History of the Philippines in the time of Rizal.

Dr. Jose P. Rizal

In the time that Rizal was not yet born, the entire Philippines was still under the
Spanish colonization, all the uprising of Filipinos against the oppression of the
Spaniard did not prosper due to the advantage of Spanish weaponry in that time. The
rebellion of Francisco Dagohoy, the longest uprising against Spain which lasted 8
years but still defeated is a good example of this circumstances.
The whole of the country was headed by a GovernorGeneral, a deputy of the king
and with the sole authority with regards to economic and political management of the
country. Furthermore, because one of the reason for Spanish colonization is religion,
The clergies were also vested with a certain authority towards the church, but in the
time of Rizal the power of the friars was not only set within the walls of the church,
but also in politics.
The family of Rizal are wealthy landlords of Calamba, Laguna. His parent were of
Malay and Chinese heritage, both of them were wealthy and educated, they socialized
with leaders of the society, the house of Rizal is the biggest private library in the
Philippines in that time and they managed to send their children to best schools.
Nevertheless, Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo, Rizals maternal grandfather, was one of the
delegates in the Manila assembly from were a deputy of the Spanish cortes was to
elected as provided by the new Spanish constitution.
In 1861, when Rizal was born, a great crisis occurred within the church when the
archbishop of Manila, Jose Aranguren died and succeeded by a Spanish mestizo,
Father Pedro Pelaez who risen in the position of vicar capitular a term used by the
canon law to fill the vacant position of the archbishop within the diocese. Pelaez
became the brainchild to the total participation of the natives or Indios, as they were
called, as priests of the new reformed church. He also acted upon the successive
decrees which handed the parishes over the religious orders. Now, the revolution

against Spain was not only situated within the battle fields of the land but also inside
the church itself.
In January 20, 1872, in Cavite, a mutiny of Filipino soldiers and peasantry leaded by a
mestizo sergeant named Fernando la Madrid took place at Fort San Felipe. The cause
of this military uprising is believed to be order of Governor-General Rafael de
Izquierdo to subject soldiers to personal taxes, from which they were previously
exempted. The said tax requires them to pay a monetary sum and also to serve under
forced labor called, polo y sevicio. The mutineers believed that the rebellion they
have started shall escalate into the national level. Within two days the mutiny was
dissolved when the Governor-General immediately sent reinforcement to Cavite and
the manila rebellion wing did not respond on the insurrection. Thus, they were
outnumbered and destabilized by the Spanish armed forces, while sergeant la Madrid
was killed in the skirmish.
According to the report issued by Governor-General Izquierdo, the Cavity mutiny of
1872 was an act of treason and rebellion against the Spanish government, in the sense
that, they wilfully planned to overthrow the government and to establish their own, a
clear violation to constitution. Izquierdo also added that all liable to this threat to the
security of the Spanish colony should be punished by death. Furthermore, he also
declared that the architects of this conspiracy were merely Filipino educated leaders
such as; businessmen, abodadillos or native lawyers and native clergymen. The
Filipino priest namely; Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora were court
marshalled for the grounds of treason, they were, according to the report, preside as
leaders of the new government. For such reasons, to install fear upon the rest of the
natives and to eradicate secularism inside the church, the GUMBORZA were
executed by means of garrotte or by strangulation.
The execution of the friars had a great impact to the Mercado y Alonzos because their
son Paciano, the older brother of Rizal, was a known student of Father Burgos in
Ateneo de Municipal and allegedly a member of the mutiny.
In the midst of the situation, Rizal also witnessed the cruelty and injustice of the
Spanish authority when his mother once became a victim of legal vengeance. His
mother, Doa Teodora Alberto de Alonzo was accused of attempted murder when she
allegedly tried to kill her sister-in-law by poison. A corrupt court led her to
incarceration of almost two and a half years. According to historians, the sister-in-law
of Doa Teodora had a secret affair with the head of the Guardia Sybil.
In Rizals time, Spaniards are not only in the control of politics, the church, but the
education as a whole. The friars were the head masters of schools in the Philippines at
the time, in fact, the schools are owned by them. They controlled the educational
curriculum, making the way to put Christian and religious teaching on the priority of
learning from the elementary until the tertiary education. Teachers do not put great
emphasis on native language, as well as with science and mathematics, but a bigger
part on theology of Christian doctrines and Latin.
At first the schools were only exclusive for Spanish born citizens, not until the start of
the 19th century that it was also opened for Filipinos, provided that you came from a
known and wealthy family of the society. Although the Filipinos are now accepted as

students, the friars still believed that Filipinos cannot match the natural born talents
and skills of a pure Spanish. They strictly imposed total discipline that whoever fails
to observe shall be subjected to corporal punishment. The friars are very concern
about morality and sexes of their students. Thus, the boys and girls were literally
separated by
establishing schools exclusive only for the other.
The students of colleges in Rizals time were guaranteed with degree in Bachelor of
Arts or Bachiller en Artes. In 1859, in Manila, the firs college for boys was
established by Jesuits as Colegio de san Ignacio. In Cebu, they established Colegio de
San Idelfonso. In 1601, the Colegio de San Jose was built. In addition, in 1589, the
Escuela Pia was entrusted by the government to the Jesuits. Later this was called as
Ateneo de Municipal or today the famous Ateneo de Manila University.
The Spanish government did not expect that educating Filipinos would mean danger
on their part. In fact, to ensure their interest they pattered the education to the Spanish
life style. Their primary belief is that, they are just making politics on some wealthy
Filipino aristocrats, but they were wrong. This openness of the Spanish government
toward the Filipinos to obtain equal rights for education was the birth of a true
freedom and the predecessor of a revolution to gain our independence.
Filipinos who bear the seals of Spanish Coligeos are referred to as Ilustrados. The
Ilustrados are the architects of the movement to, if not totally eradicate, reform the
rotten Spanish government by giving equal rights to the Filipinos on the same level
that of the Spaniards.
Rizal and his fellow Ilustrados established organizations and publications which
criticizes the Spanish way of governing the Philippines. This also led to a nationwide
uprising of the Filipinos to achieve independence leaded by Andres Bonifacio and
Emilio Aguinaldo.
-http://josephgigje.blogspot.com/2011/08/history-of-philippines-in-time-of-rizal.html