This Spanish term can be transliterated into Tagalog as praylokrasya.
Frailocracy is a form of government in which the friars are the rulers. The priests during the Spanish colonial period were so powerful that they practically ruled the Philippine Islands.
La Frailocracia Filipina is a pamphlet written in 1889 by Filipino writer Marcelo H. del Pilar. The pamphlet was an answer to a pamphlet entitled Los Frailes en Filipinas, which was written by a Spaniard.
Del Pilar’s arguments are in five parts:
Article I: Filibusterism
Article II: How much of a Spaniard is the Friar?
Article III: The Friar’s Role in the Civilization of the Philippines
Article IV: The Influence of the Friar on the Filipinos
Article V: Aspirations of the Filipinos
La Frailocracia Filipina (Barcelona: Imprenta Iberica de Francisco Fossas, 1889) was published under del Pilar’s pen name Plaridel.
The title can be translated into English as The Filipino Frailocracy.
