Filipinos
Years: 1828 - 2215
Filipinos are the people who are native to or identified with the country of the Philippines.
Filipinos come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups.
Currently, there are more than one hundred and seventy-five ethnolinguistic groups, each with its own language, identity, culture and history.
The modern Filipino identity, with its Austronesian roots, is mainly influenced by China, the United States and Spain.
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Growing numbers of foreign merchants in Manila spur the integration of the Philippines into an international commercial system linking industrialized Europe and North America with sources of raw materials and markets in the Americas and Asia.
In principle, non-Spanish Europeans are not allowed to reside in Manila or elsewhere in the islands, but in fact British, American, French, and other foreign merchants circumvent this prohibition by flying the flags of Asian states or conniving with local officials.
In 1834 the crown abolishes the Royal Company of the Philippines and formally recognizes free trade, opening the port of Manila to unrestricted foreign commerce.
The Cofradía de San José insurrection effectively ends with the betrayal and capture of Brother Apolinario.
He is executed on November 5, 1841.
Survivors of the movement become remontados (those who go back into the mountains), leaving their villages to live on the slopes of the volcanic Mount San Cristobal and Mount Banahao, within sight of Alitao.
These mountains, where no friar ventures, will become folk religious centers, places of pilgrimage for lowland peasants, and the birthplace of religious communities known as colorums.
Religious movements such as the cofradia and colorums express an inchoate desire of their members to be rid of the Spanish and discover a promised land that would reflect memories of a world that existed before the coming of the colonists.
Nationalism in the modern sense develops in an urban context, in Manila and the major towns and, perhaps more significantly, in Spain and other parts of Europe where Filipino students and exiles were exposed to modern intellectual currents.
Folk religion, for all its power, does not form the basis of the national ideology, yet the millenarian tradition of rural revolt will merge with the Europeanized nationalism of the ilustrados to spur a truly national resistance, first against Spain in 1896 and then against the Americans in 1899.
Brother Apolinario leaves Manila in the autumn of 1841 and gathers his followers, now numbering several thousands armed with rifles and bolos (heavy, single-bladed knives), at bases in the villages around the town of Tayabas; as a spiritual leader, he preaches that God will deliver the Tagalog people from slavery.
Although the rebel force, aided by Negrito hill tribesmen, is able to defeat a detachment led by the provincial governor in late October, a much larger Spanish force composed of soldiers from Pampanga Province—the elite of the Philippine military establishment and traditional enemies of the Tagalogs—take the cofradia camp at Alitao after a great slaughter on November 1, 1841.
Apolinario de la Cruz, a Tagalog who leads the 1839-41 Cofradía de San José (Confraternity of St. Joseph) revolt, embodies the religious aspirations and disappointments of the Filipinos.
A pious individual who sought to enter a religious order, he made repeated applications that were turned down by the racially conscious friars, and he was left with no alternative but to become a humble lay brother performing menial tasks at a charitable institution in Manila.
While serving in that capacity, he started the cofradia (confraternity or brotherhood), a society to promote Roman Catholic devotion among Filipinos.
From 1839 to 1840, Brother Apolinario sent representatives to his native Tayabas, south of Laguna de Bay, to recruit members, and the movement rapidly spread as cells were established throughout the southern Tagalog area.
Originally, the cofradia was apparently neither anti-Spanish nor nativist in religious orientation, although native elements were prevalent among its provincial followers.
Yet its emphasis on secrecy, the strong bond of loyalty its members felt for Brother Apolinario, and, above all, the fact that it barred Spanish and mestizos from membership aroused the suspicions of the authorities.
The cofradia was banned by the authorities in 1840.
The liberal period in the Philippines comes to an abrupt end in 1871.
Friars and other conservative Spaniards in Manila manage to engineer the replacement of de la Torre by a more conservative figure, Rafael de Izquierdo, who, following his installation as governor in April 1871, reimposes the severities of the old regime.
He is alleged to have boasted that he came to the islands "with a crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other."
Liberal laws are rescinded, and the enthusiastic Filipino supporters of de la Torre come under political suspicion.
The heaviest blow comes after a mutiny on January 20, 1872, when about two hundred Filipino dockworkers and soldiers in Cavite Province revolt and kill their Spanish officers, apparently in the mistaken belief that a general uprising is in progress among Filipino regiments in Manila.
Grievances connected with the government's revocation of old privileges—particularly exemption from tribute service—inspire the revolt, which is put down by January 22.
The authorities, however, begin weaving a tale of conspiracy between the mutineers and prominent members of the Filipino community, particularly diocesan priests.
The governor asserts that a secret junta, with connections to liberal parties in Spain, exists in Manila and is ready to overthrow Spanish rule.
A national consciousness had been growing among the Filipino emigres who had settled in Europe between 1872 and 1892.
In the freer atmosphere of Europe, these emigres—liberals exiled in 1872 and students attending European universities—had formed the Propaganda Movement.
Organized for literary and cultural purposes more than for political ends, the Propagandists, who include upper-class Filipinos from all the lowland Christian areas, strive to "awaken the sleeping intellect of the Spaniard to the needs of our country" and to create a closer, more equal association of the islands and the motherland.
Among their specific goals are 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 government); guarantee of basic freedoms of speech and association; and equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government service.
British and United States merchants dominate Philippine commerce, the former in an especially favored position because of their bases in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the island of Borneo.
There were thirteen foreign trading firms in Manila by 1856, of which seven were British and two American; between 1855 and 1873 the Spanish open new ports to foreign trade, including Iloilo on Panay, Zamboanga in the western portion of Mindanao, Cebu on Cebu, and Legaspi in the Bicol area of southern Luzon.
The growing prominence of steam over sail navigation and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 contribute to spectacular increases in the volume of trade.
In 1851 exports and imports totaled some US$8.2 million; ten years later, they had risen to US$18.9 million and by 1870 are US$53.3 million.
Exports alone have grown by US$20 million between 1861 and 1870.
Spain's new government appoints General Carlos Maria de la Torre governor of the Philippines following the Spanish revolution of September 1868, in which the unpopular Queen Isabella II had been deposed.
An outspoken liberal, de la Torre extends to Filipinos the promise of reform.
In a break with established practice, he fraternizes with Filipinos, invites them to the governor's palace, and rides with them in official processions.
Filipinos in turn welcome de la Torre warmly, hold a "liberty parade" to celebrate the adoption of the liberal 1869 Spanish constitution, and establish a reform committee to lay the foundations of a new order.
Prominent among de la Torre's supporters in Manila are professional and business leaders of the ilustrado community and, perhaps more significantly, Filipino secular priests.
These include the learned Father Jose Burgos, a Spanish mestizo, who has published a pamphlet, Manifesto to the Noble Spanish Nation, criticizing those racially prejudiced Spanish who barred Filipinos from the priesthood and government service.
For a brief time, the tide seems to be turning against the friars.
In December 1870, the archbishop of Manila, Gregorio Meliton Martinez, writes to the Spanish regent advocating secularization and warning that discrimination against Filipino priests will encourage anti-Spanish sentiments.