16 JULY

Gov.-Gen. Claveria

1844 - Narciso Claveria y Zaldua becomes governor-general of the  Philippines during the Spanish colonial rule; his administration will  be responsible for correcting the Philippine calendar; establishing the Sociedad de Recreo (Recreation Association);  the founding of papers such as Diario de Manila and La Esperanza; constructing a military library; the purchase of the first steam  war-vessel  for the Southeast Asian colony; and issuing a decree obligating the  natives to adopt Spanish surnames from a catalogue (Catalogo de Apellidos) for the purpose of easier taxation and identification, exempting  only pre-Spanish royalty and Chinese with pre-existing surnames.






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