Philippines: Reforms

The first representatives of the Philippine intelligentsia were for the most part immigrants from the bourgeois-landlord circles, who received a European education. Rich merchants and landowners-mestizos sought to send their children to study abroad. Increased the number of schools in the Philippines. The number of Filipino students was growing. The Jesuits, who were deprived of the right to occupy parishes and own land, expanded their activities in the field of more modern education and created an educational institution "collegium.

The Philippine intelligentsia began to raise its voice for reforms, seeking an equation of rights with the Spaniards, the spread of the Spanish laws in the Philippines and, the limitation of the omnipotence of the monastic: the orders. Opposition movement arose among the clergy. Priests - Filipinos and Mestizos experienced economic and national oppression. Speaking against the dominance of monastic orders, the Philippine priests became spokesmen of the general hatred of the Spanish colonialists. Metis Burgos, Zamora and Gomez led the movement of the lower Philippine clergy.

In the country, a mass popular movement was launched against the Spanish oppressors. The spontaneous peasant uprisings broke out in one or in one province or another. The struggle of the peasantry often took the form of religious sectarian movements, in which there was much mysticism and superstition. Typical in this respect was the movement of Palaan (red). Sectarians wore red clothes. With the conviction of fanatics, they considered themselves invulnerable to the Spanish bullets. Inspired by their blind faith, the Palaan rebels, almost unarmed, engaged in battle with Spanish regular troops. Particularly broad in nature took this movement on about. Samar.

The growth of the Philippine emigration and the travel of young people abroad strengthened the connection of local patriots with the revolutionary movement in Europe. The revolutionary events of 1868 in Spain and the deposition of Queen Isabella led to a softening of the regime in the Philippines. Strict censorship was abolished, political meetings were allowed, and the role of monastic orders was limited . The Philippine landlords and the bourgeoisie for the first time received legal ground for their activities. Philippines: Reforms ...

In 1869, in the capital, at the grand meeting dedicated to the anniversary of the Spanish Revolution, all prominent figures of the Philippine intelligentsia, led by the priest Burgos, the wealthy lawyer Pardo de Tavera, participated. The reactionary monastic clergy secretly prepared for the struggle.

After the restoration of the monarchy in Spain, the revelry of reaction in the colony reached monstrous proportions. Arrests and exile began. Taxes were raised and the arrears were severely recovered. The exhausted population raised an insurrection in the province of Cavite in January 1872.

Philippines: Reforms