Pila Historical Society Foundation Inc.
Center and Periphery
In the colonies, the Villa de Españoles, as the name implied, was primarily designated as a settlement for the Spanish pioneers.viii However, in the Philippines, Spain’s “farthest” colony, there were never large numbers of Spanish settlers at any one time. Thus, a Spanish villa in the Islands could not be conserved as such indefinitely. This was probably one of the reasons why in the first place there were only a few villas in the archipelago.
The titles “Noble” and “Muy Noble” given to Pila and Tayabas, respectively, indicated the fact that the villas, as juridical persons, were elevated to the nobility. In fact, as a distinct class, the Spaniards and their mestizo offspring as well as all their descend-ants in the direct male line, for whom the villas were organized, enjoyed the exemptions of the nobility from paying tributes and performing forced labor and personal services (tributos, polos y servicios). The Indios in the villas were not likewise exempted except, as in other towns, the members of the principalía who occupied incumbent positions in the local government including their primógenito or eldest son or male heir. ix In the late 18th to the 19th centuries, the last two villas, Bacolor (1765) and Lipá (1887) were no longer created with Spanish residents in the monarch’s mind.
Hence, in the beginning, the salient rationale for creating villas in strategic regions in the colony was to draw, like a magnet, early Spanish settlers and their descendants to a place of prestige, wealth and security, protected as it was by a detachment of Spanish and Filipino troops. As a Spanish enclave, the villa was initially “walled in,” physically or at least symbolically, either in concrete or with a palisade of wood, from the rest of the town that bore its name (as depicted in its original coat of arms). It paralleled the demarcation of the walled city of Manila (Intramuros) from its suburbs “outside the walls” (Extramuros) that comprised the greater province of Manila.
However, it appeared that in distant Philippine villas, in contrast to the walled city, the maguinoó or chiefly class retained the right to remain in the center together with the Spanish settlers since they were the original lords of the realm whose support was vital for the security and stability of the villa. In the church-plaza-town hall complex, bajo la campana (under the range of the sound of the bell), the Spaniards still occupied the prime spaces in-between with the principalía not far behind and the common people at the periphery. This was evidently the origin of the Tagalog terms taga-gitná (residents at the center) and taga-tabí (residents at the outskirts), which still endure to this day in former villas and old pueblos like Pila and Tayabas.
The Spaniards of the villa eventually intermarried with the local nobility, presumably “improving” the native stock with the so-called “hybrid vigor” and eventually breaking down the barrier between the villa proper and the town. The principalía, in turn, basked in the reflected glory of their place, which seemed to shine more brightly than an ordinary town. A villa evolved from a Spanish enclave to a “super-pueblo,” or the elite among towns, as it was ultimately regarded, harking back to its pre-hispanic status.
From the mid-18th to the 19th centuries, the Group of Chinese Mestizos (Gremio de Mestizos de Sangley), likewise manifesting its own “hybrid vigor,” loomed as the new commercial elite in half of the villas: Bacolor and all the three city-villas of Cebú, Vigan and Arévalo (as a part of Iloilo). Their district, called Parián, became the economic powerhouse of the salient centers. In contrast, the Chinese mestizos barely gained a foothold on the Bikol villa of Libón and the three Tagalog villas of Pila, Tayabas and Lipá. Stemming from the divide and conquer policy of the colonialists, and taxed twice the rate for the naturales (and half that for the Chinos), the wealthy mestizos nevertheless preferred to view this official measure more as a sign of social prestige than of oppression. From their ranks in the villa-cities of Cebú and Vigan rose two presidents of the Philippines in the 20th century: Sergio Osmeña (1944-46) and Elpidio Quirino (1948-53), respectively. x
The titles “Noble” and “Muy Noble” given to Pila and Tayabas, respectively, indicated the fact that the villas, as juridical persons, were elevated to the nobility. In fact, as a distinct class, the Spaniards and their mestizo offspring as well as all their descend-ants in the direct male line, for whom the villas were organized, enjoyed the exemptions of the nobility from paying tributes and performing forced labor and personal services (tributos, polos y servicios). The Indios in the villas were not likewise exempted except, as in other towns, the members of the principalía who occupied incumbent positions in the local government including their primógenito or eldest son or male heir. ix In the late 18th to the 19th centuries, the last two villas, Bacolor (1765) and Lipá (1887) were no longer created with Spanish residents in the monarch’s mind.
Hence, in the beginning, the salient rationale for creating villas in strategic regions in the colony was to draw, like a magnet, early Spanish settlers and their descendants to a place of prestige, wealth and security, protected as it was by a detachment of Spanish and Filipino troops. As a Spanish enclave, the villa was initially “walled in,” physically or at least symbolically, either in concrete or with a palisade of wood, from the rest of the town that bore its name (as depicted in its original coat of arms). It paralleled the demarcation of the walled city of Manila (Intramuros) from its suburbs “outside the walls” (Extramuros) that comprised the greater province of Manila.
However, it appeared that in distant Philippine villas, in contrast to the walled city, the maguinoó or chiefly class retained the right to remain in the center together with the Spanish settlers since they were the original lords of the realm whose support was vital for the security and stability of the villa. In the church-plaza-town hall complex, bajo la campana (under the range of the sound of the bell), the Spaniards still occupied the prime spaces in-between with the principalía not far behind and the common people at the periphery. This was evidently the origin of the Tagalog terms taga-gitná (residents at the center) and taga-tabí (residents at the outskirts), which still endure to this day in former villas and old pueblos like Pila and Tayabas.
The Spaniards of the villa eventually intermarried with the local nobility, presumably “improving” the native stock with the so-called “hybrid vigor” and eventually breaking down the barrier between the villa proper and the town. The principalía, in turn, basked in the reflected glory of their place, which seemed to shine more brightly than an ordinary town. A villa evolved from a Spanish enclave to a “super-pueblo,” or the elite among towns, as it was ultimately regarded, harking back to its pre-hispanic status.
From the mid-18th to the 19th centuries, the Group of Chinese Mestizos (Gremio de Mestizos de Sangley), likewise manifesting its own “hybrid vigor,” loomed as the new commercial elite in half of the villas: Bacolor and all the three city-villas of Cebú, Vigan and Arévalo (as a part of Iloilo). Their district, called Parián, became the economic powerhouse of the salient centers. In contrast, the Chinese mestizos barely gained a foothold on the Bikol villa of Libón and the three Tagalog villas of Pila, Tayabas and Lipá. Stemming from the divide and conquer policy of the colonialists, and taxed twice the rate for the naturales (and half that for the Chinos), the wealthy mestizos nevertheless preferred to view this official measure more as a sign of social prestige than of oppression. From their ranks in the villa-cities of Cebú and Vigan rose two presidents of the Philippines in the 20th century: Sergio Osmeña (1944-46) and Elpidio Quirino (1948-53), respectively. x