8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 1/8

1

Nerva, Katharine Joy

Ramirez, Angelica

Hi166- J

Cigar for all : Tobacco in the Early 20th Century Philippine Society

When one talks about the history of tobacco in the Philippines, one usually associates it with the

Tobacco Monopoly that was established during the Spanish regime. Our knowledge then is mostly in the

context of the political and the economic. What we often overlook is the equally important social aspect,

especially from the grassroots level. This is what this paper will aim to present and this will be done by

first presenting a background on the tobacco industry and then by transitioning to how the industry was

able to influence the social lives of the Filipinos.

The presence of tobacco in the country dates back to the last quarter of the sixteenth century

when it was introduced by Spanish missionaries from Mexico.1 As pointed out by Francisco Leandro de

Viana, crown attorney of the Audiencia of Manila, tobacco was mostly consumed by the Spaniards in thecountry and the Indios.

2 However, it was only in the late eighteenth century that the Spaniards capitalized

on this widespread use.3 

 At the end of the galleon trade, Governor-General Jose Basco organized a reorientation for

Spain’s colony.4  The ―new economy‖ of the country was established to maximize production of cash

crops, contributing much to the income of the country.5  Part of this effort was the tobacco monopoly

started in 1782.6 The monopoly limited the selling of the harvested tobacco plants by the Indios to the

government which, in turn, manufacture these and either export them to other countries or sell them back

to the Indios. Throughout its hundreds of years of operation, the monopoly became the major agricultural

source of revenue for the government as it brought  millions of profit.7

 (See Appendix 1)

Upon the abolition of the monopoly, private enterprises began to enter the industry. The most

prominent one was the  Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas which built the first and largest

cigarette factory named ―La Flor de Isabela‖ in 1885.8 Following this, cigarette factories began to increase

in number and this continued even until the American occupation. To illustrate this, approximately 300

cigarette factories were operating in the country by 1910. 9 

Most of us have long been aware of the fact that colonial exploitation reached another peak

through this business in which the increase in revenues and profit benefitted the colonizers more than it

1 Henry O. Jacobson, Tobacco in the Philippine Islands (Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1914), 1.

2 Edilberto C. de Jesus, ―Establishment and Organization,‖ The Tobacco Monopoly in the Philippines: Bureaucratic Enterprise and

Social Change, 1766-1880  (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1980), 29.3 Ibid.

4 Patricio Abinales and Donna Amoroso, ―State and Societies, 1764-1898,‖ State and Society in the Philippines   (Lanham: Rowman

& Littlefield Publishers, 2005), 765 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Jacobson, Tobacco in the Philippine Islands, 2.

8 Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas (Barcelona: H. Miralles, 1925), 15.

9 Jacobson, Tobacco in the Philippine Islands, 14. 

8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 2/8

2

did the Filipinos. However, we also recognize that, as tobacco became a major export product, it

introduced more job opportunities to the Filipinos.10

 Within this broader context of the economics and the

politics, tobacco consumption among the Filipinos also began to increase radically. During the American

occupation, an annual consumption of cigarettes amounting to four and a half billion was recorded.11

 The

Filipino consumers was not limited to the adult male demographic but in fact, included people of all sexes

and ages.12

 From this, we can see that the influence of tobacco has extended beyond its role in the realm

of the political and the economic and has, in fact, successfully permeated that of the social, trickling down

from the factory workers and even to the very basic unit that is the family. Of notable importance is the fact that most tobacco factories employed women ranging from their

twenties to their fifties.13

 The vital role that cigarreras played in this industry radically changed prominent

views that women back then were mostly confined to their homes14

. Women workers were preferred over

men because they were seen as more adept and patient in the task of rolling cigars and were less

capable of being dishonest and fraudulent.15

  However, far from being subservient, cigarreras were

reported to have also organized strikes to campaign for better working conditions.

16

  These resulted inthem observing regular working hours, being subjected to work regulations, receiving standard salary and

in being accorded with leave benefits.17

  In fact, as an Australian writer noted, the women of the

Philippines seemed to enjoy more independence more than anywhere else in Asia primarily because of

the economic edge that they had.18 

 Apart from playing a huge role in the advancement of women in the society, tobacco, with its

direct consumption, was integral to the daily lives of the ordinary Filipino family. A number of foreigners,

much to their surprise, have noted the very public consumption of tobacco by women and even of

children. Even early in the morning, girls and women were seen smoking as they walked to their

respective destinations.19

 In 1900, a foreigner who witnessed an afternoon Filipino play wrote that he saw

how nearly every woman from different walks of life smoked a cigar even inside the theatre.20

 In another

article, it was asserted that, in fact, a Filipina who does not smoke is a rare exception and that it was

considered good etiquette to offer her a cigarette.21

 However, in case she is not offered any, the Filipina

10 Jonathan Best, A Philippine Album: American Era Photographs, 1900-1930  (Makati: Bookmark Inc., 1998), 71.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Maria Luisa T. Camagay. Working Women of Manila in the Nineteenth Century. (University of the Philippines Press, 1995), 3-5. 

14 Ibid., 21 

15 Ibid.,516

 Ibid., 2.17

 Ibid, 3.18

 “The Character of the Filipinos‖, The Mercury, April 27 1899, accessed February 8 2014,http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/9446811.19

 ―The Filipino and Civilisation‖, Marlborough Express, May 28 1908, accessed February 15, 2014,http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=MEX19080528.2.16&srpos=5&e=-------10--1----0filipino+cigar--.20

 ―The Fair Filipina‖, Star, December 8 1900, accessed February 8, 2014, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS19001208.2.12&srpos=23&e=-------10--21----0filipino+cigar--.21

 ―The Filipino Girl‖, Sausalito News, January 6, 1900, accessed February 15, 2014,http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SN19000106.2.89#.

8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 3/8

3

will produce one from her stash and ask for her company to light it up.22

 To a foreigner’s eye, the blatant

smoking habit often robs the Filipino women of the dignity and grace that he often associates with them.23 

Perhaps the most salient indicator of the huge influence of tobacco in society is its incorporation

into the family life. Dubbed as the family cigar, a certain form of smokes which measured from fifteen

inches to a foot long was usually stored away on a hole in a bamboo post.24

 This was stored just high

enough for the youngest family member to reach it. In 1907, a man who has returned from the Philippines

iterated his experience of a queer form of hospitality - that of being offered the family cigar that was used

communally by every member.25

  Europeans and Americans are said to have been wary of what they

deem as an unhygienic and embarrassing gesture of hospitality.26

 Another etiquette which a foreigner

found intriguing was that of not flicking away the ashes, as is customary in other cultures, when a Filipino

asks one for a light from a cigar.27 

However different the foreigners might have perceived it, the cigar was an important part of the

Filipinos’ daily lives. A certain Mr. Frank Read, an Australian national who lived for twenty years in the

country, observed that it was so important that natives who could not afford the manufactured cigarswould get the tobacco leaves and roll them themselves.

28 For some, the sight of children smoking while

playing in the streets may have been controversial but this seemed to bother no one from the locals. In

fact, they see this practice as being born and bred in them.29 

 As we can see, smoking had become so ingrained in the Filipino culture so much so that a New

Zealander who visited in 1907 went on to assert that the Filipinos’ love for smoking equalled that of their

love for cock-fighting.30

 Their jobs even included time allowances for this form of leisure and it seemed as

though the act of smoking was acceptable at any time of the day.31

 In one observation of the Filipinas, a

dainty lady was seen as storing away the cigar on a crevice in the balustrade before entering the church

for her religious obligations and afterwards retrieving the cigar and walking away while puffing

vigorously.32 

 All of these illustrate how the influence of tobacco was not only significant to the political and

economic spectrum of the Philippines but in fact it also encompassed a huge part of the social spectrum – 

from advancing the economic lives of women by introducing jobs for them to the integration of its

22 Ibid.

23 ―The Filipino and Civilisation‖, Marlborough Express, May 28, 1908, accessed February 15, 2014,

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-. 24

 ―Filipino Family Cigar‖, The Straits Times, October 3, 1907, accessed February 8, 2014,http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19071003-1.2.22.aspx.25

  Ibid. 26  Ibid.27

  Ibid.28

 ―Where Cigars are Cheap‖, Wairarapa Daily Times, August 9, 1909, accessed February 8, 2014,http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WDT19090809.2.4&srpos=18&e=-------10--11----0filipino+cigar--.29

 Ibid.30

 ―A National Pastime‖, Otago Witness, October 30 1907, accessed February 8, 2014, http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=OW19071030.2.399&srpos=14&e=-------10--11----0filipino+smoking--.31

 Ibid.32

 ―The Filipino and Civilisation‖, Marlborough Express, May 28, 1908, accessed February 8, 2014,http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=MEX19080528.2.16&srpos=5&e=-------10--1----0filipino+cigar--. 

8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 4/8

4

consumption to the daily lives of the Filipino families. From all of these, we gain a grassroots perspective

on how the Philippine society was like during the prevalence of the tobacco industry and a deeper

understanding of its cultural implications especially to the women and the children.

Appendix 1

Tobacco Monopoly Income (Pesos)

Source: Ed. C. de Jesus, Tobacco Monopoly in the Philippines (Quezon City, 1980), 206.

 Year Profit

1830 732,818

1840 1,142,001

1850 1,307,467

1860 1,514,035

1870 1,649,939

8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 5/8

5

Appendix 2

―Filipino Family Cigar‖, The Straits Times,

October 3 1907

―A National Pastime‖, Otago

Witness, October 30, 1907. 

―The Filipino and Civilisation‖, Marlborough Express, May 28,

1908 

―The Fair Filipina‖, Star, December 8, 1900. 

8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 6/8

6

―Where Cigars are Cheap‖, Wairarapa Daily Times,

 August 9, 1909 

“The Character of the Filipinos‖, The

Mercury, April 27, 1899. 

―The Filipino Girl‖, Sausalito News,

January 6, 1900. 

8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 7/8

7

REFERENCES

Primary Sources

Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas. (1925). Barcelona: H. Miralles.

Jacobson, H. (1914). Tobacco in the Philippine Islands. Manila: Bureau of Printing.

―The Fair Filipina‖, Star, December 8, 1900. Accessed February 16, 2014.http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=TS19001208.2.12&srpos=23&e=-------10--21----0filipino+cigar-

-

―The Filipino and Civilisation‖, Marlborough Express, May 28, 1908. Accessed February 15, 2014.http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=MEX19080528.2.16&srpos=5&e=-------10--1----0filipino+cigar--

Secondary Sources

―A National Pastime‖, Otago Witness, October 30, 1907. Accessed February 8, 2014.http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=OW19071030.2.399&srpos=14&e=-------10--11----0filipino+smoking--.

 Abinales, P., & Amoroso, D. (2005). State and Society in the Philippines. Lanham: Rowman & LittlefieldPublishers Inc.

 Ateneo de Manila University. ―The Student Guide to the Code of Academic Integrity of the LoyolaSchools.‖ Accessed February 18, 2014.

http://www.admu.edu.ph/sites/default/files/The_LS_Code_of_Academic_Integrity_Student_Guide.pdf

Best, Jonathan. A Philippine Album: American Era Photographs, 1900-1930. Makati: Bookmark Inc.,1998.

Camagay, Maria Luisa T. Working Women of Manila in the Nineteenth Century. Quezon City: Universityof the Philippines Press, 1995.

―Filipino Family Cigar‖, The Straits Times, October 3, 1907. Accessed February 8, 2014.

http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19071003-1.2.22.aspx

Jesus, E. C. (1980). The Tobacco Monopoly in the Philippines. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila UniversityPress.

“The Character of the Filipinos‖, The Mercury, April 27, 1899. Accessed February 8,2014.http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/9446811.

―The Filipino Girl‖, Sausalito News, January 6, 1900. Accessed February 16, 2014.http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SN19000106.2.89#

8/12/2019 Nerva Ramirez Paper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/nerva-ramirez-paper 8/8

8

bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=MEX19080528.2.16&srpos=5&e=---- ---10--1----0filipino+cigar —,

―Where Cigars are Cheap‖, Wairarapa Daily Times, August 9, 1909. Accessed February 8, 2014.http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WDT19090809.2.4&srpos=18&e=-------10--11----0filipino+cigar--

Wright, Hamilton. A Handbook of the Philippines. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co. , 1907.