DELA CRUZ, Maurey Andrea B.

GED0102 – Section 16 | October 15, 2021

PUNAY, Lorraine Mae R. Prof. Luna | The Life and Works of Rizal

Summative Assessment 1: Critical Analysis

Directions: Write a Critical Essay on the significance of Jose Rizal to our history as a Filipino.

Rizal’s Shortcomings in Uniting with The Indios

         Is Rizal the embodiment of a perfect national hero desired by a lot of people? According
to Schumacher (2011), Jose Rizal is titled not only as a mere reformist but as an ideal figure of a
revolutionary. The authoritarian rule of the Spaniards drives Rizal’s patriotism to devote himself
in serving the country and his countrymen despite the threat of tyranny and greed of the
oppressors. Due to the driving forces, Rizal was able to unify the country but failed to
acknowledge the indios. Indios are named as “Limited” Filipinos because of the inability to
acquire education and property, yet desired to achieve independence (Constantino, 1970).
Influence of the Spaniards with regard to religion arouses indios value for Christianity as they
started to worship sacred personas making them highly devoted to beliefs, practices, and
scriptures. Moreover, Rizal's stand against Bonifacio’s movement made him condemn the
revolution highlighting that the majority of his countrymen are uneducated, making his revolt
through writing. He also underestimated the talents and powers of the Filipinos that compels him
to fully condemn revolution. These causes contradict his views as these written works are only to
be understood by those who are educated, as well as, his desire to eradicate the downfall of
indios which is heavily weighed by the connection with uneducated indios. Thereby, Rizal’s
martyrdom give significance to his great contribution including establishing national
consciousness by uniting the people yet failed to empathize with the indios due to his Castalia
and ilustrado views, and the influence of religion making Rizal as the representation of Christ’s
Passion and del Carpio’s mythical heroism.

In the article Rizal and the Underside of Philippine History by Reynaldo C. Ileto, Rizal
annotated that during the Spanish rule, the Filipinos lost their sense of pride in their native
culture and language as they blindly imitated things that are foreign and incomprehensible. This
brings us to Rizal’s contribution of establishing national consciousness by first earning the name
of our race, uniting the people, and elevating the status of the indios into Filipino (Constantino,
1970). The indios were referred to as the natives of the country, they were the lowest class in the
Philippines during the Spanish Rule. On the other hand, the mestizos are offspring of
interbreeding born in the Philippines and they call themselves Filipinos. Rizal and his fellow
(urbanized) indios in Paris earned the respect of the creoles and Spanish and Chinese mestizos as
he showcased his intellectual excellence (Constantino, 1970). 

Constantino referred to this as an “anti-colonial victory” and signifies the racial equality
of Filipinos and Spaniards. However, indios like Rizal are part of the ilustrados, those who are
educated and part of the rising middle class of the Philippines. Rizal and the other indios may
have proven their worth with the creoles and mestizos, but the dispute between the ilustrados and
indios existed which complicated Rizal’s objective of unification. Rizal and the illustrados
wanted to be equal to Spain, to unite with them and have the same liberty they enjoy. On the
contrary, the indios desire for independence, and instead of waiting like the ilustrados, they
revolt. 

Rizal fails to empathize with the indios due to his Castalia and Ilustrados views. It was
mentioned by Constantino in his work Veneration without Understanding, that Rizal may be
acting on behalf of all indios but there is division between them due to their culture and social
class they belong. One notable example is that Rizal did not approve of revolting and using
violence to fight for independence because he believes that the Filipinos do not deserve it due to
their lack of education. Filipinos will fail to see the value that independence brings. According to
Constantino, the ilustrados and the elite would invalidate the ability of the people. Their
education and other privileges justified their right to decide on behalf of the people, creating a
leadership run by the elites. The indios may not have the same level of education, however, their
fair share of experiencing oppression is enough to earn their right to be free.

Rizal’s Castalia view is limited only to the revolutions in his period and when compared
to today’s revolution it would go beyond his capacity to analyze and unravel the myths
implanted to Filipinos by the colonizers. Meaning to say, this Castalia view of Rizal highlights
that his advocacy is useless in this contemporary period due to the fact that he lacks knowledge
and experience that would serve as a motivation in eradicating the problems today. His inability
to preserve the tools for economic analysis hinders him from anticipating the unending problem
of poverty enforced by outside sources. Thus, the subtopic of Constantino on Limitations of
Rizal discussed that if Rizal was able to use his knowledge in preserving and developing these
tools, he may be able to come up with ideas or techniques suitable to address the problems
consigned to Filipinos.   

As mentioned, Rizal wanted to awaken the Filipinos sense of pride by means of his
writings, however, other than his novels, Rizal was able to awaken their pride but through means
he and his fellow ilustrados wanted to efface, Christianity. Nationalists like Rizal perceive
Christianity as indios’ downfall for it made them naive and susceptible to exploitation. The
teaching of the church made the people believe that only those that are obedient are rewarded
while those who are not are punished. Their desire to efface this is not solely due to lack of faith
but because it is a foreign ideology. However, Christianity and symbolism in its narratives
helped in inspiring others to patriotically die like Rizal.

The lowland saw the story of Bernardo del Capio; and Christ’s passion, death, and
resurrection somewhat paralleled the heroic story of Rizal, particularly his death. Rizal marching
his way to his execution site, his unshaken composure, the poem Mi Ultimo Adios, are all
perceived as Rizal’s reenactment of the pasyon (Ileto, 1998). The lowlands may not have fully
grasp or completely failed to understand the intentions of Rizal’s novels, and it may not be
Rizal’s intention to be compared to Bernardo and Jesus Christ, but viewing it as something
spiritual was an effective means that encouraged Filipinos to question the rulings of the
Spaniards and the friars.

Regardless of Rizal and his fellow nationalists and ilustrados’ views on Christianity,
many Filipinos value it despite its foreign and incomprehensible ideology. The people saw
something spiritual in creating and joining the revolution as if it were a calling, an act of love, or
sacrifice like those in Biblical imagery. However, it is important to note that being spiritual is not
entirely related to Christianity, it is more on Filipinos understanding that Rizal’s principles and
his actions to abide by them were an act of stewardship and is morally necessary (Fernandez,
2008).   

However, relating Rizal to Bernardo del Carpio and Jesus Christ is perhaps one of the
causes of hero-worshiping him to the extent that it is uncritical and unhistorical. His limitations
are rarely acknowledged with the fear that it will taint his image. According to Ileto (1998),
eventually Rizal became the source of power for leaders of movements against oppressors.
Meanwhile, in a more recent setting, fanatics of Rizal refuse to admit his limitations and would
even extend the meanings of his teachings to have contemporary value (Constantino, 1970). This
“excessive pomp and pageantry” and their unwillingness to criticize the religion itself is what
Rizal feared about religion and myths. 

Unquestionably, Rizal’s revolutionary act highlights his contribution in establishing

national consciousness by identifying and earning the name supposed to set forth to Filipinos, as
well as, uniting the people through elevating the status quo of indios. This historical struggle
does not signal a national victory, but as an “anti-colonial victory” thereby signifying the
equality of Filipinos. The dispute resulting from the unification of ilustrados and indios made
Rizal fail to empathize with the other party which are the indios. The Castalia and ilustrado
views are the main reason why Rizal is failing to see a wider scope of opportunities and ideas
which may possibly cease the unending problem. The division between classes influenced his
underestimation of these indios believing that revolting to violent ways of independence is not
suitable for indios to acknowledge. Spaniards influence regarding religion give rise to Filipinos'
great devotion to sacred personas, beliefs, practices, and imagery constitutes a heavily weighted
connection with the colonizers. Filipinos started to value this so-called foreign and
incomprehensible ideology believing that these Biblical imageries are urging them to create and
join revolution as accords to an act of love and sacrifice. The struggles and experiences of Rizal
resemble the situation of Jesus Christ in his Passion along with the mythical heroism of Bernardo
del Carpio. Contributions made by Rizal are the driving force on why he is significant in history
and titled as the national hero despite his shortcomings in eradicating historical struggles. The
inability of equating liberty and independence resulted in Rizal's shortcoming in uniting with the
Indios. 

References
Constantino, R. (1970). Veneration without Understanding.

Fernandez, I. (2008, September 24). Notes on Rizal and the Spiritual Revolution. Retrieved from
Wordpress: https://icafernandez.com/2008/09/24/notes-on-rizal-and-the-spiritual-
revolution/

Ileto, R. C. (1998). Rizal and The Underside of Philippine History. Filipino and Their
Revolution, 30-79.

Schumacher, J. N. (2011). The Rizal Bill of 1956 Horacio de la Costa and the Bishops.
Philippine Studies, 529-553.