Tributo — The Filipino Tribute to the Colonial Government During the Spanish Regime
Loading ...In order to get enough money to pay for the administration of the country and the construction of churches, government buildings, roads and bridges, and improvements in transportation and communication, the Filipinos were compelled to pay tribute called tributo, to the colonial government. The tributo was imposed as a sign of the Filipinos’ loyalty to the king of Spain. Those who paid tribute were individuals above sixteen years old and below sixty. At the start, a tribute amounting to eight reales was collected. The tribute increased in 1598 and a small part of it, called sanctorum, went to the church. Because of the widespread opposition to the tribute and to the abuses in its collection, the king abolished it in 1884. The cedula personal, the equivalent of which is the present residence certificate, was introduced in its place.
Aside from the tribute, the Filipinos also paid other taxes. There were the diezmos prediales, the donativo de Zamboanga, and the vinta. The diezmos prediales was a tax consisting of one-tenth of the produce of one’s land. The donativo de Zamboanga, introduced in 1635, was taxed specifically used for the conquest of Jolo. The vinta was tax paid by people in the provinces along the coast of Western Luzon to defend the area against Muslim pirates common at the time, as can still be seen from the surviving towers of stone (where bells were rung to warn the locality when Muslim pirates arrived).
