Part III Land Ownership Under Spain

• System of Pueblo Agriculture


  When the Spaniards colonized the country, they brought with them a system of pueblo agriculture, where rural communities that are often dispersed and scattered in nature, were organized into a pueblo and given land to cultivate as part of the Spanish economic policy to establish a profitable overseas empire.
• System of Pueblo Agriculture



  • Families of the natives were not allowed to own their lands which they traditionally till for generations – the King of Spain owned the land (based on the Regalian doctrine).
  • Filipinos were assigned to these lands to cultivate them and in return, they have to pay colonial tributes to the  Spanish authorities in the form of  agricultural products.
  • Later, they were employed in the monopolies of tobacco and coffee where they have to reach certain quota that sometimes impossible to achieve.
• Leyes de Las Indias


  Laws of the Indies
• Leyes de Las Indias


  • The Spanish Crown in the 16th century issued body of laws to govern its American and Asian possessions of its empire which awarded tracts of lands to certain groups and individuals.
  • Native population are NOT given any land or right under these laws to own a land for them to cultivate.
• Leyes de Las Indias



  1. Religious Orders (Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, etc. to support their missionary works)
  2. Repartamientos (Military Officers and Soldiers as reward for their services)
  3. Encomenderos (Deputies charged by the Crown with responsibility for the support of the natives and their moral and religious welfare)
• The Encomienda System


  • It is a Spanish formal forced labor system legally defined in 1593.
  • A reward for conquerors, soldiers, officials, or others of specified number of indios living in a particular area, with the labor of conquered non-Christian.
• The Encomienda System

  • In theory, the conquerors provided the laborers with benefits, military protection, and education.
  • First established in Spain after the Reconquista, it was expanded to the Americas and Spanish East Indies where the conquered people are considered vassals of the Spanish monarch. 
• Encomienda System in the Philippines


  • The aim of encomienda system in the Philippines is to extract labor and resources from indigenous communities for the benefit of the Spanish crown and encomenderos.
  • After its introduction in the country, it led to the control and exploitation of local communities.
• Two Types of Encomienda System in the Philippines


  Realenga or encomienda de la real corona.

  • An encomienda reserved for the crown composed of principal towns and ports.

  Encomienda de particulares

  • It is a private encomienda.
  • At least two distinguished Filipinos from Pampanga were recorded owners of _____ – Francisco Liwag with 55 tributos (1645-1650) and Juan de Macapagal with 300 tributos (1665).
• Abuses to the Native Population


  • The encomienda system was an unfair and abusive system as ‘compras y vandalas’ became the norm for the Filipino farmers working the land – they were made to sell their products at a very low price or surrender their products to the encomenderos, who resold this at a profit.
  • Filipinos in the encomienda were also required to render services to their encomenderos that were unrelated to farming in addition to tribute collection imposed according to the whims of encomenderos.
  • If the natives resisted, they were publicly flogged, tortured or jailed.
• Consequences of the Abuses


  • Filipinos fought the Revolution of 1896 in a confluence of motivations but the greatest desire for freedom would be the necessity of owning land.
  • Upon the end of the Philippine Revolution, the Revolutionary Government would declare all large landed estates, especially the confiscated friar lands as government property but the First Philippine Republic was short-lived only.