and Slaves
Four other chapters were promised, but these were not discussed in
the proper place, for the second part abruptly ends after paragraph 20
of Chapter VI with two appendices entitled “Orders and Instructions
for Observance by Alcaldes Mayores” and “Tariff Rates.” However,
these were discussed in various paragraphs throughout the six chapters
mentioned.
According to the fourth chapter of Part One, the purpose of the
meeting was “to discuss the good order and system to be followed in
the administration of this new Church so that she may march forward.”
But because the new Church in the Philippines in her continued
progress was encumbered with many obstacles from “persons, things,
usages and customs” as is clear from the Summary, discussions in the
meeting concentrated mainly on removing these difficulties. Hence,
the decisions give the impression of being prohibitions rather than
constructive policies.
One easily concludes from reading the Summary that the meeting or
synod of 1582 was both a religious and civil assembly. It will be enough
to cite certain points so that the reader may have an idea of the love for justice and truth which inspired it.
On the rights of captains, soldiers, governors and judges of the Philippines, the Summary says that they had
no claims other than what the king had granted them; and the king could give only what he had received
from Christ, namely, the power or the faculty granted him by the popes to preach the Gospel throughout
the world.
Now, since this mission was difficult if not impossible to fulfill unless the kings of Spain took possession

page 28
of the land, it was necessary to conquer or, in other words, to deprive the natives of their natural right of
self-government in order to bestow a greater good of the supernatural order: the freedom of the sons of
God, based on the principles of Christianity. On the other hand, if the Filipinos, sufficiently organized
and civilized, had not resisted the Gospel, the king, in the mind of the synod, would have had no right at
all to send soldiers for the protection of the missionaries and occupy the land.
But this higher authorization did not entitle the Spaniards to deprive the natives of their natural right to
their individual property or to their dependents, “since the Gospel,” says the Summary, “dispossesses no
one of what is his.”
“What immediately come out of this whole discussion,” comments the Dominican historian Father
Valentin Marin, “is the extreme sensitivity of those men. They were putting on trial the rights to these
lands which the king of Spain could claim, despite the bull of Alexander VI, sheerly out of their respect
for another’s property.” Because in that age of wars and conquests many abuses were committed against
a half-civilized society, the assembly emphasized the obligation of civil officials, especially the encomenderos,
to restore ill-gotten goods to the natives, and to clearly announce to the officials of the natives that they
ought to be the father and protector of the native element.
In the Summary there was a recommendation to the encomenderos to try to group the natives into organized
towns, to make provision for ministers of Christian doctrine, if not to teach the catechism themselves. It
was also recommended that they look to the maintenance of order and Christian morality, that they build
in the encomienda a church for religious purposes and a house for the minister.
If we accept the judgment of Father Chirino, the synod was a success. The synod had “laid down definite
and basic formulations. The members were properly informed and freed from error; the way was cleared
and eased for the administration of the sacraments; those concerned were inspired and eager to satisfy their
obligations and make the proper restitution; and all the estates and offices were respected and put in order.”
But Father Hernan Suarez, also a Jesuit missionary in the Philippines at the time of the synod, wrote to the
General of the Order Father Aquaviva: “The Bishop called the religious together to solve several problems
that demanded a solution. The secretary of the meeting was Father Alonso Sanchez who drew up the
minutes of the agenda. But neither his view prevailed, nor did the resolutions to a great extent effect much,
for the friars held opposite views to the Bishop’s, and everyone is full of his own ideas.” Even if we agree
with Father Suarez, we cannot deny that the synod resulted in much good, above all in the question of
restitution, thanks to the tenacity and resourcefulness of Bishop Suarez who obliged many Spaniards to
restore ill-gotten property, out of which he established a fund whose interest was set aside for the
construction of churches and the ransom of captives.
The Synod of Cebu (1600).
Two years after he had taken possession of his see in 1598,
Bishop Pedro de Agurto decided to celebrate a synod for the
religious and secular priests of his diocese during the octave of
Pentecost. Through synodal resolutions, he hoped to arrive at
unanimity in the teaching of Christian doctrine and the
administration of the sacraments to the natives. To this end he
appointed a group of six—two secular priests, two Augustinians,
and two Jesuits—to revise a Visayan translation of the
Catechism. The synod sent a procurator to the Royal Audiencia
to seek to outlaw polygamy, as a practice against natural law but
still widespread among the unconverted Visayan subjects of the
king. It also sought that marriage among the natives be based
on perpetual consent.

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Attempts During the 17th Century for a Provincial Council.
In 1585, the third provincial council of Mexico was held in Mexico City. Because Manila was suffragan to
the archbishopric of Mexico City, Bishop Salazar was invited to attend. But he excused himself because
of the distance, his old age and his infirmities.
Since the Church in the Philippines was declared independent of Mexico in 1595 by Clement VIII, it was
necessary to look to her own government and discipline. Nothing
better suited the purpose than a provincial council, it seemed. And so,
the fifth Prelate of Manila Archbishop Miguel Garcia Serrano tried to
celebrate one in 1621. However, he could not do anything because of
the peculiar set-up of the Philippine Church within the Patronato Real.
The Archbishop had to be satisfied with sending a canon of his
cathedral, the licentiate Juan Cervicos, to Rome to solicit from the Holy
Father Pope Urban VIII the Brief dated 11 March 1626 by which the
Supreme Pontiff arranged that the decrees of the third Council of
Mexico should also apply to the Philippines until Manila could hold its
own provincial council. There is no doubt that this council had legal
validity for a long time in the Philippines. And even Father Benito
Corominas, a professor of Canon Law at the University of Santo Tomas
who died in 1881, believed that up to his time, it was still in force.
Archbishop Poblete, who governed the archdiocese of Manila in 1653-
1669, edited with the help of some learned ecclesiastics some
“Constitutions” in preparation for a provincial council he was planning
to convoke. But the council remained a plan, because in the same year
1661 the bishops of Nueva Segovia, Nueva Caceres and Cebu died.
The Provincial Council of Manila (1771).
This was the situation when, by the royal cedula of 21 August 1769 known as the “tomo regio” (the royal
decree), Charles III decreed that the bishops of the Americas and the Philippines should celebrate
provincial councils without delay. In compliance with this royal mandate, Archbishop Basilio Sancho of
Manila called together early in 1771 the three suffragan bishops to plan the opening of the provincial
council on 19 May. Unfortunately, the bane of discord entered the sessions of the council, occasioned by
the lodging of the protest by the Franciscan Bishop Antonio de Luna of Nueva Caceres against the
appointment as secretaries of Fathers Ildefonso Garcia and Joaquin Traggia, Piarists and members of the
household of the prelate of Manila. Bishop de Luna took it as an insult to the Chapter, among whom there
were not lacking in his judgment capable individuals for such an assignment. Besides other motives for
discord, the final result of this was a decree of expulsion published on 22 July against Bishop Luna who
retired in high dander to his see, having first appealed to the Royal Council of the Indies.
Another incident which helped envenom the procedure of the council was the absence of Bishop Miguel
Lino de Espeleta of Cebu. Held back because of sickness, he had to delegate his powers to Doctor
Clemente Blanco Bermudez whom the council recognized as the Bishop’s delegate over the protest of
Bishop Luna. But the question became embittered when word came on 27 September that Bishop Espeleta
had died. Nevertheless, the delegate Bermudez continued in his post in spite of the protest of Bishop
Luna who argued, not without reason, that the delegation had ceased at the death of the delegating bishop.
After several sessions, the council was closed on 24 November. They needed only to obtain the signature
of the king and of the pope. To obtain them, Father Traggia sailed for Madrid and Rome. But when the
king learned of what happened, he ordered the priest on his arrival to retire to his convent without even
presenting himself at the court. And so, this messenger of the Acts failed to obtain their papal approval.

page 30
All this adversely affected the validity of this assembly which never enjoyed legal force. Historically, the
acts are not wthout interest, for they do not fail to throw light on many points of the religious life of the
Philippines.
Epilogue.
Despite these failures, the Church in the Philippines has not been lacking in adequate ecclesiastical
legislation. For, besides the Tridentine decrees, the papal briefs and bulls dispatched to the Indies in
general or to the Philippines in particular, the Church could still count on the Laws of the Indies, royal
cedulas, the decrees of the third Mexican council, and the ordinary and extraordinary privileges promulgated
by both the popes and the kings of Spain for the spiritual government of the people, all of which the
canonists in the Philippines so ably interpreted here. (A, pp. 89-97)

10. The Royal Patronage.

Among the different kinds of Patronage in reference to the provision of ecclesiastical benefices, four are
pertinent to us to now, namely: the Universal Ecclesiastical Patronage, the universal Royal Patronage, the
Spanish Royal Patronage, and the Spanish Royal Patronage in the Indies.
The Universal Ecclesiastical Patronage.
This is the sum of all the privileges with the corresponding obligations which are granted by the Church
to some Catholics who found churches, chapels, or benefices6; or to their successors. This Patronage is
based, “first, on the gratitude of the Church to her benefactors, a gratitude which has inspired her to reward
their generosity; and second, on her praiseworthy desire to awaken the piety of the faithful that they might
establish foundations for temples or benefices to be able to attend better to the liturgy and the care of
souls.” In this sense, Patronage began in the 5th century when the Church granted the “right of
presentation” to clerics and laymen who had built a church or founded a benefice. In accordance with this
right, the founder or “Patron” enjoyed the privilege of presenting to the Church authorities a cleric to be
rector of a church or to enjoy a benefice. Granted almost always to the laity, this privilege resulted in so
many inconveniences and on so many occasions restricted the free movement of the Church, so that she
had to curtail or suppress the practice especially in these last years.
The Universal Royal Patronage.
This is the privilege granted by the Holy See to monarchs and heads of state to present or propose an apt
candidate for a vacant major or minor ecclesiastical benefice within their country. If we apply this
definition to the privilege which the Holy See, by tacit consent or written declaration, granted to the
Spanish kings of presenting clerics for the ecclesiastical benefices of Spain, we have the Spanish Royal
Patronage.
The Spanish Royal Patronage.
According to some authors, this started during the period of the Visigoths, and more specifically in the
reign of Recared (+589). A convert from Arianism, this king began the practice of convoking national
councils, as far as we know not against the will of Rome.
During the years of the Reconquest (718-1492), the kings followed the custom, not disapproved by the
Holy See, of nominating prelates, rectors, prebendaries for the dioceses, churches or benefices which they
restored or founded in the territories recovered from Moslem control. The Catholic kings and some of
their successors, wishing that the churches and benefices in the nation should stay only in the hands of
qualified Spaniards if possible, obtained from the Holy See very ample powers in the presentation of
bishops and the provision of benefices. These powers were granted, first in 1486 by the bull of Innocent

6 An ecclesiastical office to which the revenue from an endowment is attached.

page 31
VIII, and later in 1523 by the bull of Adrian VI, and finally in 1753 by the Concordat between Benedict
XIV and Ferdinand VI.
The Spanish Royal Patronage in the Indies.
With the discovery and conquest of America in the 16th century, a new kind of Patronage appeared along
the lines of the Spanish Royal Patronage: the Royal Patronage of the Indies. This included not only the
right of presentation and provision, but also some control and administration of Church goods and the
right to collect ecclesiastical tithes and the fruits of vacant churches. However, to this right corresponded
the rather heavy obligation of sending missionaries at the expense of the Royal Treasury, of erecting and
furnishing cathedrals, churches and chapters, of maintaining the liturgy, etc.
The Spanish Royal Patronage in the Indies rests on
the following documents:
1. The bull Inter caetera (Among Other Things) of
Alexander VI (4 May 1493) granting to the
Crown of Spain dominion over the Indies with
the obligation of spreading the Catholic Faith
there.
2. The bull also of Alexander VI (16 November
1501) granting the right to the tithes and first
fruits of the Indies, but with the obligation of
founding and furnishing churches, maintaining
their prelates or rectors, and providing for the
needs of the liturgy, all out of royal funds.
3. The bull Universalis ecclesiae (Of the Universal
Church) of Pope Julius II (28 July 1508) granting
to the Castilian Crown Universal Patronage over
the churches already founded or still to be
founded in the Indies.
This Patronage, first granted for the Americas, was
extended to the Philippines with the arrival of
Legaspi in 1565. From then on, the Governor-
General of the Islands would be the Vice-Regal
Patron, or Vice-Gerent of the king in all matters
pertaining to the Royal Patronage which the
monarch could not attend to either himself or
through the Royal Council of the Indies. In the time
of the Austrian Hapsburgs, the Royal Patronage of
the Indies was kept as a general rule within its proper
competence. But with the accession of the Bourbons
in 1700, one notices a greater interference by the king
in church affairs, interference which reached its
widest extent under King Charles III (1759-1788).
There are innumerable proofs and evidences of the interference of the Royal Patronage with the life of the
religious orders in the Philippines. It was the king who approved the establishment of religious provinces
and houses, the departure of religious missionaries for the Philippines, the license to return to the
Peninsula, the assignment of provinces or mission territories to each religious order, and the erection of
parishes administered by religious ministers. Moreover, due to the difficulty of communications before

page 32
the 19th century, the king usually delegated some of these privileges to the Vice-Patron, as for example
allowing missionaries to go to Japan or to China from Manila. With the facility of communications in the
19th century, there is a marked tendency also for the Metropolitan government to settle by itself matters
pertaining to the Patronato which in other times had been left to the responsibility of the Vice-Regal Patron.
(A, pp. 98-107)

11. Diocesan Visitation.

One of the more serious problems that had troubled the Church in the Philippines for two centuries, i.e.
from 1581 to 1776, had been that of the diocesan visitation. In a strict sense, diocesan visitation means
the right given by the sacred canons to residential bishops, as shepherds of souls, to visit parish churches,
look into the good name of the parish priests, inspect the parish books, the tabernacle, the Baptismal font,
the holy oils, the confraternities, etc. In the Spanish dominions, especially in the Philippines, the problem
of diocesan visitation became quite a complicated affair because of the interference into the concerns of
the Church by the Royal Patronage.
Papal Privileges of the Religious Orders.
Religious missionaries almost always accompanied the Spaniards in their discoveries and conquests of
America and the Philippines, to consolidate the triumph of the sword with the word of the Gospel.
Obviously, there was yet no hierarchy in the beginning in those places. Instead, the kings of Spain obtained
ample privileges for the religious missionaries to perform those ministries which in ordinary circumstances
presuppose the bishop’s license, such as hearing Confessions, preaching, solemnizing marriages, etc.
The privileges of the religious stem from the bull Exponi nobis better
known as the Omnimoda. On 10 May 1522, Pope Adrian VI, at the
instance of Emperor Charles V, granted to the prelates of the mendicant
religious orders in the Indies, and to their deputies in places where there
were no bishops or where it was not possible within two days’ journey
(dos dietas) to reach them or their officials, the full exercise of any and
every episcopal faculty as occasion demanded, both in the internal and
the external forum, for the conversion of pagans and their preservation
in the faith so much so that the missionaries could perform any ministry
not requiring episcopal consecration until such time as the Holy See
arranged otherwise. In this way, Adrian VI confirmed and extended to
the other religious institutions the faculty which his predecessor Pope
Leo X had granted to the Franciscans by the Apostolic Constitution
Dilecti Filii of 25 April 1521 giving them license to preach, to administer
the sacraments, and to perform episcopal functions in provinces where
there would be no bishops.
Clement VII, in another bull signed on behalf of the Dominican Order, confirmed all similar concessions
by the popes Innocent IV, Nicholas IV, Leo X and Adrian VI, with the proviso that they could use the
above faculties wherever they judged it convenient as time and place demanded for the promotion of
God’s glory and the salvation of souls.
Paul III, Clement VII’s successor to the papacy, issued a bull Alias felicis at the request of the Franciscan
General on 15 February 1533 modifying the limit of two days’ journey, so that even if bishops were
accessible the religious could make use of the omnimoda with the bishop’s permission. The same Paul III
by a verbal declaration (vivae vocis oraculo) confirmed in 1542 all the favors and concessions till then granted
to the mendicant religious orders in the Indies and to be granted in the future, both in general and in
particular.

page 33
Julius III confirmed, approved and renewed all that his predecessors had granted to the Franciscans and
the Dominicans, even by way of communication of privileges. Julius III, in two bulls—one issued on 28
July 1550 at the instance of the Franciscan Minister-General, the other on 10 July 1551 at the request of
the Dominican Master-General—confirmed, approved and granted anew the same faculties enjoyed by
one or the other religious order, although as an extension and communication of privileges.
Favored with these privileges, the religious missionaries exercised the care of souls exclusively at the license
of their respective provincials. They did not receive their faculties from the local ordinary, nor did they
undergo any canonical investiture or installation. They were absolutely exempt from the jurisdiction of the
diocesan prelate.
Eventually, the canons of the Council of
Trent were promulgated in Spain in 1564,
where Chapter XI of Session 25 decreed
that the provision of all benefices,
especially of curacies—even those of
religious—should be preceded by an
examination, installation and investiture by
the diocesan ordinaries. No religious,
therefore, could preach or hear the
Confessions of the laity without the
approval of the local ordinary. In view of
this, many began to question the validity of
the privileges just discussed.
To quiet scruples and dispel doubts, Philip II obtained from Pope Pius V, through a brief Exponi nobis
dated 24 March 1567, confirmation of the privileges granted to the religious missionaries by the pope’s
predecessors. However, this last confirmation was meant to continue only as long as the religious were
needed to perform parochial functions because of lack of secular priests. This explains the efforts of the
bishops in America to raise a native clergy who would assume the role of the religious parish priests.
Some say that Pius V soon regretted having renewed the privileges abrogated by the Council of Trent, and
that his successor Gregory XIII revoked the brief of Pius V by the bull In tanta rerum dated 1 March 1573.
But Gregory XIV issued on 16 September 1591 a bull that confirmed anew the privileges of the religious.
Diocesan Visitation in the Time of Bishop Salazar.
At about this time (1581), Bishop Salazar had already taken possession of his see. Assailed by scruples and
doubts, he planned to introduce diocesan visitation in the Philippines. And so, after the synod of 1582-
1585 he signified to the religious his intention to visit them. The latter defended themselves with their
privileges and opposed the idea; but because the Bishop went ahead with his plan, they gave up their
ministries. In the end, thanks to the intervention of Governor-General Ronquillo, Bishop Salazar desisted
from the visitation, while he consulted the learned Augustinian of Mexico Father Alonso de Vera Cruz
whose masterful solution contributed more than anything else to bring about peace to the Bishop’s
conscience.
Diocesan Visitation in the 17th Century.
During the 17th century, the question of diocesan visitation occupied the minds of people both in the legal
as well as the actual order.
First of all, we find Clement VIII’s bull Religiosorum quorumcumque dated 8 November 1597 approving a
resolution by the Sacred Congregation of Cardinals which provided that religious missionaries, appointed
by their Superiors and approved by the Ordinary or his officials for the care of souls in the Indies because

page 34
of lack of priests, were subject to the ordinary of the place in what pertains to the ministry of souls. But
this brief does not seem to have caused a murmur in the Philippines.
The bull of Gregory XV Inscrutabili Dei providentia dated 5 February 1622 was of more significance, for it
certainly abrogated the privileges granted by Saint Pius V. But according to some authors, the religious
orders prevailed upon Urban VIII to suspend the bull through the brief Alias a felici issued on 27 February
1625.
This was how things stood in the order of law when the fiscal of the Royal Audiencia of the Philippines
took steps in 1654 that led to the subjection of the ministries of the religious to the Royal Patronage and
to diocesan visitation. The provincials opposed the plan, adducing the prevailing custom and the special
circumstances of the Church in the Philippines. But the Audiencia disagreed with their reasons and decreed
that the curacies and ministers were subject to visitation by the respective Ordinary. Face with the law, the
Superiors of the religious orders resorted to the tactic of renouncing all their ministries. Intent on carrying
out this plan, the fiscal went to Archbishop Poblete to see whether the secular clergy could take charge of
the ministries which the religious were threatening to quit. A negative answer from the Archbishop forced
the fiscal to yield for the moment while he appealed to the Council of the Indies for a favorable solution.
The latter replied with a “visto” on 23 October 1666, meaning that no action was forthcoming.
Another Attempt and Another Failure.
Towards the end of the 17th century, Archbishop Camacho planned to initiate the episcopal visitation of
the ministries administered by the religious within his archdiocese. But he met so much opposition in the
visitation of San Gabriel Hospital and in the ministries of Tondo and Binondo, so much resistance from
the provincials, and indifference if not outright hostility from Governor Zabulburu, that he had to give up
his idea much to his disappointment. But he did not give up the plan completely, for he sought the backing
of the king and of the pope. Rome answered in favor of the Archbishop, issuing the brief Cum sicut on 30
January 1705 which declared that ministries in the hands of religious missionaries were subject to visitation
by the Ordinary.
Sometime after, Camacho’s successor Archbishop Francisco de la Cuesta, O.S.H. arrived in Manila.
Transferred from the see of Guadalajara in Mexico and provided with a papal brief and a royal cedula, he
was ready to introduce episcopal visitation here. But at the request of the provincials, he delayed
implementation of both documents until an answer to the representation sent to Spain by the religious
prelates were received. The answer never came; and so, the situation continued as before, thanks to the
conciliatory approach of the new archbishop who felt no great enthusiasm for making the visits.
Diocesan Visitation and Archbishop Basilio Sancho.
And so things stood, until by the middle of the 18th century, Benedict
XIV promulgated two bulls: Firmandis on 6 November 1744, and Quamvis
on 24 February of the next year. At the instance of Ferdinand VI, both
were ratified by the bull Cum nuper on 8 November 1751 which clearly
and definitively ordered the religious to accept canonical investiture and
diocesan visitation.
And thus when Archbishop Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa y Rufina of
Manila signified to the Dominicans on 4 August 1767 his intention to
make a visitation of the ministries in the archdiocese of Manila, the
provincial, in consultation with his council, answered simply that because
of the papal bulls and the royal cedulas, he had nothing against the plan of
the Archbishop.
The other religious orders, except the Jesuits who had been driven out of

page 35
the Islands in 1768, continued their fight against visitation until the arrival of the famous royal cedula of 11
December 1776, by which the king ordered them to receive their ministries from the Royal Patronage and
to accept diocesan visitation. Since then, most of the ministries of the religious followed the laws of
Patronage and were subject to visitation, i.e. the religious Superior presented the terna to the Vice-Regal
Patron when a ministry fell vacant. The latter then presented one of the nominees to the Ordinary for
confirmation and canonical investiture. This procedure was followed only when a parish was held in
proprietorship; if it was administered only temporarily, it was enough for the religious Superior to present
the candidate to the diocesan prelate for the latter to confer canonical investiture.
Reasons for Opposition from the Religious.
Now the question: Why did the religious missionaries strongly oppose canonical investiture and diocesan
visitation for two centuries? Reasons varied.
First, they preferred missions to parishes, or in other words, they undertook the care of souls out of love
rather than out of a sense of justice. For example, the Dominican Fathers were obliged by a special law to
accept ministries only out of charity and only as missionaries. If bishops should want them to undertake
the care of souls as a duty in justice, they were to abandon the ministries as soon as possible.
Second, they believed that canonically conferred ministries would be the cause of a relaxation of religious
observance by the conferees. In their journey across Mexico, the religious observed a significant lowering
of monastic discipline, which they attributed to the difficulty of the religious Superiors to correct their
subjects acting as parish priests.
Third, if they accepted diocesan visitation, they had to accept canonical investiture and Royal Patronage
which, according to the practice then, made it extremely difficult for the Superiors to remove a religious
parish priest for duty within their religious order.
Fourth, they considered it improper to reveal to the Ordinary or to the Vice-Regal Patron the faults of a
delinquent religious parish priest, preparatory to his removal from the parish; much less, that a judicial
process be initiated against the culprit, for this would certainly prejudice the good repute of the individual
and of the corporation.
Later Incidents.
One must note that in virtue of the royal cedula of 1 August 1795, parishes
conferred through canonical investiture would be irremovable in the
future. A legal procedure was then to be instituted for the removal of
religious priests who held parishes in proprietorship. To remedy this
uncomfortable situation which hampered the religious Superiors from
freely disposing of many of their subjects, they obtained from Charles
IV the royal cedula of 29 September 1807, by which the king ordered that
religious parish priests appointed to duties within their religious order
should accept without excuse and leave their curacies. (A, pp. 108-115)

page 36
 Chapter 5

Secularization of the Parishes; Jurisdiction Conflicts

Between the Church and the Civil Authorities
12. Secularization of the Parishes.
Overview.
In the history of the Church in the Philippines, secularization of the parishes means the transfer to the
secular clergy of the ministries founded or administered by the regular clergy. Originally a religious
concern, it assumed by the middle of the 19th century a political and separatist character, which climaxed
in the Revolution and the ensuing secularization of almost all the parishes in the Philippines. It covers two
periods: from 1753 to 1849, and from 1849 to 1898.
In general, it is good to note that the work of the regular clergy is principally that of the missions; while
that of the secular clergy is to a great extent limited to parish work. Theoretically, the religious should be
satisfied with founding missions and developing them into established parishes for eventual transfer to the
secular clergy. But in the Philippines this had scarcely taken place due to a series of circumstances,
especially the defective formation and shortage of secular priests, the attachment of the religious in the 17th
and 18th centuries to the parishes they had founded, and the political system of Spain in the Philippines
which saw, or believed it saw, during the 19th century a dreaded separatist element in the native clergy.
Secularization up to 1700.
In the royal cedula signed on 6 December 1583 in Lisbon, Philip II declared that parochial administration
pertained in Church law to the secular clergy; and if religious priests administered parishes, it was through
papal concession dictated by necessity. Therefore, once there was a sufficient number of capable secular
priests, these should be preferred to the religious in the provisions of ecclesiastical benefices and missions
(doctrinas).
The Royal Cedulas of 1753 and 1757.
By 1753, Ferdinand VI believed that the reasons no longer held for the
Royal Patronage to make use of religious missionaries in the spiritual
conquest of the Spanish dominions in the Indies. He thought that in
the Indies there was already a number of secular priests competent in
learning and in virtue, who could take the place of the former in the care
of souls. By a royal cedula of 1 February that year, he ordered the
viceroys, governors, archbishops and bishops to relieve the religious
orders of parochial work, and to assign in their place members of the
secular clergy as the parishes were vacated.
This royal measure in effect decreed the universal secularization of the
curacies administered by the regular clergy. But, since its
implementation entailed serious difficulties, the same monarch decided
in another cedula dated 23 February 1757 that the preceding decree be
amended in two ways: 1) in no way may a parish be set up as a secular
curacy until its effective cession, and not without the approval of the
viceroy or governor and the diocesan prelate; 2) the viceroy or governor,
in accord with the archbishop or bishop, should see to the implementation of the cedula of 1753 such that
the religious orders could keep one or two of the richer parishes in each province.
However, these royal cedulas were not put into effect in the Philippines at that time. Rather, on 24 February

page 37
1754 the same king wrote to the religious orders in the Islands in the following terms:
It has seemed good to me to express the special pleasure I have at the zeal with which the religious of that
province dedicated themselves in a spirit of Christian rivalry to increase and preserve in the Faith the
Christian communities in their charge, and to the proper instruction they are receiving, hoping that by
your watchful care, you shall continue to advance these same happy developments.7
We can then say that the monarch’s mind with regard to the Philippines was not to secularize the parishes,
but to subject the regular clergy to diocesan visitation and the Royal Patronage. Actually, a certain governor
had previously tried to put the regulars under Royal Patronage; but the latter had defended themselves with
the royal cedula of 26 September 1687, stating that in the provision of the curacies no innovation should be
introduced, which was confirmed by another cedula in 1710. With these two documents, the religious
shielded themselves from the pressure exerted by Governor Pedro Manuel de Arandia on the Augustinian
provincial in 1757.
Secularization During the Reigns of Charles III and IV.
The secularization of the parishes did not effectively take place until Archbishop Basilio Sancho arrived in
Manila. As we have already seen, the Dominicans submitted to diocesan visitation in August 1767. A little
later, Governor Jose Raon on 13 April 1768, in accord with the Royal Audiencia and the Archbishop,
presented to the Dominican provincial a decree dated 13 March of that year which ordered that the
provincial should present three religious for each mission (doctrina), so that the Ordinary could confer
canonical investiture according to the laws of Royal Patronage; otherwise they should leave their ministries.
This time the provincial did not easily bend before the will of the Governor and the Archbishop. And so
on 16 April, the Governor sent an order to the Archbishop to appoint secular priests to the parishes of
Binondo and the Parian. For his part, the Archbishop not only lent himself to second the will of Raon,
but even encouraged him to order the secularization of the Dominican ministries in Bataan. And in effect,
a priest moved in shortly to administer the Binondo parish, and secular priests assumed charge of the
Parian and six Dominican ministries in Bataan in June.
At the expulsion of the Society of Jesus, many of their parishes also passed to the hands of the secular
clergy, both those in the suburbs of Manila and those in Cavite and Negros provinces.
Simón de Anda y Salazar succeeded Raon. With his characteristic energy,
the former threw himself to the task of compelling the Augustinians to
accept Royal Patronage. Because they had opposed the non-
transferability of the parishes and had refused to submit the terna, Anda
forcefully deprived them of seventeen curacies in Pampanga, which he
immediately assigned to the secular clergy. However, it must be noted
that some Augustinians retained for themselves and for their religious
order their respective parishes, submitting to the Royal Patronage and
canonical visitation in time and on their own initiative.
The Augustinians felt offended and complained to the king, who ordered
Anda through the royal cedula of 9 November 1774 to restore what
belonged to them. However, the king at the same time approved the
secularization of the curacies and ministries, with the condition that in
each province one or two of the richer missions of their choosing might
be left to the religious. While this was happening to the Augustinians,
the Dominicans had already submitted to the Royal Patronage on 6 June
1771 in order to avoid worse evils.

7 Ayala, Francisco, O.P., Exposicion al Exemo. Sr. Mariano Ricafort, Manila, 21 November 1825.

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Incidents in Pampanga and other less wholesale experiences made Anda realize that rapid and total
secularization of the missions would entail many evils in the Islands, both spiritual and temporal. On 3
January 1776, he sent a memorial against secularization to Charles III. This resulted in the royal cedula of
11 December 1776 addressed to the Dominican provincial, which ordered that things return to the status
quo ante. In other words, the secularized ministries were to return to the religious, on condition that the
latter accept Royal Patronage and submit to diocesan visitation.
This was followed by the royal cedula of 17 September 1788, which was occasioned by the following
incident: The year before, the parish of Quingua had been left vacant by the death of the Augustinian
missionary in charge, Fr. Bernardo Notario. The Acting Governor Pedro Sarrio assigned it to the
Augustinian Father Manuel Rivera on 5 December. To justify his action, Sarrio memorialized the king
briefly but substantially on the situation of the secular clergy in the Philippines and expressed opposition
to the policy of secularization.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the question of secularization was raised anew when the Vice-Patron
and the Archbishop entrusted the newly founded parish of Santa Rosa to the Dominicans, and the parishes
of Imus and Las Piñas to the Recollects. The secular clergy protested against the usurpation of ministries
they claimed for themselves. Making common cause with the latter, the cabildo elevated a petition to the
king, and a cedula bearing the date 31 March 1803 was issued immediately transferring the three parishes to
the secular clergy. But the Vice-Regal Patron did not heed the mandate, and the curacies remained under
the administration of the religious.
A Decree of the Cortes Favoring Secularization in 1812.
In 1812, Bishop Arispe of Guayana petitioned the Cortes in Cadiz to secularize the parishes in his diocese.
The representatives for America prevailed upon the Cortes to pass the decree of 13 September, extending
the Arispe resolution to all of the Americas and the Philippines. When the decree reached the islands, the
superior government quickly noted that its implementation was inadvisable due to the dearth and the
inadequate preparation of the secular clergy here. To this end, it sent to the Archbishop, Juan Antonio
Zulaybar, O.P., his arguments for delaying the promulgation of the decree, to which this prelate agreed,
convinced of the same reasons. Besides, he penalized some clerics who, knowing that the decree had
arrived in Manila, had presented themselves at the palace to petition its implementation.
Things stood thus until 1820 when King Ferdinand VII, in
acknowledging the Constitution, had to sanction the decree of
secularization, as he had been bound to it by the liberal ministers. This
disposition reached the Philippines in the time of Governor Mariano F.
Folgueras, who consulted the Archbishop before publishing it.
Nonetheless, although the Archbishop was convinced it was impossible
to effect total secularization in one step, he believed it was possible to
do so by degrees. And so, when the Malate parish was left vacant by
the death of its Augustinian administrator in 1822, it was given to a
secular priest following a competitive synodal examination.
The Royal Cedula of 1826.
The government of Spain had wanted for many years to secularize the
parishes here because of the high cost of sending religious missionaries
to America and the Philippines. But, from the time of the independence
of the American colonies which had been fomented by the secular
clergy, Spain changed her policy completely in order to prevent the same
disaster in the Antilles and the Philippines. This was the basic reason for the Royal Order of 8 June 1826
aimed to nip in the bud all projects of secularization in the Philippines during the 19th century. In this

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decree, after a brief resumé of the history of secularization since the reign of Ferdinand VI, Ferdinand VII
ordered:
…that both the calced Augustinians and the religious of the other orders be restored to administer their
curacies in those same Islands, in the manner and condition they had enjoyed and was decreed for them
by the royal cedula of 11 December 1776, notwithstanding the doubts presented in later cedulas regarding
the meaning of their provisions, and neither by the Vice-Regal Patron, nor by the diocesan ordinaries, may
any curacy be secularized without express orders from my royal person, protesting, as I now protest, that
none of those determinations prejudice the interests or the honor of the secular clergy, on the supposition
that they are not deprived of any of their rights.
Since the time of this royal decree, it was the sorry lot of the secular clergy to watch how, one by one, the
parishes which had been won for them in the time of Archbishop Basilio Sancho passed to the regular
clergy whenever they were vacated by death or the removal of the secular parish priest.
This royal order was not completely implemented until 1870, the year the secular parish priest of San Simon
died, and his parish turned over to the regular clergy. But by that time, the Filipino secular clergy had
already received harder and more painful blows, as we shall see right away.
The Secular Clergy Loses Some Parishes in Cavite.
Seeking some ministries near Manila where their provincial definitors
could exercise the care of souls, the procurator in Madrid of the
Recollect Province of San Nicolas in the Philippines petitioned His
Majesty for the grant of some curacies in Cavite province. Because they
owned some estates in that province since earlier years, Governor
Claveria supported the Recollects’ request, although he indicated to the
Madrid government that it would be better to divide the parishes of
Cavite among: the secular clergy who had held some of them since
before, the Recollects who owned Imus, and the Dominicans who
owned two prosperous estates there.
His Majesty acceded to the request of the Recollect procurator, just as
Governor Claveria had recommended it, through the royal cedula of 9
March 1849. This measure necessarily affected the rights of the secular
clergy to certain parishes which, either founded by them or by the
Jesuits, they had for many years now been administering.
Atmosphere of Antagonism.
From this moment on, an attitude of hostility began to take hold of the Filipino secular clergy, an attitude
which became more embittered towards the religious orders, and also the Spanish government which was
bent on favoring the religious at the expense of the secular priests at times. This was demonstrated clearly
when, by royal cedula dated 1 September 1861, His Majesty ordered the transfer of some parishes in the
Archdiocese of Manila to the Recollects, in compensation for the ministries, parishes and active missions
in Mindanao which the latter had to surrender to the Jesuits in virtue of the royal decree of 30 July 1859.
It is no surprise then that when he took possession of the archdiocese in 1862, Archbishop Meliton
Martinez became the recipient of repeated petitions to intercede with the government and use his influence
to revoke the decree of 1 September.
These royal decrees so exacerbated the secular clergy that the same archbishop had to present before the
government of Madrid an exposé in 1870:
…in order to win for his diocese quiet and peace, so often disturbed and tried by the transfer of the
parishes of the secular priests, granted to the religious corporations a few years previously, the cause of a
hostility which grows more embittered by the day, now taking a turn which sooner or later can be

page 40
 disastrous to our beloved Spain. Let anyone put himself in the place of the native priest and let him
consider the series of measures which he has merited: He cannot but realize that the gross injustices
inflicted now and still menacing him give more than enough reasons why, despite his pusillanimity, his
ancient loyalty and respect for the Spaniards may be changed into hostility.
The evils which the Archbishop had foreseen took place in little more than
a year afterwards, when an uprising against Spain was crushed in Cavite.8
That it had no worse consequences was, after God, due to the energetic
action of Governor Rafael Martinez de Izquierdo. That this uprising was
in great part the work of the secular clergy is clearly seen in the following
words from a highly confidential report sent by Izquierdo to the Superiors
of the religious orders:
The events like those in Cavite in which a great portion of the public forces
on land and sea take part, events like those in Cavite planned and deliberated
upon for years, abetted by the most influential persons in the islands,
strongly and efficaciously supported by the native clergy….
The Final Episode in the Drama of Secularization.
In the years between the Cavite mutiny and the Philippine revolution,
there was hardly any notable sign that could betray the hostility of the
secular clergy towards the regulars. During the Cavite province
insurrection in 1896, an eyewitness reports:
All the clergy in the province have worked, some more, some less, for the insurrection, although it is true
that some did so out of fear of the insurrection leaders…. This is true only of the native clergy of this
province. Your Reverence now knows that in the other Tagalog provinces where the insurrection has
spread, there have been priests who behaved like true Spaniards and have worked as much as they could
against the revolution.
When peace once again shone on the horizon of the Philippines, the religious forced to abandon their
parishes by the vicissitudes of the revolution of 1898 did not return to them, except a few who were invited
by their old parishioners. And so, through a political revolution which separated the Philippines from
Spain, another revolution was effected of a religious character, namely, the almost total secularization of
the parishes which, as a general rule, passed from the administration of the religious parish priest to that
of his Filipino assistant. (A, pp. 116-124)

13. Jurisdiction Conflicts Between the Church and the Civil Authorities.
The conflicts between the Church and the civil authorities which play a prominent part in the history of
the Philippines did not really start until the incumbency of Governor-General Perez Dasmariñas (1590-
1593). Gifted with admirable prudence, Legazpi behaved irreproachably in his relations with Church
officials and, far from interfering with ecclesiastical matters, never did anything important without first
consulting the Augustinian Fathers. After the Adelantado’s death (1572), the latter had to fight some
governors and encomenderos who took advantage of their power and social standing to commit different
kinds of abuses on the people of their encomiendas.

8The Cavite Mutiny (20 January 1872) was brief uprising of 200 Filipino troops and workers at the Cavite arsenal, which became
the excuse for Spanish repression of the embryonic Philippine nationalist movement. Ironically, the harsh reaction of the
Spanish authorities served ultimately to promote the nationalist cause. The mutiny was quickly crushed, but the Spanish regime
under the reactionary Governor Rafael de Izquierdo magnified the incident and used it as an excuse to clamp down on those
Filipinos who had been calling for governmental reform. A number of Filipino intellectuals were seized and accused of
complicity with the mutineers. After a brief trial, three priests—José Burgos, Jacinto Zamora, and Mariano Gómez—were
publicly executed. The three subsequently became martyrs to the cause of Philippine independence.

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The arrival of Bishop Salazar (1581), a most upright and unbending man when the dictates of his
conscience and the law of God so motivated him, could not but presage an era of clashes between the
Church and civil authorities and encomenderos, the latter just as intransigent in the defense of their real or
imagined rights.
The first confrontations between the two powers took place during the tenure of Governors Ronquillo,
de Vera, and Dasmariñas; but these had no further consequences. However, with the suppression of the
Royal Audiencia during Dasmariñas’ time, the only effective counterbalance to the para-despotism of the
Governor-General was removed. Salazar had to make a trip to Spain in 1591 to seek redress before the
royal court for various evils. Among those that concerned the natives were the following: abuses and
exactions in the collection of tribute by the encomenderos and soldiers; more or less forced labor exacted
from the natives, almost always ill-paid, in the mines, in rowing the royal galleys, in felling timber for the
galleons, etc.; purchase by the Spaniards of local products at fixed prices, especially rice or those of harvest
time, to be later resold to the natives in times of need at a much higher price; the license of the underpaid
soldiery, hungry and needy, to get what they want for their sustenance. These abuses were corrected to a
great extent, thanks to the efforts of Salazar and ecclesiastical elements in the Philippines. But these
skirmishes did not have notoriety nor caused the bitterness of the incidents which we will now briefly
relate, two of which are quite known in both the civil and ecclesiastical annals of the Philippines.
The Exile of Archbishop Guerrero in 1636.
Let us begin with the conflict between Archbishop Hernando
Guerrero of Manila and Governor-General Sebastian Hurtado de
Corcuera. A Spanish artilleryman by the name of Francisco de
Nava residing in Manila in 1635 had a slave girl with whom he
maintained illicit relations. The Archbishop learned of this and
told him to sell her. A Spanish lady, Doña Maria de Francia, wife
of the governor’s nephew Don Pedro de Corcuera, bought her.
The soldier, unable to forget her, promised to marry her. But,
unsuccessful in his suit, he treacherously killed her on 19 August
as she walked with her mistress along the road of the Jesuit college.
For his wife’s sake, Don Pedro took interest in the case so much
so that the unfortunate Nava expired on the gallows on 6
September.
Neither his right of sanctuary in the San Agustin convent, nor the
Archbishop’s claim of jurisdiction over his person, saved him. For
this reason, the Archbishop excommunicated the judge, at the
time the general of the artillery, and later put the city under
interdict. The litigation was complicated by the intervention of Don Pedro de Monroy, provisor of the
archdiocese and persona non grata to the governor resulting from having taken part in the promulgation of
the excommunication and the refusal of the Jesuit provincial to attend a meeting of the religious orders
summoned by the Archbishop in an effort to solve these difficulties. As a last resort, the latter deprived
the Jesuits of their faculties to preach in the archdiocese. In defense of their rights, the Jesuits named as
juez conservador Father Fabian de Santillan, a secular priest who hurled a sentence of excommunication
against the Archbishop besides imposing a steep fine on him. In the end, everything was settled by
intervention of the governor. Everything promised permanent peace, when another incident occurred to
add fuel to the half-extinguished bonfire.
In April 1636, the archdean of the cathedral, Don Francisco de Valdes, partly due to tiredness in attending
choir, partly due to a clergyman’s urging, renounced his position into the hands of the Archbishop.
Refused by the latter, the archdean presented his resignation to the governor. It seems that the latter had

page 42
been waiting for this renunciation to nominate the priest Andres Arias Giron for the vacated dignity. He
did so as Vice-Regal Patron. But the Archbishop did not want to proceed with the canonical investiture
of Giron because of serious charges made against him by the natives of Ermita. To compel the
Archbishop, the Royal Audiencia, composed only of the governor who sat as president and the oidor Marcos
Zapata since Don Alvaro de Mesa the other oidor had just died, dispatched the royal proviso ordering
Guerrero to confer canonical investiture on the priest Giron or suffer exile and confiscation of goods.
Considering the unbending disposition of Corcuera, the prelate believed he was indeed bound to be exiled.
Therefore, on the night of 9 May, a little after the receipt of the Royal Order, advised by mature religious,
he ordered the Blessed Sacrament to be brought to the palace from the church of San Francisco. Vested
in his episcopal robes before the altar, he took the monstrance in his hands. In this position, he was found
by the fifty harquebusiers sent by the chief constable to arrest him. But at the sight of the prelate holding
the Blessed Sacrament, the only thing they did was to fall on their knees.
The governor was notified of such an unusual impasse, who then ordered the soldiers to empty the hall of
the religious who stood around the Archbishop, and to not allow the prelate to take any food nor permit
him to satisfy any other unavoidable needs. On Corcuera’s repeated orders, and after breaking down their
stubborn resistance, the soldiers got some religious out of the hall, while others left of their own will. Only
a negro domestic stayed by the Archbishop. More than 12 hours had passed when the Archbishop, hungry
and tired out by the strain of standing on his feet with the heavy weight of the monstrance in his hands,
asked the friars of San Francisco to return the Blessed Sacrament to their convent. Deprived of this
defense, he gave himself up to the custody of the soldiers.
They took him out of the city through the gate of Santo Domingo, and boarded him in a junk to Corregidor
island where, sheltered in a bamboo and nipa hut, he was detained for 26 days until, through the mediation
of some prebendaries and the Dominican Father Domingo Gonzalez, he concluded peace with the
governor. However, he had to agree provisionally and against his will to the following conditions pending
a reply from the king: 1) that he would confirm Andres Arias Giron in his rank as archdean of the cathedral
and not proceed against him under any pretext; 2) that he would confirm the Jesuits in the ministry of
Santa Cruz, which the secular clergy were disputing at the time; 3) that he would grant to the chief chaplain
of the Royal Chapel founded by Corcuera faculties to administer the sacraments to the Infantry Corps,
their wives and families.
Close on the heels of this exile, there occurred a series of calamities in the Philippines which chroniclers
and historians saw as the expression of God’s wrath for the ill treatment meted out to the Archbishop by
the civil power.
The Imprisonment of Archbishop de la Cuesta and the Assasination of Governor Bustamante.
On Conde Lizárraga’s death, Don Jose de Torralba became acting governor of the Philippines (1715-1717)
until the arrival of the proprietory governor Don Fernando Bustillo y Bustamante, who unexpectedly
reached Manila on 9 August of this latter year. An upright man but of a harsh and strong character, he
necessarily was going to meet head-on with that Manila community which had grown quite used to working
outside the pale of law in commercial matters. And so, one of the new governor’s first measures was to
send Torralba to prison because of proven and serious charges of embezzling state funds. In a few days,
an identical fate overtook the oidores Julian de Velasco and Francisco Toribio, professors of law in the
recently founded University of San Felipe. Finally, Bustamante deprived Jose Antonio Pabon of his
magistracy notwithstanding a royal cedula authorizing him to exercise the office. All this climaxed in the
rebellion of Juan Domingo de Nebra, captain of the Acapulco-bound galleon; having but anchored off
Cavite, he did not hesitate to throw into the sea two officials sent by the governor to arrest him on
suspicions of disloyalty.
Amid rumors of an approaching uprising, the governor, without confidante or counselor since some were

page 43
in prison and others had abandoned him, decided to put himself in the hands of Torralba, the wicked
genius who came to complicate the situation even more with his intrigues. On the latter’s advice,
Bustamante ordered the scrivener Antonio de Osejo y Vasquez to prison. He was the cause of conflict
between the Royal Audiencia and Archbishop Francisco de la Cuesta because he had sought refuge within
the sanctuary of the cathedral while taking along some official papers.
The magistrate Torralba, with his associate justice Jose Correa, sent a royal proviso to the Archbishop
reclaiming the person of Osejo. The cathedral chapter, the University of Santo Tomas and the religious
orders suggested to ignore the summons. At the same time, Archbishop de la Cuesta served notice of
these abuses before the governor, although without results. He followed it up by sending the doctoral and
a prebendary to Torralba to manifest a warning to desist from violating canonical procedure. This served
no other purpose than to incite Bustamante, on advice of Torralba, to clamp down these two ministers of
Christ behind bars. A like fate befell two other priests sent to verify the imprisonment of the previous
pair. Finally, the canon Luis Rico, sent to placate the feelings of the irate governor, found himself also in
jail. In this situation, the prelate hesitated no longer to proclaim ex tablillas—i.e. to publicly pronounce as
fallen into excommunication major for violation of ecclesiastical jurisdiction and persecution of the clergy—
Torralba, the sergeant-major, and the captain of the guard.
Driven to the wall by this turn of events, the governor ordered the taking of arms, preparing the artillery
and garnishing the guards by the city gates. When all was ready, he detailed a squad of soldiers to arrest
the Archbishop who at that moment was
surrounded by the outstanding ecclesiastics
in Manila.
Guarded by the soldiers, the eminent
prisoner was first led to the governor’s
palace, then to Fort Santiago. In this brief
lapse of time, the prelate pronounced alta
voce excommunication against those who
laid hands on him in his palace, placed the
city under interdict, and ordained that if
within two hours he was not freed together
with the five members of the cathedral
chapter he would impose the penalty of
cessation a divinis (suspension of sacred
worship). When the civil powers ordered
the provisor to suspend the penalty, he
refused to listen and was also sent to jail.
Meanwhile, Bustamante dispatched
Torralba to hold talks with the Archbishop,
perhaps seeking to end the interdict while
the sergeant-major was busy imprisoning
the clergy who were around de la Cuesta at
the time of the arrest. But now the
populace, informed of this audacious
move, mutinied. Led by some religious and
swelled by escapees from prison and
refugees of ecclesiastical sanctuary, the
people marched shouting “Viva la Iglesia,
Viva el Rey.” They swarmed to the
governor’s palace which they easily took,

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aided by the non-resistance of the guards. And as Bustamante came out alone to meet the crowd, someone
attacked him leaving him seriously wounded, although with enough breath and life in him to receive from
Father Diego Otazu, S.J., who happened to be nearby, absolution from his censures and the last aids of
religion. His son, the sergeant-major, also died of wounds inflicted by the mutinous mob.
The last act of this bloody drama consisted in the people’s refusing to lay down their arms until the
Archbishop, freed from his prison, promised to take charge of the government of the Islands. Thus he
assumed control, though much against his will, after conferring with both civil and ecclesiastical councils
and the Superiors of the religious orders.
Threat of Exile on an Archbishop (1873).
On the death of Bishop Romualdo Jimeno of Cebu (1872), the Spanish government named, without
consultation with the Holy See, the priest Luis Alcala Zamora, a man of Jewish blood on his father’s and
mother’s side, of doubtful orthodoxy and morals, and, says Father Pablo Pastells, “whose only merit
consisted in having, as a delegate to the constituent cortes in Madrid, voted for the iniquitous laws favoring
freedom of worship, civil marriage and others similar to them.” When Zamora arrived in Manila, the
governor of the Philippines signed the cumplase of the royal order which legalized such a usurpation of
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, without previously investigating the Metropolitan government about difficulties
that could come up if Zamora were allowed to assume the government and administration of the diocese.
Under these circumstances, Governor Izquierdo offered his resignation and Don Juan Alaminos y Vivar
took possession of the government of the Philippines (January 1873). Alcala Zamora knew that Alaminos
entertained more advanced ideas than Izquierdo, and he took advantage of this change of governors to
present before the new official a petition to take charge of the diocese of Cebu likewise. But Alaminos,
knowing that the matter was still pending in Madrid, answered that for the moment he could effect nothing
with regard to the plea, and that it was necessary to await an answer from the Spanish government. This
apparently suited Zamora’s plans. According to rumors, Governor Alaminos received at around this time
a confidential telegram from Madrid ordering him not to delay in putting Alcala Zamora in possessions of
his post, as well as the government of the bishopric of Cebu.
It must be noted that Archbishop Meliton Martinez of Manila had
called Governor Rafael Izquierdo’s attention to the canonical
illegality of such a nomination; perhaps because of this, the
governor had consulted the Madrid government. But as a matter
of fact, the governor shortly forwarded a communication to the
prelate ordering him to proceed immediately to invest Zamora
with the government of the Cebu diocese. Martinez demurred,
giving reasons which completely militated against entrusting the
administration of the diocese of Cebu to a subject “whose bad
antecedents from the viewpoint of religion and doctrine were
sufficiently notorious, and which prevented him from assuming
any responsibility, government or jurisdiction in the Church and
for the Church.”
In turn, not to disobey the definite orders from Madrid, Alaminos
believed it was necessary to order the intendante de hacienda of the
Philippines to occupy the temporal properties of the prelate, and
at the same time on 1 March 1873 sent him to tell the prelate to
leave immediately for Spain, communicating likewise that he leave the administration of the archdiocese
to Francisco Gainza, Bishop of Nueva Caceres.
Archbishop Martinez prepared to take ship for the motherland, but not before he arranged for the

page 45
government of the Church, not according to the governor’s disposition but according to the laws of the
Church and the dictates of his conscience. Meanwhile, a clamor of protest among the public of Manila
rose against these developments, a clamor which induced the governor to adopt a more conciliatory
attitude. Subsequently, a meeting of provincials was convoked by Alaminos to look for a way out of this
difficulty, and one of them suggested that he suspend the decree of exile and the confiscation of the
Archbishop’s goods. Martinez was to send by cable to Rome an account of this delicate situation. But
this was just a dilatory measure, for by this time the prelate had already received a letter from Antonelli
who, in the name of His Sanctity, wrote that he desist from conferring the government of the diocese of
Cebu on Zamora.
Fortunately, one of those changes of government and ministry which was characteristic of 19 th century
Spain occurred almost simultaneously with these happenings, and Alaminos found himself accordingly
freed from carrying out a compromise inherited from the previous government. In vain, Alcala Zamora
still tried to continue the fight, until he unexpectedly died just a little afterwards, snipping off the thread of
his hopes. (A, pp. 125-137)

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 Chapter 6

Faith and Customs; Sacramental Life;

Other Religious and Liturgical Practices
14. Faith and Customs.
The methods used by the Spanish missionaries to teach the doctrines of the faith to the Filipinos can be
reduced to five: catechism, preaching, printing of catechetical books, schools, and examinations.
Catechism. Obviously, the missionaries themselves had to teach catechism in the beginning. But they were
too few for the numerous pagans and neophytes, and they soon had to make use of catechists. Chosen
for the purpose by the missionaries, the catechists were of every age, sex and condition, as can be gathered
from the histories that mention examples of mature men, women, or child catechists. This rather simple
method obtained quite surprising results. Father Chirino writes:
It is a general custom in all the mission villages in the Philippines, for all the people to go on Sundays and
days of obligation to the Church for the Mass and sermon, before which the doctrine and catechism are
recited. As a result of this, they not only have a thorough knowledge of the prayers, but even excel many
people of Europe in their comprehension of the mysteries of our Faith.9
More or less similar results were attained by the other religious orders. One of the obstacles that hindered
the progress of religious instruction was the dispersion of the people in numerous ranches, which were
reached only with difficulty by the missionary. The provinces of Central Luzon were better off than the
rest of the Islands because of better education and training in religion, even though the poorer and more
remote provinces did not lag far behind, like Samar and Cagayan which were administered by the Jesuits
and Dominicans respectively.
Preaching. According to the decrees of the Council of Trent, it was
the duty of the minister to preach the divine word to the faithful on
Sundays and feast days. In the Dominican missions, preaching was
in the native dialects during all the feasts of the year, the Sundays of
Advent and of Lent, and the first Sundays of the month. Some
missionaries preached on other days also. It seems that this was true
in the ministries of the other religious orders. According to
Murillo10, the Society of Jesus exercised a faithful apostolate of the
pulpit in Manila around the middle of the 18th century. Besides
sermons on the feasts of the religious founders, they also preached
on other endowed feasts, and were regular preachers at the cathedral
and the Royal Chapel. They conducted missions to new migrants in
Manila, quite numerous at the time, and frequently left for mission
tours throughout the provinces.
Catechetical Books. The first missionaries soon saw the need to
prepare catechisms if they hoped to spread the Gospel faster. The
first catechisms appeared in 1593: one in Spanish and Tagalog (in
European and Tagalog scripts), the second in Chinese characters.
Both are entitled Doctrina cristiana. Other catechisms followed, more

9 Blair and Robertson, The Philippine Islands, XII.

10 Spanish Jesuit Father Pedro Murillo Velarde (1696–1753). He is best known for his Carta Hydrographica y Chorographica de las
Islas Filipinas (or the Murillo Velarde map) which he made and published in Manila in 1734, and now frequently referred to as
the Mother of all Philippine Maps.

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detailed and better written: In 1610, the Doctrina cristiana de Belarmino en lengua visaya appeared in print. In
1621, an Ilocano translation of Cardinal Bellarmine’s catechism was published. And, one after another,
the following were published: Catecismo y doctrina cristiana en lengua pampanga by Father Francisco Coronel
for the use of Pampangos (1621); Explicacion de la doctrina cristiana in Tagalog by Father Alfonso de Santa
Ana (1628); Explicacion del catecismo by Father Francisco Blancas, written earlier but published only in 1645;
Explicacion de la doctrina cristiana in Bicol (1708); Catecismo del Cardenal Belarmino en idioma pampango by Father
Juan de Medrano (1717); and finally, a Tagalog-Spanish catechism prepared by Father Tomas Ortiz and
published in 1740. On commission by the Council of Manila held in 1771, some Fathers prepared a lengthy
catechism which is still preserved in manuscript. Besides these early catechisms, many others were written
and published, especially throughout the 19th century, which would be too long to list here.
Schools. The role of schools in religious instruction could not be hidden from the first missionaries. This
is why they sought to establish two schools in every town if possible, one for boys and another for girls.
The method generally followed in these schools was, according to a document of 1698:
With regard to teaching, the townspeople recite the prayers and the questions and answers of the catechism
on all Sundays of the year. Besides, the boys and girls have their special day in the week for gathering for
prayers in the Church. After the prayers, the religious missionary poses some questions regarding the
prayers. He then proceeds to explain them, so that the people grow in understanding of the mysteries of
our holy Faith. For some three months of the year when they are least occupied, the boys and girls come
together for Mass and prayers, so that by their contact with the missionary and with one another, they
gradually lose their old fierceness and learn urbanity. On this matter, there is notable progress among
them. No little help has come from the schools in the towns, where they are taught to read, write, add
sums, sing and play any musical instrument. Many times, the teachers are the religious missionaries
themselves.11
Examinations. These were a powerful and rather effective means by which the Filipinos were kept from
neglecting the study of the catechism. They were wont to be held in Lent as a necessary condition to fulfill
the Paschal precept and, for the engaged, before contracting Matrimony. The preparatory schema of the
1771 Council of Manila included a proposal to hold a general examination
of the faithful three times during the year.
Errors and Superstitions.
During the period we are studying, there were no heresies in the
Philippines, thanks, in so far as the Spaniards were responsible, to their
deep faith and orthodoxy and to the vigilance of the Tribunal of the
Inquisition. The Filipinos, practically cut off from the external world,
obedient to the voice of their pastors, did not even think of following in
matters of faith paths other than those traced by the first missionaries.
Nonetheless, within the three centuries of this long past, certain errors
sprouted all over the Islands, born out of credulity and ignorance, and an
infinitude of superstitions. How the religious toiled to eradicate from the
Filipino people many of their superstitions cannot be told; suffice it to say
that their success was limited because these superstitions were rooted in
traditions long and deeply pagan. Furthermore, those zealous apostles
were faced with the reserve of the Filipino to reveal his beliefs and
superstitious practices.
As late as 1771, as recorded in the preparatory schema of the Council and
in other contemporary sources, the Filipinos still believe in the nono, to

11 Relacion que el vicario provincial de Manila, Orden de Predicadores hace a ntro. revmo. P. Maestro General, Fr. Antonio Cleche del estado de
toda esta provincial, etc.

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whom they offered foods, from whom they begged leave to fell logs or cut bamboo, or asked for its excuse
if they had been ordered to the task by the Father (parish priest). This practice was still in vogue even
when Mr. John Bowring visited the Philippines in the 19th century.
They also believed in the existence of an evil genius, Tigbalang, who they thought was wont to appear in
various shapes appropriate to bring them favors. Likewise, they erroneously believed in the spirit Patianac,
who approached at the moment of birth, and, ensconced in a tree or object, intoned something like the
rowers’ chant. On the other hand, the witch Gauay caused a charm and sickness known as Bonsol, which
she alone could cure.
Together with these beliefs, their Baptismal faith was mixed with errors about the Trinity, the Incarnation,
the Redemption, and the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints. Many gave divine honors to Mary which
they refused to her Son whom they did not consider as a true God. Others affirmed that the three divine
Persons were not equal; that Christ had been born of Joseph
and Mary; that He really died each year on Good Friday. There
were some who considered the Saints as gods; and some who
thought that the punishment of hell was not eternal, and that
an implicit faith in all the mysteries of the Christian religion
sufficed for salvation.
There were others who carried around talismans as a protection
against injury in war, believing that the bullets or the enemy
blades would not hurt them. Nor would they learn their lesson,
when hard reality proved the contrary. But this was not
exclusive to the Filipino people, as history shows.
Abuses.
Upon their arrival in the Philippines, the Spaniards found three evils which demanded prompt and
efficacious remedy, officially at least: usury, drunkenness, and impurity.
Usury. According to Father Chirino’s account, the interest charged by money lenders became so high as
the payment was delayed, such that in the end all the material goods of the debtor did not suffice to
liquidate the amount owed; and in this case he ended up becoming a slave of his creditor. And the children
followed the lot of the father. But with the preaching of the Gospel, usury zealously combatted by the
missionaries seemed to disappear for a time, only to reappear later. In the 18 th century, it was again
widespread according to Archbishop Martinez de Arizala:
Likewise among the Indios, it is said that usury is practiced (and would that it stay confined to them only).
An Indio scarcely lends to his neighbor and brother a real or any other coin unless with usury. If he lends
a cavan of rice, which is half a fanega, to one in need during the rainy season, it is with the agreement that
it has to be paid with two or three cavans, no matter what the price of rice is at harvest time. If the cavan
costs 3 reales and it is loaned, it is on condition that it be paid at 5 or 6 reales a cavan. But the greater
offense is committed against God in their loans. A poor Indio in straits because of illness or a debt for
which they would imprison him, or a burial or wedding which he could not afford, exchanges two cabalitas
of land for P10. This land stays in the hands of the man who gave the money.
Alcoholism. Exercising tyranny over the Filipinos, according to ancient chronicles, alcoholism lost much of
its force with the coming of the Gospel. But it left deep imprints in places. Bishop Miguel Garcia expresses
himself in rather strong terms in a pastoral letter dated 26 April 1768 against the abuse, apparently
widespread in his diocese. People normally fell into this vice during banquets, especially wedding feasts.
Impurity. As a general rule, the first chroniclers spoke in unflattering terms about the observance of chastity
among the pagan Filipinos, including the women of those times. However, some have not failed to find
praiseworthy examples of women in this delicate matter. There is no doubt that Christianity contributed

page 49
much to elevate the standards of chastity, especially of the feminine sex. But we must also attribute certain
opposite practices to chastity, at the arrival of Christianity, to paganism which does darken the mind and
enervate the will in this matter. Father Casimiro Diaz writes these lines on Filipino chastity in the 18th
century:
Those who do not know describe the Indios as quite lewd, but I describe them
as very chaste. If we Europeans were raised in the lack of restraint and manners
of these poor people, we would see abominable things. It is useless to paint
their nakedness, their way of living, their cramped houses, for I write of
people before whom everything is open. And yet, we must praise their self-
control, praise what they do not perform, be not scandalized at what they do.
The remedy is not easy, because this whole disorder is due to their poverty.
But something might be done, if within the narrow walls of their houses,
some partition is put up by which, even if they could not be totally set apart,
they could be stopped from seeing [things], the window through which
misfortune is led in.12
Historians also vary with regard to modesty, the wall of chastity. In general,
almost all have words of praise for the modesty of the Filipino woman,
including the Visayans who have been branded as less restrained in matters
of chastity. In olden times was a custom which still exists, namely, parents
allowing their children to go around totally naked. But again, let us listen
to Father Diaz:
They allow their children to move about undressed until they are about 8 or 10 years old, and even 12 in
the remote provinces. This unwholesome training is not too much of a problem since in this young age
there is still little danger to chastity, although they get used to doing without clothes. This is the reason
why, as adults, they remove not indeed all of their clothes and stay completely naked, but most of them.
Blasphemy. Another defect of Filipinos which the historians criticized is that of blasphemy, or the sin of
profanity, the irreverent use of the name of God, of Mary, or of the Saints. This is not as indecent as in
Europe, but rather consisted in complaints against God.
Games. One kind of entertainment has attracted the Filipinos and seemingly, instead of dying out, has
grown in its appeal: betting. Before, they used to play cards or dice, even the women. So taken up were
they by this diversion that frequently they lost all their fortunes in a short while. From this recreation other
evils ensued, like cursing, pauperism, cheating, and the neglect of wives, sons and daughters. Both civil
and ecclesiastical powers tried by various means to eradicate this social and spiritual evil, but without
success, as Father Jose Burillo, O.P., provincial, affirmed in a memorial to the king in 1803. The
gobernadorcillos and other administrators of justice were themselves the first to give the bad example.
Cockfighting. Another custom, as abusive if not more so, was cockfighting. In one or another place, in
order that these cocks might fight more energetically, they used to feed them with the consecrated host,
and hone up the blade in consecrated oils, as the Council of Manila complained.
The Tribunal of the Inquisition.
The preceding account of errors against the Faith leads us, as if by hand, to a discussion of the tribunal of
the Inquisition set up in Spain and in the Spanish dominions to protect the unity and purity of the Catholic
faith. Almost from the beginning, there was a Commissariat of the Holy Office in Manila appointed by
the Tribunal of Mexico and in the charge of a Dominican Father. Under the latter were other
commissariats in Cagayan, Pangasinan, Camarines, Cebu, Ilocos, and Negros Island.
From the time of Father Juan de Maldonado, first Commissar of the Holy Office, the Order of Preachers

12 Diaz, Casimiro, O.S.A., Parroco de Indios instruido, Manila, 1745.

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exercised a monopoly of this office, except for a short interval of seven years (1664-1671) when the
Augustinian Fray Jose de Paternina requested and obtained the appointment. But it was with such bad
grace that he finally lost the title through a decision of the Holy Office of Mexico City. He had figured
prominently in the imprisonment of Governor Diego Salcedo.
The Tribunal of the Inquisition did not exercise jurisdiction over the natives and the Chinese, but only
over Europeans and Spaniards. When a native committed some crime against faith and morals, his case
fell under the competence of the local ordinary. not of the Inquisition. (A, pp. 138-146)

15. Sacramental Life.

Baptism.
Profiting from Magellan’s experience, the Augustinians who
came with Legaspi proceeded with extreme care before
admitting the natives to Christian Baptism. But when
missionaries started to arrive in greater numbers, they began to
admit neophytes for Baptism with greater ease, even at times
with little preparation. Father Aduarte mentions some itinerant
missionaries who had traversed Bataan before the coming of the
Dominicans and had baptized many people; but with so little
instruction and so precipitately that some of the baptized had
returned right away to the practices of paganism, while others
presented themselves as Christians when it suited their interests.
By the 18th century, certain abuses with regard to Baptism had
already crept in, such as delaying the ceremony for a long time
in order to assure one of a good sponsor or compadre, or to
accumulate funds for the Baptismal banquet.
In that century, certain errors were also widespread; e.g. the idea
that Baptism was a practice only of Spaniards; that of receiving the sacrament twice or thrice, thinking that
the baptized would receive a greater increase of grace; that the grace of the sacrament was in proportion
to the greater or lesser degree of virtue of the minister; the change or corruption of names, in the
superstitious belief that the evil spirit would no longer recognize them if they assumed another name.
There were not lacking those who affirmed that the fetus was not yet endowed with a rational soul. These
beliefs were born of ignorance and of deep-rooted habits of paganism.
A practice incidentally connected with Baptism preoccupied the clergy at the time: the custom quite
universal in the Philippines of circumcision. Some natives, either for sexual reasons or to avoid sterility,
submitted themselves to this Jewish custom probably brought to the islands by the Moslems in the south.
Another problem that demanded the attention of the Council of Manila in 1771 was the rather widespread
use of Baptismal formulae in the native dialects without the proper episcopal approval, so that the
ceremony in certain cases was invalidated by a faulty translation. On this account, the council provided
that the bishop in their diocesan synod should oversee the translation of the adopted formulae with the
advice of experts in order to insert them in the catechisms and give them permanence.
Confirmation.
Because of long vacancies and poor means of transport especially during the rainy season, and above all
the vast extent of the diocese, it was not normal for a bishop to visit the people of his bishopric to confer
the sacrament of Confirmation. And so, there were places like the provinces of Laguna, Samar and Leyte
where, according to historians, there had been no Confirmation for 20 years. However, the bishops of the

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19th century habitually made their pastoral visitations, with more frequency than in the past.
Confession.
The administration of this sacrament did not cease being a problem to the first missionaries, who were
faced, first with the difficulty of the language and, second with the repugnance of the natives.
The first obstacle they quickly overcame by the composition of bilingual Confesionarios. These were a rather
detailed list of the more common sins, followed by a brief exhortation. They also neutralized the native
repugnance to confess by having the more experienced Christians in town to approach the confessional
first, and of course through patience and prayer.
If we have to take the word of the chroniclers as authoritative as Aduarte and Rivadeneira13, the first
Filipino Christians confessed their sins more correctly and exactly. Later, through the 18th and 19th
centuries, one can note a definite decadence of the practice, as evidenced by the acts of the Council of
Manila (1771) and the Synod of Calasiao (1773) and other documents. Doubtless this decadence was
helped by the cooling off of the initial enthusiasm of the missionaries and the increase of population.
In the acts of the Dominican Provincial Chapters, the reader frequently finds a special enactment governing
the Confessions of women and encomenderos. In the mind of those religious, a certain maturity was needed
for the Confessions of the first penitents, and special gifts of learning and virtue to hear those of the
second. According to the esquema preparatorio of the Council of Manila, the bishops had to assign prudent
and experienced priests to hear the Confession of lawyers and merchants, government officials and priests.
In general, one notes in these conciliar acts a tendency towards
rigorism, contrary to the probabilism quite in vogue during that
age. In a pastoral letter on Confession written in 1776,
Archbishop Sancho showed an inclination to rigorism also,
especially since the Jesuits, considered by many as the defenders
of the opposite moral views, had left the field open to him.
Quite common in the past was the practice of distributing cedulas
of Confession to the penitents so that, duly certified and signed,
they could be presented for reception of the Paschal Communion.
And yet some were able to arrange to obtain false certificates
despite the vigilance of the parish priests, and with these they
received Communion in another parish. Another abuse helped to
deter the natives from Lenten Confessions. When they confessed,
they had to pay three reales of the Sanctorum, known as Ambagan.
However, this abuse seems to have been limited to Manila only
and the suburbs, while in the provinces this collection was the
charge of the gobernadorcillos and cabezas de barangay.
In the Philippines, the time to fulfill the paschal precepts was ordinarily from Septuagesima Sunday to the
feast of Corpus Christi. In the 19th century, the parish priests, especially in the archdiocese of Manila, were
permitted to extend the period if necessary.
The Holy Eucharist.
If the first missionaries proceeded with extreme caution in admitting neophytes to Baptism and
Confession, we may be excused if we say that they would exercise even greater care before allowing them
to receive Holy Communion, since this is a mystery so sublime and so far above human understanding.
They were guided by the following words of the provincial council of Lima:

13 Dominican friar Diego Aduarte (1570–1636) and Franciscan friar Marcelo Rivadeneira (1560?–1610)

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 The Holy Synod commands the parish priests and the other preachers of the Indios that they instruct
them seriously and frequently in the faith of this mystery…. But to those whom the parish priest shall
judge to be properly taught and are ready by a reform of their lives, he shall not omit to minister the
Eucharist at least during the paschal season.
According to Aduarte, the method which the missionaries in Cagayan province followed was this:
They gathered the better Christians of the town, and eight days before Communion they gave them a kind
of a retreat. There were daily conferences, and they rose at midnight for the discipline and mental prayer.
During this time some lived in their houses, others in the convento. When Communion day came, they
went to Confession quite early; then they returned home to take a bath and put on their best clothes. It
is not surprising, then, that these small groups, carefully chosen and trained, matured into souls of deep
interior life, especially the women, to the great joy and wonder of the missionaries.
This fervor cooled off much later. Furthermore, according to evidence from the Council of Manila, certain
errors in the 18th century sprang up which tainted the faith of the Filipino people in this principal sacrament.
For example, some believed that no one may spit or bathe himself or eat meat for three days before Holy
Communion. Some believed that one should fast starting the day before taking the Eucharistic bread, and
others that no one should fast on the day of Communion itself lest Jesus Christ suffer hunger. The same
council also called attention to the excessive display in dress and jewelry of certain women when they
received Communion.
Viaticum and Extreme Unction for the Sick.
By the end of the 18th century, there was no lack of the faithful who departed this world without the last
sacraments, as was noted by the Synod of Calansiao.
Another serious problem preoccupied the governors, bishops, provincials and missionaries in the doctrinas
for a long time: this was the custom of carrying the sick to the churches to have the Viaticum ministered
to them there. Anda listed this as the 16th of the friars’ abuses. The Council of Manila and the Synod of
Calasiao raised their authoritative voice against a similar practice. For their part, the religious were not
totally wrong when they alleged in their defense the fact that given the great distances and the minimal and
inefficient means of transportation in those days, it would soon exhaust the few missionaries then available
if it was the latter who went out to administer the sacrament to the sick. Such a practice, which we could
call a necessary evil, began in the 17th century, lasted through the 18th, and died out in the 19th when there
was an increase of missionary personnel and roads and other means of travel somewhat improved.
Matrimony.
Engagement. There were two kinds of engagement
among the Filipinos in the 18th century: private and
public. The first consisted in a mutual pledge
between the future spouses made secretly and
without witnesses. To enter an engagement publicly,
the father of the groom, accompanied by his son and
invited guests, went to the girl’s house and, in the
presence of the young couple who sat in silence, the
fathers of both parties closed the agreement. If the
future couple presented no difficulty, they were
considered in agreement, and the formalized
engagement was considered obligatory in
conscience.
Dowry. It was a pre-Christian custom in the
Philippines for the groom to buy his future wife. But

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despite the efforts of both civil and ecclesiastical authorities, once they realized its malice, they were able
to do practically nothing against it.
Bride Service. Bride service meant for the suitor working for the parents of the bride for a certain time,
sometimes for years, in order to obtain their consent to espouse her. On occasion, the prospective groom
lived and slept in the house of his fiancée. With this freedom quite frequently not disapproved by the
parents, it happened that the boy could have, and actually had in some cases, illicit relations with the girl,
and sometimes with her sisters, cousins, nieces. From these relations with the girl’s proximate relatives,
the impediment of affinity resulted which occasioned invalid marriages if not discovered on time.
Another bad effect was this: tired of the services of the young man, the girl’s parents just dismissed him
without any recompense for the work he had done. And so it frequently happened that the woman lost
her virginity, and her suitor the fruit of his efforts.
About a hundred years after the conquest, Archbishop Camacho stood up against this abuse with all the
characteristic energy in him. But even with the backing of Governor Fausto Cruzat who forbade it in
Ordinance 46 of the Ordenanzas de buen gobierno, and of Governor Domingo Zabalburu who decreed a
penalty of 50 lashes for timauas (commoners) and social ostracism for the upper classes, nothing was
accomplished in their time. In the middle of the 18th century, Archbishop Pardo de Arizala resumed the
fight against the practice, with the same negative result. This abuse, deeply rooted and as zealously
combated, could not but call the attention of the Fathers at the Council of Manila. Some authors still
wrote about it in the middle of the 19th century, as Father Jose Fuixa and the English traveler John Bowring.
Consent. In case the parents irrationally refused to consent to their children’s marriage, the Governor-
General of the Philippines could supply for this defect and give his approval, provided the provincial or
municipal magistrate of the interested party drew up the legal instrument at the instance of the approval of
the parish priest. However, the Chinese mestizos did not have to obtain
parental consent to marry once they reached puberty.
Dispensation from Consanguinity and Kinship to the 3rd or 4th Degree. Among the
various privileges which Rome granted to the natives of the Philippines,
the most significant was the dispensation from the impediment of
consanguinity and kinship in the 3rd or 4th degree, by which they could
marry second cousins without any dispensation. Pope Paul III granted
this favor in his famous bull Altitudo divini consilii signed on 1 June 1537.
Because doubts followed on the validity of this privilege due to the use
by the Pontiff of the word “neophyte,” other popes (Clement IX in 1669,
Alexander VIII in 1690) extended it to Christians baptize in infancy. And
yet, the sacred congregation had declared in 1618 that the privilege of
Paul III did not include cuarterones or puchueles, i.e. mestizos who were one-
fourth or one-eighth Indio. And so, the Spaniards or children of Spanish-
born in the Philippines were held by the common law, just as the
cuarterones or puchueles.
Solemnizing the Marriage. On this matter, there have been various abuses in the past. One was the afternoon
celebration of marriage in church, behind closed doors, putting off till next morning the nuptial blessing.
From this, it happened that some lived as married persons before receiving the nuptial blessing.
Embarrassment in affirming publicly the marriage contract led to this abuse. This also explains why
ministers objected to the reception of Communion by the couple at the time of the blessing next morning.
The Council of Manila complained of other excesses against the sanctity of marriage, like wedding
banquets, dancing and drinking to excess, which proved to be a seed ground for sin, especially when these
were in barrios or rural areas.

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Marriage of the Chinese. The marriage between Chinese and Filipinos was an occasion for unending problems
for Church authorities in the Philippines. Since the Chinese had to be baptized as a prerequisite for
marriage, they received the sacrament with mixed intentions. To obviate this, a royal decree in 1849
ordered the Chinese who wished to contract marriage in the Philippines to present before the government:
a) his Baptismal certificate; b) the written consent of the parents or guardians of his future wife; c) an
affidavit that his name had been included in the padron or census list of Christians for more than two years.
He also had to certify six years’ residence in the country, his good conduct all this while, and a testimony
from the parish priest that he had been instructed in Christian doctrine. Once married according to this
form, the Chinese needed the express consent of his spouse in order to return to his country. It had
frequently happened that once there, the husband did not return to the wife left in the Philippines. In view
of so much difficulty, many unbaptized Chinese preferred to live in open concubinage with Filipino
women, with no Church intervention. For this reason, in the middle of the 19th century Father Manuel de
Rivas urged the Patronato Real to obtain from the Holy See a habitual dispensation for disparity of cult for
the Chinese, who turned out to be good husbands though remaining pagans, once they married in the eyes
of the Church.
Marriage Because of Piracy. Especially in the second half of
the 18th century, it often happened that Moslems would
carry off one or the other of a married couple and the
remaining partner wanted to marry a second time. In this
case, the Church authorities through the acts of the
Council of Manila warned parish priests never to allow
this before the death of the departed spouse had been
proven beyond doubt.
Marriage to Converted Pagans. With regard to the pagans
who had been baptized, the same council urged both
regular and secular ministers never to attempt in any way,
without previous investigation, to declare as invalid their
marriage when still unbaptized. And if a pagan who was
married to several wives was converted, he was to retain only the first wife if he still remembered which of
them he had married first. But if he could not recall who was first, he could contract marriage with any of
the wives provided there was no impediment. The question had already been settled by Paul III in the bull
Altitudo divini consilii with respect to the natives of the West and East Indies; but the missionaries, aware of
the difficulties implied if the bull were obeyed to the letter, allowed some time to pass before they enforced
on the neophytes the prescriptions of the Papal document on the matter. However, it is noteworthy that
polygamy was not widespread in the Philippines, although there were some instances among the rich and
in the Visayas. (A, pp. 147-156)

16. Other Religious and Liturgical Practices.

Fast and Abstinence.
Since there was such a variety of races in the Philippines, there was likewise a difference in the observance
of the law of fasting and abstinence. For now, we are interested only in the native-born Filipinos, the
mestizos, and the Europeans or their descendants in the Philippines.
With regard to the Filipinos, suffice it to say that during the Spanish regime they enjoyed a special indult
granted to all the natives of the West and the East Indies through the bull of Pope Paul III Altitudo divini
consilii of 1 June 1537. According to this bull, the law of fasting was binding on the vigils of Christmas and
Easter and the seven Fridays of Lent; the law of abstinence obliged on Ash Wednesday, the following six
Fridays of Lent, Holy Wednesday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the vigils of Pentecost Sunday, Ascension

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Thursday, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Christmas, and the feasts of Saints Peter and Paul.
Paul III did not include the mestizos in the indult. Doubts naturally came up in time regarding their
obligation to fast and abstain. Until 1852 then, they did not enjoy the privilege granted to the Indios; but
on 3 March of that year, on the petition of Father Francisco Gainza, the above indult was granted to them,
too. According to weighty authors, only mestizos who were half-Indio or more enjoyed this extension. It
was thus not applicable in the case of the children of a European father and a mestizo mother, or vice-
versa.
Philippine residents not included in these categories had to follow the common law of the Church until
1865, when Archbishop Gregorio Meliton of Manila obtained from the Holy See the faculty to extend to
all the inhabitants of the country, regardless of race or nationality, the privilege granted by Paul III to the
Indios, but only with regard to the law of fasting. This extension had to be renewed after a certain number
of years. Furthermore, the clergy had to observe eight additional days of fasting to be designated by the
Metropolitan of the Islands.
Long before this extension of Paul III’s privileges, those who had obtained the bull of the Crusade enjoyed
the privileges with regard to fasting and abstinence granted by the Holy See in this bull to Spanish subjects.
By papal dispensation, military personnel and their families likewise enjoyed certain added privileges in this
matter.
The “Sanctorum”.
From the first years of the preaching of the Gospel in this country, a religious contribution known as the
“Sanctorum” was approved on the advice and consent of both civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Each
tribute-paying individual was obliged to give one-and-a-half reales when he made his annual Confession.
The fund thus collected was set aside for the solemn celebration of the major feasts of Holy Thursday,
Corpus Christi, and that of the patron saint of each town. This money paid for the wax and the singers,
with the remainder being set aside to cover the deficit of the priest’s stipends and the building expenses of
the church.
In the course of time, some abuses must have crept in, for in 1755
Archbishop Pedro Martinez de Arizala provided in the arancel he issued
with the approval of the Audiencia that the money remaining after
liquidating the expenses of the fiesta should be set aside for the
construction of the church. The Royal Ordinance of 1768 arranged that
the collection be in the charge of the alcalde mayor, while the money was
to be deposited in a safe under a triple key: one in the hands of the alcalde,
the other in the minister’s, and the third in the custody of the
gobernadorcillo. Previously, the cabeza de barangay made the collection.
For the sake of truth, we must say that abuses were committed only in
the areas around Manila. In the dioceses of Cebu and Nueva Segovia,
the cabezas de barangay, shortly before or after the fiesta, went around for
the collection which they left with the gobernadorcillo, who in turn brought
it to the parish priest. The collectors were exempt from paying, while
the gobernadorcillo received some compensation.
This arrangement lasted until the decree of the superior government
dated 13 January 1836, which ordered that cabezas de barangay in the
archdiocese of Manila would be charged with the collection of the “Sanctorum”, and shall directly bring it
to the alcalde mayor without the priest’s intervention. On 23 August 1843, Governor Francisco de Paula
sought to extend this arrangement, already in force in Manila and Nueva Caceres, to the diocese of Cebu

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and Nueva Segovia. But the bishops begged to leave things in their traditional set-up. Finally, however,
on 13 January 1847, these two dioceses had to follow the system of collecting the “Sanctorum” practiced all
over the rest of the Islands.
Feast Days of Obligation.
In his bull Altitudo divini consilii, Pope Paul III arranged that the natives be obliged to observe the following
feast days besides Sunday: Christmas, the Circumcision, Epiphany, Ascension, Corpus Christi, the Nativity
of our Lady, Annunciation, Purification, Assumption, and the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. The Holy
Father Pius IX in his brief Quum pluris (2 May 1867), which was promulgated in the Philippines by royal
order on 13 August 1877, reduced the number of obligatory feasts for the Spaniards and other Europeans
while the Filipinos continued to enjoy the indult of Paul III. Because
of this varied arrangement—which prescribed as obligatory for
Spaniards and not for natives the feasts of Saint James the Apostle, All
Saints, the Immaculate Conception; and obligatory for the natives but
not for the Spaniards the feast of the Nativity of our Lady—the
Archbishop of Manila presented through Governor-General Domingo
Moriones a petition before the peninsular government on 17 October
1877 to equalize the number of feasts, which was granted on 1 January
1878. On 23 November of that year, the Archbishop published a decree
announcing that, despite the reduction by papal brief of the number of
feasts, the feast of Saint Andrew Apostle, 30 November, was still
obligatory in the city of Manila, but not in the suburbs.
Pope Leo XIII proclaimed in his brief Annus iam quintus dated 5
December 1879 the Immaculate Conception as the patron of the Manila
archdiocese. The same pontiff, in his brief Quod paucis dated 28 January
1896 made the feast of Saint Joseph obligatory in Spain and in her
overseas dominions.
Decrees of Festal Solemnity.
The feasts of obligation during the Spanish regime were classed according to their “number of crosses.”
Feasts of greater solemnity were feasts of “three crosses.” These were, aside from Sunday, the feast days
already cited as obligatory on Spaniards and natives alike, according to a privilege of Paul III. But there
were other obligatory feasts for the Spaniards, as those of Saint John the Baptist, the Apostles and
Evangelists, Monday and Tuesday of Easter week, Pentecost, the Transfiguration of our Lord, Saint
Lawrence, Saint Michael, All Saints, Saint Martin, Saint Stephen and the Holy Innocents. On these days,
the Spaniards could not force the natives under obligation to serve them to go to work, nor could they be
hindered from hearing Mass, even though by disposition of the Church the natives were not dispensed
from work nor obliged to hear Mass. However, on feasts of “one cross” like that of the Immaculate
Conception and that of Saint Joseph, the Spaniards could oblige the natives to work.
In 18th century Manila, people venerated with special devotion: the Apostle Andrew, patron saint of the
city; Saint Potenciana, patroness of the Islands; Saint Anthony Abbot, Manila’s protector from fires; and
Saint Polycarp, helper against earthquakes. But the feasts which without question stood out above the rest
in solemnity and in the enthusiasm with which the Filipinos celebrated them were the “three feasts” of
Holy Thursday, Corpus Christi, and the titular feast of each town church. The religious celebration of the
feast day used to include solemn vespers, Mass and sermon, and a procession.
The Bull of the Crusade.
The Filipino shared in the privileges granted in the bull of the Crusade, consisting of the opportunity to
win plenary and partial indulgences on fulfillment of certain conditions, besides enjoying the dispensation

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from abstinence and from fasting on certain days. In return for these privileges, the faithful gave some
small alms which the Church used for works of charity.
The Use of the Discipline.
Father Chirino relates that around the years 1596-1597, a canon named Diego de Leon who was studying
in the Jesuit college introduced the practice of inviting to the Jesuit church men of different social standing,
in order to take the discipline three times a week, especially during Lent. The natives, attracted by the
penitential practice, lost no time imitating the Spaniards. In time, this spirit of penance lost its appeal,
becoming in many places, according to the Jesuit historian Pedro Murillo Velarde, a mere external ritual.
On the other hand, during the Holy Week processions, many impelled more by fanaticism than by true
devotion, went to extremes of bloody penance.
Deportment Inside the Church.
In the churches in the Philippines, there was this laudable custom, taken doubtless from the primitive
church, of separating the clergy from the laity, and the men from the women. The school children were
assigned a special place under the immediate supervision of their teacher. Sinibaldo de Mas related that
there were three separate sections in the churches: one side for the men, the other for the women, and in
the middle the section for the principales and gobernadorcillos. The preparatory schema for the Council of
Manila contains complaints against the lack of respect for the sacred places, like entering with arms, or
followed by dogs, or with the head covered. For his part, Bishop Miguel Garcia severely inveigled against
the fact that the young girls in Pangasinan entered the church with their heads covered only with a small
handkerchief.
Mass Attendance.
Because of the dispersion of the parishioners through their rice fields, attendance at Mass on Sundays and
holydays of obligation was not as satisfactory as desired. This neglect of the obligation to hear Mass was
helped by the fact that Sunday was also market day in many places. That is why Father Manuel del Rio
could say that native apathy towards Sunday Mass was notorious.
In view of this, this same priest instructed the Dominican missionaries to arrange with the gobernadorcillos
so that, at the end of the Mass, they might send officers of the law around to the houses to punish the
guilty and negligent. In other places, the fiscalillos were charged with seeing that the people in the town go
to Mass.
After the Mass and sermon, the people remained in the church to recite the rosary, repeat the Christian
doctrine, and pray the Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity.
Public Recitation of the Canonical Hours with the People.
The canonical hours were nothing strange to the Filipinos, since the missionaries had taught them to join
the first and second vespers of Sundays and the more solemn feasts. In general, it was the chanters who
sang them while the people, especially the children, just listened. In certain areas, the school children
recited or chanted the vespers of the Little Office. Matins were sung on Christmas Eve, in the last three
days of Holy Week, and on Easter Sunday. For the greater solemnity of the liturgy, parishes with more
than 500 tributes (about 2,000 souls) had eight cantores (chanters) paid by the government or from local
Church funds. In parishes with less tributes, there were only four chanters.

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Misa de Aguinaldo.
The name “Misa de Aguinaldo” which is
traditionally given to the Mass said in
many churches of the Philippines at
dawn during the nine days previous to
Christmas, was added, just like the
Saturday votive Mass in honor of the
Virgin Mary, for the preservation of the
Catholic Church in these Islands.
Monsignor Felipe Pardo forbade them in
obedience to a decree of the Sacred
Congregation dated 16 February 1677;
but later the same congregation approved
it in a decree of 24 January 1682, and
since then this Mass has continued to be
said until now.
Holy Week Observance.
The Holy Week liturgy was held in the town, or at least in a visita which was as big as a población, in which
case it was alternately held first in one and then in the other. The liturgy that stands out especially is the
solemn chanting of the Tenebrae (Matins and Lauds). On Holy Thursday, the parish priest prepared a dinner
for 12 poor men, at the end of which he washed their feet, assisted by the principales and the officials of the
town.
In some places, there was a tradition of staging
the “descent from the cross,” followed by
solemn Tenebrae in the afternoon of Good
Friday. Against this, however pious as it may
seem, both the Council of Manila and the Synod
of Calasiao raised a voice of disapproval,
because it occasioned for many of the faithful
the erroneous belief that Christ really died each
Good Friday. Instead, the Synod suggested that
the parish priest preach a “fervent and
touching” sermon, which was to be followed by
the procession of sacred burial. In time, certain
abuses led to the diminishing of the solemnity
and pomp of the Holy Week liturgy, as for
example the use of penitential garb, self-flagellation inside the church or in the streets, the presentation of
profane dramas inside the church or in the cemeteries.
During the Easter Sunday procession, it was customary at least in the diocese of Nueva Segovia for the
women to carry the image of the Blessed Virgin. Due to the difficulty in uprooting this custom, the Synod
of Calansiao counselled that at least the bearers of the image should be satisfied with ordinary decent
clothes. (A, pp. 157-164)

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 Chapter 7

Exemplars of Virtue and Sanctity

17. Exemplars of Virtue and Sanctity.
From the earliest times of evangelical preaching, there have been many flowers of virtue and sanctity borne
or nurtured in this Pearl of the Orient, among religious and laymen, foreigners and natives, from all states
of life and social conditions, souls from Europe or America, experienced in the ways of perfection or
natives who matured under their direction.
Models of Virtue Among the Religious.
Love of the Eucharist and the Devout Celebration of the Mass. Among the
devotees of the Blessed Sacrament, Archbishop Miguel Garcia Serrano,
O.S.A. of Manila deserves a special place. He worked as much as he
could to honor the Sacrament. Towards the end of 1628, an unknown
thief stole the pyx from the cathedral with the Sacred Species. The
Archbishop undertook so rigorous a penance in reparation for the
attempted sacrilege that he died on the feast of Corpus Christi, 14 June
1629.
Charity Towards the Natives. We cannot deny that some religious in the
past treated the natives haughtily, as though the latter were an inferior
race—a common enough defect of the white race. Not so the Jesuit
Father Melchor de Vera (+1646), “a man noted for his love towards the
Indios, whom he loved with such tender affection that exceeded a
mother’s love for her children. He helped them in their necessities and
sufferings, and when he could not help, cried with compassion for them.
And so, when he moved from one town to another, he left weeping and
crying.
Of the same temperament was the Franciscan Juan de Vandela (+1599). Father Martinez says of him: “If
the work was plentiful, he sent them (referring to the lay Brothers of his religious order) to their rest, and
he undertook to finish the work himself. The same thing he did with the natives in their work in the farm;
and when they were building some houses, he used to go and help or relieve them of their labor.”
According to Father Murillo Velarde, it was the opinion of some that only by means of the cane and the
whip could one govern the natives of these islands. Of this mind for a time was Juan de Ballesteros
(+1646), later a Jesuit lay Brother until, warned in an extraordinary manner, he changed his attitude so
much that for the rest of his life—adds the same historian—he was the “physician of the natives’ ills, rest
in their labors, and comfort in their sorrows. He settled their grievances, reconciled their disagreements,
attracted them to the Church, scolded them if they failed in their duties, and urged them to attend catechism
lessons. He advised them on their planting and their housing, and in every way helped them….”
In general, it can be seen in the history of the Philippines that the holier the ministers of religion, the more
charitable, the more loving and more devoted they proved themselves to be towards the natives of the
Islands.
Charity to the Shipwrecked. There were others who gave up their lives for the salvation of souls, as the
Franciscans Francisco de la Concepcion (+1595) and Jeronimo del Espiritu Santo (+1643), and the
Dominican Diego Collado (+1641). They preferred to stay aboard the ships which were about to sink in
order to hear the Confessions of the passengers, although they could have saved themselves easily by
swimming or taking a small boat.

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Detachment. The Franciscan chronicles for the first years of the evangelization of the Philippines tell us of
men of noble birth, of merchants and soldiers who gave up their titles of nobility, their primogeniture,
their wealth or their military rank to enter the order of the Poverello of Assisi. There was another kind of
detachment, perhaps of a higher quality than the first, which so many religious practiced. Gifted with keen
minds or abilities of leadership, they opted to come to the Philippines denying themselves fame or the
applause of the world, hiding in a tiny village or, as happened in cases, to die in a shipwreck or of an early
sickness due to the rigorous tropical climate.
Pastoral Zeal. Noteworthy in their zeal for the salvation of souls were, among others: the Dominicans
Pedro Jimenez (+1690), apostle of the Mandayas and Irraya towards the end of the 17th century; and Jose
Gonzalez (+1762), apostle of the Ituys in south Nueva Vizcaya during the fourth decade of the 18th century.
Amid a life of extreme penance, the first was able to overcome the opposition of the pagans,
misunderstanding by his Brothers in the habit, and the inclemency and rigors of the elements, in order to
win souls for Christ. Of the second, Father Elviro Perez says, “It was in 1727 when, assigned by obedience
to bring the light of the Gospel to the mountains of Ituy, he undertook the journey through impassable
forests that served as habitation to so many unfortunate people, whom he converted by force of persistent
effort, wisdom and missionary activity, no less than by his rough penances, burning love and total
selflessness, and especially by a heroic patience and holy resignation to suffer the inclemencies of weather,
and by his daring to face all dangers without stepping back or losing heart before any kind of work or
difficulty.”
Mysticism.
For the many souls in the Philippines, there was no lack of that food “of
those heavenly delights with which even on earth sanctity abounds”
(Ancient Breviary of the Order of Preachers, Reading for the second Nocturn
for 15 October). We shall mention only a few of the several examples
of those who received extraordinary graces and favors.
Among the women founders of religious institutes or schools, the
following were shining examples of holiness: Mother Jeronima de la
Asuncion (+1630), foundress of the monastery of Santa Clara, a woman
favored with the gift of miracles and prophecy; Sor Ignacia del Espiritu
Santo (+1748), foundress of the Beatas de la Compania de Jesus; and Paula
de la Santisima Trinidad (+1782), foundress of the Colegio de Santa
Rosa.
The laity also had worthy representatives in this gallery of virtuous
people, like Governor Luis Perez Dasmariñas (+1603), a profound
mystic; and above all, during the 18th century, many individuals of noble
birth or high military rank, or even merchants, were able to reconcile
their earthly business with heroic virtue.
We frequently hear today of charisms. These are none other than extraordinary gifts which God grants to
certain souls for the spiritual good of one’s neighbor and the edification of the Church. One of these
charisms is the “gift of tongues” which God granted the apostles and, more rarely in recent times, to
preachers and missionaries. Among others in the Philippines, the Augustinian Father Alonso Jimenez
(+1577), first apostle to Masbate, Leyte and Burias, received it. Of course, we do not mean by this that a
missionary in speaking Spanish was perfectly understood by his native hearers as though he had spoken in
their own tongue; but rather an aid, a special help which the Holy Spirit communicated to some of the first
apostles of these islands to learn with surprising ease the dialects of the country. It was a wonder to see
how, with such insufficient means, men often of mature age came to master one or more dialects in a short
time, so much so that they immediately wrote grammars and dictionaries. (A, pp. 165-176)

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Holy Filipinos and Non-Filipinos Who Lived and/or Died in the Philippines During the Spanish Era.
Over the centuries, a growing list of holy Filipinos, as well as non-Filipinos who lived and/or died in the
Philippines, have already been or are being considered by the Catholic Church for canonization,
beatification, or its preliminary stages. Most of them are from the 20th century onward, but a few are from
the Spanish Era.
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz, the first Filipino saint, a married layman and a martyr of faith, was canonized by Pope
John Paul II in 1987. Twenty-five years later, Saint Pedro Calungsod, another Filipino martyr-saint, was
canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Blessed José María de Manila, a Spaniard born in Manila, was
beatified in 2013. Blessed Iustus Takayama Ukon, a Japanese daimyō who was expelled from Japan for his
Christian faith and who died in Manila, was beatified in 2017.
a) Canonized.
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz (ca. 1600–1637), Married Layman of the
Archdiocese of Manila; Member of the Confraternity of the Rosary;
Martyr (Manila, Philippines–Nagasaki, Japan)
● Declared Venerable: 11 October 1980
● Beatified: 18 February 1981, by Saint John Paul II
● Canonized: 18 October 1987, by Saint John Paul II
Saint Lorenzo Ruiz was born in Binondo, Manila, to a Chinese father and a Filipino
mother who were both Catholic. He was married to Rosario, a native, and they had
two sons and a daughter. In 1636, whilst working as a clerk for the Binondo Church,
Ruiz was falsely accused of killing a Spaniard. Ruiz sought asylum on board a ship with
three Dominican priests, a Japanese priest, and a lay leper. Ruiz and his companions
sailed for Okinawa on 10 June 1636 with the aid of the Dominican Fathers. The
Tokugawa Shogunate was persecuting Christians at the time Ruiz and his companions
arrived in Japan. They were arrested and thrown into prison, and after two years were
transferred to Nagasaki to face trial by torture. On 27 September 1637, Ruiz and his
companions were taken to Nishizaka Hill where they were tortured by being hung
upside-down over a pit, bound with one hand always left free so that the individual can
signal his desire to recant, which would lead to their release. Despite his suffering, Ruiz
refused to renounce Christianity, and died from eventual blood loss and suffocation.
According to Latin missionary accounts sent back to Manila, Ruiz declared these words
upon his death: Ego Catholicus sum et animo prompto paratoque pro Deo mortem obibo. Si mille
vitas haberem, cunctas ei offerrem. (I am a Catholic, and wholeheartedly do accept death for
God. Had I a thousand lives, all these to Him shall I offer.)

Saint Pedro Calungsod (1654–1672), Young Layman of the

Archdiocese of Cebu; Martyr (Cebu, Philippines–Tumon, Guam)
● Declared Venerable: 27 January 2000
● Beatified: 5 March 2000, by Saint John Paul II
● Canonized: 21 October 2012, by Pope Benedict XVI
Saint Pedro Calungsod was a Filipino migrant, sacristan and missionary catechist who,
along with the Spanish Jesuit missionary Diego Luis de San Vitores, suffered religious
persecution and martyrdom in Guam for their missionary work. In 1668, Calungsod,
then only around 14 years old, was among the exemplary young catechists chosen to
accompany Spanish Jesuit missionaries to the Mariana Islands. While in Guam,
calumnies were spread that the Baptismal water used by the missionaries was poisonous.
As some sickly Chamorro infants who were baptized eventually died, many believed the
calumny and held the missionaries responsible. On 2 April 1672, Calungsod and San
Vitores came to the village of Tumon where they learnt that the Christian wife of the
village chief Mata'pang had given birth to a daughter. They immediately went to baptize

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the child, but Chief Mata'pang, influenced by the calumnies, strongly opposed it. With the intention of killing the missionaries,
Mata'pang went away to enlist others to his plan. But while he was away, San Vitores and Calungsod baptized the baby girl with
the consent of her Christian mother. When Mata'pang learned of his daughter's Baptism, he became even more furious. He
violently hurled spears first at Calungsod, who was able to dodge them. Witnesses claim that Calungsod could have escaped
the attack but did not desert San Vitores. Calungsod was eventually struck in the chest by a spear, fell to the ground, and was
finished off with a machete blow to the head. San Vitores quickly absolved Calungsod before he, too, was killed.
b) Beatified.
Blessed Iustus Takayama Ukon (Hikogorō Shigetomo) (ca. 1552–
1615), Layman of the Archdiocese of Tokyo (Nara, Japan–Manila,
Philippines)
● Declared Venerable: 21 January 2016
● Beatified: 7 February 2017, by Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B.
Hikogorō Shigetomo was born as the eldest (thus the heir) of six children to Takayama
Tomoteru, lord of the Sawa Castle in the Yamato Province. In 1564 his father
converted to Roman Catholicism. Hikogorō was baptized as Justo (or Iustus); however,
he is better known as Takayama Ukon. He married in 1574 and went on to have three
sons (two died as infants) and one daughter. Justo and his father fought through the
turbulent age to secure their position as a daimyo, and managed to acquire the Takatsuki
Castle (in Takatsuki, Osaka) under the daimyō Toyotomi Hideyoshi during his rule's
earlier times. During Ukon’s domination of Takatsuki region, several of his subjects
converted to the faith under his guiding influence. Eventually, Hideyoshi became
hostile to the Christian faith, and in 1587 ordered the expulsion of all missionaries, and
for all Christian daimyōs to renounce their faith. Ukon proclaimed that he would not
give up his faith and would rather give up his land and all that he owned. Then in 1614,
Tokugawa Ieyasu (ruler at the time) prohibited the Christian Faith and expelled Ukon
from Japan. On 11 December 1614–with 300 Japanese Christians–he arrived in Manila
where he received a warm welcome from the Spanish Jesuits and the local Filipinos. He
died of illness on 3 or 5 February 1615, a mere 40 days after having arrived in Manila.
Upon his death the Spanish government gave him a Christian burial replete with full military honors befitting a daimyō. His
remains were buried in the Jesuit church there, and this made him the only daimyō to be buried on Philippine soil.

Blessed José María de Manila (Eugenio Sanz-Orozco Mortera) (1880-

1936), Professed Priest of the Franciscan Capuchins; Martyr (Manila,
Philippines–Madrid, Spain)
● Declared Venerable: 27 March 2013
● Beatified: 13 October 2013, by Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B.
Blessed José María was born in Manila on 5 September 1880 to Spanish parents. He
spent his initial years of education at Ateneo de Manila University, Colegio de San Juan
de Letran, and University of Santo Tomas. He stayed in the Philippines until he was 16
years old, then pursued further studies in Spain. Despite objections from his parents,
José María fulfilled his desire to become a Capuchin priest. Fr. José María remained a
Filipino at heart, desiring to return to the Philippines to serve the local Church despite
the fall of the Spanish East Indies government in 1898 due to the Philippine Revolution
and the Spanish-American War. Since circumstances prevented him from returning to
the Philippines, he instead resolved to zealously proclaim the Gospel in Spain which
was still suffering from poverty brought about by the First World War. There was a
growing tide of anti-Catholicism and anticlericalism in Spain then, as critics accused the
Church of conspiring with the government to keep the people poor. Military generals
staged an uprising in July 1936 that began the Spanish Civil War. Church properties
were seized and destroyed, and priests and religious were imprisoned and executed. On
17 August 1936, Fr. José María was executed at the gardens of the Cuartel de la Montaña,
a military building in Madrid.

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c) Declared Venerable.
Venerable Mother Jerónima de la Asunción, O.S.C. (1555–1630),
Founder of the Royal Monastery of Saint Clare (Toledo, Spain–Manila,
Philippines)
● Declared Venerable: 1734
Jerónima was born in Toledo, Spain to Pedro García e Yánez and Catalina de la Fuente,
both of noble lineage. At the age of fourteen, she met the great Carmelite reformer
Teresa of Ávila, O.C.D. after which she felt the calling to monastic life. On 15 August
1570, Jerónima entered the Colettine monastery of Santa Isabel la Real de Toledo
where she later occasionally functioned as mistress of novices. Sister Jerónima learned
about the intention of her religious order to establish a monastery in Manila in the
Spanish East Indies, and volunteered to be among this pioneering community.
Jerónima was appointed as foundress and first abbess of the Philippine monastery, the
first of its kind to be established in Manila and the entire Far East. Mother Jerónima's
journey began in April 1620; she was already 66 years old at that time. From Toledo,
they travelled through Spain, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, traveled through Mexico,
and crossed the Pacific Ocean for the Philippines, reaching Intramuros on 5 August
1621 (one year, three months and nine days after leaving Toledo). There she founded
the Real Monasterio de Santa Clara, specifically created for “pious Spanish women and
daughters of the conquistadors who cannot marry properly.” During the last thirty years
of her life, Mother Jerónima lived in constant illness, and on 22 October 1630 she died
at dawn at the age of 75. For her efforts in establishing the first Catholic monastery
in Manila and the Far East, the Vatican issued an apostolic decree for her beatification
in 1734.

Venerable Mother Francisca del Espíritu Santo

de Fuentes (1647–1711), Prioress of the
Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Saint
Catherine of Siena (Manila, Philippines)
● Declared Venerable: 5 July 2019
Francísca de Fuentes was born to a Spanish father and a Spanish
mestiza mother in Manila around 1647. Francisca grew up to
be a fine lady, and she was given in marriage to a gentleman who
died shortly thereafter, leaving her a childless, young widow.
Francísca then dedicated her time to prayer and social service
helping many poor and sick in the city. In a vision, she saw
Saints Francis and Dominic, and was moved to be a Dominican.
She was admitted as a Tertiary in 1682 with the name Francísca
del Espíritu Santo. In 1686, Francísca and four others
requested that they be allowed to live together in a life of prayer
and the practice of the virtues while continuing their social
apostolate. This was approved by the Master-General of the
Order of Preachers in Rome in January 1688. On 26 July 1696,
the Beaterio de Santa Catalina de Sena de las Hermanas de Penitencia de la Tercera Orden was formally inaugurated, and Mother Francisca
del Espiritu Santo became the prioress for life. After seven years of fervent existence, scandals began to mar the image of a few
of the Spanish beatas who were admitted at the start of the 18th century. They resented the authority and constant admonitions
of Mother Francisca. Defying the rules of the beaterio, they began to live separately in private homes. The situation stirred up
legalistic issues regarding beaterios. Concluding that the Dominicans had been unable to maintain discipline among the beatas,
Archbishop Camacho of Manila claimed jurisdiction over the institution and insisted on the practice of closure. The Dominican
provincial protested that the authority of the Master-General of their Order was sufficient to justify the existence of the beaterio
which enjoyed prior exemption from the closure. The beatas, upon the advice of their Dominican counselors, refused obedience
to the Archbishop, who was left with no other recourse but to excommunicate them. In January 1704, the beatas chose to
dissolve their community and live as a group of laywomen in exile at the College of Santa Potenciana. Their “Babylonian exile”
lasted until April 1706 when the Archbishop showed pity on them and allowed Mother Francisca and her sisters to return to
their original home and don their Dominican habits again. Francisca del Espíritu Santo Fuentes died on 24 August 1711 and

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was buried at the chapel of Colegio de San Juan de Letran. She left behind the Beaterio de Santa Catalina de Siena (Santa Catalina
College) which still stands today as the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena.

Venerable Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo de Juco (1663–1748),

Founder of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (Manila, Philippines)
● Declared Venerable: July 6, 2007
The birthdate of Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo is not known but is piously
celebrated on 1 February 1663 based on the cultural customs of the Spanish Era; only
the record of her Baptism on 4 March 1663 in Manila is preserved. Ignacia was the
eldest and sole surviving child of a Filipina and a Christian Chinese migrant from Amoy,
China. Expected by her parents to marry at 21 years old, Ignacia sought religious
counsel from a Jesuit priest. After a period of solitude and prayer, Ignacia decided to
pursue her religious calling to “remain in the service of the Divine Majesty” and “live
by the sweat of her brow.” Ignacia felt strongly against the Spanish law that prohibited
native Filipinos from entering the priestly or religious life. The Spanish Mother
Jerónima de la Asunción opened the first convent in the Philippines in 1621, but native
girls could not be admitted. In hopes of changing this racially structured ecclesiastical
limitation, Ignacia began to live alone in a vacant house at the back of the Colegio Jesuita
de Manila, the Jesuit headquarters. Her life of public prayer and labor attracted other
Filipino laywomen to live with her, and she accepted them into her company. Though
they were not officially recognized as a religious institute at the time, together they
became known as the Beatas de la Virgen María, with Jesuit priests as their spiritual
directors. Eventually, their growing number called for a more stable lifestyle and set of
rules or religious constitutions. In 1726, Ignacia wrote a set of rules for her religious
group, finalized constitutions for a congregation, and submitted this to the
Archdiocesan Chancery Office of Manila for ecclesiastical approbation, which was formally granted in 1732. Ignacia, by then
69 years old, resigned as Mother Superior of the order, to live as an ordinary member until her death at 85 on 10 September
1748. She died on her knees after receiving Holy Communion at the altar rail of the old Jesuit Church of San Ignacio in
Intramuros.

Venerable Mother Isabel Larrañaga Ramírez (Isabel of the Heart of

Jesus) (1836–1899), Founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus (Manila, Philippines–Havana, Cuba)
● Declared Venerable: 26 March 1999
Venerable Isabel Ramirez was born in Manila on 19 November 1836, to the Military
Governor of Manila at that time and his wife of Spanish descent from Lima, Peru. After
her father died in 1838, her mother returned to Spain with her family. In 1855, Isabel
accompanied her mother and brother to Lima where the eighteen-year-old Isabel
became a teacher and engaged in charity work. Seven years later, she and her mother
went back to Spain and resided in Madrid. From a young age, she felt the vocation to
religious life born in her soul, but she always found strong opposition from her mother
who, although very Christian, could not stand the idea of separating from her beloved
daughter. Eventually, on 2 February 1877, at the mature age of 40, along with three
other companions she made her consecration to the Lord and opened a Spirituality
House in Madrid. At the beginning, they constitute an Association or Pious Union of
Slave Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, dedicated to this work of the Spiritual
Exercises. Later, she guided her work in a special and priority way towards the
educational field. With generous devotion and endearing love for children and the
youth, she opened colleges and boarding schools in Spain and in Cuba. In 1883, her
Pious Union was consolidated as a religious congregation. In 1894, Mother Isabel sent
a religious expedition to Cuba in spite of the delicate political situation then. During
her second trip to Cuba, she suffered from heart problems which were aggravated by
sufferings from the ongoing war, which eventually led to her death on 17 January 1899. She left a flourishing institute that, after
her death, has extended to Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, and Chile.

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Venerable Mother Consuelo Barceló y Pages, O.S.A. (1857–1940),
Cofounder of the Augustinian Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation
(Barcelona, Spain–Manila, Philippines)
● Declared Venerable: 20 December 2012
Mother Consuelo Barceló was born on 24 July 1857 in Barcelona, Spain. As a young
woman, she felt a calling to the contemplative life and entered the Monasterio de las
Comendadoras de San Juan de Jerusalén in Barcelona; but the recurrence of an abscess in
her knee forced her to leave the monastery. When the Beatas Agustinas were invited to
go to the Philippines to take care of young girls orphaned by a cholera epidemic, her
desire for convent life was rekindled. She entered the Beaterio de Mantelatas de San
Agustin of Barcelona as a postulant and joined—together with one of her sisters—a
group of beatas who arrived in Manila on 5 October 1883. On 21 November 1883, she
received the Augustinian habit of the Tertiary Order at the orphanage chapel in
Mandaluyong, and professed her temporary vows there again on 26 December 1884,
making her the first woman born in Spain to be clothed and to profess as a beata in the
Philippines. At the Asilo, she provided children with food, shelter, clothing, and
education. Life in Manila was difficult, and of the original seven beatas from Barcelona,
only she and her sister Sor Rita remained. To replenish the number of beatas for the
Asilo, Sor Rita, with Sor Consuelo, proposed two simultaneous sources of workers for
the Lord’s vineyard: a novitiate in Spain (Agustinas Misioneras de Ultramar, which they
later founded upon their return to Barcelona) and another one in the Philippines for
the formation of native vocations. When the 1898 revolution broke out, Mother
Consuelo was the Superior of the Colegio-Asilo while Mother Rita was the mistress of novices. After the Philippine-American
war, the Augustinian provincial officially dissolved the sisters’ community and their Colegio-Asilo. Mother Rita and Mother
Consuelo, bound by strict obedience, left the Philippines for Spain on 13 March 1899 but resolved to stay together to preserve
their community. On 11 January 1904, Mother Consuelo was informed that the Apostolic Delegate had approved petitions
from the Filipino sisters in Manila for her and Mother Rita to return. But Mother Rita died on 14 May 1904 before she could
return to the Philippines, and Mother Consuelo returned to the Philippines alone on 18 June 1904 to become the Superior of
the new novitiate house of Saint Joseph in Santa Ana, Manila. Later she became the Prioress of the sisters of Colegio de la
Consolacion, Manila, until 1915 when she was elected the first Superior-General. She served in this capacity for 25 years until
her death on 4 August 1940 at the age of 83.

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 Chapter 8

The Church as Peacemaker; the Church During the

British Invasion; the Church at the Service of the State
and the Filipino People During the Moslem Raids
18. The Church as Peacemaker.
In the long period which we are investigating, there was a series of uprisings, generally isolated, with no
important consequences and which followed upon a variety of causes.
‒ The first and foremost of these, although not always apparent, was doubtless the natural instinct of all
people for freedom. The Filipinos wanted to be masters of their fate and throw off from their necks
the yoke of a foreign power.
‒ The second cause, which frequently is noticeable among tribes not yet touched by progress or the light
of the Christian Gospel, was the love for a free untrammeled life, the repugnance for the duties
imposed by civil society, and usually the attachment to ancestral cults and customs which priestesses
knew how to exploit to maintain themselves in their profitable and influential task.
‒ The third was the oppression suffered from the encomenderos without conscience, especially in the
collection of the tribute, which they exercised to the detriment of the natives.
‒ The fourth was the onerous and underpaid labors, especially in the construction of the galleons, which
the natives had to endure mainly during the 17th and 18th centuries.
‒ There was another cause during the 19th century, which was the effort of the Metropolitan government
to introduce reforms good in themselves, but rather premature since the Filipino people were not yet
ready to receive them.
Not all the revolts and uprisings were begun by Filipinos. The religious, missionaries or parish priests, in
their capacity as Spaniards, worked to pacify them with the double purpose of preserving the Islands for
Spain and for the Gospel. Wrote acting Governor Pedro Sarrio:
The experience of two hundred years has taught that in all the wars, uprisings and revolts, the religious
parish priests have exercised a major role in the pacification of the insurgents.
Noteworthy, too, are the words of Blair and Robertson:
In several of these insurrections, great dangers are averted by the influence that the missionaries have
acquired over the natives, and they sometimes are able even to prevent rebellions; they often risk their
lives in thus going among the insurgents. Nevertheless, the first fury of the insurgents is directed against
the churches, and sometimes against the missionaries as well and the other Spaniards; they kill some friars,
burn the convents and churches, and profane the images.
This, which often happened in the 17th and 18th centuries, seldom took place in the 19th century when the
Filipinos were more deeply rooted in the Catholic beliefs, and farther away from their ancestral pagan
errors. (A, pp. 187-188)

19. The Church During the British Invasion.

The Family Compact signed on 5 August 1761 by the Spanish, Italian and French Bourbons upset the
harmony that had existed for years between Spain and England. In January of the next year, war broke
out between them, but before notice of the outbreak of hostilities reached Manila, a squadron of 13 English
ships entered Manila Bay commanded by Admiral Samuel Cornish and carrying 3 or 4 thousand fighting
troops on board.

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Archbishop Manuel Antonio Rojo was interim governor of Manila14,
a person hardly capable of facing the difficult problems which the
presence of the English squadron was going to occasion the city.
Hence, it is understandable why during the blockade there was
scarcely any unit of command, and everywhere there was
consternation. The fort was ill prepared to face the invader. As a
contemporary document says,
…to conquer it, [the English] did not need to employ the military
tactics for a difficult encounter, nor risk their lives in bloody combat,
nor swing the sword against an enemy equally strong; for they came
knowing that the walls had been built to defend the city only against
the assaults of the Chinese, and that there was no military
commander, no trained army, nor were there more arms than what
sufficed to terrify [people] by their boom, and there was no defense…
During the siege, the religious orders and the secular clergy
cooperated in various ways to defend Manila. In the first place, acts
of reparation were performed in the churches and many more
Confessions were heard. The convents were places of refuge for
many fugitives and the troops which the missionaries had raised in
the provinces to defend the capital. Likewise, the religious orders undertook to distribute food to the
troops from the provinces, to the needy, and to provide meat and rice for the royal warehouse for which
they brought to Manila as much rice and meat as they could from their haciendas.
Some religious, like the Augustinians and the Dominicans, headed the auxiliary troops which they had
recruited from the provinces for the defense of the part of the city fronting the sea. Others took hold of
the shovel and the hoe to dig trenches and raise parapets. Some volunteered to man the canons, and most,
more in keeping with their priestly character, gave moral support and cheer to the soldiers.
On 5 October, the English succeeded in entering the city, thanks partly to the negligence and apathy of
the Spanish defenders. Manila then went through 40 hours of horror, usual on similar occasions:

14The former Governor-General of the Philippines, Pedro Manuel de Arandia had died in 1759, and his replacement Brigadier
Francisco de la Torre had not arrived yet because of the British attack on Havana in Cuba. The Spanish Crown appointed the
Mexican-born Archbishop of Manila Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra as temporary lieutenant-governor.

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robberies, assassinations, rape. The conventos and churches were not exempt from pillage by the soldiers.
Let us describe an example of what happened during the assault and sack of the convento and church of
Santo Domingo. Some Fathers were saying Mass when the British soldiers appeared before the doors of
the church demanding admission. Once inside, they killed two people, robbed the sacred vessels, broke
the tabernacle door to take the ciboria, broke the glass that covered the miraculous image of our Lady of
the Rosary, taking the crowns of the statues of the mother and the son after decapitating the former. After
this, they went to the high altar where there was an image of Saint Dominic, denuding it of its vesture.
They also grabbed the chalices from the hands of some priests who were celebrating Mass at the moment.
Entering the sacristy, they took as many ornaments and sacred vessels they found there, breaking locks
and pulling out shelves and drawers. From there, they passed to the convent where they completed the
sack, leaving behind almost only the bare walls.
The San Francisco convent was saved from the general pillage through an ingenious trick of the then
guardian and later bishop of Nueva Caceres, Fray Antonio de Luna. To save the valuables of the
community and the money and precious objects deposited by many residents of the city, he offered a
banquet in honor of the British officials in the lower cloister, thus making them believe that he
acknowledged vassalage to the British king. This won him during the occupation of the city the applause
and support of the residents. But after the war, the same people who had praised him accused him before
the governor of turning traitor to the country, forcing him to take refuge in the mountains of Baler to
avoid evils.
The nunneries (beaterios) did not suffer the soldiers’ ruthlessness, thanks to
an order of General William Draper who posted guards at their doors. Santa
Clara in particular received, through Fray Luna’s mediation, permission for
the nuns to transfer to Santa Ana where they stayed until the end of the war,
suffering no inconveniences. Besides, the conquerors declared the area
neutral territory for their sake. But the colleges, especially Santa Rosa, were
not saved from the ravages of the assault. During this time, while the college
was still under the administration of Mother Paula, an extraordinary event
took place. A British soldier wanted to violate a student. When she resisted,
he pulled out a sword to kill her. But the weapon miraculously twisted itself
when he brandished it, so that the terrified Englishman threw it away and
fled. The sword was still kept in the College of Santa Rosa in 1941.
But it was with the Spanish ladies—widows, married women, unmarried
girls—that the British soldiery satisfied their frivolity. Many of the former
thus atoned for the scandals they had occasioned by their immodest dress.
The Chinese, who did not enjoy the Spanish government’s friendship at this time, sided with the British,
not precisely for love of them, but doubtless out of hatred for the Spanish government which had decreed
their expulsion years before. The churches were not free of this antipathy. Once in the streets, the Chinese
robbed, sacked, desecrated, and made some of the churches dumping places for filth and a spot for their
abominations, not even sparing the Blessed Sacrament as happened in the Quiapo Church where they
threw down the Sacred Species in disrespect.
For the sake of truth, we must admit that once the capitulations were signed by which the English promised
to respect lives and property and to allow the free exercise of the Catholic religion, the English generally
forbade the continued commission of these excesses, and for this reason even ordered the execution of
some Englishmen, Chinese and Sepoys.
On 4 October, Don Simon de Anda y Salazar left Manila to organize resistance in the provinces. The
bishops, several Spaniards, the Franciscans, and especially the Augustinians of Bulacan and Pampanga

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immediately acknowledged him as Governor and Captain-General, despite the order of His Grace
Archbishop Manuel Antonio Rojo who, on the fall of Manila on 5 October, had commanded the Spaniards
in the provinces to accept the British government. The Dominicans in Bataan and Pangasinan followed
the example of the Augustinians. In general, all the religious sided with Anda, promising him obedience,
supplying him with resources, and urging the people to fight for Spain, raising troops and appeasing the
discontented.
The religious orders had to pay a great price for opposing the invaders and supporting the flag of the
mother country. The Augustinians, leaders in this attitude, suffered the sack of their convent of San Pablo
twice, and eleven of their members were taken as prisoners to London by Draper. The Dominicans lost
two coadjutor Brothers assassinated by outlaws in their haciendas in Pandi (Bulacan) and Santa Cruz de
Malabon (Cavite). The Recollect lay Brother Fray Agustin de San Antonio died a hero’s death in the
defense of the convento and church of Bulacan. The Jesuit Fathers had to bear the loss of their beautiful
house of Maysilo located in the present site of Caloocan City; the Dominicans lost their houses in Navotas
and San Juan del Monte, and the Augustinians their convent and church in Bulacan.
But the religious felt not so much these losses as the calumnies which some Spaniards spread about them
during the war. Seeing that the people killed some of the latter who were in Manila while the religious
were respected and left untouched, they had no qualms in saying that the religious were in connivance with
the enemy. Anda’s later attitude, forgetful of the support received from them, increased their suffering
during the later years, occasioned by a memorial against them presented to the king in 1768 and the matter
of diocesan visitation and Royal Patronage.
In July 1763, an English man-of-war had already docked at the port of Manila bringing news of the signing
of the peace on 10 February of that year. It was stipulated that Manila was to return to the Spaniards; but
this was not effected at once because the British resolutely refused to acknowledge Anda as the legitimate
governor. Much later in April 1764, after Archbishop Rojo had already died, the frigate Santa Rosa arrived
with definite orders from England and Spain to hand over Manila to the Spaniards. On board ship came
the new governor Don Francisco de la Torre. Feigning sickness or really falling sick on entering the city
of Manila, he paved the way for Anda’s triumphal entry into the city at the head of 2,000 people, well
supplied with arms and equipment, amid the acclamations of the multitude. (A, 196-202)

20. The Church at the Service of the State and the Filipino People During the Moslem Raids.
The most dramatic chapter in the history of the Philippines is the one on the Moslem raids, a chapter
written in blood and tears and nourished in pain and suffering.
General Ideas.
The island of Mindanao has been inhabited by two
kinds of peoples: Aetas or Negritos, and Malays.
The former, closed to civilization, lived in the
interior of the island, wandering as nomads with no
fixed residences. Among the Malays, we can
distinguish three groups: Moslems, Christians, and
pagans. These last are what are known today as the
“cultural minorities,” although in time they will
cease to be such with the advance and migration
among them of the Christian Filipinos.
The Moslems, or Moros as they were called by the
missionaries, were for three hundred long years
avowed enemies of the Christians because of

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religion. A historian describes them as
…suspicious, warry and proud. It is very hard to make them speak clearly in their dealings and have them
fulfill their agreements, for they evade their promises with a thousand tricks…. They are least inclined to
work and are very lazy…. Their government is patriarchal and despotic…. They have sultans and datus.
The former wielded authority over wider areas and rule with the help of a council of several datus, although
the latter do not submit to them except in matters of common interest. The sultan and the datus have
sacops or subjects, and slaves who are their main source of wealth, for these take care of their estates, dive
for pearls for them (which is the cause of the premature death of many of them), and fight their battles
for them.15
According to a Jesuit missionary,
…they are so hard to the motions of the grace of God and so fixed in their beliefs that it is almost morally
impossible to convert them.
They are good fighters and, had not the Spaniards stopped them in their path, they would have succeeded
in conquering all the islands of the Philippines and imposed their religion on them. Nonetheless, they had
inflicted enough damage in the places they reached during their raids, sometimes with the help of the
Camucones—the people living in the islands between Tawi-tawi and Borneo—and the Borneans.
Explorations and Plans of Conquest.
By an act dated 16 January 1571, the Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi took possession of the land of
Mindanao in the name of His Majesty King Philip II. In 1579, upon his return from the Borneo expedition,
Don Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa repeated this act of possession, besides taking possession also of the
Jolo archipelago when he was commissioned for the task by Governor Francisco de Sande. Later, knowing
a little more about the extent and the advantages of the island of Mindanao, Rodriguez sought license to
conquer it. This was granted by Philip II, with the title of Adelantado and Marquis over the lands he would
conquer. But this proved in vain, for he died at the hands of a Moro stalwart in April 1596, right at the
outset of the conquest. Cowed by this event, the Master of the Camp, Juan de la Jara, retired to a place at
the mouth of the Pulangi River, and erected a fort which he called “Nueva Murcia” with the help of some
Moslem allies.
Don Juan Ronquillo, who was dispatched by Governor Francisco Tello in the same year of 1596, retired
to La Caldera, a place near Zamboanga, without engaging the Moslems. He was succeeded in command
by Captain Cristobal de Villagra, who burned the fort by order of the governor (1599). It seems it was the
abandonment of this fort, which had held the Moslems at bay, that provoked the first Moslem incursions
into Christian lands. An alliance of 50 Joloano and Mindanao sail attacked the coasts of Cebu, Negros and
Panay.
In 1599, they attacked the town of Oton where they sacked the houses, burned the church, and carried off
many captives. The next year, two Moslem chiefs tried to repeat the same deed by leading 70 vintas against
the city of Arevalo; but the alcalde mayor Don Juan Garcia, better forewarned than before and having at his
command 80 Spaniards and many native archers, forced them to flee to their ships with much damage.
From this experience, the Moslems dared less frequently to attack the towns defended by Spaniards; but
they continue raiding at will many others located along the coasts of Mindanao, the Visayan Islands and
Luzon. Normally during these raids, they landed by surprise, raided the town, sacked the houses, went
inside the churches, profaned the holy images, robbed the bells and sacred vessels, and finally burned the
town, carrying off with them the younger and more robust of the people to be sold as slaves to the
merchants from the Spiceries. The missionaries were sometimes able to flee and hide in the thickness of
the forests; but on a sufficient number of occasions, some fell into the hands of these marauders who
either assassinated them or took them as captives in the hope of obtaining a fat ransom in their exchange.

15 Montero y Vidal, Jose, Historia de la pirateria malayo-mohematana en Mindadao, Jolo y Borneo, Madrid, 1888.

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Defense Measures Against the Moslem Raids.
Because the government could not always solve the problem of Moslem piracy for lack of resources or for
other reasons, the religious missionaries had to put up by themselves the defenses of the towns committed
to their care. To begin with, they constructed watchtowers from which, through a pre-arranged system of
signals, they warned against the presence of Moslem pirates around the vicinity. On this matter, the
Augustinian Fray Julian Bermejo became famous. He set up in the island of Cebu a code of signals which
on repeated occasions proved to be an effective defense against Moslem incursions.
Not content with building towers, the missionaries decided to
undertake the construction of forts to serve as a refuge and a
defense of the people against enemy attacks. Thus, the Recollects
built forts in Tandang, Siargao, Surigao, Bislig, and Butuan in
Mindanao. The famous Padre Capitan Fray Agustin de San Pedro
erected a fort by Lake Lanao in order to instill in the Moslems fear
and respect for the Spanish government. In the island of Palawan,
which was quite open to the attacks of the followers of Mohammed
because of its extensive coastline, the same Fathers erected forts in
Taytay, Cuyo, Agutaya and Calamian, besides inducing the
authorities to build another one beside the Labo River. Fray
Joaquin de la Virgen del Rosario raised still another one in the town
of Guildunman in Bohol island.
As a defense against the same enemies, the Augustinians built forts in Taal, Batangas (1792); Bucay, Abra;
Talisay, Argao and Bolijoon in Cebu; and Cagayancillo, Antique. The Franciscan Fathers built forts in
Minalabag, Camarines; Mauban, Tayabas; and Tanauan, Leyte.
The missionaries did not only construct defense works to aid the people; they also had to provide them
with artillery, bullets, gunpowder—all out of the funds of their religious order. They also took care to
garrison them with enough manpower
recruited from the población, keeping them
on the alert for surprise attacks. When the
enemy appeared, the townspeople fled
behind the stone walls of their fort, thus
escaping either death or capture.
So effective was the defense set up by the
Filipino Christians under the leadership
and guidance of the missionary priests that
the Moslems rarely succeeded in capturing
even one of them. In certain cases, these
forts contained within its walls the church
and convento. Likewise, the thick walls and
solid bell towers of some churches served
as forts, built as they had been for the
double purpose of serving as temples for
worship and as fortresses.
Offensive Measures.
Not content with erecting forts, some of the missionaries took the offensive and sallied forth at the head
of their Christian followers in search of the enemy to engage them in battle. History has preserved for us
five names that were the terror of the Moslem pirates: three Recollects, one Augustinian, and one Jesuit.

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The first was the Recollect Fray Agustin de San Pedro, better known under the nickname Padre Capitan. A
Portuguese by birth, he had given signs of a liking for the military arts since childhood. He embarked for
the Philippines in 1622 and, assigned to the Caraga mission in eastern Mindanao next to Butuan, he
dedicated himself zealously to the conversion of the natives. But the Moslems did not cease obstructing
his work. In order to stop them, he armed his Christians and led them himself, driving away the enemy
from those regions. Transferred to Cagayan in the present Misamis provinces, he inflicted quite a bloody
defeat on the hosts of Corralat (or Kechil Capitwan Kudrat), for out of
2,000 men, 1,600 were left behind on the field of battle. Because Corralat
recaptured the town while the priest was away, the latter decided to attack
him early at dawn on the lake of Lanao. Leading 500 Christians and some
Spaniards, Fray Agustin went up to the shores of the lake where he
completely routed them in a combat with the Moslems. After this defeat,
Corralat did not dare again for some time to cross arms with the soldiers of
Padre Capitan. Much later, on orders from Governor Corcuera, the same
Padre marched to the lake to fight Corralat anew. This time he had a small
army of 1,500 Christians aided by a small fleet of 10 ships constructed on
the lowlands and brought up piece by piece to the lake. The fruit of this
victory was the submission of 50 towns located around the lake. He had to
return once more to Lake Lanao to give support to Captain Bermudez and
the Jesuit Father Gregorio Belin who, besieged by the Moslems, were at the
point of surrendering. On this occasion, too, victory went to the Recollect
missionary. Assigned finally to Romblon, he repulsed an assault by 300
Moslems who without exception fell on the beach.
By 1750, the sultan of Jolo, Mahomet Al-Muddin, came to Manila in order to embrace the Christian
religion. The Jesuits, well acquainted with the antecedents and the intentions of the sultan, tenaciously
opposed his Baptism; but in the end, the opinion of the Dominicans, perhaps not quite well-founded,
prevailed. Later events proved the Jesuits right. Imprisoned by government order when Mahomet Al-
Muddin returned to Jolo, his younger brother Bantillan picked up the reins of government and declared
the most ruthless war on the Christians ever known till then. It is to this period that the deeds of Father
Francisco Ducos, Jesuit missionary to Iligan, belong. He was the defense of the towns in north and
northeastern Mindanao. His most famous deeds in arms were the defense of Iligan during a two-month
siege, and the attack in 1754 against the pirates of the gulf of Panguil which had become the center of
Moslem raids and depredations. Father Ducos subjugated this gulf, burned several towns, captured a fleet
of 170 sail, while taking a great number of Moslem captives and liberating many Christians. Appointed
much later as the Commandant of the fleet of Iligan by Governor-General Pedro Manuel de Arandia, he
continued warring against the sectaries of Mohammed,
causing them sufficient damage. An accident in 1754 cost
him an eye and left his right arm half-paralyzed.
Father Julian Bermejo, an Augustinian of the 19th century,
is chronologically the third in our gallery of heroes. After
serving as parish priest in Argao and Boljoon, he was
elected provincial in 1837. But less happy with life in the
city, he resigned his post in an interim Chapter. On his
return to Boljoon, he resolved to put an end to the piracy
of the Moslems in those shores, and built a chain of forts
from Tañong to Sibonga which he fortified and
garrisoned with people from the same towns. Not
satisfied with these defensive measures, Father Bermejo

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decided to go up on the seas to prosecute the pirates. He constructed for this purpose an armada of 10
barangays recruited from the towns of Argao, Dalaguete and Sibonga; armed each one with two falconetes
and a sufficient number of steel weapons to prevent boarding; and sailed in pursuit of the Moslems at the
first warning from the watch towers. This priest inspired the Christian soldiers with such valor and courage
that they went to battle as though on a fiesta. Fortune always followed him, especially at the pitched battle
off the island of Sumilon where he routed seven Moslem boats: sinking three, capturing one, and driving
off the rest. With this defeat, the Moslems no longer appeared before those shores, until they learned that
the Christian fleet had been dissolved.
The fourth was Recollect Fray Pascual Ibañez. This priest could not bear
that the Jolo Moslems, severely punished by Governor Claveria, should
return to perpetuate anew their usual raids on the Christian towns. On
learning then that Governor Antonio Urbiztondo was preparing a new
expedition against the Moslems, he obtained permission to join the
expeditionary force, accompanied by a large number of Visayan volunteers.
On 28 February 1854, the Spanish and Filipino troops attacked the
defenses of Jolo which consisted of eight well-armed forts. Because the
Moslems defended themselves well behind their canons and palisades, the
attackers seemed to hesitate. At this juncture, Fray Ibañez harangued his
faithful Visayans who, inspired by the words of their leader, threw
themselves with renewed spirit on the attack, wiping away all opposition.
But the missionary was not able to taste the victory, for he had to be taken
away after receiving a bullet wound in his arm, which caused his death a
few days later.
Finally, the Recollect Fray Ramon Zueco distinguished himself at the head
of 450 volunteers during the expedition led by Governor Malcampo against the heart of Moroland. In this
campaign which ended with the occupation of Jolo in 1876, Fray Zueco stayed at the head of his volunteers.
Effects of the Raids.
One of the effects of the raids was the depopulation of the Visayan Islands. Terrorized by the frequent
and unexpected attacks by the Moslems, the Christians preferred to live in the mountains and abandon
their coastal dwellings. Besides, the Moslems normally took off with a thousand Christian captives on the
average each year, whom they brought to Mindanao and Jolo where many of them died of hunger and
maltreatment. Others apostatized to escape these fears. A few managed to be ransomed for a sum of
money: P100 for each Christian; P1,000 or more for each religious.
Another effect was the insecurity of navigation through the Visayan seas. Various religious missionaries
and many Christians fell into the hands of the Moslems as they went from island to island. When the
Moslems sailed up to the town of Tayabas, over and above the thousand misdeeds they perpetrated on the
coasts of Camarines, they almost captured Archbishop Miguel Garcia who was then making his visitation
of the region.
Finally, many families were broken up. Among the moral cases of this period, some were of those who
wanted to enter a second marriage after the spouse had disappeared. Thanks to the Moslems, it was not
known where the absent partner was or whether he was still alive.
End of Moslem Piracy.
This heavy national crisis which had weighed on the Filipinos for three centuries had its moments of high
tension and relative peace. In general, one notes that Moslems stayed quiet if the Filipino and Spanish
forces did not go to disturb their land. Thus, after the evacuation of Zamboanga in 1662 by order of
Governor Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, and until the fort was rebuilt by order of Governor Fernando

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Bustillo y Bustamante in 1717, these enemies of the Christian religion
were relatively peaceful. But from the latter date, they initiated a series
of depredations which did not stop until the second half of the 19th
century.
The following observation of a Franciscan missionary in Bicol is
noteworthy: (A, pp. 203-212)
In our own times, and until the eminent and dedicated Governor-General
Norzagaray inflicted the coup de grace to the piracy of the Moslems of Jolo
and Borneo with the construction of steam gunboats, we have seen
frequent and periodic attacks by those races. Going up to the very ports
of Bicol, they subjugated and enslaved as many as they found in their way.

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 Chapter 9

The Catholic Church and the Development of Agriculture

in the Philippines; Commerce and Industry;
Projects for Material Progress
21. The Catholic Church and the Development of Agriculture in the Philippines.
Without setting aside its primary purpose of saving souls, the Catholic Church did not neglect to dedicate
a surprising amount of its energies to the material welfare of the people of this choice corner of the Orient.
As time passed by, this effort bore fruit in works as varied as the erection of towns, the clearing of forests,
the reclamation of malaria-infested swamps, the cultivation of wild and extensive drylands, the building of
roads and sewage systems, the building of dikes and irrigation canals, etc. In this section, we shall limit
ourselves to agricultural improvements.
Agriculture in General.
During the years before the conquest and colonization, Philippine agriculture was rudimentary.
Agricultural production was limited almost exclusively to rice and some tubers such as camote, gabi and ubi.
This was due partly to the fertile soil which yielded in certain areas a harvest of 100 to 1 with minimal
effort from the planter. This was also partly due to the limited needs of the people who by natural habit
were content with what the land spontaneously yielded. Contributing to the slow progress of agriculture
was the frequent fighting between the kinglets and tribes which produced a perpetual state of insecurity.
Work tools were likewise rudimentary. The plow, the shovel, the hoe, the rake, etc. were not in use until
they were brought in by the missionaries. At the time, caingin farming—which was the system of burning
a piece of forest land, digging a well, and then sowing seeds—was widespread in certain regions of the
country. Besides introducing farm implements and work tools, the missionaries also tried to parcel the
land equitably, through the mediation of the elders and officials of the tribes, in order to benefit all.
Likewise, they explained methods of clearing and weeding the soil, of leveling crops so that water did not
flow down the slope, of selecting and preparing seeds and seedlings, and of using the plow. It was in this
way that extensive rice fields were cultivated in the course of the years.
We could cite here a long list of missionaries who were tireless in their efforts to promote agriculture in
the towns under their care, but we shall mention here only one case. In 1848, the island of Negros hardly
produced the few necessities of its 30,000 inhabitants. With the
arrival of the Recollects on that year, this condition began to
change such that by the end of the century the population rose to
more than 300,000. This unexpected increase was due to the
interest of the missionaries to improve agriculture, especially the
cultivation of sugar cane. This greatly improved the standard of
living in the island, which in turn attracted many colonists to it.
This also explains why its ports were daily visited by foreign
traders. The missionary Father Fernando Cuenca, not content
with giving answers to agricultural questions, after much planning
and long sleepless nights, succeeded in 1872 in installing a
hydraulic press in the town of Minuluan which facilitated the
process of crushing the sugar cane. This promoted the wide
extension of sugar cane fields in the area.

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Some Products Cultivated by the Missionaries.
Abaca. Perhaps the missionary who contributed most to the planting and development of abaca in the
Philippines was Fray Pedro Espallargas, a Franciscan missionary in Bacon, Sorsogon. Around 1656, he
conducted several experiments on the abaca fiber and, having obtained satisfactory results both in making
ropes and weaving the abaca cloth, taught the people how to raise the plant. He also fashioned the knife
which abaca planters in the Philippines still use.
Other Franciscans in the region, by their encouragement of the people, helped to adopt the same process.
Unfortunately, enthusiasm did not last long, and things returned to their former condition. The people
were satisfied with exploiting the wild abaca that grew in the mountains or amid the underbrush of the
forests, for this way produced enough to manufacture cordage for ships and textiles for clothing.
Obviously, they had no interest in exporting.
This situation continued until 1835 when the Franciscan parish priests in Camarines and Albay began an
active program of educating the people to plant and
cultivate abaca in view of the immense profits awaiting
them, since more foreign boats were beginning to dock
in their ports looking for such a useful product to
industry. As a result, these provinces, which till then had
been some of the poorest in the archipelago, began to
prosper such that the Iraya region alone, which in 1835
had exported 3,000 piculs, at the end of the century
exported 300,000.
Parish priests of the same Franciscan Order in Leyte,
seeing that the soil was admirably suited for the raising
of abaca, did not stop until, beginning with the year
1840, their faithful put into practice the method of Fray
Espallargas to produce the textile.
Members of the other religious families emulated the
zeal of the Franciscans to raise abaca where the terrain
was good. We shall mention only the work of the
Augustinian Fray Miguel Rosales in Tapas, Capiz.
Añil. Añil or indigo grew wild in the Philippines, but naturalist Fray Matias Octavio, an Augustinian,
noticed that the pocket hidden beneath its leaves contained a blue liquid. After several experiments, he
succeeded in extracting the valuable dye, which the mestizos of Tambobong immediately began to use to
tint their cloth. This happened towards the year 1774. Its cultivation spread rapidly, especially in Ilocos
where it became a rich source of income for the towns.
Sugar Cane. Father Eladio Zamora writes:
…the Filipinos knew five kinds of sugar cane: zambal, red, white, stripped, and dark red. The first four
are good only for chewing, by which they extract the sugary juice, because they are soft and watery. The
fifth, i.e. the dark red, they used also in the same way, although it was harder and woody, until the
missionaries taught them the use of primitive, rudimentary and rather defective crushers of wood and
stone…. But the sugar industry had not yet developed the iron cylinders, nor did they have the means for
better equipment at the time.
To the Augustinians belongs the glory of having brought in from Mexico the first sugar presses, popularly
known by the name of trapiche, which helped to increase the cultivation of sugar cane. Of the Dominicans
who fomented the raising of sugar cane, we could cite some of the missionaries of Nueva Vizcaya.

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 Cacao. According to some, it was a Jesuit Davila, according to others
a Brother of the beneficed cleric Bartolome Bravo, who introduced
the cacao plant to the Philippines in 1663. However, it is certain that
long after, there were cacao plantations in Carigara, Leyte, where the
same Jesuit had conducted the first tests.
Likewise, this plant grew well in Lipa, Batangas, thanks to the initiative
of the Filipino Juan del Aguila. Ten years later, the Augustinian Fray
Ignacio Mercado distributed cacao seeds in abundance to the people
of Lipa. Later, the Augustinians worked tenaciously to develop cacao
plantations in Batangas because it brought in handsome profits. Of
these priests, we shall mention only Fray Ramon Sanchez and Fray
Benito Vargas in San Jose, and Fray Guillermo Diaz and Fray
Domingo Ibañez in Cuenca.
The province of Nueva Vizcaya, on the other hand, was grateful for
its extensive cacao plantations to Fray Francisco Antolin, Fray Tomas
Mallo, Fray Francisco Rocamora, Fray Ruperto Alarcon, Fray Juan F.
Villaverde and Fray Jose Brugues, all Dominicans.
Coffee. When the first missionaries arrived in the Philippines, they found coffee already growing here,
although they soon saw that the natives did not know how to make use of it. Dedicated also to effect the
material well-being of the people, they took special care to teach them the uses of that small plant which
in its wild state produced, according to them, a few bitter grains. Fray Elias Nebreda (also Lebrado or
Lebrada), an Augustinian, promoted the cultivation of this product in Lipa in 1814, and later Fray Benito
Varas ceaselessly encouraged it, such that the town came to be, by the end of the century, a rich emporium
due to its busy trade in coffee.
The Dominican Fathers also engaged in this praiseworthy task of promoting the culture of coffee in the
provinces of Nueva Vizcaya in 1874. But because of native indolence, the farms began to fail until they
disappeared altogether. Around 1892, the missionaries revived the industry for a second time since 1887
because of the sudden increase in price of coffee, which by 1893 cost P32 a picul. Coffee farms spread so
fast—a missionary wrote with obvious exaggeration that there were millions and millions of them—that
the province became one extensive coffee plantation. But it was necessary to convince the provincial
leaders who were at first indifferent because they did not realize perhaps the riches promised by the
industry.
Coconut. Notable in this matter are efforts of Fray Aparicio who planted 50,000 coconut trees in Lingayen
and supervised their growth. Something similar, although in a minor scale, was done by Fray Manuel de
Rivas in Santa Cruz de Malabon in Cavite province.
Corn. Because rice harvests in the Philippines were not always sure, due to drought, the scourge of locusts
and other accidents, the missionaries found it necessary to look for a substitute that could remove the
people from the specter of hunger. Nothing of those they sought succeeded so well as corn. Brought in
from Mexico, it ripened in 40 days and could be raised in abundance. It is still the best substitute for rice
in some poor provinces, or in times of disaster when rice crops fail.
Orange. Although the Philippine orange can in no way compare in quality or quantity with the foreign
species, orange is still grown in sufficient numbers to supply the market of Manila and the nearby provinces.
It was successfully raised in Batangas province, especially in Tanauan, where Fray Alvaro Calleja introduced
it with good results.
Tobacco. Tobacco has been one of the products of the Philippines which, for its excellent quality, has always
found an easy market abroad. But its cultivation has not been such as to come up to expectations,

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considering the time and effort expended by the tobacco raiser. Besides, many missionaries, aware of these
difficulties and always seeking the spiritual well-being of the people, frequently appealed to the government
to end the tobacco monopoly which caused so much dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Despite this, some
missionaries encouraged its cultivation in some places where it proved to be beneficial. Among them we
shall mention only: the Augustinian friars Roman Sanchez in San Jose, Batangas, and Mateo Perez in
Argao; and some Franciscan missionaries in the towns of Jaro, Maripipi, Palo in Leyte province.
Other Services.
One of the services which the religious Mainly because of the lack of
parish priests performed to foster the missionaries, Nueva Vizcaya and the
agricultural development of the Philippines entire Cagayan Valley region were
was to encourage the migration of families still an isolated enclave unchanged
who scarcely had enough land in their by Christianity in the second half of
the 19th century. When Fr. Juan
residence, to other areas still untilled.
Villaverde, O.P. arrived there in
Notable were the efforts in this regard of 1867, he realized the immediate
the Recollect Fathers in Negros, where need for a network of roads to
there was an increase in population due to facilitate his own missionary task
the influx of families from Panay, and of and to bring the people into contact
the Dominican missionaries in Cagayan with the rest of Philippine society, a
Valley. necessary step for their
Fr. Juan Villaverde, O.P. socioeconomic development. Like
Through letters and memoranda to the other missionaries elsewhere, he
authorities, the Dominicans did not cease in their efforts to invite every also planned to establish permanent
now and then the Ilocanos to migrate and make use of their proverbial communities for his prospective
laboriousness in the agricultural development of Cagayan Valley. converts. Some of these have
Foremost in this were Fray Francisco A. Carrozal and Fray Juan F. become towns today. The road-
Villaverde. Other missionaries were tireless in their efforts to obtain building program he initiated was a
animals, ploughs and other work tools, in order to raise the agricultural success. Today many of the roads in
north-eastern Luzon are modern
concerns of those incipient Christian societies to a level beyond the
improvements of the original
rudimentary, like Fray Juan Ormaza and Fray Remegio R. del Alamo in Villaverde "trails."
Nueva Vizcaya. (A, pp. 221-228)

22. Commerce and Industry.

They have a special talent for imitation and, with good teachers, they would make things perfectly. They
serve as scribes; they run barbershops, tailoring shops, carpentry shops. They are good at masonry,
ironwork, silverwork, embroidery and weaving. They can sing in the choir, play the organ, and perform
other similar musical tasks. They are not inventive nor are they given to the abstract sciences which call
for deeper reflection or prolonged thinking, or the like. However, there is a great difference between the
provinces and Manila, where people are more advanced and sophisticated.
This is how a Dominican writer described the native industry in the latter half
of the 18th century. This section will briefly show how these native talents and
industries developed under the guidance of the missionaries.
Industry.
Sugar. It was the Augustinian Fathers who brought to the Philippines the
Mexican trapiche, a primitive contraption of wood or stone to extract the juice
from the sugar cane which they had been raising in Panay Island. Naturally,
the trapiche was a crude and rudimentary machine which only partially extracted
the cane juice from the plant fibers or bagasse. The machine consisted of two
wooden or stone cylinders which, by a combination of gears, also of wood,

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revolved in opposite directions to each other when started in motion by the pull of a carabao tied to another
wooden gadget called caballo. The cane was crushed between the cylinders, while the juice was channeled
into several cauldrons or caua lined up inside a long oven. The juice was boiled as it passed from one caua
to another, until by the fifth caua the juice had solidified into sugar. This they kept in big kettles. The
native Filipinos quickly learned the process, realizing the benefits they could gain for themselves by
exploiting the sugar cane.
Silk and Cotton. Father Antonio Sedeño, one of the first Jesuits who came to the Philippines in 1581, had
thought of introducing the silk industry to the country in order to stop the flow of silver to China. He
planted mulberry trees and initiated similar projects, and even built a loom and taught the people the
European method of weaving. About two centuries later, urged on by the ambitious socio-economic
program of the Governor-General Don Jose Basco (1778-1787) to make the islands economically
independent of Mexico, and encouraged by the Sociedad Economica de Amigos del Pais, the Rector of the
College of San Jose ordered the planting of mulberry trees in the estate of San Pedro Tunasan which
belonged to the college. The trees bloomed, silkworms were brought in from China, and enough silk cloth
was produced, just as in the other parts of the Philippines where the same program was inaugurated. But,
at sales time, the planters found out that they lost more in raising mulberry trees than if they had planted
another kind of crop from which they earned more money, even if it were only camote. This initial failure,
plus the labor required to raise the silkworm and the expense of silk
weaving, explains why the silk industry in the Philippines was
discontinued.
Besides raising silkworms or mulberry trees, the missionaries also taught
the people the use of the weaving loom. Made only of bamboo, it was
necessarily crude and poorly built; but it surprisingly served the purpose
when plied by the native weavers who produced various kinds of fine
cloth, which for a long time won the admiration of foreigners.
It was mainly the Augustinians who introduced weaving to the people:
Fray Juan Zallo in Laoag (Ilocos Norte) where the new industry earned
rich profits for the natives; Fray M. Perez in Argao (Cebu), Fray M.
Alvarez in Santander (Cebu), and Fray Bermejo in Boljon (Cebu) who,
besides, set up two machines for seeding the cotton pods and spinning
the thread. Another Augustinian friar introduced linen and cotton
weaving in Paoay (Ilocos). A Franciscan, the Venerable Fray Antonio de
Nombela (+1627), introduced the production of lambong cloth in
Nacarlang (Laguna) whence its use spread to the rest of the country.
Quarries, Brick and Mortar. It was the need to rebuild the Manila Cathedral in the middle of the 17th century
that occasioned the discovery of marble deposits in the mountains of Antipolo by the Peruvian Canon
Melo. In Aguilar (Pangasinan), Fray Victor Herrero, the last Dominican priest of the town, discovered
extensive quarries of marble in the mountains nearby. He provided the people with work tools and taught
them himself how to block off and polish the stones. It is from these stone deposits that the government
house in Lingayen was constructed, just as the flag stones on the ground floor of the parish rectory and
the courtyard of the parish church.
But it was the Jesuit Father Sedeño who first introduced lime and made the first tiles, with which he raised
the first concrete building in the Philippines.
Philippine masonry of the 17th and 18th centuries was of such durability and consistency that on several
recent occasions it had been quite difficult to destroy cisterns or flying buttresses when people wanted to
remodel or construct on them modern structures. Some say it was made with molasses; others, with
seashells; but probably at least in Nueva Vizcaya, it was made with a certain kind of white stone which was

page 80
subjected to a full week’s burning. The lime industry was introduced by an old Augustinian missionary in
Pasulquin (Ilocos), while another helped develop it in San Miguel de Sarrat (Ilocos Norte). This is why
this latter town is known for its good houses. The Augustinian Fray Juan Albarian (+1761) wrote an essay,
the manuscript of which is preserved in Cebu, entitled The Art of Building in the Philippines, and a Method of
making bricks, tiles, lime, etc.
Finally, it was on the occasion of the construction of the hospital in Nueva Caceres, which the Franciscan
missionaries called “San Diego” but which the people called “San Lazaro”, that the friars taught the people
how to make tiles and heat brick.
Fisheries and Salt Farms. The town of San Dionisio of the old district of Concepcion in Panay Island owes
its fishing industry to the efforts of two Augustinian priests, Fray Pedro Bartolome and Fray Casto Rosa.
These two missionaries also taught the people how to make salt. Other Augustinians encouraged the salt
industry in two towns of the same name Talisay—one of Batangas and the other in Cebu province—while
Fray Manuel Camañes, also an Augustinian, helped the people of Betis exploit the fishing industry and salt
making.
Other Industries. There were many other industries which the missionaries encouraged for, besides their
spiritual tasks, they felt they could also help the people by teaching them to improve their material
condition. Some of these industries were:
• Gathering of Resin. At the suggestion of the Recollect missionary Fray Pedro de San Miguel (1774),
Governor Anda wrote the Recollect Provincial to encourage the people of Zambales to extract as much
resin as they could from the pine in the province, and bring it down to the government storehouses in
Manila for which the Royal Treasury would pay the workers. In this way, both the government and
the people would be benefited.
• Pottery. The people of San Nicolas (Ilocos Norte) owe to their Augustinian parish priest the beginning
and development of their pottery industry. In the farms of Makati, which once belonged to the Jesuits,
by the early 19th century there was already a factory of roof tiles, bricks, earthen pots, and other kitchen
utensils. These were, however, priced dearly and found few buyers.
• Wood. The people of the Philippines also learned from the missionaries the full use of the wood of the
country—of which there is so much good and hard wood, some of them incorruptible—for building
houses and furniture.
• Foundries. During the time of Archbishop Juan Angel Rodriguez, a Recollect priest who was
knowledgeable in the technique of smelting, conducted an early experiment successfully in the casting
of bells.
• Other Weaving Industries. Fray Mariano Granja, O.F.M. encouraged in Lucena (Quezon) the weaving of
hats and cigar-cases, while an unknown Franciscan whose memory is kept alive in legends, taught the
people how to exploit and make use of the piña fiber.
Commerce.
The principal contribution of the religious orders in the improvement of commerce in the Philippines was
the opening and building of roads to facilitate exchange and communication among the towns. For
example, the road that Fray Juan F. Villaverde, O.P. opened from Aritao to San Nicolas in Nueva Vizcaya
was so important that on 27 July 1905 a member of the Commission on Roads mentioned at one of their
meetings how transportation in that province had been facilitated such that transporting 6,000 pounds of
goods from the region cost as much as transporting 600 pounds in the past. An engineer added that traffic
along the same road was very important: “…in one day alone, 800 beasts of burden had carried goods for
loading in the train to Pangasinan.”

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Besides road building, however, some missionaries directly encouraged
commerce, like Fray Mariano Granja, who founded the town of Lucena. He
himself sought out the person to attend to the sale of copra to the commercial
agencies in Manila.
The Franciscans in Albay also developed, together with the coconut and abaca
industries, the system to export these products, thus opening a source of wealth
and freeing the Bicolanos from their poverty: Between 1835 and 1840, the towns
under the Franciscans exported not more than 3,000 piculs of abaca; but from
1890, the same district, called Itaya, reached an annual export of 300,000 piculs,
and the population grew in proportion to its increased wealth. (A, pp. 229-235)

23. Projects for Material Progress.

The missionaries in the Philippines were not so much given to projects for material progress during the
16th, 17th and 18th centuries, but in general concerned themselves only with their pastoral tasks and the
construction of churches. But in the 19th century, we find them emulating one another in the search for a
better material world for the Filipinos. The times were ripe, for even if they had come slowly or late, the
currents of civilization and modern progress had by then reached these shores. The unexpected increase
in population and the foundation of new towns served to spur the missionaries on to work in this regard.
The Franciscan Fray Joaquin de Coria writes:
Everything that one finds in these widespread provinces of the Philippines in the matter of churches,
schools, town halls, bridges, streets, irrigation dikes, is practically the exclusive work of the missionaries,
in cooperation with the local magistrates or gobernadorcillos and the people. The native is obliged to work
at the public works for forty days of the year. As a result, the missionary who is ordinarily the architect of
these projects, together with the gobernadorcillo, and watching lest the people be occupied during the season
for working in their farms, designated the days and the tasks of the public works which were announced
by the town crier. One day, the people made bricks; another day, wood was gathered to burn and dry
them; a third day, they burned lime; etc. In this way, these existing works have been carried out without
costing the treasury a single cuarto.
This section will be a brief review of these works to which those heralds of the Gospel directed their
energies.
Planning and Founding Towns.
When the Gospel first reached the Philippines, there were already centers of town life like Cebu and Manila;
but they were few and quite thinly populated. The people traditionally chose for their places of residence—
and in this they showed great foresight—the two sides of the mouths of rivers. In the hinterlands, there
were settlements, but these were clusters of bamboo and nipa huts of one room each, raised on posts about
a meter and a half above the ground.
The first thing that conquerors and missionaries alike did on arriving at a place was to choose the best site
for a town which they laid out in straight lines. As much as possible, this was to be far from swamps, on
flat open space, by the bank or not far from a river. Then they planted a cross around which they marked
off areas reserved for the public buildings of the Church and of the government: the church convento or
parish residence, the school, the town hall, with their respective courtyards. All these were built around a
square plaza.
But many times, it was not easy to form new towns or to transfer native settlements to a better site, due to
the attachment of the people to the places of their birth or to the burial grounds of their ancestors’ bones.

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An example of a town erected by a selfless apostle is the town of
Tuguegarao. Fray Hilario Ma. Ocio says:
…the outlay of the town is perhaps the prettiest that one can
imagine. Some 20 or 30 streets drawn in a line not much longer
across than lengthwise, and crossing at right angles, form a perfect
octagon; many clusters of homes, each of which has its own
orchard filled with trees which give them a quaint beauty: all of
this the work of the immortal Fray Lobato, a religious of great
talents and creativity.
Roads.
A good number of the streets and roads of the Philippines today
follow the general outline and trajectory of the roads that existed
during the Spanish regime. These were very probably an improvement over the ancient trails and paths of
the natives in the majority of cases. It must have been difficult for the Filipino workers, almost always
under the direction of the missionary, to open and maintain streets and roads through swampy areas, groves
and thick forest, because the instability and lack of firmness of the soil demanded a solid pavement on
those roads. In general, however, because they were not well paved, the roads turned into mud-holes
during the rainy season, or during the dry into clouds of dust, and all throughout the year they were a
problem that needed constant repair.
If they served only as pathways for men and beasts of burden, the roads were called de herradura (“for the
horse-shoe”); if they were passable by pull-carts de carretones (“for carts”). At the end of the 19th century,
some roads were paved with concrete; but the majority consisted of a more or less thick top layer of earth,
sand and gravel.
Let us consider some of the projects of the missionaries in this regard:
• Fray Lorenzo de Santa Maria (+1585), a Franciscan lay Brother, was perhaps the first or one of the
first to dedicate himself to the work of opening roads in the Philippines. He wanted to make it easier
for the Christian neophytes to come to the church, especially for Mass. Until he fell sick, he labored
to clear areas overgrown with weeds and flatten rough terrain.
• In 1876, the people of Dulag, Leyte, under the direction of Father Jose Fernandez, also a Franciscan,
opened a road 18 kilometers long to Tanauan. To finish it, they had to blow up the rock in certain
areas, and the same priest also taught the people how to make augers. We need not say anything about
the other roads in the towns of Leyte and Samar opened under the supervision of the Franciscans.
They frequently had to provide the food, the drinks, the work and draught animals at their own
expense, and they had to hire up to 200 workers.
• One of the most famous roads in Philippine history was that opened in 1739 by the Dominican Fray
Manuel del Rio. The government and the Dominicans had greatly desired to open a road from Upper
Pampanga (now Nueva Ecija) to Cagayan as an alternative to travel by sea which took 15 days; but the
Igorots and Gaddangs had always opposed the project. Finally, in 1739 Father del Rio succeeded in
completing the project. It started from Maliongliong, Pangasinan, cut across the mountains of the
Central Cordillera, descended to the Ituy Valley (south Nueva Vizcaya), and continued through the
passes of Abungul mountain to Gamu in the south of Isabela province. With insufficient means and
few workers, Father del Rio had to follow the existing paths and trails. This road, nonetheless, which
had won fame for its constructor even in the halls of Rome and Madrid, did not last long because of
the hostility of the Igorots. It would have been better perhaps if it had been built through the Carballo
range, from San Jose to Aritao. But this was not possible since the Dominicans did not administer the
missions in Upper Pampanga.

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• Better known were the roads traced towards the end of the 19th century by the Dominican Fray Juan
F. Villaverde. They were more modern, and even attracted the attention of the Americans at the turn
of the century. The following roads were built by him: 1) one from Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya to
Kiangan, 40 kilometers long, 1 meter wide, and with an incline of not more than 10 degrees; 2) a second
from Bagabag to Carig (Isabela), passing through Abungul, also with not more than 10 degrees in its
deepest incline, and called by the people the “road of the Holy Rosary”; 3) a third road in 1889, the
most used and the best known, from Aritao, passing through the Caraballo mountains to San Nicolas,
47 kilometers long. In constructing these roads, Father Villaverde used a theodolite or levelling needle
which is still preserved in the Museum of the University of Santo Tomas.
• At the suggestion of his own Provincial Superior, Fray Simeon de San Agustin, a Recollect Brother,
received an appointment from Governor Rafael Maria Aguilar to open a road for the town of San
Sebastian, then a suburb in the outskirts of Quiapo. The Brother died shortly thereafter on 20
November 1801 because of the excessive labor he undertook to carry out the wishes of the authorities
for the sake of the common good. Fray Marcial Bellido, another Recollect, showed the kind of man
he was when he built a road over a truly difficult terrain to connect Masinloc, Zambales with its
collateral, Palawig. In the last decade of the 19th century, a third Recollect, Fray Celestino Yoldi, opened
a road when he moved the town of San Juan de Bolboc (Batangas) from a low, swampy area to a better,
healthier and prettier site.
Bridges.
If bridges are needed in every clime and country,
they were much more necessary in the Philippines
where the land is crisscrossed by rivers and
numerous streams and estuaries. Therefore, in
laying out roads, the missionaries also took care to
construct bridges where the land required them,
and repaired them when floods or inundations
swept them away. To lessen this latter danger,
which in the Philippines is not unusual, the friars
sought to substitute with stronger brick or concrete
structures their
old bridges of
wood.
The Franciscan Fray Francisco de Gata (+1591) who came to the
country in 1579, dedicate himself to the construction of bridges in the
towns administered by the Franciscans in order to facilitate the people’s
going to church.
There were six stone bridges constructed in Majayjay, Laguna, which
were to a great extent paid for by the Franciscan Fathers. A Franciscan
missionary, Fray Victorino del Moral, built a bridge across the Holla
River in 1851, called “del Capricho” because of its daring structure—
resting on a double pier, measuring 150 feet long and 48 feet wide. This
daring design won the praise of the chief architect of the Philippines
who wrote in a government report submitted on 7 December 1852 that
it was a “very bold construction in its beauty and structure.” It
withstood the earthquakes of 16 September 1852, 3 June 1863, and
those of 1880 without sustaining any cracks.

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The extraordinary solid bridge of Carig, a barrio of
Tuguegarao, was the work of the Dominican Fray
Antonio Lobato.
Among the Recollects, it was Brother Lucas de
Jesus Maria (+1792), universally acknowledged for
his architectural skill, who “built to the admiration
of all the last pier of the bridge over the Pasig
which faces the Rosario street.”
On 5 February 1857, the acting governor, Don
Ramon Montero, decided to honor with a medal
Fray Matias Carbonell, a Recollect lay Brother, for
the services rendered in the erection of the bridge
of Isabela II over the river near the Villa in the
Recollect hacienda at Imus, Cavite. The work
facilitated and shortened communications
between the neighboring towns and the
surrounding provinces.
Dikes.
In the Philippines, abundant rivers flowed freely,
especially during the rainy season; but ordinarily,
even during the dry season, they coursed along
deep and wide gorges and river beds, making it
difficult to construct dikes that could control the
waters to irrigate the fields.
The dikes that have been constructed needed
many thousands of pesos which the towns were
not in a position to contribute. It is not surprising,
then, that Fry Martinez de Zuñiga should write in
his Estadismo:
Which town in the Philippines can pay for these huge expenses? Which individual person among the
Filipinos or mestizos is capable of undertaking these works? The dikes that now exist—these the
Spaniards have built or the religious orders.
Here are a few examples of what he meant:
• Several Augustinian friars spared not efforts helping the people of Balaoang, Ilocos, to build two dikes
to irrigate their farmlands. The dikes measured 12 meters long, 8 meters high and 3 meters thick.
• In Libon, Albay, different Franciscan Fathers labored to straighten out a dike that had blocked the
Quinalig River there for many years previously, and which had been the reason why many rice fields
were neglected. Once it was repaired, the people came back to till their abandoned lands, which in
turn occasioned an increase in the population.
• The dike in San Juan River in Calamba, Laguna, which for more than 200 years had spread fertility
over the lands and terrain of Pansol which the Rizal family had leased, was constructed by the Jesuits
who until 1768 were owners of an extensive property in this locality.
• In the same way, the Dominican Fray Jose Torres, named curate of Mangaldan, Pangasinan, initiated
and supervised the construction of a dike and a series of irrigation canals in 1825, which greatly

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 benefited farming in the town. This dike, set up in the Tolong River by the sitio Mapagdaan, was finally
destroyed through the years, due more to its faulty structure than to the flow of water. Therefore,
instead of repairing it, the succeeding curate Fray Ramon Fernandez, O.P. erected a new one, 18 brazas
long, 3 brazas wide and 3 brazas deep. The people, now realizing the benefits such a project could bring
to their crops, enthusiastically seconded the project.
• The dike in Casundit in Imus, Cavite, “the most solid work found in the Islands,” was built by the
Recollect lay Brother Fray Lucas de Jesus Maria.
Canals.
From 1884 to the end of the 19th century, several Augustinians strove and partly succeeded in rechanneling
rivers that caused great harm to the towns. Fray Jose Esparragosa in 1846 finished such a project in Baler,
Quezon, paying for it from his own funds. He opened a canal more than a league long, capable of irrigating
land that supported 13,000 Christians. The priests who succeeded him did not spare any labor until they
were able to bring the water to the other points of the same parish.
At the urging of Fray Maximo Rico, a Franciscan missionary in Morong, and with his supervision, the
people opened a canal to irrigate a wide flatland called “Balso” despite the difficulty of having to cut
through a mountain of stone. The inhabitants of Siniloan, led by the Augustinian Fray Augustin Jimenez,
did the same thing for the purpose of cultivating a wider area and increasing their harvests of palay. Finally,
we ought not omit the massive dike built by Fray Juan Fernando, O.P. over the Meycauayan River, a
structure that caught the attention of experienced engineers in hydraulics.
Artesian Wells.
The people of Betis, Pampanga, owe to
Fray Manuel Camañes the digging of the
artesian well which supplied them with
drinking water.
Likewise, Fathers B. Fernandez and Z.
Fernandez dug three wells 60 meters deep
in Alcoy, Cebu, to provide drinking water
for the people. (A, pp. 236-244)

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,
Chapter 10

The Church and Some Social Problems;

Material Goods of the Church in the Philippines; Friar Lands
24. The Church and Some Social Problems.
Slavery.
Slavery was already a social problem in the Philippines when the missionaries came. Probably informed
by one of them, King Philip II of Spain ordered the Governor-General of Manila on 18 May 1572 to
prepare a report on slaves in the country, including the causes and the system of enslavement.
Guido de Lavezares, acting governor after the death of Legaspi, enumerated the principal causes which
gave rise to this social plague:
Some are slaves from birth… because their fathers, grandfathers, and
ancestors were also slaves…. Some are captives in wars that different villages
wage against each other, for certain injuries and acts of injustice committed
either recently or in ancient times.
Some are made captives in wars waged by villages… without any cause….
Some are enslaved by those who rob them for a very small matter, as, for
instance, a knife, a few sugar canes, or a little rice. Some are slaves because
they bear testimony, or make statements about someone, which they could
not prove. Some are thus punished for committing some crime; or
transgressing rules regarding some of their rites or ceremonies, or things
forbidden among them, or not coming quickly enough at the summons of
some chief or any other like thing: and if they do not have the wherewithal
to pay, they are made slaves for it.
If anyone is guilty, or a grave crime—that is, has committed murder, or
adultery, or given poison, or any other like serious matter—although there
may be no proof of it… they take for their slaves, or kill, not only the culprit
but his sons, brothers, parents, relatives and slaves.
If anyone who is left an orphan came to the house of another, even of a kinsman (unless it be his uncle,
paternal or maternal), for food only, its inmates enslave him. Likewise, in time of famine and distress,
during which they may have given their relative food only a few times, they have sold the latter for their
slaves.
Many also become slaves on account of loans, because these loans increase steadily every three or four
months; and so… at the end of little more or less than two years, they become slaves.
The Spanish encomendero Miguel de Loarca who came to the Philippines in 1566, notes three kinds of slaves:
The first and most thoroughly enslaved is the bondsman of him who is served in his own dwelling; such
a slave they call ayuey. These slaves work three days for the master, and one for themselves.
Another class of slaves are those called tumaranpoc. They live in their own houses and are obliged to work
for their master one day out of four, having three days for themselves. If they fail to work for their master
in order to cultivate their own fields, they give the master each year ten chicubites or rice, each chicubite being
equal to one fanega.
There are other slaves, whom these people hold in utmost respect, who are called tomatabans; these work
in the house of the master only when there is some banquet or revel….
The ayueys [and tumaranpocs] are worth among these people two gold taes… the equivalent of twelve pesos.
The tumatabans are worth one tae, or six pesos.

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In this general description, this classification corresponds to what was indicated by other historians, like
Francisco Colin, Juan Francisco de San Antonio, and especially the first of them all, the Franciscan Fray
Juan de Plasencia who wrote A Report on Indian Customs. These authors classify the slaves into:
1) Aliping sa guigguilid, or “servants around the house” who lived with their
masters and served him in all things.
2) Aliping namamahay, or “servants who live in their own house.” These
dwelt in homes they owned, with their wives and children, and had
movable and immovable property. But they had to assist their master in
tilling his fields or in rowing his boats.
3) Kabalangay, that is to say those persons who begged from their chief
who was the head of their barangay whatever they needed, with the
obligation of serving him whenever they were summoned to row, work
in his field or serve in his banquets.
From this preliminary information, we can say that slavery in the
Philippines, which was widespread, was not as onerous as in other
nations, especially of antiquity like the Greeks and the Romans.
Philippine slavery was a mixture; it had elements that smacked of real
servitude, as well as elements that seemed more in keeping with the feudal
practices of medieval Europe and of the present Philippine tradition of
domestic service.
This was the situation of this segment of the native population when the heralds of the Gospel arrived.
Urged on by their ardor and love for the Filipino nation, they were not dismayed by any difficulties, and
constantly strove to meet the problem even in the face of the opposition from the civil government.
From a letter of Bishop Salazar, we know that a royal cedula had arrived on the same galleon that had
brought him to the Islands, by which the king ordered in rather peremptory terms that the slaves owned
by Spaniards be freed, without giving any consideration to how or when they had been acquired. However,
Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo decided that it was more prudent to disregard the royal order, in view of the
serious difficulties that would ensue.
For their part. the clergy held a conference on 16 October 1581 in the Augustinian convent in Tondo to
solve the moral problems occasioned by the governor’s decision. Present were, besides the Bishop, some
representatives of the religious orders.
The royal order on the manumission of slaves was read, together with Governor Ronquillo de Peñalosa’s
resolutions. The Fathers asserted: that the new cedula was merely a confirmation of an earlier cedula signed
by Charles I in 1530 which was still in force, and therefore there was no reason to counter it by suspending
the new decree; that it would be an injustice to suspend execution of his mandate since His Majesty was
well informed about the situation; that immediate freedom should be granted to the slaves, or at least
within 30 days.
The civic-religious Junta of 30 April 1586 reported to the Crown that in the Philippines there were still
Spaniards who held on to their slaves in contravention of the royal cedulas, and it pleaded before the king
to expedite another new cedula to end this anomaly. It also made some suggestions to gradually end slavery
among the native population, seeing that it was impossible to suddenly stop a tradition so deeply rooted
among them.
But despite the good will of the churchmen gathered in that assembly, despite the instructions of Philip II
to the newly-named governor of the Philippines Gomez Perez Dasmariñas as he was about to sail from
Spain, the problem of slavery in the Philippines had so deeply dug roots among the people and their

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traditional way of life that it could not be easily resolved at one stroke of the royal pen or a conference of
ecclesiastics. Time and prudence were needed. It involved masters’ rights and interests, and perhaps the
well-being of many slaves who would not have found an easy way of earning a living. 17 th century
documents frequently mention slaves; some show that even religious orders had slaves for domestic chores
and to till their farms.
Slavery can perhaps be said to have ended in the lowland communities of the Philippines in the beginning
of the 18th century. Thus, Fray Juan Francisco de San Antonio could write in 1738 in his Philippine Chronicles:
…now there is not the slightest amount of slavery among the Indians, in accordance with the apostolic
briefs, which have been confirmed by various royal decrees of our Catholic monarchs. Thus, we are all
soldiers of one and the same divine Lord; and citizens and sharers of the heavenly Jerusalem which is our
Kingdom. Thus, do we live in these Islands, Spaniards and Indians, all vassals of one Catholic monarch
in regard to human nature.
Tribute.
Shortly after Legaspi had conquered the city of Cebu and the neighboring settlements, he proposed to the
native chiefs that they pay a tribute. Probably forced by the circumstances,
perhaps even against their will, the latter promised to pay it.
After a few years, when the Spanish government was already firmly
established in the Islands, the first clash between the civil and ecclesiastical
jurisdictions occurred regarding the matter. On 21 June 1574, Fray Martin
de Rada put in writing his opinion regarding the collection of tribute by
the Spaniards. He believed that the rate was extremely high—three times
as high as it ought to be, in view of the poverty of the people—and urged
the government to reduce it by a third. Lavezares’ answer, endorsed by
some of the officials to the king, is in striking contrast by its sobriety and
moderate tone. In it, the governor answers the accusations of the
religious, which he considers “harsh, harmful to this whole Community,
and very prejudicial to the development of this land” point by point.
Regarding the amount and kind of tribute, he adds:
They are not considered friends, nor do they have any security without first having paid the tribute, which
is very little in proportion to their condition and wealth, and which they are willing to give gladly and
without compulsion. To each island, district and village, the natives give what they please, for in some
places they give provisions, and in others wax, cloth, and other things which they obtain from their
harvests. To them it is little, and almost nothing, because they have those things abundantly.
Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo de Peñalosa consulted Bishop Salazar about the advantages of adding two
reales to the eight of the tribute for the maintenance of the soldiers who, because they did not receive their
wages regularly, committed abuses on the people in order to support themselves. Both the Bishop and the
ecclesiastics whom he summoned to a Junta agreed in principle that the king could raise the tribute if it
was of divine law that those who paid the tribute had the obligation to maintain soldiers, and encomenderos
in return for religious instruction and protection; but, because of their poverty, the governor ought not
come to a decision without first consulting the king. The Junta attended by the residents of Manila in 1586
recommended to His Majesty that the people pay the tribute in specie—8 reales—or its equivalent in kind,
and that they add two reales for the purpose of better carrying out the pacification and evangelization of
the Islands. More concretely, of these two reales, a half real would be for the Bishop and Church ministers,
and the remaining one and one-half for the soldiers who performed guard duty in the Islands.
One of the instructions which Gomez Perez Dasmariñas brought to the Philippines in 1590 was to settle
the question of the collection of tribute. After listening to the opinions of the churchmen gathered at the
Junta of 18 January 1591, he issued an order on 28 February that same year, containing these points:

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1) Full tribute would be collected from every encomienda whether royal or private, if the encomienda was
enjoying the benefits of the administration of justice and the maintenance of peace and order, and was
receiving religious instruction. The encomendero ought to set aside about one-fourth of the tribute for
the support of the minister of Christian doctrine, the erection of church buildings and the maintenance
of Christian worship. Otherwise, he would be deprived of his encomienda.
2) If an encomienda enjoyed the administration of justice but did not receive religious instruction, the tribute
should still be collected but with a deduction of one-fourth of the tribute (more or less) which was due
to the minister of Christian doctrine, this part being retained by the people instead.
3) The tribute would not be collected from the encomienda which enjoys neither the administration of
justice nor religious instruction, until with the improvement of conditions in the Islands there would
be an opportunity to provide both. In the meantime, His Majesty would be duly informed in order
that he might provide the most convenient solution.
This decree did not fail to occasion friction between Bishop Salazar and Governor Dasmariñas, for the
former found certain measures—as the nomination of the tribute collectors or fiscals who were not always
honest or prudent men—a threat to the peace and well-being of the people.
Protector of the Indios.
One of the tasks, in many aspects unrewarding and demanding, which the missionaries assumed on their
own initiative only out of love for souls or which the Crown in one form or another entrusted to them,
was the duty and title of “Protector of the Indios.” In discussing this, we might distinguish between the
Protectors de iure and protectors de facto.
As far as is known, the only Protectors of the Indios de iure were Fray Andres de Urdaneta and Bishop
Salazar. Probably there was also someone else. Outside of these, the protectors de facto were legion—a
pleiade of religious missionaries who, moved by the sufferings of the Filipino people, were convinced that
it was their duty to go forth in their defense against oppression by the officials in the government.
Among the problems that demanded solutions which Bishop Salazar presented in his “Affairs of the
Philippines,” a Memorial to His Majesty and the members of the Royal Council of the Indies, was how
some Filipinos would quickly abandon the Faith because of the misconduct and unkind treatment meted
to them by some encomenderos:
But this is not the case with what we preach to them, for, as it is
accompanied with so much bad treatment and with so evil examples, they
say “yes” with the mouth and “no” with the heart; and thus when occasion
arises, they leave it, although by the mercy of God this is becoming
somewhat remedied by the coming of ministers of the Gospel with whose
advent these grievances cease in some places.
More than one encomienda and more than one town owed their continued
existence to the influence of some religious missionary over the people
who, harassed by the ill treatment of some encomendero or civil official, were
seriously planning to return to the forest thicknesses in such wise,
according to Juan de Medina although with apparent exaggeration
perhaps, that “if it were not for the protection of the religious, there
would not now be any Indian or any settlement.”
So convinced were the Filipinos of this truth that, when Bishop Miguel
de Benavides, first bishop of Nueva Segovia, gathered together the
people of his diocese to ask their oath of vassalage to the Crown of
Castille in the name of Philip II, one of them rose and said: “We answer
that we wish the King of Spain to be our king and sovereign, for he has

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sent Castilians to us who are freeing us from the tyranny and domination of our chiefs, as well as Fathers
who aid us against some Castilians and protect us from them.” The historian Juan de Medina adds: “The
religious have suffered, and still are suffering, innumerable things like the above, for making the Indians
sincere Christians , for teaching them civilization, and for serving your Majesty in pacifying the country for
you.” (A, pp. 245-253)

25. Material Goods of the Church in the Philippines.

The Catholic Church is essentially a spiritual society. It seeks a supernatural end—the salvation of souls—
through spiritual means, especially through divine grace granted in the reception of the sacraments.
On the other hand, since the Church as a society consists of members, i.e. of the men who compose it,
and these in turn are made up of body and soul, and the body is subject to the demands of the law of
nature, the Church needs to possess material goods just like any other duly organized society if it wishes
to fulfill here on earth the purpose which its Divine Founder set for it. This is the legal justification why
the Church in each nation has acquired through the centuries a certain amount of goods, in money or in
kind, which have come to be called the “Patrimony of the Church.”
Specifying our discussion to the Church in the Philippines, this patrimony drew from three main sources:
1) the support of the King of Spain, who as the Royal Patron, gave a yearly endowment to the churches in
the Americas and the Philippines, following an agreement with the Holy See;
2) dues from the arancel or stole fees which the priests charged with the care of souls could demand in
justice from the faithful; and
3) certain donations which it received from the faithful for reasons and purposes of charity.
In this section we shall consider only the secular clergy, both those in the cathedral and those in the
parishes; we shall include the regular clergy only in their role as curates in the parishes, or as missionaries
engaged in the task of conversion of heathen in the active missions.
Tithes.
The Spanish government had assumed the task of maintaining the clergy
and the cult in the churches of the Americas and (later) the Philippines
in exchange for the right to collect the tithes, according to the bull of
Pope Alexander VI of 16 December 1501. And in truth, the kings of
Spain faithfully discharged their responsibility, although in some regions
as in the Philippines the tithes were not enough to compensate for the
royal expenses.
At the start of the Christianization of the Philippines, the people were
asked to pay a peso, or 8 reales castellanos, as tribute to the encomendero or
the Royal Treasury. The encomendero was obliged to give part of it for the
maintenance of the religious minister and the construction of the
church. But since in time it was clear that this did not suffice for these
religious purposes, because the encomendero kept for himself practically
the entire sum, the Synod of Manila (1582-1585) became the spokesman
for the advantages of increasing the tribute by two reales more, which
were exclusively intended for the propagation of the Gospel truths. King Philip III, in two royal cedulas
issued on 9 August 1599 and 16 February 1602, confirmed the petition. One-half real was for the Gospel,
and one-and-a-half reales for the soldiery, considering the enormous expenses of His Majesty in transporting
missionaries and soldiers to the Philippines.
Thus things stood, until 1682 when the king, on the petition of the oidor Diego Antonio de Viga, arranged

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that (additional) tithes be collected from the natives and for eight years left in the keeping of the cathedral
church and its chapter. But this royal decision had no effect, because the religious Superiors argued before
the governor and the Audiencia that the Filipinos were already paying the equivalent of the tithe, and so it
was not good to collect from them anew. We still have extant a lengthy “Repuesta” which Father Baltazar
de Santa Cruz composed regarding this matter.
This system of paying the tithes concerned only the Filipinos. The Spaniards and the religious did not
begin to pay it, until 1782, in virtue of a royal cedula expedited on 25 September 1778. A manuscript dated
17 December 1869 describes the tithe thus:
The payment of the tithe, which is no other thing than the ecclesiastical tithe, granted for the Indies by
the Apostolic See to the Crown of Spain, bears down with all its rigorism on the rural estates belonging
to the religious corporations and the secular clergy; the institutions of charity, welfare and teaching;
confraternities; obras pias; and every other pious foundation. It weighs down on Spaniards, their mestizos,
foreigners, and finally, on every person whosoever who does not belong to the class of tribute-payers.
Ecclesiastical Fees.
Because the royal subsidy was not enough to cover the needs of Church ministers, it was necessary to
institute the payment of the arancel or stole fees. The first arancel in the Philippines that we know dates
from the time of Bishop Domingo de Salazar. In an ancient document still in manuscript, after a brief
exhortatory introduction which exudes love for the natives, it proceeds to list the dues to be paid by the
Filipinos and Spaniards for marriages, Baptisms, burials, and Masses.
As was clear, this schedule of fees could not solve the economic straits of the religious ministers, for of
those fees there was scarcely much more than the name. That is why we see certain religious who were
pastors of souls resorting to other means, at times abusive, in order to collect funds.
In 1698, Bishop Diego Camacho promulgated an arancel for the
archdiocese of Manila. Bishop Diego de Gorospe de Irala did the same in
1707 for Nueva Segovia. In 1755, Archbishop Pedro Martinez de Arizala
formed another arancel for Manila. Approved by the Royal Audiencia on 13
April that year, it was in force until it was abrogated by the one
promulgated by Archbishop Basilio Sancho on 16 November 1771. This
arancel, fixed for Manila, Cebu and Nueva Segovia, was destined to last until
the end of the Spanish regime in the Philippines.
Towards the end of the 19th century, some parish priests complained that
the arancel was already outdated and unrealistic with the rise of prices.
However, it was decreed at a conference of bishops in 1896, presided over
by Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda, that it shall continue in force as it
had been until then, and that it was to be followed exactly. And so, the
arancel of Archbishop Sancho, as it was up to the end of the 19th century,
demanded as the only fee:
‒ for Baptism: a wax candle;
‒ for the wedding banns: P0.90 for Spaniards, P0.45 for mestizos, P0.25 for Filipinos;
‒ for the wedding, arrhae, blessing and Mass: P7.00 for Spaniards, P4.00 for mestizos, P3 for Filipinos;
‒ for burials: P3.50 for Spaniards, P2.00 for mestizos, P1.50 for Filipinos.
For a sung Mass, Catholics offered alms of P2.00; for a low Mass P0.50, although by custom it had become
P1.00. And if the parishioner had no means to shoulder the expenses, the pastor should perform these
services for free so that the parishioner would not be forced to sell his farm, his work animals, or tools.
We should note, however, that throughout the 17th century there was practically no schedule of stole fees
in the Philippines. Consequently, the parish priests and the religious ministers acted freely on the matter

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and, at times, arbitrarily. It is well known that the Jesuits and the Dominicans did not have arancels in their
ministries, instead of which they demanded its equivalent in kind or in the performance of certain works.
The other three religious orders (the Augustinians, the Franciscans, the Recollects) demanded fees in
money and occasionally also in kind and personal service. Of this we find a clear and orderly description
in the Report of Bishop Garcia to King Charles III about the status of the diocese of Nueva Segovia in
1774. We include only a part of it here:
Instead, then, of stole fees, the people of Cagayan offer their religious minister food supplies, as fish, eggs,
personal service, and deer caught in many towns. In all the towns they maintain at their own cost a sailing
vessel, like a canoe for the priest, for whom, every time he wants to go elsewhere, which is regularly by
water transportation, they supply him with rowers and a pilot, nine men in all usually…. At the same time,
whenever the priest has need of certain necessary things, like salt, oil, etc., they supply him voluntarily….
All the letters and dispatches that the Fathers send within the province of Cagayan the people carry, and
freely…. This is the sum total of the service which the free man (timauas) perform for the religious
ministers in Cagayan instead of the parochial fees.
The women have their duties, and these are quite heavy. First, every Saturday, certain girls, and these are
the poorer ones, are specified to pound the rice which for the next week will be used in the priest’s house,
but this is common practice throughout the islands, even in the bigger towns and the parishes of the
secular clergy. Second, besides this, in Cagayan there are also girls assigned, even from among the wealthier
families, who, under the guidance of a principalia, launder each week the clothes of the priest and his
helpers, as well as the church linen—and this freely. Third, men and women every Sunday that they come
to Mass, bring firewood as much as they can, all of which will be used in the priest’s stove—but this also
I have observed in all the provinces, even in the bigger towns who pay the parochial dues. Finally, in
Cagayan they fetch water without pay for the use of the priest, all regularly bringing it from afar, although
this also is a custom in the provinces where there are stole fees…. This is the sum total of the service
which the men and the women of Cagayan perform for their religious ministers instead of the stole fees.
It seems that by the end of the 18th century, the Dominicans in Cagayan had already introduced stole fees.
Donations.
Many parishes in the provinces possess today rice lands, fishponds and orchards which are a rich source
of funds; and in some dioceses, they help solve the problem of maintaining the seminary and of defraying
other expenses. Some of these properties were entirely gratuitous donations from wealthy Filipino families,
but in general they were pious legacies with the explicit obligation of paying for religious solemnities, the
saying of Masses, or bequests in favor of confraternities. (A, pp. 254-262)

26. Friar Lands.

Origin and Nature of Estates.
When Legazpi came to the Philippines, the country was still thinly populated, the land was scarcely
cultivated, techniques and tools were quite rudimentary, and many areas were untilled, the greater majority
being covered with thick forests and cogon.
The first haciendas of the friars date back to the time of conquest. Legazpi himself had granted a hacienda
in Cebu to the Augustinians, and another one around Manila. Outside of those two donations of land and
probably a third, the other land properties were acquired in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries through
purchase, at public auctions or directly from the proprietor. Some were bought in one transaction, others
in parts. In this way, the friar lands were augmented. These did not cost much, since in the beginning they
were lands that were for the most part untouched and to a large extent unproductive.
These lands began to incite the envy of many people as they increased in productivity and value. The
Propaganda Movement made use of them as one of their weapons against the religious orders. But, if one
studies carefully the administration and use of these estates, he will easily deduce how unjust the campaign
was, for the beneficiaries of this land system were mainly inquilinos, or the native-born or mestizo Filipinos

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who tilled them. The proprietor received only 10% of the net harvest; the rest remained with the inquilino,
although the latter had the obligation to clear it, to weed out the tares, and to prepare the seedlings, farm
implements and work animals.
Besides, when part or all of the harvest was lost through a plague of locusts or typhoon, it was the practice
of the Brother administrator to cancel part or all of the revenue due. Neither was anything to be paid for
the first four or five years in the lease. Likewise, it was an established practice to allot a piece of land for
the inquilino to build his house, plant fruit trees and
vegetables, and raise domestic animals. Another
benefit which some tenants of the religious orders
enjoyed was the right to exploit the land through
casamajans or sub-tenants. In this way, without toiling
himself or being greatly bothered except for the sole
obligation of paying the land rent to the proprietor,
they could get half of the produce from the leased
property. And as if this was not enough, the inquilino
had the option—always with the proprietor’s
consent—to bequeath that part of the land which had
fallen to him by lot to his sons or descendants by
testament, or to leave it or transfer it to another land
tenant, or to mortgage it.
For his part, the landowners were generally not averse to these transactions, unless there were strong
reasons against them, as when the tenant intends to transfer his lot to others with prejudice to his legitimate
heirs. Furthermore, this system of land lease operated for the benefit of the Filipinos of those times.
Accustomed to selling their lands easily to cover their need of the moment, to their own loss and that of
their sons, they could not in this case do the same for the simple reason that the land was not theirs.
The costly works which redounded to the good of all or part of the hacienda, such as constructing dikes,
opening canals and drainage systems, digging tunnels for the waters to flow, raising bridges, and lining up
roads, were all charged to the landowner.
The system was paternalistic, advantageous to the inquilinos, who on the one hand enjoyed many of the
proprietor’s privileges, but on the other were not subject to his worries. For this reason, there were many
who wanted to cultivate a parcel in the estates of the friars. This is easy to see from the fact that very many
sought to occupy the lands an inquilino had left vacant, either through death if he had no heirs or through
eviction (deshaucio). It is likewise certain that the towns where the religious orders had land were prosperous
towns. One of them, Biñan, was perhaps the most prosperous of all.
Administration.
These friar lands used to be under the direct and immediate management of a lay Brother, but under the
overall supervision of the procurator of the religious order in Manila. It was the duty of the Brother who
was the top man in the hacienda to: parcel out the land; collect the canon or fixed rental; settle disputes
among tenants; transfer the lease of lands to others when tenants left freely or had to vacate the farms
when they failed to exploit them well or did not pay the canon. These unpleasant tasks, which nevertheless
were rather unavoidable to have some order and for the farms to prosper, eventually won for the Brother
administrators and the religious orders, antipathy and rancor, more or less justified or unjustified.
When an hacienda was within the boundaries of a parish administered by a member of the same religious
order, the latter never or seldom interfered with the collection of rents or with any other matters, except
when on certain occasions he interceded before the Brother administrator in favor of some tenant or
leaseholder.

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Some perhaps may think by reading available data that the friar lands were a rich treasure. They were, if
viewed from their eventual level of development. But in the beginning they were in the vast majority of
cases nothing but a stretch of forest lands, underwater swamps and cogon fields, and only by the passage
of time, expense and effort were the religious proprietors able to produce the minimum necessary to cover
with some margin the needs of the tenants and landowners. We could say that some were throughout the
17th and 18th centuries a perpetual source of debt for their owners. This was the case with the Biñan
hacienda of the University of Santo Tomas in the 17th century, and of the hacienda in Santa Cruz de
Malabon (today, Tanza in Cavite) in the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th. And
so one can see why the tribunal, after listening to the well-founded complaints of creditors, put on public
auction the haciendas which had financially ruined their secular proprietors, and passed them on to the
steadier administration of the religious who were able to make them prosper and convert them into sources
of wealth and comfort, but not without overcoming great obstacles. These words of Bravo and Buceta
are not without truth:
By good fortune, this is now disappearing, and the widespread care to exploit this inexhaustible stock of
riches is disproving the unfounded opinion which has been prevalent for so long, that every European
who dedicates himself to agriculture in the Philippines could not but ruin himself.16
Purpose.
With the produce from the hacienda, the religious orders took care of the support of a procurator or
Commissary in Madrid, who recruited boatloads of missionaries and transacted in the royal court the
concerns of his order. They also maintained hospices in Mexico, where the missionaries on their way to
the Philippines lodged while awaiting in Acapulco the departure of the galleon for Manila. Other expenses
included the maintenance in Spain of houses of formation for missionaries to the Philippines, partial or
total expenses of the costly travel of the friars who sailed to the missions, and the asignacion or annual aid
sent by the religious orders who had missions in Asia.
Haciendas of the Augustinians.
The Augustinian Order possessed the hacienda of Talamban in Cebu, which Legazpi himself had granted
to them on 27 May 1571. They also owned haciendas in Talisay and Minglanilla.
In Luzon, the Augustinians owned the following haciendas:
‒ Muntinglupa estate was bought partly in 1665;
‒ The hacienda in Mandaluyong was acquired by 1675 through public auction and purchase;
‒ Tala estate was progressively acquired in 1715, 1725 and 1726;
‒ Malinta in Polo, Bulacan, was acquired part by part by 1725;
‒ Dampol, Matame, and Marcos, were three parts of one hacienda purchased at a public bidding in 1834;
‒ The hacienda in San Francisco de Malabon (now General Trias) in Cavite was purchased in 1877.
The government also granted the order in 1880 a vast estate in Isabela for the purpose of making them help
in the agricultural progress of that far-flung and half-populated region.
Dominican Estates.
The Dominican Order had the following haciendas:
‒ One estate in Orion, Bataan, was acquired from donations and duly registered in 1637 and 1673.
‒ The religious order obtained two adjacent haciendas in Santa Rosa and Biñan, Laguna, in favor of the
University of Santo Tomas in the 17th century.
‒ Pandi estate in the towns of Bocaue, Santa Maria, Norzagaray, Bigaa, Angat, and Bustos in Bulacan,
was acquired part by part also in the 17th century.

16 Diccionario geografico-estadistico-historico de las Islas Filipinas, Madrid, 1851.

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‒ The hacienda of Santa Cruz de Malabon (Tanza) was purchased in the name of their university in 1761.
‒ San Isidro Labrador estate in Naic, Cavite, was purchased in 1831.
The San Juan Bautista hacienda in Calamba, Laguna,
originally belonged to the Jesuits, but was claimed by the
government in 1768, and eventually sold to the
Dominicans at public auction in 1832.
All of these estates were almost all planted with rice and
sugar cane and had thick forests and wide sectors that
remained untilled.
From 1896, the year the Philippine revolution broke out,
until their sale in 1903 and 1905, their owners hardly
received any income from them because the inquilinos
refused to pay the traditional canon.
Haciendas of the Recollects.
As for the Recollect Order:
‒ The hacienda of Imus, Cavite, was obtained through
purchase and donations, in 1686, 1690 and 1666.
‒ The Tunasan (Muntinglupa) estate was acquired in 1695.
‒ San Jose in Mindoro came to the possession of the Recollects in 1897, in exchange for a piece of land
in Isabela which the government had already donated to them in 1880.
‒ The Talaja hacienda in Morong was acquired by the Recollect Order in 1899.
Jesuit Lands.
Although historically the Jesuit lands were not classified as “friar lands,” they still were an important
element in agricultural and economic growth in the Philippines. These lands were: 1) those that were the
property of the Jesuit Order; 2) those that belonged to the Colegio Maximo de San Ignacio; and 3) the
haciendas of the Colegio de San Jose.
‒ The Jesuit Order owned lands in San Pedro Makati, Nagtahan, and San Juan Bautista in Calamba, Laguna.
‒ The Colegio Maximo de San Ignacio owned the following estates: Mayhaligue in Tondo; Maysilo in
Tambobong and Bocaue, Bulacan; Piedad also in Tondo.
‒ The Colegio de San Jose owned two properties: San Pedro Tunasan in Laguna, and Lian in Batangas.
Other Properties.
Besides these estates which belonged to the religious orders, the orders and other convents or religious
houses also had: some rural property, neither extensive nor too productive ordinarily; and some urban lots
in Intramuros and in the suburbs. Of these urban lots, we can use Father Zuñiga’s words describing the
residential houses of Manila:
…they are leased at a rather low rate since some earn annually P300 to P400, an amount that appears
excessive, but actually leaving very little profit to the proprietors because of the high cost of building and
maintenance, which can cost much because the wood quickly rots.
Some of these houses belonged to the obras pias. During earthquakes, both the building itself and the
capital of the obra pia would often get wiped out. (A, pp. 263-273)

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 Chapter 11

Religious Causes of the Philippine Revolution

and Charges Against the Religious Orders;
the Church During the Philippine Revolution (1898-1900)
27. Religious Causes of the Philippine Revolution and Charges Against the Religious Orders.
Freemasonry.
Among the several causes that helped to separate the Philippines from Spain, freemasonry is primary. This
is easily seen from its anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish program of activities.
According to some, the first lodge in the Philippines was founded by the Spaniard Mariano Marti in 1834.
But like others established soon after, it did not last. On the other hand, if we are to believe a pamphlet
written under a pseudonym and printed in Paris in 1896, the first lodge in the Philippines was established
in Cavite in 1860, named Luz Filipina and dependent on the Spanish Gran Oriente.
Towards 1872 during the term of Governor Blanco Valderrama, a lodge was organized in Sampaloc
dependent on the Spanish Gran Oriente, the membership of which was exclusively for Spanish peninsulares,
with no natives included. A little later, on 4 March 1874 the lodge Luz de Oriente was inaugurated. Located
also in Sampaloc, it also depended on the Gran Oriente. These are the first certain lodges of freemasonry
in the Philippines.
No mestizos or natives were admitted into the Philippine lodges until 1884 when, through the initiative of
the Grand Master of the Spanish Gran Oriente, they opened their doors to the latter, but on condition that
they knew how to read and write. But Philippine masonry did not spread much until 1890. In 1892, it
grew very rapidly, especially after the first masonic lodge for women was opened in Manila. Its founder
was the mestizo Faustino Villaruel whose daughter Rosario was the first Grand Mistress.
The masons knew very well that it was difficult to destroy the Spanish domination of the Philippines while
the religious orders enjoyed an influence over the people. They therefore initiated a campaign of abuse
against the former, and against the Church in general. Disguised for some time, it could not help but be
uncovered during the incidents of the year 1888.
The Manifesto of 1888.
On the suggestion of the leading figures of the Manila lodges, a group
of demonstrators led by some gobernadorcillos marched out of the tribunal
of Santa Cruz on 1 March 1888. Passing through the more populated
sectors of Manila, they marched towards the office of the civil governor,
then occupied by Jose Centeno, an affiliate of masonry. They had with
them a written petition, subscribed to by 810 signatures, demanding the
exile and immediate departure of Archbishop Payo, the expulsion of the
friars, the secularization of the parishes, and the confiscation of the
estates of the religious orders.
Such a bold manifestation, frankly anti-religious in tone, provoked the
indignation of the Manila residents. But everything returned to an
apparent calm after these initial reactions, and the leaders of the
demonstrators continued their secret machinations against the Church
and the religious orders.

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Moral Decadence.
The distance separating Europe from the Philippines was considerably shortened with the opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869, for the sea voyage now took only one month whereas it had taken two or three months
to sail from Europe to Manila before. Heretofore, the Filipinos were a world apart from the sophisticated
but decadent moral ethos of Europe; and the opening of the canal naturally had adverse effects on the moral
atmosphere of the archipelago. Since then, there began to flow into the Islands a tide of books against
Christian morality complete at times with pornographic pictures, sensual and immodest plays, nude or
semi-nude sculptures and paintings, etc. As can easily be imagined, such
a plague led to the immediate weakening of the faith in many, followed
by a loss of respect for authorities both ecclesiastic and civil, and neglect
of one’s religious obligations. Under these circumstances, revolutionary
propaganda found fertile soil to radicate itself in the Filipino mind.
The evil was aggravated when the insular government decreed on 8
February 1880 the implementation in the Philippines of the law of 4
January 1854 which liberalized in the Peninsula the publication of books
and pamphlets, and which by royal order on 16 December 1879 had
been extended to the overseas possessions of Spain.
Over and above these were the attacks—at times open, at others
disguised—by the fortnightly La Solidaridad which had been founded by
Marcelo H. del Pilar in Barcelona. The same objective was pursued by
not a few pamphlets written by the Filipino ilustrados, but especially by
Jose Rizal in his first novel Noli me Tangere published in 1886 in Berlin,
and its sequel El Filibusterismo published in Ghent in 1891.
Harmful Spaniards.
Another cause of the revolution was the despicable behavior and attitude of many Spaniards in the
Philippines who were like “birds of flight,” until the fall of the peninsular government, which had sent
them here, would force their dismissal from official service and their repatriation to the home country.
Some were masons who labored to spread masonry among the natives. Others were imbued with anti-
clerical ideas who showed little or no respect for religious practices.
It was due to these bad Spaniards that the pious practice of publicly reciting the Angelus at the end of the
day disappeared in Manila and other parts of the archipelago. Among them also was started the practice
of not raising or lifting the hat when passing in front of the church; of not bringing the dead to the church
for the priestly blessing before proceeding to the cemetery; of neglecting to summon the religious minister
when someone was gravely ill and in proximate danger of death; of disregarding the precepts of Confession,
fasting and abstinence, particularly by those who prided themselves as being “enlightened”; of feeling
embarrassed at wearing scapulars and belonging to confraternities; and of not offering the place of honor
to the priest or kissing his hand before talking with him.
Imbued with anti-clericalism which was quite rampant in the Peninsula, these Spaniards led the simple
Filipinos to despise the priest and no longer make him the confidant of their problems as in times past.
These Spaniards, who came in search of wealth to secure a life of ease for themselves when they returned
to Spain, met head-on with the friar parish priest. Faithful to his role of “protector of the Indios”, the
latter sought to defend the interests of his flock at the risk of disgust and altercations with them.
The bad Spaniards mounted a campaign against the religious orders, especially after the Pact of Biak-na-
bato, claiming that the priests were the cause of the revolution. Let us now see the principal charges
levelled against the religious orders, by their enemies themselves or through their agents.

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Charges of Some of the Native Clergy.
There were native priests in the Philippines since the time of Archbishop Camacho. More native
ordinations were held during the tenure of Archbishop Santa Justa y Rufina, and their number grew to
around 700 native priests towards the last years of the Spanish regime. The religious orders were accused
of opposing both their acceptance to and their training in their priestly vocation. This charge is not
completely without foundation.
When the revolution broke out, the members of the secular clergy, who were almost all natives, were in
charge of a sufficient number of parishes in the dioceses of Cebu, Nueva Caceres, Nueva Segovia, and a
few in the archdiocese of Manila. They acted as episcopal chaplains and assistants to the episcopal sees.
Besides, they enjoyed certain prebends in the Metropolitan Church of Manila, and had charge of the
spiritual welfare of the prisons, asylums and hospitals. Finally, it is well known that they were serving as
assistant parish priests.
It cannot be denied that some members of the secular clergy joined the hostile campaign against the
religious orders. Not always without reason, they complained: that the friar priests had imposed on them
the heavier tasks in the parish such as hearing Confessions and administering the sacraments in the outlying
barrios; that they were not consulted on the more delicate problems of the parish; that they were badly
compensated for their services; that they were treated like batas or domestic servants; and above all, that
the religious opposed their promotion to the rank of full parish priest.
Others, who were not clerics, observed that the religious priests were no longer in immediate contact with
the people since they had assistants, and so were no longer privy to their secrets. Consequently, they no
longer enjoyed their former prestige and influence over the people. Doubtless, these accusations had some
basis in truth in many cases.
Violations of Chastity.
The friars’ enemies accused them of dissoluteness and inobservance of their religious vow of chastity. It
is true that in every period, but especially in the 19th century, there were religious priests in the Philippines
guilty of serious violations of this vow. To deny this would be tantamount to denying the weakness
inherent to human nature. But to impute the failure of a few to an entire religious order would be malicious
calumny. After all, in any group in society there are members who are rather unfaithful, and other members
who are moderately observant of the corporate discipline, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the
degree of permissiveness or strictness in disciplinary observance. We would be the last to deny a fact which
is proven in documents or in popular tradition.
But it is also true that evil-minded people in certain cases have customarily accused their parish priests of
having perpetrated certain crimes, in order to satisfy personal motives of revenge, thus putting the latter in
a bad light before their Superiors. Superiors tried to punish the guilty whenever they found enough proof
of a crime, although this was not always possible, since some people were just too ready to make unjust
accusations, while others refused to make any statements at all against their religious ministers.
Wealth of the Friars.
Another charge levelled against the regular clergy by the propagandists was that of having accumulated
immense riches within the period of three hundred years. It is true that the Augustinians, the Dominicans
and the Recollects had acquired extensive lands by donation, purchase or public bidding, which at the time
of acquisition were raw and unproductive, but which they improved at great cost. These lands represent a
valuable patrimony. Nevertheless, despite all that had been done, these lands did not always produce
enough to fulfill the multiple needs of the different orders:
The Order of Saint Dominic, which seems to be the richest among its peers, has to support the colleges
of Ocaña and Avila in the Peninsula (Spain), where there are more than 200 friars, the Procure in Madrid

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 which serves as the central hostel, the College of the Dominican tertiaries in Madrid who are destined for
the Philippines, and the residence in Valencia; in the Philippines, the convent of Santo Domingo, the
colleges of Santo Tomas and Letran, the beaterio of Santa Catalina, the college of Dagupan, and the four
colleges of tertiaries in Manila, Lingayen, Vigan and Tuguegarao; and outside of the archipelago, the
missions of China, Tonkin and Formosa, and the college of the Via Condotti in Rome recently
incorporated to this province by an act of the government. The moderate support of all these institutions,
subjects and material possessions, given the high price of things at the present time, costs us each year (in
normal conditions) some hundreds of thousands of pesos; this does not include the enormous losses from
exchange rates, the extraordinary expenses due to earthquakes, typhoons, fires, and other chance accidents
common in the Islands.17
Friar Opposition to the Teaching of Spanish.
Already in the time of Charles II, the royal court in Madrid had shown special interest that the religious
missionaries should see to the spread of the Spanish language in the Philippines. This plan found greater
support during the reign of Charles III when Anda was governor of the Philippines. However, in both
cases success was negligible. This was because in those circumstances it was almost impossible to obey
the royal mandate for lack of means and the necessary personnel. Besides, the missionaries found it much
easier to learn the native dialects themselves, rather than for an entire people to learn Spanish.
Furthermore, it was held that if Spanish were propagated throughout the Islands, the Filipinos would
imbibe, together with the culture of Europe, the errors and immoral usages. On this point, the religious
orders acted consistently, for when all is taken into consideration, they did not come to teach Spanish, but
rather to preach the Gospel of Christ.
On this same point, the holy and learned man Fray Francisco Gainza,
O.P. submitted on 3 March 1861 to the Board of Primary Education a
noteworthy opinion. He objected to the diffusion of the Spanish
language in the Philippines for religious and political considerations.
Here we are interested only in the first. The good friar was not ignorant
that there was a Protestant country interested in destroying the faith and
undermining the loyalty of the people to Spain, by means of
…pernicious and immoral books, Protestant bibles, and irreligious novels.
And since there was no lack of foreign and Spanish traders who took
advantage of the simplicity of the people, this immoral trade had assumed
alarming proportions for some years now. We, the confessors, are in daily
touch with this cancer.
Fortunately, the evil had not yet extended beyond Manila and the suburbs at that time, barred mainly by
the diversity of the native dialects, which would have required tremendous expenses to overcome.
One could object that the opinion of Fray Gainza, if followed, would serve to keep the Filipino people in
a culturally backward condition. Our worthy prelate answers with these words:
…the provincial folk of the Philippines enjoy today their specific form of culture and enlightenment,
which is more advanced in its own way, than that of the general laboring classes which form the great
masses of Europe.
Friar Meddling in Administrative Functions.
The following was the position of the Philippine Reformist Colony in Madrid in 1898:
The religious orders have for many years now lost the necessary prestige and state of mind to be able to
intervene profitably in the political and administrative functions which the law allows them, and abuse of
which is confirmed through practice. The Filipinos, however, through habit, fear, or considering them to
be the guardians of religion, have bowed their heads before them (not without cursing them inside their

17 Memorial del Provincial de Dominicos

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 hearts and in the intimacy of their homes, and among their friends), this thirst to command and their
disregard of all private and public honesty, characteristic of most if not all of their members.18
Some of the administrative functions of parish priests included: supervising primary education, presiding
over the Junta de composicion de terrenos realengos, acting as councilors in the Junta de principales for the election
of town officials, etc. As expressed with some exaggeration somewhere, “they had their hands all over the
government and administrative machinery of the town.”19 This intervention in affairs more or less
dissonant with their priestly duties could not help but create enemies among the Filipino aristocracy of the
parishes, which sometimes found itself frustrated in its desire for administrative posts. From this sprang
the cloud of antipathy which formed in certain sectors around the religious parish priest.
Friars as Teachers of the Filipinos.
One of the accusations made against the religious orders was that they served as the teachers of the people
in the colleges and universities which they had founded for the purpose. “This accusation, repeated to
satiety by the camagones or Europeans of long residence in the country, is the answer of the religious orders
to the contrary accusation that they have not done anything, or very little, for the intellectual advancement
of the people.”
This is perhaps the most solid accusation
which the propagandists could make against
the religious orders. Actually, the ilustrados
formed in their centers of education were the
ones who started the revolution. Many of
them did further higher studies in Spain,
France, Belgium, Germany, and England.
And they were the ones who attacked quite
unmercifully the good name of the religious
orders and the dominion of Spain over the
Philippines.
Perhaps the friars did not foresee that the
enlightenment and education of a good
number of Filipinos would occasion someday the separation of the archipelago from the mother country
Spain. But even if they had foreseen it, they did not for that reason cease their work of education. After
all, it was not the Spaniards, and much less the religious missionaries, who had considered it their vocation
to keep the colonies in ignorance in order to perpetuate their rule.
In conclusion, we can affirm, in fairness to everybody and not to prejudice the halls of truth, that a certain
number of religious priests, more in their individual capacity than in their corporate personality, gave birth
to the diatribes of some propagandists because of their abuses or excesses. On the other hand, we can
also say that there were some propagandists who went beyond the norms of fair play in their attacks against
some or all the friars. (A, pp. 304-313)

28. The Church During the Philippine Revolution (1898-1900).

Many previous incidents had prepared for the break and final separation between the Philippine Islands
and Spain. Some of them we have already indicated, like the spread of freemasonry, the public
demonstration of 1 March 1888, and the propaganda campaign against the religious orders. Here we deal
with others which had a more direct influence on the cry for independence which a handful of Filipino

18 “A la nacion,” Manifiesto-Programa de la colonia Filipina reformista residente en Madrid, 10 de Febrero de 1898, Madrid, 1898.
19The first pages of this pamphlet are missing, but the title seems to be Motivos de la Aversion del Filipino al Fraile. Its author was
probably a native Filipino priest.

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patriots uttered in Balintawak on 26 August 1896. These were the organization of Asociacion Hispano-
Filipina, the La Liga Filipina, and the Katipunan.
The Asociacion Hispano-Filipina.
Marcelo H. del Pilar, a lawyer from Bulacan, took ship for Spain towards the end of 1888. He was escaping
a lawsuit instituted against him by the government for suspected
involvement in activities considered subversive by the authorities.
At the same time, there was organized in the Philippines a Comite de
propaganda with Doroteo Cortes as its president; its purpose was to
solicit funds from the moneyed class to start an active propaganda
campaign for reforms and certain liberties for the Filipinos. With
the help of some of the money this committee collected in the
Philippines, Marcelo del Pilar was able to initiate the propaganda in
Barcelona, Spain. Together with Mariano Ponce, he founded the
Asociacion Hispano-Filipina, editing at the same time the paper La
Solidaridad. The association spread rapidly among the Filipino
students in the Catalonian city.
After a short while, intending to widen their field of action, the
founders of the association—among them Jose Rizal—decided to
move to Madrid where they set up a center in January 1890 under
the protection of Miguel Morayta.
However, the faulty management of funds which the Propaganda
Committee was sending to Madrid gave rise to a misunderstanding between Rizal and del Pilar, which was
settled satisfactorily only with Rizal’s return to the Philippines in 1892. It was inevitable that the two
opposing personalities should clash, since Rizal was reflective, mature and a lover of peace, but del Pilar
was known for his energy, frankness and impetuosity.
The Liga Filipina.
One of the first activities of Rizal upon again touching his fatherland in 1892 was to found the Liga Filipina.
It had as its objective the greater cultural progress of the country, and later the independence of the Islands.
But his deportation to Dapitan by order of Governor Despujols appeared to have momentarily upset the
plans of the members. Surmounting this initial difficulty, however, they dedicated themselves to the
difficult task of organizing the Liga and extending it to the Tagalog provinces. The association was to be
ruled by a Supreme Council based in Manila, under which there were provincial councils located in each
province, which in turn were to organize town councils below them.
Again, the faulty management of funds led to the beginnings of a split between Rizal and the Supreme
Council, which eventually led to the final dissolution of the Liga in 1894.
The Katipunan.
This was the name chosen to identify an association which in Tagalog was called Kataastaasang
Kagalanggalangang Katipunan Ng Mga Anak Ng Bayan, i.e. the Supreme Society of the Sons of the Nation. For
while Rizal was occupied with the organization of the Liga Filipina in Manila which was intended to include
only the rich and the educated classes, Marcelo H. del Pilar from Madrid was urging in July 1892 the
formation of another association similar to the Liga but admitting to membership the poor and less
educated classes. The purpose of the organizers of the Katipunan was to form a powerful nucleus of
fighters which could raise the cry of rebellion against Spain when the moment comes.
The Katipunan spread rapidly, and soon could point to popular centers in crowded districts like Tondo,
Binondo, Trozo, Santa Cruz, Nagtahan, Sampaloc, Quiapo, Paco, and Intramuros in Manila. Although a

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secret society using initiation rites that could instill fear even among the bolder candidates, the Katipunan
was not a masonic organization. Nevertheless, it was the offspring of freemasonry, and its leaders were
freemasons. Its basic solidarity and rapid progress were partly due to the personality of Andres Bonifacio,
an energetic and brave Filipino, intelligent and a master at winning over people, even though only self-
taught from his readings of the writings of the free thinkers.
The Discovery of the Katipunan and the Cry of Balintawak.
Teodoro Patiño, a member of the Katipunan, had a sister who was boarding in the asylum of the
Augustinian Sisters in Mandaluyong. Afraid that she might also be in danger like the Spanish Sisters if the
Katipunan literally carried out its program of liquidating the Spanish elements in Manila and the suburbs
on the day of the uprising, he decided to reveal the secret to her.
The young girl lost no time in communicating this to her Mother Superior, who relayed the message to
Fray Mariano Gil, the Augustinian parish priest of Tondo. Brought before Fray Gil, Patiño had no
hesitation to report that, in the printing press of the Diario de Manila, receipts and proclamations were being
printed and knives made for the defense and use of the association. The lithographic stones, he added,
were there to prove that he was not lying. And indeed, Grund and Cortes, lieutenants of the Subdivision
of the Guardia Civil of the district, found the printing materials there.
The discovery resulted in—besides the subsequent shock of the Spanish community, and a grim joke on
the optimistic Governor-General Ramon Blanco—a high number of imprisonments and further
discoveries of books, pamphlets, seals, insignias and secret documents of the Katipunan. Because of this,
only two alternatives remained for the conspirators: to abide by the law, or to already raise the cry of
rebellion against Spain. The conservative members opted for the first; but others, won over by the
persuasion and patriotism of Bonifacio, were willing to already fight in open warfare.
When Bonifacio realized that the
authorities had discovered his plans on
19 August 1896, he hid himself for a
moment at Caloocan. From there,
followed by some 200 residents of the
town, he moved to Balintawak from
where he issued urgent messages to
Manila, Nueva Ecija, and the other
provinces to warn the members to
prepare to rise up in arms on 30 August
at daybreak.
After killing a number of Spaniards,
Chinese and Filipino sympathizers of
Spain, Bonifacio and his troops
advanced against the walled city,
threatening Sampaloc from San Juan del
Monte and Santa Mesa where they had taken strong fortified positions. But they were repulsed by a
Spanish-Filipino column under the command of General Bernardo Echaluce.
The Filipino insurgents gave abundant proofs of valor and intrepidity in this and other encounters. But
they lacked adequate arms for victory, as well as proper military training and competent leadership. This
is why they met with a series of military reversals at the beginning of the revolution, only occasionally
sweetened by one or two victories.

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The Revolution in the Province of Cavite.
While companies of rebels spread the revolution to the provinces of Morong, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija,
Bataan, Zambales, Laguna and Batangas, the principal group led by Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo
concentrated itself in the province of Cavite. Here they offered a surprisingly stiff resistance to the
government troops from Manila, and only a bigger Spanish contingent was able to overcome them after
fierce and bloody fighting.
While briefly recounting some battles here, we shall emphasize the conduct of the rebels towards the friars, who were exercising
their duties as pastors of souls or administrators of their estates.
In Cavite, the capital of the province, the revolutionaries hatched a plot to seize control of the fort there
and displace all the Spaniards. But the scheme was discovered, and there followed several imprisonments,
followed by summary judgment and the execution of the 13 principal conspirators whom the Filipino
nation subsequently honored with the title of “martyrs of Cavite”.
Despite the setback at the provincial capital, the revolution spread throughout the province until it engulfed
the entire area. It had started on 31 August with the death of the captain of the Guardia Civil Antonio
Rebolledo. Other guardias suffered the same fate, with no chance to defend themselves.
Several Recollect friars, who were parish priests in the province or managed estates there, also succumbed
in the first days of the revolution. Such for example were Fray Juan Herrero, the curator of Imus estate,
with five Brothers who assisted him; and Fray Jose Maria Learte, parish priest of Imus, and two Brothers
who were administering the Salitran estate. All of them were in Imus on the 31st of August, but all of them
died near Bacoor together with some guardias civiles and Filipino servants as they were taking the road to
Manila. One Brother, Roman Caballero, had stayed behind in Imus, but he also lost his life. Two more
Recollects—Fray Faustino Lizasoain, parish priest of Bailen; and Fray Simeon Marin of Maragondon—
met the same fate in their respective parishes. On the other hand, two Brother administrators of the
hacienda of San Nicolas in Bacoor were able to save themselves.
In Silang, another Recollect, Fray Toribio Moreno died. Other friars, more fortunate or with more
foresight, were able to save their lives. These included the Recollect parish priest of Cavite Viejo (Kawit)
whom Emilio Aguinaldo, then capitan municipal of the town, put in a banca to save him, and had him later
conducted to Manila. The Recollect parish priests of Bacoor and Salinas were also saved by the principales
of their respective parishes.
The Dominicans were administering at this time the parishes of Naic and Santa Cruz where their religious
order owned extensive lands. At the outbreak of the revolution, the
parish priest Fray Galo Minguez and other Dominicans were in Naic:
Fray Jose Maria Duque, Fray Nicolas Peña who was sick, and the Brother
hacenderos Fray Saturnino Garcia and Fray Jose Pevida. The next day,
Fray Minguez received word from the local gobernadorcillo Ciriaco
Nazareno warning him of the imminent arrival of the revolutionaries.
Thanks to this tip, they were able to prepare at once and leave for Manila
the following day at daybreak. In Manila they found the parish priest of
Santa Cruz Father Isidro Apellaniz, his socius Father Torribio Ardanza,
Father Benito Muñiz who was sick, and two Brother hacenderos who were
able to escape in time to Manila after a warning given them by Francisco
Valencia, a Filipino loyal to the cause of Spain and a friend of the friars.
Pricked by public opinion which ceaselessly cried for a march against
Cavite which the revolutionaries had already made an independent
republic, Governor-General Ramon Blanco issued orders that a column
composed of 500 Spaniards and some Filipinos advance against

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Binakayan and Noveleta. Despite an initial success, this column was forced in the end to leave the field to
the enemy. The Spaniards also suffered two setbacks in Talisay, Batangas. These defeats made them
clearly see that to reconquer the province they needed more forces and better preparation. This is why
their Cavite offensive was not to start until the middle of February 1897.
More Plots and Punishments.
Spanish public opinion in Manila was so strong against the ineptitude of Governor-General Blanco, that
the Madrid government was forced to relieve him of his command and name another in his stead, General
Camilo Plavieja. The latter immediately organized an offensive against the revolutionaries, using many
thousands of the soldiers continually shipped from the Peninsula. He also summarily tried the
revolutionaries who had the bad fortune of falling into military hands.
The most famous of these was the national hero Doctor Jose Rizal. Recalled by Captain-General Ramon
Blanco as he was sailing for Spain aboard the Colon, he was sent back to Manila. After a few months of
confinement in Fort Santiago, he had to pay the supreme penalty on 30 December 1896, after being tried
and sentenced by the Council of War. But before he died, he retracted freemasonry.
At this time, too, other plots added fuel to the fires of rebellion and caused new headaches to the Manila
government: one in La Union which was frustrated through the intervention of the Augustinian parish
priest Rafael Redondo; another in Vigan discovered by the Fathers in the seminary; and a third in
Camarines, the most dangerous of the three because it included a large group of conspirators, among
whom were three clergymen of the cathedral. Discovered before they could carry out their plans, many of
them, including the three priests, had to give up their lives by sentence of a military tribunal on 4 January.
Despite all countermeasures, the rebellion seemed to be growing by the hour, and every sortie of the
Spanish troops meant the appearance of a new group of insurgents. This explains the disorder and wanton
killings in many places. Thanks to this anarchy, certain individuals in Llana Hermosa, Bataan, apprehended
the Dominican David Varas, kidnapped him from the convento at night, and left him dead a kilometer and
a half away from town. A similar fate overtook the Recollect Fathers Domingo Cabrejas, parish priest of
Morong, and Jose de San Juan, parish priest of Bagac. They died somewhere west of Bataan.
Offensive Against Cavite.
After Blanco’s successor General Polavieja received enough reinforcements
from the Peninsula, he decided on 15 February that the time had come to
mount an offensive. On 19 February, he
occupied Silang. Another column successfully
attacked Zapote. Soon after, Dasmariñas and
Imus fell to Spanish arms. In order to occupy
these towns, the Spaniards had to assault with
fixed bayonet a two-kilometer trench bravely
defended by Aguinaldo’s men. The occupation
of Imus, followed by the fall of Noveleta, Cavite
Viejo (Kawit), Binakayan, Santa Cruz and
Rosario, was preparatory to the assault on San
Francisco de Malabon (Trias) which the forces of
Aguinaldo and Bonifacio had to evacuate.
By this time, Polavieja had already resigned his
command and government of the Islands on the pretext of ill health, and the
Madrid government sent General Fernando Primo de Rivera to succeed him.
The latter was the man who completed the pacification of the province of
Cavite by occupying, among the last, the towns of Naic and Maragondon.

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Two Tragic Events.
Right after the occupation of Silang, a small group of friars who till then had been spared, were shot. They
were: Agapito Echegoyen, the Recollect parish priest of Amadeo; Domingo Cadenas, Augustinian parish
priest of Talisay; Antonio Piernavieja, also an Augustinian who was convalescing at Buenavista when the
revolution began; and an Augustinian Brother who administered the hacienda at Buenavista. They were
executed on 28 February 1897 at dusk, at the boundary between Naic and Maragondon.
This incident—plus others20—led Aguinaldo, who had just been elected President of the infant Republic
on 22 March at the convention of Tejeros, to order the arrest and execution of the first leader of the
Katipunan, Andres Bonifacio. Popular belief among the Tagalogs attributed to the shooting of the friars
the defeats of the Tagalog troops all over the province; and in order to placate the divine wrath some
leaders ordered the celebration of religious services.
Peace Overtures.
On 13 March 1897, three women brought to Aguinaldo’s headquarters a letter from Father Pio Pi, S.J. who
had undertaken to mediate with the Filipino leader the Spanish government’s desire to end hostilities.
Following the advice of his staff, Aguinaldo imposed the following conditions for peace: 1) expulsion of
the friars; 2) appointment of lay Filipino professors to the university chairs; 3) decrease of taxes; 4) transfer
of ownership of the friars’ estates to Filipinos; 5) allowing the Spaniards to continue their stay in the Islands
on condition that one-half of the employed be Tagalogs.
Aguinaldo agreed in the end to suppress the first condition, for neither he nor the generality of the Filipinos
hated the friars, and several acknowledged the great advice and unfailing protection they gave to the
Filipinos at the cost of great personal sacrifices. He was also willing to mitigate the other conditions; but
negotiations broke down because of lack of mutual trust.

20Since the time the Katipunan was discovered, the rivalry between the Magdalo and the Magdiwang factions of the Katipunan
in Cavite led to a series of reverses. This prompted the Magdalo faction to invite Bonifacio to Cavite to settle their differences
and remain united. On 22 March 1897, an assembly was called at Tejeros, Cavite. Bonifacio presided over the conference to
establish the Republic of the Philippines. In the election, Gen. Aguinaldo was elected President, Mariano Trias Vice President,
and Bonifacio Secretary of the Interior. Bonifacio, who had acceded to establishing the new government, was hurt and felt
insulted when Daniel Tirona of Magdalo questioned his new position, claiming that it was not proper for a person without a
lawyer’s diploma to occupy it. (n.b. Bonifacio, orphaned at the age of 14, had to take on the task of caring for his younger
brothers and sisters, being the eldest of six children. He quit schooling to look for ways to support his family.) Consequently,
evoking his authority as the Supremo of the Katipunan, he declared the Tejeros proceedings void.
Aguinaldo, who was defending the Filipino battle line at Pasong Santol with his elder brother General Crispulo Aguinaldo, had
not been at the convention. When he heard news of his political victory, he initially refused to leave his post. But big brother
Crispulo vowed to hold the defenses, until younger brother Emilio returned from Tanza to take his oath of office. Meanwhile,
Bonifacio, still stinging from his defeat and humiliation, conspired (according to Aguinaldo) to prevent Filipino reinforcements
from reaching the battlefield at Pasong Santol. Eventually, the Spanish overwhelmed the revolutionary defenses there, and
Crispulo Aguinaldo was cut down by a Spanish rifleman.
This breaching of Filipino defenses forced the heretofore successful Cavite Rebellion onto its backfoot. To compound the
already deteriorating situation, Bonifacio attempted to co-opt to Magdalo Generals Mariano Noriel and Pio del Pilar, and formed
his own military government, the Naik Military Pact. This declared all revolutionary forces to be under Pio del Pilar’s command,
and that the revolutionary troops should be forcibly conscripted into the ‘true’ revolutionary army. Aguinaldo got word of this
soon enough, and General Noriel and General del Pilar were brought back into the fold, loudly protesting their loyalty. Bonifacio
then said that he would return to Manila/Morong Province, but not before (allegedly) assaulting Indang—a Magdiwang town
which was swollen with starving refugees, due to the massive influx of refugees or alsa balutan from other provinces, and poor
harvests in Cavite thanks to the Revolution taking place during the rainy season, leading to near-famine—and demanding that
the town feed and provision him and his troops. When they refused, Bonifacio (allegedly) assaulted the town like a common
bandit, sacking it for food and burning its church tower. All these led to the order to arrest Bonifacio.
He faced a trial for acts inimical to the existence of the new government, and was given the death sentence by a military tribunal.
On 10 May 1897, Andres Bonifacio, the Father of the Philippine Revolution and founder of the Katipunan, was executed in the
mountains of Maragondon, Cavite by Aguinaldo's men for being guilty of treason and sedition. Bonifacio died at the age of 33.

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Pack of Biak-na-bato.
Faced with the impossibility of continuing the fight against government forces in Cavite, Aguinaldo
retreated to the province of Nueva Ecija on the invitation of Mariano Llanera. He was entrenched in the
fastnesses of Biak-na-bato, a
place located around twelve
kilometers southeast of San
Miguel de Mayumo in Bulacan
province, when General Primo
de Rivera took steps to treat of
peace through the mediation of
a mestizo leader Pedro A.
Paterno.
The Pact of Biak-na-bato was
the most accomplished victory
in the entire revolution
Aguinaldo won over Spain. In
exchange for a few arms and
ammunition of slight value, he
obtained P400,000 and, most
importantly, time to get out of
his difficulties and prepare
from abroad for a second phase
of the war.21 (A, pp. 314-324)
A Peace That Was Not Peace.
Three months had not yet elapsed after the Pact of Biak-na-bato when the first sparks of the revolution
burst anew in Zambales. Seemingly ended, the revolution was merely smoldering, and on the 6 th and 7th
day of March, practically all the towns in the north of the province rose in arms. Their surprised Recollect
pastors had scarcely time to seek shelter behind the small detachments of Spaniards who guarded the
towns. These, surprised also by a numerically superior enemy, had to double back to other more important
towns, i.e. if they had not yet surrendered or been captured. This time, the following Recollect priests died:
Manuel Azagra, pastor of Bolinao; Mariano Torrente, pastor of San Isidro; Andres Romero of Alaminos;
Juan Navas of Dansol; Epifanio Vergara of Balincaguin; and Julian Jimenez of Poonbato. In a few days, a
Spanish column commanded by General Ricardo Monet restored peace and order in Zambales.

21Spanish Governor and Captain-General Primo de Rivera realized the impossibility of quelling the revolution by force of arms.
Pedro Paterno, a Spaniard born in the Philippines, volunteered to act as negotiator between Governor Primo de Rivera and
Aguinaldo in order to end the clashes. Negotiations concluded with the Pact of Biak-na-bato, which specified that the Spanish
would give self-rule to the Philippines within three years, if Aguinaldo and other revolutionary leaders would go into exile in
Hong Kong. Under the pact, Aguinaldo agreed to end hostilities in exchange for amnesty and P800,000 as indemnity. Another
P900,000 was to be given to the revolutionaries who remained in the Philippines, who agreed to surrender their arms. General
amnesty would be granted, and the Spaniards would institute reforms in the colony.
However, both the Spanish and Filipino authorities failed to follow the terms of the pact. Of the total war indemnity of P1.7
million, only P600,000 was actually paid by Spain—P400,000 was given to Aguinaldo, and P200,000 was distributed among the
revolutionary leaders in the Philippines. The rest of the agreed indemnity was never paid. Many of the Filipino patriots who
had surrendered their arms and returned to their homes were arrested, imprisoned, and persecuted contrary to the amnesty
proclamation, and not one of the reforms which were promised by the Governor-General was granted. For their part, the
Filipinos were equally guilty of breaking the terms, as Aguinaldo kept the money in the banks of Hong Kong to be used in a
future struggle against Spain. Revolutionists in the Philippines did not surrender all their arms.
The revolution took only a little holiday, a holiday cut short by the arrival of a new power—the United States of America.

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Left to themselves, it is probable that the Ilocanos would not have taken arms; but instigated by the
Tagalogs, the people of Candon raised the cry of liberty and war against Spain on 25 March. There were
three priests there: the parish priest Fray Rafael Redondo, and two missionaries assigned to the
evangelization of the Igorots of Daclan and Capangan. Taken in the church, the three were execute in the
hills near the boundary between Candon and Santiago. This uprising was squelched, but the revolutionary
embers remained, to revive much later with the complete triumph of General Manuel Tinio.
The province of Bulacan, so near to Manila, could be said to have been completely lost to Spain by this
time; Spanish garrisons dominated the central municipal areas. However, the barrios and the rural
hinterlands were practically all in the hands of the insurgent groups. The result of this state of things were
the kidnappings and death of persons loyal to the Manila government which was unable to suppress or to
avenge these actions because it had no troops to dispose of. Among those dead were: Hipolito Tejedor,
parish priest of Santa Isabel; Moises Santos, pastor of Malolos; Francisco Renedo of Paombong; Miguel
A. Vera of Angat; and Leocadio Sanchez of Guiguinto. All of them were Augustinian friars.
Up to this moment, the Visayas had been peaceful. But by the beginning of April 1898, Cebu rose in
rebellion against Spain. The few troops guarding that city—only about forty soldiers—had to retire to the
ancient fort to save themselves from a numerically much bigger force. To that same fort the Bishop of
Cebu Monsignor Alcocer also retreated. Fortunately for the Spaniards, on 7 April a few hundreds of
soldiers from Manila arrived under the command of General Celestino F. Tejero. After landing his troops,
he reduced the city within a day, and in a few more days the rest of the island. This uprising also left an
imprint of priestly and religious blood, shed by: Fray Jose Baztan, Augustinian parish priest of Cordoba in
Mactan Island; Fray Tomas Jimenez, also an Augustinian parish priest of Pardo; and Fray Isidro Liberal, a
Recollect in the convent of Cebu.
Gladly would General Tejero have pacified the island of Panay, likewise up in arms against Spain; but he
had to be satisfied with merely reinforcing the garrison of Iloilo and arranging to have the priests
concentrated in the capital. (A, pp. 325-327)
Inception of the Philippine Independent Church.
In the middle of the year 1898, Aguinaldo named Gregorio Aglipay, a priest
incardinated to the archdiocese of Manila, as Military Vicar. This act was a
usurpation of jurisdiction hitherto an exclusive prerogative of the Royal
Patronato by virtue of a concession of the Holy See, vested in the Governor-
General in the Philippines. Aguinaldo doubtlessly thought that, just as he had
succeeded the Spanish Governor-General in his civil and military roles, so
also he had inherited his position as Vice-Patron. Put in this rather slippery
position, he had no hesitation to decree on 20 October 1898 the appointment
of Aglipay as Military Vicar General. For his part, Aglipay, in order not to
appear less magnanimous than his protector, named the priest Eustaquio
Gallardo the Vicar General of the diocese of Nueva Segovia.
Soon after, Aglipay was able to obtained from Nueva Segovia Bishop Hevia
Campomanes the nomination as Ecclesiastical Governor for his diocese.
Nonetheless, this nomination, obtained from the prelate under circumstances
which prevented him from knowing the real situation of the country22 and

22 In the beginning of August 1898, Bishop Hevia Campomanes left his diocese of Nueva Segovia, accompanied by 60
Augustinian friars, because of the approaching revolutionary forces. Subsequently, he and his companions were captured by
the same forces and imprisoned in Alcala (Cagayan). Consequently, the Bishop had to provide for alternative ecclesial
governance in his diocese. In order to do so, he appointed Gregorio Aglipay as ecclesiastical governor of the diocese after
consultation with senior members of his clergy. Hevia Campomanes did this by means of a decree of appointment on 15
November 1898. Aglipay was made ecclesiastical governor—as a Filipino—because the usual hierarchy was incapacitated.

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which impeded the necessary freedom to act, could not be canonically valid since furthermore, Aglipay
had been excommunicated by virtue of the bull Apostolicae sedis. Much later, Archbishop Nozaleda of
Manila would pronounce in May 1899 a formal sentence of excommunication for usurping ecclesiastical
authority and jurisdiction.
But where the Filipino clergy were at the brink of falling into schism was in
the convocation of the assembly of Paniqui. In October 1899, Mabini had
issued from Pangasinan a proclamation entitled Organizacion del Clero Filipino
which aimed to provide bishops for the Philippine Church, since the Spanish
prelates presented by virtue of the Royal Patronato had lost their sees with the
fall of the Spanish government. Besides, according to the proclamation, they
were incapacitated to govern their dioceses since they were living in territories
occupied by the enemy; and even if Rome named them a second time, the
Filipino clergy should not acknowledge them.
Such specious reasoning would convince no one who had some knowledge of
canon law, much less Mabini himself, the brains of the Katipunan. But
Aglipay followed this reasoning because it suited his purposes. To carry them
out in real life, he called a meeting of the clergy to be held at Paniqui, a town
in the north of Tarlac. Twenty-seven priests, almost all of them from northern
Luzon, attended it.
The main idea during the convention was: to give the Philippine Church a constitution which would be in
effect only while those abnormal circumstances prevailed; and to provide for its government through a
council composed of two councilors from each diocese. The council president, elected by the members
of the convention, would have an option to appoint his secretary. The council would assume the heavy
responsibility of naming parish priests and ecclesiastical governors for the dioceses. It would also propose
to the Holy See the individuals who would assume the sees in the Philippines, as well as the other higher
dignities. The president would be both Military Vicar-General and Superior Vicar-General.
This assembly took good care to avoid any word or idea that might sound or correspond to a formal
schism. But although it professed loyalty to the Holy See, it was basically schismatic, and would have
perhaps consummated the schismatic break of the Philippine Church had not the defeat of the
revolutionary forces blocked that eventuality. (A, pp. 343-344)

Aglipay did indeed take this charge upon himself. In fact, he had previously done so already, on the authority of the revolutionary
government.

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 Chapter 12

The Take-Over of the Americans;

Religious Adjustment After the Revolution
29. The Take-Over of the Americans.
The Spanish-American War.
On 25 April 1898, the United States Senate approved a resolution of war against Spain, which the American
President signed the following day. From that moment, the cause of Spain in the Philippines was
irrevocably lost. On 1 May, the Spanish squadron, definitely inferior to the American in quality and
number, suffered a complete rout off Parañaque. Manila was blockaded immediately after.
On land, peace would last only a few more days more, i.e. until Aguinaldo returned to Cavite on 19 May
1898 aboard an American warship. On 29 May, following orders from their Filipino leader, numerous
Tagalog troops attacked the small Spanish garrisons of twenty to twenty-five troops each in towns
throughout Central Luzon. The Spanish army scarcely offered any opposition, either due to the
machinations of masons who had infiltrated the higher ranks of the troops, or to the lack of enthusiasm
among the lower ranks of the troops. By mid-June, the Tagalogs were threatening Manila from land. But
by this time, the fort and arsenal of Cavite had surrendered to the victorious forces of Dewey.
The Siege of Manila.
The Dominican Fray Bernardino Nozaleda was the Archbishop of Manila during these critical days, and
by force of circumstances he became the target of all kinds of criticism. We believe that he succeeded in
maintaining the dignity and the honor of his office. He successfully governed the Church as much as it
was possible for any man under such difficult circumstances.
One of the first acts of Archbishop Nozaleda immediately following the declaration of war was to issue
two circulars in which, influenced naturally by the atmosphere, he painted in dark colors the future religious
policy of the United States for the Philippines. This earned for him strong censures, both from the
Americans and from other sectors. Nozaleda certainly did not have any
knowledge of the nobility and chivalry of the North American people,
who did not differ much from the Spaniards in their noble traits and high
idealism. Had he waited a few months more, he would not have written
so bitterly.
In view of the American declaration of war, General Basilio Augustin,
Primo de Rivera’s successor, thought that it would not be hard for the
Filipinos to cooperate to repel their common enemy. To this end, after
consulting the Archbishop and the Superiors of the religious orders, he
organized native battalions. But in a short time, these passed to the lines
of Aguinaldo with all their arms! In fairness to the Archbishop and
religious provincials, the native leaders whom they had recommended
generally remained faithful to the cause of Spain, or else abandoned it
only when they could do nothing else.
The civil council for defense presided over by Archbishop Nozaleda
ordered all the religious sisters and girls in the colleges to leave the city.
It prepared what was needed to transfer the sick in the hospitals to places
beyond the reach of the American cannons, namely, to the Jesuit house in Santa Ana, and the conventos of
Paco, San Sebastian, the Franciscan Third Order in Sampaloc and Guadalupe.

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The Archbishop also started a very successful subscription to purchase water-proof jackets for the soldiers
who manned the exterior lines of defense in those rainy months. And in order that food supply may not
be lacking for the urban population, he himself donated the sum of P14,000. In this as well as in other
civic actions, the other members of the defense council and the Superiors of the religious orders were
united with their Prelate. The religious orders, despite their economic straits because the insurgents had
occupied their lands and their other sources of support had dried up, donated fair amounts in cash and in
kind.
Several friars offered themselves as chaplains to the armada a few days before it sailed away to Subic.
Others helped the military chaplains to attend to the spiritual needs of the army. And through the city
streets and in the churches, religious acts and devotional practices were held to obtain divine protection
during those difficult times.
Finally, the religious houses like Letran, Santo Tomas, Ateneo, the beaterio of the RVM Sisters, the seminary,
and the Franciscan Third Order halls were readied as hospitals, even as university professors organized
their students into military units.
The Surrender of Manila.
On 8 August 1898, a meeting was held attended by the civil authorities
and presided over by Governor and Captain-General Fermin Jaudenes.
He wanted to know what the public thought of surrendering, instead of
continuing the defense of the city. Those who spoke, including the
Archbishop, stated that the army had already done enough to save its
honor, and continued resistance would only lead to unnecessary horrors.
By majority vote, the Generals’ meeting decided to continue the resistance
only until the enemy broke through their exterior line of defense. This
was reached on 13 August near the fort of San Antonio Abad, after which
the defenders raised the white flag of truce.
Few surrenders have been as honorable as the surrender of Manila, and
few conquerors as magnanimous as the Americans on this occasion. The
seventh article of the Act of Surrender signed in the sacristy of the church
of San Agustin read:
This city, its inhabitants, its churches and its religious cult, its centers of
teaching and any kind of private property fall under the special guarantee of
the faith and honor of the American Army.23
The first article of the Act of Surrender stipulated that the Spanish troops would be sheltered in areas to
be designated by the American authorities. But for lack of places, they had to be lodged in the conventos
and churches. Thus, the convento of Santo Domingo, the convento of San Francisco, the Recollect church
San Ignacio, and the seminary had to be converted into huge barracks where the soldiers lived alongside
the religious members of the communities. The ample new house owned by the Augustinians beside their
church, still unfinished, served as headquarters and offices of war. Hospitals were likewise set up in the
religious houses, where families of army officers and government officials also found open-hearted shelter.
The Malolos Congress.
In the face of opposition from the American government which blocked the Filipino troops from entering
the city, Aguinaldo was forced to choose the town of Malolos as his provincial capital in lieu of a better
place. He chose this centrally-located and progressive municipality as the site of a Congress of Delegates
to frame a Constitution for the nascent Republic, the first ever held in the history of this country.

23 “Proclama de la Captania General de Filipinas al Ejercito”, Manila, 14 August 1898.

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For better understanding, it will be good to consider two things which took place previously. First, on 12
June 1898 Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence from Spain in his hometown of Kawit, Cavite.
Second, on 20 June he declared as invalid any marriage contract before Church authorities, unless it was
preceded by a civil ceremony. This latter decision could not but cause a certain disquiet among the clergy
and people who were deeply Catholic. But this was merely a prelude to what would come afterwards, i.e.
the separation between the Church and the State.
On 22 November 1898, the constitutional convention24 gathered for a special session in Barasoain Church
to discuss an amendment of Article 5 of Title III of the constitution, originally introduced by Tomas G.
del Rosario and seconded by Felipe G. Calderon.
This title, as it was penned by Calderon, read:
Article 5. The republic protects the cult and the
ministers of the Catholic, apostolic, Roman
religion, which is that of the State, and does not
contribute its resources for the expense of another
cult.
Article 6. Any other cult can be practiced
privately, provided that it is not against morality
and good customs and does not threaten the
security of the nation.
Article 7. The discharge and the fulfillment of
tasks and duties of the republic, as well as the
acquisition and the exercise of civil and political
rights, are independent of the religion of the
Filipinos.
The amendment was worded as follows:
Article 5. The State recognizes the freedom and
equality of all religions, as well as the separation of
the Church and the State.
Put up for voting on 29 November after animated discussions, it resulted in a tie of 25 votes for and 25
votes against. A second vote was taken, which resulted in favor of the amendment: 26 for and 25 against.
The decisive vote was cast by Pablo Tecson, who had abstained in the first vote but now voted against
Calderon’s proposition.
On one hand, this attitude of the Malolos Congress was a blow to the native Filipino clergy who had fought
so strenuously for Philippine freedom and independence. On the other hand, this theoretical separation
of the Church and the State was actually not easy to implement. Aguinaldo himself, counselled by Mabini
who was one of the more decided supporters of the amendment, during his New Year’s message to the
Congress suggested a third amendment. Known as Article 100-D of the “Transitory Dispositions of the
Constitution” this third amendment stated that the separation between the Church and the State would
have no effect until the independence of the Philippines was officially recognized; and that meanwhile, the
municipal governments would provide the pastors of souls with the means to support themselves in
decency, either through a regular salary or by obliging towns to pay them certain dues.

24 Aguinaldo issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence on 12 June 1898 and followed it with several decrees forming
the First Philippine Republic. Elections were held from 23 June to 10 September for a new national legislature, the Malolos
Congress. After the Malolos Congress was convened on 15 September 1898, a committee was selected to draft a constitution
for the republic. The committee was composed of Hipólito Magsalin, Basilio Teodoro, José Albert, Joaquín González, Gregorio
Araneta, Pablo Ocampo, Aguedo Velarde, Higinio Benitez, Tomás del Rosario, José Alejandrino, Alberto Barretto, José Ma. de
la Viña, José Luna, Antonio Luna, Mariano Abella, Juan Manday, Felipe Calderón, Arsenio Cruz and Felipe Buencamino, all
wealthy and well educated.

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In that same New Year’s message, General Aguinaldo proposed yet another amendment, i.e. the expulsion
of the friars from the Philippines and the confiscation of their properties. But there was neither time nor
possibility to carry this into effect, because by then Philippine-American relations, more strained than ever,
was about to erupt.
Treaty of Paris.
By the Treaty of Paris signed on 10 December
1898 between Spain and the United States, the
former transferred
sovereignty over
the Philippines to
the latter, on
payment of a $20
million indemnity.
The Americans
quickly effected
their rights by
increasing the
troops and war
materials they sent
to the Archipelago.
Until the signing of the treaty, Spanish forces commanded by General Diego
de los Rios had kept certain places in the Visayas and Mindanao loyal to
Spain, even as Filipino revolutionaries controlled other parts of the country.
But after the signing of the treaty, the Spanish army slowly abandoned the
places they held. (A, pp. 327-332)
Outbreak of Hostilities.
On the night of 4 February 1899, an American sentinel of the Nebraska Volunteers fired against a Filipino
soldier who attempted to cross the bridge of San Juan del Monte. This was the first spark of a war that
was to last for three long years. In the battle that followed this fatal shot, the Americans occupied all the
towns around Manila after overcoming the tenacious resistance of the Filipinos and devastating their
houses and buildings with their powerful land and sea artillery. When the church and convento of Paco
burned, frightful scenes took place among the military and civilian natives who had flocked there for shelter
or defense. In the following days, the Augustinian convent in Guadalupe was also fodder for the flames
which the Americans had put to the torch when they abandoned it temporarily before an attack by the
Filipinos.
The Filipinos fought rather well during this war, but they almost always had to beat back before the
numerical superiority and greater fire power of North American weapons. One after another, the
ephemeral capitals Aguinaldo had chosen as the seat of his government fell to the conquerors. Malolos
fell on 31 March, San Fernando (Pampanga) on 5 May, Cabanatuan on 29 October, and Tarlac on 12
November.
During the American advance through Bulacan and Pampanga, the churches and conventos in some towns
were consumed by flames, either because the Filipinos used them as defenses, or some insurgent leaders
burned them to prevent the enemy from using them as their defense or quarters for their troops. Churches
and conventos in the following towns were burned: Mariquina, Guiguinto, Malolos, Marilao, Bocaue,
Pandi, Calumpit, and San Fernando. The same thing happened to other edifices in towns near Manila,
such as: the summer house of the University of Santo Tomas in Navotas, the orphan asylums of the

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Augustinians in Mandaluyong and Tambobong, and the church and rectory of Novaliches.
After the battle of San Jacinto, Aguinaldo clearly understood that his forces could not contain the American
advance, and he immediately disbanded his regular army to initiate guerrilla warfare. The Filipino leader,
closely pursued by the American forces, rapidly passed through the provinces of Pangasinan, La Union,
and part of Ilocos Sur, in his attempt to escape to the thicknesses of the Central Cordillera range. The
pages of history have preserved for posterity the fight at Tirad Pass, where a handful of Filipinos
commanded by the youthful Gregorio del Pilar met death on 2 December 1899 when they faced a much
superior American contingent. But this sacrifice of their lives delayed for a time Aguinaldo’s capture, who
was finally caught near the town of Palanan, Isabela, on 23 March 1901.
This was a big blow to the revolutionary cause, which in many places was already on the decline. The last
Filipino leaders to surrender were Noriel in Cavite, Lukban in Samar, and Malvar and Gonzalez in
Batangas. (A, pp. 333-334)

30. Religious Adjustment After the Revolution.

End of the Royal Patronage.
During the Spanish period, the Holy See was not directly in charge of many
matters on the Church in the Philippines because of the rights of the Patronato
which she had granted to the Spanish monarchs, which they then exercised either
directly by themselves or through the Governor-General as Vice-Patron. But,
with the fall of the Spanish government, the Holy See had to attend directly to
the many needs of the Church in the country. To this end, the Holy See sent
Archbishop Placide Louise Chapelle of New Orleans as its Apostolic Delegate.
Within a few days after his arrival on 24 January 1900, at a reception which the
clergy and the Filipinos held in his honor, Archbishop Chapelle was able to
experience, together with Archbishop Nozaleda and Bishop Campomanes, the
intense feelings provoked by the religious question in the Philippines. The more
prudent Catholic sector of the country held another solemn reception on 2
February, as an act of satisfaction.
Three Apostolic Delegates.
Archbishop Chapelle held secret conferences with the Archbishop of Manila and
the bishops of Vigan, Cebu and Jaro, in order to study the problems that weighed
down the Church in the Philippines and find solutions to them. It was also during
this time that the American Civil Commission held conferences with the diocesan
prelates of the Philippines who were still in the country, together with all the Superiors of the religious
orders and many prominent Filipinos, in order to situate clearly and truthfully the facts and conditions of
the country. Soon, the Apostolic Delegate realized that some of the participants of the conferences were
not guided by the best intentions. On the other hand, Archbishop Chapelle was very well disposed towards
the religious orders.25 And because of his affection towards them, he earned the hostility of the elements
opposed to them. Archbishop Chapelle was back in the United States by the autumn of 1901. He died on
10 August 1905 of yellow fever, which he had contracted while visiting the sick of his diocese.

25Monsignor Placide Louise Chapelle was in Paris during the negotiations for the Treaty of Peace between the United States
and Spain. There he obtained the insertion of a clause which confirmed to the Catholic Church the possession of all properties
to which she had a right under the Spanish government. He was appointed by Pope Leo XIII Apostolic Delegate to the
Philippines on 9 August 1899, and arrived in Manila on 24 January 1900. His first act was to persuade General Otis to liberate
the priests and religious held prisoners by Aguinaldo. After reorganizing the affairs of the Church, he helped greatly in the
general pacification of the country.

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Monsignor Giovanni Baptista Guidi, who had been appointed to succeed Monsignor Chapelle, arrived in
Manila on 17 November 1902. He brought with him the Apostolic Constitution Quae mari sinico26 signed
by Pope Leo XIII on 17 September 1902, which was to be the Magna Carta of the Catholic Church in the
Philippines until the promulgation of the acts of a council which was to be held in Manila. Unfortunately,
the difficulties he met—especially on the sale of the friar lands—aggravated a chronic heart ailment he
had, such that he died on 26 June 1904.
On 6 February 1905, the third Apostolic Delegate arrived in Manila. He was Monsignor Ambrosio Agius,
O.S.B. of Palmira. More fortunate than his predecessor with regard to the Council, he saw its celebration
in 1907.
American Bishops for Filipino Dioceses.
There were four bishops residing here when the Spanish government in the Philippines ended: Archbishop
Bernardino Nozaleda, O.P. of Manila; Bishop Jose Hevia Campomanes, O.P. of Nueva Segovia; Bishop
Martin Garcia Alcocer, O.F.M. of Cebu; and Bishop Andres Ferrero, O.R.S.A. of Jaro. The fifth bishop,
Bishop Arsenio del Campo of Nueva Caceres, had already sailed from the Philippines with the permission
of the Captain-General during the blockade of Manila.
Nozaleda and Hevia sailed for Europe on 25 September 1900, the former stopping in Rome for some time
to settle certain problems of his archdiocese. Bishop Alcocer of Cebu,
who was acting as the Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese of
Manila after the departure of Monsignor Chapelle in April 1901, left
for Hongkong on 25 October 1903; his bad health forced him to leave
the country without waiting for the new American archbishop
Monsignor Jeremias Harty. Bishop Ferrero followed and left for Spain
on 27 October.
Monsignor Rooker arrived on 16 October, and on 2 November he
took possession of his see of Jaro. A few days previously on 6
October, the new prelate of Vigan, Bishop Dougherty, arrived in
Manila; he took possession of his see on 22 October. On 15 January
1904 at sundown, Monsignor Harty, Archbishop Nozaleda’s
successor, landed in Manila. It was also at about this time that the new
bishop of Cebu, Monsignor Hendrick, arrived in the Philippines.
As for the see of Nueva Caceres, the Holy See had its eyes on
Monsignor Jorge Barlin, the first Filipino ever to be honored to rule a
Filipino diocese.
The Religious Relinquish Their Parishes.
Much has been written about the hostility that part of the Filipino nation had shown in various ways against
the friars as parish priests and landowners before, during, and after the revolution. The roots of this
animosity, at least as far as the friars were concerned, must be found in the fiscalizing role which many of

26The Apostolic Constitution Quae mari sinico signed by Pope Leo XIII on 17 September 1902 addressed the changed situation
in the Islands and provided for the establishment of new dioceses. It also set guidelines for the administration of parishes, the
formation of the clergy, the education of the young, and the giving of missions. As envisioned by Quae mari Sinico, the
reorientation of the Church in the Philippines would be much advanced by the holding of a Provincial Council. This was held
in Manila from December 1907 to June 1908. Eventually, the Council of Manila proposed changes in the division of dioceses
of Quae mari sinico. Suggestions were made for new dioceses to be established in Tuguegarao, Capiz, Zamboanga and Lipa. This
became a reality in 1910 by virtue of a Decretum Consistoriale executed by Pope Pius X; however, Capiz was substituted with
Calbayog. With the establishment of new dioceses came the appointment of new bishops, bringing into consideration the
readiness of the Filipino clergy for the episcopate.

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them had to play because of the close relationship between the State and the Church under the Spanish
political system.
By custom, and subsequently by law, to the parish priest was given complete supervisory power over the
municipal government of his town. His civil functions became very many, and one of his chief duties was
supposed by the people to be to report to the central government of Manila the persons in his parish
whose political views or actions were hostile to the Spanish regime. The friars thus became involved in a
reactionary policy, which placed them in opposition to the people, and made them responsible in the
popular mind for the severity with which the Spanish government punished those suspected of liberal
political opinions.27
The friars could have returned to many of the parishes if they had enough courage, because the people in
general did not reject them, and at times wanted and requested their return. But weakened by the rigors
of their imprisonment, fearful of the semi-official opposition, and disheartened by the uncertain future,
many of them chose rather to return to Spain or go to other regions, where the Lord of the vineyard was
preparing other fields of apostolate for them. The policy of the Superiors was, in their regard, to send
friars to the towns which asked for them. In many cases, however, the people did not ask for them, out
of fear for the Federal Party which was strongly opposed to the return of the friars to the parishes.
Even then, we find the Dominicans taking charge of the Batanes Islands and of some parishes in Cagayan
and Isabela; of the colleges of San Jacinto in Tuguegarao and Saint Albert in Dagupan; of the Sanctuary at
Manaoag in addition to one or two parishes in central Luzon. In 1906, the Dominicans asked the Bishop
of Nueva Segovia for their old missions in Nueva Vizcaya which, because of lack of secular priests, were
almost totally abandoned to the hands of the Aglipayans. However, the prelate denied them their request,
we believe because he was following instructions from Rome for the sake of peace. The Augustinians
returned to some towns in Pampanga, and the Recollects to a number of doctrinas in Bohol and Palawan.
At the request of some towns or of the Church authorities, and with the consent of the American
government, the Franciscans returned to take charge gradually of many of their old parishes, like Santa
Ana in Manila, a few around Laguna de Bay, one or two in Camarines, and almost all of the parishes in
Samar. In 1922, these Fathers were ministering to 283,350 souls in thirty-seven parishes.
In any case, the more or less voluntary abandonment by the friars of the parishes resulted in a certain sense
in a blessing for them, since they were now free to devote themselves more to the missions and to the
work of education. The parochial ministry which had become the nerve and the reason for their stay in
the Philippines came to be for them spiritually and religiously prejudicial, was a source of danger for a good
number of their members. An as we have seen, it earned for them hatred and antipathy, especially in those
places where they also owned lands. For this reason, it became the Dominican policy not to accept lands
where they were serving as parish priests.
On retiring from the parishes, the friars left a vacuum that was very hard to fill. And in their place the
Filipino assistant priests went to take possession of the parishes. But for the moment, neither in number
nor in their previous training were they able to satisfactorily substitute the friars. There was urgent need
for a program of formation which could produce more and better-trained clergy, but this would be a hard
and time-consuming effort that would require several decades to finish.
The Sale of the Friar Lands.
The legitimacy and validity of the friars’ possession of their haciendas was so clear that, as the American
Commission said when it examined their titles, “among the property titles claimed by anyone, none are as
legitimate as those which the religious orders are presenting for their estates.”
Fearful that if the revolution succeeded, they would lose their lands, the religious orders planned a program
to legally sell their properties to individuals, or corporations formed for this purpose while they retained

27 William H. Taft, The Church and Our Government in the Philippines, 1904.

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possession and control of majority of their shares of stock. The Augustinians and the Recollects formed
their respective companies for this purpose; we do not have any data on them, however, and cannot take
them up here. But we can take up The Philippine Sugar Estates Development Corporation of the
Dominican Order; organized to safeguard their large estates, it provides some idea of how these
corporations were managed.
Here is what William H. Taft said about the subject:
In 1901, American civil government was established, and courts were created for the purpose of
determining civil rights. The friars had meantime transferred their titles to promoting companies, taking
back shares in the corporations as a consideration for the transfers. With the restorations of tranquility in
1902, there was no just reason why the companies now owning the lands should not proceed to collect
their rents and to oust the tenants if the rents were not paid. The tenants were sullen and not disposed to
recognize the title of the friars or to pay their rents. A systematic attempt to collect the rents would involve
eviction suits against many thousand tenants; judgment would doubtless follow the suits, and the executive
officers of the courts must proceed to evict from their houses and homes thousands of farmers in the
most populous provinces in the Islands, and chiefly among the Tagalogs, a tribe easily aroused to
disturbance and insurrection.
Already on 8 August 1898, while the city of Manila was being blockaded by the American squadron from
the sea, and by the Filipino forces on land, the Dominicans sold their farms by legal deed to Mr. Richard
Henry Andrews, an English trader of a big commercial house in the city. Father Paredes writes that “the
purpose of the sale was merely to avoid the dangers which were probable in the new political order, in
which the property of the religious orders or their civil rights might not be respected, considering the
campaign of vilification that the sects conducted in those critical days of the revolution.”28 Because Mr.
Andrews was unable to pay the price agreed on, the organization of the Philippine Sugar Estates
Development Company was formalized by written contract on 29 January 1899, signed by Mr. Andrews
and countersigned by Mr. Baldomero de Hazañas. The Dominican Order would intervene in the
transactions of the company privately until 1910, through Father Raimundo Velasquez, O.P. In the
meeting of 30 August 1900, Fathers Velasquez and Francisco Gutierrez Rapide were elected as members
of the board of trustees. The latter would serve as the gerent-administrator beginning on the month of
February 1901 on the death of Mr. Andrews.
Meanwhile, other persons would enter the scene. These were Mr. William
H. Taft, and the new Apostolic Delegate Monsignor Guidi.
Mr. Taft soon found out that the friar lands, practically in the hands of
tenants, could be a source of danger to the internal peace of the country
if the government interested itself in obliging the tenants to recognize the
rights of their real owners. The attitude of Mr. Taft, as he himself
subsequently indicated in a speech before the faculty and the students of
the University of Notre Dame, Indiana on 5 October 1904, was: “It had
been clearly ascertained that if the government bought the lands, the
government as landlord would have less difficulty in dealing with the
tenants, than it would have in enforcing the rights of the friars as
landlords; and that by offering the tenants the opportunity to purchase
the lands on small annual payments for ten or twenty years, a transfer of
the lands to the tenants might probably be effected without much, if any,
pecuniary loss to the government.”
With this idea in mind, and convinced that the friars would have no more
inducement to stay in the Philippines if they sold their lands, Taft

28
Informe sobre la Compañia Sugar.

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undertook his historic trip to Rome in 1903, armed with a letter of instruction from the Secretary War, a
letter of introduction from the Secretary of State to Cardinal Rampolla, and a personal letter of courtesy
and greeting from President Roosevelt to His Holiness Pope Leo XIII. He first called on Cardinal
Rampolla who received him cordially. Later, he was escorted into the presence of Leo XIII.
The Vatican readily agreed on the purchase of the friars’ lands by the American government; but to the
proposition that it should also agree to the withdrawal of the friars in the course of three years, it declined
to agree for the following reason, as stated by Mr. Taft:
• First, because that was a question of religious discipline, which ought not form a term in a commercial
contract.
• Second, because it did not desire, by such a stipulation, to reflect upon the Spanish religious orders and
thus give apparent support to the slanders which had been published against them by their enemies.
• And third, because such agreement would be offensive to Spain.
Regarding the departure of the friars, Leo XIII had answered Mr. Taft: that “against the Spanish religious
orders, accusations had been made, all of which had every sign of being calumnies; that these religious
were his sons; and that he would never consent to impose on them without cause a penalty as heavy as
that of obliging them to leave the Philippines.”
Toward the end of 1903, the American government rated the haciendas of
the Augustinians and the Recollects as worth $20.00 per hectare, while
those of the Dominicans $6.00. This was an obstacle for the latter’s sale,
for Gutierrez Rapide refused to agree to that price despite the good
intentions of Mr. Taft. It was thus that in 1903 the Augustinians and the
Recollects sold their lands; and only a promise to buy-and-sell was signed
between Mr. Rapide and Mr. Taft on 22 December 1903 with regard to
the Dominican estates. The following day, Mr. Taft sailed for the United
States.
In August 1905, Mr. Taft returned to Manila. He was now the American
Secretary of War, and he had come accompanied by a full representation
of American congressmen to attend the inauguration of the first Philippine
Assembly. He was also desirous of finishing some matters which he had
left hanging in 1903, especially the sale of the lands of the Dominicans.
Finally, after overcoming the resistance of Mr. Luke E. Wright who was
not quite ready to finish the settlement because he considered it prejudicial
to the government, he signed the deed of sale on 20 October 1905.
The Problem of the Obras Pias, and Litigation Over San Jose College Properties.
Other problems which faced the American government in the Philippines and the Church centered around
the obras pias. They belonged to or were administered by the following entities: Casa de Misericordia and the
College of Santa Isabel; the colleges of San Jose and of Santa Rita; the Franciscan and Dominican Third
Orders; the Archconfraternity of Jesus of Nazareth of the Recollects; the hospitals of San Juan de Dios
and of San Lazaro; the Monte de Piedad and Caja de Ahorros. According to Fray Nozaleda:
These were… foundations which all together add up to several million pesos, the product of the legacy of
the ancient Spaniards, intended for works of education, piety and charity. All of these institutions, even
if they are not the property of the Spanish government, were under the Patronato Real, which in the Indies
had a greater influence than the Peninsula; and, for this reason, they were administered according to the
laws of the Overseas Minister, and those that the Vice-Patrons had issued for the purpose.
However, the new masters of the Archipelago did not know much about the nature of the obras pias, and

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reached the conclusion, especially after listening to some Filipinos interested in confiscating them from the
Church, that these institutions or these capital funds which the Church administered had been the property
of the Spanish government, and therefore had passed on to become the property of the American
government in virtue of the Treaty of Paris. This belief gave origin to the legal battle which lasted for
years, and which ended in the manner that we shall see later. Fray Nozaleda adds:
It cost no little work to make them understand the contrary. But, finally, God granted that they should
be convinced that it was a case of ecclesiastical ownership, and not of the goods of the Spanish
government, to which my decree of 14 November 1898 contributed not a little, which to vindicate the
rights which over these trust funds the Council of Trent grants to the bishops, I declared that the laws
issued by the Royal Patronato on this matter were obsolete and already abrogated in the Philippines. With
this, the great part of these foundations were kept intact, the immense majority of which were destined
for the descendants of Spaniards. However, in order to save the Hospital of San Juan de Dios and the
Monte de Piedad, he had to sustain a longer and more vigorous fight. In the case of the goods of the
College of San Jose, there was need to follow up in the courts a litigation with a big group of Filipinos
belonging to the party called “Federal”, who claimed that those goods were the property of the native
Filipinos.29
On 13 June 1899, Father Santiago Paya y Perez, O.P.,
then the Rector of the University of Santo Tomas,
requested General Elwell S. Otis, the Military
Governor of the Philippines, for license to reopen his
institution. Otis granted it, but later withdrew his
permission until he could study the relationship
between the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy of the
university, and the property and endowment of the
College of San Jose.30 Without doubt, he acted under
the influence of Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Felipe
Calderon and others who had laid their eyes on the
assets of the College of San Jose to serve as the
foundation for a state university of medicine and
pharmacy.
This action of General Otis was the occasion for the filing of a court case in which Pardo de Tavera and
Calderon were the plaintiffs, and the Catholic Church represented by Monsignor Chapelle was the
defendant. While the case was slowly being contested in court, the President of the Civil Commission
William H. Taft allowed the university, on the request of Father Raimundo Velazquez, O.P., Father Paya’s
successor as Rector of the university, to reopen.
Years went by in useless charges and answers, until 1907 when Taft and Archbishop Jeremias Harty,
Nozaleda’s successor, signed an agreement by which the Church ceded San Lazaro Hospital to the
government, and the government recognized the rights of the Church to the properties of the other obras

29 Bernardino Nozaleda, O.P., Defensa obligada contra acusaciones gratuitas, Madrid, 1904.
30The Jesuits had established the College of San Jose in 1601 as a residential college for boarder-candidates for the priesthood.
In 1610, the college was reorganized as an endowed school and obra pia, with an endowment donated by Captain Esteban
Rodriguez de Figueroa. In 1622, Pope Gregory XV gave the college permission to confer academic degrees. In 1768, when the
Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines, the college continued to function under the secular clergy. In 1875, upon petition
of the Dominican procurator in Madrid, the building and endowment of the College of San Jose were applied to the University
of Santo Tomas to support its Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy. In 1898, when the Americans took charge of all the assets
of the Spanish government, they included the College of San Jose among them. In 1907, through the Taft-Harty Agreement,
the entire estate fell under Church jurisdiction, with no more claims from the government. In 1910, by virtue of a May 3 brief
of Pope Pius X to Monsignor Ambrose Agius, Apostolic Delegate to the Philippines, the College of San Jose was detached from
the University of Santo Tomas, and returned to the Jesuits to be used according to the terms of the original endowment.

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pias. Archbishop Harty’s goal in this transaction seemed to be primarily to
secure proprietary rights over the building and estate of the College of San Jose,
which he was thinking of converting into an archdiocesan seminary. But if this
had been his intention, he was soon frustrated since by this time the Jesuit
Fathers had already started negotiations with the Holy See for the
administration of the College of San Jose to be returned to them.
For his part, Father Velasquez, in defense of the rights of the university,
although this would run counter to the Archbishop’s desires, submitted on 17
February 1908 before the Supreme Court a motion asking the tribunal to annul
the transaction between Taft and Monsignor Harty. This step resulted only in
further delaying the resolution of the case. But this time, Rome intervened by
deciding in 1910 that the property of the College of San Jose be returned to the
Society of Jesus, so that it might be used for the original purpose of the
foundation.
Payment of Rental and Damage to Occupied Property.
The question of “war damage” also demanded the attention of the American government in the first days
of their occupation of the Philippines. Outside of the conventos, the churches, the town halls, and some
houses of prominent Filipinos, it was well known that the buildings then in existence in this country were
nothing more than mere shacks of bamboo and nipa. Consequently, it was natural for the Americans in
their campaigns to occupy the strong ecclesiastical buildings to quarter themselves in.
It should not be surprising, unfortunate as it was, to know that Aguinaldo’s forces had burned churches or
conventos to prevent the enemy from entrenching themselves in certain places where they could be
impregnable in case of counterattack, or in places which could serve as their barracks. Consequently, the
ecclesiastical authorities actually preferred that the Yankees occupy their buildings, for they would then be
concerned with their preservation.
The occupation of ecclesiastical buildings lasted for two years, and in some cases longer. The North
Americans also offered to pay the damages and injuries which their troops had caused on their buildings
and farms, even though in some cases it might have been part of some operation of the war. (A, pp. 345-
355)

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