Colonizers Economic Atrocities

By Bernard Jomari B. Razote

From the Spanish Colonial Rule to the
American Period to the Japanese Regime,
economic control and domination has been the
ulterior and main motive of every era. The
economic policies of each period undoubtedly
favored that of the colonizers, which caused
adverse effects to the Filipinos.
When the Spaniards came into the
Philippines, the ulterior motive was to search for
spices such as nutmeg, clove, and paprika,
which they can sell at a higher price when they
go back to their mother country. However, as
the years passed, the economic desire of the
Spaniards rose from search of spices to total
economic domination in the Philippines.
In the span of two hundred years,
Spanish colonizers managed to establish
monopolies in different agricultural fields such
as tobacco and hemp, which paralyzed the
economy of the Philippines. Agricultural lands
were also taken away from the farmers by the
friars, which made the Filipinos poor and
unproductive due to loss of lands. Galleon
trade, from Manila to Acapulco was also
established; however, for many years, it was
kept closed to the Filipinos. Hence, for two
hundred years, Filipinos were stagnated by the
loss of economic participation in the Philippines.
Due to the monopolization of many industries
made by the Spaniards, the Filipinos were not
able to participate in different economic
transactions. Also, even though galleon trade
was opened until 1815, it only involved
Spaniards living in Manila, which had adverse
effects to the Filipinos, since they were not
allowed to participate in most of the trades.

In the time of the Americans, Filipinos

were allowed to participate in trades with its
colonizer. However, due to the rapid industrial
development of the United States, the transfer
of goods from the Philippines to the US was
limited, since an influx of manufactured goods
forced the Americans to search of a market that
would consume such goods. Hence, Filipinos
served as consumers of the finished products
instead of being producers, which deeply
affected our economy. Although there were
years that no tariff or limit was placed on
Philippine goods coming into the United States,
the continuous flood of American products
hindered the Filipinos from establishing a stable
and independent economy.
In the Japanese Period, the economic
participation of the Filipinos was almost
inexistent. Since it is time of war, the Filipinos
were limited to any economic activity. Due to
the fear of raids and bombings, there was
hardly any exchange of goods that happened.
Also, even if the Filipinos were allowed to buy
or sell goods, only Mickey Mouse money was
allowed to be used, which technically had no
value. Hence, the Filipinos again were
stagnated economically in the Japanese period,
due to the ongoing war at that time.
Summing up from the Spanish Era to
the American Period to the Japanese
occupation, it can be said that all of the
colonizers had negative effects in the economic
aspect for the Filipinos. Although there were
times that Filipinos were allowed to participate
in economic transactions, it was overshadowed

by the economic policies that they imposed,

which hardly favored us. As a result, these
economic atrocities by the colonizers created a
deep cut in our economy, since it deprived us
from having any participation in most of the
economic transactions.