Rizal as a Political

Philosopher
Objectives:
1. Identify the applicability of Rizal’s political
philosophies in solving today’s political
problems .
2. Explain the principle of assimilation advocated by
the Propaganda Movement .
3.
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The Propaganda Movement
• It was a period of time when native Filipinos were calling
for reforms, lasting approximately from 1880 to 1886 with
the most activity between 1880 and 1895.

• It all began in 1872, when fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose

Burgos and Jacinto Zamora were executed

• It was organized and participated by the illustrados. Dr.

Jose P. Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Greciano Lopez Jaena
and Mariano Ponce are the leaders of the movement

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Aims and Reforms of the Propaganda Movement
Equality of the Filipinos Assimilation of
and Spaniards before the Philippines as
a regular
the laws. province of
Human rights for Filipinos, Spain.
such as freedom of
speech, freedom of the
press, and freedom to
meet and petition for
Filipinization of the redress of grievances. Restoration of
Philippine parishes the Philippine
and expulsion of representation in
the friars the Spanish
Cortes.

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The propagandists were
patriots who waged
their movement by
means of pen and
tongue to expose the
defects of Spanish rule
in the Philippines and
the urgency of reforms
to remedy them.

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The Propagandists
Marcelo H. Del Pilar
• He was the first writer of the
bilingual newspaper titled
“Diariong Tagalog”.
• Beloved by the masses because
of his eloquent Tagalog fearless
defense of the poor against the
friar abuse.
Jose P. Rizal
• a physician, scholar, scientist,
and writer.
• great novelist of the
propaganda movement.
Graciano Lopez Jaena
• The greatest orator of the
propaganda.
• The First editor of the La
Solidaridad.
Mariano Ponce
• A Medical student and a
biographical writer.
• He used tikbalang, naning, and
kalipulako as his pen names.
 • A lawyer and a Man
of letters

•Pharmacist and
essayist.
The Masters of
Brush
 • Linguist and Essayist.

•Teacher – tutor of
Prince alfonso de
bourbon (later king
Alfonso XIII of Spain)
The La Solidaridad
• The newspaper was founded by Graciano
Lopez Jaena in Barcelona in February 15,
1889
• La Solidaridad was created due to reality
that mass media is important in
Propagating the Propaganda Objectives.

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“Conflict is drama, and
how people deal with
conflicts shows you the
kind of people they
are.”
-Stephen Mayer

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CHOOSE FIGHTER !!!
Antonio
Luna

Jose
Rizal
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Rizal’s conflict between Antonio Luna
• Rizal and Luna are good friends and compatriot when they’re both
studying in Europe.
• Before this heated encounter between the two ilustrados, it was Rizal
who ironically urged his fellow expatriates to help Luna in his proposed
duel with a Spanish journalist known by the pseudonym Mir Deas.
• At that time, Luna had just begun writing his impressions of Madrid in La
Solidaridad under the pen name Taga-Ilog. One of Luna’s opinion
pieces didn’t sit well with Mir Deas, who wrongly attributed the work to
his brother Juan Luna and even described the latter as “ingrate.”
• The younger Luna took matters into his own hands and traveled all the
way from Madrid to Barcelona.
• Luna then returned to Madrid, only to realize that the girl he had been
courting was becoming deeply infatuated with Jose Rizal.

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Rizal’s conflict between Antonio Luna
• The subject of both men’s affection was Nelly
Boustead, the half-Filipina and half-European who
would go down in history as the woman whom
Rizal almost married.
• Luna and Rizal often went on dates with Nelly
and her younger sister, Adelina.
• Rizal first met the Bousteads in Paris in the summer
of 1889, and they had since become part of a
circle of friends also composed of the Luna and
the Pardo de Tavera brothers.
• A love triangle soon blossomed, prompting Luna
to write a letter to Rizal to address the growing
rivalry between them:

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Rizal’s conflict between Antonio Luna
“We have no reason to be cold to each other for many times I asked you if you felt
love for Nelly and you told me no. Consequently I was already sure of you, certain
you are my friend…therefore chico, we ought to continue as friends as I thought we
never ceased to be.”
• But when he realized that Nelly’s heart didn’t belong to him, anxiety got
the better of Antonio Luna.
• The big explosion came in the summer of 1890, when both men
attended a reunion of Filipino exiles in Madrid.
• Antonio Luna got drunk, and as with any person who suddenly
becomes braver under the influence of alcohol, made a sarcastic
remark about Nelly and Rizal. An argument ensued between the two
men, with one of them challenging the other to a duel. But it didn’t
push through thanks to the cooler heads who intervened.

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Rizal’s conflict between Antonio Luna
• Months after the confrontation, Rizal went to France for a vacation,
staying at the Boustead residence in the seaside resort town of Biarritz. It
was here where the affection between the love-struck Jose and Nelly
grew stronger.
• As for the hopeless Luna, he finally conceded and wrote Rizal another
letter, this time without any sign of bitterness:

“With respect to Nelly, frankly, I think there is nothing between us more than one of
those friendships enlivened by being fellow countrymen. It seems to me that there is
nothing more. My word of honor… I believe that she will bring happiness not only to
you but to any other man who is worthy of her. I congratulate you as one
congratulates a friend.”

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CHOOSE FIGHTER !!!
Wenceslao
Retana

Jose
Rizal
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Rizal’s conflict between Wenceslao Retana
• He was a bitter enemy of Rizal in pen.
Press agent of the friars in Spain. He
attacked Filipinos including Rizal, in
various newspaper in Madrid.
• He imprudently wrote an article in La
Epoca, an anti-Filipino newspaper in
Madrid, asserting that the family and
friends of Rizal had not paid their rents so
that they were ejected from their lands
in Calamba by the Dominicans.

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Rizal’s conflict between Wenceslao Retana
• Rizal then challenged Retana to a duel because of the article
the latter wrote. Only Retana’s blood or his apology could
vindicate the good name of Rizal’s family and friends.

• Aware that Rizal was a better swordsman and knowing that he

had no chance of winning, he issued an apology, became an
admirer, and wrote Rizal’s first European biography.

• Retana believed that discretion is the better part of valor, and

more to save his own skin. Retana at once published a retraction
and an apology in the newspapers. The incident silenced
Retana’s pen and he developed a great admiration for Rizal.

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Rizal’s conflict between Wenceslao Retana

• Rizal was not a hot-tempered nor he was

quarrelsome in nature, but if his parents and family
were attack, he never falter nor stammer to fight
just to save them.

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CHOOSE FIGHTER !!!
Marcelo Del
Pilar

Jose
Rizal
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Rizal’s conflict between Marcelo Del Pilar
• Closing days of 1890: There arose
unfortunate rivalry between Rizal and M.H.
del Pilar for supremacy Rizal – Del Pilar
Rivalry
• Rizal was then the undisputed leader of the
Filipinos in Europe.
• Del Pilar was a fearless lawyer-journalist
known for his vigorous editorials in La
Solidaridad, which he came to own.
• Del Pilar has purchased this from Pablo
Rianzares, its first proprietor, and replaced
Graciano Lopez Jaena as its editor.

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Rizal’s conflict between Marcelo Del Pilar
• Rizal tried to imbue his compatriots with his own idealism. This
was to gain prestige for the Propaganda Movement and to win
the respect of the Spanish people.
• His idealism: Possess high standards of morality, dignity and spirit
of sacrifice.
• This was not shared by frivolous countrymen who were more
interested with wine, women and cards. Consequently, Rizal’s
leadership declined.
• Some of his former admirers turned against him because they
resented his interference with their private lives. They became
supporters of Del Pilar

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Rizal’s conflict between Marcelo Del Pilar
• January 1, 1891: the Filipinos in Madrid met to patch up their
differences and to intensify the campaign for reform.
• They decided to have an election to name the Responsable who
was to direct the affairs and determine the editorial policy.
• Del Pilar opposed this as it was a private enterprise, though he was
willing to publish articles that would express the aspirations and
demands of the Filipino people.
• Through Del Pilar’s opposition, the proposition to place La
Solidaridad under the control of the Responsable was abandoned.
• The meeting proceeded to the business of electing the
Responsable. It was agreed that the Responsable should be
elected by a two-thirds vote of the Filipino community.

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Rizal’s conflict between Marcelo Del Pilar
• First week of February, 1891: The election took place.
• There were two hostile camps: the Rizalistas and the Pilaristas
• Passion ran high, inflaming animosity and disunity in the ranks of the
compatriots. On the first day of voting, Rizal was winning, but he could
not obtain the required 2/3rds vote to be proclaimed as the
Responsable. The same thing happened the second day. The situation
was becoming explosive and critical.
• On the third day, Mariano Ponce appealed to his countrymen to vote
for Rizal. Some Pilaristas, evidently, heeded his plea. The voting that day
resulted in Rizal’s victory. He became the Responsable.
• But, Rizal graciously declined the coveted position; he did not relish
being a leader of a divided people. He didn’t want to be the cause of
disunity and bitterness among his countrymen.

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Rizal’s conflict between Marcelo Del Pilar
• Rizal wrote a brief note thanking his compatriots for electing him as
Responsable.
• He then boarded a train leaving for Biarritz
• City of Madrid: a place where he was happy during his first sojourn
(1882-85), but unhappy on his second visit (1890-91)
• This was the last time he saw Madrid
• Rizal’s agonizing heart bade goodbye to the metropolis, of which he
had written years ago:
“Madrid is one of the gayest cities of the world which combines the spirit of
Europe and the East, which has adopted the orderliness, the convenience, the
bon ton of civilized Europe without disdaining, without repelling, the brilliant
colours, the ardent passions, the primitive customs of the African tribes, of the
chivalrous Arabs whose traces are still recognizable everywhere, in the look,
feelings and prejudices of the people and even in their laws.”

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The Founding of La
Liga Filipina
 “Unos Instar
Omnium”
“One Like All”
- The motto of La
Liga Filipina

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La Liga Filipina : ( The Philippine League)
× A progressive organization founded and created by Dr. Jose Rizal in the
Philippines in the house of Doroteo Ongjunco at Ilaya Street, Tondo ,
Manila in July 3, 1892.

× It was derived from the La Solidaridad and the propaganda movement.

× The purpose of this league is to build a new group sought to involve

people directly in the reform movement..

× The league was to be a sort of mutual aid and self-help society dispensing
scholar ship funds and legal aid , loaning capital and settling up
cooperatives;.

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La Liga Filipina : ( The Philippine League)
When upon his return to the Philippines in July,
1892, Rizal organized the La Liga Filipina, this constituted
a forward step in the reformist ideas of the times in the
sense that the new group sought to involve the people
directly in the reform movement. Many elements of
society who were anxious for change were attracted to
the Liga, among them, Andres Bonifacio who became
one of the founders of the organization.

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La Liga Filipina aimed to:
▪ Union of the archipelago into a compact,
vigorous and homogenous body.
▪ Mutual Protection in all cases of pressing
necessity.
▪ Defense against all violence and injustice
▪ Encouragement of education, agriculture and
commerce.
▪Study and application reforms.

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 La Liga Filipina had no intention of rising
up in arms against the government; but the
Spanish officials still felt threatened. On July 6,
1892 only three days after La Liga Filipina’s
establishment, Jose Rizal was secretly arrested.
The next day, Governor General Eulogio
Despujol ordered Rizal’s deportation to
Dapitan, a small, secluded town in
Zamboanga.

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 La Liga Filipina's membership was active
in the beginning; but later, they began to drift
apart. The rich members wanted to continue
supporting the Propaganda Movement; but
the others seemed to have lost all hope that
reforms could still be granted. Andres Bonifacio
was one of those who believed that the only
way to achieve meaningful change was
through a bloody revolution.

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This is a slide title

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 The End of La Liga Filipina, La
Solidaridad and The Propaganda
Movement
End of La Liga Filipina
• Rizal’s arrest to Dapitan marks the end of the Propaganda
movement.

• Radical members like Andres Bonifacio separated from the

movement, believing that it was useless to expect reforms
from the Spaniards.

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End of The Propaganda Movement and La Solidaridad
• For some months, the Compromisarios sent funds to M. H.
del Pilar in Madrid for the continued printing of La
Solidaridad.

• Later, many members stopped paying their contributions so

that the flow of funds to Spain ceased.

• For lacks of funds, La Solidaridad died out after its last issue
on November 15, 1895.

• With the demise of the La Solidaridad, the Propaganda

movement consequently ended.
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The Propaganda Movement failed,
but the ideas of freedom and
justice which it sowed paved the
ground for the Philippine Revolution
that the Katipunan and Andres
Bonifacio began in the hills of
Balintawak in August 1896.

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Good, better, best. Never let it rest.
Until your good is better and your
better is best.
- St. Jerome
-end-

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