Common Chronological Terms

B.C. “Before Christ”. Refers to a date so many years before the birth of Jesus.
A.D. “Anno Domini” (In the year of the lord). Refers to a date so many years after the birth
of Jesus Christ.
BCE/CE “Before the common Era” or “Common Era”. These terms corresponds to B.C. and
A.D., respectively.
Decade 10 years. (For Example: The 1930s was a decade of Economic depression of many
parts of the world).
Century 100 years. Note that the first century A.D. refers to the years 1 to 100. So, the 20 th
century refers to the years 1901-2000.
Millennium 1,000 years. (For Example: Jan. 1, 2001, is the start of the new millennium.

Age/Era Broad time period characterized by a shared pattern of life. Ages and Eras usually do
not have definite starting or ending points. (For Example: The stone age began around
2 million years ago and lasted until about 3000 B.C. It refers to the period when humas
used stone, rather than metal tools).
RIZAL’S WORLD:
The Situation Of The
19 Century
th

By: Ma. Jean Rose B. Degamon

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 The situation of the Philippines in the
19th Century: Rizal’s Time.
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 “Rizal lived in a time of barriers created by
skin color, religion, education, political
ideologies, and colonialism. Yet he broke
through these barriers to affirm his
humanity.”

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 “The Filipinos in this time were unfortunate
victims of the evils of an unjust, biased, and
deteriorating power.”

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11 Evils in Rizal’s Time
1 Instability of Colonial 6 Maladministration of Justice
Administration 7 Racial discrimination
2 Corrupt Colonial Officials 8 Frailocracy
3 Philippine Representation in
Spanish Cortes 9 Forced labor
4 Human Rights Denied to Filipinos 10 Haciendas owned by the friars
5 No Equality Before the Law
11 The Guardia Civil

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 INSTABILITY OF COLONIAL
ADMINISTRATION
During the Spanish colonial era, Governor-generals are always
changing after 3 to 4 months after being put in position thus, their
promises are never fulfilled and people are left with nothing but
dismay. For this reason, no matter how spirited an official is, they
haven’t been able to execute their plans and wasn’t able to do much
for the colony. There was also a frequent change in policies and this
ensued the struggle between liberalism and despotism.

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CORRUPT COLONIAL OFFICIALS
The Philippines didn’t have much stricter laws in the
Spanish colonial era and this motivated Spanish colonial
Officials to sail away to the country to gain money and
material things. They also forcibly married heiresses of rich
Filipino families to instantly make a name for themselves
and acquire their wealth. Friars also used the ‘word of God’
to collect and steal the offering of people, they are also
considered powerful during these times.

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CORRUPT COLONIAL OFFICIALS

Gen. Rafael de Izquierdo

(1871-1873)
- A boastful and ruthless governor-
general who ordered the execution of
Father Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos,
and Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA).

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CORRUPT COLONIAL OFFICIALS

Admiral Jose Malcampo

(1874-1877)

- Was a good Moro fighter; but was

an inept and weak administrator.

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CORRUPT COLONIAL OFFICIALS

Gen. Fernando Primo de Vera

(1880-1883 & 1897-1898)

- Was a governor-general for two

terms who enriched himself by
accepting bribes from gambling
casinos in Manila which he
scandalously permitted to operate.
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CORRUPT COLONIAL OFFICIALS

Gen. Valeriano Weyler

(1888-1891)

- A cruel and corrupt governor-

general of Hispanic-German
ancestry. He arrived in Manila
penniless and returned to Spain as a
millionaire.
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CORRUPT COLONIAL OFFICIALS

Gen. Camilo de Polavieja

(1896-1897)

- An able militarist but heartless

governor-general. He was widely
detested by the Filipinos for Executing
Dr. Jose Rizal.

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 PHILIPPINE REPRESENTATION
IN SPANISH CORTES

The Spanish cortes was abolished to hide the

corruption and abuse happening in the Philippines.
Thus, our country was poorly represented and resulted
to various atrocities of the Spanish colonizers. The
Filipinos didn’t have any means to report the condition
of the country in the court because of this.
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 PHILIPPINE REPRESENTATION
IN SPANISH CORTES

Spanish Cortes is very important to the colonies

for it serves as the voice to the anomalies perpetrated
by the colonial officials in its colonial states. This
fronted the Filipino scholars abroad to establish a
Propaganda Movement.

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 PHILIPPINE REPRESENTATION
IN SPANISH CORTES
To win the support of overseas colonies during Napoleonic
invasion, Spain granted the Philippine’s representation in the
cortes (Spanish parliament). Accordingly, The Philippines
experienced its first period of representation in the cortes
from 1810 to 1813.

Ventura de los Reyes – The first Philippine delegate who

took active part in framing the constitution 1812.
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HUMAN RIGHTS DENIED TO FILIPINOS

The Filipinos were denied of basic human rights such as

freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of association,
and the like. The symbolic “Cry of Pugadlawin” was a way to
refute the oppression of Spaniards because cedula was the
manifestation of their tyranny in the country. ‘La Solidaridad’ is
also an example of refuting to this, but however, it failed and was
confiscated in mails because aside from its failing foundation, the
Spanish courts did not agree with its demands.

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 NO EQUALITY BEFORE LAW
Spaniards considered themselves as the highest in the
social hierarchy and Spanish penal code was stricter with
Filipinos, this made their court meetings unfair and it was
impossible to win a case especially if you live under poor
conditions. Spaniards (because of their social standing and
skin color), were able to get away with crimes while
Filipinos had their penalties.

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MALADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

The courts of justice in the Philippines during Rizal’s

time was notoriously corrupt. Given the unequal treatment
of Filipinos in the court, justice was often denied because
‘Justice delayed is justice denied’. Justice was almost
impossible to get grip on because it was costly and slow.
Judges were mostly ignorant and inept. Filipinos also didn’t
have any means to access it except if they came from a
higher rank in societies or the ‘Alta Sociedad’.

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 RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
Racism was prevalent in Spanish colonial era. Dark-skinned and
flat-nosed Filipinos were called “indios” and also considered as the
lowest rank in the social hierarchy, uneducated, and treated
indifferently. Jose Rizal was also a profound victim of racism, he
was also heavily discriminated.
The reason why Spaniards considered Filipinos as inferior
because of their dark skin. Doña Victorina in Noli me Tangere
embodied the poisonous thinking of white supremacy because she
hated her face and wanted to marry a white Spaniard to raise her
Social status.
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FRAILOCRACY
Frailocracy is the ‘Government of friars’. During the
Spanish colonization, friars had so much power bestowed unto
them. They took this as an advantage and had their own corrupt
ways to manipulate people into their abusive treatment. They have
the absolute control over religion and education. They were also
able to gain political power which made them even richer. Almost
every town in the archipelago except in Islamic Mindanao and
Sulo, and in Pagan Hinterlans, was ruled by a friar curate.

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 FORCED LABOR (Polo Y Servicio)
Polo y servicio was imposed upon Filipino males who
aged 16-60. They had to forcibly work to build schools,
churches, bridges, and the like for 40 days a year and they
are not being paid. It was then revised to 18-60 years old and
the service was 15 days. The privileged was able to avoid
labor by paying ‘palla’ wherein they pay large sums of
money. Valeriano Weyler abused the Filipino workers for his
own advantage. This shows how atrocious polo was in that
era.
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HACIENDAS OWNED BY FRIARS
Friars who owned haciendas were among the
wealthiest landlords for they own the best agricultural
tracts of land before. The rural folks that have been in the
said land became tenants and resulted in a bloody dispute
among the friars and the Filipino people which in
retaliation, the friars raised their rentals which made them
even wealthier.

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 THE GUARDIA CIVIL
The Guardia Civil was instituted by the royal decree to
maintain peace and order. They had rendered meritorious
services in suppressing the bandits in the provinces. They
later became infamous for their rampant abuses such as
maltreating innocent people, looting carabaos, chickens, and
valuable belongings of the natives, and raping women to
satisfy their lust. They abused their authority. Rizal himself
witnessed the discrimination of how the guardia civil (either
a Filipino or insulares) treated the Filipinos.
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“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s
chains, but to live in a way that respects and
enhances the freedom of others”

- Nelson Mandela

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