From then on, the regalian doctrine took hold in the archipelago based on the capacity of the centralized government that received orders from Spain. This meant that all natural resources of the archipelago became royal property and all of its inhabitants royal subjects with obligations to obey royal orders.

The Internal Weakness: Spirits Subdued

The Spaniards imposed a new social order, wherein political, economic, and cultural affairs were centralized under their control. An abstract large-scale community—an organized, centralized structure—was introduced, but not without blood. Pockets of resistance emerged—led by Tamblot on Bohol, Bancao on Leyte, Sumuroy on Samar, and Tapar in the province of Iloilo. Those led by Dabao in northern Mindanao, Pedro Gumapos and, later, Diego and Gabriela Silang in Vigan, as well as the Basi Revolt in Ilocos Norte scored substantial successes but were quickly subdued.

Oppressive policies and practices, such as encomienda,¹taxation, the polo system, and discrimination, caused revolts. Christianity, however, was successful. Successive missionaries captured our ancestors’ deep spirituality, thus winning their loyalty, which explained numerous cases of betrayal that caused revolts to fail. Had our ancestors discovered that they could use traditional archipelagic networks of support, they could have won.

It is difficult to know when the people in the archipelago began to consider themselves a nation rather than simply Tagalogs, Ilokanos, Visayans, or members of a specific tribe. However, it is reasonable to suppose that the oppressive conditions established common sentiments against the colonizers.