Ang Fray Botod ay kathang satiriko ni Graciano Lopez Jaena noong 1874 tungkol sa isang paring

Espanyol na ginagamit ang relihiyon upang apihin at abusuhin ang iba at upang busugin ang sarili
sa pagkain, salapi, at babae. Ang pangalan ng fraile ay hango sa salitang Hiligaynon na “botod” na
nangangahulugang bundat o malaki ang tiyan dahil sa sobrang pagkain.

Isa itong katawa-tawang paglalarawan ng tao na isinagawa sa pamamagitan ng diyalogo ng isang

Filipino at ng liberal na kaibigang Espanyol. Pinagusapan nilá ang masamâng ugali ng fraile sa iba’t
ibang sitwasyon, gaya ng pagsusugal, pagdaraos ng misa at pista, pamumulitika, pagsisinungaling
at pagyayabang, grabeng katakawan sa pagkain, mahabàng pagtulog sa tanghali, at pagpaparusa.
Ilan sa mga ipinakitang ugali ay ang pagkakaroon nitó ng relasyong inmoral sa mga batàng babae,
pananakot at pagpaparusa sa mga estudyante, pagpapabaya sa kaniyang responsabilidad bilang
pari para makapagsugal, at malupit na pagpaparusa sa isang manggagawang Indio na hindi
nakapagtrabaho sa kaniya nang tatlong araw dahil sa asawang maysakit.

Sinabing ang mga pagbisita ni Lopez Jaena sa mga mahirap at karaniwang tao sa Jaro, Iloilo noong
kabataan niya ang nagmulat sa kaniya sa mga kawalan ng katarungan sa paligid at nagtulak sa
kaniyang isulat ang Fray Botod sa edad na 18. (KLL) ed VSA

The handmaiden to oppression, José Rizal believed, was ignorance.

Endeavoring to explain Filipino religiosity in an essay written in 1884,
Rizal set his tone with a quotation from Cesar Cantu’s Historia
Universal: ‘The common man…saw mystery in everything; and
because of his ignorance, he deceived either himself or encouraged the
impostures of others.” The fervent piety of the Filipino masses, Rizal
elaborated, was rooted not in deep understanding, reflection and
knowledge but in ignorance.
 Graciano Lopez Jaena
For Rizal, Filipino religious devotion was rooted in superstition,
indoctrination, and blind acceptance. It dulled the people’s minds and
perpetuated their enslavement. Worse still, combined with a desperate
desire to atone for guilt and to placate a deity whom the priests
portrayed as vengeful and merciless, religious devotion made people
passive to tyranny.

Rizal conceded that the blame for the mental indolence of the
masses rested largely with the friars and the dire education system.
But the masses themselves, he evidently believed, were also
culpable, for they suffered from an acute inability to think
independently and rationally. Quite often, he lamented,” ‘their
intelligence cannot grasp the true meaning of Christian doctrines”
and so ‘they kneel down instead of inquiring and examining their
beliefs.
Whether propagandists such as Rizal were writing from a politically
reformist or separatist stance with regard to Spanish colonialism, the
main thrust of their critique was consistent: clerical rule, or ‘monastic
supremacy’, was keeping the Philippines mired in backwardness,
poverty and ignorance.

Graciano López Jaena grasped an even more basic condition. “The

conflict between friars and Filipinos,” he wrote, was not
fundamentally about religion or nationalism. It was “a struggle for
life, for survival; one side defending exploitation, the other fighting
for their right to lead a modern life, to lead a free life, to lead a
democratic life.”

EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY:Graciano
Lopez Jaena's
Fray Botod
introduces the
stereotypical
Spanish friar who
uses religion as
atool for oppressing
others in order to
satiate his appetite
for food, money and
women. This friar
stereotype later
became thesymbol
of the Spanish
regime in
thePhilippines. The
sketches in
Fray Botod
, told through a
dialog between
aFilipinoand his
liberal Spanish
friend, illustrate
the vile
character of the
friar through
various situations.
These situations
include
havingimmoral
relationships with
young girls called
canding-canding
, threatening and
punishing some
students from the
Universityof Manila,
neglecting his
duties as a parish
priest in favor of
gambling,
conducting his
business unfairly,
and barbarouslypuni
shing
anIndiolabourer who
failed to work at his
estate for three
days because of his
sick wife.

Tiyak na marami ang umiidolo kay Andres dahil sa katapangan niya at kahandaan na humawak ng
armas para ipaglaban ang kalayaan. Pero maliban sa tapang at away, dapat tandaan at higit na dapat
tularan ang pagiging masigasig ni Andres bilang karaniwang Pinoy na mapagmahal sa kaniyang
pamilya.