RISE OF FILIPINO NATIONALISM- INFLUX OF WESTERN LIBERAL IDEAS

Since Liberalism was based on rationalism, it gave little importance to faith, virtue, and supernatural order. Further,
it says that man could reach God through his reason and moral sense alone; there was no need of the visible Church
to interpret the truths of revelation to guide him. Naturally, this is false; and the friars, as faithful ministers of the
Church, upheld Catholic teachings against wrong liberal principles, and opposed and fought the ideas of Liberalism.

Liberal has a couple of different meanings in political thought.

1. Classical liberalism: a focus on individual rights to liberty and property, and universal equality. This was
similar to modern-day Libertarianism. Generally holds that less government is better, with a few exceptions,
and that free enterprise will solve most problems.

2. Modern liberalism: a focus on social justice and social welfare, as well as equal rights and civil liberties.
Generally holds that strong government is required to keep powerful minorities and wealthy corporations from
instituting oppressive and exploitative policies.

The word liberal is derived from the Latin word "liber" meaning free.
Liberals believe in liberal democracy;
free and fair elections;
human rights;
capitalism;
free trade among nations;
separation of church and state;
spread of civil rights and civil liberties.
They don't believe in welfare states and are always campaigning on the "rule of Law" (the Constitution).
Basically, they believe in individual rights.
Liberal ideas from French revolution

On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation.

It made the Philippinecloser to the world trade, communication, and travel.
The canal 103 miles long andconnects the red sea and Mediterranean Sea the Philippines was opened by Spain to theworld trade
(1834).

The opening on November 17, 1869 of the Suez Canal in Egypt, one of the most important artificial sea-level waterways
in the world, paved the way for the Philippines' direct commercial
relations with Spain instead of via Mexico.
As travel time from the Philippines to Spain and vice versa was
shortened to 30 days from more than two months, this positively
affected the development of agricultural exports, which brought economic prosperity to native indios or the so-
called "ilustrados" (Filipinos with money and education).
These development also paved the way for Filipino "ilustrados" to send their children to universities in Europe.
The rise of the "ilustrados" was inevitable and they became the new patrons of the arts that led to the secularization of
arts in the 19th century.
The Suez Canal was often called the "crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia" because the route was used to transport
goods to and from all three continents.
The new route was built for 10 years by a French company led by Ferdinand de Lesseps.
Before its opening in 1869, goods were sometimes offloaded from ships and carried overland between the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea.
The Spanish Revolution of 1868 the triumph of liberalism in Spain against the autocratic rule of Isabela ll (1833-1869).
Resounded across the seas to the shores of her overseas colonies the Filipinos came to enjoy for the first time the sweet taste of a
liberal regime including

Freedom of speech

Freedom of the press

Freedom of assembly and other human rights

Liberal ideas, contained book newspapers, were ideologies of the American and FrenchRevolutions and thoughts of different
philosophers.
Core liberal values
 Individualism -belief in the importance of the individual over any social groupor collective body
 Rationalism -exercise of the human reason and critical inquiry
 Freedom -ability to think or act as one wish.
 Responsibility -being responsible for oneself and one’s own economic and
social circumstances.
 Justice -morally justifiable distribution of reward and punishment.
 Tolerance -willingness to accept views or actions that one disagrees