One of the Movers of the Reform Movement

Don Gregorio Sancianco was born in Tonsuya, Malabon on March 7, 1852, to Don Eladio Sancianco
and Regina Goson who belonged to a well-to-do family. After completing the requirements for college, he
enrolled at the College of Law of the University of Santo Tomas. He was a member of the La
Juventud Escolar Liberal an organization designed to obtain rights for the secular clergy. It was after the
Cavite Revolt of 1872 that a trickle of Filipino students reached Spain to study. They were usually the
sons of the wealthier class.

It was during these years that Sancianco went to Spain and enrolled in the Universidad Central de Madrid
where he obtained the Doctor of Civil and Canonical Laws and Licentiate in Administrative Law.
He stayed in Madrid where he worked with La Discusion, an influential Madrid Newspaper. In 1881, he
wrote El Progreso de Filipinas, a technical treatise on economics recommending measures, which were
eventually adopted as government policies to stimulate the commercial and agricultural progress in the
Philippines. Considered as the first serious study on economics by a Filipino, this subsequently inspired
the later Filipino nationalist leaders in carrying out the needed reforms.

According to Doctor Sancianco in his Progreso de Filipinas (The Progress of the Philippines), “indolence
is only on the pretext of Spanish officials to commit disgraceful abuses which discredit the Spanish
name and authority that when a farmer sees himself exploited by all kinds of people in authority he does
not exert effort to cultivate his field, knowing that others reap the benefits of the sweat of his brow.”

 In El Progreso, Sancianco expressed his opposition to the colonial policies of Spain. One of
these policies was based on the idea that political identity between countries that make up one
sovereign was no longer possible when distance, climate, social characteristics, and diversity of
needs and cultural resources marked out the differences. ” This means the Philippines was a
colony of Spain, therefore, it must be governed by special laws.
 He propounded assimilation of the Filipino as a Spanish citizen. He believed that because
Filipinos had rendered invaluable services to the crown, they were entitled to the same rights and
privileges as Spaniards in Spain.
 He also suggested that schools, which had been for a long time under the supervision of
the church, should be liberalized.

Faith without works or actions is dead

Miracles work when people do

Progress necessarily requires change