Note 19 — I. Agriculture and Landholding at the Time of the Discovery and Conquest

With the coming of the Spaniards, lands were assigned to the colonists, of which they were to have perpetual ownership after four years’ residence.19 Encomiendas of the Indians were also granted to the discoverers and conquerors.20 It is in connection with the administration of these encomiendas that we find in the annals of the Philippines many accounts of abuses and extortions practiced on the natives, and the consequent revolts. It must not, however, be supposed that the Filipinos were actually dispossessed of their lands by the king; for, although according to the constitutional law of the Indies the land and the soil in all colonies were the domain of the king21 and, therefore, could be assigned to deserving persons, there were royal decrees intended to protect the natives in their time-honored possession.22 The question of land ownership has, however, from earliest times been the source of conflicts between the religious orders and the people. Without going into the technical,—and perhaps today, academic,—question of which side had the better legal argument, the fact cannot be denied that the Filipinos had always protested, throughout the various centuries of contact with the Spaniards, against what they considered to be usurpation of their lands.23