page_title: Philippine Revolution
section_title: Enlightenment
hierarchical_section_title: Philippine Revolution / Origins / Opening of Manila to world trade / Enlightenment
caption_attribution_description: http://www.guttenberg.org/files/6867/6867-h/img/b155.jpg
context_page_description: The Philippine Revolution, called the Tagalog War by the Spanish, was a revolution and subsequent conflict fought between the people and insurgents of the Philippines and the Spanish colonial authorities of the Spanish East Indies, under the Spanish Empire.
  The Philippine Revolution began in August 1896, when the Spanish authorities discovered the Katipunan, an anti-colonial secret organization. The Katipunan, led by Andrés Bonifacio, began to influence much of the Philippines. During a mass gathering in Caloocan, the leaders of the Katipunan organized themselves into a revolutionary government, named the newly established government "Haring Bayang Katagalugan", and openly declared a nationwide armed revolution. Bonifacio called for an attack on the capital city of Manila. This attack failed; however, the surrounding provinces began to revolt. In particular, rebels in Cavite led by Mariano Álvarez and Emilio Aguinaldo won early major victories. A power struggle among the revolutionaries led to Bonifacio's death in 1897, with command shifting to Aguinaldo, who led the newly formed revolutionary government.
context_section_description: Before the start of the Philippine Revolution, Filipino society was subdivided into social classifications that were based on the economic status of a person. Background, ancestry, and economic status played a huge role in determining standing in the social hierarchy.
  The Spanish people as well as Native descendants of precolonial nobility belonged to the upper class, and they were further subdivided into more classes: the peninsulares,creoles, and the Principalía. The peninsulares were people who were Spanish-born, but lived in the Philippines. The creoles, or criollo people, were Spaniards who were born in the colonies. The principalia was a hereditary class of local Indios who descended from precolonial datus, rajah and nobility, and were granted special rights and privileges such as positions in local government and the right to vote, though they were lower than the peninsulares and insulares in social standing. Many members of the Philippine Revolution belonged to the principalia class like Jose Rizal. Although the peninsulares and the creoles enjoyed the same social power, as they both belonged to the upper class, the peninsulares considered themselves as socially superior to the creoles and the native principalia.
  The lowest of the two classes was the masses, or Indios. This class included all poor commoners, peasants and laborers. Unlike the principalia class, where the members enjoyed high public offices and recommendations from the King of Spain, the masses only enjoyed a few civil rights and privileges. The highest political office that they could possibly hold was the gobernadorcillo, or the town executive. The members of Katipunan, the secret organization that would trigger the revolution, mainly consisted of the masses.
  Material prosperity at the start of 19th century produced an enlightened middle class in the Philippines, consisting of well-to-do farmers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, writers, and government employees. Many of them were able to buy and read books originally withheld from the lowly Filipino class. They discussed political problems and sought government reforms, and eventually, they were able to send their children to colleges and universities in Manila and abroad, particularly to Madrid. The material progress was primarily due to the opening of the Manila ports to world trade.
  The leading intellectuals of the country came from the enlightened middle class. They later called themselves the Ilustrados, which means "erudite ones". They also considered themselves to be the intelligentsia branch of the Filipino society. From the Ilustrados rose the prominent members of the Propaganda Movement, who stirred the very first flames of the revolution.
caption: Leaders of the reform movement in Spain: José Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Mariano Ponce. Photo was taken in Spain in 1890.
exif: {}