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This chapter focuses on Catholic religious discourses and practices of gender equality in the contemporary Philippines. It looks at particular practices among Filipino Catholic women and examines the role of religion in the movement towards gender equality. Through ethnographic data in small communities in Eastern Visayas, participant observation, and a case study of two women from Leyte, the chapter provides insight into how religiosity is enmeshed with the aims of local women to improve their status in society. It also shows that even if the Catholic Church retains its prominent presence in the social fabric, and is very much a part of the rituals of life, the symbolism of its moral power, particularly in the lives of women, has been contested by lived experiences quite different from what is prescribed.

This chapter examines the evidence that can shed light on the demographic impact of Spanish colonial rule on the Philippines and allow comparisons between population trends in the islands with other parts of the Southeast Asian archipelago. Focusing on demographic trends for each major island and region in Luzon and the Visayas, the chapter shows that Spanish conquest and early colonial rule in the Philippines resulted in significant population decline that was more pervasive and prolonged than generally assumed, but varied regionally. The evidence includes early Spanish colonial sources such as letters and memorials written by the first explorers, conquistadors, and priests; civil records like fiscal accounts and censuses; ecclesiastical records; and corroborative evidence derived from records of native traditions and from archaeology. The chapter also discusses some of the problems associated with the use of early Spanish colonial sources for demographic analysis and the role of racial mixing in population losses. Finally, it considers a regional approach for evaluating the early demographic history of the Spanish Philippines.

This chapter examines how the Spanish conquest and colonization contributed to depopulation in the Philippines before 1600, with particular emphasis on those aspects of native society that had implications for the nature of Spanish colonial rule and demographic trends in the Visayas. It first provides an overview of subsistence, settlement patterns, polities, and social practices in the Visayas and goes on to consider population estimates for the islands in 1565 and from 1565 to 1600. In particular, it discusses the population of Samar, Bohol, Cebu, Panay, and Negros, suggesting that the pre-Spanish population of the Visayas might have been about 383,000, or probably nearer 400,000. The chapter concludes by assessing the population decline in the Visayas from 1565 to 1600.

This chapter examines the impact of economic activities, missionary endeavors, and Moro raids on the demographic trajectories of the Visayas in the seventeenth century. Commercial economic activities in the western Visayas, especially Panay, were driven in large part by the needs of defense. Provisions and labor were required to maintain the garrisons established in the Visayas, Maluku, and Mindanao and to support naval expeditions. The needs of defense were greatest during the Hispano-Dutch War in the early seventeenth century, giving rise to a ship-building industry. This chapter first provides an overview of the building of garrisons and ships in seventeenth-century Visayas and goes on to discuss the impact of Moro raids on the local economy. It then considers Spanish ecclesiastical administration and missionaries' activities in the Eastern Visayas and Bohol, Panay, Cebu, and Negros. It also explores mortality and fertility trends in the Visayas, suggesting that the islands continued to experience population decline during the period.