Social, Economic and Political Background

of the Philippines DuringRizal’s Time (1861-1898)

TheIMPACT

Encomienda

System

of

In 1570 the encomienda was introduced in the Philippines when Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, in

compliance with the decree issued by King Philip II in 1558, distributed lands in Cebu to loyal Spanish

subjects.

There were three kinds of encomiendas:

1. the Royal Encomiendas, belonging to the King2. the Ecclesiastical Encomiendas, belonging to the

Church3. Private Encomiendas, belonging to private

individuals

At first the natives paid eight reales as tribute. This amount was increased to ten reales in 1589 by order of King Philip II. The king also received reales from each tribute each encomiendero received from his encomienda. The total amount of the tributes intended for the king was kept as fund to pay the expenses for the country’s defence. This fund was called the situado.

The size of an encomienda was determined in two ways:

1. by the number of people living in it (<300)2. by the value of the land (< Php 2000)

These men had helped conquer the Philippines. The encomienda was not actually a land grant but was a favor from the King. The Spaniards who receives this favor was given the right to collect

tributes–or taxes–from the inhabitants of the area assigned to him.

Encomendero

Encomendero

The encomienda was, therefore, a public office.

The Encomenderos were required by law to perform the following duties:

to give protection to the natives

to help the missionaries convert the natives to Christianity

to promote education

Unfortunately, many Spanish encomenderos committed

abuses, such as:

Brutal treatment of the Filipinos

Collecting more tribute than that

authorized by law

Forcing the people to work for them

Seizure of the people’s animals and

crops without just compensation

Resulted to:

the peace and order, which the colonizers and the early Spanish

friars had established, was disturbed

the abuses led to a conflict between the friars and the

encomenderos

parents killing their children

The Friars tried to protect the Filipinos from the greed and abuses of the encomenderos by:

1. preaching from the pulpits against encomendero abuses

2. writing letters and memorials to the King of Spain in which they reported the abuses of the encomenderos

3. refusing to absolve the encomenderos from their sins.

The Filipinos grew lazy, seeing that the encomenderos were interested

only in getting rich.

They reasoned that

“it is useless to work too hard for a living if the fruits of our work would only go to the

payment of excessive tributes to the

encomenderos.”

This attitude was encouraged by the friars who told them that the

abandonment of their labors would free from injustice.

Father Domingo de SalazarDominican – first Bishop 1581