Socio-Economics During The American Colonial Period (PDF)

The American Colonial Period and the Commonwealth Republic Module 2 Key Discussion Points The American Colonial Period Education in the American Colonial Period Politics in the American Colonial Period Socio-economics in the American Colonial Period The Commonwealth Republic Socio-Economics in the A...

The American Colonial Period and the Commonwealth Republic Module 2 Key Discussion Points The American Colonial Period Education in the American Colonial Period Politics in the American Colonial Period Socio-economics in the American Colonial Period The Commonwealth Republic Socio-Economics in the American Colonial Period Dery, Luis. 1988. “The Myth of ‘Pistaym’ Prosperity.” The Journal of History 32–33 (1–2): 1–14. Our Sources Camagay, Maria Luisa. “Salud Algabre: A Forgotten Member of the Philippine Sakdal.” In Women in Southeast Asian Nationalist Movements, by Susan Blackburn and Helen Ting, 124–46. Singapore: NUS Press, 2013. The Author and His Sources Luis Dery was a historian, educator, and a former president of the Philippine Historical Association (20132014) The Myth of Pistaym Prosperity tackles the American colonial period with a bias for farmers, tenants, laborers Sources used include official government documents and reports, and American testimonies What prosperity? (LEFT): Escolta Street on the 4th of July 1899, Manila P.I. (1899), Library of Congress; (RIGHT): Escolta, the principal business Street in Manila, Philippine Islands (1901 by Underwood & Underwood), Library of Congress Escolta, Manila, P.I. (between 1910 and 1920), Library of Congress (LEFT): Lyric Theater, 81-83 Escolta Street Manila, Philippines 1940-1941 (Photo by John Tewell), American Geographical Society Library, University of WisconsinMilwaukee Libraries; (RIGHT): Hancocks Department Store, December 1941 (Photo by John Tewell), LIFE Magazine The myth of ‘pistaym’ prosperity The Payne-Aldrich Act of 1909 established a system of free trade between the Philippines and the United States American products entered the Philippines without being subjected to Philippine tariffs because the country was an American colony Americans likewise pursued several widespread infrastructure programs Certainly, lower-priced goods, roads and bridges, schools, and government buildings, do not necessarily mean ‘prosperity’. They are only manifestations of a condition which, if closely scrutinized, could state otherwise. For there could be thousands of miles of roads, scores of buildings, and the like while the masses of people remain not a beneficiary of such alleged prosperity. (Dery 1988, 2) Who really prospered during the pistaym era? American capital was the driving force of Philippine economy Only in fishing, banking, real estate, and retail trade were the Americans overtaken by other foreigners “Approximately 70% of the volume of business was transacted by foreigners.” (Dery 1988, 4) How did the Payne-Aldrich Act affect Filipinos and their economy? The Filipinos were not only reduced to the sari-sari store level in running their economy. The institution of the free trade system insured their reduction to mere cultivators of farmlands in relation to the production of export crops. (Dery 1988, 4) The Pre-war Export Crop Economy Sugar Coconut Tobacco Abaca The pre-war export crop economy Sugar accounted for 60% of the country’s exports; 2,000,000 Filipinos were directly or indirectly dependent on the sugar industry for their livelihood Coconut accounted for 30%; 4,000,000 Filipinos were directly dependent on the industry Tobacco was the number one employer of laborers in Manila; 600,000 Filipinos were directly dependent on the industry Abaca represented 12% of the country’s exports; 2,506,000 Filipinos were dependent on the industry Rice provided for the livelihood of 4,000,000 Filipinos PERCENTAGE OF FILIPINOS DIRECTLY/INDIRECTLY DEPENDENT ON THE INDUSTRY Other 5% Sugar 15% Rice 30% 13 million out of 16 million Filipinos were dependent on just 5 crops for their livelihood, yet the American market for these export crops was “artificial and impermanent”. (Dery 1988, 5) Abaca 16% Coconut 30% Tobacco 4% Prosperity for whom? Data from the Census of 1939 as presented in Dery 1988, p. 5-6 A cocoanut farm, Island of Luzon, PI, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Filipino workers were exploited workers For sugar workers in Negros, owners of the centrals spent less than one centavo per day per individual worker “Uninjured, he is actually receiving a starvation wage; injured, he receives a reduction, sometimes an order of dismissal from his job.” (Dr. Jose Santialla, quoted in Dery 1988, 7) Of the 8 million workers, only 172,605 receive medical-industrial treatment laws (Bureau of Health reports) Rural Filipinos dealt with poor health conditions The pre-war Filipino diet was composed of 85-90% carbohydrates and their medical needs were neglected by employers Most sicknesses and deaths were “traceable to undernourishment and even actual starvation” (Horacio Lava’s study in Ilocos) Deaths due to beriberi, hookworm and roundworm, tuberculosis, malaria, intestinal diseases, typhoid fever, cholera 1 million out of 14.7 million Filipinos in 1935 were affected by tuberculosis Public education did not live up to its promise 60% of 16 million Filipinos did not finish the elementary grades “Out of every 100 students starting in Grade I 45 reached Grade IV, 14 reached Grade VI, 6 reached first year high school, 3 reached fourth year high school and perhaps graduated. One out of every three high school graduates went to college. From 200 starting in Grade I, one or two reaches or graduates from a college or university” (1939 Bureau of Education findings) “[The right way to Filipino freedom – boys in Normal High School, Manila, Philippine Islands]”. Photograph. 1900. From Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog. https://www.loc.gov/item/2002709556/ (accessed August 10, 2021). What pistaym? Rallies against social injustice during the Commonwealth period, Presidential Museum and Library Widespread labor and agrarian discontent Santa Iglesia in Central Luzon 1901-1910 The Dios-Dioses, the Colores, and the Colorums in Southern Tagalog, Bicol, and the Visayas Papa Isio in Negros Papa Faustino in Panay The Pujanes in Samar and Leyte The Ronquillo affair in Cavite, 1922 Intrencherado in Iloilo and Negros Occidental, 1927 1931 Tayug Uprising 1935 Sakdal uprising The Sakdalista Movement (Photo from RA Rivera), Everyday History PH Widespread labor and agrarian discontent Oras Na Timbulan Noli Tanikalang Mapagtaguyod Dimas-Alang Gabay ng Mahina Habag Kapatid Matang-Lawin Cabesang Tales Kami Naman Tagumpay Nabangon Na Balintawak Circulo Venecedor Nagsumabit Lingap ng Mahirap Magpatuloy Tayo Katipunan ng mga Mabuhay Anak Pawis Wakas Dalita It is no longer easy to believe that these people have only been misled and incited by ‘agitators’. Hunger is the greatest agitator, and so long as we permit a situation to exist wherein there is nameless poverty in the midst of conspicuous plenty, we cannot expect to solve the major economic difficulties that continue to afflict our people. (Commonwealth Advocate) PRIMARY SOURCE Speech of Senate President Manuel Quezon accepting his nomination as President of the Philippines Delivered on July 20, 1935 Taken from: Official Gazette President Manuel L. Quezon after his inauguration, Presidential Museum and Library For our next meeting: Abinales, Patricio, and Donna Amoroso. “The Filipino Colonial State, 19021946.” In State and Society in the Philippines, Second Edition., 134–66. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2017. Pante, Michael. “Quezon’s City.” In A Capital City at the Margins: Quezon City and Urbanization in the Twentieth Century Philippines, 61–102. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2019.