THE ILUSTRADOS’ ROLE AND CONTRIBUTION IN SHAPING THE

PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY DURING

THE SPANISH AND AMERICAN OCCUPATIONS

A Research Paper
Submitted to the Department of English
University of Asia and the Pacific

In Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Course
English 3 (ENG103)

CAS 303
(16:30 – 18:00)

Dy, Alexander John M

28 March 2008, Friday

Introduction:

The role and contribution of the Filipino educated elites or the ilustrados‟ in shaping the

Philippine government and society have always been important in studying the course of

Philippine history. Their (ilustrados) role as negotiators of change (reforming the government and

achieving independence by peaceful means) using their influence through education during both

the Spanish and American Occupations have played significant roles in the intervals of achieving

independence during the Spanish and American periods of colonisations. Moreover, the

ilustrados‟s contribution to the Filipinos of aiming to pursue good education [by all means]

remains a legacy that has, as seen today, significantly benefited both the country‟s (Philippines)

economic performance (through the English literacy of the Filipinos) and, by collaborating with

the Americans, the form of government – democracy – which our country enjoys.

However, in accounting to whom and where the implementation of educational

programmes and institutions should be regarded to, most Filipinos tend to have a one-sided

colonial view. More often than not, most Filipinos would always pay tribute or give high remarks

to the untiring and monumental role and contribution of the Spanish and Americans in

implementing educational programmes and institutions in the Philippines (Pinoy Press, 2008,

par. 3). Most of the Filipinos would say and as I have heard from my high school friends that, “if

not because of the Spaniards and the Americans, we would have no educational systems here in

the Philippines”, and, “if not because of the Americans, we would still be using our ancestors‟

primitive tongues (i.e. the datus‟ animist language during the pre-Hispanic times)”. Most

Filipinos without knowing, that, it is because of the endearing efforts of the ilustrados, having a

good reputation and influence because of their good educational background, that the

implementation educational changes during the Spanish regime were successful. Furthermore,

rarely do most Filipinos know that it was also because of the ilustrados‟ persistent collaboration

2
with the Americans to introduce democracy in the Philippines and the teaching of the English as

the universal language by implementing educational programmes and institutions.

This incomplete historical knowledge about the importance of the role and contribution

of the ilustrados can be traced in high school Philippine history and social studies books that tend

to give incomplete information leading to hasty generalisations of the Spanish and Americans

being purely accounted for the successful establishments and implementations of educational

programmes and institutions in the Philippines since then. Some of these books include

Reynaldo Oliveros‟ (2002) Ang Kasaysayan at Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas (p. 76). In this book, very

little was mentioned about the ilustrados’ role and contribution in reforming the government and

achieving independence during both in the Spanish and American occupations. According to the

book, only the spirit of nationalism and its preparation for the 1896 Revolution, all through the

help of the propaganda materials (La Solidaridad, etc.), were all the ilustrados (including the

propagandists) had managed to accomplish throughout their reformative movements.

Another one-sided view of the ilustrados would be of John N Schumacher‟s (1997) study

of the Propaganda Movement, 1880-1895. According to Michael Cullinane (2003, p. 9), a

distinguished historian, Schumacher only discusses and links the ilustrados‟ ethnic origins to

wealth but makes little effort to emphasise their (ilustrados) role, using their educational

attainment, in implementing social and political change (the propagandists‟ platform: cultural

assimilation, representation of the Philippines as a colony and in the Spanish Cortes and the

Filipinos‟ participation in legislation) during the Spanish colonial rule.

Moreover, in Agoncillo‟s The Revolt of the Masses (1956, chap. 1), although he briefly

discussed the ilustrados‟ catalytic role of a peaceful revolution during the Spanish colonization,

Agoncillo just set a pattern for simplifying the complexities of late nineteenth-century Filipino

structure without discussing the ilustrados‟ efforts, as trusted by the Americans because of their

education, in taking over the implementation of democracy and educational programmes after

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the American Occupation (Cullinane, 2003). All these information tend to neglect the ilustrados’

greatest leagacy to the Philippines which is the role and importance of education. Lacking this

essential information presented in these books greatly affect the Filipinos‟ understanding of the

significance of the ilustrados‟ emphasis on education – as a tool for reforming the government

and achieving independence during both the Spanish and American Occupations – that has

played a pivotal role to the development of the Philippines as a nation; thereby, accounting for

the formation Filipino identity, in raising the consciousness and unity of the Filipino populace,

and in the democratisation of the Philippines.

I. The Ilustrados’ Emphasis on the Role of Education as a Tool for Reforming the

Government and Achieving Independence

Here are two important points on how education, as consistently admonished and carried

out by the ilustrados, that Oliveros, Schumacher, and Agoncillo missed to expound and point out:

1) more elaboration on how the ilustrados sowed the seeds of a national identity and their role of

making the “indio to Filipino”, 2) the significant and critical roles played by the ilustrados during

the waves of colonisation (esp. in the American regime) as the Filipinos desperately longed for

an independent country.

A. During the Spanish Regime

Aside from the demands of the propaganda movement (the propagandists‟ platform:

cultural assimilation, representation of the Philippines as a colony and in the Spanish Cortes, and

the Filipinos‟ participation in legislation), the ilustrados, who were also propagandists, pushed the

importance of education to awaken national consciousness despite struggles from the Spanish

friars. In a historical article, Civic Consciousness During the Philippine Revolution, it says that “in

unmasking the frailties of the friars, the reformers shared the need to use education as a tool for

4
change” (Evangelista, 2002, p.74). Back then, the friars controlled the educational system. The

friars discouraged the teaching and learning of the Castilian language, they blocked the

enforcement of decrees of the Spanish Government for the educational improvement of the

people. Moreover, the friar-run educational system was not progressive enough compared to

educational programmes found in Europe and America (Evangelista, 2002, p.74). So, the friars

wanted to keep the people ignorant to perpetuate their monastic supremacy in the Philippines

because they saw that if the Filipinos were to be educated, they would pose a grave threat to the

Church and to the government, just like the ilustrados themselves. As stated by Steinberg (1994),

these ilustrados, “with their high level education and exposure abroad, being aware of the ill-deeds

of the friars” (p. 50), wanted to tell the Filipinos how the Spaniards should treat its colonies (i.e.

Philippines, Cuba, etc.) with accordance to ethical policies of the European [constitution-based]

tradition of liberalism and freedom.

So Rizal together with other ilustrados like del Pilar and Mabini, despite being antagonised

by the enormous influence of the Spanish friars regarding them as subversives or figures of

denial and agents of exclusion, offered solutions to the rising educational problems of the

country (Jondel, 2007, par. 5). These solutions include: the encouragement of primary education

without friar interference and with higher teacher salaries; and the organisation of the people into

the La Liga Filipina, to weld the people ultimately into a national community (Evangelista, 2002,

p. 75). Thus, the ilustrados pinpointed the defects of the colonial system and recommending

reforms, which included educational changes, such as: the seeking of the training of the intellect;

thereby, leading the citizen to know the nature of his duties and political rights, and guiding the

citizenry in the path of goodness and justice (Evangelista, 2002, p. 84). These educational

changes were incorporated with Mabini‟s latter educational programme. “… [T]hese educational

changes were important in the process of making the indio a Filipino…” (Constantino, 2005, p.121)

(emphasis added).

5
 By having education, Filipinos can better express themselves, knowing the nature of his

duties and political rights; thereby, developing a sense of awareness and national identity. Thus,

with the continuous educational reforms and publications of the ilustrados, social and political

changes were brought about, thereby, serving as a positive agent for social progress as it

promoted the welfare of the Filipinos. Thus, “…such awareness led to later campaigns for

nationalist reforms and movements, including the 1896 Revolution…” (emphasis added)

(Agoncillo, 1990, p. 63).

B. During the American Occupation

Another point Oliveros, Schumacher, and Agoncillo missed to point out was the role

played by the ilustrados in shaping the colonial governments (Spanish and United States) through

their emphases on education.

Even during the Spanish colonisation, there had been local elite participations in

governance. As stated in The Formation of the Philippine National Community in Historical Perspective:

Problems and Prospects (2002), “Very few Spaniards were available to rule the country, making it

necessary for the colonial government to co-opt the local elites in governance” (Evangelista, p.9).

With this fact, it is noteworthy to contradict that Filipinos were not given the chance of

participation in governance during the Spanish era (as usually misinterpreted by some high

school history books). So as to say, that with their (local elite class) great contribution, “the

Spaniards preserved their political, economic, and social power and helped give rise to an

intellectual class or the ilustrados that took over the powers of the Spaniards when they were displaced by the

Revolution” (emphasis added) (Evangelista, 2002, pp. 9-10).

Moreover, because of the sophistication and educational level of the ilustrados, their

dominant role provided the channel in emphasising the role of education in democratising

6
Philippine society under American tutelage. “Even though [some] people over the years have

scorned the ilustrados, using the pejorative term Americanistas to describe them and seeing these

men as merely self-seeking oligarchs who scrambled U.S. patronage…” (The Search for a Usable

Past, 1994, p. 66), despite criticisms from the masses, the ilustrados continued their pursuit of

educating the Filipinos. As stated in Bonifacio Salamanca‟s (1968) revisionist study on how the

ilustrados [Filipino elites] shaped the nature of America‟s plans and policies in the Philippines

[that] reiterates the persistence of the elites in the reformulation of Philippine society [through

education] during the American period (p. 84).

Thus, seeing how good education shaped the ideas of the ilustrados in preparing Filipinos

for self-governance for the eventual detachment of the Philippines as a colony of the United

States, the Americans committed to educational achievement as a measure of [the Filipinos‟]

potential socioeconomic success (Steinberg, 1994, pp. 70-72). This commitment was then

followed by educational programmes, such as the coming of the Thomasites and the pensionado

programmes (in which Filipinos were sent to the United States for training and then installed in

both public and private sectors to manage society) (Steinberg, 1994, p.50-51). This programme

obtained fruitful results, like in “…1900-1901, - there were 150,000 students on elementary

schools. By 1920 – 1921, that number had risen to just under a million, and by 1941, there were

over 2 million students being educated on all levels…” (Steinberg, 1994, p. 51). Many of the

institutions of higher learning are diploma mills; run for profit, but many more are either church-

sponsored or government-supported institutions of quality that benefited Filipinos; thereby,

improving their quality of life, and having opportunities to participate in government-related

affairs.

7
II. Fruits and Legacy of the Ilustrados’ Untiring Efforts to the Development of the

Philippines as a Nation

Moreover, the Ilustrados’ efforts greatly contributed to the independence of Philippines as

a nation, as the Filipinos, having been educated, longed to be free of any colonial power

[American]. Quoting Steinberg‟s (1994) words, “Filipinos of education, intelligence, and

property” gained power as the Americans systematically withdrew from control, operating on the

premise that “no American should be appointed to any office in the Philippines for which a

reasonable qualified Filipino could be found.” Rizal‟s ideological descendants (who were

ilustrados) gained social, economic, and political positions that the Spanish had denied to Rizal

and his peers (p. 50).

A. The Ilustrados – American Collaboration in the Democratisation of the Philippines

The Filipino elites were then considered consistent hitherto in their symbiotic

collaboration with the United States‟ aim of democratising Philippines. “The ilustrados sincerely

believed that what was good for them individually and as a class [education] was also good for

the country. Arrogating power to themselves (ilustrados), they forced the American reformers to

accept them and their world view. This is because that for the American colonial authorities and

their earliest Filipino associates – ilustrados all – education was considered the essential

qualification for leadership and government capacity (Cullinane, 2003, p.46). When the

Americans declared that they would respect even their „prejudices‟, the commitment was clear”

(Steinberg, 1994, p. 69). It was therefore, in the best interests of both groups – ilustrados and

Americans – to project an uncomplicated view of Filipino society that emphasised the

significance of the rule of “better classes” or simply, the ilustrados with their good educational

background.

8
 Nevertheless, as Norman Owen (2002), a distinguished historian, has noted, “If the

ilustrados had not existed, however, it would have been necessary for the Americans to invent

them” (pp. 68-69). To quote Owen, he notes how important the role of ilustrados in the

introduction of democracy to the Philippines; because it was unjust for the Americans to impose

on an alien culture their own institutions and values, more importantly, a new system of

government – democracy. Moreover, shortly thereafter Jacob Schurman (RPC 1900, 1:183), the

president of the Philippine Commission, reported to Washington: “Fortunately, there are

educated Filipinos, though they do not constitute a large proportion of the entire population,

and their support and services will be of incalculable value in inaugurating and maintaining the

new [Philippine] government”. Thus, because of the ilustrados‟ incessant persistence towards

democratising Filipinos through education to reduce incidences of social anarchies and

numerous uprisings (i.e. bloody revolution, civil riots, etc.), the Americans surrendered to the

ilustrados for them to take over the Philippines; the Americans made a commitment to support

the ilustrados‟ aspiration. Thus, there existed a symbiotic collaboration. The Americans

collaborated with the ilustrados, as the ilustrados collaborated with them in helping them (the

Americans) shape the Philippines [colonial government], according to their wishes and

aspirations. This is, again, because of the ilustrados high-level educational background. “The

American officials asserted that the majority of the Filipinos did not possess the intellectual

capacity or cultural sophistication to judge their peers competently exhibiting the Orientalist

attitude prevalent in many colonials throughout Asia. Thus, the Americans needed the ilustrados,

possessing good educational background, in reforming the government through introducing

democracy by means of education”. (Rossabi, 1994, par. 4).

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B. The Ilustrdos’ Pursuit of Educating the Filipinos with the English Language

The ilustrados, despite criticisms and different arguments rose against them such as the

“losing of the Filipino soul because of the widespread use of English, etc, still continued their

promotion on education as led by the Americans. It is because that the ilustrados believed and

affirmed that the motives of the Americans were good and which what the country needed.

Moreover, it was in the best interests of both groups – ilustrados and Americans – to project a

vision of an uncomplicated view of Filipino society that stressed the importance of Western

Education that seeks to teach the English language as the universal language… (Cullinane, 2003,

p. 46). As stated by W. Morgan Shuster, secretary of public instruction:

“The triumph of English as the common speech of these islands does not by any means
imply the suppression of the native character, or the sacrifice of any of its excellencies. …Our
effort here is not to make Filipinos into Americans but to make better Filipinos. We do not insist
that the Filipino qualities of heart and mind shall become those of foreign peoples, but that
everything shall be done to cultivate the inherent excellencies of the race in the best possible
way…..” (Calata, ___, p. 95).

From this quote, it is therefore very evident how the intentions of both groups –

ilustrados and Americans – show the acculturation of the teaching of English language, as

passionately sought and pursued by the ilustrados to be taught and widely used in the Philippines.

Such endeavour of the ilustrados has largely contributed to what the country (Philippines) enjoys

its flexibility of the Filipinos‟ literacy in the English language viewed as an asset towards the

Philippines‟ participation in globalisation (Villegas, 2001, pp. 61-62).

Having explained the neglected important information regarding the contribution of the

ilustrados, as lacking and limited in history books like Oliveros‟ Ang Kasaysayan at Pamahalaan ng

Pilipinas (2002, p.76), in John N Schumacher‟s (1997) study of the Propaganda Movement 1880-

1895, and in Teodoro Agoncillo‟s evolt of the Masses (1956, chap. 1), it is noteworthy to say how

„monumental‟ the contribution and role of the ilustrados in shaping the course of Philippine

10
history. This is because of the fact that, what if the ilustrados didn‟t care of going back to

Philippines because of the turmoil happening during the Spanish era? What if the ilustrados

remained silent in the abuses of the Spaniards and instead remained complacent of their status?

Will the course of our history be the same? Will we still have the 1896 Revolution? What if there

were no ilustrados who asserted independence and were respected by the Americans? Thus, our

independence from the Americans, if not for them (ilustrados), could have been prolonged or

would never be given to us (Philippines), and instead remain as a subjected colony like Guam.

What about our high regard for education these days? Will we have a high regard for education

and literacy if not for the endearing efforts and role of the ilustrados in their influence and

persistent collaboration with the Americans in implementing education programmes? What

about the democracy we enjoy today? What about our English language efficiency, being our

competitive advantage in human resource, our country boasts as compared to other Asian

countries? Surely, we will never be the same if the ilustrados didn‟t care to interfere.

11
Conclusion

It is not enough to say how the Spanish and American interventions helped shaped our

[Philippines] culture, history, and heritage, and eventually the emergence of Philippines as a

nation (that is still in progress). The Spanish and the Americans, having the purpose of

improving the Philippines‟ way of life, could not remain or stay to manage and govern the

Philippines forever. As the Filipinos continued to resist and struggle for freedom and

independence [as a free country], the more the Spanish and the Americans would want to grant it

[independence] to them. However, they (the Spanish and the Americans) needed reliable and

competent people whom they can trust to continue their „mission‟ – which is to improve and

shape the Filipino way of life, more importantly through education (Evangelista, 2002) (emphasis

added). These people are the ilustrados. These people are worthy to be taken account of being

noted and regarded as “catalysts and helping hands in the advent of education in the Philippines”

(Cullinane, 2003, p.26). As these ilustrados emphasised and gave way on the importance of

education for raising the consciousness and unity of the Filipinos (nationalism) during the

Spanish regime, so did they lead out and support the Americans in their education programmes

[as the most essential element] towards democratising and other political aspirations (i.e. the

involvement of more Filipinos in the colonial government) for Philippines. As noted by Forbes

(1928, 2:68) that “political aspirations were limited to the „upper classes, mostly made up of those

who received advanced education, among whom are to be found the so-called illusrados [sic]…‟”

(Ilustrados Politics, 2003, p.366).

As the Spanish and the Americans value education, they needed educated people

(ilustrados) whom they can trust on to continue their legacy. Thus, as education work on people‟s

values, nationalism – that binding belief in the centrality of the Filipino people – brings people

together in a sense of unity. In Civic Consciousness During the Philippine Revolution (2002), Mabini

stated that, “education is one of the most important factors in social progress, and it was an

12
important function of the government to serve as a positive agent for social progress. The

government must therefore play an active role in the education of its citizenry.” (pp.83-85).

Education for him (Mabini) is a moral and political end, in the sense that education: “seeks the

training of the intellect; leads the citizen to know the nature of his duties and political rights; and

guides the citizenry in the path of goodness and justice” (Evangelista, 2002, p. 85).

With the greatest contribution of the ilustrados – role of education to the development of

the Philippines as a nation– elaborated, every Filipino is therefore entitled and deserving to know

all the details regarding the role and contributions of the ilustrados as deprived and lacked by

some books like Oliveros‟ Ang Kasaysayan at Pamahalaan ng Pilipinas, (2002, p.76), in John N

Schumacher‟s (1997) study of the Propaganda Movement 1880-1895, and in Teodoro

Agoncillo‟s evolt of the Masses (1956, chap. 1). As stated in Keeping the Spirit of 1896 Alive (2003),

“Remembering our past from our incomplete histories only rewards us with an incomplete

knowledge of what people we are” (Corpuz, p.2). Thus, elaborating and emphasising this

presented must-know information about the role and contributions of the ilustrados is crucial in

the development of nationalism and in the formation Filipino identity - for which are considered

pivotal chapters in raising the consciousness and unity of the Filipino populace, and in the

democratisation of the Philippines.

13
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