Provenance: Provenance: Acquired from collectors, dealers, bourse tables, and auctions throughout the years

Literature: Pictorial Album on Rizal (Album PIctorico Sobre Rizal), Published by the National Centennial Commission on José Rizal, Manila,1962; Page 66

ABOUT THE WORK

In 1884, the time-honored “tribute” was abolished and replaced by a new personal tax system, payment of which would be evidenced by the identification document called the Cedulas Personales. For some three hundred years, since 1523, tribute had to be paid by every family each year. It covered married men (as young as sixteen years old), their wives, and any minor children (males below eighteen; females below twenty). The tariff had begun at eight reales peso and through the years had reached twelve and a half reales or one and a half pesos. Unmarried children living with their parents paid the equivalent of half a tribute. There were many exceptions to the tribute including the ruling classes of gobernadorcillos and cabezas de barangay, their oldest sons, as well as the descendants of Manila’s first kings. The Cedulas Personales, on the other hand, were strictly imposed on every resident of the Philippines—“Spaniards and foreigners, as well as the natives, without distinction of race, nationality or sex, over eighteen years of age.” The only exceptions were the Chinese, who paid another kind of poll tax, the remontados, Negritos or those living in isolation in the hills or infieles (pagans) not subject to the local administration, and the natives and colonists of the archipelago of Jolo and of the islands of Balabac and Palawan. This newfangled means of taxation was modeled after the Spanish equivalent in the peninsula, and examples in this lot, issued in Madrid, indicate how very similar the Philippine ones were. The Cedulas, however, were considerably more expensive than the tribute ever was, and instead of being levied on the family unit, became applicable to each head. It would bring anger and unrest to a fever pitch, providing further motivation to rise up and take arms against the Spanish oppressors. There were eventually sixteen different classes of Cedulas, corresponding to a graduated level of income. Included in the lot is a fifth-class Cedula which cost 7.50 pesos and applied to those paying direct taxes of fifty to one hundred pesos, or who had incomes of one thousand to two thousand pesos—a relatively high income as befits a merchant living in Binondo, Manila. (The highest tier governed those who had incomes in excess of eight thousand pesos.) In 1890, the ninth class was declared to include all persons “not belonging to the higher classes who enjoyed fixed incomes, and all domestic servants.” The tenth class, on the other hand, “was declared to include wage workers whose earnings were irregular or of a fortuitous character.” It would be precisely these kinds of Cedulas that would be torn defiantly at the Cry of Balintawak, signaling the start of the Revolution of 1896. The Cedula Personal was no doubt the heavy yoke that every Filipino had to wear. It marked him as chattel of the Spanish empire. He was required to present it at every important occasion of his life, when enrolling for school; when entering in any contract, private or public; when filing a case in court; when making or withdrawing deposits or when borrowing money from banks; and when traveling beyond the boundaries of his residence. It functioned therefore like a passport and NBI clearance, since it had to be presented when applying for government work or domestic service or to pursue a career, profession, art, trade, or any business. In fact, one could not even enter any provincial or municipal office without presenting it. And at any moment, any officer of the government may demand its presentation for any or no reason at all. The Cedula Personal had to be carried at all times, and if any person were found without it, he could be arrested, jailed, and subjected to severe penalties. These documents thus symbolize the courageous spirit of 1896 that animated the Katipuneros who were willing to fight for freedom whatever the cost. (Lisa Guerrero Nakpil)