ACTIVITY 4M: ISHIKAWA FISHMADAFAKINGBONE

ACTIVITY
RIZAL’S ANNOTATIONS OF SUCECOS

Cause 1: Morga said that cotton was grown extensively in practically all the islands which  the
natives sold as  thread and  woven   fabrics to Chinese and other foreign  merchants. They also
spun thread from banana leaves.

Effect 1: Rizal clarified, Morga must have meant sinamay, which was woven from abaca
thread that comes from the trunk, not the leaves. He then quoted Fr. Chirino who wrote that
these cotton fabrics were sought-after in Nueva España and that encomenderos made fortunes
on the cotton trade. That was 31 years after the encomiendas were created, but, Rizal pointed
out, the industrious natives were so discouraged by extreme exploitation, they abandoned the
fields and burned the weaving looms.

Cause 2: Morga was obviously fascinated with the social organization of the natives; he
described origins, differences, privileges of social classes, upward and downward mobility,
inheritance of possessions and titles.

Effect 2:  Rizal emphasized that native women, unlike their European counterparts, never lost
their noble titles. In marriage, it was the groom who gave the bride’s parents a dowry because
they were losing a precious daughter.

Cause 3: As expected, Morga was critical of the system of government, which he said, barely
existed because there were no powerful figure that ruled over myriad communities, most of
them coastal, each with its own set of leaders. And one, of the most laborious footnotes was
about the literacy of pre-colonial Filipinos. Morga said that natives of all the islands had their
own form of writing with characters that looked like Greek or Arabic. 

Effect 3: Rizal argued that it was better that way; why should the communities be beholden
to one ruler who didn’t even live among them and was not familiar with their needs and
problems? How could he have solved disputes, mete justice, implement policies, if he didn’t
even live in the community? (Perhaps Rizal was in favor of federalism.) In terms of the writing
with characters, sadly enough, Rizal said, that was no longer true. Although the colonial
government claimed, in word and deed, that it was instructing the Filipinos, in truth, it was
fomenting ignorance by putting the friars in charge of education.  Not only Filipinos but also
Peninsulares and foreigners accused them of wanting to stupefy (embrutecer) the nation and
that was evident in their writings and behavior.