Multiple factors led to the Philippine Revolution, one of them being economic. On March 10, 1785 one of the many factors behind the economic boom of the 19th century was born. On that day, the Spanish crown authorized the creation of the Royal Company of the Philippines. That formation, coupled with economic reforms and new policies that were pushed through (along with the opening of Philippine ports to trade) led to results that could be considered unintended and unwelcome by the Spanish Empire.
In her book, Visions of the Possible, Felice Sta. Maria wrote: “Filipinas revised its economic strategies…New profits expanded the middle-class of Spanish, native, and mixed blood…With economic ascendancy came desires for corresponding political and social improvements. It was during this period of quiet restlessness in the last half of the 19th century, when talks of reforms, representation and self-governance became common…there was talk of a complete breakaway from Spain — through nothing less than a revolution.”
Economist and historian Dr. Benito J. Legarda Jr. wrote in his book After the Galleons about the Philippines (and specifically its Spanish merchant class) prior to the 19th century: “That class…should have led in the development of the country’s internal resources, especially for the export trade, and its failure to do so prompted active intervention by the state.” Those interventions would come in the form of the innovative Basque Governor-General Jose Basco y Vargas, the Real Compania de Filipinas (Royal Company of the Philippines) and the few but influential economic entrepreneurs at the end of the 18th century. The galleon trade put us on the world map, but the economic reforms of the late 18th and early 19th century brought us into the modern world.
The Royal Company, entrepreneurs and the Royal Economic society established industries such as sugar, tobacco, indigo, textile manufacturing, and agriculture for inter-island and international trade, while opening up Philippine ports to retain shipping and export as major businesses. With regards to the Royal Company and its effects, Dr. Legarda would write: “…the company foreshadowed the commercial operations of foreign firms in the following decades…(it) placed ready money in the hands of native Filipinos and laid the economic foundation for the rise of a native middle class. The profits of trade no longer went…to a few privileged Spaniards and Creoles in the galleon trade but also to native producers of export crops. These Filipinos would form the educated, aspiring class…” From that class would spring the ideas of reform, freedoms, representation and eventually revolution.
Curiously, the Royal Company could actually be called a failure for its stockholders. As a business it was never truly profitable and it closed in 1834. However, in developing the Philippines and introducing much-needed capital for that development, it was a success. In the zeal of the Spanish government to develop the Philippines as a trading, manufacturing and agricultural center, something unintended happened. The Filipinos became empowered and a middle-class of economically self-sufficient and intellectually forward thinking individuals formed. They developed economically, which in turn allowed them to take advantage of a world rapidly shrinking. Young Filipinos for the first time were venturing out. They were being educated away from home (in some cases abroad) and as a result were being introduced to new - revolutionary - ideas.
Economic and educational empowerment can lead to unexpected results; for those previously who had nothing, the consequences are uniformly positive. For those who are in power, jealously guard that power and refuse to let it go, the consequences of empowerment can be disastrous.