GERONIMO, John Verjo C.
1334-GRIZAL
ACTIVITY 1F: C O N T E N T A N A L Y S I S
Instructions: Read and analyze the text of Jose Rizal’s “The Philippines, A Century Hence”. Then,
extract at least 10 passages and evaluate the relevance of the passage in the current situation of the
Philippines. Write your answer in the following template given.
PASSAGE
1. In the long run, the Spanish
system cannot prevail over the
American. While the former
exhausts the colonies through
direct appropriation of them to
the privileged classes, and the
metropolis through the drain of
its best forces (with, besides, a
feeble population), America
draws to itself the most
energetic element from all
lands; and these on her soil,
free from all trammels, and
restlessly pushing forward, are
continually extending further
her power and influence. The
Philippines will so much the
less escape the influence of the
two great neighboring empires,
since neither the islands nor
their metropolis are in a
condition of stable equilibrium.
2. Then began a new era for the
Filipinos. They gradually lost
their ancient traditions, their
recollections—they forgot their
writings, their songs, their
poetry, their laws, in order to
learn by heart other doctrines,
which they did not understand,
other ethics, other tastes,
different from those inspired in
their race by their climate and
their way of thinking. Then
there
was a falling-off, they were
lowered in their own eyes, they
became ashamed of what was
distinctively their own, in order
to admire and praise what was
foreign and incomprehensible:
Agree/ Disagree Proof / Evidence / Research-
Based
Agree The current history of the
Philippines itself is a proof that
Spanish system did not prevail
over the American. Though the
religion that the Spaniards have
been kept by the Filipinos in
their culture, most of what has
developed in the years that
came after was more of an
influence of the Americans
rather than the Spanish. Even
until today there is not much
interaction between the
Philippines and Spain as
compared to America that they
have considered as an ally.
Agree There was a culture that the
Philippines had even before the
Spaniards colonized the
country. That culture was
somewhat forgotten and only a
few people know it. The alibata
lives today and it is one of the
examples of the culture that
was left to rot as soon as the
Spaniards came with their
culture. No one seems to be
ashamed of the old culture,
however there is little about it
and it does not seem to revive
in a manner that it becomes
something truly relevant and
unique for the present.
their spirit was broken and they
acquiesced.
3. We have said and statistics
prove that it is impossible to
exterminate the Filipino
people.
4. The Spaniard is gallant and
patriotic, and sacrifices
everything, in favorable
moments, for his country’s
good. He has the intrepidity of
his bull. The Filipino loves his
country no less, and although
he is quieter, more peaceful,
and with difficulty stirred up,
when he is once aroused, he
does not hesitate and for him
the struggle means death to one
or the other combatant. He has
all the meekness and all the
tenacity and ferocity of his
carabao. Climate affects bipeds
in the same way that it does
quadrupeds.
5. But nothing of this kind can
happen. The menace is that
when the education and liberty
necessary to human existence
are denied by Spain to the
Filipinos, then they will seek
enlightenment abroad, behind
the mother country’s back, or
they will secure by hook or by
crook some advantages in their
own country, with the result
that the opposition of purblind
and paretic politicians will not
only be futile but even
prejudicial, because it will
convert motives for love and
gratitude into resentment and
hatred.
Disagree Filipinos won’t be
exterminated. Technically.
Though they can’t be
terminated technically there are
a few ways on how we can say
that it is possible. As they
continuously loo up to other
people another country’s
cultures, they may also come to
forget it in the future and allow
others to colonize their own
country therefore leading to
their extermination. The people
may be there but the identity
will be gone.
Agree The Filipinos are not afraid to
fight for their own country and
they would defend it no matter
the cost but their admiration to
other countries may be a
weakness. There was an issue
about Scarborough shoal and
how the country did fight for
the island because they believe
that it is theirs and if so much
as a small island they’d defend
for then how much for the
country itself?
Agree There were a few people back
in the colonization days that
were able to study abroad like
Jose Rizal himself who studied
various subjects then returned
back in the Philippines. If it
were possible that the
Spaniards completely took
away the liberty of the people
back then to study then the
higher classes would be
assisting those in need of their
studies. They can embark what
they have learned which could
then be used to overturn the
oppressors.
6. Now, applying these
considerations to the
Philippines, we must conclude,
as a deduction from all we
have said, that if their
population be not assimilated
to the Spanish nation, if the
dominators do not enter into
the spirit of their inhabitants, if
equable laws and free and
liberal reforms do not make
each forget that they belong to
different races, or if both
peoples be not amalgamated to
constitute one mass, socially
and politically homogeneous,
that is, not harassed by
opposing tendencies and
antagonistic ideas and interests,
someday the Philippines will
fatally and infallibly declare
themselves independent. To
this law of destiny can be
opposed neither Spanish
patriotism, nor the love of all
the Filipinos for Spain, nor the
doubtful future of
dismemberment and intestine
strife in the Islands themselves.
Necessity is the most powerful
divinity the world knows, and
necessity is the resultant of
physical forces set in operation
by ethical forces.
7. To recapitulate: the
Philippines will remain
Spanish, if they enter upon the
life of law and civilization, if
the rights of their inhabitants
are respected, if the other rights
due them are granted, if the
liberal policy of the
government is carried out
without trickery or meanness,
without subterfuges or false
interpretations.
8. The press is free in the
Philippines, because their
complaints rarely ever reach
Agree The Spanish colonizers never
meant to accept the reform that
Rizal wanted for the country in
order for it to be in equal terms
with the motherland and then
followed the revolutions by the
group that succeeded form Jose
Rizal. With the help of the
other countries however we
were not fully liberated since
the other countries who
followed also colonized the
country. Even still, it could be
considered the Filipinos from
before declared independence
from those countries.
Disagree The Philippines does not
remain Spanish because there
are only a few cultures that
have been kept by them that
which could not be a proof that
makes Philippines Spanish.
Christianity never even started
in Spain so the religion is not a
symbol of being Spanish.
Everything that came after
became a hybrid of different
cultures that sometimes seems
Spanish and sometimes
Japanese because of their
colonization. Because of the
aftermath of what happened it
cannot be said that the
Philippines remains Spanish.
Disagree Because of the current
technologies that almost
anyone can use and have
the Peninsula, very rarely, and
if they do, they are so secret, so
mysterious, that no newspaper
dares to publish them, or if it
does reproduce them, it does so
tardily and badly.
9. If the Philippines must
remain under the control of
Spain, they will necessarily
have to be transformed in a
political sense, for the course
of their history and the needs
of their inhabitants so require.
10. The Philippines, then, will
remain under Spanish
domination, but with more law
and greater liberty, or they will
declare themselves
independent, after steeping
themselves and the mother
country in blood.
access with, media is not even
required for news. Nowadays,
even those in other countries
are able to see the news in the
Philippines because there are
different methods of relaying
the news. Most of it though are
not cheap but still, staying in
that industry could also
possibly pay off. Just a small
action and with the right tools,
anyone can share news
anywhere anytime but could
also be limited due to the
government’s hold on the
media.
Agree If the Philippines must remain
then yes, they are to transform
in a political sense because
cooperation will be easy. There
could also be the fact that the
control would be easier for the
Spaniards and harder to break
for the Filipinos.
Agree No one really wanted to be
slaves in the first place. Rizal’s
plan for reform is a proof for
this since he wanted the
Philippines to be treated the
same as those in Spain. He
wanted equal rights for all even
if they have to give up a
country and completely be a
colony of Spain.