History of Spanish slavery in the Philippines

Spanish slavery was introduced to the Philippines through the encomienda system which was instituted throughout the Indies by Nicolás de Ovando, governor of the Indies from 1502 to 1509.

This system rewarded Spanish conquerors with forced labor from the native peoples. A system of serfdom, the pre-colonial alipin system, already existed before the islands were colonized by the Spanish Empire in 1565, but it differed in that groups of native people were not obliged to render forced labor to superiors. Rather, the alipin rendered services and labor under a complex system of obligations; indeed the etymology indicates that they were originally war captives rendering ransom. After a Spanish clergyman and social reformer Bartolomé de las Casas wrote about the abuses of the encomienda system and of the native peoples in his book A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, public outcry and his lobbying in Spain caused the enaction of the New Laws in 1542.

According to his firsthand accounts, enslaved natives in the Indies were burned alive, starved, forced to work in mines, and the women stopped producing milk because of the hard labor they were forced into.' While no similarly graphic accounts exists of the abuses endured by the native Filipinos, several revolts occurred due to encomienda even after the passage of the new laws and continued abuse of the system was recorded.

From the late 16th century to the early 17th century, Spanish soldiers, officials, and settlers often acquired slaves through the native system as a way to skirt around the New Laws. Many of these slaves were taken back to Nueva España (where they were called chinos) and Spain as personal servants or slaves of the Spanish crew and passengers of the Manila Galleons. In addition, many native Filipinos were also pressed into service as sailors for the galleons, often under harsh conditions. These practices and the indigenous alipin system were eventually stopped by the mid-1600s, after additional royal decrees which mandated harsh punishments for violations of the Laws of the Indies, as well as heavy taxes levied on personal servants brought aboard galleons.

Slavery of people who were not under Spanish jurisdiction, however, was not banned. Slaves purchased from other slave markets in Southeast Asia passed through Manila and onward to Mexico in the Manila Galleons. Native captives of Spain from the Spanish–Moro conflict were also enslaved in this way. Conversely, Filipinos who were subjects of Spain were often enslaved by Moro pirates and raiders. They were either integrated as slaves into the Moro Sultanates, ransomed to relatives, or sold further on to the Dutch East Indies (via the Sultanate of Gowa) and the Chinese. <!--

Pre-Spanish enslavement of compatriots by native Filipinos
Prior to Spanish colonialization, Filipino society was composed of baranganic societies with small populations and low production levels. In order to exploit the rich natural resources of the country, the ruling datus increased available manpower by not limiting legal penalties to fines but also including labor service penalties. Creditors did the same for debtors not having properties to offer as collateral. Manpower scarcity also brought wars to widen a barangay's territories and to acquire captives who could be indentured. These were termed alipin in Tagalog or oripun in Visayan and were traded legally from one owner to another. The people under a datu, except for his personal supporters called timawa who accompanied him in wars, also paid him tributes.

Enslaving of others by Spanish in Philippines
Spaniards considered it legitimate to enslave non-Christian captives from wars and trade them legally in the past. This is because they did not consider this as an uncivilized and unchristian act because they believed that men were not created equal and the inferior men may be ruled by the superior ones. Christians, however, were anticipated to show sympathy to the people suffering and this made some masters free their slaves. A lot of them apprenticed their slaves so they could still work under their supervision once they were freed.

There were two major types of slaves: the esclavos negros who were Africans purchased from Portugal, and the esclavos blancos who were Moros taken from wars. They were usually sold in public auctions. People from both the middle and the upper classes bought them, as well as the clergy.

Spanish Slavery in the Philippines
When Spaniards conquered the archipelago, the Laws of the Indies served as a compilation of royal decrees for the Spanish colonies including the Philippines. This included a law stating that Spaniards were forbidden to hold Filipinos as slaves since they were under the subjection of King Phillip II. Observing the widespread practice of slavery among the native tribes, the Law was sometimes ignored by soldiers, some acting on their own and seizing natives in various parts of the country. Governor-General Legazpi, upon discovering this, freed the slaves and punished those who took them under the jurisdiction of the monarchy.

Later on, the division of Luzon into encomiendas created a form of compulsory work for the encomenderos, who were given the responsibility of evangelizing the natives working for them. Many held workers for household chores. However, it is arguable whether these workers were slaves in the common sense of the word. A Portuguese visitor noted that there was no Spanish soldier who did not have an Indio or native worker. Even the religious houses held at least one. The king, however, after hearing about this, appointed a minister, called the Protector of the Indios, to investigate and restore the liberty of possible slaves. It seemed unfair to encomenderos to generally abolish slavery though and it would cause economic disruption. The General Assembly of 1586 then proposed three points:


 * All children are to be born free.
 * No new slaves will be made.
 * Slaves will have to pay a fair price for freedom.

The king did not implement this, however, and enforced further laws to punish the Spaniards who held Indio slaves. This opened for a new trend which was illegally importing foreigners, especially Africans. Since they were not under the king's subjection, they were not included in the laws and they were made slaves as a replacement for the Indios. Even some Filipinos acquired these foreign slaves and by 1621, Black people constituted around one third of the Intramuros population. These foreign slaves were mainly employed in Manila and not in the provinces. Some of them were also resold in Mexico during the time of the Manila Galleon Trade to cover transportation costs.

End of Slavery in the Philippines
Although the king enforced laws to end Spanish slavery in the Philippines, he did not include laws that may end the native Philippine slavery between the Filipinos. Although it was not completely abolished, it underwent considerable changes during the Spanish occupation. The mangangayaw raids, which were the raiding of barangays for obtaining slaves and territories, disappeared. Tyrannical enslavement also disappeared since the datus were forced to free their slaves and the exchange of slaves in the weddings was not allowed after most Filipinos were converted to Christians. By the middle of the 17th century, Philippine slavery disappeared in areas under the Spanish control. In areas that were not under the Spanish control like mountains in Mindanao and Cordillera, however, it was still present.

Spanish slavery, on the other hand, declined in the Philippines with the decline of slavery in Spain. It was abolished in Spain in 1820, when Spanish liberals took power and reimposed the Spanish Constitution of 1812 on Ferdinand VII, in Puerto Rico in 1873, and in Cuba in 1886. It was completely abolished after industrialization in all places took place during the nineteenth century. -->