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Rene Bendal

The Philippines During Dr.Jose Rizal's Time

OCTOBER 12 · PUBLIC

THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE TIME OF RIZAL

1. Racial discrimination
Spain introduced Christianity in the Philippines. The Spanish authorities faith, but seldom
practiced its sublime trusts. They regarded the convented Filipinos, not a mother Christians but
on interior belief who were infinitely underserving of the rights and privilege that the unite
Spaniard enjoyed.
2. Human rights denied to the Filipinos.
The adoption at Spanish constitution in very favored on Spanish
3. Mal administration of justice
4. Equality

The 19th century in Europe

1. Nation strugle for nationalism. Nationalism is the same culture, common interests, common
aspirations, traditions, ideals.
During rennaisance, the monarchy controls the society. The people revolted against monarcy
rules.
Philosopy of the age of Rennaissance (Struggle between the liberal and conservatives)
John Locke and Jean Jacques Rosseau - They promote liberalism. They wanted to free from
discrimination.
The effects of the industrial revolution are multifatious
1. Manual labor to machines
•Transportation and communication
•High technologies
•Medicines
2. Urbanization -pure factor=unemployment, life style, education
3. Capitalism - laissez fair= hands off, let well alone policy, government is prevented from
interfering in private trade or industry except to protect the nation from foreign aggression, to
maintain peace and order, to protect investment in foreign countries, to enforce contracts, and
to protect private property.
4. Stand points in Modern imperialism starts a process of historic change.
•Economic stand point - market / fields of investments, secure new materials
•Political stand point - for national defense, territories for patuistic ends in view.
•Religious stand point - composition of religion
Unfortunate victims of the evils of an untrust, bigoted, deteriorating colonial power.

Six important changes of the century

1. Strugle of nationalism - The liberals believed that a country should be free from domination
by another and the people should enjoy liberty, equality, and opportunity.
2. Gradual spread of democracy - cabinet system
3. Modernization of living through the industrial revolution.
4. Advance of science
5. March of imperialism.
6. New current in the movement of thought and growing confidence on progress.

Policies and events in 19th century

1. Spain faces strugle for liberalism. - Spain was influenced by the ideals of both the French
revolution and American revolution. This influence could be seen in the struggles of the people
for constitutionalism which marked the first three quarters of the century. The Spain was beset
by various troubles.
a. Political problem- The liberals (constitutionalists) wanted to limit absolutism so that the
people may enjoy their constitutional and human rights. The conservatives ( reactionaries)
wanted the retention of monarcy. Queen Isabela II fight for constitutionalism, the freedom of
speech, worship, assembly, domicile, suffrage. Constitution continued the monarchial formbof
government (liberal principles)-freedom of worship, the jury system, civil marriage, and other
human rights.
b. The Philippines is affected by the political instability in Spain. - Changes in the Madrid
government were adversely affected the Philippines. Changes in the Madrid government were
followed by constant changes in the political administration in the colony. The common political
dictum that "to the victors belong the Spain's office" was shown in the frequent changes of
governor-generals.
Many Spanish officials in the Philippines were jobseekers and tried to enrich themselves and
later retired to enjoy their wealth by appointment, created mal administration, graft and
corruption, and bribery.
c. The Philippines is affected by the union of the church and the state.
Cardinal policy in Spain->Cardinal Administration of the Philippines->Governor general-
>Archbishop of Manila.
Cause of conflict:
1. The church officials complained to the king of Spain about the harsh treatment given to the
people by the civil officials.
2. The governor complained to the king on the interference of ecclesiastical officials in the civil
and internal affairs of the government.
The king issued various instruction to bring harmony between church and state. It did not bring
about such conflicts. It caused discontent among Filipinos they felt that the friars wielded too
much power in the government which should not be so.
The archbishop excercised religious, judicial, and political functions. He acted as governor
general in case of vacancy in the governatorial office.
d. Philippine representation in the Spanish cortes is justifiable. - The Spanish war of
Independence (1808-1814) against the invading French forces aroused every Spaniard to defend
his country. The government officials thought it was timely to rally the colonies to be loyal to
Spain.
Cortes- Spanish colonies should have national and direct participation in the ancient legislature.

Constituent cortes- it was complying with popular clamor for a constitutional government by
Queen Maria Cristina. It is a draft of new constitution and approved in 1837 which established
parliamentary government.
e. Racial discrimination is offensive to the Filipinos. A general belief then current in Europe was
that the white man was superior to one who was black or brown. This led racism. In the
Philippines, the Spaniards called the natives Indios. The Filipinos could not understand why the
Spaniards who introduced Christianity with the beautiful ideal of brotherhood considered them
inferior on account of the color of their skin.
f. Denial of human rights spurs the Filipinos to fight for them.- Right to life, liberty and security
of persons, thought, religion and expressions, assembly, equality before the law, adequate
standard living and just working conditions, arbitrary arrest, detention or exile, movement and
residencia within border of each state, nationality, take part in the government, form and join
trade union for the protection of ones own interests, just and favorable remuneration, rest and
leisure, education, participate in the cultural life of the community, seek and be granted asylum,
social and international order.
g. Spirit of reform in Spain influences Philippine progress.
• Economic policy. The galleon trade in Manila through the whole world trade, and the ports.
Economic progress, furthermore, paved the way for the development of civic encourage, that
spirit of personal independence and criticism which characterizes an economically independent
middle class. It was that class which, because of greater educational advantages and contact with
foreign new comers and their ideas, as well as enhanced material power, first questioned the
abuses of the government and demanded social reforms.
•Improvement of education. Jose dela Concha, the minister of colonies that promulgated the
education decree of 1863 which established the public educational system and normal school in
men.
• Liberal government in Spain. Governor Carlos Maria dela Torre (1869-1871)
• Colonial administration (1884) - abolition of tobacco monopoly, abolition of tribute and its
substitution by the cedula.
Royal decree=Alcalde mayores (judge)->Alcalde mayor
h. Imperialism - acquired colonies, concession or sphere of influence. The Filipinos responds
about imperialism, they achieved nationhood, exploitation of resources, racism. An increase in
population come about in a result of advances in medical knowledge and public hygiene,
improvement of the production in goods, development in new industries, and increase national
income.
i. Intellectual discontent become prevelant. Inadequate educational systematic is shown through
the following:
• No systematic government supervision of schools- the students were free to administer their
own curriculum and prevails the qualification of their teachers.
• Most serious criticism against the system were:
-Over emphasis on religious matters. Fear of God was emphasized and obedience to the friers
was instilled in the minds of the people.
-Absolute teaching. Emphasized and repeated the content of the books that they did not
understand. Hampering intellectual process.
-Limited curriculum
-Very poor classroom facility
-Absence of teaching materials
• Primary education was neglected
•Prejudice against Filipinos in the schools for higher learning. They were constantly reminded
that they had inferior intelligence and they were fit only for mannual labor.

Essays of Rizal
1. To the Youth Women in Malolos
6th paragraph- The mother should teach her children to love of God, fatherland, and mankind.
9th paragraph- The Filipino woman should know how to preserve her dignity and honor. The
Filipino woman should know educate herself aside from retaining her good racial virtues. Faith
is most merely reciting long prayers and wearing religious pictures, but rather it is living the real
christian way with good morals and manners.
Rizal good pieces advices for Malolos women
• Important indeed are the duties that women must fulfill in order to relieve the country of her
sufferings, but they are not beyond the strength and character of the Filipino women to perform.

• If she is a young women, let the young man love not only for her beauty or sweetness of her
desposition but also for the firmness of her character and her lofty ideas that invigorate the weak
men.
•The young women should ask the man she is going to love for a noble and honorable name, a
manly heart that can protect her weakness a noble mind and will not permit him to be a father of
slave. She must instill in her mind activity and industry, noble behavior, worthy sentiments.
•When she become a wife, she should help her husband in every difficulty encourage him, share
with him all merits, console him and drive away his woes, always bearing in mind that a heroic
heart can endure suffering and no legacy of infantry and slavery.
Gender is socially determined characteristics of men and women thus included notions about
what is masculine and what is feminine. It included ideas about what are appropriate gender
roles, the people itself in the society would define about the sex. Gender equality is opprtunity
and impact for women and men within a social and economic context.
• The woman should be independent.
Empowerment is providing the ability and opportunity to influence and participate in decision
making processes and outcomes. This requires knowledge, self-respect, and self confidence.
-Vision of Gender - Fair society-
Manifestation of gender bias vision
a. Marginalization
-equal pay for works of equal value
-economic independence
-economic opportunity
b. Subordination
-equality in decision making
-recognition of capability
c. Multiple burden
-should parenting
-should household
d. Personal dehumanization
-personhood development
-control our one's body

2. The Indolence of the Filipino

Factors which magnify indolence among Filipinos
a. Climate
b. Gambling
c. Wars
d. Attitude of Friars
e. Feeling of inferiority
f. Conflict of interests - for governor, his office is nothing and more his personal gains.
g. Fiestas -preparation, rosary
h. Apathy of government / lack of moral support
i. Lessening encouragement to labor
j. Piratical attacts
=Realize the government why the Filipino become indolence

Rizal nationalistic poems

1. Sa Aking Mga Kababata - pointed out the significance of the mother tongue language. It
expressed his wish that the native town should be cheerish and enrich. The author felt that some
of his countrymen have developed at colonial mentality. It advocated social equality.
2. To The Filipino Youth- he inspired the youth to develop his talents, look forward and bring
the chain in her bandage. He encourage the youth to fly swifter than the wind and descent with
art and science He could caught the poet to open the horizon and write poetry about the country.

3. To The Flowers Of Heidelberg - The poem excudes intense love of his native land which has
grown in intensity as he travel from country to country.
4. Hymn To Labor - He awakened the youth to be worthy of their elders by following their
footstep. Stressed the role of labor in keeping out the dignity of men, keeping the family strong.
5. My Retreat - During his 4 years exile in Dapitan, at the request if his mother who was eager to
know how he lived there. Rizal recalled how he left his country full of bright illusion spending
the spring of his life in foreign land. Then he returned and cast upon on far flung rock with no
hope but the memory of the beliefs of a youth so vigorous and hearthy.
6. My Last Farewell -His resignation to his faith could be sense in his willingness to die for his
beloved called pearl of the orient sea. He bade farewell to his country, his family, his friends in
lines of his dignity and grace devoid of bitterness.

Novels
1. El Filibusterismo (The Rebel)
It is a political drama
Simoun is a fusitive Ibarra, jeweler (wealth). He radiates great influence and he became the
indispensable consultant and closes friend of the Governor general. He has returned to
overthrow the government and arrange the injustice he suffered. He would use his wealth and
his influence to encourage corruption in the high circles of the government, as a result is he
would drive the people to dispair and incite them to revolution. His obsession, the revolution,
would primarily become a fulfillment of his row of in glance. The peoples freedom in the process
came only as a secondary purpose.
Twice Simoun attempts to ignite the fires of rebellion but he fails such as:
•To rescue Maria Clara from the nunnery.
• Isagani the young poet who snatched the lamp Simoun sends as a wedding gift to Isagani's
forum sweetheart who marries another suitor.
El Filibusterismo is a work of mind and science that explains of rebellion. According to Jaena, it
is more superior than Noli as much as exquisite delicate literary style, its easy and correct
dialogue, its clear phraseology, and vigorous elegant.
1. Decadence in social order - Decadence in the more of bias and the misguided, innate virtue of
family practices and values. This is shown in Capitan Tinay's parody of Rizal's mother Teodora
Alonzo, Tinay announces with shall tell my son yo give up his education. They say wise men die
on the gallows.
=Reflection of discrimination.
2. Abuses of religious authorities - Many of the friars were sadly deficient in spiritual leadership.
Despite the vow of chastity, they had immoral liaisons with nature women who either through
the threat as gentle persuations, had to accede to their cassual desire. The friars were guilty of
bribery and corruption. Father Camorra asked Capitan Basilio for a gift of fair of lady's carrings,
otherwise, the parish priests unfavorable repart would cause the capitan great harm. These
earnings are compulsory gift.
3. Defective educational system - Whoever accomplished a flaudless recitation gained good
mark, whoever made three mistakes, a zero.
4. The fight of the Filipino - pitiful fathers of families... work unlessly on highways. (forced
labor).
5. Urgency of needed reform
• Immediate reform would have to start from Spaniards.
• Colonial philosophy would have to be redefinal.
=Rizal saw hopeless.

Particular Issues which stood act as evidence against Rizal:

1. Rizal as the head of Katipunan.
2. Life as subversive organization.
3. Borneo project.
4. Project of Rizal to escape from Dapitan.
5. Valenzuela trip to Dapitan.

Illustrate and explain the framework of the unitary system of government during the Spanish
and contemporary period.

King of Spain- Spanish viceroy-Archbishops and Governor general.

Archbishops-Bishops-Lesser clergies (parish priest)
Bishops-Provinces and Cities
Lesser clergies- Municipalities
Governor general-Provinces (Alcaldes, Mayores) and Cities (Alcaldes)-Municipalities
(Gobernadorcillo)-Barangays (Cabeza de barangay)

https://pia.gov.ph/features/articles/1016606.amp#aoh=16030147781997&referrer=https:
//www.google.com
Philippine Information Agency

Rizal’s timeless challenge – To Serve the Nation

By NHCPPublished On December 30, 2018
In these times of unprecedented exodus abroad of youth searching for jobs or the fulfillment of
their dreams; of public servants going back on their oath of honest service, in exchange for the
returns of Mammon; of activists who continue to disappear and die in the course of their mission
to change society for the least of that society; or of the rare Filipino who risks his own life and
family if only to serve the cause of truth- it would be fitting to remember Rizal’s timeless call to
all patriots of past, present and future as a gauge of our own place and worth as Filipinos at this
point in our history.

It may be said that Rizal’s foremost mission in life had been determined for him by fate- and
early in his life.  In 1872 Fathers Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomes and Jacinto Zamora, priests
whose names were identified with the movement to reform the priesthood, and the Catholic
Church itself, in the Philippines, were executed on the ground of inciting the Mutiny of Cavite. 
That execution proved to be Rizal’s political epiphany, the beginning of his coming of age as a
Filipino aware of being part of one nation.  It was to culminate in full fruition at his death more
than 20 years later, but by then a generation of his fellow natives had been molded, by his life’s
work, into Filipinos with a sense of nation.

The generation into which Rizal was born was the generation that up till then produced the
greatest of Filipino youth.  It grew up in the worst and best of times, a time of upheaval, and
revolution and sacrifice, the call to which Rizal and his fellow youth had unhesitatingly, and
without looking back, answered.

Among them, however, Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar, a fellow Propagandist, stood out for their
determination.  Del Pilar had left homeland, wife and two daughters to wage his political
struggle in Spain.  He would die there.  Rizal was driven by one thing and one thing only: to
serve the nation.  He spoke of it a year after he left his homeland for studies in Spain:  “In my
heart I have suppressed all loves, except that of my native land; in my mind I have erased all
ideas which do not signify her progress; and my lips have forgotten the names of the native races
in the Philippines in order not to say more than Filipinos.”

Rizal’s chief aim was to reform Philippine society, first by uncovering its ills and second, by
awakening the Filipino youth.  His enemies were the oppressive colonial government, but
especially the corrupt elements among the friars, members of the religious orders that exerted the
greatest influence over the government and thereby held complete sway over the lives of the
Filipinos.

Rizal knew the best way to awaken the youth and lead them toward right action was through
education, but especially foreign education.  For local education, being controlled by the friars
then kept the Filipinos in the dark, ignorant of their rights and heritage- and meek in the face of
oppression.  This was partly why he left for Spain in 1882, to continue his studies there.

Championing the cause of the nation for him entailed becoming the best person he could be.  He
carried over to his activism the mental and physical disciplines he learned from his elders.

His capacity for self-denial had developed to such a degree that enabled him -when he was short
on funds abroad- to breakfast on a few biscuits for days on end; to take exams on an empty
stomach or go for hours without food; to burn the candle at both ends studying his lessons or
learning a new language; to steel himself from falling into the trap of drinking and gambling,
which had waylaid many of his compatriots from their mission; to retain his empathy for the
downtrodden as when moved upon encountering a child begging in the streets of Madrid,
perhaps reminding him of the child beggars back home.

He plunged himself into the thick of the Propaganda, a movement that agitated for government
reforms in the Philippines, foremost of which was Filipinos’ assimilation in the Spanish nation
through representation in the Cortes (Spanish Parliament).  He waged his campaign among
progressive members of the Cortes and Spanish intellectuals; he wrote letters and articles for La
Solidaridad, the Propaganda mouthpiece, as well as other publications, producing some of his
best work during this period such as “The Indolence of the Filipinos”; “Message to the Women
of Malolos”, or “The Philippines a Century Hence”.

Despite his deprivations, he continued to push himself to serve his nation’s cause finally
producing his greatest work, the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, works that
paved his way to an untimely death but also to a lasting place in the hearts and minds of his
compatriots.

Of his vision for the Filipinos, Rizal wrote his comrade Mariano Ponce in 1888:  “Let this be our
only motto: For the welfare of the Native Land.  On the day when all Filipinos should think like
him [Del Pilar] and like us, on that day we shall have fulfilled our arduous mission, which is the
formation of the Filipino nation”.  To Rizal that nation was a nation free of injustice, oppression
and corruption.  May the Filipinos of today finally begin fulfilling this timeless challenge of
Rizal. (Ma. Cielito Reyno, 2012 / NHCP)

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UNTING NAYON
32 years of Community Service
Rizals concept of Education
http://muntingnayon.com/104/104917/index.php

By Renato Perdon
Sydney, Australia
December 8, 2016

Rizal taught his boys reading, writing in foreign languages, geography, math &
geometry, industrial work, natural study, morals and gymnastics

The problem with Rizal is the wealth of materials available for use. One who is doing a
research on Rizal is always faced with the problem of selecting the right and the best
materials for the purpose.

Rizal has been written as a poet, writer, novelist, physician, nationalist, linguist, traveller,
and many other works he excelled at. And all this covers a short period of his life.
Rizal always considered education as a medicine or something that could cure the problems
of Colonial Philippines. He believed in education that is free from political and religious
control. He asserted that reform can not be achieved if there is no suitable education, a
liberal one available to Filipinos.

Rizal was not happy at the University of Sto. Tomas compared with his student days at the
Ateneo Municipal. At least, he enjoyed the little freedom students were given in expressing
themselves. This he could not find at the Dominican university.
In 1893, Rizals idea of education as an instrument of change has not diminished a bit. In
one of his letters to Alfredo Hidalgo, a nephew, Rizal stated: Life is very serious thing and
only those with intelligence and heart go through it worthily.

In the same letter, he also told his nephew that to live is to be among men and to be
among men is to struggle He concluded that on the battlefield man has no better weapon
than his intelligence

His leaving the UST to pursue his studies at the Madrid Central University was in conformity
with the ideas of Fr. Jose Burgos, one of the three martyred priests of 1872. Fr. Burgos
strongly advocated that Filipinos should study abroad because overseas education was
considered an essential step to achieving reform. And this thinking he shared with his only
brother, Paciano Rizal.
Why all these reactions? Was Rizal not over reacting? Was he reasonable? Let us look into
one of his works to find some answers. Specifically his The Indolence of the Filipinos, an
essay he wrote in 1890 which described the education of the masses under the Spanish
regime. Rizal said the education of the Filipinos from birth until the grave is brutalizing,
depressing, and anti-human.

During the same period, majority of student have grasped nothing more than what the
books say, not even what their professors understand of it. In other words, Filipinos were
not allowed to think. Students were subjected to the daily preaching that lowers human
dignity, gradually or brutally killing their self-respectthat eternal, tenacious, persist effort to
humble the native, to make him accept the yoke and to reduce him to the level of an
animal.

In the same piece Rizal talked of the situation in detail. He said, since childhood, they have
learned to act mechanically, without knowing the purpose, thanks to the exercise imposed
upon them very early in life to pray for whole hours in an unknown language, of worshiping
without understanding, of accepting beliefs without questioning, of imposing upon
themselves absurdities, while the protests of reasons are repressed.

This condition, he continued, made the Filipinos accept the ideas that they belong to an
inferior race and this assertion has been repeated to the child and became engraved in his
mind and finally seals and shapes all his future actions.

To ensure that this orientation retained in the childs mind, Rizal observed that the child who
tries to be anything else is charged of being vain and presumptuous. The curate ridicules
him with cruel sarcasm, his relatives look upon him with fear, and strangers pity him
greatly. There was no chance to go forward, just follow the faceless crowd, was the order of
the day.
It is through this scenario that we could better understand why Rizal was clamouring for a
different education, a new idea of teaching the Filipino youth. Rizal believed that even
modest education, no matter how rudimentary it might be, if it is the right education for the
people, the result would be enough to awaken their ideas of perfection and progress and
eventually, change would follow.

This is the situation how education was acquired during that period. Rizals idea of education
was therefore the most enlightened. His concept of education was felt as early as when he
was only 16 years old.

In one of his poems, Education gives luster to the Motherland, he dwelt on the excellent
conception of education as a means of instilling enchanting virtue and raising the country to
the high level of immortality and dazzling glory.

The first few lines of the poem are as follows:

Wise education, vital breath
Inspires an enchanting virtues;
She puts the Country in the lofty seat
Of endless glory, of dazzling glow.
And just as the gentle auras puff
Do brighten the perfumed flowers hue.
So education with a wise, guiding hand,
A benefactress, exalts the human band.

This is, I would say, an affirmation of Fr. Burgos influence over the young Rizal, mainly, due
to the close association of his only brother Paciano with Fr. Burgos.

Rizals dream of an education for the youth has been embodied in his conception of a
modern school or Colegio Moderno. A working practical, liberal education and a system of
instruction for the youth of the land was envisoned.
This school was actually planned to be established in Hong Kong but found reality in Dapitan
during his four year exile in Mindanao.

In Talisay, a few kilometres away from the town of Dapitan, now called Rizal Shrine, Rizal
operated a school following the modern conception he envisioned for his countrymen.

It was a school fifty years ahead of its time. A school the main purpose of which was to
teach the students to behave like men. Agriculture was completely integrated with formal
instruction and the development of self-reliance was emphasized.

The school was unique. Intelligence was necessary to be part of it. The school existed for
more than two years. Rizals students became successful farmers and honest government
officials. A Muslim student, became a Datu while another became the governor of
Zamboanga.

In brief, Rizals idea or concept of education is determined by the following requirements:

1. The curriculum of a modern liberal education should include either: religion, hygiene,
mathematics, the physical, natural and social sciences, literature (Spanish, rhetoric and
poetry), languages (Spanish, English, French, German, Chinese and Tagalog), physical
culture, and the arts.
2. There should be a weekly accounting by teachers of student progress and conduct, the
well-behaved ones to be rewarded with a posting of their names, and parents should be
informed monthly of the progress, conduct, and health of their children.
3. The school should insist on accuracy and punctuality.
4. Teachers ware to be employed on passing an admission examination on a competitive
basis if there are several applicants.
5. There is to be no racial discrimination in the admission of students.
6. Gymnastics and swimming are obligatory.
7. Classes would be six hours a day including a total of two hours of physical culture and the
arts.
8. Human relations between teachers and pupils should not be ignored. The teacher should
work with the students and be their leader and co-workers as well as their mentor.
9. Instruction should be practical and should stimulate thinking rather than be a parrot like
reproduction of book learning. Students should learn by participation in a natural situation.
Field work has its place in effective instruction.
10. Education should received substantial aid to make instruction effective. It is not
sufficient that there are students to be taught. There must be proper accommodation and
equipment conducive to learning.
11. The teacher should have prestige, reputation, moral strength and some freedom of
action.
https://filipinojournal.com/rizal-on-reform-and-revolution-part-2/ Rizal on Reform
and Revolution (part 2)
LEVY ABAD

ISSUE » Vol. 29 No. 17

POSTED IN » Anong Masasabi Mo?, Columnists

by Levy Abad
The fresh ideas from abroad during the time of Jose Rizal cannot be anything but the ideas coming from
the revolution in France and the American Revolution, which was also inspired by the former. According
to the essay of Elmer Ordonez, Rizal’s readings, as well as those of the ilustrados at the time, included
Zola’s Germinal and other Anarchist texts. He furthered that Rizal read a lot of French Literature and
particularly liked Alexandre Dumas’ Three Musketeers and Count of Monte Cristo. Rizal also read
Moliere, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Napoleon’s memoirs, in addition to his readings of the lives of the
Presidents of the United States, Morga’s Sucessos de las Islas Filipinas, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo,
Wandering Jew by Eugene Sue, Beaumarchais’ Barber of Seville, and Marriage of Figaro, which were
considered dangerous works and subversive in nature during Rizal’s time. (Reference: The Books that
Jose Rizal Read and How It Shaped His Life–Totoy Batotoy)

In Rizal’s second novel, El Filibusterismo, the frustrated reformist Ibarra returns in the guise of Simoun,
the Jeweller–what Simon calls the “liberal reformer who became an ‘anarchist’ or “Putschist.” The concept
of a Marxist Leninist revolutionary was not developed yet. (“Rizal and the Literature of the Left” by Elmer
Ordonez, Manila Times, Dec. 29, 2007)

Rizal was born on June 19, 1861, in a country ruled by Spain. The economy during this time was
characterized by feudalism, vast tracks of land solely under the control of a handful of feudal lords.
Concepts like suffrage (elections), separation of power, separation of church and state were non-existent.
We have to take note that prior to the Revolution of 1896, two hundred revolts occurred with the intention
of breaking the feudal chains. All these concepts came into fruition after the Revolution of 1896 when U.S.
colonial rule took over and introduced a distorted version of the ideas of enlightenment to consolidate
their colonial rule by using concepts of democracy, republicanism as a facade and reactionary violence to
crush the continuing resistance of the Filipino people.

What was the role and significance of the Revolution of 1896? After 365 years of Spanish colonialism and
successive revolts, Filipinos finally decided to organize the Katipunan as a result of the martyrdom of
Rizal on December 30, 1896. Rizal was accused of being the founder of the Katipunan, or Brotherhood of
Revolutionaries. In the column of Ambeth Ocampo, “Reform and Revolution,” he explained that “the
December 15, 1896 Manifesto was used against Rizal both by the Spaniards who condemned him to
death for inspiring the revolution, and the pro-Bonifacio groups in our day, is not read in full. Rizal was not
against the revolution but felt, rightly so, that it was premature.”

He continued that “Rizal is branded a mere ‘reformist’ because they have not read his letter to Ferdinand
Blumentritt from Geneva on June 19,1887, his 26th birthday, that read in part: ‘I assure you that I have no
desire to take part in conspiracies which seem to me very premature and risky. But if the government
drives us to the brink, that is to say, when no other hope remains but seek our destruction in war, when
the Filipinos would prefer to die rather than endure their misery any longer, then I will also become a
partisan of violent means. The choice of peace or destruction is in the hands of Spain, because it is a
clear fact, known to all that we are patient, excessively patient and peaceful, mild, unfeeling, etc. But
everything ends in this life, there is nothing eternal in the world and that refers also to our patience.’”

Prior to this, Rizal was active in the reform movement abroad. He was a member of La Solidaridad, an
organization founded in Spain on December 13, 1888, composed of Filipino liberals and students, aimed
to increase Spanish awareness of the needs of its colony, the Philippines. Rizal was also a founder of La
Liga Filipina (1892), a progressive organization in the homefront with the purpose of involving the people
directly in the reform movement. Both initiatives were designed to be a machinery of the reform
movement. The Spanish authorities, threatened by these initiatives, seized on Jose Rizal to punish him
for his ideas. We know what happened next, Rizal was martyred and the armed revolt known as the Cry
of Balintawak in August 1896 ensued under the leadership of Andres Bonifacio.

[to be continued in the next issue…]

About the author: Levy Abad

http://countrystudies.us/philippines/10.htm José Rizal and the Propaganda Movement

Philippines Table of Contents

Between 1872 and 1892, a national consciousness was growing among the Filipino émigrés
who had settled in Europe. In the freer atmosphere of Europe, these émigrés--liberals exiled
in 1872 and students attending European universities--formed the Propaganda Movement.
Organized for literary and cultural purposes more than for political ends, the Propagandists,
who included upper-class Filipinos from all the lowland Christian areas, strove to "awaken
the sleeping intellect of the Spaniard to the needs of our country" and to create a closer,
more equal association of the islands and the motherland. Among their specific goals were
representation of the Philippines in the Cortes, or Spanish parliament; secularization of the
clergy; legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality; creation of a public school system
independent of the friars; abolition of the polo (labor service) and vandala (forced sale of
local products to the government); guarantee of basic freedoms of speech and association;
and equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government service.

The most outstanding Propagandist was José Rizal, a physician, scholar, scientist, and
writer. Born in 1861 into a prosperous Chinese mestizo family in Laguna Province, he
displayed great intelligence at an early age. After several years of medical study at the
University of Santo Tomás, he went to Spain in 1882 to finish his studies at the University
of Madrid. During the decade that followed, Rizal's career spanned two worlds: Among
small communities of Filipino students in Madrid and other European cities, he became a
leader and eloquent spokesman, and in the wider world of European science and
scholarship--particularly in Germany--he formed close relationships with prominent natural
and social scientists. The new discipline of anthropology was of special interest to him; he
was committed to refuting the friars' stereotypes of Filipino racial inferiority with scientific
arguments. His greatest impact on the development of a Filipino national consciousness,
however, was his publication of two novels--Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not) in 1886
and El Filibusterismo (The reign of greed) in 1891. Rizal drew on his personal experiences
and depicted the conditions of Spanish rule in the islands, particularly the abuses of the
friars. Although the friars had Rizal's books banned, they were smuggled into the
Philippines and rapidly gained a wide readership.

Other important Propagandists included Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted orator and
pamphleteer who had left the islands for Spain in 1880 after the publication of his satirical
short novel, Fray Botod (Brother Fatso), an unflattering portrait of a provincial friar. In
1889 he established a biweekly newspaper in Barcelona, La Solidaridad (Solidarity), which
became the principal organ of the Propaganda Movement, having audiences both in Spain
and in the islands. Its contributors included Rizal; Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austrian
geographer and ethnologist whom Rizal had met in Germany; and Marcelo del Pilar, a
reformminded lawyer. Del Pilar was active in the antifriar movement in the islands until
obliged to flee to Spain in 1888, where he became editor of La Solidaridad and assumed
leadership of the Filipino community in Spain.

In 1887 Rizal returned briefly to the islands, but because of the furor surrounding the
appearance of Noli Me Tangere the previous year, he was advised by the governor to leave.
He returned to Europe by way of Japan and North America to complete his second novel
and an edition of Antonio de Morga's seventeenth-century work, Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas (History of the Philippine Islands). The latter project stemmed from an
ethnological interest in the cultural connections between the peoples of the pre-Spanish
Philippines and those of the larger Malay region (including modern Malaysia and
Indonesia) and the closely related political objective of encouraging national pride. De
Morga provided positive information about the islands' early inhabitants, and reliable
accounts of pre-Christian religion and social customs.

After a stay in Europe and Hong Kong, Rizal returned to the Philippines in June 1892,
partly because the Dominicans had evicted his father and sisters from the land they leased
from the friars' estate at Calamba, in Laguna Province. He also was convinced that the
struggle for reform could no longer be conducted effectively from overseas. In July he
established the Liga Filipina (Philippine League), designed to be a truly national,
nonviolent organization. It was dissolved, however, following his arrest and exile to the
remote town of Dapitan in northwestern Mindanao.

The Propaganda Movement languished after Rizal's arrest and the collapse of the Liga
Filipina. La Solidaridad went out of business in November 1895, and in 1896 both del Pilar
and Lopez Jaena died in Barcelona, worn down by poverty and disappointment. An attempt
was made to reestablish the Liga Filipina, but the national movement had become split
between ilustrado advocates of reform and peaceful evolution (the compromisarios, or
compromisers) and a plebeian constituency that wanted revolution and national
independence. Because the Spanish refused to allow genuine reform, the initiative quickly
passed from the former group to the latter.