ABSTRACT
A number of developing countries are confronted with great difficulties in trying to arrive at an indigenous view of the world and of themselves because of the deep-seated influence of Western culture. Christianity in lndo-China, Indonesia and other countries was confined to coastal ports while the inculcation of religion became both an objective and a colonial tool in every part of the Philippines. The theocratic nature of Spanish colonial administration greatly shaped the early course of Philippine economic and cultural development. Spanish colonialism in the Philippines was effectively in the hands of the friar orders. The values that emerged in Philippine society were Christian values. In the case of the Philippines, they reinforce the existing hiatus in cultural development. They were revolutionary in the sense that they espoused a new identity but they were merely reformist in the sense that they wanted the Philippines to be a province of Spain.
