The National Coal Company.--During the war the coal shortage was one of the great problems that the government had to solve. The Philippine Islands are rich in coal deposits, but very little private capital has been invested in its exploitation. The Philippine Legislature, therefore, chartered the National Coal Company and supplied it with a capital of $1,700,000. The company is now ready to furnish at least the coal needed by the government, which is about 120,000 tons a year, heretofore imported from foreign countries. The National Development Company.--The company was organized for the purpose of financing isolated commercial, industrial or agricultural enterprises that the government may desire to establish for the general welfare of the country, the motive being that whenever or wherever there was profiteering the government should enter into competition with the profiteer and compel him to reduce the cost of his goods. The stock of the company is controlled, as in other government companies, by a committee of three, composed of the Governor-General, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Other development companies which have been established by law, some of which have not yet begun to function, are the National Cement Company (2855), the National Coal Company (2705), the National Iron Company (2862), and the National Petroleum Company (2814). XIV. THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT The sporadic but persistent agitation for reform which ultimately evolved into the organized movement for independence since 1892, began soon after the discovery of the Islands. In the beginning, dissatisfaction manifested itself in more or less unimportant and localized uprisings against the oppressive measures which the Spanish rulers sought to impose upon the inhabitants. Some of these uprisings, in outline form, were the following: [Uprisings against Spain] 1574.--The first governor in Manila ordered the residents to supply his troops food, and took two of the leading Filipinos as hostages. After a time the Filipinos refused to submit any longer to the imposition. The governor ordered the hostages to be shot. The Filipinos revolted. 1585.--The Province of Pampanga was a center of revolts. 1588.--A conspiracy against Legaspi and against the principal officials of the city. The idea in this revolt was to expel the Spaniards from the Philippine Islands. 1589.--Popular revolt in the Provinces of Cagayan and Ilocos Norte. 1622.--Like Pampanga, Bohol became a center of revolts. This year saw a strange revolt which had a religious cause but later gained national importance. It also developed leadership in the person of one Tamblot. He was executed but his memory lived to inspire another rebellion. This same year saw an uprising in the Province of Leyte. 1643.--Ladia led a revolt in Bulacan. His plan was easily discovered and he was put to death.