Rafael María de Aguilar y Ponce de León was a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

military officer who served as the 56th

Governor-General of the Philippines The Governor-General of the Philippines (Spanish: ''Gobernador y Capitán General de Filipinas''; Filipino: ''Gobernador-Heneral ng Pilipinas/Kapitan Heneral ng Pilipinas''; Japanese: ) was the title of the government executive during the colo ...

(

: ''Gobernador Géneral'') and was the longest serving governor in the

Spanish Philippines Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Biography

There is not much known about the early life and career of Aguilar. Prior to his appointment as

, the first of only two gubernatorial appointments in the Philippines made by King

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother = Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place ...

, he served as a military officer and a gentleman of the bedchamber. His military service earned him the

Order of Alcántara The Order of Alcántara ( Leonese: ''Orde de Alcántara'', es, Orden de Alcántara), also called the Knights of St. Julian, was originally a military order of León, founded in 1166 and confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1177. Alcántara Alcá ...

. He arrived in the Philippines on 28 August 1793 and assumed office on 1 September. His administration was driven by the reforms initiated by the

Enlightenment in Spain The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment ( es, Ilustración) came to Spain in the 18th century with the new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last Habsburg monarch, Charles II, in 1700. The period of reform and ' enlightened despotism' u ...

, which has become the distinguishing aspect of his long service as governor. Aguilar was the longest serving

Governor-General of the Philippines (12 years, 11 months).

Administration of the Philippines

One of the key accomplishments of Aguilar's administration was setting up the defense of the archipelago. Fortifications were reinforced in

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...

. In 1794, a shipyard was constructed at Binondo in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and a

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

built at Corregidor. These were set up in order to make boats for military campaigns against the

Moros In Greek mythology, Moros /ˈmɔːrɒs/ or Morus /ˈmɔːrəs/ (Ancient Greek: Μόρος means 'doom, fate') is the 'hateful' personified spirit of impending doom, who drives mortals to their deadly fate. It was also said that Moros gave peop ...

. In 1796, two regiments of professional native troops were formed, the first time the native contingent of the colonial armed forces was professionalized. These regiments were named ''Granaderos de Luzon'' ( Luzon Grenadiers) and ''Granaderos de Batangas'' (Batangas Grenadiers). In addition to this, five battalions of

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

were organized. In 1800, the Naval Command was formed in order to check foreign vessels entering the archipelago. Six years later, a force of 300 marine grenadiers were organized. Aguilar was able to effectively advocate the opening of Manila to foreign trade, a proposal that had been attempted by his predecessors, Félix Berenguer de Marquina (1788–1793) and

José Basco y Vargas José Basco y Vargas, 1st Count of the Conquest of Batanes Islands ( (1733–1805) was a naval officer of the Spanish Navy who served as the 53rd governor of the Spanish Philippines under the Spanish Empire, from 1778 to 1787. An "economic minde ...

(1778–1787). However, it would only be by the royal decree of September 6, 1834 when the

Sociedad Económica de los Amigos del País The ''Sociedades Económicas de Amigos del País'' (Economic Societies of Friends of the Country) were private associations established in various cities throughout Enlightenment Spain, and to a lesser degree in some of Spain's overseas territories ...

(Economic Societies of Friends of the Country) was abolished and Manila was completely opened to international trade. He was also able to reprint and disseminate former Governor-General

José Antonio Raón y Gutiérrez José Antonio Raón y Gutiérrez (c. 1700 – 4 January 1773) was a Spanish general who served as Royal Governor of Panama, and the 50th Governor-General of the Philippines. He is known as an able administrator despite being perceived as corrupt ...

's revised version of the "Ordinances of Good Government", a document first drafted by Pedro Manuel de Arandía Santisteban. Meanwhile, in 1804, he proposed the modernization of

. This had been done by massive public works projects, creation of cultural institutions, and the illumination of Manila streets. It was also during the administration of Aguilar that the Balmis Expedition (1803–1806) arrived in the Philippines. The expedition, led by Doctor

Francisco Javier de Balmis Francisco Javier de Balmis (2 December 175312 February 1819) was a Spanish physician best known for leading an 1803 expedition to Spanish America and the Philippines to vaccinate populations against smallpox. His expedition is considered the fir ...

, aimed to vaccinate people against

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

, and the Philippines was included in the number of destinations of the mission.de Romo, Ana Cecilia Rodríguez (1997)
Inoculation in the 1799 smallpox epidemic in Mexico: Myth or real solution?
''Antilia:Spanish Journal of History of Natural Sciences and Technology''. Aguilar died on 8 August 1806, one day after being succeeded by Mariano Fernández de Folgueras.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aguilar y Ponce de Leon, Rafael Maria de Spanish generals Captains General of the Philippines People of New Spain 1806 deaths