The Encomienda Engine

Tax, Tribute, and Native Resistance

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The Encomienda Engine – Tax, Tribute, and Native Resistance

14 August 2025 Feature | Surigao Historical Society | Local History

Before the Revolution, Came the Tribute

Long before Surigao’s people dreamed of independence, they first bore the weight of tribute. For the Spanish Crown, the islands were not merely territories to govern but resources to be extracted. The encomienda system, imposed as early as the 17th century and persisting into the 19th, was the engine by which colonial rule pressed itself upon the daily lives of Surigaonons.

Here, in Caraga, the system was sharpened by the province’s unique status as a politico-military district. Taxes and forced service were not abstract policies, they were demands enforced by the shadow of soldiers and muskets.

What Was an Encomienda?

An encomienda was not land, but a royal grant of tribute rights. The Spanish King, indebted to loyal officers and conquistadores, gave them authority over a number of natives whose tribute they could collect. In Caraga, encomienderos (tribute holders) were often retired military men or loyal servants of the Crown.

In practice, this meant that entire communities of Surigao were bound to pay:

Tribute in kind: rice, gold dust, wax, and forest products.
Tribute in labor: days spent building churches, garrisons, roads, or transporting goods.
Tribute in cash: where currency was scarce, forcing natives to sell goods at unfair rates just to meet tax obligations.

As Dr. Almeda notes, this system blurred the line between civil governance and outright exploitation. The friars might have preached salvation, but the encomendero demanded rice and sweat.

Taxation Under the Sword

The collection of tribute in Surigao was inseparable from military power. Unlike the central provinces where friars alone dominated, Caraga was ruled through a military governor who also wielded civil authority. Failure to pay was treated as rebellion; refusal of labor could invite soldiers into a village.

Reports tell of governors and encomenderos who used coercion freely. Families were torn from their fields to fulfill polo y servicios (forty days of forced labor annually). Churches rose stone by stone, but each stone bore the unseen imprint of sweat and whiplash.

Resistance and Survival

The people of Surigao did not yield quietly. Resistance took many forms:

Flight into the mountains: Upland groups like the Mamanwa and Manobo evaded encomenderos by retreating into Caraga’s rugged interior.
Passive resistance: Some coastal villages delayed payments or undercounted tribute goods, forcing collectors to return again and again.
Open revolt: On occasion, tribute demands sparked uprisings. Villages were torched in reprisal, but the cycle of defiance endured.

Spanish reports branded these resisters as “indios infieles” or “rebels,” yet their struggle was nothing less than the defense of survival.

Faith and Tribute, Intertwined

The encomienda was not just economic—it reshaped spiritual life. Baptism was often followed by the immediate burden of tribute. To accept Christianity was, in effect, to enter a system of taxation and labor obligations.

The irony was stark: while friars extolled the equality of souls before God, tribute registers meticulously recorded who owed rice, gold, or labor. The church bell and the tax roll rang together in Surigao.

The Legacy of Encomienda in Surigao

When the encomienda system finally waned in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, replaced by more direct colonial administration, the scars remained. Communities had been displaced, labor patterns disrupted, and resentment toward authority embedded deep in the Surigaonon memory.

This resentment would later fuel stronger uprisings, the Colorum movement of 1924, peasant unrest under American land policies, and even the political activism of later decades.

Dr. Almeda reminds us: the encomienda was not just a tax system. It was the first crucible of colonial control in Caraga, and the people’s first lessons in both subjugation and resistance.

Five Questions to Spark Your Curiosity

How did tribute collection differ between coastal and upland communities of Surigao?
In what ways did the politico-military structure intensify the burden of the encomienda compared to other provinces?
What products and resources from Caraga were most exploited through the tribute system?
How did indigenous strategies of resistance evolve in response to tribute demands?
In remembering the encomienda today, should Surigaonons see it as the foundation of local governance—or as the first wound of colonial exploitation?

Explore Further, Engage Deeper

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