CHAPTER 4

“Cabesang Tales”

A REFLECTION PAPER

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

In the Subject of Rizal’s

Life and Works

To be submitted to

Mrs. Casiana Enconado

Submitted by:

Malapitan. Jhanine Joyce C.

Macatangay, Ernielouyd F.

Section: BT2101

Date of Submission:

December 18, 2021

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 II. ABSTRACT

The chapter 4 of El Filibusterismo is entitled Cabesang Tales. For this chapter, it talks about the
family life of Cabesang Tales by introducing his father named Tandang Selo, his wife, his eldest daughter
Lucia, who both died of Malaria amidst the hard work of toiling their family land, Julianna or Juli, his
youngest daughter who also happens to be Basilio's lover, and some friar administrators.

a. Cabesang Tales

I. Characters Involved

Cabesang Tales - Cabeza Telesforo Juan de Dios, a former cabeza de barangay (barangay head) of

Sagpang, and a barangay in San Diego's neighboring town Tiani, who resurfaced as the feared Luzon bandit

Matanglawin. He is the son of Tandang Selo, and father of Juli and Tano.

Tandang Selo - Father of Kabesang Tales and grandfather of Tano and Juli. He raised the sick and young

Basilio after he left their house in Noli me tangere. He died in an encounter on the mountains with his son

Tales, when he was killed by a battalion that included his own grandson, Tano.

Tano - Kabesang Tales's elder son after his older sister, Lucia died in childhood. He took up the pseudonym

"Carolina" after returning from exile in the Caroline Islands and became a civil guard. He was among the

battalion killed his grandfather, Selo, who was part of a group of an attacking rebel.

Juli - Juliana de Dios, the girlfriend of Basilio, and the youngest daughter of Kabesang Tales. To claim

her father from the bandits, she had to work as a maid under the supervision of Hermana Penchang.

Eventually, she was freed but committed suicide after Father Camorra attempted to rape her

Hermana Penchang - She offers Juli to be her maid so the latter can obtain money to free Kabesang Tales.

Disbelieving of Juli and her close friends, she considers herself as an ally of the friars.

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 II. 200-word chapter summary

Even before Tales became the cabesa de barangay of the San Diego town, he and his family have

been cultivating lands. By cultivating land, Cabesang Tales and his family were able to save money enough

to build a house. However, in their first year of harvest, suddenly, the friars were claiming that Cabesang

Tales' land belong to them. However, the friars cannot show a concrete proof showing that Cabesang Tales'

land is part of their owned land. Until one day, a friar administrator, out of humanity's sake decided to just

let Cabesang Tales and his family pay an annual rent to the friars firstly amounting to twenty or thirty pesos.

Cabesang Tales wanted to bring his case to the court, but since he does not want any more problems, he

agreed to pay the friars. Tandang Selo also mentioned that instead of putting a fight against the friars and

spending a huge amount of money to the litigation process. Tandang Selo told Tales to just pretend that

the thirty pesos had been lost in gambling or fell into the river and eaten by the crocodiles. However, as

the land continued to produce good harvest, the friars decided to increase the annual rent to fifty pesos.

This also was the time wherein Cabesang Tales realized his dream to build a house for the family and to

send his children to school. Despite this dream, the friars did continue to raise the rent to 200 pesos. This

was the time Cabesang Tales reached his boiling point and started standing up against the friars by hiring

lawyers and bringing his case to the court. This caused Cabesang Tales to use up his savings until nothing

was left. Nonetheless, despite the fight Cabesang Tales put up, he still lost against the friars even though

friars cannot own lands. With this, Cabesang Tales took this matter his own hands and started guarding

his land against the abusive friars no matter what until it resulted to him being kidnapped for ransom and

Juli using her savings to save his father and eventually borrowed money to Hermana Penchang whom she

had no choice but to work to.

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 III. Implied Topic Covered in this Chapter

The implied topic covered in this chapter is about land ownership and how greedy the friars are.

It shows that no matter how hard we try to live a peaceful and happy life, there are still people who abuses

their power and will oppress those who are under them. Many will keep pushing us down and if that

happens, we should fight with equality and fairness. In this chapter, it also shows that hard work will lead

us to success so enrich our success and never let anyone take what you have been worked for.

b. Interpretation of Junior High School Teacher for this Chapter

The interpretation of our Junior High School Teacher for this Chapter is it only shows how the

friars were politically influential at the time of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Despite the

honest and hard work of any Filipino, or Indio’s as the Spaniards call us, still, if power and influence are

both used against the normal citizens, oppression and abuse will prevail. Even though Cabesang Tales and

his family were of poor background, they managed to raise their standard of living by working hard in

cultivating their land for good harvests.

c. 200-word (minimum) Personal Reflection

The dilemma which occurred to Cabesang Tales and his family can still be seen in today's

Philippine society. Even though it has been a couple of hundred years after the Spanish colonization, this

ill-favored practice is still very much alive. This is called the "palakasan" system where those who are rich

and influential tend to get whatever they want with the use of money and sometimes force, and even evade

from justice most of the time. El Filibusterismo impacts our current society by exposing unpleasant

practices which the Filipinos of today struggles to, and unfortunately inherited from the abusive and

negligent practices of the Spaniards, especially the friars. By comparing the two novels of Jose Rizal, El

Filibusterismo is the turning point where Elias or Crisostomo Ibarra finally had enough of the abuses of the

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 Spaniards and chose to stand up against them. In my opinion, El Filibusterismo is indeed too radical for the

national hero because Jose Rizal never wanted to have a bloody revolution against the Spaniards in the first

place. For him, the only way to revolt against Spain is through peaceful means and the primary use of

education. Today, yes, we believe radicalism can bring change to the country because this administration

had already failed its people several times. The Filipino people are continuously divided into being a

dilawan and or a DDS instead of uniting as one nation to fight and solve local and international problems

currently happening. Yes, because in the first novel he wanted to highlight that as much as possible

everything can be solved through the use of peaceful means. But during the second novel, it already came

to the point where since the peaceful means cannot change the hearts bad treatment of the Spaniards to the

Filipinos, we think Jose Rizal already showed that a revolt using violence may eventually be the way to

lead the Filipinos to its independence.

d. Comparison with Noli Me Tangere

I. The Intended Messages of Both Novels

The intended messages of both novels are to stand up against abuse and injustices, to fight for what

you think is right and just and reiterate that no one should be above the law.

II. Differences between the Two Novels

As previously mentioned, Noli me Tangere exposed the abuse, malpractices of the Spaniards, and

the struggles of the Filipinos living in an unfair society and by handling these using the most peaceful way

possible. However, when this was eventually revealed to be ineffective. The method used by Rizal to fight

back against the Spaniards in El Filibusterismo made use of violence.

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 IV. References (in APA format)

http://thelifeandworksofrizal.blogspot.com/2011/04/el-filibusterismo-summary-and-analysis_2369.html

http://buod.elfilibusterismo.com/2011/08/el-fili-chapter-4-kabesang-tales.html

http://rizalville.com/el-filibusterismo-chapter-4-summary

https://www.kapitbisig.com/philippines/el-filibusterismo-the-reign-of-greed-by-dr-jose-rizal-a-complete-

english-version-chapter-4-cabesang-tales-english-version-of-el-filibusterismo_800.html

a. How does El Filibusterismo impact our current society?

We become a free man and stand with their right. Now, our country has a lot of establishments,

there is an equality, and most of all we are not being manipulated.

b. Is the novel too radical for the national hero? Why or why not?

Yes, the novel is too radical for national hero as it shows the cruelty of the government to the

Filipinos. The main characters in the novel display greediness in their characters. Rizal saw that the

Filipinos were suffering under the colonization of the Spanish. The Filipinos were facing a harsh and unfair

treatment and the novel lead to the Filipinos pushing for revolution to go against the unfair treatment that

was offered to them by the Spaniards. The importance of the novel is that it helped the Filipinos fight for

their rules and freedoms as a nation. Jose Rizal showed them the importance of seeking freedom without

really being much violent but protesting their rights.

c. Do you believe that radicalism can bring change to the country? Why or why not?

Yes, because radicalism can bring change to the country especially in a political context, is

associated with extreme views and the desire for rapid social change.

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 d. Did Jose Rizal really change his thoughts about his purpose for change in the Philippine society?

Why or why not?

Yes, because Jose Rizal believes that if he continues to fight for our country's rights, he will have

to sacrifice his own life, livelihood, and dreams, but because he sees how all Filipinos are oppressed by

Spaniards, he chooses to fight for our country's freedom and equal rights for Filipinos and Spaniards.

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