History of Spanish

slavery in the
Philippines

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Slavery was widespread in the Philippine

islands before the archipelago was
integrated into the Spanish Empire.
Policies banning slavery that the Spanish
crown established for its empire in the
Americas were extended to its colony in
the Philippines. The viceroyalty of New
Spain oversaw the Philippine
administratively, and the terminus of the
Manila galleon in Acapulco sometimes
saw the importation of Philippine slaves,
who were labeled chinos. Crown policies
regarding the favorable treatment of
indigenous populations and prohibition
of slavery were enforced in the Americas
since the early 16th century. These were
initially not always adhered to, though
with time and following the spread of
Christianity slavery was completely
abolished.[1]

Comparison of Spanish
Slavery and Native Philippine
Slavery
Spaniards considered it legitimate to
enslave non-Christian captives from
wars and trade them legally in the past.
This is because they did not consider this
as an uncivilized and unchristian act
because they believed that men were
not created equal and the inferior men
may be ruled by the superior ones.
Christians, however, were anticipated to
show sympathy to the people suffering
and this made some masters free their
slaves. A lot of them apprenticed their
slaves so they could still work under their
supervision once they were freed.

There were two major types of slaves:

the esclavos negros who were Africans
purchased from Portugal, and the
esclavos blancos who were Moros taken
from wars. They were usually sold in
public auctions. People from both the
middle and the upper classes bought
them, as well as the clergy.
On the other hand, the Philippine
community in the olden times were
composed of baranganic societies with
small populations and low production
levels. To harness the rich natural
resources of the country, the datus
thereafter increased the manpower and
made the legal penalties not limited to
fines but also included labour services.
The debtors also did the same for the
creditors since a lot of them did not have
many properties to offer as collaterals.
This lack in manpower also brought wars
that not only did widen a barangay’s
territories but also increased the number
of captives who could work for them.
These dependents were called alipin in
Tagalog or oripun in Visayan. These
slaves were traded legally from one
owner to another. The people under a
datu also paid tributes except for his
personal supporters called timawa who
accompanied him in wars.

The difference of the Philippine slavery

from the Spanish slavery was that it was
arbitrary in a sense that datus may take
slaves just from committing minor
violations from their laws. Also, Philippine
slavery was less harsh in a sense that
some of them could eat together with
their masters and those who did not live
in their masters’ houses supported
themselves. On the other hand, Spanish
slaves worked solely for their masters
and everything that they earned were
given to them (the masters). A slave
owned by a Spaniard debtor could even
be rented out to his creditor and work to
pay his debt and the slave could also
serve a jail sentence in place of his
master. Filipinos made other Filipinos
their alipins. On the other hand,
Spaniards generally got slaves from
other races or religions.

Spanish Slavery in the

Philippines
 

White represents the route of the Manila galleons in

the Pacific and the flota in the Atlantic. (Blue
represents Portuguese routes.)

 
King Phillip II of Spain who enforced laws against
Spanish slavery in the Philippines

When Spaniards conquered the

archipelago, the Laws of the Indies
served as a compilation of royal decrees
for the Spanish colonies including the
Philippines. This included a law stating
that Spaniards were forbidden to hold
Filipinos as slaves since they were under
the subjection of King Phillip II.
Observing the widespread practice of
slavery among the native tribes, the Law
was sometimes ignored by soldiers,
some acting on their own and seizing
natives in various parts of the country.
Governor-General Legazpi, upon
discovering this, freed the slaves and
punished those who took them under the
jurisdiction of the monarchy.

Later on, the division of Luzon into

encomiendas created a form of
compulsory work for the encomenderos,
who were given the responsibility of
evangelizing the natives working for
them. Many held workers for household
chores. However, it is arguable whether
these workers were slaves in the
common sense of the word. A
Portuguese visitor noted that there was
no Spanish soldier who did not have an
Indio or native worker. Even the religious
houses held at least one. The king,
however, after hearing about this,
appointed a minister, called the Protector
of the Indios, to investigate and restore
the liberty of possible slaves. It seemed
unfair to encomenderos to generally
abolish slavery though and it would
cause economic disruption. The General
Assembly of 1586 then proposed three
points:

All children are to be born free.

No new slaves will be made.
Slaves will have to pay a fair price for
freedom.
The king did not implement this,
however, and enforced further laws to
punish the Spaniards who held Indio
slaves. This opened for a new trend
which was illegally importing foreigners,
especially Africans. Since they were not
under the king’s subjection, they were
not included in the laws and they were
made slaves as a replacement for the
Indios. Even some Filipinos acquired
these foreign slaves and by 1621, blacks
constituted around one third of an
Intramuros population. These foreign
slaves were mainly employed in Manila
and not in the provinces. Some of them
were also resold in Mexico during the
time of the Manila Galleon Trade to
cover transportation costs.

End of Slavery in the

Philippines
Although the king enforced laws to end
Spanish slavery in the Philippines, he did
not include laws that may end the native
Philippine slavery between the Filipinos.
Although it was not completely
abolished, it underwent considerable
changes during the Spanish occupation.
The mangangayaw raids, which were the
raiding of barangays for obtaining slaves
and territories, disappeared. Tyrannical
enslavement also disappeared since the
datus were forced to free their slaves
and the exchange of slaves in the
weddings was not allowed after most
Filipinos were converted to Christians. By
the middle of the 18th century, Philippine
slavery disappeared in areas under the
Spanish control. In areas that were not
under the Spanish control like mountains
in Mindanao and Cordillera, however, it
was still present.

Spanish slavery, on the other hand,

declined in the Philippines with the
decline of slavery in Spain. It was
abolished in Spain in 1820, when
Spanish liberals took power and
reimposed the Spanish Constitution of
1812 on Ferdinand VII, in Puerto Rico in
1873, and in Cuba in 1886. It was
completely abolished after
industrialization in all places took place
during the nineteenth century.

Further reading
Arcilla, José S. "Slavery, Flogging and
Other Moral Cases in 17th century
Philippines,," Philippine Studies 20, no.
3 (1972) 399-416.
Cushner, Nicholas P. Landed Estates
in the Colonial Philippines. Vol 20. New
Haven: Yale University Press
Southeast Asia Studies 1976.
Garvan, John M. The Negritos of the
Philippines. Wiener Beitrage zur
Kulturgeschichte und Linguistik. Horn:
F. Berger 1964.
Hidalgo Nuchera, Patricio. "Esclavitud
o liberación? El fracaso de las
actitudes esclavistas de los
conquistadores de Filipinas." Revista
Complutense de Historia de América
20 (1994) 61.
Luengo, Josemaria Salutan. A History
of the Manila-Acapulco Slave Trade,
1565-1815. Tubigon, Bohol: Mater Dei
Publications 1996.
Phelan, John Leddy. The Hispanization
of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and
Filipino Responses, 1565-1700.
Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press 1959.
Salman, Michael. "Resisting Slavery in
the Philippines: Ambivalent
Domestication and the Reversibility of
Comparisons," Slavery & Abolition 25
no. 2 (2004) 30.
Schurz, William. The Manila Galleon.
New York: E.P. Dutton 1939, 1959.
Schwalbenberg, Henry M. "The
Economics of Pre-Hispanic Visayan
Slave Raiding," Philippine Studies 42,
no. 3 (1994) 376-84.
Scott, William Henry. Slavery in the
Spanish Philippines. Manila: De La
Salle University Press 1991.
Seijas, Tatiana. Asian Slaves in
Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to
Indians. New York: Cambridge
University Press 2014.
Villiers, John. "Manila and Maluku:
Trade and Warfare in the Eastern
Archipelago, 1580-1640". Philippine
Studies 34 no. 2 (1986).
References
[2][3][4]

1. Tatiana Seijas, Asian Slaves in

Colonial Mexico: From Chinos to
Indians. New York: Cambridge
University Press 2014.
2. Renato Constantino, The
Philippines: A Past Revisited
(Quezon City 1975)
3. William Henry Scott, Slavery in the
Spanish Philippines (1991)
4. "Maharlika and the ancient class
system", Pilipino Express Website,
Dec 9, 2014, Web
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