CHAPTER 15

THE DESTINY
OF THE
CHAPTER 15

es
THE DESTINY
OF THE FILIPINO
PEOPLE

Rizal's work, "The Philippines a Century Hence"

was serialized in La Solidaridad in four
installments from September 30, 1889 to January
31, 1890. In this essay, Rizal attempts to answer
the basic question of whether the Philippines will
remain a Spanish colony or not.
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY
OF THE FILIPINO
PEOPLE

Learnin
g
Objectiv
es
CHAPTER 15
ary Learnin
THE DESTINY
OF THE FILIPINO g
PEOPLE
Objectiv
At the end of this chapter, the students
should be able to: es
 Summarize in their own words Rizal's
essay, "The Philippines a Century
Hence",
 present Rizal's arguments on what the
Philippines will be like in the future;
 and construct their own arguments on
what the Philippines at present will be
like after fifty years.
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY
O
OF THE FILIPINO
PEOPLE
es
Vocabul
ary
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY
Vocabul
OF THE FILIPINO ary
PEOPLE

Spanish Cortes - the government

body in charge of drafting laws
pertaining to Spain and its
colonies
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY
OF THE FILIPINO
PEOPLE Rizal's essay titled "The Philippines
a Century Hence" presents compelling
arguments on what the state of the country
will be like in the future.

However, in order to be forward-

looking, one must, at first be able to look
back at the country's past.

In Rizal's words,

"In order to read the destiny

of a people, it is necessary to open
the book of its past."
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY
OF THE FILIPINO
PEOPLE The first part of Rizal's essay does
this by illustrating that with the arrival of
the Spaniards, the Filipinos were forced to
accept and subject themselves to a new
and foreign culture.

Time passed while Spaniards

attempted to subjugate the Filipinos
completely, but Rizal argues that the
continued oppression only resulted in the
gradual awakening of the Filipinos.
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY By the nineteenth century,
economic conditions had become better in
OF THE FILIPINO
the Philippines and Rizal recognizes this.
PEOPLE However, beyond the material prosperity,
he points out that the Filipinos remain
brutalized and oppressed. Since
advancement or progress is clearly
inevitable, Rizal poses the question on
whether the Philippines will remain a
colony of Spain despite all the changes.

To this question, his answer is

straightforward. He states that the
Philippines will remain a colony of Spain
if the mother country implements reforms
such as freedom of the press and
representation in the Cortes. Rizal also
concedes that if Spain does not grant these
reforms, the Filipino will likely become
independent after a violent and bloody
revolution.
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY
OF THE FILIPINO
PEOPLE The final part of Rizal's work
presents another interesting point of
discussion since he attempts to look into
the future of the country.

He argues that if the Philippines

becomes free in the future, this
independence will be short-lived since the
United States of America will probably
acquire and colonize the country as one of
their own territories.
CHAPTER 15
THE DESTINY
OF THE FILIPINO
PEOPLE
In the end, Rizal makes a strong
assertion that it is imperative for Spain to
grant the Filipinos reform, for as he
eloquently states,

"It is better to keep pace

with the desire of a people than to
give way before them; the former
begets sympathy and love, the
latter contempt and anger."
 CHAPTER 15

THE DESTINY
OF THE