Frailocracy as a Social Cancer

Liberalism vs. Obscurantism

Red Gabriel Convocar
Mel Simon Duavis
"Friarocracy is democracy of the clerics, by the
clerics, for the clerics..."
Frailocracy/Frailocracia/Friarocracy
• State where Dominican friars exercising more
power than the civilian government due to the
stringent control of the Church over the
populace
• Alternate term to theocracy (rule of God)
• Friars were not only parish priests but also
rulers of the municipalities.
 How the Filipinos were controlled
1. Religious Influence - The friars taught
Filipinos to adhere the religious beliefs and
faith to receive blessing from God, the
rewards of heaven, and to avoid punishment
2. Physical Zoning - The friars located the
church at the “heart” of the town
 How the Filipinos were controlled
3. Friars studied the different culture and
religious beliefs of the Filipinos and
incorporated/altered those beliefs in the
Roman Catholic practices and to the beliefs
friars will largely benefit.
 Friars in the 19th century
• Dominicans
– Catholic religious order founded by Saint
Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III
(1216-27) on 22 December 1216 in France.
Membership in the Order
includes friars, congregations of active sisters,
and lay persons affiliated with the order
Friars in the 19th century
Friars in the 19th century
 Friars in the 19th century
• Augustinians
– named after Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–431),
are several Christian monastic orders and men
and women living according to a guide to
religious life known as the Rule of Saint
Augustine.
Friars in
the 19th
century
 Friars in the 19th century
• Recollects
– ere a French branch of the Roman Catholic order,
the Franciscans
 Role of Friars
• executive functions of government on the
local level
• Education
• Health regulation
• Census and tax records
• reported on the activities, the character and
behavior of individual villagers
 Role of Friars
• Chroniclers of events
• Writers, investigative journalists
• supervised the selection of local police and
town officers
• responsible for setting standards and
maintaining public morals, and were judge
and jury of morality.
 Abuse of Friars
• Women were taken forcibly from their home
and became object of friars’ desire.
• Friars took the land of Filipinos and claimed
them to be church ownership
• Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, Morong, and Manila
provinces – places where vast hacienda
thrives
 Abuse of Friars
• "Visitation", which involved the authority of
the Bishops of the (Catholic) Church to inspect
and discipline the religious orders under their
jurisdiction
 Abuse of Friars
• the 19th century friars were successful in
resisting, repudiating and frustrating the
efforts of the Archbishop of Manila to impose
"Visitation" rights over the friars of Manila.
Consequently, the friars operated quite freely
and with wide latitude, without formal
supervision. Given such latitude, it is not
surprising that this flexibility was abused and
yielded grave consequences.
 Cancer on Society
Central to the friars' dominant position, then, was
their monopoly and stranglehold of education
its infrastructure and system, at all levels,
throughout the Philippines. The friars under this
friarocracy controlled, without doubt, and
unsparingly, the entire society's "religio, mores,
et cultura", and thus, the nation's intelligence
and its citizens' mindsets. As the saying goes,
"when you have them by the short hairs, the
minds, the hearts and the souls are sure and
quick to follow."
 Liberalism vs. Obscurantism
Liberalism – emphasizes individual rights and
equality of opportunity

Possesses threats to the dominance of

obscurantism during the 19th century
 Liberalism vs. Obscurantism
Obscurantism – a class of philosophies that favor
limits on the extension and dissemination of
scientific knowledge believing it to be the
enemy of religious faith
 Pelaez and the Awakening of the
Filipino Secular Clergy
Father Pedro Pablo Pelaez
• A Filipino mestizo, and the parish priest of the
Manila Cathedral, later became an acting
archbishop of Manila
• was a religious leader who spearheaded the
Filipinization of parishes.
• Founded the first Catholic newspaper, El
Catolico Filipino
 Pelaez and the Awakening of the
Filipino Secular Clergy
Father Pedro Pablo Pelaez
• Torn between his ecclesiastical duty and his
concerns for the displaced Filipino clergy
• Requested to Queen Isabella II to revoke her
royal decree and reinstate the displaced
Filipino priests in their old parishes
 Pelaez and the Awakening of the
Filipino Secular Clergy
Father Pedro Pablo Pelaez
• Torn between his ecclesiastical duty and his
concerns for the displaced Filipino clergy
• Requested to Queen Isabella II to revoke her
royal decree and reinstate the displaced
Filipino priests in their old parishes
• Fr. Burgos continued Fr. Pelaez advocacy
“that priest, as learned as he was virtuous, the
prize and honor of the Filipino people… a man
of scrupulous conscience, a friend of peace
and an enemy of all disorders.”
 GOMBURZA
Father Jose Burgos
• Philippine-born Spaniard
• Leader of the Filipino Clergy
• Implored the righting of wrongs
done to Filipino priests
• Age 35 when arrested and killed
 GOMBURZA
Father Mariano Gomes
• Chinese-Filipino Mestizo
• Curate of Bacoor-Cavite
• Has shown in action his defense in Filipino
rights when Burgos was still a boy
• Age 73 when he was arrested
 GOMBURZA
Father Jacinto Zamora
• Served as a curate of the Manila Cathedral
when he was arrested (age 37)
• His imprisonment and trial caused him to lose
his mind
 GOMBURZA
• Liberal regime of de la Torre was replaced by
that of Gen. Rafael de Izquiero
• In favor of using the dominance of the friars to
eliminate all influence of the Filipino clergy
• The Cavite Mutiny in Jan 20, 1872 took place
• The Spanish regular clergy saw in the Cavite
mutiny an opportunity to liquidate the
secularization issue
 GOMBURZA
• The trial of the three priests, according to Rizal,
was shrouded in mystery
• The documents (that will prove the priests’s
guiltness) The governor-general promised to
present never came to light
• The priests, who pleaded innocent to the charge
were executed in Bagumbayan in Manila,
February 17, 1872
• The execution marked the awakening of
nationalist feeling of the natives
 GOMBURZA
“without 1872 there would not now be a
Plaridel, a Jaena, a Sancianoco, nor would the
brave and generous Filipino colonies exist in
Europe. If it were not for 1872 Rizal would now
be a Jesuit and instead of writing the Nole Me
Tangere would have written the contrary…”
Letter of Rizal to Mariano Ponce
 Rizal and the Revolution
• External Factors
– Archipelago was open to foreign trade in 19th
century
– Inflow of Western thought (pursuit for liberty and
independence)
– Schools, organizations, and literature fostering
these ideals were banned by colonial
administration and the frailocracia
– Illustrados – Filipinos who were influenced by
these ideals
 Rizal and the Revolution
• Internal Factors
– Execution of the 3 Filipino priests (Gomburza)
– Inflow of Western thought (pursuit for liberty and
independence)
– Schools, organizations, and literature fostering
these ideals were banned by colonial
administration and the frailocracia
– Illustrados – Filipinos who were influenced by
these ideals
 The Propaganda Movement
Organized for literary and cultural purposes more
than political ends
Members include upper-class Filipinos from all the
lowland Christian areas.
• Jose Rizal
• Lopez Jaena
• Marcelo del Pilar
• Mariano Ponce
• Juan Luna
• Antonio Luna
 The Propaganda Movement
Aim:
1. Secure for their own interest class
participation in political rule
2. Greater share in economic benefits as a
province of Spain
3. Awaken the sleeping intellect of the Spaniard
to the needs of our country
4. Create a closer, more equal association of the
islands and the motherland
 The Propaganda Movement
Specific goals:
• Representation of the Philippines in the Cortes or
Spanish parliament
• Secularization of the clergy
• Legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality
• Creation of a public school system independent of
the friars
• Abolition of the polo (labor service)
• And vandala (forced sale of local products to the
govt)
 The Propaganda Movement
Specific goals:
• Guarantee of basic freedoms of speech and
association
• Equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spanish to enter
government service
The Propaganda Movement never asked for
Philippine independence because its members
believed that once Spain realized the pitiful
state of the country, the Spaniards would
implement the changes the Filipinos were
seeking
 The Propaganda Movement
• Failed main objective which is that of
prodding the Spanish government to reform
colonial administration
• Failed to reach the masses of their
countrymen – minimal influence
• Lack of funds
• Bickering among propagandists themselves