Calamba Agrarian Problems

CALAMBA AGRARIAN PROBLEMS For the Calamba discussion see chapter 10 of Guerrero’s the First Filipino and part 3, chpter 3 of Austin Coates’ s Rizal, Philippine Nationalist and Martyr (1968) See also Rizal and the University of Santo Tomas, 167-207

Ownership of the Calamba hacienda passed on to the Dominicans after the Jesuits –who originally owned it- were expelled in 1768. The Dominicans owned practically all the lands around Calamba. The tenants suffered since many years due to the unjustified taxes they had to pay. Even if there was an economic crisis or the harvest was bad, the rent and taxes went up. The tenants suffered under the friars. Rizal had not anticipated but he soon became the center of the tenant’s struggle against the Dominicans. It started innocently. On 30 th December 1887, when the government, wondering why the revenue paid by the Dominicans Order had remained constant despite the ever-increasing size of cultivated lands, formally asked the Calamba town council to determine whether there had been any increase in the products and the size of the Dominican estate over the past three years. The friars wanted to withhold the tenants to tell the truth. The Rizal family as well as the other Calamba tenants wanted to tell the truth. The tenants asked Rizal to draft a report for the town council. Rizal asked his town mates to supply him with all the relevant facts about the estate from the very beginning. What came out was a horror story of Dominican corruption and financial deceit on a massive scale. The original hacienda owned by the Jesuits consisted of only a small part of land and included only a part of the town, but the Dominicans had claimed a much more extensive area, no less than the whole town and its surrounding fields. The Dominicans were paying the government only the income tax due on the original smaller hacienda. Rizal wrote down his findings, which were signed by the tenants in January 1888, and he submitted the report to the government. Rizal advised his family to stop paying the rent. The rest of the Calamba tenants followed suit and with Rizal’s encouragement, petitioned the

government to intervene by authorizing and supervising the drawing up of a new contract between the people of Calamba and the Dominican landowners. The friars were furious because they were attacked on their most sensitive point: money! The report never reached the desk of the governor-general. The Dominicans responded by filing an action for eviction against the Calamba tenants. When the justice of the Peace of Calamba ruled in favor of the tenants. The Dominicans immediately brought the case to the Supreme Court in Manila, which immediately decided in the Dominican’s favor. The tenants and the Rizal family had no recourse but to appeal their case to the Supreme Court in Madrid. The Dominicans put pressure on Malacañang to eliminate Rizal. Governorgeneral Terrero advised Rizal to leave the Philippines for his own good. The liberal governor-general Terrerro was at that time replaced by the conservative general Valeriano Weyler in 1888. He was completely on the side of the Dominicans. On 6 September 1890, general Weyler began enforcing the will of the Dominicans by sending artillery and military forces to Calamba which started to demolish the house of Rizal’s parents. Rizal’s brother, brothers in law were arrested and exiled to different places of the archipelago. On the first day 60 families were thrown out of their houses and the sugar mills and all other buildings they had erected were destroyed. The Dominicans forbade the rest of the townspeople to give the unfortunates lodging and hospitality. By the end of September 400 tenants had been evicted.

1.2 The Friar’s landholdings in Calamba and the displaced tenants. 1.3 Emilio Terrero and the investigation on the Dominicans landholdings • Governor-General Emilio Terrero – a liberal minded Spaniard who knew that Rizal’s life was in jeopardy because the friars were powerful. – Because of this he gave Rizal a bodyguard to protect him. 1. The Land Problems and uneven distribution of wealth in the Philippines. 1.1The Calamba Controversy 

The inhabitants of Calamba do not own a single foot of land o According to Palma’s account in his book “Pride of the Malay Race,”the inhabitants of Calamba do not own a single foot of land. All of Calamba forms part of an estate, which at the time of its writingbelonged to the Dominican Order. o During theSpanish regime, Philippines land ownership was ruled byprivate sectors, generally by the encomenderos, large landlords and friar feudal haciendas. Small farmers were struggling at that time for agrarian rights, especially that titular system was not infamous and ancestral domainship is their only legal basis for ownership.

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The hacienda belongs to the Jesuits, they called it "Hacienda de San JuanBautista" o Records showed that in early 18th Century, a Don Pedro de Megrete who lived in New Spain (in Mexico) left a last will and testament. The will provided that in case the college, which he intend to establish in Carranza shall not be founded, the funds that he left for the purpose amounting to 125,000 Pesos should be turned-over to the Procurador General of the Society of Jesus in the Province of the Philippines. The will further provided that the Procurador should give the funds to the Provincial to establish missions for conversions in the Philippines. The Jesuits used part of the sum to purchase the Calamba property owned by Don Manuel de Jaurie. Now that the hacienda belongs to the Jesuits, they called it “Hacienda de San Juan Bautista.”

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The hacienda was sold to the Dominican friars for 40,000 pesos

o In 1833, after the historic expulsion of the Jesuits in the Philippines the king of Spain sold the hacienda to the Dominican friars for 40,000.

1.2

The friars’ landholdings in Calamba and the displaced tenants.

1.3 Emilio Terrero and the investigation on the Dominicans landholdings •

Governor-General Emilio Terrero – a liberal minded Spaniard who knew that Rizal’s life was in jeopardy because the friars were powerful. – Because of this he gave Rizal a bodyguard to protect him.

1.4 The truth: the findings and the persecution of the Rizals and the Calambenos as a consequence. 1.5 The writing of El Fili and the Characters, Tales, Tano, Juli, and Tandang Selo. Kabesang Tales- Telesforo Juan de Dios, o mas kilala bilang Kabesang Tales, ay isa sa mga prominentent tauhan sa El Filibusterismo ni Jose Rizal. Siya and anak ni Tandang Selo at ama ng magkakapatid na Juli at Tano. Siya ay tahimik at masunurin sa mga prayle. Tano- Si Tano ay ang lalaking anak ni kabesang Tales at kapatid ni Juli. Siya ay 14 na taong gulang noon sa panahon ng nobela nang nakaranas ang kanyang ama ng inhustiya mula sa kamay ng mga prayle. Dahil sa pangyayaring ito, hindi nakatanggi si Tano na magsundalo. Juli- Anak ni Kabesang Tales at kapatid ni Basilio. Tandang Selo- isang kathang-isip na tauhan sa mga nobela ni Jose Rizal. Siya ay isang indio na mangangahoy at mangangalakat na naninirahan sa pusod ng gubat. Siya ay ama ni Kabesang Tales. Kung sa Noli Me Tangere ay pangangaso at pangangahoy ang kanyang hanapbuhay, sa kasunod na nobelang it ay gumagawa na lamang ng walis si Selo.

1.6 The Relevance of El Fili on land problems to today’s CARP. The relevance of El Fili on land problems here in the Philippines is the right to claim what does every single Filipino owns. El Filibusterismo was one of Rizal’s famous novels also known as “The Reign of Greed” were practically describing how Spaniards

stole the freedom and the right to own the motherland despite how it is directly belong to the Filipinos. Simuon resembled the mambubukid or magsasaka who initially rely and offered his life to work at his motherland. Spaniards could be described as of wealthy families who owned the land yet it was developed and maintained by a devoted mambubukid or magsasaka. However, wealthy landowners aren’t willing to give the remaining shares of land to devoted magsaksaka.

1.5 The writing of El Fili and the Characters, Tales, Tano, Juli, and Tandang Selo. Kabesang Tales- Telesforo Juan de Dios, o mas kilala bilang Kabesang Tales, ay isa sa mga prominentent tauhan sa El Filibusterismo ni Jose Rizal. Siya and anak ni Tandang Selo at ama ng magkakapatid na Juli at Tano. Siya ay tahimik at masunurin sa mga prayle. Tano- Si Tano ay ang lalaking anak ni kabesang Tales at kapatid ni Juli. Siya ay 14 na taong gulang noon sa panahon ng nobela nang nakaranas ang kanyang ama ng inhustiya mula sa kamay ng mga prayle. Dahil sa pangyayaring ito, hindi nakatanggi si Tano na magsundalo. Juli- Anak ni Kabesang Tales at kapatid ni Basilio. Tandang Selo- isang kathang-isip na tauhan sa mga nobela ni Jose Rizal. Siya ay isang indio na mangangahoy at mangangalakat na naninirahan sa pusod ng gubat. Siya ay ama ni Kabesang Tales. Kung sa Noli Me Tangere ay pangangaso at pangangahoy ang kanyang hanapbuhay, sa kasunod na nobelang it ay gumagawa na lamang ng walis si Selo. 1.6 The Relevance of El Fili on land problems to today’s CARP.

The relevance of El Fili on land problems here in the Philippines is the right to claim what does every single Filipino owns. El Filibusterismo was one of Rizal’s famous novels also known as “The Reign of Greed” were practically describing how Spaniards stole the freedom and the right to own the motherland despite how it is directly belong to the Filipinos. Simuon resembled the mambubukid or magsasaka who initially rely and offered his life to work at his motherland. Spaniards could be described as of wealthy families who owned the land yet it was developed and maintained by a devoted mambubukid or magsasaka. However, wealthy landowners aren’t willing to give the remaining shares of land to devoted magsaksaka.