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- Title:
- Government Provisions (Part A)
- Date Created:
- 2021-05-25
- Description:
- The previous vignette noted that as the 150th year of the colony was nearing, the Sangley Mestizo emerged as a new part of the population. There were many other social changes occurring and they all had impact on food security. A second change was the increase in the number of soldiers outside Manila to feed. Annual tribute was accepted in currency already, but only half the total. Payment in a rice quota continued so men working for the government could get paid their rice ration. Fr. San Antonio describes 24 fortresses and garrisons from Cagayan to Zamboanga in addition to the more heavily protected ones at Manila and Cavite. Some had only a handful of soldiers. Chaplains and military hospitals were also allocated a fixed amount of rice annually. Fr. San Antonio writes that every year over around 9,500 kilos of rice were allocated for soldiers of the Royal Service. Indios and not Spanish were farming. Although there were over 100 parishes (that also had the political status of pueblos), the interior lands of provinces like Pampanga were still wild and uncultivated. They were populated by wild pagans and vagabonds. The latter included men registered as parish residents but who ran away to escape polo — the required 40 days of labor on government projects. The work ranged from church maintenance, felling trees for lumber, and building ships to rowing during war. Those doing polo were supposed to be given a daily rice ration. Rice was boon and bane for the indio.
- Subjects:
- Philippines -- History -- 1521-1896 Racially mixed people Food security Food prices Labor
- Exhibition:
- J San Antonio
- Source:
- King Philip V of Spain (1683-1746). Portrait around 1739 painted by Louis-Michel van Loo. Philip V (Duke of Anjou) was a grandson of France’s King Louis XIV. The outgoing, childless Spanish king Carlos II was the maternal uncle of Louis XIV. He selected the Duke, then 16 years old, as his heir. Wikipedia. Public Domain.
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Government Provisions (Part A)", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll219.html