19th Century Philippines as Rizal’s Context

AGRARIAN RELATIONS AND

THE FRIAR LANDS

Group 4
Presentation Overview
I. Introduction
A. Brief overview of agrarian relations in the Philippines during Spanish colonization
B. Explanation of friar lands and their significance during this time period
II. Historical background of agrarian relations in the Philippines
A. Pre-colonial era
B. Spanish colonization and the encomienda system
C, Other Agrarian-related policies
D. The creation of friar lands
III. The friar lands
A. Definition and origins of friar lands
B. Acquisition of friar lands by the Spanish government
C. Role of friar lands in the colonial economy
IV. Impacts of the friar lands on Philippine agriculture and economy
Presentation Overview

V. Resistance to the friar lands

VI. Rizal's critique of the friar lands

VII. Conclusion
Recap of key points
I. Introduction
INTRODUCTION
A. Brief overview of agrarian relations in the Philippines during Spanish colonization

The culture at this time is one of dread. The Datu are no longer held in as much awe.

The native Filipinos converted to Catholicism.

The indigenous people of our nation were categorized or referred to as "Indios" and

were considered as peasants

Spanish government in the Philippines developed legislation on debts which

amounted to 5 pesos at that time.

The Spanish elites and the local elites gave the friars the estates, replacing the

Datus and Babaylans in their place

Tenants were charged excessive rent at the friar estates while the friars were

excluded from paying taxes to the government.

Continued to collect "buwis" in homage from the workers.
INTRODUCTION
B. Explanation of friar lands and their significance during this time period

The Friar lands were intended to be an agricultural reform area.

The majority of these lands were used for agriculture, and the local Filipinos who tilled them were not
landowners.
The Friar lands are evidence of the racial persecution that Filipinos endured towards the native

Philippines.
When the Americans assumed control of the Philippines, these "friar lands" or church properties became

a major issue.
As a result of the friars' eventual forced sale of these lands to Americans, these real estate holdings are

now known as "friar lands" and are managed by the government.

A specific designation made by Act 1120, sometimes known as "The Friar Land Act," by the US Congress.
Several of the American officials got corrupted as a result of these "friar lands."
Some lands were sold to businesses that were not registered in the Philippines and some were given to

people who were not inhabitants or citizens of the nation.

 Act No. 1120
"AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION AND
TEMPORARY LEASING AND SALE OF CERTAIN
HACIENDAS AND PARCELS OF LAND, COMMONLY
KNOWN AS FRIAR LANDS, FOR THE PURCHASE OF
WHICH THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE
ISLANDS HAS RECENTLY CONTRACTED, PURSUANT
TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTIONS SIXTY-THREE,
SIXTY-FOUR AND SIXTY-FIVE OF AN ACT OF THE
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, ENTITLED “AN
ACT TEMPORARILY TO PROVIDE FOR THE
ADMINISTRATION OF THE AFFAIRS OF CIVIL
GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES,” APPROVED ON THE FIRST
DAY OF JULY, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND TWO.
II. Historical Background
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
A. Pre-colonial era
“This land is Ours God gave this land to us”
Filipinos lived in villages or barangays ruled by chiefs or datus. The datus comprised
the nobility. Then came the maharlikas (freemen), followed by the aliping
mamamahay (serfs) and aliping saguiguilid (slaves).
The Datu in this era owned the largest patch of land. They gave tributes “buwis” to
their Datu from their own productions.
The notion of private property was a foreign concept.
Despite the existence of different classes in the social structure, practically
everyone had access to the fruits of the soil.
Rice served as the medium of exchange.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
B. Spanish colonization and the encomienda system
The system was introduced when the Spaniards came to the Philippines
Encomienda (roughly translated as trustee) was a formal system of forced labor in Spanish colonies in
Latin America and the Philippines, intended to encourage conquest and colonization.
Encomenderos were those who were under the encomienda system
The concept of encomienda (Royal Land Grants) grants that Encomienderos must defend his
encomienda from external attack and maintain peace and order within and support the missionaries. In
turn, the encomiendero acquires the rights to collect tribute from the indios (native).
The system, however, degenerated into abuse of power by the encomienderos
The tribute soon became land rents and the natives who once cultivated the lands in freedom were
transformed into mere share tenants.
The Spanish Crown envisioned encomienda as a system of mutual obligations between indigenous
people and colonists.
In reality, tribute and labor demands went well beyond established limits.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
C. Other Agrarian-related policies
During the 19th century, several developments occurred that solidified the land tenure system,
and aroused antagonism over its injustices and inequalities.
The Spanish government issued two Royal Decrees: the Decreto Realenga (1880) and the
Maura Law (1894)
Decreto Realenga - ordered the caciques and natives to secure legal title for their lands or
suffer forfeiture
Maura Law - Gave farmers and landholders one year to register their agricultural lands to avoid
declaration of it as a state property. These Royal Decrees deprived many Filipino peasants of
their own lands through scheming and treacherous ways of both Spaniards and caciques.

D. The creation of friar lands

Another source of land-related conflict by the late 19th century was the “friar lands”
III. The Friar lands
THE FRIAR LANDS
A. Definition and origins of friar lands
DEFINITION
Were bought by the government for the purpose of selling them to actual occupants
in accordance with Act 1120 (known as the Friar Lands Act)
Missionaries who had initially worshiped among the Indians had stolen these
territories and given them to the religious organizations.
In 1851 the Spanish government guaranteed to the church full rights to all its lands
and properties,
“to acquire, hold and enjoy in propriety, and without limitations or reserve, all kinds
of possessions, values,”
The Friar land scandal is important and shows how Filipinos were robbed of their soil.
THE FRIAR LANDS
A. Definition and origins of friar lands
ORIGIN
It was when Spanish conquistadors were given lands in the form of haciendas in
exchange for their loyalty to the Spanish crown, are when friar lands first appeared in
the Philippines.
About 120 Spaniards received either sizable plots of property, known as sitio de
ganado mayor, or lesser plots, known as caballerias.
The indigenous people who had been cultivating and residing on these haciendas for
generations became tenants. The name of this system was "inquilino".
An inquilino was expected to provide personal services to the landlords under this
system.
The inqulinos had the option of renting their land from the landlord to a kasama, or
sharecropper, who would be in charge of farming it.
THE FRIAR LANDS
B. Acquisition of Friar Lands by the Spanish Government

The Friar Lands were the unassigned villages or the government-owned estates that
the religious orders had taken advantage of and that the religious orders acted in
their own accord, without regard for titles.
Due to a break in the cordial ties between the Spanish government and the papal
court, the church holdings were briefly alienated in 1834 and 1846.
The gap was closed in 1851, and the Spanish government promised the church
complete rights to all of its lands and assets.
“The history of an oppressed people is hidden in the lies and the agreed myth of its
conquerors.” – Meridel Le Sueur, American writer
THE FRIAR LANDS
C. Role of Friar Lands in the Colonial Economy

The religious orders possessed and controlled thousands of hectares of the

best land in the country.
Absurdly high rent fees that were asked of these properties was detrimental
for the Filipino people, yielding a negative impact in the economy.
The religious orders refused to sell these lands of their own volition,
therefore Filipino farmers who wanted to use them were unable to buy or
rent them.
Due to the nonpayment of taxes on the church's lands, the government was
also at a loss.
 IV. Impacts of the friar
lands on Philippine
agriculture and economy

IV. Impacts of the friar lands on Philippine

agriculture and economy
Thousands of hectares of the best land in the archipelago
were owned or held by the religious orders. The friars had
held these lands for centuries. The economic effect of these
holdings was detrimental on account of the prohibitive rents
which were demanded for them. The religious orders would
not sell these lands of their own accord, and thus the Filipino
agriculturists who desired to utilize them were prevented
either from buying or renting. The government was also at a
loss, since no taxes were paid on the lands of the church.
 Hacienda de Calamba
and Hacienda de Negros
Hacienda de Calamba
 Hacienda de Calamba
The Hacienda de Calamba was originally owned by the
Spaniards who donated the land to Jesuit Friars to allow them
to permanently stay in the Jesuit Monastery. However, the
Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines, the haciendas
went into the possession of the Spanish Colonial government.
In 1803 the land was sold to Don Clemente de Azansa.

After his death, it was eventually sold to the Dominican who

claimed ownership of the hacienda until the late 19th century.
 Hacienda de Calamba

Rizal's family became one of the principal inquilinos of the

hacienda. They rented one of the largest leases of land
measuring approximately 380 hectares. The main crop was
sugarcane since it was the most in-demand in the world
market. The Rizal family got their income mainly from land
they rented.
Sugar Mill in Hacienda de Negros
 Hacienda de Calamba and Hacienda de
Negros
Hacienda de

Calamba Hacienda de

Negros

Epitomized a large-scale Showcased a range of

estate under a single haciendas of varying sizes
corporate (religious) entity, in a frontier setting where

which was essentially an different actors and

enclave economy ethnicities sought to carve
a niche.
 Hacienda de Calamba and Hacienda de
Negros
Hacienda de

Calamba Hacienda de

Negros

Both places shared the common practice at that time of

subdividing large properties into smaller parcels of land

cultivated by sharecroppers.
 Hacienda de Calamba and Hacienda de
Negros
Hacienda de

Calamba Hacienda de

Negros
Sugar planters (known as
Dominican owners of Calamba
hacenderos) comprised a
relied on a sector of wealthy
multiethnic immigrant class of
leaseholders (known as
landowners most of whom
inquilinos), generally

local

directly hired their own tenants

Chinese mestizos, who mobilised
while others employed
a stratum of subtenants on
sharecropping arrangements overseers who supervised the
tenantry.
 Hacienda de Calamba and Hacienda de
Negros
Hacienda de

Calamba Hacienda de

Negros

With sugar from both localities destined for export, both

places were linked with global capitalism

 Hacienda de Calamba and Hacienda de

Negros
Hacienda de

Calamba Hacienda de

Negros

In Calamba Chinese mestizo

The sugar haciendas in Negros
lessees relied on their own capital
relied on loans and capital
or on Chinese moneylenders and
advances that were sourced
middlemen who
brought the

directly from foreign merchant

goods to foreign merchants in
houses based in Iloilo on the
Manila.
nearby island of Panay.
V. Resistance Against the

Colonial State
V. Resistance Againts the Colonial State

According to Paciano Rizal, the controversy in Calamba — which started in 1883 or

a couple years before sugar prices declined in 1885 — initially centred on rental
payments and the hacienda administration's arbitrary practice of not issuing the
usual receipts. The civil authorities in Manila were brought into the picture when
they began to suspect that the state was being shortchanged in regard to the
diezmos prediales (tithes on land), an impost which ‘consisted of one-tenth of the
liquid value realised from the products of farm lands, particularly large estates’.
The diezmos were added to the rent for eventual remittance by the Dominicans to
the colonial state under the conditions of the Patronato Real. The amount of the
diezmos collected from the inquilinos was rising but payment to the treasury was
declining, prompting the investigation in 1887 to determine if the Dominicans had
complied with their obligation.
V. Resistance Againts the Colonial State
Pressed by the world sugar market and the hacienda, Rizal and other inquilinos saw
the dispute as a way of challenging the colonial state and putting to the test Spain's
policy of colonial assimilation.

This enclosed world of Calamba, along with the troubles it brought to his family,
was encapsulated in the subplot surrounding Cabesang Tales in Rizal's El
filibusterismo, which resulted in the murder of the friar in charge of rents and of the
new tenant that took over Tales's land.

In contrast, there was no single Spanish colonial institution that became the
concerted target of native resistance in Negros, where agricultural, economic, and
technological conditions allowed the haciendas to weather the crisis of the 1880s.
VI. Rizal's Critique
of the Friar Lands
VI. Rizal's Critique of the Friar Lands
B. Rizal's critique of the Spanish colonial system in his
novels, particularly Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterism

The story of Cabesang Tales in Rizals’ novel El Filibusterismo, underlines an

inevitable reality of the brewing agrarian conflict during the 19th century that
concluded to a peasant revolt, an integral ingredient of the 1896 separatist
revolution.
According to Rizal, the friar ownership of the productive lands contributed to the
economic stagnation of the Philippines during the Spanish period.
Rizal fully understood that the agrarian problems that surfaced during his time was
a socio-economic problem because it affected not only the farmers, or peasants,
including their families, but its impact also generated serious circumstances like
economic dislocation, poverty and revolt.
Thus, Rizal knew very well that agrarian conflict could ignite a national revolution.
VII. CONCLUSION
VII. Conclusion
A. Recap of Keypoints

The Friar lands were meant to be a location for reforming agriculture.

The three primary religious orders that controlled these territories are
the Dominicans, Augustinians, and Recoletos.
The local Filipinos who worked the land for agriculture in the majority
of cases were not landowners.
The Friar lands serve as a reminder of the discrimination against native
Filipinos that Filipinos experienced.
These "friar lands" or church estates became a significant problem
when the Americans took over administration of the Philippines.
These real estate holdings are today referred to as "friar lands" and
are controlled by the government as a result of the friars' ultimate
forced sale of these estates to Americans.
 References:
Unknown. (n.d.). History : Friar lands and the Friar Lands act. THE PROJECT REVIEW. Retrieved
February 17, 2023, from http://theprojectreview.blogspot.com/2013/04/history-friar-lands-and-
friar-lands-acts.html

Cunningham, C. H. (2013, September 2). Origin of the friar lands question in the Philippines:
American Political Science Review. Cambridge Core. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/origin-
of-the-friar-lands-question-in-the-philippines/363A795A7FCBB92F3352A3E6B1CDDC5F

Pedrosa, C. N. (2018, July 7). Why we should know what happened to friar lands in Philippines.
Philstar.com. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2018/07/08/1831534/why-we-should-know-what-happened-
friar-lands-
philippines#:~:text=The%20lands%20referred%20to%20were,usurped%20by%20the%20religiou
s%20orders
 References:
Cunningham, C. H. (2013, September 2). Origin of the friar lands question in the Philippines:
American Political Science Review. Cambridge Core. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/origin-
of-the-friar-lands-question-in-the-philippines/363A795A7FCBB92F3352A3E6B1CDDC5F

Pedrosa, C. N. (2018, July 7). Why we should know what happened to friar lands in Philippines.
Philstar.com. Retrieved February 17, 2023, from
https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2018/07/08/1831534/why-we-should-know-what-happened-
friar-lands-philippines

Aguilar, F. V. (2017, May 3). Colonial Sugar Production in the Spanish Philippines: Calamba and
Negros compared: Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. Cambridge Core. Retrieved February 17,
2023, from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-southeast-asian-
studies/article/colonial-sugar-production-in-the-spanish-philippines-calamba-and-negros-
compared/9247E908CBE71C724902321EDB1BC6AB
 THANK
YOU
BSCE 1B (Group 4)

Llamoso, Gabriel Clement L.

Ativo, Josh Matthew L.
Gianan, Patrick Adam R.
Odeña, Vyanne Janine B.
Marollano, Micailah Marie R.
Ebrada, Jan Kyle M.
Sasis, Carrie Ann Pauline
Belangel, Marinelle L.