De La Salle –College of Saint Benilde

School of Multidisciplinary Studies

Social Science Area
Activity No. 3 JORIZAL

Name: Gabriel Ceniza

Answer substantively but concisely. 10 points each. Maximum of 5 sentences per

item. If you need to directly derive part of your answer from a book or other academic
materials, please cite the source. Do not copy and paste. Use your own words.

1. What do you consider as the most important endeavor of Jose Rizal in Europe?
Justify your answer.

I believe that the most important endeavor of Jose Rizal in Europe is coping up
with life there. Due to the fact that he was paying for his education, paying for his rent
and other necessary expenses that he has to do, it was really a big challenge for Jose to
continue his mission in Europe. But I could really see the resilience in him because,
despite the fact that it takes a long time before he could receive his allowance and the fact
that he was running out of money to the point that he couldn’t eat proper meals, he still
continued to push through with his education to pursue his dream of becoming an
ophthalmologist and continue to study the culture there in Europe. Jose Rizal taught us to
always be resilient and to never give up on our dreams.

2. Although the Philippines is said to be an independent country already (thanks to Dr.

Rizal and other heroes), there are still things in our society that needed to be changed.
Cite two compelling problems that the country is currently facing. As a citizen of this
generation, what can you propose in order to address the said problems?

The first problem that I see that the country is facing right now is the injustice that
the poorer citizens are facing. It seems like more and more underprivileged citizens are
being sent to prison to face a sentence for a decade or sometimes more, for small crimes
that they commit. While the more privileged ones who does more bigger crimes could
easily get away with it through bribery, which shows a little bit of resemblance to the
corrupt Spanish priests in Dr. Rizal’s time. The second problem that I see that the country
is facing is its increasing debt to the other countries. It is just hard to imagine to see the
Philippines be able to reach its potential of becoming as the same level economically as
its neighboring countries in South East Asia if the country has a debt that is said to last
for decades, which makes the countries held back as its neighboring countries continue to
rise economically.