PHILIPPINE HUMAN SETTLEMENTS DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING

Date Settlement form/Function Planning Details

PRE-COLONIAL ERA Barangay basic socio-political unit of 30-100 families composing a tribe ruled by kinship;
arable land was held in common; decentralized; located along coastlines and riverbanks,
stratified class system Ex., Manila, Cebu
Muslim coastal settlement in Jolo seat of Sultan of Sulu remained as large villages but
untouched by colonialists, strong political and cultural structures.
Subsistence agriculture,: agricultural
and fishing village with string trade
functions: trade with other villages and
externally with China, Brunei & Japan.
SPANISH COLONIAL ERA - MERCANTILISM
1564 Expedition from Nueva Espana or Mexico
1565 Legaspi selected village of Cebu, a minor port-of call; moved to Panay because of Portuguese
blockade
To exploit wealth to send back to
Mexico and Spain through galleon trade
1571 Manila became capital and designated as ciudad with a population of 2000 and
became dominant due to the galleon trade
A few years later became the Walled Cuty of Manila or Intramuros due to
insurrections and Chinese attacks
Cebu, Naga Lallo, Panay and Vigan were designated as ciudades (cities) and villas
(towns) which acted as urban control points for the colonial govt; priests founded
their missions here to provide support and protection to the encomiendas; so they
had ecclesiastical, military and political function;
Introduces concept of Private Property Ownership and the Regalian Doctrine (all
uncultivated lands reverted to the Crown)
Point of importation for the
Tagalogs living inland around
Laguna de Bay
Encomienda system (right to
collect annual tribute in specific
areas called provinces
supervised by the Alcalde
Mayor) enforced to provide an
income base for Spanish
settlers and to control the
natives
July 3, 1573 Laws of the Indies pronounced by King Philip II Spanish town planning influenced by the
Romans and the piazza planning of Italian Renaissance

1595 Manila raised to the rank of Archdiocese with bishoprics in Cebu, Lallo & Naga
1596 Social Stratification Spanish friars became biggest landholders), native principalia
who were coopted by colonialists into civil administration due to shortage of
Spaniards, Chinese, landless masses and other foreigners
Spatial segregation along racial and social lines separate districts outside the ciudad
for Indios and Chinese developed in the environs of Manila and other cities Ex.
Binondo last Parian site for Urban Chinese
Parian or Market spatial concentration
of merchants and artisans to regularize
the exchange of goods.
1600s to 1700s These regional centers (ciudades and villas) remained in control throughout the
period with the natives living on the unplanned outer fringes of the city
Process of Hispanization (control, conversion and labor pool) through the founding of
cabeceras (poblaciones) and visitas (barrios) hundreds of concentrated mission
settlements organized by the religious in the lowlands;
Reduccion process of forming
agglomerated settlements from
scattered villages as applied in Mexico;
debajo de las campanas church as
military camp also