Chapter IX: Appendix: Education in the Philippines (5)

Primary instruction cannot be considered in a backward state, and, indeed, I believe that, in proportion, there are more persons who can read and write in these islands than in España, and in some [other] civilized countries. [120] In each village there is a suitable building for the use of a school, to which all the children must go except during the months of sowing and of harvest. The master, and other expenses, are paid from the communal fund. In view of this I have wondered at seeing in many foreigners the strange belief that the government does not permit the learning of reading and writing; for I can assert that, in the archives of Manila I have found many old and recently-dictated decrees, with a spirit diametrically the contrary, which repeatedly enjoin the teaching of the Castilian language. Women also share in this benefit, and I have found girls who lived not only far from the capital, but in an isolated house distant from the village, and, notwithstanding, they had learned to read and write. One must confess, however, that they scarcely know other books than those of devotion, especially a poem entitled the Pasion de Cristo [i.e., Passion of Christ]. Besides the said schools, which are equal in number to the villages and the schools of some private masters, [121] both in the chief cities of the provinces and in the capital where their number is very considerable (there being among them not a few of music and drawing), there are found in Manila various public institutions of education for men and women. In regard to them one can form a correct judgment by the following explanation.

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMÁS

This college was founded at the beginning of the seventeenth century; their Excellencies, Benavides and Soria, the one archbishop of Manila, and the other bishop of Nueva Segovia, giving their libraries for that purpose, and, in addition, the former giving 1,000 pesos and the latter 1,800. Already finished in 1619, it was admitted as a house of the province of Preachers in the islands, as appears from the records of the intermediary chapter celebrated in Santo Domingo, April 20, with the suitable license of the superior government and of the ordinary. In 1620 it already had lecturers and masters for public teaching, and November 27, 1623, his Majesty admitted it under his royal protection. It was erected into a university at the instance of the said monarch Felipe IV, by a bull of Innocent X, November 20, 1645, which was passed by the supreme Council of Indias July 28, 1646. By a decree of May 17, 1680, the university was received under the royal protection, his Majesty declaring himself its patron. In consequence of another decree of December 7, 1781, the rules were made, which, approved by the superior government October 20, 1786 as they were prepared are those which are in force at present. Their cloister is composed of various doctors, licentiates, and masters, although in reality only twenty-one of the first and second kinds form it. The number of collegiates is ruled by circumstances, and the college supports them, for they have to dress and provide shoes for many. Their funds are ministered by lay-brother religious. This college and royal university is in charge of the Dominican religious, who teach Latin, logic, physics, metaphysics, moral and canon law, and theology. In addition there is a chair of institute, and another of native law. In this university 581 students are studying, who are classified thus:

Collegiates 61
Capistas [122] 15
Day Pupils 505
---
Total 581

COLLEGE OF SAN JOSE

By a decree of June 8, 1585, his Majesty ordered the establishment of a college to be attempted in Manila, in which the sons of the Spanish inhabitants might be instructed in virtue and letters under the direction of the Jesuit fathers. But, although the governor Dasmariñas enacted an edict for that purpose, it was not fulfilled until the year 1601 when the college of San José was instituted in some houses next to the house of the Jesuits. There were thirteen collegiates when it was first opened, but in a short time their number reached twenty. Among the first was a nephew of Governor Tello, a son of Dr. Morga, senior auditor, and other sons of influential citizens. At the beginning the collegiates contributed a certain sum for their own support, but soon there were greater means. One of the most considerable was the endowment left in his will by the illustrious gentleman, Don Esteban Rodriguez de Figueroa, governor of Mindanao, who was recognized as patron of the college. In 1605, Father Pedro Montes became rector, he founded the chair of scholastic theology, and promoted those of philosophy and Latin, selecting to take charge of them the most pronounced men of talent of his Society. During the reign of Felipe IV, the latter obtained from his Holiness, Gregory XV, authority to concede solemn degrees in philosophy and theology. The latter's bull and the royal decree of concession were celebrated in Manila by a public procession, and when they were presented to the most illustrious Serrano, then archbishop, he offered obedience and observance on his part. February 18, 1707, his Majesty continued for six years the assignment that had been made to the college of 400 pesos, and 400 fanegas of rice. May 3, 1722, the title of "Royal" was conceded to the college. November 15, 1747, the enjoyment of an encomienda in the villages of Sulát and Tavig, in the province of Samar, was also continued for ten years. February 3, 1748, his Majesty confirmed in favor of this college the lands of the estates of Mariquina and San Pedro Yunasán. At present it possesses that estate and the estate of San Juan de Lian, which are administered by the rector. With their products the college takes care of the support of twenty-two collegiates, the house and food of the vice-rector and masters, and the annual pay given to them and to the rector. They also admit capistas who pay fifty pesos per year, and receive public teaching therein in philosophy, rhetoric, and Latin. From the expulsion of the Jesuits until the year 1777 this institution was closed.

COLLEGE OF SAN JUAN DE LETRAN

It owed its foundation to the charitable zeal of Juan Gerónimo Guerrero, who in the year 1630 dedicated himself to gathering orphan boys, to whom he taught reading and writing and the Christian doctrine, paying for their support and clothing from the abundant alms with "which the citizens of Manila aided him." This institution was recommended to the supreme Council of the Indias by the government of these islands, and later his Majesty recommended it to Governors Fajardo and Corcuera. Before dying, the aged Guerrero took the habit as lay-brother in [the convent of] Santo Domingo, and made that order a formal bequest of his advanced charitable work. Later it was erected into a college and received under the royal protection, his Majesty conceding it some encomiendas, or annuities for its support. At present it maintains at its own cost twenty-one Spanish orphan lads, with the 600 pesos to which amounts the product of the annuities which are collected from the alcalde-mayor of Pangasinan by a Dominican religious. It also receives Indian and mestizo collegiates who pay fifty pesos per year apiece for their support. Their number is not fixed. Under the title of sacristan, porters, librarians, and other mechanical trades, there are various people who pay nothing. Their studies are carried on in the university of Santo Tomás, except that of grammar. At the present time this college has 239 students, counting orphans, capistas and others.

CHARITY SCHOOL [ESCUELA PIA] OF MANILA [123]

Don Pedro Vivanco having begun to promote its establishment in 1803, it was installed in 1817 under the direction of a special assembly composed of distinguished citizens, among whom was a member of the ecclesiastical cabildo, and another of the tribunal of the consulado. The citizens gave the funds which were to maintain so useful an institution, but being drawn upon, as was the general rule, those funds had the same fate as other large sums of the commerce and charitable funds of this capital, and were lost through the political happenings of the kingdom of Mexico. The assembly having been extinguished for lack of funds, the city took under its charge the charity school. Reading, writing, Christian doctrine, Spanish grammar, and slate-work arithmetic are taught there. The pupils must be Spanish; the children of rich people pay two pesos per month; those of the second class one; and the poor nothing. For admission, a ticket from the president of the dissolved assembly was sufficient. Now it is given by the regidor, who is serving his turn in governing the institution. In that school, there are at present 50 pupils, of whom 26 receive their teaching gratuitously.

NAVAL ACADEMY

Through the repeated instances of the consulado, this school was established in Manila by royal permission in the year 1820. Arithmetic, elementary geometry, plain and spherical trigonometry, cosmography, and piloting are taught by their respective professors; and in addition practical geometry applied to the construction of hydrographical maps and plans, with the method of drawing them. Everything is according to the course of study of the navy, written by royal order for the teaching of said schools by the chief of squadron of the royal fleet Don Gabriel Ciscar. It is directed by special rules. The expenses of that institution have been met hitherto from the funds of avería. Its conservation was committed to the consulado, but since the extinction of that tribunal, it has been given ad interim to the present tribunal of commerce by the ruling of the management, inspection in the scientific or teaching portion being reserved for the chief of the military marine. At present it has 51 students in its halls.

COMMERCIAL SCHOOL

The establishment of this school was discussed by the assembly of its name October 1, 1839, approved by the superior government, January 15, 1840. Its inauguration took place, July 15 of the same year. Bookkeeping, and commercial correspondence, the French language, and also the English, when a suitable professor is to be had, are taught in that school. [124]

SCHOOL OF SANTA POTENCIANA

It was erected by Governor Dasmariñas, by virtue of an express royal mandate contained in the instructions which were delivered to them August 9, 1589, [125] in which section 27 reads: "Upon your arrival at the Filipinas Islands, you shall ascertain how and where, and with what endowment, a convent for the shelter of girls may be founded, so that both those who should come from here and those, born there, may live in it, so that they may live modestly and after being well instructed may go out therefrom to be married and bear children." That zealous governor, with the efficacy and activity which distinguished his government, did what his Majesty ordered him; for, in a royal order of January 27, 1593, the measures which had been taken with the city are approved and ordered to be continued, namely, that the said convent should be founded in the church of San Andres. Shortly afterward that pious institution must have been completed, as is inferred from another royal order of June 11, 1594: "The rules and regulations," says his Majesty to the governor, "which you have made for the girls' school have been examined and are approved, and thus you shall have them observed." It was further provided how they were to act at the wheel, or in the parlor. The chaplain was also to be the manager and he was to be an approved person of forty years old or upward. The clothing of the collegiates, of the mother superior, and the teacher, was to be modest and cheap, and was sent by his Majesty. The governor was authorized to name the sum which was to be paid annually by any other woman who wished of her own accord to enter the institution, in order to take shelter therein, provided that such sum should be moderate. [126]

There is no copy of the first rules of this school in existence, for they probably perished with its archives, and ten or twelve inmates in the awful earthquake of 1645, which overthrew the edifice and destroyed the greater part of the city. In fulfilment of a royal order of November 27, 1686, and superior rulings of March 15, 1691, Doctor Silva, then chaplain of said school, published, in the following April, the ordinances of Santa Potentiana, which merited royal approbation November 14, 1825, in which year the newly printed rules were ordered to be observed.

In 1736 the free inmates were the daughters of Spaniards who had served his Majesty in the islands. They were aided with what was necessary for their support and clothing, and the physician and the medicine for the sick were paid for them, besides a suitable funeral for the dead. The funds of the college did not permit, in case one married, to give her a suitable dowry, but such a one received two hundred pesos from the charitable fund which was established for that purpose in 1686 by Don Cristóbal Romero, castellan of the fort of Santiago, and in the time of Governor Tamon, fifty pesos more, which he gave from his own purse, to each one of the inmates when she was married. In 1729, Auditor Don José Antonio Pabon founded for the same purpose another charitable fund by giving 2,823 pesos, which the royal treasury owed him on account of pay, but that foundation had no effect until 1749. The funds were in charge of the managers, who very commonly were the royal officials, and were increased by investing them suitably, until the time when they entered the royal treasury with the other incomes of the school. At present that school occupies a house which was bought at the royal account, for its ancient site has been destined for the building of a fortification. From the same treasury, the expenses of a small chapel, a physician, apothecary shop, infirmary, clothing for the pupils, and six servant girls are met, which are estimated at 700 pesos annually; and those of a sacristan, four faginantes [i.e., fagot-gatherers], and one purchaser. By a provision of the Superior Board of the royal treasury of September 22, 1808, money was subscribed for the maintenance of a rectress, a portress, and twenty-four inmates at the rate of one and one-half reals per day to each one, and monthly from the royal magazines, 46 baskets of pinagua [127] rice of 15 gantas, 25 quintals of wood, and 17 gantas of cocoanut oil for their light.

SCHOOL OF SANTA ISABEL

Since the foundation of the confraternity of the Santa Misericordia, their financial board maintained the management of many poor Spanish orphan girls who were reared in Santa Potenciana, and in private houses; but having bought an edifice in which to gather them, the foundation of this school was accomplished at the end of the year 1632. It is in the immediate charge and care of the purveyor. The first rules for its government were made in 1650, and they were retained with some slight alterations until 1813. In that year they were entirely revised, and these latter are the ones which are observed at present. It has a chapel which is kept very neat and clean, which is dedicated to the Lord of the treasury.

The girl pensioners contribute sixty pesos per year for their fees. In addition, there are some poor young women who are known under the name of supernumeraries [agregadas], who are maintained through charity.

The rectress is the superior of the school, and is subordinate to the purveyor. In grave cases which arise, she consults the financial board, and if that board is not created with power to take action, she convokes the brotherhood and in general council the advisable action is agreed upon with the assistance of theologues and jurists. This school contains:

Scholars with beca 51
Free orphan girls 18
Idem boarders 14
Abandoned 7
Supernumeraries 12
---
Total 102

There are also at present for the interior service of the house one chaplain, one physician, twelve maid servants, and eight man servants; these last do not live in the school.

BEATERIO OF SANTA CATALINA DE SENA

It was founded in 1696 by Mother Francisca del Espíritu Santo, a Spanish woman born in Manila, and by the very reverend father, Fray Juan de Santo Domingo, provincial of the Dominicans. Its object is to teach Spanish girls how to read, write, reckon, the Christian doctrine, to sew, etc. In that duty the necessary beatas are occupied. They obey a superior whom they appoint from their own number, and such person takes the title of prioress. At present this school has 26 Spanish girls and 60 supernumeraries and servants. [128]

BEATERIO OF SAN SEBASTIAN DE CALUMPANG

It was begun in 1719 by four Filipino girls, who gave themselves exclusively to the service of God, and that of the Virgin of Carmel. In 1735 the beaterio was given form at the petition of the Recollect provincial, Fray Andres de San Fulgencio. The beatas were permitted to take the habit as manteletas of the discalced Augustinians. Their number was not to exceed twelve, and the institution was to remain subject to the vice-patron. In 1754, a measure was started as to whether the beatas ought to pay tribute or not, and the custom which favors the negative was ordered to be followed. They live in community without any vow. Each year they nominate one prioress. They are sustained by alms and by their own work. The priorate of San Sebastian contributes 100 cavans of palay, and 300 pesos annually, because the beatas sew the scapularies of Carmel, wash the clothes of the Church, and of the religious resident therein; and the convent of Manila 200 cavans and 300 pesos more for the washing of the clothes of the sacristy and of the religious. Orphan girls are received and are taught reading, writing, the Christian doctrine, sewing, etc. For the very little girls the beaterio receives what their relatives care to give. Those who can work pay nothing if they work; but if they do not work they pay three or four pesos per month according to their circumstances. Some Spanish women also enter for the [religious] exercises. At present this beaterio has 12 beatas, 24 larger girls who are being educated, 16 smaller ones, and one little girl boarder, with some other widows and married women who also live in this retreat.

BEATERIO OF SAN IGNACIO

It was founded in 1699 under the direction of the Jesuit fathers. Its benefactress and first beata was Mother Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, a native of Binongo, who died in 1748, at the age of eighty. It has 25 beatas, 59 servants, and 55 wards, [some of] whom pay four pesos monthly for their support, and some two or three pesos, but these latter assist in the kitchen and washing once a week. This institution is supported by the alms and by the products of some sewing and by the washing of clothes. Every year there are exercises held there which begin in October; those who attend it are Filipino women. They are divided into three shifts, and about 300 of them assemble, each of whom pays two pesos. From that sum they meet the expenses of preachers, confessors, and their support. Since the expulsion of the Jesuits, this beaterio has been under the direction of the provisor of the archbishopric, and for lack of a shelter-house, it supplies its place. The object of the foundation was that Filipino girls might be reared in it and taught embroidery, sewing, reading, and writing.

BEATERIO OF SANTA ROSA

Mother Paula de la Santísima Trinidad, native of Cataluña, had scarcely arrived at Manila in 1750, when she dedicated herself to the education of girls and was the origin of this foundation. By a royal decree of September 22, 1774, his Majesty ordered that the house or beaterio founded by this good woman should take care of the education of every class of girls. It is maintained by alms, by the work of their hands, and by the few small fees which some girls pay for their support therein, where they are taught reading, sewing, etc. Neither their number nor that of the servants is fixed. His Majesty has taken it under his protection, and entrusted it in his name to the regent of the Audiencia, with the fitting powers.

BEATERIO OF PASIG

In this village there is a house of teaching, or a beaterio entitled Santa Rita, which was founded in 1740 with the necessary licenses by the calced Augustinian, Fray Felix de Trillo, then parish priest of Pasig. Its primary object is to provide shelter for Filipino orphan girls, and to teach them reading, writing, Christian doctrine, sewing, embroidery, and other employments fitting for their sex. They dress when they go to the parish church in the habit of mantelates of St. Augustine, but they take no vow or obligation. Those educated and sheltered dress as in their own homes. This beaterio is sustained by the work of their hands and by alms, under the care and solicitous management of the parish priests. The latter are not those who give the least alms for its useful preservation, and that from the product of some estates which they have rented out, and which they acquired by their economy. Furthermore, the young women who enter as wards pay when their relatives are able, according to their wealth, up to the sum of two pesos per month. That is the greatest fee, but it is more usual for each one who is educated to contribute a few cavans of palay per year--generally about ten or twelve. But those who are quite poor and orphans pay nothing. This retreat has at the present time sixteen beatas.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS AND CONDITIONS

Public instruction; condition of the sciences of letters and arts

At the head of the public instruction in the Philippines, one finds the university of Manila, called La Real y Pontificia Universidad de Santo Tomas [i.e., the royal and pontifical university of Santo Tomás]. Its foundation as a college goes back to the first year of the seventeenth century. Its first benefactors were Archbishop Benavides of Manila, and Bishop Soria of Nueva Segovia. Both of them made it a gift of their library, and, in addition, the first one gave it 1,000 pesos and the second 1,800. In 1619, the house was entrusted to the religious of the Order of St. Dominic. The following year the courses of public instruction were opened there. Finally, on November 27, 1623, King Felipe IV took it under his special protection. In the year 1645, the same monarch obtained a bull from Pope Innocent X, which erected the college of Santo Tomás of Manila into a university. The statutes governing that institution today were not drawn up until a long time after, that is to say, in the year 1781. Instruction there is entrusted to the doctors, licentiates, and masters (maestros). At the present time there are 21, both doctors and licentiates, and no masters. Latin, logic, physics, metaphysics, ethics, canon law, and theology are taught there. In addition to that, some time afterward there was founded a chair of Roman law and one of Spanish law. The number of students who attend that university is now 581, namely, sixty-one collegiates, fifteen capistas, who are maintained at the expense of the college, and 505 day students. [129] The costume of the collegiates is a long robe of green silk with black, sleeves, a beca, a kind of red scarf folded in two parts and crossing over the breast and drawn up behind the shoulders, a black collar with a white border and a cap like that worn by the law advocates of Spain.

If the university of Manila is the chief institution of public instruction, it is not the most ancient. From June 8, 1585, the king had ordered the foundation of a college, in which the sons of the Spanish inhabitants of the archipelago might be reared in the love of virtue and letters under the direction of the fathers of the Society of Jesus. But it was only in 1601 that that order could be carried out by the institution of the college of San José. The first collegiates numbered 13, but that number was soon raised to 20, all of whom were the sons or the near relatives of the first authorities of the country. Pope Gregory XV granted that college the right of conferring degrees of philosophy and theology. The funds of that institution are drawn from several estates, which have been conceded to it at different times. They are sufficient to provide for the maintenance of the vice-rector and of the masters, in the annual pay which is granted to them, as well as to the rector, and for the maintenance of 22 free pupils. Some pay students are also admitted there at the rate of 50 piastres [i.e., pesos] per year. Philosophy, rhetoric, and Latin are taught there. Upon the suppression of the Society of Jesus, that college was closed until 1777. The costume of the students is a red gown with black sleeves and a black cap.

The college of San Juan de Letran commenced by being a primary school, founded in 1630 at the expense of a charitable man, whose name, Juan Gerónimo Guerrero, deserves to pass to posterity. He consecrated himself to gathering together in that institution young orphan boys, and to teaching them reading, writing, and the Christian doctrine. He was also able, thanks to the abundant alms which the inhabitants of Manila put into his hands, to provide for the maintenance and clothing of all those children. Before dying that kind-hearted man took the habit of St. Dominic, and entrusted the pious foundation which he had undertaken into the hands of that order. The latter erected it into a college, for which it obtained the protection of the king and some funds for its support. By means of a sum of 600 piastres which the alcalde of Pangasinan is charged to give annually to a Dominican who collects it, that college supports gratuitously 25 orphan boys. It also admits an unlimited number of boarders, both Indians and mestizos, who pay 50 piastres per year. It finally receives under the name of sacristans, porters, librarians, etc., several young students who do not pay anything. The total number of those who receive education in that college under different titles is today 239 persons. Their costume is blue with black sleeves. A maltese cross is placed at the right on their beca.

The charity school (escuela pia) of Manila was established in 1817 under the direction of a special assembly composed of distinguished inhabitants, in the number of which there was a member of the chapter of the cathedral, and one of the tribunal of commerce. The inhabitants who had assembled supplied the funds which were to serve for the maintenance of that useful establishment. But those funds having been used in trade according to custom they had the same fortune that so many other considerable sums and charitable foundations of that capital have had, namely, they were lost because of the revolution of Mexico. The assembly, being dissolved on account of lack of funds, the city took the charity school under its charge. Reading, writing, Christian doctrine, Spanish grammar, and slate arithmetic, are taught there. The pupils must be Spaniards; the sons of well-to-do parents pay 2 piastres per month; those who are less well-to-do, 1 piastre; and the poor pay nothing. In order to be admitted there a ticket from the president of the dissolved assembly was sufficient. At present the regidor is charged in his turn with the management of the establishment which delivers the ticket. The number of pupils at the present time is 50, of whom 26 receive instruction free.

In pursuance of reiterated instances from the tribunal of commerce a marine school was opened in Manila in 1820, by royal authorization. Arithmetic, the elements of geometry, rectilinear, and spherical trigonometry, cosmography, and piloting, besides practical geometry applied to the making of hydrographical maps and plans, with the manner of designing them, were taught there. The whole, conformed to the course of study for the navy, was composed, according to the order of the king, by the chief of the royal fleet, Don Gabriel Ciscar. The expenses of the institution are supplied by the funds called avería. The tribunal of commerce decides as to the admission of pupils and those who distinguish themselves on graduating to become captains of trading ships, making the voyage to China and India, and even going as far as America and to Europa. This proves that, whatever the Spaniards say of it, the young men of Manila are as susceptible to instruction as those of the mother country. In fact, there is no doubt that if the studies of this school were more solid and less theoretical, most remarkable persons would be seen to graduate from it.

Finally, in 1840, a commercial school has been established, which is held in the rooms of the tribunal [of commerce]. Bookkeeping, commercial correspondence, and the living languages are taught there free of charge. By a choice quite extraordinary, a marked preference is given to the French language, although that language is one that is spoken the least in that part of the world; since unfortunately our relations there are very few, as we have no longer any need to go there after sugar.

Very well equipped libraries exist in all the convents, and those of the university and of the colleges offer resources to the students who receive their education in those establishments.

This is all we have to say in regard to the institutions consecrated to the education of the young men. That of the young women has not been forgotten.

The seminary of Santa Potenciana was founded in the year 1589 by Governor Dasmariñas, by virtue of a royal order. Article 27 of that ordinance contains the following: "Upon arriving at the Filipinas Islands you shall ascertain how and where, and with what endowment, a convent for the shelter of girls may be founded, so that both those who should come from here and those born there may live in it and so that they may live modestly, and after being well instructed, may go out therefrom to be married and bear children." [130] The worthy governor was so zealous in carrying out the wishes of the king that, in the year 1593, the convent was established in the church of San Andres. A new royal ordinance of June 11, 1594 approved the regulations of it, which bore on the conduct to be observed in the parlor, on the duties of the chaplain, who was to be more than forty years old, and who was to be, at the same time, the manager of the house, on the customs of both pupils and the superior and mistress. It was to be suitable, but modest. The king took charge of the furnishing thereof. The governor was authorized to fix the sum which was to be paid by the women who desired to enter the convent in order to be cloistered there. That sum was to be very moderate.

There exists no longer any copy of the first rule of that house, whose archives perished in the terrible earthquake of 1645, when ten or twelve pupils lost their lives. New rules were drawn up and approved in 1696, and remained in force until 1823, at which time they were revised.

The school is established at present in a house which was bought for its use by the public treasury, namely, the ancient locality of the arsenal. The treasurer also furnishes the expenses of a small chapel, those of their medical service, of pharmacy, of the infirmary, of the clothing of the pupils, and of six serving girls, the total sum amounting to 700 piastres per year, besides the support of a sacristan, four fagot-gatherers, and one woman to go for provisions. The treasury pays for the support of one superior, of one portress, and twenty-four collegiates, 1 1/2 reals (one franc) per day for each one. And they are given besides, from the royal magazines, 46 baskets of pinagua rice, of 15 gantas per basket, 25 quintals of wood, and 17 gantas of cocoanut oil for lights.

After the foundation of the confraternity of the Santa Misericordia, the latter also supported many poor Spanish orphan girls. It caused those girls to be reared either at Santa Potenciana or in private houses. But in 1632, a house having been bought in order to gather them all there together, the confraternity founded the school of Santa Isabel. The rules drawn up in 1650 were entirely changed in 1813. The number of the pupils in this institution is at present 105, who are admitted under divers titles and conditions. The boarders pay 60 piastres annually. The others get their education free. Day pupils are also admitted there, but they are not allowed to communicate with those who live in the house. The teaching is quite elementary. The service is furnished by twelve servant girls for the interior, and eight men for the outside work.

In the preceding chapters, the description of the beaterios [131] has been seen, of which the majority are dedicated to the education of poor young girls.

One can see, after what we have just said, that education in the Philippines, both of the children of the country and of the mestizos and Indians of both sexes, is not so greatly neglected as certain persons pretend, and that the colony has made, on the contrary, from the earliest times the greatest efforts for the instruction of the people. Even in the smallest villages the Indians find facilities for learning to read and write. For everywhere one finds primary schools which are supported by the people. On the other hand, the aptness of the Indians is quite remarkable. From the most tender age they can be seen trying to draw their letters with a sharpened bamboo either on the sand or on the green banana leaves. Also many excellent copyists can be found among them, who are skilful in imitating any kind of writing, designs, or printed characters. Among others, there is mentioned a missal book which was copied by an Indian and sent to one of the Spanish kings. It is asserted that it was impossible to distinguish it from the original. They also copy geographical maps with rare exactness.

It follows, then, that the instruction of the Indians is far from being backward, if one compares it with that of the popular classes in Europe. Nearly all the Tagálogs know how to read and write. However, in regard to the sciences, properly so called, very little progress has been made in them among the Indians of the Philippines. Some mestizos alone have a slight smattering of them, and those among the Indians who have received orders know Latin. The most erudite are without doubt those who, having studied at the university of Santo Tomás, have embraced the career of the bar. Among them are counted advocates worthy of being placed by the side of the most celebrated in Spain.

In regard to what concerns literature, there is a Tagálog grammar and dictionary, as well as a work called arte, which is a kind of polyglot grammar, of the Tagálog, Bicol, Visayan and Isinayan. All these works, and in general everything that appears in one of the languages of the country, are published by the care of the religious, who have at their disposition the printing house of Santo Tomás, and who have the means of meeting the expenses of the printing, which the Indians could not do. Both at Manila and in its environs there are several printing houses for the use of the public. They are the presses of Nuestra Señora de Loreto at Sampaloc, which issues grammars, dictionaries, works of history, etc. There was formerly published at Manila a newspaper called El noticioso Filipino. Today it appears there only as [a paper of] the prices current in Spanish and in English. At our departure the establishment of a new newspaper was beginning. [132]

The literary works consist of pieces in verse, sometimes on very weighty subjects. Thus, for example, the "Passion of our Lord" has been translated into Tagálog verse. Then there are tragedies, which as we have mentioned above are excessively long. [133] They often contain the entire life of a king. There are, furthermore, little poems, corridas, epithaliums, and songs. These last especially are very numerous and have special names, such as comintang de la conquista, the sinanpablo, the batanguiño, the cavitegan. [134] Not only are the words of these songs, but also the melodies, national, and the Indians note the music of them with prodigious cleverness. All the Indians, in fact, are naturally given to music and there are some of them who play five or six instruments. Also there is not a village, however small it be, where mass is not accompanied by music for lack of an organ. The choice of the airs which they play is not always the most edifying. We have heard in the churches the waltzes of Musard, and the gayest airs of the French comic opera.

Thus, as we have just said, the Indians are born musicians. Those who before knew only the Chinese tam-tam, the Javanese drum, and a kind of flute of Pan, made of a bit of bamboo, today cultivate the European instruments with a love which comes to be a passion. They are not, for the most part, very strong in vocal music, for they have very little or no voice. Nevertheless, their singing offers in our opinion a certain character of originality which is not unworthy of attention. [135]

Scarcely had the Spaniards conquered that archipelago than its inhabitants tried to imitate the musical instruments of Europe, and the viguela, a kind of guitar having a very great number of strings, but which is not always the same, soon became their favorite instrument. They manufactured it with a remarkable perfection. And besides, they themselves made the strings.

The bandolon is another guitar, but smaller; having twenty-four metallic strings joined by fours. They are very skilful in playing that instrument, and they make use either of one of their finger nails, which they allow to grow to a very great length, or of a little bit of wood. We do not know from what nation they have borrowed that instrument, which we have never seen in Spain.

The music of the villages of which we have spoken is generally composed of violins, of ebony flutes, or even of bamboo in the remote provinces, and of a bajo de viguela, a large guitar of the size of a violon-cello, which is played with a horn or ebony finger expressly made [for that purpose]. They draw from it very agreeable sounds. That music, somewhat discordant, is not often wholly without something agreeable in it. We cannot help admiring men who can reach that point without having taken lessons, and of whom the majority have perhaps never had occasion to meet an artist.

The military music of the regiments of the garrison at Manila, and in some large villages of the provinces, has reached a point of perfection which is astonishing. We have never heard better in Spain, not even in Madrid. It is at the square of the palace that, on Thursdays, Sundays, and fête days, at eight o'clock in the evening, at the time when the retreat is beaten, the society of Manila and the foreigners and travelers, assemble to hear the concert. The Indians play there from memory for two or three hours alternately, from great overtures of Rossini and Meyerbeer, or contradances, and vaudevilles. They owe the great progress which they have made for some time in their military music to the French masters who direct them. These same musicians are also summoned to the great balls, where they execute pieces among the contradances played by other instruments.

We have stated that the vocal music of the Indians is not equal to that of their instrumental music, which is especially true of the quality of their voice, which is sharp and shrill. All their airs are applied to words of love; they are regrets, and reproaches, addressed to a faithless swain, and sometimes allusions drawn from the history of the ancient kings, or from holy Scripture.

Sometimes a number of Indians gather in the house of one of them and form a concert of amateurs. At that time they sing the Passion to the accompaniment of a full orchestra. At other times five, seven, or nine bagontaos (young bachelors) assemble at night in the beautiful clear moonlight and run about the villages in the vicinity of Manila, where they give serenades to their sweethearts, their dalagas, or donzellias [i.e., doncella (maidens)], whom the Tagálogs who are of more distinguished rank and who speak Spanish call their novias [i.e., sweethearts]. One could imagine nothing more singular and more picturesque than to see during those brilliant nights of the torrid zone, when the moon sheds floods of silver light, and the balmy breeze tempers the burning heat of the atmosphere, to see, we say, the Indians crouched en cuclillas for entire hours without getting tired of that position, which we would find so uncomfortable, singing their love under the windows of their mistresses.

Numerous orchestras of musicians are summoned at any hour of the day to the houses of Manila in order to have all sorts of ancient and modern dances there: the old rigodons, [136] quadrilles, the English contradances, waltzes, gallops, and without doubt the polka will not be long in penetrating there also. It is rare among the Indians, and especially among the mestizos, that a baptism, marriage, or any ceremony is celebrated without music and dancing. The burial of children (criaturas) is always accompanied by music.

One further word on the extraordinary talent of the Indians for musical execution. One day we accompanied Monsieur Auguste Barrot, our worthy consul, the alcalde of the province of Laguna, on a tour which he was making for the election of gobernadorcillos. We reached Calaüan, where we stopped to sup and sleep at the house of a respectable cura whose house, like that of all ecclesiastics, was open to all travelers without exception. Travelers are there fed and lodged as long as they please to stop and without any cost to them. Now, at the house of this cura we heard an Indian who played with equal perfection on seven different instruments, on which he executed the most difficult pieces. When he had finished, the good cura, in order to amuse us, performed some sleight of hand tricks and juggling, and showed us a theater of marionnettes, which he had himself mounted.

The comintang, which we have before mentioned as a national song, is also a dance. While the musicians are playing and singing it an Indian and an Indian woman execute a pantomime which agrees with the words. It is a lover who is trying to inflame the heart of a young girl, about whom he runs while making innumerable amorous movements and greetings in the fashion of the country, accompanied by movements of the arms and of the body, which are not the most decent, but which cause the spectators to break out into loud and joyous laughter. Finally, the lover, not being able to succeed, feigns to be sick and falls into a chair prepared for him. The young girl, frightened, flies to his aid but he rises again very soon cured, and begins to dance and turn about with her in all directions, to the great applause of those present.

The pampamgo is another dance which is especially remarkable by the movements of the loins, and the special grace which the women show in it. It is accompanied by very significative clapping of the hands.

In the Visayas they dance the bagay, the music and song of which are langorous and melancholy, like that of the comintang. It is also a lover and a mistress who dance, the while they mingle their motions with cries.

The Montescos of the provinces of the north of the island of Luçon also dance to the sound of their bamboo flutes, but their gestures and their postures are so indecent that for shame a woman never dances except with her husband.

The Negritos in their dances hold in their hands their bow and arrows and utter horrible cries. They make frightful contortions and leaps to which in the country one has given the name of camarones, comparing them to those that the sea-crabs make in the water. They end their dance by shooting their arrows into the air, and their eyesight is so quick that they sometimes kill a bird on the wing. Their ouroucay, or song of the mountains, is a very pleasing melody consisting of six measures which are repeated time and time again, which if it were arranged for chorus, would make a fine effect.

The fandango, the çapateado, the cachucha, and other Spanish dances have been adopted by the Indians, and they do not lack grace when they dance them to the accompaniment of castinets, which they play with a remarkable precision. They also execute some dances of Nueva España, such as for example the jarabès, where they show all the Spanish vivacity with movements of their figure, of their breasts, of their hips, to right and left forward and backward, and pirouettes, whose rapidity is such that the eye can scarce follow them.

Drawing and painting are much further advanced than one would believe among the Indians of the Philippines. Without taking into account the fine geographical maps of Nicolas de Ocampo, we can cite the miniatures of Denian, and Sauriano, the pictures of churches, and the oil portraits of Oreco. Those works are indeed far from being perfect, for the artists to whom they are due have never had any masters, but they present marks of great talent, and the portraits have a striking resemblance [to the original]. We seize this occasion to testify all our gratitude to the two mestizo designers, Juan Serapio Transfiguracion Nepomuceno, and his son, for the services which as artists they have been pleased to render us with so much kindness.

PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO STUDENTS

Royal order dictating rules for the incorporation, in the
universities and audiencias of the colonies, of the studies and
titles obtained in those of España, in the course of jurisprudence,
and vice-versa.

Ministry of Grace and Justice:

Your Excellency:

Some doubts having been occasioned by the difference existing between the plan of studies in force in the Peninsula, and that which is observed in the islands of Cuba and Puerto-Rico, in regard to whether those youth, who have devoted themselves to the career of jurisprudence, may utilize, in one of these points of the monarchy, the courses taken and the titles obtained in the other; and the queen (whom may God preserve) desiring while the government is bringing to a head the fitting reforms, [137] to give the advisable harmony to the above-cited systems of education, to avoid the difficulties and prejudices caused by this uncertainty, has deigned to resolve, after hearing the opinion of the royal Council, that the following orders be observed in regard to this point.

[Points 1 and 2 refer to Cuba and Puerto-Rico.]

3. Students, licentiates, or advocates of the Peninsula who go to continue their career or exercise their profession in the domains of the colonies shall receive credit for the courses which they shall have taken, and the degrees which they shall have obtained shall be recognized whenever they prove them legally, as well as the titles which shall appear to be proved by the competent decision of the supreme Tribunal of Justice or the Ministry of Public Instruction, according to their origin, and derivation.

4. The courts in the Antillas and Philippinas shall continue to observe the present practice of not admitting to the exercise of the profession of lawyer any Peninsular lawyer, unless he first makes the presentation of his titles, before the respective royal Audiencia. But when this legal requirement is observed, the assembly shall have no further power to submit the interested person to any exercise or examination with the object of assuring themselves of his fitness, but shall, on the contrary, consider their powers of intervention limited to declaring the legality of his title, once it has been proved according to the ruling of the preceding disposition, and to order that it be recognized and respected throughout their territory.

5. If, because of the distance or inclemencies of the navigation, considerable harm should come to licentiates, who, when going to the Peninsula, should lose their diplomas and documents, the Audiencia, opening an informatory writ, shall be able to allow them to exercise their profession for a determined period until the presentation of the documents in fitting form.

I write this to your Excellency by royal order, for your information and the advisable results. May God preserve your Excellency many years. Madrid, December 2, 1847.

Arrazola

[Addressed: "Regent of the royal Audiencia and Chancillería of Manila."]

SUPERIOR SCHOOL OF PAINTING, SCULPTURE, AND ENGRAVING

Drawing and painting, for which the natives of the Filipinas show remarkable aptitude, began to be taught in the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País [i.e., Economic Society of Friends of the Country], [138] and in a more ample and official manner in the old School of drawing and painting created in 1849. Some notable artists have graduated from that school, who have, by their productions, honored their country in España and other nations, and obtained prizes in various contests. [139]

By royal decrees of August and December, 1893, this institution was reorganized. The section of the fine arts was separated from the professional school of arts and crafts, and the superior school of painting, sculpture, and engraving was created. Teaching was amplified, and instruction given in various art subjects, including color composition modeling, and drawing from the antique and from nature, including figure drawing. [140] This academy was supported from local funds, a small part being contributed from the general budget. There were no enrolments or academic courses, and hence, no examinations. The pupils could attend as many years as they wished. [141] After its reorganization in 1893, the general attendance was from 200 to 300, and in spite of the poor instruction, some good work was done. [142]

ATENEO MUNICIPAL

In 1859, the fathers of the Society of Jesus came anew to these islands to evangelize the savage tribes of Mindanao. [143] While they were preparing for that enterprise, they were given control (December 10) [144] of the Escuela pía (charity school) of Manila, which then contained 33 pupils under the auspices of the municipality and the protection of the captain-general, then Fernando Norzagaray. By January 2 of the following year the pupils numbered 124. All the elementary primary studies were taught, as well as most of those of secondary instruction, and superior education, in accordance with the regulations then in force. In 1865 it was declared a college of secondary instruction under the title of "Ateneo Municipal [i.e., Municipal Athenaeum] of Manila," by the Madrid government. Some years later it had 200 boarding pupils and a large number of day pupils, and it was impossible to accommodate all those who wished to enter from all parts of the archipelago. In addition to the studies which constitute the course leading to the degree of bachelor of arts, studies of application, to agriculture, industry, and commerce were given, and titles of commercial experts, agricultural experts, and later, mechanical experts were issued.

There were also classes in drawing, vocal and instrumental music, and gymnastics. Expenses were defrayed by the municipality. Statistics show that between the years 1865-1882, a large per cent of those who have entered for the various branches have graduated, the per cent of those graduates studying agriculture being the lowest. In that period 173 A. B. degrees, 40 titles of commercial expert, and 19 titles of agricultural expert had been conferred. The year 1896-1897 showed a total enrolment of 1,176, of whom 510 belonged to the department of primary instruction, 514 to the general studies of secondary instruction, and 152 to the studies of application. The school enjoyed great prestige from its foundation to the close of the Spanish régime, as the methods followed there were better and more modern than any other in the archipelago. [145] It had a faculty of 24. [146]

EDUCATIONAL SUGGESTIONS

SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION [147]

University of Manila. Naval School.