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Pages of the Doctrina Christiana, an early Christian book in Spanish and Tagalog. The book contained Latin and baybayin suyat scripts. (1593)
The massive changes in the cultural and natural heritage of the Philippines is one of the most prominent effects of Spanish colonization. Much of the rain-forests of the country were replaced by agricultural and townscape areas. The forests that became agricultural fields were owned by Spanish hacienderos with Filipino slaves. The replacement of forests was caused by a growing population of Spanish imperialists and natives and the importation of various crops and ingredients from the Americas and Europe such as tomato, potato, pepper, chocolate, pineapple, kamachile, chico, guava, and tamarind.
The religious belief systems of the natives were also drastically changed due to the forceful introduction of Roman Catholicism. The new religion paved the way for the clergy rule and the establishment of various churches. Various accounts have noted that many churches were established on top of pre-colonial cemeteries, the house of a datu, or a traditional dambana structure. The tactic was used by the Spanish friars to show that the new faith had the prowess to destroy religions they deemed as 'lesser' that their European religion. The move has been highly criticized as it destroyed the indigenous religious roots of many ethnic groups throughout the Philippines. Also, the Spanish colonization process initiated a tactic to destroy all forms of governments that are not inclined to the Spanish crown. Among the notable governments destroyed were in Tondo, Maynila, Butuan, Sugbu (Cebu), Dapitan, Madja-as (Panay), Mairete, Maguindanao, Ibalon, Lanao, Bigan, Taytay, Batanes, and Ma-i (Mindoro).
The indio system was also notable, wherein the Spanish were catapulted as the 'masters' of the islands, while the natives were mere slaves. A few of the indios however were given better privileges compared to the indio slaves. Nonetheless, they were considered much lesser than the Spanish masters.
To establish greater power over the people, the Spanish language was also introduced along with the Latin script. Though much of the indigenous languages were not abolished, majority of the indigenous scripts fell into demise. Some Spanish friars recorded the scripts of coastal communities and wrote books with Latin and suyat scripts. Nonetheless, many of the suyat writings in scrolls of paper were destroyed by Spanish priests as a form of fun. Otley Beyer wrote in 1921, "It cannot be said that such writings did not exist, since the early Filipinos were even more literate than the Mexicans... One Spanish priest in Southern Luzon boasted of having destroyed more than three hundred scrolls written in native characters."
