You are on page 1of 53

'" -'-t --*-r

;:W \
t

,
h

FILIPINO I{ATIONALISM

I
,

HE development of nationalism in the Philip-


prnes, as weil as in other countries of Asia
which had experienced the trauma of colonial-
ism, is necessarily different from that of Europe where
the idea germinated, Definitions of the term itself
7 are at best illusive, and any attempt to define it to
encompass the whoie of human experience, time, and
space is a trying task. This is Lrecause nationalism has
connotatiorrs that shift according to time, place, and
circumstances. Particulariy rvith reference to the
f,ormer Asian colonies, it is @ ancl
it rather unfair of some WesLerners, especialiy those
j.s
who have not experienced the sorrows and tribulations
of the coionials, to criticize the colonized Asian peo-
ples for making nationalism an emotional outlet for
tireir l:itterness and disenchantment with the less de-
sirable a,sFpets of foreign ruI", Emotion
sociated from nationalism, for this is a "*rnot-66ffi-
deeply human
experience and does not belong to the realm of pure
idea. It is- in facr, the distiilation of emolion. senti:
@ Consequently, .its nature, direction,
and development in Asia are necessarily different from
those in European countries, for nationalism in Asia
AWgq, Err,ruarjqeL JERtc A. has been to a defense
perialism in i manifold forms. I shall,
Agoncillo, Teodoro. Filipino Nationalism: 1,g72_1971. re, not make any attempt to on the
Quezon City: R.p. Garcia publishing Co., 1974
1

h,.o H&^l
t
I

1;
? tr,ILIPINO NATIONAI,ISM ttg.r'rl: Iuatgi TILPINO NATIONALISM 3

suirject ancl to define its broad rrrulticolored perspec_ proximately 1872' to 1896, may be called the Reform
tives. For my particular purpose, it is to Movement; the third, from 1896 to about 1901, the
affirm that the term, in orcler to be least "rroogh
misund.er_ Revolutionary Period; the fourth, from about 1901 to
stood, must be explained in its proper historicai milieu. 1910, the era of passive or "suppressed" nationalism;
In the Asian context, nationalism is a sentimen the fifth, from 1910 to 1921, the "Filipinization"
defensive in nature,avhich the
period; the sixth, from !92L to 1934, the period of
ing to live an inde t political e, to direct independence missions; tfie seventh, from 1935 to the
economlc provemen outbreak of the war in the'Pacific in 194L, the period
1n terests. As s na nalism is neither de,structive, of the Commonwealth; the eighth, from 1942 to 1945,
as some writers assert, nor positive, as some politicians the Japanese occupation period; ancl the ninth, from
aver. Its nature is generally defensive: deiensive in 1950 to the present, may be described as the reawaken-
the sense that it is usecl by a people to keep and. to ing. Filipino nationalisrn was in deep slumber be-
protect what they have achieved, sueh as unity, culture, tween 1946 and 1950. This periodization, like other
prosperity, national dignity, freedom, and indepenclence. periodizations in Western history, is not meant to
Wpnts n,
Nationalism is militant or ,,on the when it cornpartmentalize history, which is continuous, but is
oftac- done merely for the sake of convenience and simpli-
rS a nlze eto unity anri in-
+ de,pendence in defiance of, the colonizing country. It fication which is usually dangerous. But this is a
Lhw** is destructive only of impe rialism and of the im- risk that students of history must take, for history
perialists's attempts to dominate another people. When itself, both as actuality and as a species of writing, is
nationaiism steps out of bounds in order to encourage a risk.
or to preach hatred of other peoples, then it ceases to In all the stages in the developrnenb of their na-
be nationalism; it becornes chauvinism and it must be tional polity, the Filipinos responded in various ways
so labeled. When , at other-Emeq it is used in order to alien challenges, but their response may be charac-
to conquer foreign lands and peoples in the name of terized as
-
defensive.'
religion, civilization, foreign markets, and political,
social or racial domination, then nationalism becomes II
I}'en il imperiatrism and must be called as such. Fili na cannot be understood apart
ho (u6h is a mis a from its for any unique his-
+hihq L 0r
as" chaur,'inism which is
i is torieal event does not ppen ln a vacuum but is the
ded and im ialism result of numerous complex little events which, taken
0.4- is destru together, produce a massive impact on the eourse of
il"hmlgn In the Philippines, nationalism has several stages: history. Thus, I have to teiescope, in a manner of
ffi,lefir.st,fromapproximately1850to1872,rnaybe speaking, the distant events in order to capture the
'-{,,.--' descrjbed as the awakening; the second, fnom- essence of Filipino nationalism.
ap_
Coa.rrrrrniCf Or. t"rll' o"tio1* $"t
\ r*'* ) ,t '"4
a ittl,IPINo NATIoNALISivI FII,IPTNO NN,TTONALIS}I 5

There was, from the beginning' no Fiiitrrino


na- powerful friars, to kill their own kinsmen.n It was
tion, nor a Filipino state, for what is now
known as impossible for the Filipinos of the period to forge a
the Philippine* *u* composed of communities rulers rrnity that could respond adequately to the Spanish
called

barangay-si with their more or less


independent chailenge, for the insular character of the country, the
of the Span- lir:guistic diversity, and the hold of the friars over
called datus or raiahs' With the coming
iards in the sixteenth century, however' the
numerous the simple-minded Filipinos who had been condi-
were conquered now by tioned Lo obey unquestio'ningly, were responsible for
islands and their inhabitants
'the
the incantation of Cross, now by the swish of the narrow localism whieh diseouraged common action
of the two' against the foreign intruder. This condition existed
the sword-, now by a strange corubination
most hu- until the nineteenth century when the Filipino 61ite,
Spanish colonial policy wils, 0n paper' by force of circumstances, clamored for reforms in
*r,n.,* but in the Philippines, as elsewhere
in many
greatllr at the administration of the colonial government
puttu of Hispanic America, tire theory was ;
variance with actuality'' In the Philippines'
in parti- ' In L872, the Spanish colonial government, headed
t by the reactionary governor Rafael de lzquierdo, with-
.oirr, the coionial ofiicials and the Spanish clerics
drew the privilege of the Filipino workers in the ar-
-a.pi.O the policy of "d'ivid'e and rule"' Thus' the
plagued the more senal at Cavite to be exempted from paying tribute.
hundreds of uprisings and revolts that
in the Phil- Redenting the withdrar,val of this privilege, the Fili-
than three hundretyears of Spanish rule pino workers mutinied. The government, encouraged
1896'
ippirr.*, before the revolutionary explosion -of the .L
*ur. dismal failures, for the Fiiipinos I use Eg by the friars,putpromptly sent a punitive expedition to
term to mean the ancestors of the
- Filipinoss
present
had no unity and ideology and' consequently'
too ri Cavite and the mutineers to the sword. The
Spaniards labeled the mutiny an insurrection 'vvhose
-weak to challenge Spanish authority' The Spanish
chroniclers, lay anA clerical, e'xpltiinecl these
failures
by
r] P"1
aim was to secure Philippine independence.' The
$panisir friars ascribed the so-caiiecl insurrection to
the coming in of iibertarian ideas from Europe which
either by attributing them l'o niiracles performed
o
L
tire liberal newspaper ill Eco ltilipino (The Filipino
some saints who were obviously biased against
nitipirro, because the latter were aiways defeated'
the
or $i Echo), published in Spain, espoused in its columns.
iv ifr. superiority of Spanish military
tactics. The fact, however, is that the
science
policy
and
of divide
of the
I L
This newspaper was surreptitiously introduced in the
Philippines by Spaniards of liberal persuasion.c
The upshot of the mutiny ot 1872 was that the
and rule was mainly responsible for the failure
t)I
revolts and uprisings before 1896' A revolt or up- Filipino priests identified with the secularization and,
rising in one prouin.* was put down not by the Spanish eventually, with the "Filipinization" of the parishes
soldiJrs, whose number was negligihie, but by-Filipino in the Phiiippines, were falsely aecused of having been
t"pa,ieated in the
mercenaries from other provinces who were hired
by "insurrection." Prominent among
the Spanish colonial officials, with the help of the ane priests were Fathers Jacinto Zamora, Jos6 Bur-
FILIT{NO NAT.IONAI,ISM 7
6 FILIPINO NTITIONALISIII
thre*tened to resign en rnnsse if visitation was en-
gos, anci Mariano Gomes. Together with other Fili-
forced. The controversies generated by the question
pino priests and well-to-clo Filipin*s of Spanish descent,
of visitation lasted for centuries, with the friar-curates
ih. th*u. priests were arrested and tried' Gomes, Bur- having the edge in the ecclesiastical intramural. Yy'hen,
Sos, and Zamora were sentencecl to death,
while the
however, the friar-curates refused to vacate the pa-
o-thurt vrere banished to the Carolines" On 1? February
rishes in spite of the fact that there were already
1872, the three priests were garr''rted in public''
qualified Filipino secular! to administer them, the Fili-
To und.erstand w-hy the Spanish, authorities im- pino priests insisted on their right to administer the
plicated the Filipino priests in the "insurrection", it is parishes.' The controversy now shifted from visitation
necessary to summarize the backgrountl of the move- to seculari;ation. As already intimated, the Filipino
ment for the secularization of the parishes in the Phil- priests Gomes, Burgos, and Zamora wel'e proponents
ippines, a movement which ultimately led to the execu- of secularization ancl, when the Spanish seculars
tion of the three Filipino priests. When the Spanish dwindled in number, the Filipino seculars clamored for
conquistadores succeeded in colonizing the Philippines the "Filipinization" of the parishes. Originating from
for Spain, the religious orders came over to Christianize * religious question, the conflict became raciai: the
the native inhabitants. Consequently, parishes were Spanish regulars and seculars, on the one hand, and
established in many parts of the Philippines and the the Filipino seculars, 0n the other. It is thus clear
friars, who belonged to the religlous orders (Dominican, why the Spanish friars wanted the leaders of "Fili-
Recolleet, Augustinian, and Franciscan), took posses- pinization" removed from the scene: they were tho-
sion of the parishes. This'uvas contrary to the decision roughly convinced that they had a vested right in the
of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) to the effect that parishes which, through the contributions of the lrili-
the parishes were to be administered by seculars or pino parishioners and the brisk sale of religious objects
priests who did not belong to any religious order' But to the ignorant and superstitious Filipinos, were the
ih.*. were at the time very ferv, if any, seculars who prirnary source of their rvealth and comfort. To the
eould administer the parishes, and so the regulars, or Filipinos, friar obesity was the symbol of this wealth
those who belonged to the reiigious ordeiis, were com- and good living in spite of the vow of poverty.
pelled by circumstances to occupy the parishes. As -
such, they were called fi'iar-curates. As regulars, they
of the three
vinced the Fili at, the educa
were responsible to their respective provincials; but
was not uclve
as curates they were responsible to the bishop or arch-
bishop of the diocese to which their parishes helongetl'
an banished to
This anomalous setup gave rise to controversies be-
ihe Carolines, agitated for the "Filipinization" of the
tween the bishops or archbishops, on the one hand, -and
parishes, and while the former suffered martyrd,om
the friar-curates, on the other. The former.ptr,fl-
to exercise their right of visitation, but the os the antl the latter insults and abuse, they nevertheless
.FILIPINO
8 NAI'IONALISM
trItrLil,}X}\.JCI NATIONAT,ISI|I{ $
fought not for the nationai patrimony, but for their 1872 which, in turn, led to a frightening
peace that
priestly class.This interpretaLion needs emphasis, characterized the period frr:m l"SiZ to 1-SAZ,
tor ihe
lbr almost every Filipino believes the three priests Spanish authorities, lay and clerical, terrorized
the
to be heroes. But Jos6 Rizal, the national hero, in trilipinos into abject subrnission. But the deafening
dedicating his second novei E{ trtiltbustorismo to the siience that followecl was the beginning
memory of the three martyred priests, showetl a sense of potniir-
tion, a pre-condition tq,an arlrnei eonfiiet.
of history when he said:
The Church, by refusing to degrade you, has placei in trII
doubt the crime rthat has been imputed upon you; the
Government, by surrounding your trials with mystery and This polarization was cleal, Iy shown in
the his.
shadows, causes the belief that there was some effor torical process Arnold Toynbee called
co'mmitted in lfatal moments; and ail the Philippines, by "challenge and
response." The chailenge, posed
wo'rshipping your memory and caiting you martyrs, in by the Spaniards,
no sense r,eco,gn;zes your cuipabiiity. In so far,' there- took the form of persecutions whose
fore, as your cornplicity in the. Cavite rnutiny is not clear-
aims were tb
corv the Filipinos into maintaining
ly p,roved, $s you nx:ay o't, tndy y*, have ltecil palriots, the statnts qu0\
drld as you mtN or may nQl h:avet cherithed sefi,tlm:e,n'ts for on the one hand, antl to preverrt the exploited
colonials
iustice and lor liberty,I have the right rto dedicate my work from resorting to any form of subversion,
to you as vicrtims of the evil which I undertake to combat.
IUnderscoring supplied]
other. The status quo was fundamentallyonwhat the
Marcelo H. del Pilar, the bril liant srtirist
Obviously, Rtzal, who was eleven years old when and re-
formist, called "friar sovereignty.,, The
the three priests were execu'Led, clonbted whether first aspect
of Filipino response to Spanish challenge was
they were real patriots or rryhether they "cherished a series
sentiments for justice and for liberty." Consequent-
of broa dsicles, wrl tten in different literary forms,
that shook friar soverelgn ty in the Philippines.
ly, he recognized them as uicttms of Spanish in- This
justice which reached its acme in 1896 when it made I
response, whieh have called the
Reform Movemen t,
\,vas meant not to drive the Spaniards
him its eminent victim. Even so, the execution of away, but to
1872 served as a eatalyst which produced a feeling
of unity among the Filipinos. And so what the
rvealth of the emergi.ng Fiiipino 6lite class failed to
achieve, the garroting of the three priests accorn-
plished.
The absence 0f dialogue between the colonized
and the colonizer, which had extsted since the eoming
of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, eontinued
ur to the disintegration of tlie Spanish Empire in
1898. It was this absenee of dialogue that led tcr
l0 FILIPXNO NATtrONAtr trSiW FITII'INO NATIONAI,ISM T1

intellectual health. It was in Europe that Rizal con-


ceived and wr.ote his two devastating novels, Noti
It is rather ironic that the man responsible for
the --a-ffned -revolution wasquite unknown /o the in-
Me Tangere .(Touch Me Not) and EI filibusterismo
(The Rebetr), and his satirical pamphlet tro Visthn tellegtual 6lite, for he did not corne from their ranks
de Fray Rodriguez (The Visiorr of Friar Brrdriguez), but from the ranks of the pxgstrate and dCIperate
ernd his essays, principally n,La trnd,olencin Ae bi trttt-
masses. IIe was AnrJr6s Bonifacio (1863-1897). In-
pinos" (The Indolence of the Filipinos) and ,'yili_ telligent although with Qiscanty education that woulcl
pinas l)e.ntro de Cien Afi,os,, not pass for Grade IY today, Bonifacio instinctively
lTne Fniiippines Within felt the failure and, therefore, the uselessness of the
a Century). LSpez Jaena, on the other hand, used
his "gift of gab,, to lay bare before the Spanish au- refornr movement. fle therefore founded the revo-
dience the evils of friar misrule in the philippines. lutionary Katipunan (Association)' in 1892 with se-
Itris oratorical excellenee mar1e his Spanish antl i.,atin paratist aims. With'the founding of this association,
American audience foiget his dirly coat liberaiiy Filipino response to the Spanish ehallenge niay be
sprinkled with tomato sauce from ean$ of Spanish said to have beeorne active in its aspect. Why the
sardines.
reformists failed in their mission, on the one hand,
and why the revolutionists or activists, lvlto were
The rnost ricvastating of all the rvritings of the
denied fhe help and sympathy of the intelleetually
Filipino reformists were those of Marcelo H. iel pilar"
sophisticated and the wealthy Filipinos, succeeded in
As propagandist and political analyst, I place him iiquidating or at least in helping liquidate the last
above Jos6 Rizat, {or'*del=pilAf wrote ef-feciively not
bastion of Spanish imperial power in Asia, on the
only in the language of the colonir*i., U*t also in the other, are interesting subjects for speculation. It is,
bryg1g.- of his people. It was his rvorks in this holever, clear that the Filipino intellectual 6litc and
language which made the masses _ thal. is, the
their wealthy eolleagues were revolutionaries in the
masses of the Tagalog region _ laugh and riclicule
sense that they passionately, sometimes angrily, de-
the obese fr.iars-and their rnisdeecls. It was del pilar,
manded reforms in the colonial goYernment, reforms
too, who empioyeci his intellectual energy to make
the which, if granted, would make their position in Phil-
fortnightly newspalrer La Soliclttridad ippine soeiefy respectable in the eyes of the Spaniards.
fSoliclarity) the
tlncompromising mouthpiece of the Filipino *.for*_
They did not agitate for separation from Spain; on
ists.e But clel Pilar, who tregan as a reformist, ended the contrary they wanted the ?hilippines to be made
as a revolutionist. Only he among his colleagues a province of Spain believing that as a province of
realized the futility of the reform movement and
so Spain the Philippines rvould be given representation
he switched his vigorous mind to the irlea of winning
in the Spanish Cortes and the 6lite wouid thus enjoy
freedom and independence through force. But
it was the rights of Spanish citizens. In this sense, they
too late. IIe died on 4 July 1896, the eve of the re- were conservative. Spain, however, was too pre-
volution that the masses hatl been preparing for years.
occupied with her own domestic and international pro-
12 FII,TPXNO bIATNfiNALXS&g FII-IPINO I{.ATIONALISKI 1.5

blems to }isten'to the Filipino reforrnists, and the latter led to mutual suspicion aud irence to a silent and un-
missed this fact entirely" l\{oreover, as educated cieclared class conflict. I must hasten to explain the
men thel' were supposed io behave in the approved use of the unpopular phrase "class confiict", which
lnanner of the perioci ancl an armed revoltttion was some Fiiipinos deny. The conflict lies in the fact
not, insofar as tiley rvere concernerl, the wav to na- that the wealthy and the ilustrq.dos or the highly edu-
tional sslvation. They were tr:o poXite a class to think cated class, were not oniy opposed to an armed con-
of a dirty thing ]ike re,roXi"rtion vrhich would endangen
I
i flict with the Spaniards, but also looked down upon
their sociirl end economic position in the community. the masses, in the manner of their Spanish masters,
Hence with tire exception uf }llarcelo I{. de1 Pilar who with aristocratic contempt. On the cther hand, the
belateclly saw the futiiity of the reform rnovement, atrl rnasses, who bore the brunt not only of Spanish in-
the reformists were politicaliy naive. justices, but also of the armed revolution, suspected
On the other hand, Bonifaeio, who symbolized the 6lite of being indifferent, if not hostile, to their
the sufferirrg masses, was a realist and a skeptic c&use." And so when the revolution broke out in
who saw through the nature and character of the August 1896, the 61ite, in getreral, watched the bloody
Spanish colonial administration. Handicapped in the confliet with Olympian detachment. Some even had
u-se of tlie metrlifluous Spanish language, Bonifacio the gall to denounce the revolution. Hence, the quiet
wrote in the only languag+ he knew well, Tagalog, hostility of the masses to their social and economic
and whipperl the masses into line by the simplicity sriperiors in Filipino society.'3
of his style ancl the directness of his a,pproach to the Teodoro M. Kalaw, scholar, writer, patriot, and
Philippine problem.'n }lis seconctr in command, the statesman who saw the rise and fall of the Revolution,
youthful Emilio J'acinto, wrote in the same ,zein but testified to the class conflict. I{e said in his memoirs
in a more polished language" ?he explanation, then, Ar.de-de-Camp to Freed,om:
why Bonifa,cio and his men sllcceecled in forcing the The fall of tho Spanish sovereignty in Lipa [Batangas
Spanish authorities to take a hartl second look at the Province] was oelebrated with much festivity. General
Philippine scene was that the tr{"atipuna??, had a mass Malva,r and his staff established their official residence
base, whiie the 6lite had none. This was so because in 'the town.
That was an unforgetable political Spring in
there was no dialogue between the 61ite, who wrote the life of a nation just emerged from vintual- Spring
slavery.
in Spanish (except del Pilar wtro also wrote in Taga- As was expected, certain social conflicts arose, natural
iog), and the masses wiro could not understand the results of that period of hansition. Th,e Lipa artstocrdcy
mair,tained ils grand air even in the face of an enthusiastic
language cf their colonizer except the Spanish ardor for denrocracy and Liberty which had finally dawned
u,ords they corrupted and incorporated into Tagalog.'1 upon {he land.
While there v/'as no open hreak between the 6lite and There were in Lipa, then in the custo'dy of the [revolu-
tionary] authorities, a group of Spanish prisoners of war
the rnasses, there was a yawning gap between them, who were qu,artered in a big house outside tt1s town.
in sentiment and in social and economic status, that The news sornehow leaked out that these prisoners, sorne
12 T.ILIPINO NATIONALI$}T i'ILIPINO NAT,IONALISM 15

of whom were handsoms afld dashing Spanish officers, the Filipinos were unaware of the death struggle go-
continued to be friendly with cer,tain young women of the ing on in Luzon, for the poor means of communication
Lipa aris,to,cracy, who often visited them and held parties
with them on moonlight nighls. Clws antmoslties llwed and the lack of communication meclia in other parts
up Lltttt'w, animostties th'at a!! had thougiht were ded. of the country, isolated thern effectively from the
Several young men, incltrding myself, decided to teach dyrramics of a society in turmoil. As, however, the
these young ladies a lesson they would never forget.
Utalics supplied.l levolution gathered strength, the Filipinos in the far-
flung provinces of the s'outh began to get an inkling
ffi of the armed struggle of their countrymen, and al-
Without the help of the upper-class Filipinos thottgh they could not help the revoiutionary forces
-- exceptions were very few
- the masses launched nraterially, they nevertheJess sympathized with their
headlong against the comparatively well-arrned embattled countrymen. ,'The revolution against Spain
Spaniards and their hireiings among the Filipinos, iasted until 1898, with the shaky Truce of BiySk-na-
armed with bolos, banrboo spears, brute strength, and bat6 of Deeember 1897 serving as an interregnum
tunflinching courage. Spain was thus caught in a in which both sides tried to outwit eaeh other. This
vise: there was also the Cuban revolution which resulted in the resumption of hristilities in May 1899'
was sa.pping her strengttrr and antagonizing American This revolutionary phase marked the climax of the
vested interests in that Caribbean island. Jos6 Rizal, nationalist struggle for freedom and independence
then on hi"s way to Cuba to join the Spanish medical during the rule of Spain.
corps, was detained at Barcelona, returnerl to the iVleanwhile, the United States government, goaded
Phiiippines, mistried, an(i execttted on 30 December by the yellow newspapers and by vested interests,
1896. The Spanish authorities, goaded by the ju*py protested alleged Spanish brutality in Cuba, parti-
Spanish friars, became ferocious but thou.ght that cularly the destruction of sugarcane fields owned by
with Rizal's liquidation the revolution woukl lose its American capitalists. The Spanish governrnent tried
momentLlm since they mistakenly believed that Rizal to avoid a clash with the United States, but some
was its "brains." Rizai, of course, had nothing to Americans in sensitive positions, especially Theodore
do with the revolution, for he detested it believing Roosevelt, then Assigtant Secretary of the Navy, cla-
in evolution rather than in revolution to attain free- rrored for blood. The excuse for drawing biood came
dom. The Spanish mistalte was thrown in bold relief when the American battleship Nlaine was mysferiously
when the.Filipinos made Rizal's immolation the symbol sunk off Havana Harbor. The American,- Congress
of their struggle for freedom and dignity. not long after declared war against Spain.Iu General
At first confined to the eight provinces around Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Filiilino revolu-
the City of Manila, known as Intramtu,ros or the tionists who went to llongkong and then to Singapore,
Walied City,'n the armed resistance spread to other was persuaded by the American consuls in those cities
provinces of Luzon. In l\{indana\r and other islands, to cooperate with the Americans in ousting the Span-
FNLII}INO NATIONALISM L7
16 t'ItII,trNO NATIfINAI-I$fr,1

iards from the Philippines' 0n 1 May 1898' Cotn- and sulked in their headquarters. It was the begin-
rnodore George Dewey, cornmanding the American ning of the parting of their rvays. Meanwhile, on i-2
Asiatic Fieet, destroyed the Spanish flotilia in the June 1898, General Aguinaldo proclaimed the inde-
pendence of the Philippines, and a few montirs later
Battle of hlanila Bay. But Dewey, now hailed a
great naval hero in the United States, which was he convoked Congress. It was Apolinario Mabini
(1864-1903), Aguinaldo's intransigent and briliiant
ihen entering her "Days of Ernpire",'u had no land
broops to invade the Wallecl City and so he encouraged adviser, who carried the burden of structuring a de-
Aguinaldo to besiege it. Aguinaldo cut off the food nocratic government called, firsL, the Revolutionary
arid water supply of the city and brought sufferings Government, and then, the Phiiippine Republic. The
Congress, as Mabini conceived it in thc 18 June 1898
to the Spaniards, especially to the penniless but still
arrogant among them. The Spanish governor-general' tiecree he wrote for Aguinaldo, was to be a fllere
fearing Filipino reprisals, entered into a secret agree- advisor:y hody.,' BriL the inembers of Congress, all
-ttttorgl, I:ei,rnging to the 6lite, proceeded to frame a consti-
rnent, Belgian Crlnsul l{douarcl AnclrrS' with
the Auierican military ancl travai authorities' There tuticn. I,Iabini objectecl, for he thought tirat in su-
rvould" be a rnock battle after rvhich the Spaniards 1:,r:emelv ci'itical times the Executive shoultl be clotired
in the Watlerl City woulcl surrender' At the same with vast powers in order to cope r,rrith the erisis.
time, he made sure that General Aguinaldo's soldiers The members of Ccngress thought otherwise and
*ouid not be allowed by their American allies to enter framed a constitution which made the legislative arm
the City. The "battle" was well staged, with only of the gorrernment suprerne over the executive and
the top commanders priry to the "battie" plans' The
judicial branches. Mabini fought a delaying battle
tr'ilipino soldiers nearly spoiled the show, for they to hold up approval of the constitution, iii;t in the
advanced to storm the Walied City, that rainy d'ay end, after a compromise, it r,vas promuigated by Gen=
of 13 August 1898, in ord.er to force the Spanish eral Aguinaldo on 21 January 1899.1* Two days later,
governor-general to surrender to them' But an Aurer- t,ire Philippine Republic \vas inaugurated.
ican field commander, obeying superior order, threat- In the meantime, the I'ilipino-American dialogue
eneci Aguinaldo and his men with extinction if
they was beginning not only to slacken but also to be
entered ihe city. A fer,v shots were exchanged be- heated. The diaiogue ceased r,vhen President Wiilianr
tween the Spaniarcls ancl the Ameri'cans, and soon the I\{cKinley announeed his so-called "Benel'olent As-
former', on orders of their commancler-in-chief, imme- similation Proclamation" in December 1898 and made
diately hoisted the white fiag at the southwest bastion it clear that the Americans were in the Philippines to
of the Walled City facing Manila Bay'" stay. Filipino soldiers and iiterary men reacted shar$-
Aguinaldo and his men, particularly the field ly to McKinley's proclamation and the nationalistic
commanders who had eariier appriseil him of their newspaper La Independ,ancin (Independence), edited
suspicions about Arnerican intentions, fetrt cheated by the fiery General Antonio Luna, later to become
ie TTLIPINo NATIoNALISM FtrLIt II''JO NATIONALISM 19
But General Antonio Luna saw through the ruse and
the foremost military leader against the Americans, denounced rvhat he eonsiclered American duplicity and
started a scorching anti-American campaign designed dilatory tactics. General Elwell Otis, the American
to unify the people against the new enemy. By now iirilitairy commander, denied the accusation, but his
the Fiiipinos, f,rom northern Luzon to Mindanaw, had subordinate, Brigadier-General R. p. Hughes, one of
heen sufficientiy oriented to reject American im- Otis's commissioners who. met with Aguinlldo,s peace
portunities. Essays, poems, propaganda leaflets, and commissionerg later onl testified thai they tried to
handbiils were disserninated far and wide to prepare prolong the conference with their Filipino counter_
the people for more painful sacrifices ahead. This parts "until General Lawton,s ship could get there
activity gave rise to a revolutionary literature that
t"* lManila j with four battalions, which *u ,r*.d*d u.ry
was permeated with a deep feeling of nationalism.
It was this period which saw the composition of what f rnuch."'o
later on became the Philippine National Anthem and # Meanwhile, Aguinaldo, upon Mabini,s ad.vice,
the writing of its Spanish lyrics by the poet Jos6 ., s€rit out diplomatic agents abroad. Learning that a
lu peace
Palma" From the literary viewpoint, it was also the eonference rvas being prepared. by Sp-ain and
period that witnessed the rise to national prominence the United States to end the war officiaJly, Agui_
of two of the Philippines's greatest poets in Spanish: naldo sent Felipe Agoncillo, then in Hongkong as re_
Fernando Ma. Guerrero whose nationaiistic poems fugee ancl later as president of the Revolutionary
"fu|'t Patrta" (My Country) and "A Filipirws" (To Junta, to the United States as ambassador extra_
the Fhilippines) were reaci with trembling passion, ordinary to work for the recognition of philippine in-
and Cecilio Ap6stol whose X)oems "Al Hdroe Nacional" rieperrdence. Agoncillo's mission in Washington was
(To the National lIero) ancl "A los ,.Md,rt;ires An6- a failure, and so he left for paris to plead the Fili-
n,tmos a!,e la Patria" (To the tlnknown Martyrs of the pino cause before the American peace commissioners.
t)ounfi:y), reminded the people rif the unselfish sac- Wtrriie some American delegates to the paris peace
rifices of their heroes who, knor,vn and unknown, gave Conference were privately synrpathetic to the Filipino
rup their. Iives during the darkest hours of the night cause, Agoncillo nevertheless was made to understand
in orcl.er to color with their illood the beautiful dawn in cliplomatic language that he was pleading a lost
of freedom. cause.* The Treaty of paris, in which deposed
The American response to this nationalistic tem- Spain" gave the Philippines to the United States upon
per of the Fiiipinos was to strengthen their position the latter's payment of US $20,000,000, was signed
in and arouncl Manila in anticipation of the expected on L0 December 1898. Agoncillo, realizing the futility
clash of arms. The American military authorities of his mission in Paris, returned to 'Washington, D. C.
ty'ied to hedge off this armed conflict by trying to to fight the ratification of the treaty in the Senate.
inalee the Filipino leaclers believe that they, the Amer- He subrnitted a Memortat to the Senata giving his
icans, were wiiling to talk things over rvith Aguinaldo. reasons why_ the transfer of the philippines to the
**, .,"*\
'''"* *
"'
,,,;,,qfifi,s
'
rlim't r'1'r r!
e
" M&M&;i;,;,, ; Ll
20 TILIPIT{O NATIONAI,IJ$AI{
TTLPINO NATIONALiSM 21
Ilnited States was illegal ancl irumoral. At the out- in a suburb of Manila shot and killed a Fiii-
senl,ry
set, the Senate was not inclined to approrre the treaty, pino soldier. The resulting Filipino-American
but certain vested interests were for colonizing the war
was twisted in the American press as iraving been
Fhilippines: the military and naval authorities, in- provoked by the Filipinos and that
spired and influenced by the naval Captain Aifred T. Agoncillo, tlen in
lVashington, had something to tio with the
I\{ahan," who saw in the P}rilippines a base for the outbreak
of hostilities. The Amq,rican yellow press denounced
protection of American interests in Asia; the busi- hirn, and he had to flee for his life to Canada,
.ness and commercial interests which needed an ideally *n.*u
he sailed for Europe to work for the recognition
iocatecl colony in the Pacific as a jumping board for of
Philippine independence, a futiie, if heroic,
.American business \rentures, particularly the establish- work in
view of the fact that the European nations
ment of Asian markets for American surplus goods; were not
disposed to take cognizance of an obscure
and the religious (Protestant) interest rnhich also Asian coun-
tl'y. Filipino opposition to American colonial ad-
needed an Asian outpost for missionary work. Some tenture was almost unanimous. The poorly
Americans were candid enoug'h to admit American armecl
men. rvith harcliy any training in
imperialistic aims. Thus, then Secretary of the Trea- military scilnce and
tnctics fought the enemy *itt, great
sury Lyman J. Gage, saicl that "Philanthrophy and courage and
brarrer)r, aceording to the American
five percent go hand in hand"" This was echoed by newspaper cor_
respondents who witnesserl how the
his Assistant, Frank A. Vanclerlip, who said with Fiiipinos ?ought.r,
The masses backed up their soldiers and gave
frankness ancl harcl realism thab "We see with sudden stop the Americans from destroying th.
all to
clearness that some of the most revered of our poiitical nupuntic
they hacl inaugurated on ZB January 18gg.
rnaxirns have outlivecl their force and that among Makrini,
tire soul of the struggle, issued manifesto uftu,
these revered maxims were Washington's Farewell nianifesto from the sanctuary of his
Address . and the later crystalization of its main wheel_chair ex_
horting the people to fight ior their patrimony,
'thought by President Monr6s" that is, the Monroe for
- that the future of their .ornt.y, for the defense
Doctrine and arlded cynically "A new main- of in.i,
freeclom and independence. But the
spring - has become the directing force . . the and some intellectuals hated him for his
moneyed ctuss
mainspring of commercialism."2t Agoncillo,s ergu- integrity and
intransigence, and so they intrigued to
ments aird the splendid wor.k of the Anti-Imperialist have hirn re_
nroved as General Aguinalclo,s premier
Leagi.re in the United States, including Andrew Car- and. principal
aclviser" With Mabini out, Aguinaldo became
negie's ilenunciation of Arnerica's new venture in u uir-
tr-ral captive of the moneyed class and
imperialism, did not neutralize the awesome powers their allies
among the intellectnals who lost no time in
of the Presictrency. Rumors circulated freely that eollaliorat-
ing with the enemy. har.,e already explained ancl
some Senators had been bribed into becoming turn- I
analyzed elser,vhereru r,vhy these Fiiipinos
coats" Worse, on 4 February l_899, an American collaborated
with the Americans. It is enough to say here that
22 FILIFINO NATIONAX,TSM FILiPil\{O NATIONALISM 23

not only were they afraid of the people and their of the century may be described as passive or ,,sup*
I pressed." The Americans, in order to consolidate
leaders,'" but they also r,vanted to preserve the sym- their
bols of their status in Philippine society. I polver in the new colony, deported to Guam the in-
transigent Filipinos, headed by Mabini, who refused
The defection of the moneyed class to the enemy
I to swear by the Star Spangled Banner, and passed
did not in any wa;y lessen the nationalistic 6lan of I the Sedition Law (1901) which prohibited tne f.'iti_
the people who continued to bear the brunt of saving pinos from uttering ,,se&itious *ord., speeehes, write,
their country from what they called "exploiters."" publish, or circulate, scurrilous libels against the Gov-
The few intellectuals who chose to remain with the i
ernment of the United States . . . .', Violation of thiq
people used their pen freely, and so the mighty pens
law meant a fine of US $2,000 or imprisonment not
of Mabini, Ap6stol, Guerrero, the Palma brothers exceeding two years or both. That this threat of
(Rafaei and Jos6), and a few others, sang in cadence I punishment did not frighten the Fiiipino nationalists
with the patriotic cries of the peasants and workers, is shown by the fact that the Filipino writers in Taga_
ancl together they brought Filipino nationalism to I
iog and Spanish wrote scathing articles ancl dramas
its aeme. When Aguinalclo, helpless before the well- against the imposition of American sovereignty on
armecl enemy, orderecl his arrny to disband and to re-
the trilipinos. In particular, the plays written in
sort to guerrilla warfare, the people acted harmonious-
Tagalog kept the spirit of 1gg6 aglow. At least two
ly with the guerrillas. Thus the birth of the under- oJ the Tagalog plays written and. staged by Aurelio
ground movement. In 1901, Aguinaldo was captured,
Tolentino (Kahapon, Ngay1n at Buias, teshrday,
and in L902, the last Filipinq general in the field, Today and Tomorrow) and Juan Ab6d (Tanikaldngtr
Miguel Malvar of Batangas province, sur,rendered. I
Gint6, Golden Chains) led to riots. The Arnerican
Erren s0, complete peace and order did not return
authorities moved swiftly and filed charges against
to the country until 1907 when Macario Sakay, the I
the two playwrights, 0n the journalistic front, the
last reb,ei with a cause, r,vas lured into surrendering t
$
newspaper in Spanish El Rerwcimtento (The F,enais-
on a promise of pardon" He was nevertheless ex- t
sance) and the Tagalog Muting pagsilang (The Re_
ecutecl for brigandage, according to the American
-
colonial officlals.
birth), opposed the changes introduced by the Amer_
icans.
V I The Filipino writers stood adamantly against the
With the establishment of the American colonial use of English as the medium of instruction in the
government in the Philippines at the turn of the cen- public schools. The late Teocloro M. Kalaw remi-
tnry, Fiiipino nationaiism entei'ed a new phase. Whitre nisced:'*
the nationalisrn that rvas aroused by the Spaniards 'f/e w.ere agains( the use of English, the language of the
and the Americans in 1899 was active and led to American conqu€ror, in the scho-ols, The art'icle"s ," tfri,
anned conflicts, the nationalism of the first decade
subject that I dared nor us,e as editoriatrs, i
;;;;ar;';
pen namd.
24 FILfi'INO NATtrONAI,ISR{ FILIPINO NATIONALISM 2,5

Almost daily, the columns of the two nationalistic of Cervantes, P6rez Galdos, Zorrilia, Espronceda, and
newsllapers were filleri vrith sharp critieisms of Amer- Campoamor, kept the flame of nationalism bright.
ican rule, particularly of the abuses committed in This nationalism u,as frankly re-asserted toward the
an.d outside the governrnent" But whatever national- close of the first decade when, on 30 October L908, the
istic sentiments the people had \,yere nourished in Spanish-reading public came across tire eclitorial of
silence, for the Sedition tr-,arv could be strctched to ill Renacimiento. Entltled "Aucs de Rapufi,a" (Bircls
include almost anythinp, tJ:at even remotely resernblecl of Prey), it said partlyi'n
protests or criticism of tilc t:xisting order. There rvas, The eagle, symbolizing liberty and strength, has found
it is true, some degree of freedorn bnt this was al- the most admirers. And men, collectively and individual-
lor,vec'I. only insofar as it did not contradict or achersely ly, have desined to copy and imitate this most rapacious
of birds in order to tridmph in the plundering of his
affect the policies of the American colonial govern- fellowmen.
ment. This rvas so liecause the Amerieanst had not But there is a man who, besides being like the eagle, also
as yet consolidated their position in the Philippines has the characteristics of the vulture, the owl, and the
vampirq.
and so they had to limit the bounclaries of freedom in
He ascends the mountains of Benguet ostensibly to classify
order not to enclanger their colonial policy. l\feanwhiLe, and measure lgorort skulls, to study and to civilize the
they began to instruet the Filipinos in the English Igorot, but, at the same ,time, he also espies during his
language and introduced American political and cul- flight, with the keen eye of the bird of prey, where the
large deposits of gold are, the real pr,ey concealed in the
tural institutions. The hunger for education, which lonely mounrtains and then he appropriates ,these all to
was denied the Filipinos during the Spanish re- himself afterward, thanks to, the legal faciliti,es he can
gime *.- except to a ferv led the young generation make and unmake at rvill, always, however, redounding
- to his benefit.
to enroli in the public schools. And so the nationalists,
who were now in sympuLthy with tlie Spanish trrancl of Dean C. 'W'orcester, a zoologist and an anthro-
education, were frustratecX in their attempts to dis- pologist who was then Secretary of the Interior, felt
courage the Filipinos from enrolling in the pubiic allucled to and promptiy sued Martin Ocampo, publish-
schoois. Within a clecade, from 1901 to 1910, literacy er of the neurspaper, and Teodoro M. Kalarv, editor.
soared to a height never before attained. Thus Eng.- In the eyes of the Filipinos, the eelebrated case had
lish became widely used in rnany parts of the country. lacial implications: a white American against the
This, however, led to the conditioning of the Fiti- brown Filipinos. Rightly or ,r.vrongly, the Filipinos,
p'ino mind to things American resulting in colonial particularly the newspapermen, felt that the judge,
mentality which is ver3, much in evidence even toclay. being an America.n, could not be expeeted to decide
ldationalism slumbered in the hearts of those wiro the case against his fellow-American." In 1910, the
imbibed things American and so they came to master defendants were sentenced to a jail tern: and to pay
the verses of such poiite vrriters as Longfeilorv, Bryant, damages to the plaintiff in tlie amount of ?60,000.
atrd others. But those vrho dranii froiir the fountaiit The case was elevated to the Supreme Court which
I
.l
i

F'ILIPINO NATIONALISM FILIPINO NATIONALISM 27


;

firmed the clecision of the lower court. The de- Assembly whose work he guided with infinite patience,
ndanLs, howevei, were pardoned by Governor-Gen- tact, and sagacity. Reminiscing on this period, Osmefia
al Francis Burton Harrison. ?hat the Filipinos said:32
nsidered Kalar,v a hero was shown v,zhen, in 1909, That the Nacionalista Party won by electing the ov'er-
whelming majority of the members of the Philippine
hile his case was still pending in court, he ran for Assembly in 1907 was proof incontrovertible that the Fili-
legate to the Philippine Assembly ancl won." pino people repudiated anhexation and accepted our an-
Though the nationalists's attempt to delay, if not noulced resolve to, work'vigo'rously for independent na-
tionhood. It was therefore to our great fortune, through
prevent, the "Americanization" of the Filipinos the Philippine Assernbly, to' establish the actual bases of
,iled, they nevertheiess rnade indepenclence not only firm and friendly cooperation with Americ,a so that we
would advance step by step in tthe, shortest po,ssibtre time
r issue against tl,e pro-American Federal (later ,to the goal of national freedom. First of all, through the
ranged to Progr"esista) Partv, hub also a politicai creditable p,erforma.ncs clf 'the assembly. w,e demonstrated
ogan. The political parties formed at the kreginning beyond cavil the capacity oif our people for self-govern-
ment. Throus-h the recogmition of our leadership by the
i the century, except the Federal Parly, were pro- American administration, we next proved rthat our counset
:ribed by the American colonial authorities orving in national affairs, esp,:ciallv in the fo'rmulatio,n of na-
, their independence platforln. Later on, when peace tional policies. was not devoid of any wisdom and states-
manship. Then, we established .as a consistent policy and
rd order had been restorecl in the country except rtraditio.n in the Assemb:ly to approve, at the close of each
r Muslimland * the Arnericans tolerated the - forrn- sessicn, a resolutio,n addressed to the government and peo-
rrle of the United S,tates. respectfuily pointing out tlrat we
tion of political 1:arties whose platform was anehored Filioinos had sufficientiv proved our readiness for self-
r political independence. This was the Filipinos's governmen.t and sho,trld, ther,efore, be speedily granted our
rst experience in the art of practical politics. The liberty.
'acionalista Party, founded in 1907, opposed the Itmust be observed at this point that Filipino
rogresista Party, fou.nded as the Federai I'}arty by nationalism had become politieaily oriented, which is
re scholar Trinidad H. Pardo cle Tavera and a few t;o say, that through their elected leaders in the legis-
;hers belonging to the rnoneyed class, on the issue la,tive body the Filipinos expressed their rlesire for
I political independence. 'Ihe Federal Party, it must political independence in a manner consistent with the
: notecl, was the party which staunchtry advocated that demands of democratic processes. The era of sup-
re Philippines be made a state of the American Union, pressed nationalism was over and the United States,
stand which was not new, for the reformists of the by pursuing a colonial policy different from that pur-
380's wanted the Philippines to be a province of sued by the European colonial powers, guided the
rain. The Progresista Party, the successor of the Filipinos in training themselves in the art of self-
ederal Party, went down in ignominious defeat, and government. Consequently, during the second decad.e,
e Nacionalista Party, composed of young men, was or approximately from 1911 to 192L, the colonial
,tapulted to power. Delegate Sergio Osmeiia, then government progressively ca,me under the control of
rly twenty-nine years o1d, was eieeted Speaker of the the Fitipinos. Gorrernor-General Franeis Burton IIar-
28 FILIPINO I{ATIONALISN'I F'ILIFINCI NATIONAI,IS$T 29

rison, in his desire to hasten the '*Filipinization,, of much more time and experience before they could
the government, replaced the Arnerican l:ureaucrats prove worthy of America's trust. More, Wood de-
with F ilipinos and, in the ptrocess, antagonized the manded the Filipino leaders's cooperation in making
former. ThCI l-ilipino politieians, especially the ebul- the government run efficiently and honestly so that
lient and meycurial Manu-el I",. Quezon who was slowiy the people could receive maximum benefits from it.
wresting political powers frorn the eool, calculati.ng, Uirtil such time as the dolonial government had been
gentlernanly *lergio Osmefra, as ieader o:[ the Filipino cleaned up, i! was "folly to talk of any further auto-
participation in the governmenL, took adva,ntage of rromy".*u Wood's attitucle naturally did not rvin the
Harrison's apparent clocility and sympathy f"oy ther sympathy of Manuel I-,,. Quezon, now Senate President
Pilipino people b-v eneroaching upou his executive and leader of Filipino participation in the govern-
powers whieh were rrested in the governor-general by rrient, and his follorvers. Having tasted power uncler
the Jones Lar,v of 191-6. The Ameriean eoLonial ca- Harrison, Quezon w'as not disposed to relinquish it
reerists, par:ticuiarly the Republicans alnong thene, to an American executive, least of all to a military
sre\rerely eriticized tr{arrison for sury'enclering much of one. To embarass Wood, Quezon had the colonial
his prer,ogatives as C}:ief Executive to the Filipino legislature pass defective bills which he knew woulcl
political leaders. but Harrison eontinued his happy be vetoed by the governor-general. As erpected, the
rapport with the latter in the belief that they had wary but nevertheless politically unsophistieated Wood
proved themselves' equal to the tash of evolving a flell into Quezon's trap: he vetoed the defective bills.
rlolitica.lllr incl"enendent nation.3l There was for Elar- Quezon took advantage of Wood's vetoing of many
rison "no turning back of the hands of the elock" and bills to mount a relentless attack on the governor-gen-
that the United States could not o'in honor and gootl eral, who was accused of being anti-Filipino" The
faith" d-ela11 the "grant" of inclependence t(l the Fili- elimax of the attack came in L923 when Wood re-
pinos."ta quested, through his secretary, the reinstatement of
But the Harrisonian era of Filipino-American an American detective in the l\faniia Police Depart-
rapport in running the colonial go\rernment ended in ment, Ray Conley, who had been previousiy suspended
1921 u,hen the Republican adrninistration in Washing- by the Filipino Mayor of the City of Maniia for alleged
ton sent Major-General Leonard Wood to the Philip- graft and corruption. Secretary of the Interior Jos6
pines as American proconsul. Wood,, an honest, effi- P. Laurel, a nationalist to the core, instructed ttre City
cient, and competent, if stiff-necked, administrator, Mayor to comply with Wood's request to have Ccnley
promptly restored to his high office the powers wrested reinstated to his former position. Ilowever. on t4
frorn it by the Filipino political ieaders during the July Laurel sent his letter of resignation to Wood.
Harrison regime. !"rood, in contrast vrith his pre- "I cannot," Laurel said in his letter, "conscientiously
decessor, did not believe that the Filipinos were pre- eontinue as Secretary of the Interior and at the same
pared for independence and rhat it would requiro time have under rny department a man who, I am
3O lryLIP'NO NATIOWAL.IS}T FILIPINO NATIONALISM 31

convinced, is dishonest. In view thereof, I hereby with Wood: "I would rather have a government run
tender my resignation as Secretary of the Interior.',30 iike hell by Filipinos than a government run like
Three days later, a Filipino committee headed by heaven by Americans." Quezon probably did not fore-
Quezon conferred with Wood, who lost no time in see the future with his usual brilliance .
defending his acts as Chief Executive. Believing that
the governor was trying to curtail the rights of the VI
"i
Filipinos and that he acted in "utter ,disregard of the
authority and responsibility of the department heads Meanwhile, independence missions were sent to
and other officials concerned," the members of the the United States from 1919 to L932 to secllre a
solemn pledge from American officials in Washington
Cabinet and the Council of State resigned enl nlasse.
Wood consiclered this an attaek on the sovereignty of that independence would be given to the Philippines
the United States and accepted the mass resignations. at the earliest possible time. The missions failed to
On 24 July, the Commission of Independence requested accomplish their purpose, for American and Filipino
the President of the United States to recall Wood. vested interests interposed objections to the grant of
independence. In December 1931, Senator Sergio Os-
Not contented with this, the Commission sent a mis-
rnefla and Speaker Manuel A. Roxas headed a mission
sion to \Mashington, D. C. to present the Filipino
leaders's side of the controversy. But President Calvin to the Ilnited States to take advantage of the changing
Coolidge, in a }etter to the mission, 5 March LIZA, climate of opinion in and outside Congress broug'ht
rebuked the Filipino political leaders, saying:3' alcout by the depression of the late 1920's and the
Looking at the whole situation fairly and impartially,
early l-930's. The Osrox mission, as the Osmeffa-
c,ne can not b,ut feel thait if the Filipino people can: not Roxas Mission was popularly called, was ironically
cooperate in the supp,ort and encour,agement of as good aided in its campaign by the American pressure
an administration as has been afforded under Governor- groups which represented various interests allegedly
General Wood, their failure will be rather a testimony of
unp,repar:dness for rthe full obligations of citizenship than affected by the free trade relations between the PhiI-
an evidence of patriotic eagerness to advance theii coun- ippines and the United States. The American farmers,
try.
for one, beiieved that their critical position in the
The Coolidge administration backed up Wood and late l-920's and eariy L930's was traceable to the
the Filipino mission u,ent home with bloody but un- competition of PhilippirTe agricultural products which
bowed head. The conflict between Wood and the entered the American market free of duty. On the
Filipino leaders ended in 192T when the former died other hand, the American labor group thought that
on the operating table in the United States. The Filipino immigration and cheap labor were responsible
succeeding governors-general, learning from the les- for the widespread unemployment. The cottonseed
sons Wood bequeathed to them, were tactful in their pressure group also favored independence because of
dealings with the Filipino poiitical leaders, especially the fear that continued entry of Philippine coconut
with Quezon who said at the height of the controversy products, sugar, and other products, was detrimental
,.)
F'ILIPINO }IATION ALISM i.,ILIPINO }IAflONALISM 33

to their interest.u* The result was the passage of the Law was substantially the same as the H_H-C Law
Hare-Hawes-Cutting Bilt which provided for a ten- except that the former provided for future negotia_
year transition period before political independence tions between the President of the United States and
could be granted the Philippines. President Herbert nf the Philippines, within two years after independence,
Hoover saw many defects in the bill and consequently for the adjustment and setflement of outstandlng ques-
vetoed it. But Congress, in the firm grip of the pres- tions relating to America4,naval reservations and fuel-
sure groups, voted to override the veto. The bill be- ing stations in the Phiiifupines. The T-M Law was
came a law. accepted by the people in a piebiscite. A constitution
The triumph of the Osro:< I,fission, however, made of the Commonwealth, the semi-inclependent govern-
ment during the ten-year transition period., was framed
Quezon unhappy, for the senior' leader of the mission
would return a hero and, therefore, a threat to his, by the Filipino delegates to the Constitutional Con-
vention, and duly approved by president Roosevelt on
Quezon's, political leadership. He denounced the H-H-C
Law with all his oratorical prowess and succeeded, by 23 March 1935. On 15 November of the same year,
skillful political maneuvers, to have it rejected by the the Commonwealth was inaugurated with euezon as
legislature on the ground that ( 1) the restrictions president and Osmeffa as vice-president. For the first
on Filipino immigration to the United States was time since the American occupation the Filipinos had
repugnant to the Filipino people; (2) the powers almost complete control of their gorr"rr*urr1, except
vested in the American High Commissioner to the those relating to currency and foreign relations.
Philippines were indefinite; (3) some of the provisions The Commonwealth may be regarded as an experl-
of the law imperiled the political, social, and economic mental stage preparatory to political independence,
institutions of the Philippines; and (4) the provision that is to say, that the Filipinos were given oppor-
regarding Arnerican military and naval reservations tunity to adjust themseives politically and economical-
in the Philippines was contrary to the spirit of tme to their new status as a semi-independent people.
independence" In doing so, Quezon made the biggest must be noted that during the six_ year period prior
gamble of his life, for it was the popular belief that to the outbreak of the war in the Facific, the Filipino
the American Congress \vas no longer receptive to leaders, still imbued with the spirit of nationalism,
other independence proposais. Quezon, a good poker tried to evolve a national language based on Tagalog
player, led a mission to the United States to secure by establishing the Insti tute of National Language
a better independence law than the H-H-C Law. By early in 193?; shelved the traditional teaching of the
a clever maneuver', he had the I{-H-C Law rehashed iives of American heroes and substituted the study
and presented to the American Congress as the Ty- the lives of great Filipinos; and gave impetus to
dings-McDuffie 8i11. It was immediately passed by developmen t of Filipino national consciousness
Congress and approved by President Franklin Delano hich, in essenee, was American oriented. The out-
R,oosevelt, who defeated Hoover in 1932. The T-M of the war on 8 December Lg4l, when the
34 FILIPINO NATIONALISM FILIPINO NATIONALISM 3:D

Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, from the Americans. Consequently, only the Huk
Hawaii, and some parts of the Philippines, followed organization had its roots in 1896. The reason for
by the invasion of Malaya, the Dutch East Indies this is not the presence of communists among the lluks,
(Ind.onesia), and. other parts of Asia, dissipated the but the degree of political sophistication the Huk
Filipinos's dream of a prosperous and independent leaders had and the fact that the outfit hact the sup-
existence. On 2 January L942, the Japanese forces port of the Central Luzgn peasants who had been the
occupied Manila. When Bataan feII on 9 April and victims of their landlords,s predatory instincts. Just
Corregidor capitulated on 6 May L942, the Filipinos as the peasants and workers generally propelled the
conducted two kinds of resistance: the active, repre- Revolution of 1896, so the Huks comprised. the most
sented by the guerrillas, and the passive, represented effective guerrilla organization during the Japanese
by the populace who refused to cooperate or cooperated occupation.'n The Filipino nationalists, then, during
half-hearteclly, with the Japanese army of occupation. the Japanese oceupation were of two persuasions: those
For three ye.ers, the Filipinos suffered untold who craved for the return of the Americans and
those who wanted American authority terminatecl
misery, hunger, disease, and brutality. For the third
time Filipino nationalism was aroused to the point after the war. Both, however, had one thing in
of feroeity. But the nationalism thus aroused differed common: they were fiercely anti-Japanese. It was
from that of 1896 and 1899 in that the latter's di- this sentiment and the fact that the Filipinos were
reetion was toward independence and freedom, while openly pro-American that led the Japanese military
the former's purpose was to make the return of the authorities to resort to brutal methods of persuading
Americans possible. With the exception of the guer- the Filipinos to abandon their ,,folly,, of depending
on the Americans and to accept instead the ideological
rilla outfit Hukbalahd.p (short fov Hukbo ng Bayan implications of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity
Laban sa Hapon or People's Anti-Japanese Army),
all the guerrilla outfits, which sprouted in every Sphere. The fact that the Filipinos, brutalized though
they were, did not succumb to massive Japanese pro-
mountain ancl liiil throughout the length and breadth paganda is a tribute to their moral stamina which
of the country, were for the "return of the beloved" seeretly nurtured their nationalistic spirit in a time
Americans who gave the Filipinos universal educa-
of crisis and to the effectiveness of the Ameriean edu-
tion, broadened the democlatic base, taught them the cational system which conditioned the minds of the
modern principles of hygiene and sanitation, and irr-
Filipinos to the American way of life and institutions.
troduced thern to American luxtlry goods which later
on became necessities. Obviously, only t'he Hukbala' With the active help and participation of FiIi-
h,aps or"Huks for. short, were politically sophisticated, pino guerrillas of varying hues and moti ves, the
for although they were not hostile to the Americans, forces avenged their defeat on Bataan and
they nevertheless thought in terms of freedom and and, on 3 February 1,945, entered North
independence not only from the Japanese, but also almost without firing a shot. A year late4
38 FILIPINO NATIOI.IALISS{ FILIPU{O NATIONALISM 89
Against this hackground of physieal and moral heip-
lessness, the Americans, thinking of the future i.n
terms of the Arnerican century, imposed upon the
physically and morally disabled F ilipinos the unequal
treaties which niake a caricature of political independ-
ence. The Americans found an ally in the first pres-
ident of the Republic of the Philippines. Today, the
nationalists who saw the last war and its indescribable
barbarism and those born in and after 1946, see the
present dilemma of the tr'ilipinos as the upshot of the
late President Manuel A. Roxas's failure, or refusal,
to stand up to the Americans of the Paul V. McNutt
type whose rnain preoccupaLion was the perpetuation
of the Philippines as an econorulie coiony of the United
States.

VIT
At this point, it is perhaps proper to shift to
the religious aspect of trilipino nationalism. trt must
be emphasized at the outset that during the rule of
Spain there was no religious freedom. Only Catholic- country from Spanish yoke and rnalfeasance. Agui-
ism, Spanish brand, was allowecl in those areas al- naldo, however , commissioned Aglipay to go to north-
ready effectively piaced under Spanish control. When ern Luzon to persuade the people in that region to
one considers that Church and State were wedded, join the revolution. Nozaleda, learn ing of
Aguinaldo's
not so blissfully to be sure, ons: iuunediately realizes countered by instructing ASI ipay to go to the
the clual arrrl anornalous chalacter" of the union, a, north not to follow Aguinaldo,s instructions, but to
condition that was setrdom conc'iuclve Lo harmony not look into the condition of the bishopric there. Again,
only within the Church ancl the State, but also within Aglipay follolved the arch bishop and secured. the re-
the confines of the Catliolic community. The Spanish of two Jesuits from the custody of the rebels.
friars were, uncler the circrimstances, the lords and to Manila to render a report to his reli-
masters not oni1, of the souls of Lhe ignorant Filipinos, superi or, Aglipay found the city besieged by the
but also of their bodies. Consequently, the friars be- no and American forces. Aglipay then and
came the fa,r,orite targets of the Filipino reformists t{eeided to join the revolu tionary cause" On 20
who, whiie neither anti-Catholic nor anti-Spanish, 1898, Aguinaldo appointed him Militarv Vi-
FILII'INO NA.TIONALISM 4T
40 NATIONALISM
.. ",,*,*O Enough of Romel Let us now form without vacillatioo
of
car General. I{e thus became the religious leader our own congregation, a Filipino Chwch, conserving all
that is good in the Roman Church and eliminating all tttc
the revolutionarY movement' deceptions which the diabolical asturteness of the 611nning
Manlr of the Filipino ciergy joined or sympathized trtomanists had introduced to eorrupt thc moral purity and
r,vith the revolution, for not ontry were they thinking sacredness of the doctrines of Christ.
and feeling as Filipinos, but ihey also believed that Iteturning to the Plflippines in 1901, de los Reyes
it was time for them to clamor openly for the "Fili- founded the tJnion Obrbra Dem,ocrdtica (I)emoeratic
pinization" of the .Church. There was, therefore, no Labor Union), first labor union in the country. On
attempt to separate from Rome. Taking advantage the night qf 3 August 1902, he ealled a rneeting of
of the situation, Apolinario lVlabini issued a rnanifesto the labor union and proposed the establishrnent of the
calling for the establishment of the trilipino National Irilipino Independent Church with Father Gregorio
Church which, althougil Catholic, woulcl nevertheless Aglipay as Supreme Bisliop. The proposal was approved
cooperate with the Filipino revolutionary leaders unanimously. This was the beginning of the schism
in their struggle for national emancipation' In v;'ith Rome. It must be noted that the Independent
other words, the Filipino National Church woulcl be Church was founded by an intellectual labor lead.er and
Filipino first, and only secondarily Catholic' On 23 that the base was, and continues to be, the rnasses, not
October 1899, the Filipino clergy rnet and' framed a the 6lite. When de los Reyes, in his enthusiasm, men-
constitution which declared the Filipinos free from tjoned the names of prominent members of the 6lite as
Spanish control. The Filipino-American war, how- being in sympathy with the new Church, those con-
.rr.*, did not give the clergy a chance to develop the cerned hastened to belie de los Reyes's claim. At the
National Church. same time, Aglipay, who had not as yet broken away
1n 1900, when the Philippines was under military from Rome and was then with a Spanish Jesuit trying
control, the American Apostolic Detr'egate t'o the Phil- to work out a modus ahtendi, was irked at de los Reyes's
ippines, Mons. Pl6cido Chapelle, arrogantly d'eciared" untimely and unseemly proclamation of the new Church.
tGt fr. would use force if necessary to return the ft was only after the Spanish Jesuit's insolence in de-
hated Spanish friars to their Philippine parishes' The claring, in Aglipay's face, that the Filipino priests
\,vere complete nonentities, that Aglipay finally and
Filipino clergy thought that ile went too far' Conse-
qrr.rrtly, they agitated for a Filipino Church, still irrevocably broke away from Rome. Years later,
another Jesuit attempt to bring back Aglipay to the
Catholic but contr'olled by Filipinos' Two Filipirro
Catholic fold proved futile. The Filipino Independent
priests were sent to Rome to piead with the Pope'
Chureh, popularly known as the Aglipayan Church,
Lut His Holiness sho"nved partiality to the Spanish won followers. Today, a great majority of its pa-
friars. I\{eanwhiie, Isabelo de los Reyes, a scholar eome from the lorver class; only s" few
and publicist, wrote in the newspaper he was then
tellectuals are in it. It is then the religion of the
editing in SPain:
H
F"IDIPIf{O }'IATIONALISM FILIPINO NATIONALISIU 43
or, while its Catholic mothez" is, as it has always of l\llanalo's choice. So solid is the Iglesia vote that
ln, allied with the .rich and the powerful. presidential and congressional candidates, from Ramon
Religious natiollatrisrn rlirl not cnri rpith the found- I,(agsays6y to Ferdinand Marcos, considered it political-
; of the Philippine Independenl Chr-rrch. In LgL4, ly wise to pay homage to Brother Felix Y. Manalo, the
tix Y. Manalo, having turned from Catholicism to first lNxeeutive Minister, and to his son and successor,
ctestantism durirrg the early ye&rs of the Arnerican Brother ltrr'afio G. Manald. Even so-called rabid Ca-
:upation, found the two Christian religions not tholics among the politicians secretly pay homage to the
ictly aclhering to the HoIy Billle antl proceeded to Iglesia's Executive Minister in order to win his favor
:ach his religious doctrines which derived inspiration and, consequently, 600,000 solid Iglesia votes.
rm the Bible. The preacher founded a new Church
ich he christened lglesia ni, CTisto (Church of The trglesia is the only home-grown religious seet
rist). With patience and with deep devotion to his that prospered and has become politically powerful.
igious beliefs, he preaehed to the masses who be- Like the Phiiippine Independent Church, the Iglesia is
.gecl to the Cattrrolie Church and rnade conrrerts here by the masses. The masses who belong to the Catholic
I there. This levolt against the foreign religion, . Church are superficial Catholics, rvhile those belonging
ich the Filipino reformists identifiecl with friar to the Iglesia are devoted followers and loyal adherents
srule and misconduct, tvas more sustained than of their Church. Again, while the Catholics among
rt of the Philippine Independent Cirurch, for Manalo the masses are fanatical only in the sense that they
s a disciplinarian and did not allorv any deviation adhere to certain superstitious practices like the
rm his doctrines and discipline. ITe thus gave the -
barbarous pr"actice of inflicting wounds on one,s body
esia Movement an aggressive leader:ship which the olr }Ioly Friclay the Iglesia followers are fanatical
lependent Church lacked anrl stiil lacl<s. It is for in the serrse that -they follow or obey blinclly the orclers
s reason that, .qtarting, with a few converts in 1914, and religious teachings of their. Execntive Minister
r Iglesia allegedly trras grown to 3,500,000 in 1963, whom they consider the messeng.er of God. The Ca-
',h 1,250 local churehes and thir.ty-five (as of 1963) tholics, it is true, go to church on Sundays and holi-
ge and expensive churches all over the eountry. days, but they do so not because they und.erstand and
asi-Gothic in their architecture, the Iglesia churches appreciate the mysticism and poetry of the Catholic
llect the religious concept of the INC founder and rites, l:ut beeause it is the fashion to be seen in the
followers: the reaehinq out for the heavens church on such days. And so, while statistics show
'ough' truth as for-rntl in the Bikrle. that the Catholies comprise BB% of the total population,
The Iglesia has been the target of critieisms and actually the genuine Catholics do not probably com-
lignation, for Manalo and his son and suecessor ' prise 50% of the whole population. It is this fact
I throvrn the r.veight of aronnd 600,000 solid Iglesia of Filipino religious life which makes the lglesia, a -
:es behind presiclential and congressional eandidates minority religion, a real power, politically speaking, J
44 FILIPINO N:ITIONALISh{ FILII'INO NATIOI.{ALISM +5

in tire midst 0f the dorninant, and wealthy Catholic that "the American Jesuits must gradually return to
Church" America, just as the American soldiers and civil of-
Another religious rnoveulenb, if it can be called ficials gradually went back even before we became
a movement, ernanating directly f,r'anl the Philippine sovereign and independent . , , ." Continuing, Father
Catholic Churcir and propelled by nationalistic feei- Lim said in defense of his position when he was ex-
ing, gave rise to a eontroversy that is stiil remembered pelled from the Jesuit Order: "The Jesuit Order in
today. In L957, six Fiiipino Cathr:lic priests of the the Philippines should iro longer be the center of
religiolis orders lnacle a -qtudy of the status of the Fili- American language and cuiture in the Philippines
trrino religious clergy and forln.rl out soffre disconcerting "4.11
I'ilipino Jesuits today preach in English. and are
faets. On l.,tr December 195?, the six reiigious priests conversant on the subject of American History but
sent a petition to Pope Pius XII asking the Holy not e",en ten (fi%) per cent of them can preach i"
Father to allow them to bare the problerns of the the Filipino language, or know the writings of Rizal
Filipino reiigious priests and nuns. Quoting from the and Mabini . . . ." Father Lim's intransigent national-
Catholic Dir"ectory of 195?, the petitioners, headed by ism led to his expulsion from the Jesuit Society, but
Fr. Hilarin ;\. Lim, S.J., pointecl out that after moye he attractecl the attention of the people when he held
than fonr hundred years of Christianity in the Philip- lrublic meetings, exposed the pitiable condition of the
pines, "the number of foreign religious priests" was Filipino religious priests, and continued preaching
1,511, whiie the Filipino reiigious ;rriests numbered the cloctrine of tire "Filipinization" of the Catholic
only 163 and that the latter had "little or no prospect Church and schools in the Philippines. His five co-
of improveffient." Not receiving any answer, the petl- signers of the Memorial to the Pope retreated when
tioners, unfazed by the siience of the Holy Father', sub- confronted with the massive strength of their respective
rnitted a Mem,orial to the Pope, on 2L November 1957, leligior-rs orders, and they found themselves exiled in
citing facts ancl figures to support their findings re- remote places where they could not influence any
garding the unenviable status of the Filipino religious intelligent and thinking Filipino. As for ex-Jesuit
priests ancl submitting proposals for the "sincere and Hilario A. Lim, he gave up the priesthood, got him-
efficacious imillementation of Papal Encyclicals here setrf a wife, preached nationalism, attended meetings
in our land." The Memorial showecl that the Filipino of na"tionalists, and spoke at seminars conducted by
religious pi'iests were and stiltr are not only in the nationalists.ao Today, he humorously signs letters and
minority in their own countly, but also not given the notes to friends thus: "Hilario A. Lim, X. J."
opportunity to rise since they rvere given only subor- Lim's efforts were not, however, wasted, for with-
dinate positions in the Catholie Church, In Catholic in ten years of his crusade, some Catholic educational
sehools and cblleges, the high positions were, and stiil institutions began to "Filipinize". Thus, the Ateneo
are, given to lloreign religious priests. In particuiar, de Manila University, the famed Jesuit institution of
Fr. Hilario A. Lim, S.J., frankly ntade the statement higher learning, led the "Filipinization" movement in
46 T'IL.IPINO NATIONALIS}T rII,IPINO NAfiONALISM 47

the Catholic seg:nent by appointing a Filipino to the croachments on Philippine sovereignty, on the other.
Rectorship. Later, & Filipino Jesuit was appoinLed This crusacle was preceded in 1949 by his critique of
Provincial of the Society of Jesus, Philippine Province, the Quirino administration's Asian policy vzhen, in a
the first time a Filipino ever became head of a reli- eoinlnencernent address hefore the graduating students
gious province. Ateneo's example was followed lafur of a l\fanila university on I April ]-949, he said:*'
by other Catholic educational institutions, notably by To securs the continued otjoyment r:rt ths American market
San Juan de Letran College, the first Dominican-run and thorse marvelous i\mericlir assemblylines, without
whose pr:,eferences and advantages it seemed that rve mts,t
college to have a Filiplno Rector, and by the University perish, or at least suffer, we granted Americans the right
of Santo Tom6s, also Dominican-run, whose Vice-Rec- of citizens in our own country for the exploitartion and
enjoyment of the national patlinrony, We sacriliced our
tors for Acatlemic Affairs and ftl:: Administrative Af- ,sovereignty over strategic bases within our frontiers. We
fairs are Filipinos. A few years later, a Filipino bound o,urselves rto buy weapons for our defense only from
was electecl Reetor of the University. The "Filipi- this one friend, which had indeed proved the vastness of
its resources as the arsenal of democracy in the greatest
nization" of the hitherto foreign-dominated religious war the human race had ever fought. We were neither
educational institutions is a continuing process. Lirn allies nor wards but our engagemerrts leit no doubt ttrat
has thus been vindicated. ws were ready to fight again with America, if not for
America, in mutual defense. The world was thus pre-
sented with the adm,irable phenomenon of a. new nation
vIm more dependent, and mor,e willingly dependenit, on its
former sovereign after independence than beforet.
Mention has already beerl macle of the military
There was a time wh,en like America, in the memorable
hases and other one-sided agreelnents entered into words of Wendell Willkie, the Filipino people had a re-
between the Philippines and the United States frorn servoir of goodwill in Asia. That was the time when
1947 to 1951. When the "colcl war" blew hot in the our people, the most adva,noe'd political$ among the races
of ,this region, precocious in democracy, rincompromising
late 1940's especially when lilorth Korea invadetl in the common struggle for independence, provided a
South Korea in June 1950, the United States, reacLing model and an inspiratiou for the masses of a submerged
and subjugated continent. That was a time when the
apprehensively to this significant event, deeided to rapidly developing nationalism of Burma, Indonesia, fndo-
strengthen and eniarge her l:ase-s in the Philippines. China, and even India, looked to the Filipinos, even more
To the few nationalists who had never believed in the than we ever knew o,r realized, for leadership and sym-
pathy. Tha,t was the time when the portraits of Filipino
myth of "special reiations" witir the United States, h,ercrcs and leaders were enshrined in the secret conclaves
the establishment of more and larger American bases of the subject races of Asia.
was repugnaqt to the concept of political independence. But the same fatality o,t history that impelled us to sub*
mit to, the diplomatic dornination of America led us, for
It was, then, that about 1950 Filipino nationalism'was analogous reasons, to abdicate this moral leadership in
reawakened. Senator Claro M. Recto, parliamentarian, Asia. Perhaps our p'eople cannot be blamed for feeling
statesman, man-of-Ietters, jurist, brilliant barrister, a. natural aversion, and even indifference, to rthe cause of
Asia for the Asiatics, so cynically perverted by the Ja-
and acadernician, began his crusade against colonial pares,g for their own end,s. Yet i,t is certain that under
mentality, on one hand, and against American en- the impulse of 'that curiously split personality of which,
(}N ALIfiM
FX].T[,INO NATIONALISiItr 49
48 FILIPINO tr*I A'fi
llor a change, in self-criti.cism, for the first duty of
as the onJy Christian petryle. in Asia, we are- possessed, wo of a nationaiist is to discover the defects of his coun-
wantonly wa$ted our rese'rvoir o{ goodwitrl"
trymen in order to correct them. Thus, he said in
This opening salvo awek{rn*{t & sector of t}re
thc salnc spcecil:
sophisticatett Finipinos to ttre daruger of atrways d'e- Whcn we are so, dishonest, inept and prodigal, that we
pending on Arnerica's largess alrci alleged benevoietrce' cannot run a governrnent on dre resources of lhe poteu-
They railier-l around Senatol' Itecto and becauie & tially richest and mo,st deruocratically schooled people in
Asia, and must beg conStantly for subsidies, then ths
potent, if smatrl, grollp in * s*ci*{y that was large}y United States har,e the right to see to irt that. the dollars
influenced },ry the Arneric*ns" On 1? April tr951' they lcnd are not dissipatecl in extrava,ngance, purloined by
Recto, speaking this tirne at ttrre Cotnmencemertt malefactors in high office, or missp,ent on fraudulent elec-
tions, and that, in return for their assistance, they shall
Exercises of the University uf i;ht Philippines, obli- have the final say on our foreign policy and receive the
quely criticized the American policy of making Phil- services of our diplomats as ,their spokesrnen and press
ippine indepencience a joke ancl severely casLigatecL
reLa,tions officer.

ftr. Filipino politicai leaders's habit of accepting Arnerica, however, continuetl to bring pl.essure
American impositions without us ntuch as a whimper" on the trilipino political leailers in order to make
He said:* American power pararrount in this part of the Paci-
The tragedy of our foreign potricy is tira't beinrg. an Asian
llic. Consequently, Amelican importunities continued.
people 1tn thousanrl miles away from effectivo cerlter
'American power, our behaviuur has been tha't of a
unabated. In February 1953, the American Embassy
o,f in l\{anila sent a note to the Philippine Foreign Office
banana republic in 'ths Caribb*arr'. We have fed uponr
th" trrr"y that we ar:e somehow tirt' favorite children of expressing the desire of the United States government
a*"tiou," and that she, clriven by some' strange predilection to acquire title to extensive lands in the area surround-
iri- ""0 people, will never forsake us nor sacrifico our
ing the strategic Subic Ruy, an al'ea of rnore than
interests io lr"r own or to those of oth'ers for her own
sake. 2,000 hectares, for military and naval purposes. The
Ilnitecl States wanted absolute ownership of those
Recto \Irarned the F ilipinos against reposing fuo Iands and the title to other lands acquired by virtue
much confidence in America's promises, for it $'as & of the L947 bases agreement. The American Em-
mistake to suppose that "Atnerican policy can ever bassy's note was basecl on tI. S. Attornev General
have any objective other thatr the security, welfare, Ileri-iert Brownell's oiriirion that the United States
and interest of the Arnericalr peCIple." As a critic ownecl the base lands in the Philippines. If valid,
of American policy towgLrcl the Philippines and the Lhe Philippines r,vould alienate l-99,570 hectares to
Filipinos's iack of moral eoulrege La stand" up to Amer- the United States." Fresiclent trlpidio Quirino re-
ican im1:ortunities, Recto showerl fairness, for he jected the Ameriean ciaiin, but on 28 August l-953,
blamed the Filipinos more tliau the Americans f,or Brownell officially wrote that the lands occupied by
the piight in which the Philippines has to this da American bases belongerl to the United States, citing
found herself. Impliedly, [hen, I{,ecto urged the Fili- the bases agreement and other tr:eaties concluded be-
pinos, particularly their poiitical leaders, to indulgc,
.'i

FII,trPU{O NATIONALISM 5],


50 FILIPIN$ NATIONALtrSB1
to shore The soundness of Recto's iegal opinion was im-
tween the Philippines and the llnitr:tl States piicitly recognized when the United States in 1956
his opiniori" Senator Recf o stud'ied Brorn'nell's admitted "the sovereignty of the Philippine Govern-
"p
opirrion ancl on 1 T.iebluary t!}i"'4' he wrote the Phitr-
ment over the base Iands." It was the triumph of
ippine Secrctar'3r of Foreigr: Aff'rai'rs rnaintaining the Filipino nationalists not only over the Ameriaan
that the lJniteri States merely le:ased--the lands in government, but also ovpr the tr''ilipino professional
question f,rorn the Philippines' When' finally' apologists of American hctuation and thinking. The
Brownell's opinion \Maq rileclassified on 16 Marctr nationalists did not relax their campaign to make
1954, it became the target of the Filipino national- more F ilipinos realize the folly of pinning their faith
ists's severe indictment' In a rnemorandum to Sec- and hope exclusively on the United States whose
rectary of Foreign Affairs Carlos P' Garcia' Recto national interests did. not always coincide with those
answereil Brownell by citing ieg'al precedents and
the
of the Philippines. They depiored, and continue to
Treaty of General Relations between the Philippines tleplore, the habit of presiclential candidates of boast-
and the Unitecl States, signeci on 4 July 1'946' under ing about their being the "fair-haired boys" of the
which the latter withdrerv ancl surrendered to the
juris- Arrrericans but not of having the moral courage to
former "all r'ights of possession, supervision' tell the eiectorate that they were and are pro-Filipino.
d.iction, controI," o, *o'"''tignt-r existing and exercised It was not until the American military in the Philip-
Ly the United States in inc{ over the territory ancl pines acted like masters that many Filipinos realized
puopf. of tlie Philippines, et:t:rt'1tt' tlt'e use of srt'c'lt' the folly of aping and defending anything American.
bases, rlecessal'y appurtenances tr: sl'lch bases'
and the
rights incident itl."nto, as the Unitecl States of America In spite of the well-known pro-Americanism of
by agreement with the Hepubiic of the Philippines' President Ramon MagsaysSy, who once said that the
*uy t.u* necessary to retain for the mutual plo- people coulcl not eat nationalism, the nationalists con-
teciion of the contracting parties'*n With an air of tinued assailing not only Ameriean arm-twisting
triumph, Recto saicl: "It is inferable frorn Article 1 tactic, but also MagsaysSy's alacrity in doing the
of the treaty that there had already been a grant or bidding of his American advisers. The wave of na-
surrencler to the Philippines of the title held by
the tionalist sentiment engulfed even the Congress, and
one of its aggressive leaders, Speaker Jos6 B. Laurel,
United Stal,es to all the base iancls at the time of the
proclamation of independence," ancl added: "Tlte Jr" of the House of Representatives, oblioueiy warned
ff,lippines could not have granled the use of the base the Arnerican neocolonialists that "Mutuality and
respect must repiace arrogance and imposition par-
tands if it were not in the first piace the owner
ticularly in the so-called underdeveloped regions of
thereof. Under a weli-know'll principle of thebene- traw
ihe world."no Under his leadership, the House of
of lease, the United States ir's ttre lessee or the Iiepresentatives moved for the re-examination of Fili-
ficiary of the L1se, is estoppecl to cleny the title of American relations and passed the Retail Trade
the lessorr oY grantor."
FILIPINO NATIONALISM 53
62 T'ILIPM{O NAT'IONAI'ISM
tiorr of the colonial mentality that vitiated, and still
Nationalization bill' Significantly' it was
also during
vitiates, the posture of those who were in positions
rhis period that the stud'ents' led by those Lyceum
enrolled
*i tf,. University of the Philippinesofand the of power to lead, but did not or could not. Thus,
Recto's nationalist ideology remains valid'today, per-
of tfru Phitippinls, began a series Philippines'
demonstrations
haps rlore so today than during his lifetime.
,gri""t e*.ri.un policy toward' the nationalists' Even
after the death oi the two great
Jos6 Incidents involving-,Filipinos and Americans, in
P. Laurel orrJ Cl,'o M' Recto in 1959fighting for
and 1960' and outside the military and. naval bases, led to
respectively, the nationalists continued tensions. trilipino demonstrations against American
raised by behaviour in the Philippines became common occur-
national digniiy and kept al,ive the issues Amer-
Recto and Larirel against alien' particularly death rences. The more than forty cases of killings of
ican, domination of the country' No cloubt
the Filipinos by Filirrino and American guards in the
of Laurel ancl Recto, particularly the latter's'-
affected American }:ases, particularly in Clark Air Base, on
the nationalist movement, for after Recto's
death the the ground that the victims were allegedly pilfering
*antt. he left behind was too heavy for any Filipino -A,merican property, and the stubborn refusal of the
to wear. This is no reflection 0rl' the ability and Arnerican base authorities to surrender the killers to
courage of many nationalists' particularly
Recto's Filipino authorities to be tried in the courts of justiee,
friencl and' colleague, Senator Lorenzo M' Taflad'a' in accordanee with the bases agreement, Ied to wide-
but it is the consensus thaL Recto's death left an spreacl Filipino protests against what they considered
American aruogance and injustice. Even in cases
appalling void in the ranks of the nationalists' "If
i."to *ur. alive . . ' the phrase the people' from where the offenses were perpetrated, intentionally or
"'is say whenever - American
the highest to the lowest, by accident, outside the bases and when the killers
imposition or arrogance becomes too obvious to be were off-duty, the base commanders tried to frustrate
jr-rstice by sending the'offenders baek to the United
ignored, or whenever Filipino leaders succumb to
the
States or to other American bases outside the Philip-
siightest American pressure' Even so' Recto's death
served as a tie that bound, ancl still binds' the
diverse 1"rines. On 25 November 1964, a Filipino boy was
kilietl by an over-enthusiastic American soldier in Clark
elements that compose the nationalist camp' Conse-
quently, he is now the glowing syrnbol of th-t struggle Air Base, and the following month, 13 December, a
io, poiiticat and economic emancipation from alien fisherman was shot and killed by two American
sentries in the Olongapo naval base. The American
strangle holcl. While his nationaiistic ideas were not
Bmbassy, in an attempt to justify the murder of the
so po-pular during the administration of Magsays6'y'
whom the the nationalists described as "America's boy, issued a statement to the effect that the killing
errand boy", today they are the comrnon fare of of the unarmed boy was the result of American se-
even those wiro, in the 1950's, silently resented Recto's curitlr measures after certain unidentified Filipinos
campaign for national dignification and the eradica- allegedly threw a bomb at the American school at
FI{,IE}NNO NATIONAI,ISM 55
54 FILIPI}'{O }i{A,]TONALISSI
to the press' Tile Ameriean naval authorities refused to surrender
Clark Air Base. A bomb rvas shown conclusively that the killer to the Filipino law officers. The killer was
but subsequent investigations shovred tried by the American authorities and acquitted. The
the bomb lvaij an old oiie anti coul'r} not
have ex-
Lhose who habitual- F'ilipinos protested vigorousiy but the Americans
pi"A.t- Thinliing Filipinos' evetlt'trrc drop of a hat' ignored them. In l-969, another Filipino was shot
iv" a.i."a.A the Ameiituttu at dead tr..',r an American gentry in Clark Air Base in
cloubted the veracity of the American
Embassy's
;;."pf*"rtion" and conclucled that bhe "bomb story" Fampanga Prorrince and when the killer was inves-
by the tigatecl he said he thought the Fitripino was a wild
was a hoax' Yet, this hoax wus circulat'ed iroar. This Arnerican killer was hastily tried by the
worlcl' thereby
American press serviees throughout the r\rnerican military court, which promptly acquitted
*uLi"g tfre fitipinos appe*r tt sadistic people' which
hirn. A few days later, he was reportecl to have
they are not * not having assassiuated
any President'
held a Ieft for the United States. What Filipinos, including
On 25 January 1965, the university students thtr known pro-American among them, resented was
Em-
mammoth demr:nstration be{oye Lhe American the Arnerican serl,icernen's proneness to shoot to kill
arro'
Hu*.V and denounced American nctuations and and in a friendly country. These incidents led
with the -Filipinos
;;";". During the demonstrations, leaflets to agitate for the re-examination of the
iiu**.r-and-silkle emblem tnysteriously appeared'
Bases Treaty in order to prevent the oceurrence of
the obvious pul'pose of which was to smear the
clemon-
bioody affairs or to bring the erring American service-
stration as communist-inspired'' The people' how- men to justice in the Philippine courts.
ever, affere not taken in by such ancient and wornout ALtempts have been made to compose the differ-
tactic. The netvspaper colnmnist, J' V" Cruz' known ences between the Filipinos and the Americans. In
for his national'ist orientalion anit trlointed criticisms
by American behavior in Asia, intirnatecl that the 1959, the Philippines and the United States, through
leaflets trvere prinLed in ihs Trress of the United
their rr:presentatirres, arrirred at an understanding,
Sta,tes Infoi'mation Service, ihe propagancla
arm ot namely:
the American Embassy' To my i<lior'vledge' the latter 1. recognition by the United States of the right
ne\rer denied the implieil actusation" of the Philippines to be consultecl on the operational
use r:f American bases in the Philippines in situations
There are irritants i:hat have made Philippine- in which the United States might be involved in
American rela,tions shak-v, but t le n:ost sensitive have Asia;
been what Filipinos consider the Li"nnecessary killings 2. formal inclusion of tlie principle of automatic
perpetratetl by American set:vicet-len inside or neal: retaliation in the Mutuai l)efense Treaty of 1951;
American inilitary and naval bases' In 1"968' a Fili- 3. recluction of the ninety-nine-year lease of the
was shot clead hy an American sentry
-just young man
pino
bases to twenty-five years subject to renewal or ter-
lutsicle the l{aval Barie in tavite City' There mination by mutual consent; and
was no prorr6galion and the young fiIan was unarmed'
FIT,IPINO NATIONALISM 57
56 FILIPINO NATIONALISM
4. long-range programming of the different as- tp the charms of the American dollar, the lVIanila
pects of Crnerican military assistanee to the Philip- "summit" was anRouneed by Presiclent Ferdinand E.
pines. I\{arcos. trt rvas during the first day of the "Summit"
rneeting, 24 October 1966, that students and laborers
This "unclerstatrding" trvas never taken seriously staged a huge demonstration before the Arnerican
by the Americans' Ernbassy and at the ma.in gate of the Manila Hotel
On 10 August 1"S65, Lht Phllippine Secretary where Johnson was billeted. The demonstrators car-
of Foreign Affairs and the American Ambassador in ried placards saying "Johlson, go home," "Yank-ky,
Manila signed an agreement revising Article XIItr of go horne," "Shoot now, talk later LBJ!', "Vietnam:
the Lg47 Bases Treaty. Under the agreemeirt, the Duigdig rLg nlga Apt" (Vietnam.:- The World of the
Ilnited States agreed to (1) renounce exclusive juris- Oppressed), and "Ifey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did
diction over on-base offenses, (2) define clearly the you kill today?" The brutal behavior of the police,
term "on-duty", (3) irnprove the provisions on vrho were rumored to have tal<en orders from Amer-
waivers of jurisdiction and (4) create a criminal ican agents, led to widespread condemnation of the
jurisdiction implementation committee eomposed of police methods, on one hand, and the Americans, on
offi.i*lt of both governments. This agreement, how- other'. The brutalized students immediately converted
ever, has not been officially implernented.* their 24 October demonstration into the October 24th
In recent years, Filipino-American relations took Movement, which t{re professional anti-communists
a turn for the worse owing mainly to two issues: immediately labeled communistic.
the American adventure in Vietnam and the Manila The sending of Filipino engineer battalion, with
"Sumnrit" cf 1966. It is no secv'et in the Philip- security cover, to Vietnam a,nd the catrIing of the
pines that Ameriean officialrloni hacl "persuaded" the Manila "Summit" led thinking Fi'lipinos to re-consider
!'ilipino political lead.ers to throw their weight behincl F'ilipino-American relations. The alleged special ties
President Lyndon B. Johnson's rvar in Vietnam in that bind the two peopies are loosening insofar as the
order to make it a "democratic" war in which Asians nationalists are concerned, and even those who were
are invohred. The nationaiists severely castigated, previously uncommitteci no'w came out openly asking
often in intemperate Langr-rage, the Marcos Adminis- serious questions about American motives, sense of
tration and the American poiicy makers, especialiy justice, and fair play. Thus, Congressman Rarnon
the latter for using "doIlar diplomacy" to win over V. Mitra called for a thorough reexamination of
Asian allies for Johnson's war on Asian soii. In the Philippine-American relations in all fielcls - - "polit-
same year that Filipino political lead"ers succumbed ieal subversion, eeonomic control, [and] cultural do-
* This agreement was not ratified by the Philippine Congress' The mination." Speaker Jos6 B. Laurel, Jr. for the second
Secretary of that
Justicr:, in an opinion rendered on the subject', ruled
the time led the movement for the "thorough re-exemina-
Bases Treaty of 1947 remains in force owing to the failure cf the Philip" tion" of Philippine relations with the United States"
pine Congress to ratify the agreernent of 1965'
58 T'ILIPINO NAfIOI{ALISM FILIPIN0 NI\TIONALISI{ 69

Congressman Mitra sounded. bhe nationalist ered'o ence in the interest of America. This American aL
when he said:* titude directly clashes with the Filipino concept of
We should reexamine otrr bases egreement beyond the frienship and loyalff, a coneept that is nourished in
military anrl julidical aspects. We havs Ieglect'ed the' eco- sentimentalism. Unfortunately for the Filipinos,
nomic significanc'e of these bases. Cc sidcring the rampant Americans are not sentirnental; on the conbrary, they
srnuggling of American goods that these bases sustain, ef-
f.ective measures are certainly needecl if we are to protect are ruthlessly trusinesslilte. trn the face of Arnerican
our own industries. realism, the late Senator Claro M. Recto, who although
Also, in orde.r to safe.guard our dlgnity and independence, a poet, was realistic in his approach to foreign policy
the Executive Departrnent sho'trld revise the current practico
of allowing ambassadors, assistant secteitaries and other ancl international politics, advised his countrymen
minor Amirican officials to go directlv to t'he Prisident. before his death in 1960: "As Filipinos, we must
They should be made to go through the proper channels. look out for ourselves because no one else wi11."
If -this reexamination of Fhilippine-Americanr relations leads
to a r,ettrrinking of our attitudes and a readiustme.nt of o'ur
reLations in these and other spccific area^s, then we shall IX
have achicved rnuch in aftirmi:ng and bolstering our in-
dependence. But thess will tot be permanent gains un- Filipino economic nationalism lags behind pol-
less we do something tcr ensure that Filipinos in rthe fiture itieal nationalism. Within a decade after Ameriea
are so imbued rvi.th nrationalism that they will readily see
through any attempts rto slight the dignity and diminish the had established her sovereignty over the Philippines,
scvereignty of their country, and act resolutely to safe- trade relations betrveen the two countries were based
guard the national interesrt. T'his is a task for our edu-
catinnal svstem. Ws should educats our citizens to tie" on free trade. The passage of the Payne-Aldrich
come Filipinos, to think and act as FilipinoS. Act in 1909, which provided for partial free trade
It must be noted that the primary target of the relations between the United States and the Philip-
nationalists have been those Americans who have been pines, 'was beneficial to the sugar and tobaeeo in-
connected, directly or indirectiy, with the potritical terests of the Philippines, but its effect was the loss
and econornic domination of the Philippines. The of revenue for the country.*' The Filipino political
patriots among the Americans call this phenomenon leaders, led by Speaker Sergio Osmefla, opposed the
"anti-Americanism" which, to them, is unthinkable f,r'ee trade relations law for fear that it would make
in view of the alleged benevolence of the United States the Pliilippines an economic dependency of the United
in colonizing the Philippines at the turn of the cen- States even after independence. This fear was also
tury. Any Filipino who has the courage of his con- expressed by Congressman tr'rancis Burton Harrison
.riction and rvho has shecl off his colonial mentality of New York, who described the law as aimed at the
has been labeled "Retl" or "Pink" by not a few Amer- "selfish exploitation of the islands [the Philippines]
icans. If today Americau$ $ee n'anti-Americanisrn" in behalf of certain American industrial monopolies."u'
among Filipinos, it is because Arnerican poliey to- But American vested. interests were too powerful to
ward the. Philippines precisely since nominal inde- be overcome, and in 1913 the Underwood-Simmons
pendence in 1946 has been to subvert that independ- Act was passed. This law, unlike the Payne-Aldrich
}'II,IPINO NAITT}T{ALISM 61
FILIPUq0 t{ ATtrONi\LISe{
restrictions on cer- tioneli Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA)
of 1909, removed the quota
coutd enter the United whose primary aim was to improve the quality of
that
, efrifippine products Speaker Philippine-made goods so that Filipinos would be
;; i";; of dtity' the new measure osrneffa once more
on the ground encouraged to patronize them. The New Katipunan
;pposition to
ffi ht--pftiiippines as an economic movement did not last long, for Speak-
t'th.
itr" woultl be forcecl to depend' solely
er Roxas was too preoccupjed with power politics
Ar*er1ca'i, rnarket thus n'egtrecting the other to lead the movement effectively and to endow it
,rfn"tu of the wqrrlcl. The
passaga: of the tvro tariff
irnllorts and exports' u,ith the spirit of a crusade. On the other hand,
Lr i.O to inereased Philippine the NEPA for a time succeeded in bringing to the
ant1" the suglnr planters beneflited
; .*r;; ilru o'hu.*a,tracle relatione' As a whole' the attention of the Filipinos the beauty and quality of
;#ffi the free from a deluge of American their products and, consequently, led to the encourage-
,t irn^* sufferecl rnent of the industrial arts. On the lighter side, the
the Philippine market'
,A* *fti.tt to this day clomina'te alibreviation NEPA became a byword and has since
Those .n'ho foresaw the pitfalls and
folly of rely- to a Philippine-made or -prepared
been used denote
,n ut*o.t excltisively on free tracl'e with
the United
object or food, made of Philippine materials. The
to the people regard-
-p"..ilrlea stern warning
l?r"-^'=*"ded NEPA still exists, but it is doubtful whether it has
.1" tfr. effects political lntlependence might loosenecl the alien hold on the domestie trade. When
or1 the economy of the country'
It was d'uring the war broke out in December 1941, the aliens were
"f"A.pendence
rB,ve
il. Congress of 193{J that economic safely in control of the Philippine domestic and foreign
rationalism v/as launched' by
then Speaker Manuel
the Bclyon'g Kattpun'&n (New
trade. The Chinese, for instance, had an invest-
il"n""r. who organized aim rn'as- economic protectionism
ment amounting to ?200,000,000 in retail and whole-
iriip""""i wholewas a- c1}l for economic self-suffi-
saie merchandising, banking, real estate, distilleries,
in essence,
vhich, --l'W. and in the manufacture of cigar, cigarette, soap,
ffi; said the manifesto of the Nerv
sha11,"'
of our economic bondage candle, etc. On the other hand, the Americans had
ffiiJ;".n, "brealc the chains a total investment of P537,000,000 in mining, public
abroacl onlv those coutmodities which
il;;G from shall enco-urage the restora- utility, lumber operation, and in the sugar, coconut,
ve eannot prclc{uce" We and abaca pla,ntations. The Japanese, too, had their
;;"; the household industries' We shall patronize share of the local eeonolny: F100,000,000 invested
)ur eountrymen who are engagecl'
in business and
in abaca plantation and in the fishing industry. The
,orra.*" those who exploit their
cttstorners'"
'ilhen the Filipinos, then, were a poor minority in the economic
These were brave words at a time activities of the country before the war.
power to compel
,orriry had no independent political It was after the last world war that the well
;;';ii""s to hehave properlv as befit guests' Even informed emong the Filipinos realized the true signi-
;; ;;;" Filipino businessrnen' ea'::i:ieci by Roxas's ficance of Filipino-American relations. In September
,r"Ltrrv and apparent nationalism' founded the Na-
FTLtrPINO N A1'rOl{ ALISIVi FILIPINO NATIOX\IALISM 63

45, the BelI 8111 was filed with the American Con- way as to give "parity" rights to the Americans.
'ess providing for free trade relations between the When l\{anuei A. Roxas, riding on the back of General
nited States and the Phiiippines for a period of Douglas MacArthur, won the presidential election of
renty-five years. Some conscience-stricken Amer- 1946, he immediately set his political machinery in
ans opposed the biil on the ground that the Philip- motion to rarn through Congress the amendment to
nes would, under the bili, becclme an economic de- the Constitrition. Since the Constitution requires
rndency of the Llnited. States. This bill was set three-fourths majority of Conlress to pass an amend.-
ide and another, aiso by Jasper Bell, was introduced ment, Roxas could not get such majority because
rd, later, approved, providing for an eight-year per- of the apposition of some nationalistic congressmen,
d of free trade relations between the two countries. whose negative votes would frustrate Roxas's design
fter L954, taxes would be levied gradually on both to give "parity" rights to the Americans. In the
rilippine and American goods. But what the Fili- circumstances, he instigated the filing of a resolution
nos, even in their hunger and sickness, could not in Congress declaring Luis Taruc, the Huk supretno,
rderstand was the imposition of the so-calIed parity and his six nationalistic colleagues belonging to the
r them even to the extent of having their constitu- Democratic Alliance party, unseated on the ground
on amended to accommodate the Americans. "Parity" that they won the elections through frauds an
eans that the Arnericans would have the same rights obviously manufactured charge since no proof was
i the Filipinos in the disposition, exploitation, de- presented to prove it. With the seven expelled from
llopment, and utilization of "all agrieultural, timber, Congress, the amendment to the Constitution was
rd minerai lands" of the Philippines, the right to pushed through with the required three-fourths
perate public utilities and to exploit the waters, majority. Roxas became the "hero" in the eyes of
rinerals, coal, petroleum, and mineral resources of the American neo-imperialists headed by the late
re Philippines." Insult was added to injury when, Paul V. McNutt. The amendment was submitted
rrly in 1946, the American Congress passed the Ty- to a plebiscite. Jos6 P. Laurel and Claro M. Recto
lngs Rehabilitation Act providing for an outlay of took to the field to assail the "parity" amendment,
'S
$620,000,000 to be given to those who suffered but the people w'ere too sick and hungry to listen to
lmage during the war. But & condition was at- the voice of reason: they approved, the proposed
rched to the payment of, war damage: that no amount amendment to their Constitution because finaneial
r excess of US $500.00 would be given unless and and other aid from the United States could. be secured.
rtil the Presidents of the United States and the Re. only if the Constitution were amended to give "parity,,
ublic of the Philippines had reached an agreement lights to the Americans. Parentheticaily, most of the
:garding trade relations between the two countries rehabiiitation money went not to the Filipinos, but
1d, what was galling to the nationalists, until the to the American and other alien business firms which
ilipinos had amended their Constitiltion in such a suffered during the war.
',,i

t ITILIPI.I{fi NrtTI(}}iAII$hI IrtrL}F.INO N,{TIONAI,ISi},I 65


The paradise thal, Roxas promised the Fiiipinos nomy by the aliens, par.ticularly by the Americans
when he wail carnpaigning to ha','e tlie "parity" amend"- anrl tire Chinese, led the economic nationalists to
ment approrred by the people in a plebiscite dicl not pleacl for: industriaiization, the curtailment
materialize. The negligible ri.eveleipment of the Phil- tretir.,ities of a,liens in the retail tracle, and
of the
ippine economy, in spite of "parity", led President the pre-
ferenee for foreign loans to clir"ect investments
in
Ramon Magsaysiy, Anterica's greatest friend so far, order" to g:r"nerate capital.;, Again, as in the
to send a mission to the United States in 1954 for the field, Senator Recto lecl the crusade for e-conomicfohtical
purpose of revising some onerous provisions of the rrationalism. He said in 19b6:an
Bell Trade Relations Act. Led by Senator Jos6 P. Al1. things considered, what should ,then be our economic
Laurel, the mission signed an agreement on 15 De- policy? .':
cember 7954 with the American panel. The agree- It must be industrialization in its fullest sense. The
aim
ri:

is an economy of prosp,erity, ,that is, an ever l'


ment, knorvn as Lhe Laurel-Langley Agreement, pi:o* tional productio,n.
growing na_
vides for the "ilccelerAtion of the ;rpplication of Phii- Xt is an economy where the major economic activities
ippine duties on imports front the United States alrd and
efl'orts of the peo-plc are incr,.-asingly directea towaids-non_
deceleration of rhe appiicatinn of the United States rur:al pursuits. That has been rJre rvay of all industrial
natians. That has.been the way of att prospeio,u;;;;"r.
duties on iruports from the PiriXippines during the That is what I envis.ion for our peop,le. 'We' siou1d,1ii.._
period Januiery 1", 1956 to July iJ, 1974"" In exchange fore, oppose the maintenance trei-e of a nuat
lor. this American "benevoience", the American panei thc adoption of any. policy ojr program that tend; """".*V'""a
G] p"*
petuate it. I do not mean ,thai our agriculture
succeeded in rnaking the tr'iiipilio mission agree to shoulj be
-altogether or that we shouTd "ot i_lror"- o"
abandoned
the revision of the "par"ity" artrendment so as to ex- present methods. What I clo, mean is that, if we want-not to
tend the right of Americans to engage in all business prosper, we should concentrate less on agricultur.e
regard it as the main basis of our national econornv. It
anA
a.ctivities in the Philippines. To salve the feelings is un error a grievous one _ ro iden,rify
- r-"--- --
of the Fiiipinos who had no bargaining power to speak nomic deveioprnent with rural clevelopment. "r;q;;;"''"oo_
of, the Anrericans agreed to give the Filipinos the Owing to increased ilirect investments of aliens,
ssme right as the Americans in the United States especialiy American investment, Recto sounded a
ii

to engage in'businessmen
L'usiness an empty "parity" right since vrarning against relying too lnuch on foreign capital
no Filipino
- woulcl har''e a chanae against
broi;ght into the country by aliens. Speaking in
American "bigl business." 1\'1ot:eover, the tr'ilipino 1957 hefore the Rotarians, Recto saici:'o
,,parity" right in the lJnitetl l]tr;,rtes is limited by the
I'inir: anrl again I have voice,l my opposi.tion to lurthe,r
statutes of tire indiviclual States of the American foreign riirect investments here. ft" is "wittr detiberate em_
I]nion whicl"l clo not' encollragir competition from phasis ttrat I use the worc1, ,,further',, bscause I want
positio,n clearly understood. Existing foreign investments
my
a'liens assullling of cours'i that Filipino "big busi-
-
ness" exists.
here constiFrte vested rights which u.J u. m[ch e rtitled
protection under our Constitu'iion, and statutes as those
to
of
The continuecl clominance of the Philippitle eco- Filipino nationals.*** But in the inter,est of both
particularly of Filipino nationals, and for the sake ;r;;p;
k ilri
i6 trILIPINO NATIONALISM f"ILIP$iO NATIONALISM 61
nation itself, I propose, thar,t it is alien investments in the the Ameriean Embassy, to frustrate the implementa_
form o,f loans tha,t shotrld be, by all means encouraged.
tion of the law. Even then president l_,y"aori'il.
Recto quoted a writer in the l/e'r.u Yorlc Times son lent his name to the American businessmen,s John-
Weekly Reaiew (5 August 1956) who pointed out that belated cry of ,,persecution,, when he
foreign investment was "closely linked with political ident Diosdado Macapag6l in June 7964 wrote pres_
power" and the "long-range effects of the influx of enforcement of the, law rnight adversely
that the
capital [owned by foreign investors] is to change the attect ,,the
mutual interest of the two countries.,, f[e
,rationalists
itolitical as well as the econolnic and social conditions took rhis not-too-subile threat to withhold
in the capital-receiving countries." Recto cited the American
aid to castigate the ,,American carpetbaggers,,
€x&mple of Puerto Rico and Venezuela where, owing their arm-twisting tactic. This feeling vii* and.
to the influx of foreign capital, the people are poor exacerbated in September 1964 when
i,r*tfr.,
lUu .fouinat of
although theil countries are rich. Recto continued: the American Chamber of Commerce wrote in Manila
If we should only ponder on the experience, of Puerto Rico that "The drive behincl the nationatizalion--iffiUtio.,
. and Venezuela, noit to mentio'n that of Canada and others, during the past clecad.e and more is the natural
we would c,ease clamoring fo'r direct investments here.
They are €con,ornicolly disadvantageous to ithe countnies sire of the Filipinos to play a d.ominant p*i-in de-
t}ru
that receive them because whatever pro'fits, dividends and cond.uct of the industry and trade of the -country _
interests on dii'ect investments are realized flow out of the
when it is not merely the aim, as no doubt
country. Since much of this outward flow of investment
income is generally from investments in mines and miner,als, a few, to enrich themselves by stealing from
it is of
the, final result is that besides losing this income to foreign
investor, the underdevelop'ed country loses its irreplace-
Bristling with indignation, Senator Lorenzo others.,,
frada, Recto,s friend and successor as leader
M. Ta-
able minerals. of the
nationalist crusade, said. in the halls of the
In
1954, the Congress of the Philippines, in order Senate:
Are these the words of friends that Americans
to protect Filipino economic interest in the retail are supoosed
to be? Th.ey recognize, or claim they J;,-il.';;#fi;;ii
trade, passed the Retail Trad"e Nationalization Law, of the nationalization movement. yet fi,.y ,;iil ;-^i;
which completeiy places the retail trade of the coun- rhey would- place the entire ,rroor_.nt ,Ld"r ^r"rpi.ioo
-as "the aim of a few to enrich themsellves Uy ,t"ufirg"iio"_
try in the hancls of Filipinos. In other words, only oth.ers."- They sneer at it as blind natio.ifir_,
p.?"'i"Ji
cor"poiai;ions or Liusiness firms wholly owned by Fili- an inferioritv comolex. They take potshots
at our Supreme
Cou r t, w h i ch h a s courage ou siy
pinos can engage in retail tracle. To give the aliens as the legitimate -upirefa ;;;i#rT;
;-;',iril;.
police-power of the state,
sufficient time to adjust, the law was made to take at Congress and "*"^r":-:_otitie
the executive arm of'our government.
effect in 1964, or ten years after the approval of the The unfortunate comment of the ,r,ou,rnnl
law. There was no protest from the aliens. But in arouslng odium against many Americans,
helped
1964, when the law became effective, the American and in
beram ammoth demonstra tion, led by university
businessmen branded it anti-American, by now a dis- ts and laborers, was held, first, in front of
credited ciich6, and they proceeded, with the help of American Embassy and, later, at the gates
o!
f.,

fk
FILIPII.IO }{A1'IONALISM 69
TILPINO NATIONALIS},g
Jarencio rlecision, the American businessmen sought
.alakanyang (the office anC official residence of Pre.qid"er:t Marcos's intervention, for this method of
re Presiclent of the Philippines) q'here the guards, ap1:ruaeh, according to the nationalists, was easier i

sing their heacls, swung at the Ceuronstrators, whtl anrl less costly than an appeal to the Supreme Court
:manded the abrogation of the rniiitary bases treaty, rvnrose c:leeisi.on on "parity" was an indication that ir
re Laurel-Langley Agreement, arltl t'he parity pro- it, mri5lht sustain Judge Jarencio. Public opinion, ,:,

sion of the Constitution- They also demandecl that howevcr, .lnclurding that of the economic nationalists,
resident MacapagSl make hnor,vn iris stancl on the plrer,,eni,cr.l L,he A.rnerican businessmen from pressing
nestions, but he kept his silence wirich the demon- thci' iappeal to the President. Instead, they elevated
;rators interpreted as Macapag6.l's lvay of saying the ease to the Supreme Court.
rat he couid not do so because he was scheduled to 'llhe drive to wrest control of the economy from
rave for the llnited States and" r,vouid not therefore
reak his image before the American public'
the crlieyrs is not confinecl to the retail trade. More
signiliicantly, the econornic nationalists objected to
The American businessmen questioned the le- the American-inspired proposai to buy thirty-three
atity of the Retail Trade NationalizaLiott Law be- percent of the Filipino banks's stocks in order to in-
ieving that "pai'ity" and the Laurel-Langley Agree- crease the tratter's capital. A few Filipinos, mostly
rent extend their right to all eccinomic activities and, corning frorn the o'sugar block", hailed the idea with
herefore, they were exempted frorn the operation of alacriLy, but the economic nationalists objected to the
h law. On 16 December 1966, Juclge Hilarion U. propos;rl on the grouncl that the foreign, meaning
'arencio of the Manila Court of Fii'st Instatrce ruled
Amc:"ican, capitatr could easily control the loca1 banks
hat neither the Executive Agreernent of 4 July 1946 througir fair nieans or foul, and control of the lend.
ror the Laurel-Langley Agreement, contains any spe* ing institutions meant control of the national economy
rific provision erempting Arrrevicatrs anrl their busi- anrl .politics" Senator Lorenzo M. Taflada, in a speech
less firms from the opei'afion of iire Retail Tracle on ttrre floor of the Senate, brought out the fact that
$ationalization Lar,v. The following cla,y, Supreme "77.6 per cent of an alien bank's loan went to aliens
lourt Justice Jesfis G. Barrera" rn'ith the unanimous and only 22,.4 per cent to Filipinos, when Filipino
roncurrence of the other justices, ruled in another deposits in this bank amounted to p49,651,0C0 oy 64.5
)ase that "a business enterprise, to be entitled to per ceirt of the total deposits of the bank.,,u' This
rarity rights in the Phiiippines, must be owned and is typical, for all alien banks in the Philippines loan
rontrolled by American citizens v'hose home states Filipino depositors's money mostly to aliens, not
live reciprocal rights to tr'ilipinos." Justice Barrera to tr''ilipinos.
old the newspapermen that the implication of the The official recognition of the right of the Fili-
lecision was that in.the enjoyment of 'oparity" rights
he Americans cannot have ulc,re rights than the to iie master in his orvn house lvas spelled out
,'ilipinos in the latLer's country. Tn the face of the President Carlos P. Garcia's arlministration
FTLIPN\O i'i.\?5ONAL SM FIL1PINO NATT$NALISId ?1

195?-1961) when the National" fleonomic Council, vetroprnent; but the direetion and implementation of Iti

this progra,m, insofar as the nationalist is concerned',


;i,i:
re nation's highest economic Imtly, adopted in a re*
clution of 2l- August X958 the *'$'ilipino First" lnust .tle undertaken by Filipinos. lirii r !i
[,iitl
olicy. Henceforth, triiipinos w*ultt flre given priority The grow-Lh of nationalism since 1950, four years ' l ai;',.

r matters pertaining ttl the econornic development after political independence, lvas again manifested ,1r...

f the country * s ptatiturle, tlt1c ltright say, but in when, on ?-8 Fetrn:.ary 1$p?, the nationalists from :.r.

he context of Philippine society iL was a revolutionary ati secbors banded themselves together into a Move- I.
ment for the Arlvancement of Nationalism (I[' A'N')'
i |::'.

tep, for the simple but uncrrmfortabtre reason that 'ii:;*:r


,r.{:ii;l

he Philippines had not been for the tr'ilipinos but Papers were read on the different aspects of Filipino 'iili::l_
r,ll,rri

or the economically puissant atriens who had the nalionalisur. Xn its "General Declaration," the o1"- r'lili:r'
llrl

racking of their weaithy ancl peiwer"ful governments. ganizr:ns of the M. A. N' said: it'
'li,'

lriticisms were leveled against, the 'utr'ilipino First" hX. A" N. prclposes to rouse, rnobilize and ori;aniler a'11

rolicy, eoming urostly f,r'om Ameriean and Chinese patrintic and nationalistic elements of the nation to' funda-
rusinessmen who were ruclelv awakened to the bitter nrentally alter, or at leas't substarrtialiy .9dYT, t!r9 qndu'e
foreign"clorninance {fver o'ur en'tire national life" M' A' N'
;ruth that the Filipinos were nb last, coming to an is th6 rnrainstueam of zr general awake'n'ing among Filipinos
Iwareness of their true role as lnastr:rs of their des- in this root-crisis of Philippine life ancl expects such an
awakenirrg to inspire legioni of supporters to- the advocacies
;iny in their own country" T*o cushion the impaet and specific pl:ograms of a,ction of the Movemenf' t.f
lilii I
l

lf the policy, tl-re aliens, acfing through Filipino dum- objectives of the M. A' N',
"lllr!

mies, spread the rrlmor that Ilresiclent Garcia was .!n:ong the list of :i: '
'ii .
ii

anti-alien, that is, anti-America.n s,nd anti-Chinese. probably one of the most crucial is that of moral re- lr:l'
:.
larcia dismissed the rulnol' as idle and. emphasized" generation, for it is obvious to all that Fiiipino society t:,

that the "Filipino first" policy wa$ not directed is noL exactly morally laudable. "A rnoral regenera' !"
llir

against any foreigner, but a struggle "for the na- tion carnltaign," said the i\{. A. N. organizers, "with i,tt
,i;l:.

ernpirasis on self-respeet, self-reliance, self-denial and


.

tural right of the Filipino people to be supreme in {,r

their own country." assertion of Fitipino dignity, shail be one of the major ll'
und.ertakings of the M. A. N'" i.r
The Fiiipino nationalists's ilesire to wrest econo-
This is a re-assertion of the revolutionary tra-
lu

mic power from foreigners is zrnchored in the krelief


dition of the late nineteenth century, of the era of
rt:'

that economic power spells political po]Mer. It is


Jos€ Hizal, Andr6s Bonifacio, and Apolinario Mabini,
.',.

thus that to the nationaLists, the program of economic


clevelopment can have meaning ancl" r'etrevance to their in which self-criticism was )rasically a part of the 'it
-

lives only if the S'ilipinos thernsetrr,es, and not the national.ist struggle f,or emancipation, for it was ob- firl

aliens, will unclertake its rigicl inlplernentation. This vious to the past revolutionaries, as it is to the con-
ternporary nationalists, that the first duty of a na-
,ij
,;:i: l

does not mearx, of corlrse, that the aliens will be


tionalist is to find out his and his countrymen's weak-
li':' -

totally exeluded frotn this pr"ogrlarn of economie de- t.':l


iili !

,;ilt'
tr, ILIPIN (} .$,,r ;1"'i' [ (-]]i AL i$E't
FILTP1NO NArIONATISM ?3
sses in orcler to remecly them. j.r is chauvinlsm to iis * market for American manufactuied produots. Atd
ny or hide one's weaknesses, f*r it essllmes that where . . . America is unable to prevent Filipi.no industrial-
e is perfect and has no need for improvement. It izafio,u, then the alternative strategy is to conrtrol it.
in this context that the M. A. l,i.,s declaration should Erit it is not only economie clominance by Arner-
construed. icans that the Filipinos resent, but also it"s concomitant
When one looks intentty nt Lh.e re-awakening of political power. To ensrtre geonorrtic dominance, the
lipino nationalisrn sirice appri:xinral.LeXy LgS0, one Americans, hacl<ed" up by thdir powertul government,
ls its main tirreat'l. fo hr: cotror,*d rryi.f,h what ryrany harre been }inou,n to i.nterfere, elireetly or indirectly,
nericans like to call ,oanti-Atni:ricnnisnl.,, tr use in Phrlippine <;lections .[n ord"er bo assuro the election
.s term, populalizerl in tho _flr)tilipliir:es hy sotne of pro-Aruel'iean cand"j.d"ates. trt is n{l secret to the
nericans in high piaces ancl the!,r: r:r,rr*loyal ititipino iriiipinos that Arnerican trrusinessmen and some offi-
lowers, with :rt ser.villioi:1, for, :r:i,ghiiv looked upon cials have heen investing heavily in presitlential elec-
)re never has hecx: a113r d(ai1ti*;Lrnericirnism,, since tjons by making this or that canclidate their "fair-
: beginning of the second clecnde of the century. hairerl hoy." Thus even fiff?e rnagazine, in its issue
.t certainly there has been, sinfer l-|}b0, an ,,anti- of ZlJ Novernber 1953, stated that "Xn spite of a Fili-
:ericanism". To prii it in nnuther w&y, it is pino law which forbids foreigners to eontribute to
: the American gtzn American that is the object of elecl,ion campaigns, U. S. business interests in the
l Filipino nationalists,s sevcre crit,icisms, but the islantls anted up sodle [U" S.] $250,000 at a time
ti-Filipino policy of the Arnerican grl\,ernrnent and rvhen L{agsays6y's Nationaiist [sic] Party was ser-
ne American officials, especiail3, the miiitary, who iously shol't of funds."
rsider the Philippines their exclusi"u,e preserve and It is noL, to be fair, solely the fault, of the Amer-
: Filipinos their glor:ifieci serfi;. ,\s economic na_ icans that the Phiiippine goverllment has been short-
nalist Alejandro Lichauco saicl:,,n changr:rl in practicaily all, if not all, its dealings with
If, at the montL.tlt, colltL,mpofary nrerii[cs,llliions of na_ the .rLnrerican governrnent. The Filipino political
tionalism are aimed. et A-rneriicnn policy in tfr* ftifippinJs
a:rd against American investment hciclings, th; ieaclers thernselves must shoulder most of the burden
simply ,is that the prescnt character oil Amcrican
iJ;;;; for the colonial status of the country, for they have
coupled wjth the practices of American i,rms i;;ir";;,1:
;;H",
allow'etl themseh,es to be dictated to and treated ca-
try, constifute thu immecliate and mosl Ioi-inid,abie ;_rJi-
ments to nationalist objectives, and rhc princifal #ri[; valier'ly by their American'"friends" whose realistic
to economic refor.rns. concept of friendship is diametrically in opposition
Sych_3-_folicy' and.business practiccs suppress to that of the Filipinos's. While the Amerieans act
.the Philippines, rnd other a"vetopiirg ct_runrriesefforts
in
o{
accoi:ding to the dictates of their natir:nal interests,
towards full economic developmcnr. ' Asia

To be specific, the prirnary interest oI American potricy anrl no other, the Filipinos, or at least their political
and American business here evidently is to rnaintain'u* u leatters, still cling to the maw,kish sentimentaiism of
source of cheap raw material for America,s industries, and the hinterland r,vhich has been made the basis of the
tr.ILIPINO N ATTCINALISSI FILIPU{O NA'ftrONr\LIS}I 75

th called "special relations" with tiie United


States. For more than three centuries after the coming
the other hand, the Americans eannot understand, of the Spaniards, there had been attempts on the part
refuse to und.erxtand., the imperatives and goals of of the F ilipinos to sea.rch for their national identity,
ipino nationalism and bull-heacleclly label the lat- for the Spanish authorities, Iay arrd ecclesiastical,
's manifestat-ions as u'anti-Americanism" which, in never gave them a chance to assert themselves in any
: lexicon of thr:se Arnericans, is synonymous with line of, end"eavor" The Filipino's mind during more
nmunism. Unless the Anrericans anti their govern- than three centuries of Spanfsh ffitelage was circum-
"scribed
Int recognize the folly of sueh hrull-headedness and within the limits of the church, and whatever
,et the Filipino nationalists wittr sornething more literary inelination he rnight have had was dissipated
rsible than nrel:e witeh-iiunting, c{nti-Arnericanism kr;z the strict censorship, first, by the Church authori-
its real sense will sweep the Philipplne landscape, ties and, in the middle of the nineteenth century, by
d it will then be boo late for the United States to the colonial government. Even in painting and sculp-
uhe amends. As General Emilio Aguinaldo scrib- ture, Filipino artistry was generally limited to geo-
rd on a copy of a circular distributed by the pro- metrieal designs and images of innumerable saints.
anish Pedro A. Paterno exhorting the Filipinos to While some Filipino 6lite with artistie pretensions
:urn to the fold of Mother Spain ,'vhen the Spanish- have recently started the fad of collecting santos
nerican 'War exploded in 1898: n'You are too late !" (sculptured likenesses of saints) and, with trembling
forefingers, pointed to them as masterpieces of Fili-
x pinrr sculpture during the Spanish times, the percep-
The cultural aspect of Filipino nationalism, un- tive trncl the less enthusiastic critics and art lovers
e its political, religious, and econornic aspects, has consicter those poorly earved santos as mere begin-
t been directed against any for.eigner.. It has been nings (primitives) in the history of Filipino sculp-
aracterized by atternpts to cultivate Filipino cul- ture under Spain. With very few exceptions, the
r:e which is the sum total of tr'ilipino achievements sarne holds true with painting and music which, in a
the field of language, arts, and ietters. Filipino manner of speaking, smelled heavily of the convent.
Iture as such is the resultant of external and in- It was in language that the Filipinos, a year
'nal forces which, for more than four centuries, a,fter the outbreak of the Revolution in 1896, decided
ve acted ancl resporided __ and continue to act and that Tagalog, one of the major languages of the
;pond in such a manner as to make possible a Philippines and principal language of the capital city,
-
rmonious combination of indigenous and foreign "qhould be the official language of the Revolutionary
ments. Thus in language, arts, and letters, Fili- Government. This was incorporated in the Consti-
ro culture is a h*ppy, at times contradictory, com- tution of Biydk-na-bat6 of 1897. This decision mark-
ration of foreign elernents: Mala;v=an, Chinese, In- ed the first attempt of the revolutionists to identify
rr, Arabic, Spanish anrl Arnerican. themsehzes as a linguistic unit. It is not difficult
II'TLHPIN O N ATIO}.{ ALIS}I
}"ILXFS$$ i{ rtTIt}NA},ISn,I 7't
surmise why such a step rvas faken by ttrose in
ms. The revol.utionary spirit, despite the tem* These representatives, coming frorn different linguis-
rary lull in the field of combat, was still aflame, tic regions, were not averse to making Tagalog the
d the Filipino leaders, niding qrn the crest of the national language of the Philippines. They launched
tionalistic rnovernent, strnck an sttitude that was a strririted carnpaign to have their idea translated into
rant to symbolize the forging r:f, trilipino nationality. reality, but the Philippine Commission, most of whose
rce the majority of the rev*lutio:rists and their members were Amerieans, qd not approve the bill
providing for an indigenous national language.
.1

rders came from the Tagalog region and its peri-


ery, it was naltural for therrn flo cl.ror:se their lan- It would take a long while for the Philippine
age the official language of their government. Thus, governrnent to act officially on the language situation.
o forces worked toward the expression of national Meanwhile, in 1915, a group of nationalistic Tagalog
idarity: first, the revoiutionary spirit, which was writers foundecl the Akademyd rLg Wilcang Pi.ltpino
tn spreading like wildfire in the distant provinces (Academy of Filipino Language) whose purpose was
the Philippines; and second, ttre negionalistie in- to enrich Tagalog by the inelusion in its vocabulary
nct so characteristic of Filipinos €ven to this late of words from other Philippine languages. The re-
y, which expressecl itself eourageously with the pro- sulting language was to be calied Pilipino. A Taga-
umation of Tagalog es the official ianguage of the log writer and nationalist, Eusebio Daluz, published
volution. a Filipino-English vocabulary based on Tagalog. The
vocabulary, &s the author admitted in his preface, was
The ways of illter"natiunal poiitics dissipated the a congiomeration of words tahen frorn the different
'st atternpt at linguistic nationaiism. Spain was
iven fronr the country, l:ut the Uniter.l States took Philippine languages. However, technical terms were
r place against the will of the Filipinos. trnglish derived from Latin and Greek. This nationalism
rs imposed as the language of instruction in all went beyond theory. Daluz and Juiian Craz Bal-
maseda wrote poems in the Pilipino language. Un-
blic schools, while Spanish continued to be the
lguage of high society and of some schools with fortunately, the people did not sympathize with the
anish orientation. .This new development did not idea and it died a natural death like the artificial
Ianguages Esperanto, Ido, Ro and Volapuk.
mpen the spirit of the Tagalogs. Militant national-
11 swept the city and the countryside, making it
The period from about 1910 to approximately
)re potent through the press and the stage. In 1935 was, however, characterized by an attempt on
ptember 1908, the representatives of the different the part of Tagalog linguistic scholars to minimize
Lguistic groups of the Philippines r:ret for the first the number of foreign-loan words in Tagalog, on one
ne at the etlitorial office of tire nationalistic EI hand, and to coin new words for concepts not found
mac'itnienta to diseusi$ the steps uo be taken to in Tagalog, oD the other. I shall not attempt to make
a detailed study of this phenomenon. Perhaps it suf-
lirre a eonlmon national ianguage for ti:.e Filipinos.
fiees to say that some of the eoined words were ac-
F'I I,IPIN O N A'1'IO }d A.].I S$T FILIPIIi0 N;\i'I{}itALISSt ?9

rted by the people, while others were rejected and, nuei I"" Queaon, acting upon l}:e reeomrnendation of
rsequently, have disappeared from the Tagalog the National Language Institute, issued an executive
ricon. Even so, the movement for evolving a com- order proclaiming Tagalog the "basis for the evolu-
)n national language continued. Language and tion and adoption of the national language of the
erary societies made it a habit to pass resolutions, Philippines." It was felt, however, that proclaiming
ually on 2 April, the birth anniversary of the Tagalog the basis of the future national language
'st great Tagalcg poet, Francisco Baltazar (Batag- was not enough; it was o"c,isrury that the language
i), asking the legislature to pass a law making be taught in all public schools and colleges in order
rgalog the national language of the Filipinos. Their to disseminate it and so to provide a linguistic bridge
lorts were rewarded when the Constitutional Con- between the Tagalogs and the non-Tagalogs. Conse-
ntion, in 1935, included a provision in the draft quently, the Department of Public Instruction issued
rstitution which was incorporated in the final an order to all school officials instructing them to
-
aft providing for the adoption of one of the include Tagalog in the curriculum. Later, the rla-
Lilippine languages as the basis of the future com-
rn national language of the Filipinos. This rather tional language, as Tagalog has been camouflaged to
Cefinite provision was approved, instead of the avoid regional jealousies, became one of the official
iginal provision making Tagalog the national lan- languages, the other two being English and Spanish.
age of the Philippines, in order to humor the non- Thus, the passage of Act 184 and the subsequent
ugalogs who were vocal opponents of Tagalog. All issuance of Executive and Departmental orders mak-
€w, however, that the indefinite pr.ovision really ing Tagalog or Pilipino, as it is called today, a subject
rant Tagalog, but this word was not mentioned in in the schools and universities, were the culmination
I provision in order to assuage the feelings of the of more than forty years of nationalistic carnpaign
ti-Tagalog Filipinos who preferred. English or to have a native ianguage recognized as the national
anish to Tagalog as the national language of the language of the Philippines. Tagalog, as the basis
ilippines of the national language (a camouflage since it is
To implement the constitutional provision, the actualiy the national language) does not supplant the
r,tional Assembly, in
Lg36, passed Commonwealth other Philippine languages, but acts as a bridge be-
t No. 184 providing for the creation of the Na_ tween Filipinos speaking different languages. In
nal Language Institute which would choose, after 1940, during the celebration of the first anniversary
:areful study, the native language to be used. as the of the Philippine Writers' League, President Quezon
lis of the future national language. Of course, deplored the fact that Filipinos had to use a foreign
:rybody, even the die-hard anti-Tagalog, knew that language in conversing with their countrymen from
, basis of the national language would be Tagalog. other regions of the country. It was for this reason,
30 December 193?, Commonwealth presideni Ma- he added, that he felt the need to develop a native lan-
} }TJLIPTN{} J\ATTf,}}iALISN,{
FII,IPINO NATIONALISM 81

uage to be the eventual national language of the But a few learned the nuances of Tagaiog and wrote
'ilipinos. in it with sympathy and understanding. It was then
that they discovered their ignoranee, on one hand,
With the dissemination of Tagalog throughout and the beauty of their own language' on the other,
he Philippines, more educated writers began to be and this discovery led them to continue to write in
,ttracted to it as a medium of iiterary expression. Tagalog. No less than N.",,V. M. Gonzales, one of
lhere \ ras an awakening to the faet that neither the finest Filipino fiction writers in English today,
ipanish nor Engiish could be the proper and corn- advanced the idea that the future national literature
retent medium of literary expression, for there were, would l:e written not in English, much less in Spanish,
md are, Tagalog nuances which could not be tran- but in Tagalog. Today, many university-educated
rlated into .ar:y foreign language. Most Filipino Filipinos with a penchant for writing are dedicating
rriters in English couid not bring themselves to be- their talent and efforts to mastering Tagalog and to
ieve that their command of English was dubious and writing cornpetently in it. The best Tagalog fiction
;hat, eventually, the,;' would be writing for a very and poetry today are being written by these univer-
imited audience. They pointed to the example of sity graduates. This is, indeed, a decided improve-
loseph Conrad who had so mastered the English rnent over the previous years when university grad-
anguage as to write novels now consideretl classics uates looked down upon their native languages as
rf modern English literature. This, of course, is a unfit for literary expression.
lorm of narcissistic gratification which, however, In the other cultural aspects, Filipino national-
ras not led to the writing of a great Filipino novel ism began during the pre-war years of the Common-
n English .
wealth. It was in the old site of the University of
The Japanese occupation of the country brought the Philippines in Manila that cultural nationalism
:he frustrated Joseph Conrads down to earth. The developed. Under the leadership of the nationalistic
vritings in English were lirnited not only because President of the University, the late Dr. Jorge C'
he Japanese authorities discouraged the use of Eng- Bocolio, Mrs. Francisca R. Tolentino (now Aquino),
ish, but also because there was a very limited outlet Physicai Director of Women Students of the Univer-
cr works in English. Consequently, sorne writers sity,
-theund.ertook the study of Filipino folk dances which,
n English shifted to Tagalog, but this shift was not at time, had almost been forgotten. Some of the
,s easy as they thought. As far as writing in Taga- folk dances and folk songs collected were "primitive"
)g lr'as concerned they were complete beginners. And. ancl represented the unadulterated-, or almost un-
o they wrote Tagalog along Engiish sentence con- adulterated, type of culture. Other folk dances with
truction and succeed.ed in producing unconscious obvious Spanish elements were similarly coilected, as
umor. Their sentences could hardly be understood, were the costumes, musical instruments, and music
:r they were English in their construction and idiom. found in the unsophisticated parts of the country'
F"I LIPINO N ATION ALIS1VI FILIPB{O NATIONALISM 83

hen put together, many of the folk dances showed Iiving an independent political existence, took steps
rious influences: Malayan, Spanish, English, and to preserve and strengthen their cultural heritage.
en French. Even so, these influences have been so Schoois, colleges, and universities formed folk-dance
similated and modified by foikways over the cen- troupes which exhibited and still exhibit
ries as to be called Filipino. Fiiipino folk dances throughout the country. The
Under the direction of Mrs. Tolentino, folk now famous Bayanihqn troupe, which especializes in
nces were taught to the University students. Im- Filipino folk dances, has gone to America and Europe
:diately the dances became popular and other schools to exhibit those dances. Another troupe, the Fili-
.d colleges included folk dances in their currieula. pinescas, which especializes in the ballet variations of
ost programs, even those held in honor of visiting the folk dances, has likervise won acclairn in Europe
reigners, inclucled folk dances an innovation that and America.
ught the imagination of the -people. Having seen In music, Filipino nationalism showed signs of
e beauty, pageantry and, most of all, the grace of awakening in the period after 1915 when Francisco
eir folk dances, the Filipinos began to realize what Santiago, Iater to become Director of the University
ey had lost even temporarily when they in- of the Phiiippines Conservatory of Music, modified
scriminately -accepted the popular -dances from for- the nineteenth-century kundiman (love song) and
gn lands. Thus, the years immediately before the Lransformed it into a song with haunting melody and
lr witnessed a sense of revival among the Filipinos: harmony. By 1920, the kund,iman had become the
ere was an awareness of things native, an aware- Filipinos's favorite song and. since then has come to
ss that has continued to this day" syrnbolize Filipino sentimentality. Soon other Fili-
This awat'eness .was sharpened during the Ja- pino composers, notably Nicanor Abelardo, Bonifacio
rnese occupation when the Japanese authorities not Abdon, Francisco Buencamino, Antonio J. Molina,
Lly allowed the performance of Filipino folk dances and others, composed. kundi,mnrus which expressed not
rd the singing of folk songs long neglected, but en- only the sorrows that accompany unrequited love, but
uraged them. It was part of their campaign to also a longing to be independent. It was also during
literate Anglo-American cultural vestiges, on one the 1920's and early L930's that Santiago and other
rnd, and to compel the Filipinos to return to the composers began to use folk songs as thematic ma-
.ltural fountains of Asia to drink their waters, on terials in their compositions. Thus, Santiago's Con-
e other. But whether the Japanese were sincere or certo in E Mi,nor for piano and orchestra is based
,t, the incontrovertible fact is that the Filipinos on the Visayan balitnw, the TagaTog kwmintdng and
Lickened the pulse of their cultural life and, in the a. folk song. With more po\Mer and vitality than
ocess, found themselves enjoying, &s they never en- Santiago, Abelardo composed his Mountain, Suite and,
yed before, the spectacle of multi-eolored strands Concerto dn, B Flat Mr.nor for piano and orchestra,
their culture. After the war, the Filipinos, now both based on Philippine foik melo?ies.
4 FILIPINO ],{ATTONALISM FILIPINO NATIONALISI}T 85

The pioneering works of Santiago, Abelardp, the architecture of some residential houses and com-
Buencamino, ar'd others, in the use of folk melodies mercial establishments. But in general, Filipino
as thematic materials for sophisticated compositions, architects have not come abreast of Filipino national-
became an inspiration to the succeeding generation of isur in other fields. This is so probably because most
composers. Antonino Buenaventura, Lucio San Pedro, of them do not believe in nationalism in art, or that
Eliseo PSjaro, Felipe Padilla de Le6n, Rodolfo Cor- they do not have enoughr,time to ponder deeply on
nejo, Hilarion Rubio, and a few others, have, in many the neecessity of having a style of their own, which
of their compositions, anchored their nationalistic is to s&y, a style distinctly Filipino.
feeling on themes derived from Filipino folk songs'
In the arts, Filipino nationalism is a little be- XI
hind. Where before the war, Filipino painters, Filipino nationalism, then, is very much alive
sculptors, and architects were mostly competent copy-
and has been expressed in various forms and med-ia.
ists, today there is a serious aLtempt on their part Originating from a religious question, it expressed
to seek their identity as Filipinos. Having gone itseif in the political field by an appeal to arms in
abroad to stucly art, the Filipino 1:ainters today are order to realize freedom and independence when the
still seeking their identity as F ilipinos. Foremost struggle f,or reforms in the colonial government proved
among them are Victorio Edades, Diosdado Lorenzo, futile. From then or, its political aspect became
Hernando R. Ocampo, Vicente Manansala, the late more or less tangent to the other aspects of the move-
Carlos V. Franciseo, the great muralist, and a few ment. In this development, the role of the foreigrrers,
modernists, who have parted ways with the so- whether as invaders or as economie czars or both, was
called eonservative artists. The same tendency to that of challenger. The Filipino response to the
look for their Filipino identity characterizes some crhallengewas to develop their nationalistic instinct
sculptors, principall.y Napoleon V. Abueva, who as- in such a way as to parry the alien thrusts in order
tonishes people by driving his home-made chariot to preserve their identity or to minimize the impact
around the campus of the University of the Philip- of the thrusts upon the people. The first the
pines. parrying of alien thrusts -
was exemplified by the
In architeeture, a few Filipino architects are -
Revolution of 1896 and the Filipino-American war of
beginning to use Filipino or Malayan motif in the 1899-1"901. The second the minimizing of the
construction of buildings. Thus, Juan F. Nakpil and impact of alien thrusts was exemplified by Filipino
his sons, architects and engineers, gave Filipino ex- -
adaptation of Ameriean political and cultural insti-
pression to the lglesia ni Cristo Church in San Juan, tutions under American guidance. The first took
Riza1 province, by using the native sulakit as motif centuries to reaeh its climax, while the second is a
in its tower. The Malayan motif is also found in tinuing process.
FILIPINO NATIONALISM F'ILIPINO NATIONALISM 87

Nationalisn: under. America viras characterized. and agreements generally advantageous to the United
'the Filipinos's attempt to rvrest control of the co- States
-- particularly "parity", the bases agreement,
nial government through peaceful means. There and the Laurel-Langley Agreement ruled awak-
ere rare instances of direct confrontation between - brutal fact
ened the sophisticated Filipinos to the
re ruling power and the ruled partly because the that America, the land of the brave and. the free,
mericans, having once been colonials, introcluced in was and still is not disposed to humor them in the
re Philippines their own democr.atic institutions ancl naule of so-called special relations relations which
'aditions, and partly because the Ii,ilipinos, in turn, have been special only to the Americans - but galling
ppreciated Arnerica's humane policy of etlucating to the Filipinos. Feeling that they were being co-
rem in the art of self-government. Xt was only when lonized ali over again, the Fiiipinos showed signs of
r
-American
proconsul, conscious of his powers as re-awakening in the L950's and began to express dis-
rch and not convinced that the I,ilii:inos were ready illusionment with a frankness the Americans never
)r independence, tried to impose ]:is will on the associated with the Fiiipinos. Whether this re-awak-
ilipinos that a heatecl but pe;Lceful confrontation ening will succeed in making American respect the in-
rok plaee. Filipino nationalism under America, dependence and territoriai integrity of her former
ren, rmas directed toward the attainment of political ward is difficult to predict. Much will depend on
rdependenee through constitutional process. At the the attitude of the Filipino leaders: whether, for
lme time, the Filip.inos took steps to develop a na_ the sake of personal or politieal convenience they will
onal Ianguage in order to bridge the linguistic gap succumb to the importunities of the Americans or
mong them. EconomicallSr, they had -not much whether, having learned the bitter lessons of their
lance to develop their naturai resorlrces outside country's history, they wiil hearken to Apolinario
of Mabini's nationalistic exhortation: "Striue for tlue
:ing suppliers of raw materiatrs to the Ilnited States,
lr the latter sarv to it that the philippines remained independence of thy country because thou alone h,ast
mere supplier of raw materials by the simple real interest 'tn its greatness and enaltation, since its
ex- independence tnea,ns thA own fre'edom, its greatness
:dient of instituting free tracle betlveen the two
runtries. tlty own, perfection, its emaltation thy own glory and,
immortalitg!'
In the immediate post-war years when the Fili-
inos regained their poiiticai independence, national-
m suffered an atrophy largely because they were,
nd continue to be, too sentimental ancl naive to be_
eve that America, in pursuit of her destiny and na_
onal self-interests, was capable of exploiting them
ho stood by her in her hour of need. But continuecl
.meriean impositions, expressed in various treati.es
NOTES F'ILIPINO NATIONALISM 87-B

L. The word barangay is lthe Hispanized form of the old 6. See Article XII of Resefin que Diq'muvtrlra- - ., cited in
tlangay whose original meaning was a boat. The Malays who the preceding
" Note.
igra,ted to the Philippines came in their hplangays. After tthe ?. Th; hial of the three martyred priests was, as 1he Fiii
raqish conquest of the Philippines, the St'auiards, in initroducing lino national hero said, shroudgd in- The whole trial was
-qystery.
The docuneents of these
rliitical subdivisions, adopted the word (bqt changed the I to z) i fut"*, as was Rizal's trial in 1896.
,ffials aie in Spain 'and attempts by even by the then
mealn n)ay.on or barrio, lthe equivalent of the Malay kampong"
he chief of la nayan. was called cabeza de, bararugdy. Ambassador to Spain, Leon Ma. Guerrero II., 1to consult them
-researchers,
2. For humane Spanish laws governing Spanish c,olonies, see proved
- tutile.
eco;p'ilaci6n de las Leyes de to,s Reynto's de las Indiast. Madrid: E, For the friar arguments again.s{ secularization, see D'ocu-
onsejo de la Hispanidad, 1943. 3 vols. A reproduction of the ntantos Inleresanites AcerZa de ta Secularizaci6n y Amot,ilidad de
l9l editio,n. tsor a discussion and appraisal of the Spanish los Culas Regul"a,res de Fitipinas. Madrid: Imprenta de 1a Viuda
ilorrial system, cf. Wilhelm Rosch'er: The, Spantsh Co'lonial de M" Minu,esa d,e los Rios, 1897.
Ntem. G. E. Stechert & Co., 1944" r'eprint of the 1903 edition. g. There is in Manila today a magazine, an associatiorr, and
ut see also C. H. Haring: The Spani.sh Entpire tn Anter'iiti' a book store, named after this famous newspaper. The similarity
ew York: Oxfo'rd University Press, 1,947; and Salvador de en<Is in the name. Some volumes of the newsp'aper La Solidaridad'
ladariaga: Tha Rzire ol lhe Spantish:-Ame'rican Emptre. New have been ,translated and volume one has recently come oft ther
ork: The MacMillan Company, 7947. press with much fanfare. But the translation is not only muddled
3. Up,to aoproximately 1898, the term "Filipino" meant a and inaccuraite in many plaoes in fact, in almpst every page
raniarrl born in the Philippines. while 'the native was called lndio, but also palpably erroneous in - others. There are also passag-es -
rterm which, from fhe beginning, had no p,ejorative connotation in, the original wtrictr have, been 'toned down or omitted by the
,rt which the later friars transformed irvto a term pregnant with translator. fn all, a bungled job.
mtempt. Conseque.ntly,'th5: Filipin6 (native) liberal intellec,tuals 10. Teodoro A. Agoncillo: The Writings end Triel of Andres
I the ]ate nineteenth century resenrted ltheir being called "ilrxdio:i,"' Banifwio, Manila: Manila Bonifacio Centennial Commission, 1963.
4. There are still some Filipino iteachers of history who 1 1. The Filipinos, especially the Tagalogs, were not the only
.sis[ that the Spaniards united the Filipinos hnd, therefore, taugtlt guil.ty party in the case of langrrage corrup,tion. The Spanialds,
rem nationalismr Nega'tively, the statemenlt is true, but it is too, corrupted many Tagatog words and spelled them according
3t meant to be taken in the negarf"ive sense, wihch is rto say. rtha,t to Spanish phonetic peculiarities. Up to lthis day, many geographical
Le Spaniards willingly and wiith unbou,nded love and benevolence namis in ithe native languages are spelled in the Spanish-conupted
.ught nationalism to ,the Filipinos. This ,twisted interpretation is way.
ro absurd to be taken seriously by any man in his righl sen:s,ss. 12. Cl. Teodoro A. Agoncillo: Th,e Revolt oJ the Masses:
5. For the "Spanish 1ay account of the mutiny, see Jos6 Mon- T,he Srory oJ Bontlacio and the Kalipuna4. Quegon City: Univ*
ro y Viclal: Histloria Genera;l d.e Filtpinas Desde el De'scubrl- ersity of the Philippines, 1956, Chapter VII.
tlento de Dichos Isbs Ho'sta Nu:e'stros Dias. Madrid: Imp. de 13. My peternal grandfather affirmed that generally, the
fanuel Tello, 1887. Vol. 3; for the Spanish clerical point of view, wealthy and ,the highly edrircated were hr:stile to the revolution.
l. Rese:ftn que De,nuestra el Fundamenta y Causas de la, Insil- Very ferv Fiiipinos with Spanish educqtion, ,that is, who cotrld read
'ecct6n del 20 d,e Entdro en Fi,Hptnas. Madrid: Imp. de Segundo and wri,te in Spanish, ioined the plebeian Kctipunnn. That there
lartinez, 1872; for the Flliqino viewpoin,t, cf. Manuel Artiglas y were o'class animosities" may also b,e gleaned from Teodoro M.
uerva: Las Sttcesos de 1872. Manila: Imp. de La VanguLrdia, I(alaw: Aideie-Camp to Fre'edom. Manila: Teodoro M. Ka-
)11; and for a French account, cf. Edmund Plauchurt: La Al- law Society, Inc., 1965, p. 16.
trod,q Cavitefia da 1872. Manila, Manila Fi1at6lica, i916. This 14. The first provinces which initiated the revolution were
o,rk was originally published in French \n Revr.re, des Dedx Maru the provinces of Manila (as dirstinguished from ithe City), Cavite,
zs in 7877 and translated into Spanish by the edi,toriai staff of Batangas, Laguna, Bulakan, Pampanga, Tarlak, rand Nueva Ecija.
a Sa\idartd.ad, the Filipino organ in Spain, in its issue of 15 The eight rays of the sun in lthe Filipino flag represent these
:bruary 1892. eight provinces.
tr5. For 6he diploma'tic correspondence between the Spanish
'-A and the American governments befor,e the declaration of wff,
FILIPINO NATIONAI,ISM B?-D
'-c Frr,rptNo NATToNALTSM
>e Di lonaaltc Conespondence and Documen$s" Washington, GoJ* a garrison in Zamboanga in Mindanaw and another in the small
r"-tr,t Printing Offite, 1905. But ses also R' A' Alger: The to#n of Baler, Tayabas, along the Pacific, were in the hands of the
mnisk Andericttn,l/ar. i'{ew York: Harper &Brothers, 1901' Alger Spauialds who were facing disaster' The Americans on the other
* S""i"trw of War before and during the Spanish-American war' hind, were in posselssion Jf th" City of Manila, that is, the' Walled
16. Foi a frank and perceptive urnalysis of America's ex- City or Intramiros (not the City of Manila today), and the Cavite
ansion, see Walter LaFeter: fhe New Ernpire: /1 ffierpre' Arscnat. The Filipinos held rthe rest of the Philippines' Conse-
tion oJ Anwrlcan Expansion, 1860-1898. New York: American quenttry, as Felipe Agoncillo polnted 9ut in tlta Me'morio:l' :tu-{fo
'(washington,
listorical Associaition, 1963" ,i,iiiti 1899;, Spain-,hacl no riglrt to cede something
17. This part of the Walled City is still intact and faces not which was no longer hers. t
danila Bay, but the Manila Hotel. The reason for tthis seeming 22. LaFeber, op. ctt., ptp. 92, 360. The best American in-
hift of ground is that what is now Manila HolBl was water. During diotment of Ar&erican misadventure in the Philippines is James H'
he American regime, parts <rf Manila Bay were reclaimed. Even Blount: Tlw American Oacupdtton of tht Plt^llipptrws, IB98'
he present locaton of tthe American Embassy in Manila, which 1912. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913'
s contiguous [o the bay, was water up to the early 1930 s. Blounrt was an Arner,ican voluntecr in the Philippines from 1899 to
18. For a study of the conflict tretween Mabini and the I9O1 and Ju<Ige from 1901 to 1905. He exposed American im-
nembers of Congre,ss, ef. Teodoro A. Agoncillo: Malolos: The perialistic motives in lo,ccupying the Philippines. Not ths leastt in'
)rtsts of ike Republtc, Qu,ezon City: University of the Phitip- ieres'ting arc his accounts of American brutalities' Blount's book
rines, 1960, Chapters VIII and X. Fo,r the decrees M'abini pre- is docrirnl:nted and rlrew praises boen from American imperialists
rared for Aguinaldo, cf. Teodoro M. Kalaw (ed.): La Revola- and rtheir apologists.
:i6n Filipina con Qtros'Docurnsntos de la Epoca Manila: Bureau 23. Quoted in Blount, p. 123.
>f Printing, 1931, Vol. II. 24. For eyervitness accottn{ts of the Filipino-American war,
19. General Elwell Otis, the military commander of the Amer- cf. Albsrt G. Ro:binson: Tlte Pkitippfnes: The Ww d,ttd 'the
can expeditio,nary force, denied the accusation, but Generat R. P. People. New York: McClure,, Phillips & Co., 1901; Karl Irving
Ffughes, one of the American commissioners who m,e.t wi'th Agui- Flauslt: Campaigrcing in the Philippines. San Francisco: The Hicks-
raldo's commissioners "to ,talk things over pe,acefully", Iater con* Judd Company, 1899; and Marion Wilcox (ed.): Harpeis EI'is'
lessed before the U. S. Senzite hear,ings ttrat the Arnericans, indeed, 'tor1t ol the War fur' lh.e Phtti,ppinvs. New York: Harper's, 19001
tried to pull rthe rvool over the Filipinos's eyes. Cf. U. S. Se'nate Robinson, in particular, admired Filipino tenacity, courage, anc
Docurne,nd 331, 57th Congress, lst Session. Washington: Gov- bravery in lthe face of *.he itrained and well-arnrred enemy.
)rnment Printing Office, 1902, Part l, p. 527. 25. Ct. M,alolas: The Crisis of the Republic, Chrapters X ano
20. Told to 'the writer by the late Felipe Agoncillo. For the XVI.
:fficial co,mmunicatio,ns between ths American cornmissioners in 26. Tlte moneyed class and many of the intelleqtuals feareo
Paris and Washington, D. C., and the Tr,e,n,ty of paris, cf. U. S. the masses, particularly because the Filipino Army was comp,osed
lenate DocumeAt 148, 56th Congress, 2d Session. Washington: of people who cam,e from the lower class. See Felipe G. Calderon:
Sovernm,e,nl Printing Office, 1901; U. S. Sanale Documen{ 62, Mts Memorias Sobre la Revoluci6n Filiftna. Segilftd,a elap,a, 1898
i5 lr Congress, 3rd Sessions. Washington: Governrnent printing d 1901. Man;la: Imp. de El Renacimiento, 1907, pp. 239-24O.
Office, 1899. For an American view of [h,e. peace conference, Calderon was ths framer of ttre Malolos Cons,titutilon (1898) which
iee Ff. Wayne Morgan (ed.): M,aking Peace Wllh S;pNnt: The Mabini opposed wilth all his might because it denuded the Presidenlt
Diary of Whit,e,i,tw Rei:d: September-Decem.bter, 1898. Austin: of powers needed in a time of crisis.
Jniversity of Texas Press, 1965, especially Chapter XV. The 21 . My generation and rlhe one before have been schooled in
etiters of William R. Day, another Amcrican peace commissioner, the o''ral history of the Philippines, rradticularly in Spanish misdeeds
:o President McKinlev regarding the negotiations with the Spanish and the Filipino-American war. The oral hisitory was furnished
reace co,mmissioners are found in the William McKinley Fapers, us. by our grandparents who, of an evening after supper, would
t896-1901, in the Manuscripts Division, l,ibrary of Congress, tell stories to {the children who sat at their feet to, listen wi,th rapt
ilashington, D.C. attention tr-r ihe "after-dinner stories" of grandpa or grandma. (But
21. BV the (ime. thoTreaty of Paris was sipyned on 10 December of course there were no radios and nelevision setts during our child-
i898, Spain had already been driven out o{ the Philippines. Only hoocl da ysl) During my underggaduate days, I had the opportunity
87-E FILIPINO N;\TX.0Nr1'LIS&I f,IIIPINO I\SATIOI\ALISM 8?-F'
to interview many vstcran$ of the Rcvoltltion and of the Filip,p.e'rl
o'exploi+'ers".
rtepeyfulye: Mo$ives, prab.lenw, and prospects. New york: Far_
Arnerican war. All called the Americans they fought rar & Rinehart, Inc., 1936, particularly C.irapters fV ooa- V.
From ithem I also learned of American bnrtali,lies perpetrated upon 39. The Ift&s
the Filipinos, soldiers or civilians. I doubted ,at (he time the vara- .(short f.or Hukba.lgitaps) ivere malignerl by their
guerrilla rival, the USAFFE, and were derscribed as airti-American.
cilty of 'th,eir accounts of American lrrutatity, but when I undertook However, an American. guerrilla leader, Donald Btrackburn, wrote
research work in the N{tional Archives, lVashington, D. C", I -*"."
fouhd letters senx, "back homs" by American soldiers describ ng
t-h.at
-Jhg "1e-portedly hoiqite Hukbalahap irfirabitants very
f1!endly." Cf. Philip Harkins: Blsckburn,s Headtwtterx New york:
the brutal rnethods they employed and those by $heir comrades'in- W. W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1955, p. 76.
arms to force Filipinos lto tell on their countrymen. Irst tr be 40. The data orr this top,ii were taken fro,m my coinversations
accuse<I again of being anti-Arnerican, I refer the reader to Leon with Father flilario A. Lim arrd from the following, U",orprtot to His
Wolff (an .American) : Li{tle Brown Bralh"er. (New York: HoltntSs, Pope Alus.-Xil_, on thc Nativg Rqtig,i'ous Ci;r;y in ,ttry
Dorrbleday & Company, Inc., 1961), particularly Chapter XI. t Republic ,ol tha philipplnes. Manila, 2i Nov"ember-l9;i, signedr
have never written anything as cotrsrfully "uanti-American" as Woiff's by Rev. Hilario A. Lim, S.J.; Rev. Fr. Benito Voigu.,-bi.p.; Rev.
accou,nt of the inverited benevoteuce of the Arnericans In the Phil- Salvador Calsado, ORSA; Rev. Ambrosio Manaligod SVO;hev. Fr.
ippines during lthe Filipino-Amcrican wirr. Antonio Garin, OSA; and Rev. Fr. Julib ObviaI,"Of'M; [ev. ]filario
28. Teodor:o M. I(alaw: ,4,ide-d*C'an4p lo Freedont, p, 71" A. Lim, S.J.: fuIernorandwm of My Alpeal ,to Biis gmlnence Vale.rio
29. TecrrJoro h,I.. Ka'!aw: El llraceso d,a "El Ren:acirmtengd'. Cardinut Yaleri on My ,,Expulsion,, irom tne Sitii iy-iesus, 2g
Manila, 1947, p. 8. See also ibid., pp. 70-?1" luly 1958; Primer an
-\iligi?izglion, n.d., n.p.; and newspaper clip_
pings on the subject, 1957-1958.
30. A year before tlu-: death of Serratcr Claro IvI. Rectn, wf,o
was a greait barrister, he told me flhat were lthe case to bo brought 41. Address delivered on the occasion of the conferment upon
in court atrthat,time (1959). Worcester could nqt have won. It Senator Claro M. Reqto_of.rhe degree of Doc,toi i;;;- honafit
wat his conivction {hat ,the judge and, later, lthe majority in the cctusa, by the Arellano University, 9 April 1949. "f
Supreme Court, erred in their reasoning and judgment. Recto 42. "Our Mendican,t Foreign policy"i Hisorltc,alBuglelln, Vo,umo
was at the time of the libel case a newspailerrnan on the staff of VI, No. 1, March 196O, p. 59.
the Spanish daily El ldeal. 43. Olticial Ga.zette, Vol.. III, 15 December 1956, p. 7626.
31. Teodorr: M. Kalaw, true to [he ethics of journalism, did 44. For the full tell 'ot Foreign
9f the heaty, cf. Deparrm"oi
nbt shirk his respo,nsibility. The author of he editorial was the A{fairs, Treaty Seytes, Vol. I, No. 1. August- 1947, p. S.
assistant editor, Fidel Reyes, who, like him, hailed &ona Lipa, prov- 45. Jos6 B. Laurel, Jr'.: ..The Resurg"nce of itr^itippine Na_
ince of Batangas. tionalism", Cutent ploblems, Manila: Bureau of printin^g, 195g,
__. 32. Sergio Osmefia: Oar Sri*r,gpte tor lndapendetffi, Manila, p. 51 1.
Pldlippine Inform,ation Agency, 1955, p. 3 ff. 46. Ramo,n V. Mitra, Jr.: ,,The Libe{taion of the Filipino,,,
33. Cf. Francis Burton Harrison: The Conters.tone of phiVp- PhiUqptrntes Free Press, 29 April 1967, p, 15 ff.
plne l,ndepandence,. New York: The Century Co., 1922, chapters 47. U. S. House of Repersentativesf Report Nic.7,61th Con-
V, Vf, and XIV. gr€ss I st Session , passirn.
34. Ibtd., p. 285. 48. U. S. Co.ngressintMl Recard, 61th Congress, 1st Sessior:,,
35. The Leonard Wood Diar1, quqted in Hermann Hagedorn: -
Part II, p. 2003.
I*onard Wood: A Bioglraphy. New York. Harper and Brothers, 49. Claro M. Recto: "A Realistic Economic Policy for the
1931, Vol. II, p" 412 tf. Philippines", speech cleli.iered before the Philippine Columblianr
;"1

35. Mixirno M. I(alarv: Philipltirue Govey',nme,nt UvMer '1lu Association, 26 September 1956.
Jonet Law. Manila, Oriental Commercial Company, Inc., 1927, pp. 50. Claro M. Recto: "Economic Nationalism" a speech de-
196-197. See also A Repot^o of the Govermor-General, 1923, ,fot
,
livered before the Manila Rotary Club on, 28 March 7957
,the Arrrerica,n viewpoittt, ancl Teotioto M. Kalaw: Atde.deT'carnp 51. Lorenzo M. Taflada "Foreign Banks and Economic In-
to Freetlam, Chapter XVIII, for the Filipino viewpoint. depnedence' fn: Natioruqlisrm: A Sumynaw lo Greabtss. eue-
37. Raporl ol the Govern:or-Genryo,l, 7923, p. 47. zon City: Phoenix Publishing House, fnc., 1965, p. 49.
38. For a study of the role of American pressure groups in tho <", Alejandro Lichauoo: "Economic Nationalism", Chrontcl.e
passage of the independence bill, cf. Graysyon Kirk: Ntiltppine In 1 April 1967, p. t9.
FILIPINO I{ATtrONALISM 89

for I'ather Coria to prove that the seeulsl' clergy of


this country, or any other class of Filipinos, rightly
tleserr,'e so infamous an epithet. Our conviction on
A DEFENSE OF THE SECULAR CLERGY this point is so firm that rrye would wish his Reverence
(1870)
to cledicate hirnself exclusively to prove to us the con-
trar3r.

,oces Sur- on e
It is true that hist"*y'r*.ords the revolts of No-
A.
rros6-tsiz, \rales, of Tayabas, of lVlalate, and of Nueva Eeija,
feUr"laiv ",,-::'*i",::-1,,,J*,
th*" son of a Sp-anish father' Jos6 Burgos'
;;';-^dp;"ittt-hupi"" mother, de f'etran n t847 He
Florencia Garcia' en-
w[9r9
but how many were those responsible for them? How
rolled at the Cottege of So" ft'io ' many let themselves he drawn into these revolts? Did
he received his naciretor of Arts' In 1852' ho enrolled
he received his those fleeting disturbances perchance extend beyond
at the University of Santo Torn6s where
;;"il;l"rb-;;s; ti Phildsophv in. 1855; his *bachelor's
in Philoso-phy
the respective plaees in which they broke out? Did
;G;t; tfeotogy in 1859; his Licenr'iate
the native cler[fy take part in them or even five Phil-
ir Tg6ol his Liceiii4'te in Th-eology -in 1862; his bachelor's
;;;;;in Canon Law in 1866; anti been hls Doctorate in Theo' ippine-born Spaniards? And is it perhaps strange
ilff1""i8?1.-^-M""y works have attributed 'to him'' that among five million inhabitants there should be
-uf,'orrs
th"m La floAa Negra, a novelette dealing with five or six madmen. or f,anaties, or malcontents, who
ffi;;il;;-oi Gouu.nor-Gineral Manuel Bustamanto in
fifg, t"t many of them may be paiticular, regarded as of douLrtful at some time raise the cry of rebellion? Are there not
;;,h;t-hip.'- ni r-o'ua Negra, in is the work incomparably many more proportionately in other re-
;i;-;;;ert "forger". Because- of his role in the secu-
i*iuuti"r'of the Ftritippine parishes, Fr' Jos6 A' Burgos gions and in our own Spain? What does the Reverend
*u* *t"ttud, along *itt fud","rs Mariano' Gomes and Ja- Comrnissary of the F ranciscans have to say to this?
cinto Zamora, rnist?ied, and execu@d on Bagumbayan Field
on 17 FebruarY 1872. lVith regard to these oft-mentionecl rebellions we
[The following selections,. translated by John .N' ask his Reverence and our readers to note two cir-
Schurirracher, S.J., ui" irom Burgos's letters P q" cumstances. The first is that all-except for that of
editor of tlie Madrid "*t"tptt
(Spain) newspap€r D'tscus'on,-]o
.t'o' severe Novaies, which broke out inside the eity-toolc place
*t i"t he answared Fr. Joaquin ^the
de Coria's
T'
crrtrc-
A' A'l tn partsltes of the regular clergy. Secondly, that of
i"*t in" secular clergy of Philippines'
-
"f Novales, which could have assumed greater propor-
I tions given the circurnstances favorable to the rebels
*lts in which it oecurred, "met with resistance as vigorous
as it was deserved from the pa/t of his countrymen.
harbors
If by antl-spanish is meant' e\'I€ryone who
we admit
One of them was his own brother, who, being on guard
tendencies opposeci to Spanish rule' then in the fort or citadel of this capital, energetically re-
ir*"f.fy that ilru ,.g"lar clergy of Manila cannot be fused to hand over the keys to him." Thus he crowned
considered uu"tr. Similarly, 1t is totally hinrself with glory and bequeathed to history an act
impossible
eapable by itself of silencing the tongues of those rash
88
90 ' irrlrprNo NAqror{ALISM r'ILIPINO NATIONALISM 91

oetractors of the proverbial loyalty of the sons of this classof the sons of this country, it is the regular clergly
country. Sueh an act obliges the rnother-country to wiro harbor that anti-Spanish and anti-hurnanitarian
treat us with solicitucle, ctrosing her ears to so hlack plot which they believe they find in the others. They
a calumny ancl making us sharers }n the attentions and are the ones-saving honorable exceptions which in
rights granted to Spaniards. WilI Spain refuse to due time we will point out-who have at, all times
look on us fl$ *ions? Ane nnt $orne three centuries of troubXed both eivil and ecclesiastical authorities when-
proof sufficient for that magnanimous nation to con-
ever those have attempted to restrain their abuses.
sider impostors those who wish to cast on us the mark
They bring into play their rights, their privileges,
of insurgents and rebeliious sons?
their influence, and their rvealtir, without ever ceasing
+dr* for a moment until gaining a victory so complete at
Let him say when the rnissionary of the Philip- times, that it has eost very many provincial governors
pines has opposed the anti-Spanish plans of this clergy and rnore than one captain-general their posts.
and of a certain class of Filipinos. This plan must And it is surprising that this happens if they
have manifested itself in attempts at revolt, for other- have the richest haciend.as, the largest parishes, the
wise we cannot und"erstand how any opposition has best country-houses, and the rnost comfortable and
been made. And since revolts cannot be attempted spacious houses of this capital, rvhich they rent for a
rvithout noise, without publieity, and without energetic greater or lesser amount and on conditions more or
measures being taken either to avoid them or to sup- less favorable, but in such a way that the advantages
press them, or to punish the guilty with due severity, are alvrrays for the lessee, whose influence and protec-
nothing will be easier for the Father Commissary of tion they hope to be able some day to make use of?
the Franciscans than to come out successfully and to We do not have to insist a great deal, nor to furnish
see us filled with opprobrium and humbied before his
facts-interesting ones nonetheless-to prove the truth
Paternity. of what we have just indieated. For they belong to
U by harboripg an anti-Sipanish and anfi-hu- those matters which are well within the realm of his-
manitarian plan is meant systematic opposition to the tory, and are perfectly well known to all who have been
decisions of the Spanish Government, just because they some time in this country.
narrow the circle within which are exercised certain
*r+t
liberties, certain privileges, certain praetices, certain
customs; or because the;r cut off at the root ahuses II
which cannot continue, or introduce ehanges demanded We begin today assuring you that the greatest
by good order and the regularity with which a1l affairs glory of Spain in these islands consists in being totally
should proeeed in a weil-organizecl society, then we say bandoned to the loyalty, good faith, and excellent dis-
that far frorn it being the secular clergy or any other tions of the sons of the country.
tz rtr,rputcl N,tTIoNALIss{ FILIPINO NATISNALIS*I 9lr

The reasor:l i$ ottvtous. Til*: peminsular Spaniards trt is certain that F ather Coria, sallying to the fray,
resident on this soil are very few; t}:ey would have no says concerning one article: ,,If ryhat it proposes is
means of defense, if thqy did not count with the natives carried into effect, the result wouicl be the loss, not
themselves. The distance which separates us from our oniy for Spain, but for humanity and for civilization,
mother country is enormous; the oceasions which tumul- of those dominions called by Providence to fulfill most
tuous and rebellious $ons wouirl }:arre treen able to take lofty and humanitarian ends.,, It is certain that at
advantage of, have been many. Nonetheless, what has the time of the discussion of parishes, particularly of
happened during th.e three eenturies in which we have that of Antipolo, carried on so skillfully by Father
been respeeting and obeying the Spanish Government? Pedro Pelilez, honor and glory of the clerg[r of this
\\''hen rurnors of, sorae constrrirae;r have been current country and splendor of the sacerdotal state, the rumor
and the Governrnent, as is right, in rnatters of such circulated in Manila that the latter had formed. a
transcendent importance, has taken preventive meas- conspiracy which was to break out in revolt on the very
ures, employing the persons rnost apt for discovering morning of Corpus Christi of 1868. To such a point
the truth, rvhat have they succeeded in d.iscovering? did the perverse intention of this clergy go that in the
Has not the finai result ah,vays heen a disappointment? columns of the newspaper La, Verd,<tcl it was said:
What do our calumniators reply ti: this? Are these "Let us see what our correspondent of I\{anila says
gentlemen 1:erhaps so iael<ing in judgment as not to about that most worthy captain-general in the follow-
know that the strongest proof against this calumny is ing paragraph of his letter dated November 5: ,But
that it can onlrv be heard when the newspapers talk just say that the collapse of tire Cathedral set - afoot
about the regular clergy of the Phiiippines, asking for the ugly specter of rebeilion. But this Seflor Echague
the secularization of their parishes, or at least that the noiselessly, without scandal or disturbing measures,
tendency which they have to take possession of all those has saved the colony from two very grave evils, of
islands be restrained? which the earthquake was the lesser one., This, as
Yes, Mr. Editor, these alarming rumors of at- our readels can recognize, is serious. This - means, at
tempts against the Spanish Government have their the least, that there were in that country persons clis-
cycles. And though these are irregular in appearance posed for a revolt. Hence it may be inferred how
rvith regard to time, they are nor:etheless ,regular in correcl it is that ali those who direcily or indirectly
always coinciding with the questions of reform of try to lower or destroy the prestige and rnoral force
parishes. which our Spanish missionaries have there, and which
We will not say rvho are thelr authors, but it is so important to preser\re in those islands, necessarily
certain that in these days rumors of attempted revoits help (even without adverting to it) those who have
exist and spreacl about. And it is precisely a short intent, and promote emancipation itself.,, And
time ago that the question of the reform of parishes t wouid those say rvho have dictated these lines if
in the Philippines began to be cliscussed" majority or all the parishes were served by penin-
94 TI'IL.IPff,IO NATIONALIfi}$ }'ILIPINO NAT*IONALISM 95
sular secular ciergy, or if the regular clergy thern- not more moral, nor more submissive, nor more loyal,
selves who now serve them were secularized? Can the just because their parish priests are religious!
Friar, perhaps, boast of greater patriotism and loyalty ,Ittt
than the secular clergy? Let Father Coria say it.
For our part, we will oniy recall what iil feelings UI
Europe has for. them. +-ii*
It is certain that Don Basilio Sancho, so famous We said: Secular phrish priests, one-half or a
for the persistence with which he undertook to put into majority of them peninsular Spaniards, and a suffi-
practice the holy diocesan visitation, said to Charles III cient number of regular clergy, who while living in
that the first ancl rnost overwovked refuge to which monastic fashion in their monasteries in Manila, would
the religious have always had recourse when hard- go forth for periods to preach mission through the
pressed is to make the Government believe that these towns, while sorne of them fixed their residence among
islands would be lost if the secular clergy were put the non-Christians in order to reduce them to Chris-
in the parishes. These are the exact words of that tianity-here is the secret, the means which is most
gentleman in his exposition of May 10, 1768. sure, most fruitful in results, most rapid and most ef-
ficaeious for the civilization, conservation, and progress
Finally, it is certain that in Parnpanga, a province of these islands.
totally administered by religious parish priests (except
for two or three wretched and unhealthy parishes which As a matter of fact, if the regular clergy desire
for this reason have been served for sorne time by the prosperity of the country, if they long for a truly
secular priests in a temporary capacity), the rumor regular life which better allows for the observance of
circulated iast Christmas eve that revolution was their vows and their respective constitutions, if finally,
going to break out. Prescinding from the notorious they desire to achieve the perfection which is the pur-
pose of the religious state by means of the practice
falsity of the news by the mere fact that it did not
take place in spite of the fact that measures were not of the evangelieal counsels, and. to correspond more
fully to the modest but glorious name of missionaries
taken to prevent it, r,ve decluce that the regulars them-
which the regular clergy of the Philippinesj still at-
selves who were cowering w-ith fear that night must
tribute to themselves, Father Coria must agree with
be interioriy convinced that they lack the moral force us that the reform of the parishes just outlined ought
so exalted by Father Coria, and are therefore power- to be implanted. For it ii is carried. out in the terrns
less to restrain the tendencies of the towns they ad- ted, it would be of greater advantage to the
minister. Otherwise, why lyere they so alarmed? How try and to the State. It would, moreover, place
have they believed certain towns capable of revolting, the regular clergy in a more favorabie situation to con-
which, according to them, love them so much and respect u€ converting the non-Christians who inhabit part
them as fathers? IIow true it is that the towns are the mountains of this archipelago, and likewise be
I)6 r.'TLIPI}{O NA"IONALI$ffi
FILIPI}.iO NAT'IONALISM 97

their the same comrnunity, and at times as rnany as there


an aid to the better observance of their vows and are groups of religious born in the same province or
rules. the same town.
rf rt {+
*{<rt
It is not possible, humanly speaking' that the Here too is the explanation of the static state of
missionary wiro cherishes hopes of being transferred the missions of this arcfiipelago for. at least the past
some day to a parish wiil give himself for a
long time
century. For we see that his Excellency the Arch-
to his evangelical conquests with that unshatterable irishop of Manila, Basilio de Santa Justa y Rufina,
zeal and constancy *hitf' distinguish the
man who
ah'eady was complaining of this in his memorial to
only longs for the saivation of souls' as everypriest
mis-
parish the throne of October 1, 1768. "Unburdening the re-
sionary should. Encouragecl to become a gulars of the charge of the parishes," said that zealous
brothers
by the comfortable life which he observes in his prelate, "they will be free so that your Majesty ean
who are such, or recalling the comfortable life which eurploy them in new eonversions. For in spite of the
seeing
he led if he has been one already, or resentful-at fact that this is the prineipal encl for which they
young men still bearclless and' newly entered into his 'were sent from the beginning, for many years now
1"a., administer wealthy parishes' while he' who than con-
these missions have all but ceased completely."
more
siders himself to possess ai least some merit In the very recent past we see these same ob-
they, is left forgotten in the winding depths
of the
servations reproduced by the archbishop's office of
mountains, suffe"ring privations and frustrations'
he
the apostle of God' this diocese in a communication of November 10, 1862
ceases to he the peaceful missionary, clirected to the Superior Civil Governor and Vice-Royal
and only thinl<s of putting into play his connections Patron of these islands. Manifesting the difficulties
and his intrigues, or in sighing for the time of the in having friars occupy the parishes, it says among
Provincial Cirapter, so that the tr'athers of his party other things: "If from what has been said to this
may taku po*.i. For it is public and notorious that point it is not clear that the Cltwclt, and the State in
the party spirit is strong also, and very much so'
with-
the Philippines should suffer from the increase of the
in ifre religious orders of the Philippines' And even ber of religious parishes and the deerease of those
though it is true that this happens in all the communities the seculal clergy, T would recall in proof of it the
of the world, still we cannot give any other reason for tion so often made, even by prelates of this
the marked preponderance it has in those of of these
all that the progress of the active missions has
islands than ihe^ cl.sire which takes possession or at least greatly diminished since so many
their individuals-with the exception of some few-to have been lavished on the regular c1ergy."
o..rrpy parishes. It can be said without exaggeration
that there are as marry parties in a singlepriestsord'er as From these authoritative deelarations which can-
of be objected to as suspeet or partial, inasmueh as
there are six, eight, or ten religious parish
FILIPINO NA?'NONA"LISM 9S
98 T'ILIPINO NATIONALISM
to the reiigious orders thernselves because of the im-
they come from respectable dignitari"t gl that the
the Church
minent risk that some may grow tepid and withdraw
in these f.fu*a*, 1i" said truth is evidentfarce'. serving from the observance of their rule, and because manJr
missions of the Philippines are a complete virtuous and absternious men, whom obedienee would
defense for their
the regula" .iurfr' ;; pr-otection and' notable pre- assign to the same offices, would, be atftinted, to li,ue
particular interlsts and clesigns but with the pros- outsid,a the cloister to whiph tlteir aocation brought
i"ai* t" the Church and the State and to
they exploit them. Attending to all ihis, and having sure in-
perity and. wealth of the country' which formation that in all or the majority of the dioceses
in benefit of tt. rural and urban estates they
"uf"'Ufe of my dominions of Ameriea there is a sufficient supply
p0ssess. of, secular clergy ad.orned. with gifts of aptitude and
These difficutties would disaPPear
the rnoment
in the PhiliP- learning, praiseworthy morals, and other qualities cor-
that we had no regular P arish Priests responcling to their state, to whom ean safely be en-
For all their Pretensions would
disaPPear;
p1nes.
exclusivelY to conver-
trusted the care of souls, thus unburdening the reli-
they would declicate themselves gious of the heavy charge which they hnae \r,eld, onrt"
uxiliaries of the Parish
sion, theY woul d be zealous a in the confes- which, h,as been entmrcted to them on a temporclrA basis,
priests, helplng them with Preaching, the same tirn - and avoiding the evils which may have been caused irt
At
sional, and otirer plous exercises. sorne of their individuals by the absence of their pre-
they would be trulY regulars
in the full extension of lates, the lack of the visible example of their brothers,
or not this is true
the word. Let us hear whether de C6rdenas of the and perhaps the want of attention to their moral and
from the ceiebrated Fr. Bernardino of Peru and religious life, I commanded, etc."
Order of St. Francis, famous Preacher who sai d: "And if Does Father Coria want more proofs of the neces*
afterwards bishoP in Parag;uaY, to leave the Parishes, there is of the above-mentioned reforrn? Are not
wished
for this reason the religious to the religious orders; which have been brought forward enough to eon*
may no other evil ever come hnul,rlg tltem. TheY him that not only the Church, the State, and
so mnq haPP en to tltem from
fm their monas teries in recollec- country would gain much, but even the religious
would be much better in risks and danger witlr' ? Does not his Reverence see that if all
tion than exposed to so many
whose rule theY can- parish priests of a diocase are secular priests, the
great hnrrn to th,e raligious ord,er,
from their monasteries. would have more freedom of action to govern,
not ProPerlY keep being away
of Fernando VX in and punish? Does he not see either that in
Sim ilar to these are the vro rd"s and irrePar- fashion there would be no way to mock their au-
his cedula of tr'ebruarY 1' 1?53. "Graue of religious living ty, as often happens in these islands, where &
able euils," he says, "are the result priest, removecl by the bishop, is transferred
separ ated fiom their insti tute
without the observation
prelate to another diocese, in which he is again
of their superl ors ancl sui:orclina tion to therrl,
w
is as parish priest, tc the great lowering of
apptied to these ministries. This disPersion
100 FILIPIN-O N./TTIGNAI,ISII{

prestige a,nd downgrading of ecctresiastical ai.rthority


and spiritual dainage to the faithful who have for
pastor a nlan judicially declared r.rnworthy of being VARIOUS ARTICLES ON THE PHILIPPINES
such. Does he perchance not see that the secular Gracinno L6pea Jaetw
priest, laching that collective life of the regular clergy
and placed under the immediate inspection of one singie [Graciano' }./rpz Jaena,.'ths brilliant orator of the
prelate, the bishop, without aid, withr:ut support, with- Reform Movement in Spain during the, last two decades
out protection, without other refu.ge than the justice of the nineteenth c,entury, was born in Jaro, now a dis-
trict of Iloilo, City, on 17 December L856, the son bf
and rectitude of his actions, undoul:tedly has to excel in Pl6cido L6pez and Maria Jacobo Jaena. He studied at
the futfillment of all the duties rvhich his charge im- 'the, Seminary of Jaro but his rebellious nature led him
pose on hini? I)oes Father Coria ttot see, finally, that to foresake the priesthood. Before he left for Manila, he
circulated his ,tale Fray Botod which ridiculed and exposed
if the regulars were unburrlened of their parishes, the, brutality and irnmorali*y of a friar. This work led
those who were in their monasteries could from tinre the' friars to run after him, and in 1880 he sailed for
Spain to continue his medical studies. But the night life
to time go forth to help the parish priests, and in that of Barcelona and Madrid led him to, forsake medicine
manner they would be, as they ouglat to be, coadjutors for rvriting. The, first native Filipino, to call the attenrtion
of the latter and of the bishoPs? of the peninsular Spaniards to the plight of the natives
of the Philipp,ines, particularly to friar rrlJe, lipez faena
{.*)F delivered speeches after speeches and wrote articles which,
rvhile not as w,ell written and as deep as Rizal's, had
nevertheless a poptrlar ap,peal.

[L,6pez Jaena founded and became the first editor


of La Soltdaridad, the organ of the Filipino reformists in
Spain. He died in Barcelona on 20 January 1896. His
collected works, Discursos y Articulos Voios, was puF
lished in Barcelona inr 1891. The following selectioos
are frorn the book and translated by Dr. Encarnasi5n
Alzo,na.-T. A. A.l

I. LOGIC ]N TIIE PHII,IPPINES


( 1884)

Unlucky frorn the start. The title of this article


is absurd and very glaringly so, for it does not agree
with what we propose to demonstrate in the following
lines.

101

You might also like