The Filipino Identity and the Kingship of Christ (I)

The Filipino Identity and the Kingship of Christ (I)


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«La llegada de los españoles», Museo de los Agustinos. Manila

Part I. Introduction

Among the many great issues that Filipino Catholics are confronted with amidst the modernity that ever seeks to confound us, there is perhaps none as neglected —and yet still one of the most important— then the question of the Filipino Identity; for tied to the solution of this question lies that of another: the Social Kingship of Christ in our land. Now, dear reader, you may pause and ask «What does our identity matter in the fight for the Kingship of Christ? Is it not enough to focus on issues that currently plague our society such as homosexuality, abortion, the divorce question, etc.?» On the contrary, argues the author, for as the philosopher once said, «to know thyself is the beginning of wisdom», it then follows that if we wish to adequately fight the evils of our times, we must recover our identity for two purposes; to know who we Catholics fight for- for we are involved in a war for the glory of God, yet also for the salvation of souls-, and to learn how best to apply the Social Kingship of Christ in our land. For although Our Lord wills to rule all peoples of the Earth, yet how this rule is applied to each nation differs

In order therefore to rediscover the Filipino Identity, it is necessary to retrace our peoples’ history back 500 years, as is intended for the following articles, and we shall see as we go through history, how our identity was formed, how it was lost, and how we may reclaim it.

Part II. Origin

Although the Philippine Islands have been inhabited for many millennia, the Philippines itself as one united polity did not exist until the late 16th century. Consequently, there was no Filipino Identity that existed before the aforementioned century, instead of which one would find a collection of different peoples that each had their own distinct identities, as indeed they still possess to this day, such as the Tagalogs, the Cebuanos, and the Kapampangan. It is in such a climate therefore, that the Spaniards arrived on our shores and united all of these many peoples into one polity, all the while safeguarding and yet enriching the identity and culture of these many races.

Now, a common misconception of the Spanish conquest is that it was a violent and brutal subjugation that led to the oppression of the Filipino Peoples. However, as expounded upon in «The Controversy over Justification of Spanish Rule in the Philippines» by J. Gayo Aragon, O.P., the Spanish in their conquest of the Americas and the Philippines sought to legitimize their rule over their new domains, either through the means of a grant by the Roman Pontiff, the «… father of princes and kings, the ruler of the world, the vicar of our Savior Jesus Christ on earth» as told in the Papal Coronation ceremony; or through the choice of the native inhabitants of these territories. In the Philippines, the religious orders who were assigned to spread the Catholic Faith were divided in their opinions as to which method was the best to proceed with. The Augustinian Friars and Jesuits for their part, believed that Spanish dominion was justified by papal grant, whereby the Spanish had the right to rule the new territory in order that the Catholic faith might be spread unhindered to the natives and that their new faith might hence be protected. On the other hand, the Dominican Friars, led by Bishop Domingo Salazar of Manila and Father Miguel de Benavides, opined that the Spanish had no legitimate rule over the territory, unless this had been given by the free consent of the natives and their original rulers jointly. As it would turn out, the opinion of the Dominicans prevailed, and as recounted by J. Gayo Aragon, O.P. :

«On February 8, 1597, Philip II issued a decree ordering the governor-general of the Philippines to call together the authorities of the islands to determine ways and means, first, to restore tribute unjustly collected from pagan natives, over whom the king had no legal power, and, second, to obtain, without coercion, ratification of the natives’ submission to the Spanish sovereign who, in his own words, had been convinced by Father Benavides that he should cherish submission of his subjects only when voluntarily given».

Thus, with the notable exceptions of many Igorot Tribes in northern Luzon and other tribes in Mindanao, the natives of Las Islas Filipinas freely joined the great family of Hispanidad, a family of many different peoples united under one crown, where the sun never set and Christ was (and still should be) King.Aragon, J.Gayo. The Controversy over Justification of Spanish Rule in the Philippines,

https://www.sspxasia.com/Newsletters...tification.htm

Written by: Elijah Francis Morales,

Círculo Carlista Felipe II de Manila


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The Filipino Identity and the Kingship of Christ (II)

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Part III: Hispanidad

The Social Kingship of Christ can be simply defined as the ordering of all aspects of society according to the laws of Almighty God as believed and taught by the Catholic Church, in order that Mankind may all the more readily achieve the ultimate purpose of his life: to know, love and serve Almighty God in this life and be happy with him in the next in Paradise. Although the application of such a concept is more or less identical in each country, it varies in its specificities in accordance with the talents and demeanor of each people. Therefore, each nation in Christendom, that great union of all Catholic nations in the world, had a different calling to contribute to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. According to Dr. Correa de Oliveira in his Vocations of the European Peoples:

«Every Catholic people has the obligation to be faithful to the principles of our Holy Faith, and to profess it without stain of error. This is basic. However, two peoples –the Spanish and the Portuguese– took this fidelity to its final consequences. There is a type of fidelity that is characterized by establishing the greatest posible separation between good and evil, so as to promote good and abhor evil».

The Spaniard is therefore a warrior for Christ, for ever since the foundation of his country, he had dedicated his life to war for God’s sake. His first opponent was the Moor who had conquered his original home in Iberia, and though it took a grueling process of more than 7 and a half centuries, he eventually prevailed. He then set out to new and different lands, to conquer more souls for his Lord Jesus Christ that they may be rescued from the darkness of paganism. Yet these new lands did not become colonies of Spain, in the same sense that many countries in Africa and Asia would be colonies of other European powers, but instead were incorporated as part of Spain itself. To be more accurate though, they became other Spains. If the phrase «Out of Many, one» can be applied to the nature of the United States of America, then the phrase «One, yet many» can be applied to Hispanidad. Although all peoples of Hispanidad share one common Inicioland, yet it is indeed a union of many diverse peoples with their own laws and traditions that enable them to be distinguished one from another. Nevertheless, just as the different members of the human body are united as one organism, so the bond between these many peoples cannot be broken, and consequently they cannot properly function independently of each other.

Hispanidad therefore is composed of different Kingdoms, each with its own government, all of which were nevertheless under one crown. These governments were grouped together into Councils, who each had authority in their own dominions that was second to none but the King himself. For Spanish America and the Philippines, such a Council was established in the year 1524, known as the Council of the Indies. Thus, these territories were placed on the same legal footing as the Spanish Kingdoms in Iberia.

Elijah Francis Morales,

Círculo Carlista Felipe II de Manila



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The Filipino Identity and the Kingship of Christ (III)

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Iglesia de San Agustín en Paoay, Filipinas. Commons


Part IV: The Black Legend


Known in Spanish as «La Leyenda Negra», the Black Legend was originally a collection of various anti-Spanish myths of alleged cruelties and oppressive policies propagated by the enemies of Hispanidad (such as the Protestant British and the Talmudists) in order to malign what was then the strongest Catholic power in the world. Although often discredited among circles of honest historians, the Black Legend nevertheless persists in the historical beliefs of many today, and notably there is a set of myths applied to each part of Hispanidad. In the Philippine Islands, the most notable myths involve the following: the Encomienda system, the Polo y Servicio, and the friars.

The Encomienda system as taught in the modern Filipino school curriculum is often painted as a system of slavery whereby a piece of land was allotted to a Spaniard from Iberian Spain, and where he could thereby utilize the service of the natives inhabiting said land to his benefit. However, where there are rights, then duties will inevitably follow, and the encomienda system was no different. The landowner (encomendero) was entrusted with the land by the Spanish Crown not merely for the profit of the encomendero, but so that the natives themselves could profit by instruction in agriculture, and more importantly in the Catholic Faith. Furthermore, the encomienda system was a temporary institution that was abolished merely a few decades after its introduction, making way for the more permanent reduccion, for which the encomienda prepared the way.

Next, this work shall look at the Polo y Servicio. Often described as yet another oppressive policy imposed upon the natives of the Philippines, the Polo y Servicio was on the contrary a system that proved to be beneficial to them. Quite simply, the Polo y Servicio was a policy meant to advance the economy of a locality where the laborers were working, mainly through the making of infrastructure such as bridges, roads and the like; many examples of which are used to this day. Moreover, those who worked under the Polo y Servicio only worked for 40 days a year, each with a daily wage.

Finally, the Friars in the Philippines are often believed to be corrupt oppressors of the people who sought to satiate their own carnal desires. However, while there may certainly have been cases of such friars, they were by no means the rule. On the contrary, one would not go wrong in saying that the presence of the Friars brought about much good in the Philippines. It is to the Friars and the Jesuits that the Filipino peoples owe their education in both spiritual and temporal matters, raising the standard of their civilizations to a degree equal to those in Europe, nay even in some respects surpassing them, for as remarked by a certain foreign observer quoted in «The Friars in the Philippines» by Fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P.: «…the Church has long proved to be, on the whole, by much the most cheap and efficacious instrument of good government and order—even the common people learn reading by its aid, so much at least as to enable them to read their prayer-books and other religious manuals. There are very few Indians who are unable to read, and I have always observed that the Manila men serving on board ships and forming their crew have been much more often able to subscribe their names to the ship’s articles than the British seamen on board the same vessels could do».
Indeed, with a meager garrison of less than 10,000 men, enough only to keep the Moros to the South in check, it was the Friars who themselves served as representatives of the government in Manila even in the most far-flung barrios, hence being catapulted into a position of paternal authority in the locales they served, an authority which nevertheless was not resented by the mass of the people. Thus being situated, it was often their lot as well to teach the farm-based populace modern agricultural methods as well as introducing new crops for them to sow, the most notable being Corn and Coffee. Corn, imported from America, became another staple food of the Filipino aside from Rice and Camote; whereas Coffee, although already present in the wilds of the Philippine Islands, was not cultivated until its value was pointed out by the Friars.

It would be good to point out as well the influence the Friars had on the Filipino Peoples education system. In each barrio there was one school for boys and one for girls, each taught, more often than not, by delegated assistants of the Parish Priest. Further, all those who wished to pursue higher education could attend the universities run by the religious orders, most notably the Universidad de Santo Tomas run by the Dominican Fathers, as well as the Universidad de San Ignacio and later the Ateneo de Manila run by the Jesuits.

Thus, we can say with confidence that the Filipino Peoples’ inclusion into Hispanidad proved to be on the whole beneficial, elevating their stature among the many peoples of earth. Yet sadly, the Filipino Peoples were ripped away from Hispanidad at the end of the 19th century, although as one shall see in the next article of this series, this was a process that would be centuries in the making.

Elijah Francis Morales,

Círculo Carlista Felipe II de Manila




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