Infante, Krystine Faye C.

COSH21

BSMT1-I October 11, 2019

REFLECTION PAPER
(Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral)

Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral is a truly-based Philippine historical film that narrates how the
government of the Philippines and Gregorio del Pilar managed to fight for our country after the death of
Heneral Antonio Luna. It was directed by Jerrold Tarog.

General Gregorio del Pilar a.k.a Goyo or Agila became a hero at the age of 23 and he is Emilio
Aguinaldo’s favorite. As I give some of my thoughts, Aguinaldo’s impression towards Goyo was because
Goyo never fails Aguinaldo’s orders. There is a certain part in the movie where Goyo and Manuel Bernal,
Luna’s former aides-de-camp, exchanged conversations:

Del Pilar: “Pareho lang tayong tapat sa pinaglalaban natin.

Ang pinagkaiba [ay] tapat ka sa patay na tao, ako tapat sa presidente.”

Bernal: “Ang pagkakaiba [ay] ikaw tapat sa idolo mo, kaming mga pinatay at papatayin mo,
tapat kami sa isang prinsipyo. Namatay si Luna na isang sundalong may paninindigan,
ikaw pumapatay lang dahil sa utos. Hindi ka sundalo Goyo, isa kang aso.”

As I heard those lines, I realize how people forgot to follow their own principles in life in order to
to do something for someone who is powerful than us. Just like Goyo, there are certain parts in our lives
that we’ve unconsciously being manipulated in order to attain their trust and build our own reputation.
For me, Aguinaldo became addicted to power which led him to order Filipino soldiers to kill their fellow
Filipinos, just like Andres Bonifacio and Antonio Luna, for he thought about his self and think that they
might ruin his plans. For this, I realize how flawed our fellow Filipinos and leaders are in terms of
personal gains and fighting for the freedom of the country.

“Ano bang halaga ng isang bayani? Ano baa ng nasa likod ng kadakilaan? Bakit tayo pirming
nakatingala? Sumasamba nang walang pagdududa. Bakit lagi tayong bulag na umaasa sa tagaligtas.
Sabi ni Heneral Luna, ang taong may damdamin ay hindi alipin. Ngunit sa tingin ko’y kung ang
damdamin ito ay sanhi ng pagkabulag natin, alipin tayo ng sarili nating damdamin.”

Fear can be one of the reasons why we betray ourselves. Goyo also can be seen how fear conquers him,
making him lose his mind for about a minute. Moreover, there are some parts of the movie that focuses
on Goyo’s popularity which attracts every single woman in every town. With that, there are some
people who think that war was not prioritized since the month that had passed after Luna died mainly
focused to fiestas, romance, and courting. I don’t know why people loved to prioritized the luxury first.
After that, a glimpse of regret conquers our soul when something happened unexpectedly based on
what we expected.

Joven may be seen from the movie but we may realize that he was not mentioned in every
single book of history. Joven is a fictional character that defines youth. Joven is someone that is curious
and been wanting to find some answers to the question he keep up in mind. He witnessed how our
leaders manage to control their actions, how they create special occasions when a soldier was being
promoted, how they manage to find comfort despite of the on-going war, and how they managed to
carry a bag full of love letters they received. There is a conversation where Joven and his uncle talked
about what learnings can he gain to the people that surrounds him recently. His uncle said to him, "Edi
matuto ka sa pagkakamali nila.". We should be aware by this phrase because we may use this in our
daily life. We learn from our mistakes, not just from ours but also to others' mistakes. I can really see the
youth to Joven's formation who is just watching events twinched before his eyes and goes with the wind
wherever it takes him. How we idolize other people, just like how Joven idolize Antonio Luna, and widen
our expectation to others and realize that they were no like to our idols, just how Joven saw how the
government and other soldiers mislead the said war to the Americans. Yet, with those realizations, he
didn't revolt.

In additional, the things we witnessed and experienced is something that is more vital than
knowledge. Wisdom or the values can be used in every decision we make, knowledge can be simplified
as bonus in terms of decision making. With this statement, I can now diferentiate those terms just like
how Joven's uncle said, "Magkaiba ang kaalaman sa karunungan.".

With this film, I realized that this film was made in order to appreciate and also to gain
knowledge what happened in the past. Mostly, history books and history class were boring but with this
kind of presentation, might help as visualize and serve as a guide how fellow Filipinos fight for our
country, know where we came from, and learn from the mistakes of the past. We need to start
reminding ourselves to come back to our roots - remember our purpose, nationality, history and
cultures. We should start reflecting with ourselves and be aware of our the historical events in order for
us to learn and utilize the past in a way that we would refrain and prevent ourselves from repeating the
happenings that resulted to unpleasant outcomes.