Skip to main content

Christianity Not Only Brought To The Philippines Culture – Also Agriculture!

Negative. The Rappler essay by Nicolas Faller Jr (NFJ), published 16 March 2021, “No, We Shouldn’t Celebrate 500 Years Of Christianity In Our Country[1]” is only contrarian, not convincing. All claim, no corroboration. Clearly, NFJ neither amasses his content nor argues his contention.

So now I will argue to the contrary: “Yes, We Should Celebrate 500 Years Of Christianity In Our Country!” I do not know which school NFJ graduated from, but I am an alumnus of UP Los Baños and, for God’s sake, I got a perfect grade of 1 (Excellent) from our  UP Diliman professor in Western Thought, Mr Bituin. Now, NFJ gets from me a grade of 5 (Failed) on his essay. To justify the 5, since I am an agriculturist, I will concentrate on what the Spaniards did for PH Agriculture.

In the “History Of The Philippines[2],” Wikipedia says:

Outside the tertiary institutions, the efforts of missionaries were in no way limited to religious instruction but also geared towards promoting social and economic advancement of the islands… They also introduced advances in rice agriculture, brought from America maize and cocoa and developed the farming of indigo, coffee and sugar cane.

Now then, where would NFJ get his cup after cup of coffee if we Filipinos did not welcome Christianity brought by the Spaniards to this country?!

One of Spain's objectives in (colonizing) the Philippines was the conversion of the local population to Roman Catholicism. The work of conversion was facilitated by the disunity and insignificance of other organized religions, except for Islam, which was still predominant in the southwest. The pageantry of the church had a wide appeal, reinforced by the incorporation of indigenous social customs into religious observances.

Before the Spaniards came to the Philippines, our peoples were disunited (a polite term). There were religions, plural – and nationally insignificant because of their quantity and quality. Roman Catholicism unified the warring tribes and civilized them, while using indigenous customs.

What I dislike was this:

Among the most significant changes under Spanish rule was that the indigenous idea of communal use and ownership of land was replaced with the concept of private ownership and the conferring of titles on members of the principalía.

Objecting to communal ownership of lands, the Spanish conquerors introduced private ownership. With private land ownership came titles of the upper class (principalía). I must say here I prefer the communal ownership of lands, because with modern technologies and systems, such ownership is necessary to bring about economic & social efficiencies.

Of course, the family of our National Hero Jose Rizal suffered from heavy taxes exacted by the Spanish clergy who owned or controlled lands in Calamba and Los Baños, but this was not the dictate of Christianity but rather the dictate of greed, despite the admonition of God in his Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.”

Isn’t it amazing that Secretary of Agriculture William Dar has been advocating farm clustering or consolidation as a methodological solution to individual and inefficient operations of farmlands?!@517


[1]https://www.rappler.com/voices/imho/opinion-no-we-should-not-celebrate-500-years-christianity-our-country?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR16lzlOO2zJJj3RPd5quwcAZs1UYxSwcn6QaQTmi9y_HaVwl8IIDpM6WOU#Echobox=1615877113

[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Historical PH 1st Holy Mass: Mazaua Or Limasawa? Fr Amalla Vs Maria Serena Diokno Vs Ambeth Ocampo – And The Priest Is Right!

We Filipinos celebrate 500 years of Christianity today Wednesday, 31 March 2021, Christianity brought to pagans by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailing the seas for Spain. The historical question is: Where was the first Holy Mass celebrated: “Limasawa” (in Leyte) or “Mazaua” (in Butuan)? Catholic priest Fr Joesilo C Amalla has just published the book (above), An Island They Called Mazaua, that argues the island of “Mazaua” in Butuan is the “true site of first Holy Mass in the Philippines [1] ”  and not “Limasawa” in Leyte (ANN, 07 January 2021, Manila Times ). The declaration and discussion are made by Butuan-based Fr Amalla in his 644-page book. Among other things, he writes: The truth is that the prevailing state- and church-affirmation and multiple reaffirmations of the island of Limasawa as the site of that first Holy Mass have no factual, historical and geographic (bases) whatsoever nor any shred of evidentiary support from cartographic studies, navigational info...
Post a Comment
Read more

The PhilRice Drum Seeder Looked Good In April 2018 – Where Is It Now?

Above, top image, the Antique ricefield looks very promising in yield. Here is the story as shared on Facebook by PhilRice (my translation in English): TINGNAN! Unang palayan sa Sta. Ana, Tibiao, Antique na natamnan ng 60kg binhi kada ektarya sa pamamagitan ng sabog-tanim. Look! First ricefield in Santa Ana, Tibiao, Antique that was planted with 60 kg seeds per hectare by way of broadcasting. Sa kauna-unahang pagkakataon, natunghayan ng mga magsasaka sa nasabing lugar na kayang-kaya ang 60kg kada ektarya gamit ang seed spreader machine (granular applicator) at certified seeds mula sa RCEF. For the first time ever, farmers in that area witnessed that 60 kg/ha is quite enough using a seed spreader machine (granular applicator) and certified seeds from RCEF. Makikita sa larawan na magaganda ang naging tubo at mabubulas ang mga itinanim na palay. What can be seen in the picture is beautiful growth of and robust rice plants. Ayon sa ulat, namangha ang mga magsasaka rito na kay...
Post a Comment
Read more

07, The More The Merrier – P1B From DA Supportive Of 10 Bataan Model Farms Leading PH Agriculture

Very optimistic – and excited – was Secretary of Agriculture William Dar after visiting 2 model 1-ha farms in the villages of Daang Bago and San Simon in the town of Dinalupihan, Bataan, Friday, 19 February 2021. He said in the DA news release “Bataan Model Farms Demonstrate Future Of Philippine Agriculture” (20 February 2021): I am thrilled to have seen the progress of this rice-high-value crops diversification system evolving in the Municipality of Dinalupihan. We were here when the idea was being conceived in 2019 and now it has really started its journey, its development. As an agriculturist and a communicator for development in the last 45 years, I know: That it is all markedly historical for the Philippines. The cropping calls for rice in the wet season, and high-value crops (vegetables) in the dry season, with fertigation (fertilization via irrigation). And the technology-setup is replicated 10 times in the same municipality. (I don’t know why, but 60-year old foreign-funde...
Post a Comment
Read more