The Rise of the Inquilinos

• Tenancy System

  • Inquilinos were tenants who leased land for farming in exchange for rent.

  • This system grew after the end of the Galleon Trade and the opening of the Suez Canal, which required intensive land cultivation.
• Hierarchy

  • Farmland was mostly owned by friars and Spanish seculars.

  • Administrators, often Spanish mestizos or Filipino lay brothers, managed the estates and collected rent from inquilinos.

  • Inquilinos paid fixed rents based on land size and quality and often sub-leased land to sharecroppers (kasamas).
• Peasant Protests

  • Sharecroppers, at the bottom of the hierarchy, suffered the most abuse from estate owners and inquilinos.

  • There were instances of peasants taking arms to protest abuses and land usurpation by religious orders.

  • The relative freedom of inquilinos allowed them to lead these protest movements effectively.