The tragedy of colonization in the Philippines is that it created a country but splintered a
people. 1 It unified a scattering of self-ruling communities into a single state but divided its
citizens into those who acquired power from col onization and those who lost power
because they avoided colonization (Duhaylungsod 1996; Lynch 1984). Colonization
consolidated the Philippines into a political unit when it became a colony of Spain after
Magellan claimed the entire Isias de Filipinas for the Spanish king in 1521 (Douglas 1970) …

The tragedy of colonization in the Philippines is that it created a country but splintered a
people. 1 It unified a scattering of self-ruling communities into a single state but divided its
citizens into those who acquired power from colonization and those who lost power because
they avoided colonization (Duhaylungsod 1996; Lynch 1984). Colonization consolidated the
Philippines into a political unit when it became a colony of Spain after Magellan claimed the
entire Mas de Filipinas for the Spanish king in 1521 (Douglas 1970). The present Philippine …