aoe, RIZAL AND THE UNpersiDE OF PHILippine History pon reflection it seems tome tha nus of scholasy ei ig onthe Philippines hears the stamp ofa certain fan sty with which the county's traditions and patterns ot development have ren tested In contrast to tose parts Sith fast Aaa that have been transformed bythe “great teaditons” of Hindiism. dis, and Conhictanim and which, a6 9 ret ave had that gra ofthe exotic and impenetrable abot then the Phitppines hss appeared tanyparent aad knowable, a "natu consequence of the experience of some four hundred yoat= of ‘Spanh anc American eolonaasm. ti dic, for exsanple, nat tobe akon in by the Hiszanse femurs of Philippine pablo sockeye (Chistiaity the ditonic sale, anor prop, ccs, ats ‘When John Phelan's book, The Histon of he Plpines appeared in 1959 it made us review drastically the supponnd ef fects of the Spanish conquest” Filings were no longer deere passive eiplents of Spanish cultural snl: thei responses va {ed fom aceptance la indifference and ection Bactuee Pela had never set foot on the Philippines nor lerned s lsal language, hoveever, his reading of Spanish source materia tas famed by ‘ns amaary with the history of Lain Amerce. Phelan attempted to clone th gap between Spanish observers and the strange exotic ative they rote about, not by Tetting the natives speak but by fssimilating them to the hody of knowledge concerning ispanization inthe Americas. »Cc ‘The problem ie not jst that Phelan and most noa-Filipino shales elon helt 160s filed ows indigenous source mate Fal but chet such ords bear the unmistakablestampotSpenish ‘chil influence Furthermore excep forthe rare diary or cache Sf personal eorespondence, such materials are often lassted as ‘fevonomel or literery an fol to provide aceurate documentation tthe pst Tis has led to some asiety among lipinos about ‘shane its possible fo have a tralyFipina history prior tothe ‘nidineteenth century? Its true shat evidence exits about the ‘Bands porto the conquest, hat cortain regions such 2 he hil Country of northern Luzon ad the Muslim south escapes Hispanization, and that sion! reactions to colonial rule were funy epulae Such themes, however have not heen able 10 fset the familar view, inedcted circles at eat, hata golden age was lect nthe wake of the congusst. Along dark pst of Spanish rule ‘ts in umtl then ocr in 1572, a azzing potty the inital siga of {shit in conseouness irom bind aceptance of Spat’ presence fanawereness of the causes bend the people’ suffering In that {ear the public execution of thre reformist priests sired up s© ‘ach pablisyinpathy and ootrage thatthe Bonds of subservience fl gratitude towand Spain and the firs were seriously weak had” As the familiar textBook naratves go, fom 1872 antl the evolutions of 1896 and 1698 a nationalist spin isbomm ad reaches ‘Batusy in the struggle for independence, uch s the rankly evo Fevloniss view ofthe Philippine past tat serves to inal Fup pride in thet nationalist stragele te rst of is kind to aca the Southeast Asia “The probleen with this view is shat it rests onthe assumption ‘hot before the inpact of ibera ies in the second hal ofthe rie teenth entry, Flipinos lived ina kindof static dreamword some: (chat ike children inlly senate and eventually enslave by the cosmology intrduced by te colonizers. 89D fose Rizal, the forenoatlspino intellectual and patriot which the nineteenth cen tury produced, provided in his ansotations to a seventeznth-em tury Spanish tent scholary lagsirzaton forthe view that with Spanish tule, the people "orgs ther native alphabet thie sons the pocty her nw inorder to parrot other doctrines that ey C1990 nu: Usoensor oF Pts Hao x dot unsesiand” The result oftheir Bind inutation of things foreign and incomprehensible was that “they lost all confidence their petal faith thelr present, and al hope for the hatuze Rial had labore fora ye in te Beth Museum to document the iage of s Hosrishing procclonial civilization the fos en, ‘nhc hehe offspring ofan era of enlightenment, wakenel cn Siounnss and slfsisterdon, elt burdened to putin writing. The Fiipine people had to move forward, and in oder 0 do si to feaware of their origin. their history asa colonize peope, and the general progress of mankind to which their fatore should be seated! Rizal's construction of a “useble past” in effect privileged the status of the Hustad, the Iiberahedacted elt that viewed set [ramon other things, relased from the thought-word ofthe hist tonrlessuperstious, nanipulted masses, the socal! res lgnonentes nthe very act of interpretation, ten, Rizal sup prensedi—anconsciusly, perhaps--phenomena that resisted his Erering mind. These, neverthelew, exist on the Fringes of his fe fd work, and can be retieved if we set our minds to it. In the 1960s and 1970s 08 wasted mach effort by endlessly debating ‘whether Rizal was a rast o an ideals, whether or not he s de serving ofthe veneration he receives. We continue to probe the intetions behind his actions, speeches ard wings, an atm! to cari his contnbution tothe process of nation-building Yet there is no questioning of his evoutionist premises, particulary the noton of emergence Mell hick balongs to the real of the familias. the “common sens.” As we shall se, this notion is problematized in the meanings that Rizal's gestures elicited mong the pobresy ignorantes. Rizal became implicated in the ery world which the istrades sought to effae. What we shall seek to uncover in particular the play of meanings which bis Aromatic execution in 1895 st into motion. this event were sin plya condemned mats attemptto perpetts his vn memary. of fis martyrdom againat opprevson and obscorantism, then hy mong many other ats of tarratern al execution wast singled ‘ut remember, commemerate for decades ater? What modes of thought part frm Sat ofthe ustrados informed the event?‘isa ano mi Unoanse oF Pauone Hiro 2 c ‘Twe*Fais” 1 IuvstRapo Consciousness How we understand change in the nineteenth century i con ‘cid to the problem that Phelan raved about the ature of Hispanization, Given the incontovertbe fact thatthe adios ware converted to Christianity we need t move beyond established tn familar views of hove thew world wa afected by tne new feligion. On one hand, professedly Catholic writers and isponophies claim that Chrivanity brought uli ws 5 ‘ation, ana unity tothe sland On the other hand, saticnaliss fugue passionately thot Chistanty wos 2 weapon fr focitating the politcal and economic subjugation ofthe sai Th either view, the indo i the posive recipient, The Spanish fran as representative of God on eats seen as exerting a power {ul moral hold over his gative wards, For beter or fr worse, Re interprets the proper rues of Christan betavion, rewarding the Slostont ad submiksve, ane punishing evidoers. Furthermore there isan implicit assempeion tat Christantysumpact can be lndertood by reference to certain core characteristics, foremost tunong them being ts otherworldly exientatin that encourage ‘ssignation to the realty Hees by the nos: resgaation to forced [bbor and the fund tax, submission to the wins ofthe agin cc nalive chiefs, and inter the principales, who were mostly agents ‘colonial rule, Those who ate nwiling 1 caicize the region sell view ts particular expression nthe Pilipine conte! as one of excenive pomp and pageantry, of coundlss fetal, procs Sons an tals that kepe the inios fn sch a stat of fascination that they fale to grasp te reality of colonial exploitation” "Ta whatewer pole the argument tends—Christiaity as the indo salvation or Chistianity a the roc of thelr lienation— theres always oom for allowing for ar celebrating the triumph ot liberal ideas fs the late inwteenh cenry In the fit place, the ‘notion that Christianity belongsto the realm of he oerworly 35 Aistnc from the secular and politcal allows the data on popular Gistrtanees and upstage, and the rise of the nationalist and sepeatst movement’ to be constacted on a “secular” sale that fel touches upon the idets of the “unenlightened” because (788 80 UNE OF PN Hiss Cc ‘thew appear to belong to the sphere of eligion, narrowly defied” Following pan ths, Christianity i simply equa sith some thing primitive and repressive that has 10 give way to mare pro _gissive forms of consciousness. “The consequence ofthese modes of interpretation is obvious forthe bistory of popular disturbances and revolts they occur ‘luring the "prenlghtenment” cust, they ae regard ain stincive largely loalzed reactions to oppressive menses," ‘ivi attempts fo return toa prcolnsl past at best primitive precursors fo the revolution." Her horizons narrowed by religion Sind the divide-and-role tactic of the Spaniards, the india i Alcemed unable o comprehend her situation “rationally” thus she reacts blindly, i the gut, to mounlng itis impinging pon het Only withthe advent of Rizal and the dst s there sep ved to bea clear understanding ofthe causes of satisfaction, Only withthe founding of Andres Honace's Katipunan secret Sowsey 5 there an ganization mith clear strategies anc goals When the Katipunan is superseded by Eailio Aguanaie'sepui- can government the Filipino people ae soon tobe finally cease not only fom the colonial mother county but alo fom a dark ‘past The history of “aun” ends with the bith ofthe secular, Drogrssive, enlightened repub n 1998." ‘With the dominant costrcts securely established itis impose sible to mgard as anything bat a curious sdelight the fact that Drosdent Aguinale, very much in the style ofthe ightenth-cen- tury rebel Diego Silang, was also seen asthe liberator sent by God." Or chat Rizal, ike Apelinario dela Cruzin 184, 9s ha 235 Tagalog Chis and king In 1898 and 1899 the republic very ‘much Lhe the old colonial administration, was beset with unrest led mostly by popes, chess, pastors and supronon” Such “side lights’ suggest that personalities and event toward the end of the rlneteonth century were repetitions, with variations, ofthe post “Thay cay our alletion to he fet ha iting omens have been applied to ninetenth-entty Philippine story at’ thot cexchided of “exces” deta abound with which we can alempt to oniont the dominant paradigms, nd eit play of tesningsin Place of closed strcture If Rial belonged to series of cits" 24. Aso-THe Unbene oF sens Histor c (One fact that renders the notion of « “ll” problematic, hoe fer was the survival of the indigenous languages For example, The wholeerop of foreign story ines Tagalog Mteraure which on the one hand suggest certain los of authentisty, upon cower ex amination fun out to be mass that conceal age-old presecupye tio, We shal se later on thatthe are of sch term as “sou and “sel to encompass the mesrings of db (i, "inal re leases the Tagalog pasion of Christ ey from the conto ofthe church The transition a allen storylines ancl concepts in Taga log not only resulted i their comesticato ther sition its things rend known, but gave rs o varus plays of meaning ‘Tu Powux oF Kise BERNARDO ‘One oft alien” stories that we an use to contrat stro sonsructons of the past is that of the Spanish rgendary Reo, Bernardo del Carpio. Inthe Tagalog awit Version that appeared i the midsnineteerth century, the scandals and tragedies Spanish ral th erusades against the Moors, andthe personal narrative of Berrando are obviously of foreign cig. Bus after sucesive reprinting ad oral recitations ofthe awit which ranks withthe prayon asthe Besthwa story in the late nineteenth centry— the hero Bernardo Crp hecae the hing of he Tagalog hilcen for imprisoned within a ered mourtais from which ne would someday emerge to liberate his people. He became known a5 Haring (King) Bernardo or San Berar, or imply Bernardo. Per Ips fhe had remained an isolates create of “folk beliefs” he ‘would not be af much interest tos now But sometime uri the tum of the century, Rial append at Sema side: What dove ‘Bis meeting signify? What does it suggest about the contours of str tg? ‘Pa we en the previo xy, mcd to i bare oes, the a is about a oy of enormous sheng and nee energy sth grove wp abt conaol orc te pare Than uted othe act the separated pret brat by waogates whe depive Limo he geod cnet isciplinng that only true parents can give. He serves the king of| Spain his stepfather) well but somehow remains the brash and ‘uncontried youth who subdues hs Moorish adversaries through ‘rut fore lai. Nevertheless th events which bring hen loser {o reunification wih his parents aze marked by coresponcingly rater control and efficacy of his powers Soom ater alter fa heaven reveals fo him the identity of his parents, he ascomplishes ‘single-handedly the task of liberating Spain from French domina ‘Hon * One can readily discers inthe ait eration of the tetme of lost origins Bernardo being ike the Filipinos who el fom Criginal sate of wholeness, ame under the domination of surn {ites (Spi, the friars) and therefore tesnined in state of arkness and immaturity nl they rcognized thet roe mother nga I ieaty to see why fustadon, aswel tk an inte In fist. Rial vas emir withthe Beran Carpi story and its more evident folk mening as the imaging ofthe asptatons frien ofthe pobresyignorantes2 The wevolutonst Andres Bonfaco as ‘ve sem, may even have tacked nationalist measings on to the nits form.” Sil, however, King Bernardo as “folk belie” oF ‘aa expnssionof “popular culture tobe noted aad even asd, bu! fom whose undersing presuppesitions about poreer ad the com ‘us the iustridos had Boen eessed. Educate Flips tnd 10 sms the complex articulations ofthe Bernardo Carpio myth 2s Pian falschood and supestion. And yet T ould ange that the ‘ain features of a powerful narrative of the past are contained In {he myth This kind of history alive even today particule among those who live on the fringes of urban society, 1s not cficalt 0 imagine what historical consciousness Was like inthe ninetentacentiry before mass education was imple aented. How does Rial get implicated in i? I! does sem far fetchad to lnk the imllectol who shunned violent uprising with the youth who subdued the Moors thogh bre strength But lak (ore is only one of Bernardo Carpo's attributes, associated witha eran lackfiner conta which she fther's duty teach ‘his son. As we sl se, the ae bacores he locus of hiking about ‘he ture of true power inthe conteat of which Rizal then appear* (CF Raw aso re Unorasine o Pause Hi (Our focus this tine is not the main boxy of the Bernardo ‘Carpio ai, batts ending and te various supplements 1018 AL tert climactic cee in which Bernard svete wt is pa ts the awit brake fo of tho Spanish legend We eal thatthe hero tavels about in sazch of pagan kingdoms to destroy When he rchesa church structure guarded by two stone lina bol of ighising suddenly strikes and polverizes ane of ke hors Aah tate, Berman disposes ofthe other sat, and then challenges the lightning elf, vowing to fn! ard deatoy it Inthe isance ave two motntsins bumping etch other at reglar intervals (e, rag aupugang fe) As Bernardo approaches it dazzling angel {pps and informs hin thatthe lightning he i ooking for has foe into the unas, were Beraasdo can nether see nor get Bt When the angel hinslf enters the mountain, Bernardo stub tornly follows with drawn sword, and the mountain closes in on him ‘At ts pot the awit formally ends, but various appendices uve been aed to no to mention the bali in Beenarto as the Tags Hing, that very stats avaliving text. Tere isthe sory of astrnger who manages to enter th cave in which Bernardo ies Sleeping Awakened, Bernardo falls the stranger "Lam Bernardo ‘Carpio who hain here fora longtime Ifyou want to equire my strength, give me your hand, les be fiends.” But the stranger, seeing the many skeletons ying around, wisaly extends 2 pees of ‘hone which crambles to pecs as Bernardo grasps i. Bernardo then declares You ate lucky. Because you are intelligent, 1am your friend on whom you can depend. Take the litle cross ‘eat my had asa gift fom me, When you arein danger, just say devoutly Christum and the danger will be verted by the power of the Son of God. Lam being pune ‘shed hese by Cond for my sins, but Gods goo ana Lam alive am hoping hat the time ill come when lean arse from my imprisonment ‘Sogo, and tell the people about my condition 50 that they wil be reminge that esis after he was intr rose (7800 1 Uns Prlnne Hs ° again Inthe same manner, T that am now eonfined in my "one bed inside cave wl i te, be abl return 2 roven. For almighty God he His resons: He singles out fone man as savior ofthe oppressed. 5o tll the oppressed people tha their Bornardo wail soon rise and save them” Bernard's jumey in searchofdalstes sn eect an octane rmovementsway fom the narative’s core (hic is based 09 2 Spanish mode ano the saln of hinking about power, its concen trabon i the mouptain, and the problem of access tit At this stage of Uernardo's career, be isan embodiment of inguin {is power the spiritin! substance that “ankmates” the universe ‘nd often concealed ora powerfull ings and jets “This i revealed in his challenge and Pursuit of the lightning, hich is concentrated, intense light Usninag and ancter form of hapangyarhan. The ligating, the dazzling angol and Bernardo Ihel forma series of sack concentrations ight power which ssccessioely enter the mountain Bemnando, as Hing ofthe Tess. thos lle diene rom Kings elsewhere in Southeast Asa whose potency is derived fom their! locations the center or ssmmits of aces mons In Brae, however, there sa ruca eiference the king id den, prevented! by “almighty God” from leeing the mount = “neon The potency concentrated in the lod of Bernardo and he rountin—thwy ane one and the same cannot be demansiraed, sano low aut and animate Bernard's world, The promise tt he wil ne day be abl to return to town suggests Exp Between the hing mountain and the popelce.» gap that std noe exist ‘he past and ile bridged in the future, By way of contrast the Indi stats, thal oe palace sigaiying Mount Meru is locate at ‘he center ofthe realy there is nod of potency that radios ‘wellbeing and altmts followers” In explaining that his enlrspment in the mountain is God's punishment for Ms sin, Bernardo point tthe Spanish and in amicus, Christan intervention in the sar. The avi says that ‘ernndo committed the sin of pre in thinking that he was 95 powerful as Ga, sho responded by enclosing Bemardo in sata (CH Rasesso ni Uren of Pat Hero temporally located in the perio ofthe Katipunan uprising of 1896. {The mura fo the mountain corresponds to RizaYs execution in December 1896, In 1230, a student reporting on Laguna, Rizal's home province, nod: “Iisa commen beliet among the country {SIE hat Rizal is not dead. He was hidden somewhere and will Spear again when the Philippines regains her independence" "The vital identification of Ral ith the hidden King raises ‘many questions about the shape of noniustrado thought during the colonial period, What do we make of the underlying repetition fn the stories that have boon Drought up? What does Rizal's meet ing with Bernardo suggest about the folk tepretaions of thera ‘Gal changes taking place fn Ris te? Rumors lke the ones ovate above admtedy varied from region to region, yer thers tna eomsiseney about then om the level of ideas of power nd change that invites us to reexamine cera ey notions abut so ‘ocultural developments dering the Spanish period. Only after Fnterrogating sc famine notions can We catch the manifold in kai ofthe Rint Bemardo meeting “Tw Unpensne of Hisranizarion Rica! soften called “he ft Fpino” because he figures the ‘veto dominance ofthe principalis ass, whose Europarzed er ‘ons became the nucleus around whicha modern nation oul crys tllze The roots of this progressive, largely nationalist class are inextricably found up withthe initial ordering of Philippine so tty neattermaths ofthe conquest The mais tsk of Spanish mis Honaries and soldiers in the seventeenth century was 10 Conceatrate or resettle people within hearing distance of the ‘church bell. Atthe very centoref majo setdement (peblo) were 1 Calc church, a convent, cccsionlly a presercit, o town, fall, surrounded by the houses ofthe local elite, Comprising the bulk ofthis elt up tothe mineteenth century were the data, oF ‘aguinos whom the Spaniards had transformed into 2 petty ra ing con that learned fo profit Irom an allancesometimes sony ith the colenil masters reste ie Uaoc oe Ptin aro e rom the late eighteenth ceatury though the nineteenth cen= tury cron economic opportunites, wach ae commerce fn port crope, land speculation, and tax farming, brought to prominence a new clas of Chinese mestizos often enmeshed Ehrough Kinship with the local maguinod fails. Rizal wes of auch Tagalog Chinese stock Halling frm one ofthe was friar e= ‘ates, he fay lke many others of the principal, vas a post tion to ease lange ais of farmland from the Spanish ars tobe cultivated by sharecroppers. The wealth and prestige of the praciples made ther secood only tothe farsi terms of spt And obeiane fom thecomunon tv. By the second hal ofthe nine teenth entry, the perio coinciding with the se of Berl ‘Spain the principales viewed th far asthe remaining obstacles to their ese power Thus began the fist strings ofthe propa [ganda movement against Spain The pattern of Filipino settlements—oeal churches as focal points of popslaton concentrations, looking #9 Vigan Cebu, Ma- bil, snd other religiopolitiel centers for guidance and suste rance-—bears comparison wih centers of population n He nic states of Southeast Asia. Reinforced by Hindu-Buddhint seas ot Kinship,» rer in the incic states was table focal point fr aii ‘ation Tis palace was 2 ministre Mount Meru: he rel! Was the sours ofthe Kingdoms wel being—the aundance of share ‘vst the extent oft trade relations the glory of te name, What ‘made this al possibein the first place was the raion thatthe ler participated in divimty ise repesented by the supreme ancestor Spotiosizad ass Hindu god. With the sic of rab, the ler ‘was feline wth the formulas and rials needed to concentrate {he power (sil sulin) ofthe ancestorge in himself make ima living amule who ffccy was fot in dacresing level of intensity as one move! fm the center tothe periprios of the realm, nturn the nobility ane ite participated in the alr’ power To take an example fom ane othe few surviving tad tional states in Southeast Asi, in Laws Gout Sulawesi a Way oF talking about levels of potency is by relernce to the amount of ‘white blood in people ea oF gods, have pare white blood, ana ‘hey are invisible The rler is an incarnate dea, god-king. Thec ables below him have some hit Blood (hich masks them a5 robles! n varying concentrations bt lst of than the rer has ‘With regard tothe Pilippine, i has always be take 38 2 ‘mater of fact that a Hispanic model cameo preva theefee, 2 attempt situate te pueblo in the context ofits counterparts in| the Indianied states fends to be regarded as sheer pectin, This outlook, however, resis upon cenfurles of Spanish writings that stress the tumph of Hispanization tuning into minor oF biden themes the actual interplay between different levels of thinking about power and the socal hierarchy. When the Spa inns arrived, native chit, bike their Khmer and Malay counter. prt fvr centuries earlier, sore tempting ko make thee secs {deied ancestors boss or etinizing theirclaimsc superior ity over eters Coin remarks that “whoever can getaway wth ‘ried divinity to bis father when he ded” The eoppession of sch beliefs and their accompanying teehriques of dealing with Spiritual substance was one ofthe objectives ofthe congue. THe Slestution of Cathobe saints or wllage spits or ait, rape bars forantng-antng, Beene sng or sats invoking he spi 4s and so forth reflects, however, a more realistic project of ‘ssimlating “Malay” conceptions and peuctices” There is a0 oubr that as faF a6 the elimination of “superstiton” anc “ani tis among the folk was concerned! the Spanioh forts largely fale. On the othet hand, tee that ws metres nthe pet complex could not rise to thei postion of promoxnce sethoat thei thiaking and behavior being thoroughly couied by the chuzeh enter As we shall se, inthe procs of suppressing oF stati taditanalthnkang a practices concering power, the Spenisrds inadvertently created an ambiguous rltionship om the perspective ofthe Ind states) betwen the euch ce: te the principal, and the onary a0. Catholie churches were no doubt imposing strctures dotting the Philippine landscape: When topography permed, thay wore reat upon hil, “to achieve a greater Fens of monumental ‘sive Rea, but abo peshaps out of the ars’ ebservation that hl tope were nodes of potency Churches were also concentrated sources Gods apngyanhaa, tapped during chur tas and (Ret 8 PH Vo oF Pre tom C Uhrougl ts tac in holy water, statues f saints, ether ritual ob= ics, and even candle