March 16, 1521; on this day in Philippines history, Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese man,

together with Spanish soldiers reached the Philippine Islands. They first landed on Cebu City,

which now known as the oldest city in the history of the Philippines. This marks the start of the

Spain’s 300-plus year colonization of the Philippines. Along with the colonization of the Spaniards

are their different influences on the culture of the Philippines. When we talk about the Spanish

influences on the Philippine culture, a lot of factors come in, such as, food, architecture, language,

religion, and most importantly the name given to the country. “Philippines” which was previously

called “Filipinas” during the Spanish colonization era was named after Philip Prospero, Prince of

Asturias who later on became the King of Spain.

For the Spanish influences on the Filipinos and the Filipino culture throughout history, I

am going to be focusing mainly on the religious area of the cultural influence of Spain to the

Philippines. When Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet touched down on the shores of Cebu on March

of the year 1521, they brought with them a mission of spreading Christianity/Catholicism to native

people residing in the area they landed on. They baptized all the natives that they encountered

when they landed, and it is from this phenomenon where Catholicism in the Philippines began.

Magellan and his men also planted a cross, which currently known as “Magellan’s Cross,” and it

is a famous historical landmark in Cebu City now. They also held the first Euchristic

celebration/Holy Mass right after every native on the Island was baptized. Although many of the

native Filipinos were converted into Catholics/Christians, there was one native group located at

Mactan Island, Cebu that resisted Magellan’s offer of conversion to Catholicism/Christianity. This

tribe was led by a man named Lapu-Lapu. As Lapu-Lapu and his tribesmen refused conversion,

Magellan was eager to have them converted, this led to the “Battle of Mactan,” in which majority

of Magellan’s men, including Ferdinand Magellen himself, met their death. This battle however,
did not stop the spread of Catholicism in the Philippines. In fact, this led to another Spanish

expedition which embarked from Mexico (a Spanish territory), and was headed by a Spaniard

named, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. This expedition was also triggered the start of the Spanish

colonization in the Philippines. In the early periods of Catholicism in the Philippines, the Catholic

Church had a negative reputation and was often associated to abuse, power, wealth, and other

negative implications. The priests/friars during this era had so much power, that they also played

a part in governing the people of the Philippines. As the Catholic Church in the Spanish era gained

power, they started abusing this, which led to abusive actions towards the Filipinos. The Spanish

friars also built schools to educate Filipino students about the faith and academics; but the

educational system was also used by the friars as a means of abusing and belittling the Filipinos.

These are some of the reason why it gave the Spanish friars a hard time spreading the faith. Take

note that not all Spanish friars were abusive and evil, there were also good ones which were very

helpful to the Filipinos. These good acts were the reasons why Filipinos did not give up on the

Catholic faith and continued believing in it.

There are various congregations/religious orders located around the Philippines up to this

day. Some still continue their missionary work and though majority of the Filipinos are Catholics,

still continue to convert other Filipinos into the Catholic faith; while some have permanently

resided in the Philippines and has been continuous in educating students and celebrating

Catholicism in the Philippines. There were five religious orders that arrived in the Philippines to

do their missionary work, but not all arrived at the same time. The earliest religious order in the

Philippines were the Augustinians, who arrived in the Philippines with Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

The next congregation that arrived was the Franciscans in the year 1578. The Jesuits, founders of

Ateneo de Manila University, then followed in 1581. Right after the Jesuits came the Dominican
priests, who founded the oldest Catholic University in the Philippines in 1611, which in the

University of Santo Tomas. And lastly, the Augustinian Recollects in 1606. All of these five

congregations were scattered around the Philippines to be missionaries and helped in the spreading

the Catholic faith.

The Spanish colonization and its influences in the Philippines culture, especially religion,

is very much evident up to this date. The Catholic Church is still a powerful element in the

Philippines culture. It affects both the citizens and the government. I myself am a follower of the

Catholic faith and I am a strong believer in the Catholic faith. Catholicism and religion still play a

big role, not only in the Philippines society, but also in the global society. A perfect example of

the relation of faith and politics in the Philippines was during the People Power Revolution in the

1980’s. During this era, specifically in 1986, the Philippines was under the rule of a dictator; the

late President Ferdinand Marcos. The Catholic church and the Filipinos were fed up with

Ferdinand Marcos and his ways of ruling. This resistance led to the People Power Revolution, in

which the Catholic Church, represented by the Manila Archbishop at that time, Jaime Cardinal

Sin; relayed upon the Filipino people a message through a radio broadcast (Radio Veritas) owned

by the church, a message, calling on the Filipinos to support the movement to overthrow Marcos

from his presidency. This revolution was peaceful, and there was no bloodshed, the soldiers trying

to block the millions of Filipinos at EDSA were ordered by Marcos himself not to shoot and lower

their weapons. Thanks to the Catholic faith, it gathered all of the Filipino people to work with one

another to end the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and return the democracy that the Philippines

has long been pleading for.