QUESTION 5: BINCANGKAN

PERKEMBANGAN AGAMA KRISTIAN DI

FILIPINA SEMASA PENTADBIRAN
KOLONIAL SEPANYOL.

NAME: NISHALINI A/P SANDRAMOGAN

MATRIK NO: AOB170004
KOD KURSUS: AEGE7003 ( AGAMA, BUDAYA
DAN MASYARAKAT DALAM SEJARAH ASIA
TENGGARA)
 INTRODUCTION

• The Philippines is approximately 85 percent of

Christian ( Roman Catholic)

• This PowerPoint is to explain how a small number

of Spaniards converted the bulk of the Philippine
population to Christianity between the mid- 1500s
and 1898- the end of Spanish rule.
 HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
• 1500- Ferdinand Magellan encountered the
Philippines while sailing under the flag of Spain in
search of western route to East Indies.

• At this time period, almost nothing was known of

the Philippines.

• Most of the Philippines, were fairly small

communities except the Muslim Sultans in Sulu and
Mindanao.
• Authority was wielded by a variety of individuals
including:

1. Headmen or datu;

2. Warriors of great military powers

3. Individuals who possessed spiritual power or

healing abilities.
• The absence of centralized power meant that small
number of Spaniards were able to convert a large
number of Filipinos.

• The Spanish were unsuccessful in converting the

Muslim Sultan to Christianity and warred with
Muslim Filipinos throughout their 300 year colonial
rule from 1521-1898
• Magellan’s arrival in Cebu represents the first
attempt by Spain to convert Fillipinos to Roman
Catholicism.

• Magellan met with Chief Humabon of the Island of

Cebu, who had an ill grandson. He or one of his
men were able to cure his boy and in gratitude he
allowed 800 of his followers to be ‘baptized’
Christian in a mass baptism.
• Later, Chief Lapu Lapu of Mactan Island killed
Magellan and routed the ill-fated Spanish
expedition.

• This resistance to western intrusion makes this

story an important part of the nationalist history of
the Philippines.

• Many historians claimed that Philippines peacefully

‘accepted’ Spanish rule, but many rebellions
continued in small scales.
• After Magellan, the Spanish sent the explorer
Legaspi to the Philippines and he conquered a
Muslim Filipino settlement at Manila in 1570’s.

• Islam had been present in the southern Philippines

between 10th to 12th Century. It slowly spread north
through archipelago, particularly in coastal areas.
~Had it not been for Spanish intervention, the Philippines
would likely have been a mostly Muslim area.
‘CHRIZTIANIZATION’
STRATEGIES
EMPLOYED BY THE
SPANISH
In little more than a century, most lowland Filipinos
were converted to Roman Catholicism. There are
number of reasons why Spanish missionaries were
successful at this attempt:
a) Mass Baptism- Initial practice of baptizing large
number of Filipinos.
b) Reduccion policies- forced relocation of small
scattered settlements into one larger town for the
convenience of administration Spanish colony’s
population.
• The reduccion policy also made it easier for a single
Spanish catholic friar to train the Filipinos in the basic
principles of Christianity.
• Attitude of the spanish clergy in the early phase- Spanish
Friars were forced to learn the native language of the
people they sought to convert.
• Adaptation of Christianity to the local context.
• Death ceremony- accompanied by somber village
processions and music, essential parts of Roman
Catholic.
The beginning of Payson Play
Christ and two disciples at the
Garden of Gethsemanes
 Summary

• Today, this colonial legacy lives on whenever

Filipino Catholics re-enact through religious dramas
the passion of Christ or Christ’s martyrdom, during
the holy week.