Reform and Revolution in the Philippines

REFORM AND REVOLUTION

TOPICS A.Birth of Filipino

NationalismB.The Reform MovementC.The KatipunanD.The Philippine RevolutionE.The Malolos Republic

The Flag of the Philippine Revolution

1996 is a significant year for Filipinos all over the world. It marks the centennial of the Philippine Revolution, which started in 1896 and officially ended in 1902. The amount of literature generated during and after the Revolution, coupled with the continuing fascination on this period by historians and alike which have produced an infinite

number of scholarly works, have validated the widespread perception that this was the most glorious page in the history of the Filipino people. The Philippine Revolution ended more than three centuries of Spanish colonial rule which began when Miguel Lopez de Legazpi founded the settlement of Cebu,  the oldest Philippine city, in 1565

The Revolution is also heralded as the first anti-colonial independence movement in Asia. The Filipino proclamation of their independence two years after the outbreak of the Revolution was a momentous event for Filipinos of all persuasion. The Revolution began with the masses through the Katipunan, a secret, revolutionary, 

mass-based organization, and was later embraced by the middle class. Indeed, the Revolution was one of the few times where there was a convergence in the nationalist movements of the masses and the elite.

TheBirth of the Nationalism

Spanish prestige suffered irreparable damage because of their defeat at British Hands. A number of rebellions broke out as a consequence of this. Although there was early resistance to colonial rule, Filipino nationalism emerged only in the 19th century.

Early Resistance to the Spanish Rule

The integration of the Philippines into the Spanish Empire resulted into the implementation of oppressive taxation policies, forced labor, galleon trade, indulto de commercio, and government monopolies. Government control and maintain it restrictions let the people to experience hardships and misery.

Consequently, they started harboring grievances against the colonial government, Thus, they began clamoring for freedom from foreign control.

1574-1843 – Discontent with Spanish rule was first expressed in the regional revolts that broke out in the archipelago.

The Revolts were brought about by the following reasons:•The desire to regain lost freedom•Resistance to Spanish-imposed institutions•Desire to revert to their native religion•And agrarian unrest.

Revolts Caused by the Desire to Regain Lost

FreedomNotable among the revolts caused by the desire of the Filipinos to regain lost freedom are the following:

REVOLT IMMEDIATE CAUSE

Revolt of Lakan Dula and Sulayman (1574)

Lavesarie’s disregard of Legazpi’s promose that Spain would recognize the patrimonial lands of the kings of Tondo and Maynilad

First Pampanga Revolt (1585)

Dissatisfaction with the abuses of the encomenderos

Tondo Conspiracy (1587-1588)

Discovery of the plot masterminded by Agustine de Legazpi to over throw Spanish Rule

Revolts Caused by Resistance to Spanish-Imposed InstitutionsAmong the early uprisings staged by the Filipino people as a result of their resistance to Spanish-imposed institutions are the following:

REVOLT IMMEDIATE CAUSE

Magalat’s Revolt (1596)

Magalat’s encouragement of the people of Cagayan to rebel against the Spanish government

Revolt of the Irrayas (1621)

Execution of oppressive encomenderos and officials

Sumuroy’s Rebellion (1649-1650)

Government’s enforcement of the order to send people of Palapag, Samar, to work in the shipyards of Cavite.

The reform movement

The Propaganda Movement •It was not a radical agitation to overthrow Spanish rule by a bloody revolution but instead it was a peaceful campaign following these aims:•Equality of Filipinos and the Spaniards before the law•Assimilation of the Philippines as a regular province of Spain

•Restoration of the Philippine representation in the Cortes, the law making body of Spain•Filipinization of Philippine parishes•Individual liberties for the Filipinos, such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assembly and freedom of petition for action on all complaints

The Propaganda MovementThe members were from the middle class families representing the group of Filipino Intelegencia.

JOSE RIZAL : The greatest novelist of the movementHe wrote his poetic masterpiece entitled MI ULTIMO ADIOS (My Las Farewell)Noli Me Tangere (1887)

El Felibusterismo (1891)

La SolidaridadThe official organ/magazine of the Propaganda MovementGraciano Lopez Jaena served as the first editorThe first issue was published in Barcelona Spain on February 15, 1889

Aims of La Solidaridad

To work for political and social reforms peacefullyTo present the sad conditions in the Philippines so that Spain can remedy themTo oppose the evil influences of reaction and outmoded beliefs and practices

To advocate liberal ideas and progress To champion the just aspirations of the Filipinos to life, democracy and happiness.

Marcelo H. Del Pilar- PlaridelJose Rizal – Laong Laan and DimasalangMariano Ponce – Naning, Tikbalang or Kalipulako Antonio Luna – Taga-ilog Jose Ma. Panganiban - Jomapa

Pen Names of the Members

Established in January 12, 1889

A Civic society in Madrid of the propagandists and their Spanish friends

Miguel Morayta was the first president

La Asociacion hispano - Filipino

Organized to fight against the La Solidaridad

Jose Faced was the editor of this magazine

La Politica de Espana en Felipinas

La Liga FilipinaUnus instar Omnium (One like All)

Founded by Jose Rizal

June 03, 1892 at Ilaya Street in Tondo

The constitution was written in Hongkong with the help of Jose Ma. Basa

The Constitution StatesUnion of the Philippine Archipelago into a compact, strong and homogeneous body.Mutual protection of the membersDefense against all violence and injusticeEncouragement of education, agriculture and commerceStudy and application of reforms

The Arrest of Jose RizalJuly 7, 1892: Gen. Eulogio Despujol ordered Rizal’s arrest and imprisonment at Fort Santiago

July 15: He was put into exile in Dapitan

This marked the fall of La Liga Filipina

Some members, led by Apolinario Mabini, tried to revive the league but he failed because many members, including Andres Bonifacio, believed that it was useless to expect reforms from the corrupt Spaniards.

The KatipunanThe Katipunan (meaning "Association") planned and initiated the Philippine Revolution. It was founded in Tondo, Manila, by Andres Bonifacio and a few other fellow urban workers on July 7, 1892. Its full Tagalog name is Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan nang manga Anak ng Bayan (Highest and Most Venerated Association of the Sons and Daughters of the Land).

From its inception, Katipunan was forged by blood, with all its members enacting the traditional blood compact and signing their names with their own blood. The foremost goal of the Katipunan was political, the separation of the Philippines from Spain. Its members also recognized and performed a civic duty which was mutual assistance and the defense of the poor and the oppressed.

The Katipunan was steered by Bonifacio, who became known as the Supremo (Supreme) of the Katipunan, and he was ably supported by Emilio Jacinto, who emerged as the "Brains of the Katipunan."

Philippine historians regard Bonifacio as the "Great Plebeian" because he came from a poor family in Tondo and worked as a warehouse clerk. Despite his poverty, Bonifacio was able to educate himself by reading the works of Rizal and the French revolutionists.

The Katipunan was steered by Bonifacio, who became known as the Supremo (Supreme) of the Katipunan,

and he was ably supported by Emilio Jacinto, who emerged as the "Brains of the Katipunan." Philippine historians regard Bonifacio as the "Great Plebeian" because he came from a poor family in Tondo and worked as a warehouse clerk. Despite his poverty, Bonifacio was able to educate himself by reading the works of Rizal and the French revolutionists.

Because of its brotherhood appeal, Katipunan was swift in recruiting members from the peasants and the working class. Philippine historian Reynaldo Ileto points out that the Katipunan belonged to a long tradition of social movements in Philippine history which fortunately have been disparaged and branded by authorities and the elite as "illicit associations" and its members as bandits.

Like most of these popular movements, the Katipunan was clothed in millenarianism. 

In their writings, Bonifacio and Jacinto described the pre-Spanish period as an era of kasaganaan (great abundance) and kaginhawaan (prosperity). The demise of this glorious era was a result of the tyranny of Spanish colonial rule. The Katipunan then envisioned the future as one marked

by kalayaan (independence), a state of being where there would once again be liwanag (knowledge) and kasaganaan (prosperity). Kalayaan would mean a return to the pre-Spanish condition of prosperity, bliss, and contentment. But it entailed cutting ties with the colonial mother, Spain, and the birth of a nurturing real mother, Inang Bayan or Motherland, meaning Philippines.

From the start, the Katipunan drew inspiration from Jose Rizal, whose nationalist writings stirred an oppressed nation into action. His two novels, the Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and the El Filibusterismo (The Subversive), denounced the decadent colonial order presided by the incompetent and abusive colonial officials and the backward and immoral frailocracy. 

In the 1880s, Jose Rizal and his fellow ilustrados launched the Propaganda Movement in Europe where they vigorously campaigned for the implementation of the much needed reforms in the Philippines.

In 1892, Bonifacio sought the counsel of Rizal on their planned revolution and the latter cautioned them because of its untimeliness and the people’s unpreparedness.

Their failure to force Spain to institute reforms convinced the Katipunan that the call must be for revolution and not reform. 

Events forced Bonifacio and the Katipunan to launched the revolution. On August 23, 1896, the Katipunan was discovered by the Spanish authorities, prompting Bonifacio and the Katipuneros to tear their cedula (identification card), which symbolized their colonial oppression, and to declare in Pugad Lawin the beginning of the Philippine Revolution.

The Spanish execution of Rizal on December 30, 1896 further emboldened the religious Filipinos who saw Rizal’s martyrdom as similar to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, i.e., to redeem his people.

The Philippine Revolution

Philippine Revolution,  (1896–98), Filipino independence struggle that, after more than 300 years ofSpanish colonial rule, exposed the weakness of Spanish administration but failed to evict Spaniards from the islands.

The Spanish-American War brought Spain’s rule in the Philippines to a close in 1898 but precipitated the Philippine-American War, a bloody war between Filipino revolutionaries and the U.S. Army. Numerous quasi-religious uprisings had punctuated the long era of Spanish sovereignty over the Philippines, but none possessed sufficient coordination to oust the Europeans.

During the 19th century, however, an educated Filipino middle class emerged and with it a desire for Philippine independence.  Opposition before 1872 was primarily confined to the Filipino clergy, who resented the Spanish monopoly of power within the Roman Catholic church in the islands. In that year the abortive Cavite Mutiny, a brief uprising against the Spanish, served as an excuse for renewed Spanish repression. 

The martyrdom of three Filipino priests—José Burgos, Mariano Gómez, and Jacinto Zamora—for allegedly conspiring with the rebels at Cavite sparked a wave of anti-Spanish sentiment.

Reform-minded Filipinos took refuge in Europe, where they carried on a literary campaign known as the Propaganda Movement. Dr. José Rizal quickly emerged as the leading Propagandist. His novel Noli me tángere (1886; The Social Cancer, 1912) exposed the corruption of Manila Spanish society and stimulated the movement for independence.

By 1892 it became obvious that Spain was unwilling to reform its colonial government. Andres Bonifacio, a self-educated warehouse clerk, organized a secret revolutionary society, the Katipunan, in Manila. Membership grew to an estimated 100,000 by August 1896, when the Spaniards discovered its existence.

Bonifacio immediately issued a call for armed rebellion. The Spanish then arrested Rizal, who had advocated reform but never condoned the revolution. Rizal’s public execution, on Dec. 30, 1896, so enraged and united Filipinos as to make permanent retention of power by Spain clearly impossible.

In March 1897 leadership of the revolution passed to a young general, Emilio Aguinaldo, who had Bonifacio shot for alleged sedition. Aguinaldo proved incapable of militarily defeating the Spanish troops, who were augmented by Filipino mercenaries. In the later months of 1897, Aguinaldo’s revolutionary army was pushed into the mountains southeast of Manila.

On Dec. 15, 1897, the pact of Biak-na-Bato was proclaimed. Though its precise terms have been a matter of impassioned debate ever since, the pact brought a temporary end to the Philippine Revolution. Aguinaldo and other revolutionary leaders accepted exile in Hong Kong and 400,000 pesos, plus Spanish promises of substantial governmental reforms, in return for laying down their arms.

Neither side executed the terms of the pact in good faith. Aguinaldo used the money to purchase arms in Hong Kong, and the Spanish reneged on the promised reforms.

After the U.S. Navy commodore George Dewey annihilated the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898, Aguinaldo immediately returned to the Philippines. 

He began the revolution anew, this time against the United States, which had assumed title to the Philippines as a result of the Spanish defeat. Aguinaldo was captured in 1901 and subsequently appealed to Filipinos to cease fighting and accept U.S. sovereignty.

(Filipino political leader

)

Philippine patriot, founder and leader of the nationalist

Katipunan society, who instigated the

revolt of August 1896 against the

Spanish.

Andres Bonifacio 

(Filipino political leader

)Filipino

theoretician and spokesman of the

Philippine Revolution, who

wrote the constitution for the short-lived

republic of 1898–99.

Apolinario Mabini 

Filipino leader who fought first against Spain and later against the United States for the independence of the Philippines.

The Malolos Republic

- The first Philippine Republic

•Aguinaldo was proclaimed the president of the Philippine Republic in Malolos•Aquinaldo established the Distatorial Government in May 1898 to show the capacity of Filipinos for self-government, and a month later, the Revolutionary Government.

•Different Departments where created for the division of duties of the new government •In September, the Congress was convoked at Malolos and a constitution prepared to guide the government in its progress toward republicanism.•December 1898- Treaty of Paris, the United States decided to take over the Philippines.

THE DICTATORIAL GOVERNMENT•Aguinaldo decided to establish a

Filipino government in the wake of his military victories.•He had a draft of a plan for the establishment of a revolutionary government, prepared by Mariano Ponce.

•Consul Wildman – advised Aguinaldo to establish a dictatorial government in which could lead to a republican government similar to that of the United States.•Ambrosio Rainzares Bautista – Aquinaldo’s 1st adviser, who also told him to form a dictatorial government.

Treatment of Enemy•May 29, 1898 – one of Aguinaldo’s 1st acts as a dictator, urging the people to stop the disgraceful treatment of Spanish prisoners.•Aguinaldo issued another order on June 1, providing that all classes of crimes were to be tried by competent military tribunals.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE•June 5, 1898 – Aguinaldo issued a decree setting aside June 12 as the day for proclamation of Philippine Independence. •Julian Felipe – composer from Cavite, who showed the draft of the composition entitled Marcha Filipina Magdalo which was later changed to Marcha Nacional Filipina.

•Philippine National Flag – made in Hongkong by Marcela Agoncillo, Lorenza Agoncillo, and Delfina Heboza.•Act of Declaration of Independence – Prepared by Ambrosio Raimzares Bautista, signed by 98 people, however was promulgated on August 1.

Apolinario Mabini

Adviser of Aguinaldo, his two titles were“Dark Chamber of the President” (for those who envied him) and Brains of the Revolution”.

Reorganization of Local Government•Decree of June 18, 1898 – Provided for the reorganization of local government in those provinces already freed from Spanish control.•Poblacion – Town, electors were elect town chief, headman for each barrio, 3 delegates: for public & internal order, for justice & civil registry and for taxes & property.

•Popular Assembly – town chief – President, Headman – Vice President, Delegate for justice and civil registry – Secretary•Revolutionary Congress – proposes measures concerning the preservation of internal order and external security of these lands.

REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT•Came after 1 month of Dictatorial Government through decree on June 23, 1898.•4 Departments were created: 1. Dept. of Foreign Affairs, Navy

Commerce2. Dept. of War and Public Works, 3. Dept. of Police and Internal

Order.

4. Dept. of Finance, Agriculture and Manufacturing Industry.July 15, 1898 – 1st Cabinet Appointments*Baldomero Aguinaldo – war and public works*Leandro Ibarra – Interior*Mariano Trias – Finance>Foreign Affairs was first offered to Mariano Ponce but he declined, so it was given to Mabini instead.

September 28, 1898 – 6 Departments : 1. Foreign Affairs2. War3. Interior4. Welfare5. Justice &6. Treasury

*Revolutionary Congress at Barasoain, Malolos-September 4 = 50 Delegates-September 10 = 60 Delegates

Banda Pasig – played the National Anthem Felipe Buencamino – wrote the Aguinaldo’s speech

The Malolos Congress

President : Pedro A. Paterno

Vice President : Benito Legarda

1st Secretary : Gregorio Araneta

2nd Secretary : Pablo Ocampo

Officers:

1. In September 29, 1898, ratified the declaration of Philippine independence held at Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898

2. Passage of a law that allowed the Philippines to borrow P20 million from banks for government expenses

The most important achievements of the Malolos Congress:

3.Establishment of the Universidad Literatura de Filipinas and other schools.

4. Drafting of the Philippine Constitution

5. Declaring war against the United States on June 12, 1899

•Mabini envisioned the Congress to be an advisory body of the President.

•But his idea was contradicted by Congress when it opposed to draft a constitution. Congress advanced the opinion that a modern constitution was imperative in order to secure the cognition of the Philippine independence by foreign powers.

The Malolos Constitution

Mabini, on the other hand argued that a delicate task as the framing of the constitution should be done in a peaceful and quiet mood.

•Mabini added that Congress was convoked not to frame a constitution, but to advise the President and to give him popular support.

•On January 21, 1899, Aguinaldo promulgated what is now known as the Malolos Constitution.

THE MALOLOS CONSTITUTION:

The Constitution•Important Filipino document ever

produced by the people’s representatives.•Anchored in democratic traditions that ultimately had their roots on American soil.•Created a Filipino State whose government was “Popular, representative and responsible”

•The legislative powers were exercised by the Assembly of Representatives composed of delegates elected according to law.•To make the function of Congress constitutions•Sit as a law-making body when Congress was not in session•The Assembly elected the President of the Republic.

•The Cabinet, composed of the Secretaries of different departments of the government.•Administration of justice was vested in the Supreme Court•Inferior courts to be established according to law.•Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was elected by the Assembly with the concurrence of the President and the Cabinet.

End…