Rizal’s Ancestry

 DOMINGO LAM CO Context: World Events during the time of Rizal

- Rizal’s Great Grandfather United States
- from Fujian, China - Civil War, Negro slavery, and the Emancipation
- landed in Binondo Proclamation of 1863
- baptized at age 35 Russia
- Czar Alexander II emancipated tens of millions of serfs.
- Married a Chinese mestiza: Ines de la Rosa
Mexico
- settled at the Dominican Estate in Binan, Laguna - Just before Rizal’s birth in 1861, had a full-blooded
 FRANCISCO MERCADO Zapotec Indian President
- son of Domingo Lam Co and Ines de la Rosa England under Queen Victoria
- assumed the surname Mercado (market) - predominant imperial power in the world
- Rizal’s grandfather Italy and Germany
 FRANCISCO ENGRACIO MERCADO - unified into powerful, political entities
- son of Francisco Mercado China
- father of Rizal - divided up by Europeans after the Opium War
- lived at the Dominican Hacienda India
Catalogo Alpabetico de Apellidos (1848) - under British raj rule. The rest of Asia divided up
• Governor General Narciso Claveria- issued a decree amongst the Europeans
ordering all natives to adapt new surnames for proper Japan
taxation. - opened up by America to the world, ending its 214 year
• Exempted: Filipinos from the old nobility such as the isolation, with modernization
Lakandulas and the Makapagals who helped the Germany
Spanish pacify the islands; - a late imperial power; acquired colonies in Africa and
: also the pure Chinese who had a separate tax began seeking Pacific possessions. Nearly went to war
with Spain over the Central Pacific Islands. If not for the
• Mercado family was not exempted as they already
arbitration of Pope Leo XIII.
intermarried with mestizos and lived in the islands for
Spain
generations
- was a fading power, having lost her rich colonies in
• Rizal’s father chose Ricial (“green fields”), then Central and South America to revolution and
eventually Rizal Mercado independence. By the late 1800s, the Spanish Empire
• Rizal’s mother, Teodora Alonso Realonda, came from was reduced to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines
Manila, who had Japanese and mestizo ancestry. (which included Guam).
The Hacienda de Calamba
• After getting married, Rizal’s parents moved to the
neighboring town of Calamba, where the Dominicans
had a hacienda.
• The Dominican hacienda was over two thousand The Philippines during the 18th century
hectares from the boundary of Binan and Santa Rosa • The rise of the export crop economy and monopolies
to the foothills of Mount Makiling - Governor General Jose de Basco y Vargas (1778)-
• Rizal’s family was able to lease 500 hectares and who saw the potential for large scale production of cash
hired sharecroppers to do the actual cultivation. Don crops in the colony
Francisco (Rizal’s Father) also became a principalia. - Basco established the Royal Company of the
BAHAY NA BATO Philippines in 1785 to finance these projects. The
• built at the plaza de Calamba, purpose was to make the colony self-supporting and
• while Dona Teodora managed a store and a ham press self-sufficient.
which produced meats. - Repealed ban on Chinese merchants- would lead to the
• Rizal’s family also engaged in the trading of sugar and rise of the Chinese mestizos
of dyestuff. - Began to open Manila to foreign traders, both Asian
• Later, a second bahay na bato was built in another and non-Asian
part of Calamba. - The Tobacco monopoly – remittances(payment); cigar
The Rizal House production – led to cultivation of abaca and sugar
• had a library of more than a thousand books - Basco’s efforts were successful- from 1800 to 1810,
• also entertained visitors to Calamba consisting of exports of Philippine origin accounted for 10 percent
priests (“turkey dinners”) and of government officials of total exports (from forest and sea products).
- By the 1840’s, almost 90 percent of total export
Rizal’s oldest brother Paciano, graduated with a Bachiller en revenue came from six Philippine-grown cash crops:
Arts degree from San Juan de Letran. sugar, tobacco, abaca (hemp) fiber and cordage,
indigo, coffee and cotton. The cash economy replaced
-The Dominicans were very generous to the Rizal family. For trade in kind.
the first five years, they don’t have to pay any rent, after which - The rise of the Chinese mestizo - new immigrants linked
the Rizal family only had to pay 15 pesos instead of the standard provincial producers to the world market
25 pesos. - The Parian (Chinese sector in Manila) was re-
-The lands were very fertile and there was a ready source of established
water - Indio and mestizo elites- a new middle class
The Galleon Trade
• With the end of the Spanish empire in the America, the
Manila-Acapulco galleon which linked American and
Asian trade and which began in 1565, ended in 1815
Foreign Trade
• Manila was opened to world trade officially in 1834-
city became a “port of call”
- more diverse jobs, more money transactions and more
cultural diversions
- Manila’s population increased from 100,000 in 1822
to 150,000 by the mid-1800s
• In the 1850s and 1860s, the ports of Iloilo and Cebu • Racial hierarchy in the Philippines under Spain
opened to foreign shipping, stimulating trade and
agriculture in the Visayas. New tracts of forestland on
Negros were cleared for sugar.

Opening of the Suez Canal

• The Suez Canal was opened to world trade in 1869
- dramatically decreased travel time from Europe and
led to many Spanish migrating (like birds of prey) to the
Philippines in search of jobs. Therefore, the Philippines
became a dumping ground, displacing Filipinos.
- enabled ilustrados to easily reach Europe from the
Philippines for study and for travel
- hastened the movement of people and of ideas from •
Europe to the Philippines
• Domination of imports, exports and distribution by the Situation in the Philippines during the 19th century
British and by the Chinese in the Philippines • 19th century
- said to be the century of Rizal
Under Spanish Government - Industrial Revolution fueled by the commercial
• Centralized- the Ministries of the Colonies revolution
established in Madrid in 1863- exercised executive, • Changes were fueled by the European desire for
legislative, judicial and religious powers. foreign goods not available in Europe, such as coffee,
• The Governor General chocolate, cane sugar, cotton and tobacco.
- appointed by the Spanish monarch
Worldwide Economic Changes
- Represents the King in all state and religious matters
• Advancement of science during the 19th century led to
- Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the
the invention of machines such as the steam engine
Philippines
(replaced sailing ships and manual labor in industries
- The Vice Royal Patron over the religious affairs in the such as textile weaving and animal power in
islands transportation) and of the cotton gin, which made the
- The ex-officio President of the Royal Audiencia, which removal of cottonseeds from fibers more efficiently.
enjoyed judicial powers • In the northern United States, machines replaced slave
- There were 112 Spanish-Governor Generals in our labor. In the southern United States, slave labor
country. The first one was Miguel Lopez de Legazpi persisted until the US Civil War
(1565-1572) and the last was Diego de los Rios • The Philippines was affected by the twin commercial
(1898) and industrial revolutions. The Philippines began to
export its own products including sugar, tobacco, some
Spanish Political Institutions In The Philippines coffee, the abaca fiber (for making ropes) - which
• Local Government Unit of the Philippines Under came to be called Manila hemp. Manila hemp came
Imperial Spain to be in demand by many American shipbuilding
companies in New York, Massachusetts and
Connecticut.
• From an entrepot based economy to that of a cash crop
economy
• End of monopolies and the rise of a laissez-faire
economy - an export economy that led to prosperity
for the Filipino middle and upper classes
• The end of the galleon trade in 1817
• British and American exporters traded with Filipinos
 • 1796- the first American ship, the Astrea, sailed directly French noble Baron de Montesquieu and Englishman
to the Philippines to load a cargo of sugar and John Locke.
returned to Salem, Connecticut after 70 days • The monarch then enters into a covenant with the
• Large rice, sugar and abaca growing lands; Filipino people where the monarch is to provide good and just
hacenderos; friar orders owning large hacienderos; governance to the people who will in turn render him
and the inquilinos of the friar haciendas. allegiance.
• EXAMPLE- Rizal’s Chinese ancestor Domingo Lam-co, • Philosophes (Jean Jacques Rousseau, Montesquieu,
who came to the Binan hacienda in the mid-18th century. Locke, Benjamin Franklin and even Thomas Jefferson)
The average holding of an inquilino back then was 2.9 • The concept of God-given rights that cannot be taken
hectares. away unless it was necessary to preserve order and
- After Rizal’s father moved to the Calamba hacienda, freedom
the Rizal family in the 1890s rented from the hacienda • The American Revolution (led to the Constitution of the
over 390 hectares. United States)
• French Revolution (liberty, equality and fraternity)
Economic Changes in the Philippines A note on rights
• Foreign businessmen not only bought local goods for • Though people maybe equal in terms of rights some
the international market, but also created demand for rights will have to be surrendered for the benefit of the
finished goods made in Europe and America. majority. To have equal rights such as speech,
• The buyers of the goods were the local elite and the expression and movement will invite anarchy. Some will
emerging middle class have to be toned down to preserve order.
• European goods, European fashions and jewelry were • French Revolution led to regicide
seen as a sign of affluence
• Many benefited including the traders in contact with the Political Change in Spain
foreign merchants, managers of farms who leased land • Spain joined France in the Continental System during
for agriculture; big landowners also leased lands to the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother,
inquilinos. Joseph, ascended to the Spanish throne. But the
• The inquilinos lease lands to sharecroppers or tenants Spanish preferred the deposed Crown Prince,
known as kasamas, who do the actual cultivation in the Ferdinand. The Spanish retreated to the port city of
field Cadiz and fought a guerilla war against the occupying
French.
Inquilinos
- Were in contact with traders who sold the goods locally
or abroad. The inquilinos profit enormously. They The Constitution of Cadiz in 1812
began to have bahay na bato or stone houses and have • Liberal minded Spanish believed that power must be
better clothes and food. They became the new local shared with the people and that the government must
elite and had the financial means to send their children follow a basic law that is approved by the people.
to colleges and to universities in Manila or even • Through the Constitution of Cadiz in 1812, the
abroad. government in Cadiz extended representation even to
the colonies, giving the Philippines representation in the
Dark Side To The Commercial Revolution Cortes.
• More lands had to be opened for cultivation a.) Gave equal rights to both Spanish citizens and
• Lands were titled to those who can read and write colonials
• Practices like landgrabbing and duping of illiterate b.) Abolished forced labor
landowners became common c.) abolition of the galleon trade
• People with means, such as religious orders owned • In Manila, Spanish residents elected a trader named
lands Ventura de los Reyes, who traveled from Manila to
• Farmers now found that the land was no longer theirs Cadiz in 1813. In Cadiz, de los Reyes participated in
and that they had to pay rent to a landowner; they the deliberations of the Cortes.
were sometimes driven off the land End of Cadiz
• The increasing gap between the rich and the poor • But as Napoleon pulled out all the French troops from
- mestizos and indios rose above others, becoming the Spain, Ferdinand VII reassumed absolute rule. He
new, local elite persecuted the liberals, dissolved the Cortes and
- but their rise only became possible because of the abrogated the Cadiz constitution.
sweat and toil of the sharecroppers • Forced labor was reinstated in the Philippines
- the rise of a new oppressive class and the rise of the
remontados Further Representation for the Philippines
• Also, increasing friction between the haciendas and  In 1822, a separatist revolt succeeded and restored
the prosperous inquilinos over the fruits of the economic
the Cadiz Constitution, and representation was
boom. The motive would be both political and
economic- to weaken the friars’ influence in Philippine restored for the Philippines. But this revolt was short
political life. lived as Ferdinand VII returned to the throne
 In 1833, with the death of Ferdinand, the ascendancy
Changes in Political Thinking of Maria Cristina as Queen regent for her daughter.
• Absolute rule gave way to Enlightenment ideas such as Maria Cristina was forced by the Cortes to grant
power in the people’s hands (the social contract) by the representation to the people and to the colonies, but
not to the Philippines.
End of Representation - the Spanish also sought to secure native loyalty
 The Philippines was placed under a government called through the granting of positions and status, especially
the Overseas Ministry at the local level
 From then on, the Philippines did not have  It was also rare to find Spanish residents in the towns
representation in the Spanish parliament and Spain as most of them were concentrated in Manila and the
continued its downward spiral due to mismanagement. cities.
The Philippine Middle Class  By 1896, there were 30,000 Spanish as compared to
 The opening of Manila and ports across the country 3 million Indios
opened the islands to foreign trade  The British and the Americans handled foreign trade,
 Traders and inquilinos who traded in agricultural while the Chinese and the ethnic Chinese were
products benefited and accumulated new wealth suppliers. Spain merely held positions of religious and
 The new native elite were no longer the descendants of political authority.
the datu class but the merchant class The Scientfic Revolution of the 19th Century
The New Middle Class
 More emphasis on science rather than religion
 The rise of the principals - the new rich and middle class
- scientific method - the use of evidences and of
 Prefixes - The use of Dons and Doñas. Even Mr. and logic
Mrs. became badges of distinctions. Also Senor, Senora
 Free masonry - a brotherhood established on the
and the children Senorito and Senorita, which carried
principles of equality among its members; encouraged
bigger weight in pride.
free speech and thought
- By contrast, Mang and Aleng are native prefixes.
The Limpieza De Sangre (Purity of Blood) - opposed to the Church
- Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, secularism
 The Indio and the mestizo cannot:
- late 19th century Philippines - Masonic Lodges
- Become Governor Generals or Governors of
provinces
- For those who joined religious life, cannot become The Spanish Time During Rizal’s Time
Bishops or Archbishops
- Cannot become priests of regular orders like the  During the 19th century, the Philippines was one of the
Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans or Recollects last large colonies of Spain left (and the richest colony)
- In the military or civil guard, cannot rise above the after the independence of the Latin American colonies
rank of teniente  Communication with Spain became faster in the 1840s
 The only way Indios and Mestizos can advance was with the invention of the telegraph
through business.  In 1869, the Suez Canal significantly cut the sailing
 Some become lawyers, but the Limpieza de Sangre distance between Manila and Barcelona from between
ensures that some offices and positions are off limits to two to three months to just one month.
indios and mestizos regardless of how well they Political Challenges During 19th Century
improve their economic and social status; closed off
avenues for advancement  Political upheavals in Spain - a period of secularism;
conservatives vs liberals, constitution changes,
 Indios and mestizos therefore enter into business, law
government turnovers, party strifes, and revolutions.
and secular priesthood
 Between 1835 and 1897, the Philippines was ruled by
 Peninsulares and Insulares also looked down on the
50 governors general - hampered the political and
natives and the mestizos.
economic development of the Philippines. Also, no
 Worst off were the common and uneducated indios, representation in the Cortes, but instead through the
who only started receiving basic education in 1863. Ministry for Overseas Colonies.
The indios lead simple lives as tenant farmers and
 Politico-military governments in Visayas and
fishermen. Some served the Spanish army as soldiers
Mindanao, with Mindanao turned into a mission field
and some served as policemen.
for the Jesuits.
How the Spaniards Retained So Much Power
 Challenges such as
 The population of the Philippines in the 19th century
a. corruption
under Spain numbered around 3 to 4 million people.
b. the inability to provide for basic needs of public
Spaniards were less than 10 percent of the population.
works, schools, peace and order
 Most of the Spaniards were concentrated in cities like c. oppression and harassment by the Guardia Civil
Manila d. an antiquated form of taxation that hampered
 But in the provinces, typically the only Spaniard in town modernization of roads, bridges and other public
was the alferez and the commander of the Civil Guard works
 Members of the police and the military were natives. e. highly protective tariffs that forced Filipinos to buy
 Divide and conquer - troops from another area or expensive Spanish textiles than the cheaper British
province is used to suppress the uprising. ones
  corruption, cruelty, incompetence and venality of  Colonial education was in the hands of the friars -
leaders missionaries established schools, appointed teachers,
 The issue of representation in the Cortes and developed the schools’ curricula. But focus was on
- Filipinos had representation in the Cortes (the memorization in the vernacular. Contents were on the
Spanish Parliament) between 1810 and 1813 - fear of God and obedience to the friars.
Ventura de los Reyes (Cadiz Constitution of 1812,  University of Santo Tomas - (Dominicans, 1611)- by Fr.
which abolished the galleon trade) Miguel de Benavides; first known as the College of Our
- There were further periods of representation Lady of Rosary, then as Colegio de Santo Tomas. In
(1820-1823) and (1834-1837) 1645, it became a university known as UST, which
- Representation of the overseas colonies (including offered courses in medicine, pharmacy, theology,
the Philippines) was finally abolished in 1837. philosophy, canon and civil law. Only Spaniards,
Philippine conditions thereafter worsened. mestizos and wealthy Filipinos were admitted. Young
 1883 - Graciano Lopez-Jaena - implore the Spanish Indios can study for the priesthood or law, with the
Cortes in Madrid for Philippine representation. The opening of the Faculty of Civil Law in 1734. By 1871,
Philippines never gained representation until the end of young physicians or pharmacists may study at the
Spanish rule in 1898. Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy.
 The Laws of the Indies, which protected the rights of  In schools, the girls were separated from the boys. For
natives and promoted their welfare, were not enforced boys, Colegio de Santo Tomas and Colegio de San
in the Philippines. Juan de Letran under the Dominicans and Ateneo de
Municipal, under the Jesuits. For girls, Santa Isabel, La
 Courts were unjust
Concordia, Santa Rosa and Santa Catalina. The
- Dr. Rizal’s family Dominican Rector at UST oversees all the schools. All
- Juan de la Cruz in Cavite were required to take an examination before
 A fair justice system only appeared to be for White admission.
Spaniards.  Educational Decree of 1863 - required one elementary
 There was also plenty of racial discrimination - “a white school for boys and one for girls in each town in the
skin, a high nose, and Castilian lineage”- superiority country; a normal school for teacher training, with
 Racial prejudice - in government offices, in courts, in the Spanish as the medium of instruction.
armed forces, in the social circles, and even in the  Some natives may even aspire to study abroad in
educational institutions and in the ecclesiastical universities in Spain and in Europe
hierarchy.  Agricultural unrest by rural folks in friar-owned
 “Government run by the friars”- historically, the friars haciendas.
controlled the religious and educational life of the  Rizal, whose family and relatives were tenants of the
Philippines, and later in the 19th century, they came to Dominican Estate of Calamba, advocated land reform,
acquire tremendous political power, influence and but this went against the Dominican friars. Rizal would
riches. (the role played by the friar curate) accuse all the friars of contributing to economic
“Government Run by the Friars stagnation.
- the friar runs local affairs, acting as the local school  Guardia Civil in the Philippines was accused of many
inspector, health inspector, prison inspector, inspector abuses towards the natives. Rizal and his mother were
of the accounts, cabezas de Barangay. He approves said to have been victims of the Guardia Civil.
census lists, tax lists, list of army conscripts, and Filipino Nationhood
register of births, deaths, marriages; power and
 Only developed during the last years of Spanish rule
influence increased from 1850s onwards. They
in the 1890’s
acquired tremendous political power, influence and
riches.  Owing to:
1. Opening of the Philippines to world commerce -
 Rizal, M.H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena and other
liberal ideas
Filipinos eventually became critical of friar rule in the
Philippines, despite Christianity and European - deplorable conditions of the country- political
civilization. reform
2. rise of the middle class (basis of nationalism) –
 Most friars were good, but there were also bad friars
sons of mestizos and the principalia educated in
 Forced Labor- polo y servicio Europe; compared European vs Filipino society
- All male Spanish residents between 18 and 60 3. the liberal regime of Carlos Maria de la Torre
were also required to render forced labor, but (1869) - freedom and democracy
they and the well to do Filipinos who can pay for 4. racial discrimination - in universities and colleges,
the exemption (falla). Filipinos resented the race- government offices, church and court of justice.
based practices. - Fray Miguel de Bustamante wrote Si Tandang
Educational Transformations Basyong Macunat – the Filipino has low mental
ability, is not capable of acquiring education,
 and could only tend to the field and work the
carabao
5. secularization controversy - a racial controversy
between the Spanish friars and the Filipino secular
clergy (who the friars claimed were unqualified to
administer parishes)
- Fr. Pedro Pelaez, an insulares and Vicar of
Manila, led the fight against royal decrees
turning secular parishes over to friars
- Fr. Burgos - Filipino priests and Spanish priests
were equal
o defended the Filipino clergy from
Spanish attacks; fostered unity
6. Cavite Mutiny of 1872 - mutiny of the Filipino
soldiers in the arsenal in Cavite due to the removal
of the exemptions from tributes and forced labor
- Fr. Jose Burgos, Fr. Mariano Gomez, and Fr.
Jacinto Zamora were executed for their
involvement in secularization
 Filipinos saw the priests as martyrs and saw
the need for unity
 A turning point - peaceful campaign for
reforms that led to the Propaganda
Movement
 Many native priests were relegated to being just co-
adjutors due to limpieza de sangre
 Fr. Burgos - the youngest and the most brilliant with eight
degrees from UST. Fr. Zamora was an examiner of priests
at the Manila Cathedral. Fr. Gomez was a crusading
parish priest from Bacoor who fought for the natives.
 Governor General Carlos Maria de la Torre (liberal) -
pardoned the leader of the agrarian unrest in Cavite and
even made him chief of police force; abolished flogging
as punishment for desertion; dismissed his bodyguards and
mingled with people (populist approach)
 Governor General Rafael Izquierdo (conservative)- rule
with the Cross on one hand and the Sword on the other

Cavite Mutiny of 1872

 Mutiny of the Filipino soldiers in the arsenal in Cavite due

to the removal of the exemptions from tributes and forced
labor
- Fr. Jose Burgos, Fr. Mariano Gomez, and Fr. Jacinto
Zamora were executed for their involvement in
secularization. But before they were executed, the
Archbishop of Manila Meliton Martinez refused to
defrocked them.
- Filipinos saw the priests as martyrs and saw the need
for unity
- Filipinos witnessing GOMBURZA execution was a
turning point for Filipino nationalism