Baccay, Janice C.

March 10, 2011

Ebuenga, Desiree Lei P. PI 100
______________________________________________________________________________

Title

My lifelong dream, my deep burning desire, 

This soul that will soon depart cries out: Salud! 

To your health! Oh how beautiful to fall to give you flight, 

To die to give you life, to die under your sky, 

And in your enchanted land eternally sleep.

- Fifth stanza, Mi Ultimo Adios by Jose Rizal

Jose Rizal’s last poem and last literary piece, Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell),

revealed the deepest heart of the national hero for his countrymen and the Philippines. It serves

as a bridge into the future that will make people remember the past, be awakened and stimulate

into action (Coates, A. 2007: 379). This is where Rizal’s utmost willingness and desire to die for

our country, revealed for the last time, if it will serve his fellowmen the best that he can offer. At

the same time, it is here also that we can ask whether Jose Rizal actually was successful in

fulfilling his noble dreams for the Philippines at his time and in contemporary times. In

particular, it is one of the pivot points wherein the relevance of his two novels Noli Me Tangere

and El Filibusterismo is still felt up to this day. Since his thoughts are embedded in these two

novels. Did Rizal’s greatest dreams and aspirations for our native land which are expressed in

his last poem attained until this very day? After this question is answered, the subsequent and

more important question shall be resolved—What is the relevance of Jose Rizal’s novels Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in his time and today (if there is still) and to what extent the

relevance reaches?

It is apparent that the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo played a vital role in the

history of the Philippines as well as of Asia and the world especially in the late period of the

Spanish colonial times. However, in evaluating the relevance of the two novels in Rizal’s time

and in today’s generation, it is necessary to consider the social, economic, political, moral and

spiritual conditions of the Filipinos in the two periods of time. To measure the extent from

which the Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo reached, there is inevitability that we go back

to the past, and that is revisiting Philippines at the time of Rizal during the Spanish colonial

times.

Repatriation: The Voyage through the Veiled Truth

Reading through the Noli Me Tangere and the El Filibusterismo, I can say that I actually

was repatriating to the core of all of the maladies dwelling in the Philippine society—the

colonization of the Spaniards. With the commonalities shown in between two novels of our

national hero and the reality in the Spanish colonial era, one can say that Rizal actually drawn the

setting of the novels from his observations of the actual happenings at those times in the

Philippines.

It was in the introduction of Charles Derbyshire in his Noli Me Tangere translation

(1912: 20) that he mentioned the character portrayals included in the novel that can be seen in

that particular period of the history of the country. He stated that the characters and the scenes in

the novel were wonderfully accurate from the country’s current situation way back then; and that
the representations were undoubtedly a masterpiece of the author who showed understanding and

love for the subject matter.

The Veiled Truths of Past and Present

All the political, economic, social, cultural, moral and spiritual maladies of the Filipinos

seem to be connected. The social system was controlled by the religious orders consist of the

friars. Hence, the Filipinos having been controlled by the friars for hundreds of years developed

a mindset of colonial mentality. The Filipino is a “victim of colonial mentality” (Majul, C.S.

2001: 62). In addition, this mentality can be directly linked to the lack of a proper education and

the failure of the Filipinos in those times to oppose government policies and actions that are

deleterious for them (Ibid 2001: 62). Furthermore, as Rizal believed, “Man works for a purpose;

take away that purpose from him and you will reduce him into inaction”, it does not just mean

that the government had a lack of encouragement for the Filipinos to be involved in industry and

commerce but also he was claiming that the government could actually be an agency that could

exploit the people because of its favor on certain classes in the society (Ibid 2001: 60). Aside

from the lack of proper education, this kind of mentality that our ancestors had is just a

manifestation of a more immanent problem of the Filipinos that Rizal called—the indolence of

the Filipinos that is rooted to the lack of national sentiment (Ibid 2001: 62). Best examples of

this lack of national sentiment are Capitan Tiago and Dona Victorina taken from the Noli Me

Tangere.

Capitan Tiago was a person easily dazzled by foreign objects and tric-tracs,
who tried to emulate and fawned upon Spaniards, was grossly superstitious, etc.
Dona Victorina tried to out-hispanize the Spaniards, had an utter disdain for
native culture elements, looked down on other Filipinos as indios without
considering herself as one of them, etc (Majul, C.S. 2001: 62-63).
 Other examples are Senor Pasta and Basilio in the El Filibusterismo who pursued their

personal interests rather than the “national sentiment”. In the last chapter of El Filibusterismo,

Jose Rizal enumerated the ill effects of this lack of national sentiment:

(a)Complacency in the face of tyranny; (b) lack of disposition to struggle for

their rights by sacrifice and blood; (c) the feeling of private shame regarding
societal injustices accompanied by the fear of voicing this feeling in public; (d)
the wrapping of one’s self in false pride or egoism; and (e) with a forced smile,
lauding government iniquities (or corruption) while begging for a share in the
spoils (Majul, C.S. 2001: 63-64).

The characters in the two novels are portrayals of the economic, socio-cultural issues

during his time that are still evident today. For example, the problem of educational system

under the Spanish colonization is represented by the school teacher in the Noli, the unequal

access of education due to financial and social status; the domestic and social ills of the society

like poverty and injustices is represented by Sisa who lost her sanity due to these problems; the

problem of colonial mentality is represented by Dona Victorina as said in the above statements.

Moreover, she consumes much of foreign products and mocks native products. Dona Victorina is

unduly bewitched by anything foreign simply because it was foreign (Ibid 2001: 63). This

connotes a colonial mentality that is fostered by the enduring educational system in the country,

which is the lack of moral encouragement in a colonial society. The educational system does not

encourage learning, but rather reminds the natives of their inferior status against the foreign (Ibid

2001: 62). The natives are not recognized of their achievements and are not allowed to appear

better than the colonial masters though they perform better. As a result of this colonial mentality

and the controlling of the friars, the Filipinos are no longer aware of the glorious past we had;

that even before the Spaniards came, we already have advanced technology and the way of doing
things such as trading to other countries and our own advanced counting system. It is like that

we are deprived of our own identity and culture.

Jose Rizal once wrote, “A man in the Philippines is a mere individual, he is not a member

of a nation (Ibid 2001: 62). This is true hundreds of years ago. But the bitter reality is that it is

true until now. A Filipino physically lives in the Philippines but his heart dwell somewhere else.

An article in The Brown Raise Movement (2010) said quoting from Barth Suretsky, “All

Filipinos want to be something else. The poor ones want to be American, and the rich ones all

want to be Spaniards. Nobody wants to be Filipino.” Until now the Filipinos still have no pride

in our identity. We, in spite of the richness of our culture, languages and natural resources; in

spite of our glorious past ever since the pre-Spanish period, notwithstanding feel inferior to other

races. We are not proud of our own strengths and intelligence when compared to other nations.

It is as if the Philippines could not stand without their help. In the article posted by the Brown

Raise Movement entitled Sick, Absent and Banned Part 2, the Filipinos way of thinking in terms

of our laws and education was shown. In March 24, 2009, there was a law imposed by the

Department of Finance namely the Department Order No. 17-09. It is about the imposing of

restrictions on the book importations into the Philippines. I agree with the author of the article

when she said that “What budget allocation can cure this malady of the soul that stops us from

seeing that learning is important?! While neighboring countries are fighting, tooth and nail, to

give their citizens an edge in learning and education, we are lost in the duty-free debate of book

imports!” Another implication of this is it is an “effort” of once more enslaving the Filipinos by

fostering a culture of non-reading and non-thinking people (Apolinariang Binibini 2010). In

today’s generation also, the teachings on the life and works of our national hero seemed to be

brutalized. One specific and real-life example is that recently, there is a college student that has
a college professor who told them that the title, Noli Me Tangere, was just a marketing ploy of

Jose Rizal, because its meaning is touch me not, to be able for him to sell it and for his novel to

become popularized (Ibid 2010). What a distorted way of thinking! The novels of Rizal, if they

are not being banned, they are battered. “While neighboring countries are fighting, tooth and

nail, to give their citizens an edge in learning and education, we are lost in the duty-free debate

of book imports! (Ibid 2010). Where do the intelligence and giftedness of the Filipinos of

today’s generation bring us? With all the situations—poverty, immorality, corruption, etc., that

is happening in the country, did we really ever progress from that of Rizal’s time? I don’t think

so. What is painful and saddening is the fact that we actually became worse and worse, though

there are already no colonizers at this present day. We are in fact free but not free in its truest

sense. We are still slaves of our colonizers in that they enslaved not our physical bodies. As

they left the country more than a hundred years ago, they left within us the colonized spirit, an

enslaved heart and an inferior mindset that until now we are still not able to free ourselves. We

have become always dependent to other nations for us to progress. “Will the Filipino always

look to a foreign country, a foreign husband, a foreign citizenship for hope and salvation (The

Brown Raise Movement 2010)?” The fact that Jose Rizal is still influential today shows that the

maladies of the Filipino society have not moved on from where it is situated from the past

(Majul, C.S., 2001: 56). The Filipinos indeed have learned inadequately in order for the Filipino

society to advance and be cured from its chronic illnesses.

This is where the relevance of the two novels of Rizal comes in. Having been into little

progress from the past, the importance of our national hero and his revolutionary ideas comprise

their well-founded applicability in present times as well as their values to inspire the Filipinos to

aspire a bigger picture larger than ourselves (Ibid 2001: 55). Furthermore,
 While describing negative characteristics of some persons and the social ills
of his time, Rizal also indicated the ways of their regeneration. According to our
esteemed professor [pertaining to Renato Constantino], although Rizal aimed to
describe the people and society of his time, the fact that we still see many of these
non-agreeable characters and ills around indicates that he is still speaking of the
present (Ibid 2001: 55).

A lot of the societal problems at Rizal’s time still exist today whether they are evident or

concealed. That is how the relevance of Rizal in the Spanish colonial times is still the same on

how his works will be significant in resolving the illnesses of the Philippine society. In addition,

As long as there remain exploitation and poverty in society, a lack of bravery

in the struggle for the recognition and protection of human rights, selfish support
for power-hungry or corrupt officials to partake of the crumbs on their tables, and
an urgent need to bring about the best of the people’s creative energies, Rizal
continues to have a message for the next millennium for the people he so loved
and others in a similar historical situation (Majul, C.S. 2001: 74).

Now the question that is next to be answered is—What can the two novels of Rizal do in

order for the Filipinos overcome and get away with these societal maladies? The relevance of

Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo is to bring us back and awaken us into the reality and

into the core of all the problems in the society. Thus, by pointing out the problem, we can able

to know how to start in curing and preventing the social cancers of the individuals and the

society of the Philippines as a whole. Another vital role that these two novels serve is to suggest

and offer solutions as well as their corresponding outcomes or consequences. The fact that for

more than a hundred years from Rizal’s death and the existence of the Noli Me Tnagere and the

El Filibusterismo, the extent of this significance is actually deep, but reached this long, is the

bitter truth that the Filipinos won’t accept from themselves the reality that Rizal revealed. As

they say, “The truth hurts.” Rizal already laid it all down for us. All we have to do is take them

into our hearts, accept them and take it upon ourselves our responsibility, our duty as Filipinos.

As what Renato Constantino said quoted by Majul, C.S. (2001: 56):

 Only when we have realized Rizal’s dream can we really
appreciate his greatness because only then will we realize the great
value of his ideals…

References:
Apolinariang Binibini, 2010. Sick, Absent, Banned Part 2. The Brown Raise Movement.

Accessed March 9, 2011 from http://www.thebrownraise.org/2009/12/sick-absent-and-

banned-part-2/

Derbyshire, C. 1912. The Social Cancer: The Translation of Noli Me Tangere. Philippine

Education Company

Majul, C.A. 2001. Rizal’s Noli and Fili: Their Relevance to the Coming Millenium. Centennial

Lecture Series. Diliman, Quezon City.University of the Philippines Center for Integrative

and Development Studies

The Brown Raise Movement. 2010. The Brown Race. The Brown Raise Movement, Inc.

Accessed March 9, 2011 from http://www.thebrownraise.org/the-brown-race/