For most part of the three centuries
of Spanish domination in the Philippines,
the Roman Catholic Church had been intimately involved with colonial government.
By late 19th century, three religious orders—Dominicans,
Augustinians, and Recollects—had acquired about one-tenth of all the improved
lands in the archipelago. The discontent of the native peasants with this
situation had been a contributing factor in the Philippine Revolution of 1896–1898.
The agrarian dispute that occurred
between 1887 and 1891 at the Hacienda de San Juan
Bautista in the province
of Laguna was the loudest
expression of peasant discontent in this far Spanish colony. The hacienda
included the territory of what is now Calamba and the dispute involved, among others,
the respected Rizal family.
Though
this was not the first time that the native tenants challenged the ownership of
the friars over vast tracts of land, this was the most earnest. Alarmed and
threatened, the friars branded the problem as rebellion and its players,
filibusters. Later, it led to the deportation of influential Calamba residents
to different parts of the archipelago.
The Hacienda de San Juan Bautista
affair, notorious as it was, became a cause célèbre among the members of the
Hispano-Filipino Association, a society in Spain
composed of Filipinos and Spaniards, which worked for reforms in the Philippines.
The incidents were used as propaganda material by the association to expose the
friars’ supposed excesses and greed. Details of the said agrarian problem were
published at the fortnightly La Solidaridad and found its way into the
powerfully critical novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
Locally, the Dominicans successfully
fought for their rightful ownership over the subject lands in the courts of
first level. They were likewise successful in obtaining eviction decrees. When
the implementation of these decrees was defied, the friars then asked and were
granted assistance of Governor General Valeriano Weyler. The governor-general deployed
troops to Calamba to effect mass evictions. Contrary to claims of orderly
execution of eviction orders, it was in total chaos. These events spurred a
more passionate propaganda staged by the ilustrados in Spain.
Abroad, the propagandists painted a
picture: the Philippine problem was beyond cure; Spanish civil authorities were
subservient and servile to the monastic supremacy and greed;
and
the friars, the Dominicans in particular, were monsters of injustice.
¡Que
hermoso arte de perder colonias!, exclaimed,
Eduardo de Lete, a Filipino expatriate and propagandist.
The general failure of the
propaganda movement to achieve reforms led to a more drastic measure from the
impatient masses – the 1896 Philippine Revolution. This revolution resulted in
the birth of the Republic of the Philippines on 12 June 1898 and contributed to the
fall of the Spanish empire.
This paper aims to present the
history of the agrarian problem that occurred at the Hacienda de San Juan Bautista during
the years 1887 to 1891. Through a learned and objective study of contemporaneous
public documents, decrees, private letters, statements and testimonies, the
real score behind the said agrarian problem is herein recorded, retold and made
available to the society for historical awareness and future reference.
Being century-old old case, time had
divested it of the prejudices of its era. The merits of the arguments from both
sides can now be objectively appraised and assessed. The assessment is offered
as a contribution to the growing literature on the contributory factors on the
Philippine Revolution of 1896–1898.
