TODAY IN THE PAST

Today, October 3, 1603, the first Chinese revolt was quickly suppressed after many Filipinos from Quiapo and Tondo are killed.

Manila was dependent on the Chinese for almost all its trade and services. It was the importance of Chinese labor and trade that Fr. Hernando delos Rios Coronel advised the Spanish Crown to accord fair treatment to the Chinese. Every time the Chinese were massacred or expelled, the colony experienced the pangs of economic depression.

The rapid influx of Chinese into Manila alarmed the Spanish authorities who feared for the safety of the colony. The authorities considered them as a menace to Spanish sovereignty. As such they were the object of political, social, and religious, abhorrence.

The attitude of distrust and fear that the Spanish authorities had assumed toward the Chinese was responsible for the outbreak of several Chinese revolts. Their revolts were palpably armed protests against the racial discrimination and political injustices perpetrated on them by the Spanish officials.

The three mandarins who came to Manila, on May 28, 1603, to verify the existence of a "Mountain of Gold" (Chin San) in Cavite; caused Governor Acuna to strengthen the city's defenses, for he suspected that they came to spy on Spanish positions in the colony.

The warlike preparations of the Spaniards alarmed the Chinese residents. Spanish chronicles recorded the Chinese plot to overthrow the Spanish rule. They were led by Eng Kang. But the plot was betrayed by a Filipino woman. Thus both Filipinos and Spaniards were warned in time. Eng Kang was quickly placed under arrest, court-martialed, and put to death. Spanish historians claimed that about 23,000 Chinese perished in the revolt.