JRizal Final Exam

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THE LIFE AND WORKS OF
JOSE RIZAL
Course Description
As mandated by Republic
Act 1425, this course covers the life
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and works of the country’s national
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hero, Jose Rizal. Among the topics
covered are Rizal’s biography and
his writings, particularly the novels
Noli Me Tangere and
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El Filibusterismo, some of his
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essays, and various
correspondences
Expected Learning Outcome
In terms of content, by the end of this
course participants will be able to:
1. Explain the circumstances of Jose
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Rizal’s life in the context of the
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nineteenth century.
2. Explain the context of Rizal’s various
works, particularly his novels Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo,
his annotations of Chapter 8 of Morga,
his essay on Sobre la Indolencia de los
Filipinos, and other works.
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3. Analyze Rizal’s various works.
4. Articulate the significance and
paradoxes of Rizal’s contributions to
Filipino nationalism.
In terms of skills
By the end of this course participants will
be able to;
1. Demonstrate the ability to
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appreciate literary works creatively.
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2. Demonstrate the ability to read
primary sources critically.
3. Communicate meaningfully and
convincingly a particular
interpretation of the past.
4. Produce a creative
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work that conveys the
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significance of Rizal for
the current generation.
In terms of Values
By the end of the course the
participants will be able to ;
1. Recognize the value of differing
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narratives and interpretations of Rizal’s
life and works.
2. Appreciate the importance of
reaching a personal opinion based on
study and discussion.
3. Evaluate one’s specific location in
history and personal relationship to
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nation building.
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4. Work cooperatively with others
COURSE OUTLINE
• To meet the expected learning outcomes,
this course is organized into 12
interrelated parts.
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1. Introduction to the course; Republic Act
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1425 (the rationale in the legislation of
R.A 1425 and the making of Rizal law
R.A1425)
2.19th Century Philippines as Rizal’s Context
COURSE OUTLINE
3.The Life of Jose Rizal
4.Rizal’s life: Family. Childhood and
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Early education
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5.Rizal’s life: Higher Education and Life
abroad
6. Rizal’s life: Exile, Trial and death
COURSE OUTLINE
7. Annotation of Antonio Morga’s
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
8. Noli Me Tangere
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9. EI Filibusterismo
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10. The Philippines: A Century Hence
(Other possible topics: Letter to the
Women of Malolos/The Indolence
of the Filipinos)
11. Jose Rizal and Philippine
Nationalism — Bayani and
Kabayanihan
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12. Jose Rizal and Philippine
Nationalism - National
Symbol
THE RIZAL LAW, LITERATURE AND SOCIETY
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THE RIZAL LAW OR REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1425
AN ACT TO INCLUDE IN THE CURRICULA OF ALL PUBLIC

AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS, COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
COURSES ON THE LIFE, WORKS AND WRITINGS OF
JOSE RIZAL, PARTICULARLY HIS NOVELS NOLI ME
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TANGERE AND EL FILIBUSTERISMO, AUTHORIZING THE
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PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION THEREOF, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES.
Main Proponent: Senator Claro M. Recto
Approved: June 12, 1956
Published in the official Gazette , Vol. 52. N0.6 p.2971 June 1956
The Senate committee on Education sponsored a

bill co-written by both Jose P. Laurel and Claro M.
Recto.
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Opposition: Francisco Soc Rodrigo
Mariano Jesus Cuenco
Decoroso Rosales
The school is recognized as powerful agent of

cultural transmission, RA 1425 or Rizal law was
finally passed only in 1956 sixty years after Jose
Rizal’s death
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Opposing views and conflicting interests made
the passage of Rizal Bill difficult.
The law requires the teaching of the Rizal course

in college and orders the reproduction and
reading of the unexpurgated versions of two
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novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The
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law has made the reading of both novels
obligatory.
Reading of Rizal’s two popular novels were even

forbidden and discouraged in some Catholic
institutions because the novels were considered
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subversive, sacrilegious, scandalous and biased,
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for they exposed the anomalies and immoralities
of the two leading institutions the church and the
state.
Life, Works and writings of Dr. Jose Rizal is

the only mandated – legislated, three unit
course in college.
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May 12, 1956 a compromise inserted by

Committee chairman Jose P. Laurel
accommodated the objectives of Catholic church.
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The bill specified that only college students would
have the option of reading the unexpurgated
versions of Rizal’s novel.
 Original Bill  Revised Version
1. Reading of Noli Me 1. Not compulsory
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Tangere and El
Filibusterismo
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2. No preamble and purposes
3. Original and 3. expurgated

unexpurgated version
should be the basis of
teaching Rizal
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4. Specific that all private
4. This is not mentioned in
and public schools not
implementing this law the revised bill
should be punished
5. Limited only to Noli Me 5. Noli Me Tangere, El

Tangere and El Filibusterismo and all
Filibusterismo writings of Dr, Jose Rizal
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SALIENT POINTS OF RIZAL LAW
There is a need to give utmost importance

to the ideals of freedom, nationalism and
patriotism through an understanding of the
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works and Life of Dr. Jose Rizal. Since the
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schools, among other institution in society,
are in the best position to carry this out, the
compulsory course on Rizal in college is
seen a must.
THE RIZAL LAW AND PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
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Literature is a reflection of the society is a fact

that has been widely acknowledged. Literature
indeed reflects the society, its good values and
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its ills. In its corrective function, literature mirrors
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the ills of the society with a view to making the
society realize its mistakes and make amends. It
also projects the virtues or good values in the
society for people to emulate.
Literature, as an imitation of human action, often

presents a picture of what people think, say and
do in the society. In literature, we find stories
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designed to portray human life and action
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through some characters who, by their words,
action and reaction, convey certain messages for
the purpose of education, information and
entertainment.
First. we have to consider that Rizal novel is a piece of

literature.
Then as a literature the student have to situate themselves

to the novel, the situation and characters.
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The novel should be read in Philippine literature
nationalistic content and realistic detection.
The book should be read as a realistic intervention in the

tradition.
If we teach history in truthful manner we develop

the nationalism and patriotism. The reason why
Rizal annotated Morga’s work and the truth
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exposition of Philippine society in his novel.
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Appreciate the content and the situation during
the time the novel was written.
What is the “danger” or Hazard in Translation?
- You lose the true meaning along the way.

- Grasping the meaning.
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- Biases of the author in relating the actual
situation.
- Creating the comparison
- Existence of heterogenous interpretation
Translation should be truthful in words and in

action.
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WHAT IS “EXCESS” IN LITERATURE?
A term used in the book to refer to the

heterogeneous elements – “the people” the
indigenous, the Chinese, the political error that
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inform but also exceed nationalist attempt and
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for group intellectually an politically the complex
realism to work in Philippine society.
Example of “excess” in relation to Rizal’s novel.
There are many colonial aspects which are not
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mentioned or stated in the novel and they are the
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excess in literature. It does not depict the entire
indigenous communities to cover the
presentation of people in the story
How does excess limit literature and complicate

the learning of patriotism from the novel.
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You cannot expose the reality to move for social
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transformation with the presence of excess.
THE BACKDROP ON
RIZAL'S TIME
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Divine Right Theory - a theory which holds that
the state is of divine creation and the ruler is
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ordained by God to govern the people.
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- was the basis of absolute monarchy in Europe
and in Asia
John Locke:
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Social Contract Theory contends that while
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rulers have the obligation to look after the general
welfare of the people, the latter have the
obligation to support their ruler.
However, when the government becomes oppressive and
arbitrary, it is the right of the people to overthrow a
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despotic ruler.
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-legitimizes revolution as a powerful weapon against an
oppressive and decadent government
Jean Jacques Rousseau: People’s consent alone
legitimizes a government and the processes of
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decision-making must be participated by all.
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He prescribed eternal vigilance on the part of the
governed against their rulers.
Locke and Rousseau: It is right to stage civil
disobedience or to take up arms when a
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government breaks its covenant with the people.
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Locke and Rousseau espoused the theory that
God endowed man with natural rights, such as
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right to life, liberty and property and by entering
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into a social contract, man formed a civil society
to protect his rights.
Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire):
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“Pen is mightier than sword.”
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Mikhael Bakunin espoused anarchy. He hated
all forms of authority believing that society must
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be organized from the bottom upwards by
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spontaneous cooperation or association
G.W.F. Hegel advocated destruction of the old
set-up for the creation of a new one, ascertaining
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that the new set-up will be better than the
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previous one.
As progress takes place, conflicts are inevitable.

Thomas Hobbes:
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Man by nature is selfish, cruel, and always seeking
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self-glorification
Imperialism – a policy of extending the rule
or authority of a nation over foreign
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countries or acquiring colonies and
dependencies.
In 1843 Pope Alexander VI assigned half of the world’s
hemisphere to Spain and the other to Portugal for colonization
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Pacto de Pardo – a contract/compromise between the
Conservatives and the Liberals to alternate in the control of
their colonies
Consejo de Indias (Council of the Indies) – a body which exercised
executive, legislative, and judicial powers through which Spain administered
the Philippines
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The Council of Trent endeavored to legislate moral reforms among the
clergy, to deny the wonder-working powers of images, to tighten the church
bureaucracy, and to officially recognize the absolute authority of the pope as
the earthly vicar of God and of Jesus Christ.
THE PHILIPPINES IN
THE 16 CENTURY
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THE PHILIPPINES IN THE 16TH CENTURY
Reformation in the 16th century was a religious

movement against abuses in the Roman Catholic Church,
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influenced by economic and political factors. It sought to
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restore Christianity to its early purity by subordinating
ecclesiastical tradition to the test of scriptural authority.
Spearheaded by Martin Luther King, a German monk.
Secularism – an advocacy that religious influence should be
restricted in education, morality, politics and economics.
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Liberalism – a political philosophy apparent in Europe in the 19th
century characterized by progressive rather than conservative
attitudes.
Freemasonry
Ascetism
- Abandonment of worldly pursuits
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- Self-denial
Deism
- Rejection of clerical authority, miracles, and mysteries
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- “God is best served by the people serving others justly.”
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Humanism
- Geared towards the total development of man: to cultivate
one’s self, to write well, to speak well, to live well, and to use
these knowledge and skills for the public good.
Humanitarianism
- Advocates respect and protection of human basic rights
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- Condemns the barbaric way of treating prisoners**
Individualism
- A precept which opens avenues for fulfillment of ambitions,
talents and expression of self and individuality
Pantheism
– a belief or theory that God and the universe are identical
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- Synonymous to worship of nature
Frailocracy - a form of government run by the friars.

THE PHILIPPINES IN
THE 19 CENTURY
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RIZAL’S CENTURY
THE PHILIPPINE POLITICAL SYSTEM UNDER SPAIN
- Terms
A. Pacto del Pardo – conservatives and liberals made a
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compromise to alternate in the control of the government, which
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later resulted to the frequent changes of governor general.
B. Consejo de Indias (Council of Indies) – it was a body which
exercised executive. legislative and judicial powers.
C. Recopilacion – Laws of the Indies

D. Las Siete Partidas – Spanish legal code
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E. Friars – they played a very important role in
the process of bringing about peace in the islands.
F. Cumplase – a wide discretionary powers on the

imposition or withholding of the Royal orders by the
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Governor General, who was the sole representative of
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the Spanish crown.
G. Royal Audiencia – the supreme court of the colony an
advisory body to the governor – general.
H. The Residencia – a body composed of the Audiencia and

the incoming governor – general that investigated one’s
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predecessor for acts of graft and corruption.
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I. The Visitadores – a body commissioned by the Crown of
Spain to conduct secret investigation on graft and corrupt
practices of the government officials.
J. Spanish Cortes – the lawmaking body of Spain
THE PHILIPPINE SOCIAL SYSTEM UNDER SPAIN
• The Rise of the Chinese Mestizo and inquilinos

Mestizo de Sangley or Chinese mestizo is a term used in the
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Philippines beginning in the Spanish Colonial Period to describe and
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classify a person of pure Chinese ancestry. The Spanish used the term
mestizo de sangley to refer to a person of mixed Chinese and
indigenous/Indio (Filipino) ancestry (the latter were referred to as
Indio)
THE RISE OF THE CHINESE MESTIZO AND
INQUILINOS
• The Chinese immigrants and their descendants played

important roles in the Philippines, contributing to trade, culture
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and politics.
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• The Chinese had entered the Philippines as traders prior to
Spanish colonization. That development increased some work
and business opportunities. Many migrated to the Philippines,
establishing concentrated communities first in Manila, then in
other cities.
INQUILINOS
• In 16th to 19th century Spanish Philippines, the term mestizo de

sangley differentiated ethnic Chinese from other types of island
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mestizos (such as those of mixed Indio and Spanish ancestry,
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who were fewer in number. Their Indio ancestry (generally on
the maternal side) made the Chinese mestizos be granted the
legal status of colonial subjects of Spain, with certain rights and
privileges denied to the pure-blooded Chinese immigrants
(sangleys).
INQUILINOS
• As an example, in the late 19th century, the author José

Rizal was classified as mestizo de sangley due to his
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partial Chinese ancestry. But he also had indigenous and
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Spanish ancestors, and classified as Indio.
INQUILINOS
• From the time the Chinese mestizos became numerous enough to be

classified separately, the population of those parts of the Philippines that
were controlled by Spain was formally divided into four categories.
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1. Spaniards and Spanish Mestizo – who did not pay the tribute
2. Indios - (Malayan inhabitants of the archipelago who are now called
Filipinos).
3. Chinese
4.Chinese Mestizos
INQUILINOS
• The last three of these groups were considered tribute – paying

classes, but the amount of these tribute payments and the services
demanded of them varied.
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• Normally, the indio paid the lowest tribute.
• The Chinese mestizo paid double the tribute paid by the indio. The
stated reason being that he was assumed to have approximately
double the earning capacity of the indio.
INQUILINOS
• The Chinese. in term, paid a much larger tribute than that paid
by the Chinese Mestizo, again, on the grounds that his earning
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capacity was larger than that of the mestizos.
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• It would seem, therefore, that in Spanish thinking and
economics had certain correlation.
INQUILINOS
• Spanish policy may have been grounded more in economic and

social reality. Throughout most of the Spanish period the Indio
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and the Mestizo also had to supply a fixed amount of forced
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labor every year, an obligation that did not fall upon the
Chinese
INQUILINOS
• This posed a problem for mestizos who wished to be

considered Indios or Chinese, or for the Indios of
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mestizo heritage on their mother’ side who might wish
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to be considered mestizo. But there is evidence that
the system was not inflexible and that there were
procedures by which one could change his status.
INQUILINOS
• The lineage history of Jose Rizal, as given by Austin Craig, is to the point
here, purely in terms of his ancestry. Rizal might be considered a fifth
generation Chinese mestizo. His paternal ancestor, a catholic Chinese
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named Domingo Lamco. Married a Chinese Mestiza. Their son and
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grandson both married Chinese Mestizas. This grandson, having achieved
wealth and status in his locality, was able to have his family transferred
from the mestizo pardon or tax census register, to that of the indios. Thus,
Rizal’s father, and Rizal himself, were considered Indio.
THE PHILIPPINE ECONOMIC SYSTEM UNDER
SPAIN
A. Tribute or Buwis
B. Polo y Servicio Personal or Forced Labor
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C. Bandala System
D. Galleon Trade
E. Suez Canal
F. Opening of Ports
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G. The Rise of the Export Crops
THE CRITERIA FOR HEROES
Who declares if anyone is a hero?
No law, executive order or
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proclamation has been enacted or
issued officially proclaiming any
Filipino historical figure as a national
hero.
How did Jose Rizal become a hero?
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Rizal hero status was made by the
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acclamation of the Filipino people.
This become the object of public
worship and accolades are heaped
upon him.
This could be seen in;
• Singular tributes to his honor.
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• It may even be manifested physically
through the erection of streets and
naming of streets and buildings after
him.
The test of a person’s heroism

becomes stronger if the person is
acclaimed long after his death and by
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people who are not of his generation.
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This means the appreciation of his
life and achievements spans beyond
his life.
According to National Historical

Institute (NHI) presently the National
Historical Commission of the
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Philippines;
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* The passage of 50 years before a
person is finally confirmed as a hero.
* If the person is still and being

admired after that period and his
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ideas and ideals are still invoked and
appreciated, the person has passed
the test of time and considered a
hero.
DEFINITION OF A HERO
*An admirable leader towering over

his peers, who serves a noble cause,
possessing exceptional talent,
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distinguished valor,
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*Exercise a determinative influence
over the spiritual life of his people in
a particular remarkable event
The criteria also mention that;
“the hero must, during extreme stress
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and difficulties project himself by his
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own fortitude, by his own sacrifices to
be the inspiration of his countrymen
in leading them to their rightful
destiny.
He must exhibit self-denial and

abandon his personal interests to
place those of his country before any
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other, and whose deeds and acts are
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proudly emulated by our grateful
people that, after his death, render
him singular tribute,
honor him with public worship, and

acknowledge his meritorious services
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to mankind by spontaneous national
recognition.
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PERSON TO
BE EXAMINED BEFORE HE CONSIDERED A
HERO.
The historical committee of the
National Heroes Commission came
out with;
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1. Motives and methods employed in
the attainment of the ideal (e,g.,
welfare of the country).
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A PERSON TO
BE EXAMINED BEFORE HE CONSIDERED A
HERO.
2. The moral character of the person
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3. The influence of the person to his
age or epoch and the succeeding
eras.
Name : Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y
Alonso Realonda
Born: June 19,1861
Calamba Laguna, between
eleven and twelve midnight.
Nickname: ‘PEPE’
Famous works: Noli Me tangere and El
Filibusterismo ( Novels)
Organization: La Solidaridad, La Liga
Filipina
Died: December 30, 1896
On June 22, 1861 3 days after birth he was baptized in
Calamba Catholic church by the Parish Priest Rev.
Rufino Collantes a Batangueño priest with Fr. Pedro
Casañas as Sponsor.
He was named ‘Jose’ in honor of San Jose (St. Joseph)

because her mother was a devotee to the saint.
Happiest days of Rizal in Calamba Laguna
§ He loved to climb the fruit trees in their

backyard where he spent his leisure time.
§ From his nipa cottage built by his father,
he loved to watch the fowls,birds and
plants in the garden.
§ From his azotea he watched the moon in
the sky after the night rosary.
• at night fall he joined his parents and sisters to pray the
daily angelus.
• He used to take a walk during moonlight in the town plaza
by the river and the lakes accompanied by his aya Ina
Munda.
• He loved to listen his aya telling about fairies. imaginary
tales, legend and folklores.
• At the age of three, he goes with his mother to the church
to take novena and jointhe religious procession.
• One’s childhood memories and experiences he had with
his family is a big factor that could contribute to the
person that he is. In this lesson, Jose Rizal’s memories
and experiences are recalled, and people would learn to
appreciate and value what they had in their younger
days. One’s family background plays a vital role.
According to St. Augustine, “Peace on society depends
upon peace in the family”. Thus, a child brought up in
a peaceful family could be a contributor to a peaceful
society.
JOSE RIZAL’S ANCESTORS
• “He had Chinese blood from his father’s side and
Spanish and Japanese from his mother’s side.
Recent genealogical research even traces him to
Lacan Dula (one of the chiefs met by the first
Spaniards in Manila).”
• Lacan Dula (Fr. Victor Badillo S.J.) / Lakan
Dula (Zaide and Zaide, 2008) was said to be the last
native king of Tondo.
RIZAL'S FAMILY
PATERNAL SIDE
• “R izal’s gre at - g r e at pat e r n al

grandfather was a Chinese
merchant named Domingo Lamco.
He married a Chinese mestiza
named Ines de la Rosa and they
migrated from Parian to Biñan
and settled in the Dominican-
owned estate as Tenants.”
(Emiliano C. de Catalina)
MATERNAL SIDE
• “Rizal’s maternal great grandfather was a
Chinese lawyer from Pangasinan. His name
was Manuel de Quintos and he married a
Japanese descent woman, Regina Ursua. They
had a daughter named Brigida de Quintos, a
well-educated woman and a good
mathematician. She marri e d a we al t h y
engineer, Lorenzo Alonso and they had five
children. One was named Teodora Alonso, who
was the mother of Jose Rizal.Jose Rizal was a
product of a blend of races. The blood which
flowed into his veins were amalgamated.
MERCADO - RIZAL
• MERCADO - it means Market - Jose’s Family Name

• RIZAL - From the word RICIAL which means
Greenfield or green pasture
• He used the second surname RIZALwhen he started
schooling at the Ateneo.
THE RIZAL HOME
• The Rizal’s house was

one of the distinguish
stone houses in calamba
during the Spanish
times the house was two
storey earth quake proof
structure, rectangular in
shape built of adobe stone
and hard woods
THE RIZAL HOME
• The Rizal family owned one of the known stone houses in
the town during Spanish Era. The hero was born in the two-
storey building. Dr. Rafael Palma, one of the prestigious
biographers of Jose Rizal, described the house as a high and
even sumptuous, solid and massive earthquake-proof
structure with sliding shell windows. Thick wall of lime and
stone bounded the first floor; the second floor was made
entirely of wood except for the roof, which was of red tile. At
the back there was an azotea and a wide, deep cistern to hold
rain water for home use.
THE PRINCIPALIA
• The “principalia” or the noble class was the educated upper
class in the towns during the Spanish colonial era. Rizal
family was one of those who belonged to principalia and was
of the dignified families in Calamba. They raised livestock.
The versatile matriarch of the Rizal family operated a home-
made ham press and a flour-mill, and at the same time
managed a commodity store. They owned a carriage which
was a status symbol. They also had a private library which
consisted of more than a thousand volumes. They were able
send their children to the colleges in Manila. They were
hospitable hosts to all guests of their home.
THE RIZAL’S HOME LIFE
• The Rizal children were loved by their parents, but they

were not spoiled. They were trained to behave well, be
obedient and respectful, and above all, to love God. Any
mischief of a Rizal child was a tantamount to a sound
spanking. Prayers were said daily in Rizal home.
MERCADO'S Children
• Saturina (1851-1913) - she was the eldest of
the Rizal children her husband was Manuel T.
Hidalgo of Tanaunan, Batangas her nickname
was “Neneng”
• Paciano (1851-1930) - he was the older brother
of Dr. Jose Rizal. After the execution of
Dr.Jose Rizal he joined the Spanish Philippine
Revolution. He died an old bachelor though
he has a common law wife Severina Decena
they had two (2) children a boy and a girl
• Narcisa (1852-1939) - she was married to
Antonio Lopez ( nephew of father Leoncio Lopez)
a school teacher of moron Rizal. Her pet name was
“sisa”
• Olympia (1855-1887) - she was married to
Silvestre Ubaldo a telegraph operator from
manila ,her nickname was “ypia”
• Lucia (1857-1919) - she was married to Mariano
Herbosa of calamba. Herbosa died of cholera in
1889 and was denied Christian burial because he
was a brother in law of Dr. Jose Rizal.
• Maria ( 1859-1945) she was married to Daniel
Faustino Cruz of Binañ, Laguna her nickname was
“bing”
• Jose (1861-1896) he was considerd as a “lucky
seven” in the family. He lived with Josephine
Bracken a pretty Irish girl from Hong Kong Rizal
had a” son” by her by the name “ Francisco”
named after his father but the son died after few
hours after birth and was buried in Dapitan. Rizal’s
nickname was “PePe”
• Conception (1862-1865) - died at the age of
three(3) because of the illness. Her death was
Rizal’s first sorrow. Her pet name was “concha”
• Josefa ( 1865-1845) - she was remained single. Her
pet name was “ panggoy”she died at the age of 80.
• Trinidad ( 1868-1951) - like Josefa, she died an old
maid at the age of 83. her pet name was”trining”
• Solidad ( 1870-1929) - she was the youngest of
the Rizal’s children. She was married to Pantaleon
Quintero of Calamba. Her pet name was “chelong”
CHILDHOOD YEARS IN CALAMBA
THE HERO’S TOWN
• Calamba was named after a big native jar (banga). The
Dominican Order owned the hacienda town (Calamba), and
all the lands around it. Jose Rizal was born in this town. It
was a small agricultural town which yielded bountiful
harvest. Located near the famous Mount Makiling and the
fertile plains of Laguna de Bay’s southern shores. Rizal’s
love for Calamba was deep, that when he was 15 years old
and a student of Ateneo de Manila, he wrote a poem, “Un
Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town).
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
• Jose Rizal’s joyful days in the family garden when he
was three years old was his first childhood memory. He
was a sickly and an undersized child. They employed
an old woman (aya) to look after him and his comfort.
Another memory of his childhood was the daily prayer
of the Angelus.
JOSE RIZAL’S FIRST GRIEF
• The hero’s first grief was caused by the

death of Concepcion (Concha), his younger
sister. The eighth child of the family died at
the age of three because of sickness.
Concepcion was a year younger than Jose
Rizal. Rizal was closer to Concha.
DEVOTION TO THE CHURCH
• Jose Rizal was brought up a good Catholic. He

began to join in the family prayers when he was
three years old. He was able to read haltingly the
Spanish Bible, was taught the Catholic prayers
by his mother, Doña Toedora. At a young age, he
was already a devoted son of the Catholic Church.
The town priest, Father Leoncio Lopez, was one of
the men in Calamba esteemed by him.
THE ANTIPOLO PILGRIMAGE
• In order to fulfill Doña Teodora’s promise, Don Francisco and
Jose Rizal left Calamba for a pilgrimage to Antipolo, on June
6, 1868. Rizal’s mother was not able to go with them because
she had given birth to her tenth child, Trinidad. It was
Rizal’s first pilgrimage to Antipolo, and his first time to
traverse Laguna de Bay. The father and son went to Manila
after they prayed at the shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo.
They visited Saturnina who was a student of La Concordia
College in Santa Ana and it was Rizal’s first visit to
Manila.
Dr. Jose P. Rizal
Jose Protacio Mercado Rizal y Alonso Realonda (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896),
was a Filipino nationalist, novelist, poet, ophthalmologist, journalist, and a revolutionary. He is
widely considered the greatest national hero of the Philippines. He was the author of the Noli Me
Tangere, El Filibusterismo, and a number of poems and essays.
He was executed on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish
Army. He returned to the Philippines in 1892, but was exiled due to his desire for reform.
Although he supported peaceful change, Rizal was convicted of sedition and executed on
December 30, 1896, at age 35. On June 19, 1861, Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda
was born in Calamba in the Philippines’ Laguna Province. A brilliant student who became
proficient in multiple languages, Jose Rizal studied medicine in Manila in 1882 he travelled to
Spain to complete his medical degree. While in Europe, Jose Rizal became part of the Propaganda
Movement, connection with other Filipinos who wanted reform.
He also wrote his first novel, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not/The Social Cancer), a work
that detailed the dark aspects of Spain’s colonial rule in the Philippines, with particular focus on
the role of Catholic friars. The book was banned in the Philippines, though copies were smuggled
in. Because of this novel, Rizal’s return to the Philippines in 1887 was cut short when he was
targeted by police. Rizal returned to Europe and continued to write, releasing his follow up novel.
El FIlibusterismo (The Reign of Greed) in 1891.
He also published articles in La Solidaridad, a paper aligned with the Propaganda
Movement. The reforms Rizal advocated for did not include independence – he called for equal
treatment of Filipinos, limiting the power of Spanish friars and representation for the Philippines
in the Spanish Cortes (Spanish’s parliament). Rizal returned to the Philippines in 1892, feeling he
needed to be in the country to effect change. Although the reform society he founded, the Liga
Filipino (Philippine League), supported non-violent action, Rizal was still exiled to Dapitan, on
the island of Mindanao.
During the four years Rizal was in exile, he practiced medicine and took on students. In
1895, Rizal asked for permission to travel to Cuba as an army doctor. His request was approved,
but in August 1896, Katipunan, a nationalist Filipino society founded by Andres Bonifacio,
revolted. Though he had no ties to the group, and disapproved of its violent methods, Rizal was
arrested shortly thereafter. After a show trial, Rizal was convicted of sedition and sentenced to
death by firing squad. Rizal’s public execution was carried out in Manila on December 30, 1896,
when he was 35 years old.
His execution created more opposition to Spanish rule. Spain’s control of the Philippines
ended in 1898, though the country did not gain lasting independence until after World War II.
Rizal remains a nationalist icon in the Philippines for helping the country take its steps forward
independence. The greatest contribution of Dr. Jose Rizal in our country is the two novel he
written, the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, by this many Filipinos awaken by the slavery
of Spaniards to the Filipinos, He used these two writings instead of holding a sword against the
Spaniards.
He proved to everybody that pen is mightier that a sword. He also organized the first
cooperative in the Philippines while in exile in Dapitan. The Rizal’s day sculptures. Including the
one entitled Prometheus Bound, are very original. They are not only pleasing to look at, but also
show social issues. Rizal used art as a medium to-effect social change. Rizal’s pencil sketches also
show techniques that were later used in comic strips. For these, the historian Gregorio Zaide
nicknamed Rizal as the “Leonardo da Vinci of the Philippines”. He was also an exemplary example
of the Filipino Values.
He also advocated a peaceful and a diplomatic wat to speak out Spanish indifferences.
Andres Bonifacio on the other hand, advocated a bloody revolution, which is against the Filipino
value of life. He also made anthropological researches on the physical and social make up man.
He also experimented on various plants as he practiced horticulture. He also made researches on
the physiology, classification and habits of animals. Aside from being an ophthalmologist, he
practiced engineering and constructed a water system while in exile in Dapitan.
His death gave new courage to the Filipinos like Emilio Aguinaldo to defend Filipino
people from foreign accusations of foolishness and lack of knowledge; to show how the Filipino
people lives during Spanish colonial period and the cries and woes of his countrymen against
abusive officials; to discuss what religion and belief can really do to everyday lives; and to expose
the cruelties, graft, and corruption of the false government at honesty show the wrongdoings of
Filipino that led to further failure. Dr. Jose Rizal Mercado y Alonso is by far, without a doubt, the
greatest hero this nation can ever have.
Ever since very foundation of our early education, we have been taught about a man to
whom we owe the sweet taste of independence we now have the privilege to enjoy. Rafael Palma,
a person of great significance once said, “The doctrines of Rizal are not for one epoch, but for all
epochs, they are as valid today as they were yesterday and it will still be strongly valid in the
future. This signifies the immortality of Rizal’s life, works and genuine character. And as our
beloved country’s National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal will be remembered, forever.
That we can be sure of. However, the world will never run out of skeptics. Some have lead
themselves to believe that Dr. Rizal was a made-to-order hero: one that personifies what we want
to see in a person, or in a hero, for this matter. But we strongly believe, that these opinions hold
no truth. Dr. Jose Rizal was a very real human being. One who had his share of mistakes, and
heartaches, but nevertheless stood for what he believed in, and lead his nation to freedom. Who
made Jose Rizal our foremost national hero, and why?
But before we can come up with a logical answer to that, we must first look into the
character and works of Dr. Jose Rizal that made him our national hero. First and foremost, as stated
by the authors Gregorio and Sonia Zaide in the book Jose Rizal, Dr. Jose Rizal is our greatest hero
because he took an “admirable part” in that movement which roughly covered the period from
1882-1896. His wondrous magic with words in his writings, had a tremendous contribution to the
formation of Filipino nationality, lead his fellow men to assert their right to our nation.
Dr. Rizal’s works sparked a flame that set us free. The Authors have previously stated.”…
No Filipino has yet been born who could equal or surpass Rizal as “person of distinguished valor
or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering” this is the second point. We can all agree about
the fact that not one citizen of the country had yet to show the same characteristics, or had done
the bravest of acts for His country as Dr. Jose Rizal. Considering his natural endowments –
intelligence, wealth, influence – Dr. Jose Rizal could’ve chosen a life in prosperity, up, up and
away in another island.
But instead, he dedicated his life into writing for the sake of his love for public service to
the Filipino people, and the Philippines and, lastly, Rizal is the greatest Filipino hero because he
is “a man honored after death by public worship, because of exceptional service to mankind.
“(Gregorio and Sonia Zaide, Jose Rizal). Dr. Jose Rizal is not only highly acclaimed up to this
very time because of the exemplary literature we still study to this day.
He is still very highly remembered and ever adored because of his conviction, service, and great
love for the Filipino people, and the country. This is because he is still celebrated years after he
left the face of the earth. He was a great leader, who offered exceptional service to mankind. Going
back to our main question. Who made Dr. Jose Rizal our foremost national hero, and why? My
answer is going to be brief, and simple. Not one person or organization can be held responsible for
making Dr. Jose Rizal our national hero.
Rizal himself, his own people, and the foreigners all together contributed to make him the greatest
hero and martyr of his people. This is because, Dr. Jose Rizal didn’t become our National Hero by
way of traditional election. The fruits of his exceptional died dedication and conviction to his life’s
purpose are seen in our everyday lives. If he hadn’t, and among other note-worthy heroes of our
history fought for our well-deserved freedom, maybe we’ll still be in the hands of our unjust
captors. His “excellent qualities and merits” (Rafael Palma) made him Our Foremost National
Hero.
Sonia S. Daquila Ph.D, Seeds of Freedom 2008.

Jose Rizal’s
Travels
Philippines
Spain
Marseilles
Barcelona
Barcelona,
Spain
Madrid, Spain
Universidad
Central de
Madrid
Circulo Hispano
- Filipino
Revisita de Madrid
Diaryong Tagalog
Las Dudas
Rizal in PARIS,
FRANCE
Rizal Back in Madrid
• 28 September 1883
He enrolled at Universidad Central de
Madrid in Medicine.
• October 1883
He came to know the imprisonment
by order of Sr. Vicente Barrantes, of
the 14 rich innocent persons in
Manila. The prisoners who knew
nothing in the cause of their detention
and who became sick later, were kept
in a humid prison cell. Rizal was
indignant of this human act.
Rizal Back in Madrid
2 January 1884
Rizal proposed to the member of
the Circulo assembled in the
house of the Pateros, the
publication of the book by
association. This idea became the
embryo of this first novel Noli Me
Tangere.
Licentiate in
Medicine
BRINDIS
July 1884
Rizal explained the term
Filibusterismo in the newspaper of
Madrid El Progreso calling the
attention of the Spanish
authorities over the case of the
future of the Filipinos. He asked
for freedom of the press and the
right of representation in the
Spanish Cortes.
From July 17, 1892 to
July 31, 1896 – a period
of four years and 13
days –Jose Rizal lived the
life of a political exile in
Dapitan, the northern
Mindanao which today
is part of the province of
Zamboanga del Norte,
near Dipolog.
THANK
YOU!
Dr. Jose Rizal’s Educational
Background
Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
• Ateneo De Municipal
Manila • University of Sto. Thomas
• Madrid, Spain
Europe • Paris, France
• Heidelberg, Germany
Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
• Madrid, Spain
Dona Teodora
Ø Mother of Jose Rizal
Ø Patient, conscientious, and
understanding
Ø Discovered that her son had a
talent for poetry
Ø She encouraged him to write
poems
• At the age of 3, Rizal learned the alphabet from his
mother.
• At the age of 5, while learning to read and write, Rizal

already showed inclinations to be an artist. He astounded
his family and relatives by his pencil drawings and
s ke t c h e s a n d b y h i s m o l d i n g s o f c l ay.
• At the age of 8, Rizal wrote a Tagalog poem, "Sa Aking

Mga Kabata," the theme of which revolves on the love of
one’s language.
• Rizal’s parents employed private tutors to give him lessons at
home.
• f
• Maestro Celestino – first private tutor

• f
• Maestro Lucas Padua – second private tutor

• f
• Leon Monroy
– Former classmate of Rizal’s father
– Lived at the Rizal home
– Instructed Rizal in Spanish and Latin.
He had private tutors hired by his parents. Maestro
Celestino and Maestro Lucas also hired Leon Monroy, a
Spanish and latin teacher of Rizal and lives in Rizal's
home. When Leon Monroy died, they transferred Jose
Rizal to Biñan accompanied by his brother Paciano who
lived in their aunt house. He was brought to the school
of Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz. The school was a
small nipa hut. Bullied by the son of the teacher named
Pedro. Jose challenged Pedro to a fight, he defeated
Pedro with wrestling and became famous. Old Juancho,
an artist who gave him free lessons in painting and
drawing.
Photo grabbed from: biyahengjuansided.com
The Moth and the Flame was a story told by Doña
Teodora to her son, Jose Rizal. This happened one
night when all the family went to bed early,
except Jose Rizal and his mother. All Filipino
homes at that time always had a light left burning
the entire night. So was the Rizal home, and at
that particular night their room was dimly lighted
by the only light of coconut oil.
While Jose Rizal’s mother was focused in
teaching him to read in Spanish, she was
losing her patience upon hearing the boy
poorly read. She decided to tell the boy a
story instead. (When Doña Teodora’s
eyesight was still good, she reads very well).
The mention of the story, brought Jose
Rizal’s sleepy eyes wide open.
As his mother was telling him the story of the
young moth which did not listen to the warning
of the old moth, his attention was caught by
real, live, moths circling around the light, as if
the story turned into a reality. If the moths
were attracted to the light, to little Jose Rizal,
the light seemed to be more beautiful, and the
flame more attractive.
• He was envious to the fortune of those
winged insects which joyously frolicked
around the flame. He saw the tongue of
the flame rolled to a side, and into the oil
fell the moth fluttering for a time. That
sight, for him, was worth his youthful
admiration.
That was considered a great event by Jose Rizal.
O bliv io u s o f his m o t h e r ’ s p r e s e n c e a n d n o t
noticing the story’s end, his attention was focused
on the face of the expired insect. With his whole
soul, he watched the insect, the insect which for
him… had died a martyr to its illusions.
While putting Jose Rizal to bed, his mother said:
“See that you do not behave like the young moth.
Don’t be disobedient, or you may get burnt as it
did.”
He was not sure if he answered, for what
was in his mind was the realization that,
moths were not insignificant warning of the
old moth, left a deep impress on Jose Rizal’s
mind. He had given justification to the
demise of the moth, saying that “to sacrifice
one’s life for it” (ideal), is worthwhile. Jose
Rizal was fated to die as a martyr for a
noble ideal…like that young moth.
• The story of the moth is about dying a noble
death- to be a martyr -Rizal justified such
noble death asserting that "to sacrifice one's
life for it, is worthwhile. -Rizal compared
himself to the young moth in the story, and
like the moth, he died a martyr death in
search for education, reforms for his
people/country.
Rizal's influences while growing up:
A. Hereditary influence: He inherited his

sense of self-respect and the love of work
from his mother. He inherited his
enthusiasm for literature and arts, and self-
sacrifice from his mother.
• B. Environmental influence: He learned the courtesy
and kindness to women from his sisters. He learned
the love for freedom and justice from his only brother,
Paciano. The brothers of his mother developed his
artistic ability, his interest in physical exercise and his
love for reading books. His character was fortified by
the abuses of the Spaniards. His spirit of nationalism,
and his willingness to sacrifice for the redemption of
his oppressed countrymen were awakened through
the execution of the three martyr priests: Gomez,
Burgos, and Zamora.
• C. Divine Providence: Jose Rizal's greatest
influence was Divine Providence or God's
intervention throughout his life.
Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
• Madrid, Spain
• June, 1869 - Rizal left for Binan
• Accompanied by Paciano, his older brother
• He was taught by Maestro Justiniano Aquino Cruz
• In academic studies, Rizal beat all Binan boys
• He surpassed them all in Spanish, Latin, and other
subjects
Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
• Madrid, Spain
• He belonged to the class
composed of Spaniards,
mestizos and Filipinos
• His teacher was Fr. Jose
Bech
• To improve his Spanish
Rizal took private lessons
in Santa Isabel College
Photo grabbed from: ajiedurante.blogspot.com
• During his 4th year in
Ateneo he received 5
medals and graduated as
sobresaliente
• He graduated on March 23,
1877(16 years old)
• Received the degree of
Bachiller en Artes, with
highest honors.
Photo grabbed from: ajiedurante.blogspot.com
• Wrote his first poem “Mi Primera Inspiracion” (My First
Inspiration) which was dedicated to his mother on her
birthday.
• He also wrote “Through
Education Our
Motherland Receives
Light” and “The Intimate
Alliance Between Religion
and Good Education”
which showed the
importance of religion in
education. Photo grabbed from: ateneo.edu
Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
Manila • University of Sto.
Thomas
• Madrid, Spain
• After graduated from Ateneo, he continued his
education at the UST, as a medical student.
• As a Thomasian, he won more literary laurels
• During his first term in 1877-1878 in medical course
at the UST, he studied Cosmology, Metaphysics,
Theodicy and History of Philosophy.
Medical Studies in University
of Sto. Thomas (1877-1882)
• It was during the school term
1878-1879 that Rizal pursued his
studies in medicine.
• Shifted to Medicine specializing
in Ophthalmology when he
found out that his mother was
going blind.
Photo grabbed from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Rizal
He also enrolled in Ateneo, a course of surveying. November 25,
1881, he was entitled “Perito Agrimensor” (expert surveyor). He
was the president of the Academy of Natural Science and
secretary of Marian Congregation in Ateneo. He pursued his
studied in medicine in UST. One of the reasons is, he wanted to
cure his mother's eye sight. He consulted Fr. Rector of Ateneo for
career choice.
Rizal received his 4 year practical training in Medicine at the
Hospital de San Juan de Dios in Intramuros. Rizal cut
relationship with Segunda Katigbak. He courted another
woman in Calamba called Miss L. Rizal experienced Spanish
cruelty and brutality from a Lieutenant of guardia civil whom
he just passed by and failed to show his respect. His life in UST
wasn't great, filipino students often get bullied and been
called Indio or chongo. Filipino called the Spaniards Kastila or
bangus. UST was strict to the filipinos that Rizal was not able
to get high honors. Rizal made the decision to finish medical
studies in Spain.
• Rizal was unhappy at this Dominican Institution of
higher learning because:
1. The Dominican professors were hostile to him
2. The Filipino students were racially discriminated
by the Spaniards
3. The method of instruction was obsolete and
repressive
• After finishing the fourth
year of his medical course,
Rizal decided to study in
Spain. He could no longer
endure the rampant
bigotry, discrimination,
and the hostility in the
University of Santo Tomas.
Photo grabbed from: pinterest.ph
Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
• Madrid, Spain
• His departure to Spain was made secret and made a farewell
letter to his parents and Leonor Rivera.To avoid detection, he
used the name Jose Mercado
• May 3, 1882 was his departure. He boarded on Salvadora bound
to Singapore. He then transferred to a French streamer, Djemnah.
The steamer made a few stops to Ceylon and to Suez canal.
Djemnah traversed the Suez canal for 5 days. The steamer had
another stop at port side and finally docking at the harbor of
Marseilles, France on June 12, 1882. June 16, 1882 - Jose reached
Barcelona.
• On November 3, 1882, he enrolled in Universidad Central
de Madrid taking up two courses: Philosophy and Letters
and Medicine
• In the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando he studied
sculpture and painting under private instructors. He took
lessons in English, French and German and practiced
fencing and shooting.
• On June 21, 1884, he conferred the degree of Licentiate in
Medicine.
• The Following academic year, he studied and passed all
subjects leading to the degree of doctor of medicine.
• Unfortunately, he was not able to submit the thesis
required for graduation nor paid the corresponding fees
• With that, he was not awarded his Doctor’s Diploma
• Jose Rizal also finished his studies in Philosophy and
Letters with higher grades
• He was awarded the Degree in Philosophy and letters by
the Universidad Central de Madrid on June 19, 1885 with
the rating of excellent.
Photo grabbed from: townandcountry.ph Photo grabbed from: ucm.es
• It was a venue for realizing Rizal’s dreams.
• He finished his studies in Madrid and this to him was the
realization of the bigger part of his ambition.
• His vision broadened to the point of awakening in him an
understanding of human nature, sparking in him the
realization that his people needed him.
• It must have been this sentiment that prompted him to
pursue, during the re-organizational meeting of the Circulo-
Hispano-Filipino, to be one of its activities, the publication of
a book to which all the members would contribute papers on
the various aspects and conditions of Philippines life.
• The idea of writing a novel grew on him, and later he
decided to write and worked hard for Noli Me
Tangere.
• He never told anyone about it until it was finished,
though some of his companions knew what he was
doing.
• He wrote half of the novel in Madrid, a quarter of it
in Paris and the rest in Germany.
Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
• Madrid, Spain
• Jose Rizal went to Paris and Germany in order to
specialize in ophthalmology. Among all branches, he
chose this specialization because he wanted to cure
his mother’s failing eyesight.
• In 1885, after studying at the Universidad Central de
Madrid, Rizal, who was then 24 years old, went to
Paris to acquire more knowledge in opthalmology
University of Paris
Photo grabbed from: larousse.fr

Early • Calamba
Education • Binan
• Madrid, Spain
• On February 3, 1886, after gathering
some experience in ophthalmology,
he left Paris and went to Heidelberg,
Germany
• At the age of 25, Rizal completed in
1887 his eye specialization under
the renowned Prof. Otto Becker in
Heidelberg
Photo grabbed from: travel.wikinut.com
Photo grabbed from: heidelberg.edu
• On April 22, 1886, Rizal wrote a poem entitled A Las
Flores de Heidelberg (To the Flowers of Heidelberg)
because he was fascinated by the blooming flowers
along the Neckar River, which was the light blue
flower called “forget-me-not”.
• On August 14, 1886, Rizal arrived in Leipzig. There, he
attended some lectures at the University of Leipzig
on history and psychology
• to gain further his studies in Science and
languages
• to observe the economic and political
conditions of the German nation
• to associate with the famous scientists and
scholars
• lastly to publish his novel Noli Me Tangere
• Jose Rizal earned a Licentiate in Medicine at the
Universidad Central de Madrid, where he also took
courses in philosophy and literature.
• It was in Madrid that he began writing Noli Me Tangere.
• He also attended classes in the University of Paris
• In 1887, he completed his eye specialization course at the
University of Heidelberg.
• It was also in that year that Rizal’s first novel was
published in Berlin.
• Jose Rizal lived in Europe for 10 years.
• He could converse in more than 10 different tongues. (22
languages - he is a linguist).
• Excelled at martial arts, fencing, sculpture, painting,
teaching, anthropology, and journalism, among other
things.
• During his European sojourn, he also began to write
novels. Rizal finished his first book, Noli Me Tangere,
while living in Wilhemsfeld with the Reverend Karl Ullmer.
References
• http://www.joserizal.ph/ed01.html
• https://joserizalproject.weebly.com/jose-rizalrsquos-
educational-background.htm
• http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~fasawwu/resources/rizal/biograp
hy.htm
• http://asianhistory.about.com/od/profilesofasianleaders/p/
joserizalbio.htm
• http://www.joserizal.ph/ed02.html
• http://joserizal.info/Biography/man_and_martyr/chapter04.
htm
The Women in
Jose Rizal’s Life
• Women are to be worthy of respect..... not just because they give us
lives, but also because of what they do to people’s lives.
• Aside from Doña Teodora, the woman, who played a very important
role in Jose Rizal’s life, and his siblings, who were supportive of him,
there were also other women who were part of his life. They
contributed in one way or another to Jose Rizal when he was still alive
and even until now that he is gone. It might not make him less of the
hero, he is, to people today if we discuss a bit about his relationships
with women.
• By choosing the love of his country over the love for 0-Sei-San, whom
he was already tempted to settle with, Jose RIzal had shown his
patriotism. Had it not been for the giving up of that woman, (and
other women - Gertrude Beckett, Nelly Boustead ....) it would not be
known that Rizal loved his country more than he is loved those
women.
• It was also through his relationship with another woman that he had
shown how he was valued friendship (with his rival). Giving up the
woman for the sake of their friendship.
• “Every woman is beautiful. It just takes the right man to see it.” Jose
Rizal could be the right man to see the beauty in the women who
were parts of his life. Aside from the very busy life that he had, and
the numerous activities that he did. Jose Rizal still had time for
women. He had relationships with a number of women, though,most
of them were short-lived. It was said that it was because he had one
great love, Leonor Rivera.
• “Despite Rizal’s greatness and triumph, he had one weakness -
women.” (Geoffrey Rhoel C. Cruz and Bernardo C. Ofalia, 2015). During the year 1879, the
gallant lover Rizal visited many ladies in Manila society without
seriously committing himself to anyone.” (Anacoreta P. Purino, 2014).
• There are nine (9) recorded women in Rizal’s life, however some
historian suggest that there have been more.”
(http://thelifeand worksofrizal.blogspot.com/2012/02/rizals-romances.html)
CONSUMMATUM
EST!
Topics for Discussion
1. Rizal in Europe, the
Propaganda
movement and Noli
Me Tangere.
E
2. The Morga and
SA Rizal’s Search for
Origins
3. Rizal’s Changing
View on Spanish Rule
and El Filibusterismo
References
Schumacher, John . 1997. Early Filipino student activities in Spain,
1880-1882. In the Propaganda Movement; 1880 – 1895. The
creators of a Filipino consciousness, the makers of the
revolution, 19-39. Quezon City. Ateneo de Manila University
Press. DS675 S385 1997.
E
Rizal, Jose. 2011. Rizal’s toast to Luna and Hidalgo. Presidential
Museum and Library, Republic of the Philippines. Online,
SA
http:/malacanang.gov.ph/4071-jose-rizals-homage-to-luna-
and-hidalgo.. 1997.
Schumacher, John. 1997. Journalism and Politics. 1883-1886
Schumacher, John 1997. Del Pilar as delegate in Barcelona of ‘The
Propaganda.” In the Propaganda Movement.
The Staff. 1889. Our Aims. La Solidaridad, vol. 1:1889. trans.
Guadalupe Fores-Ganzon, 3,5 Pasig City. Fundacion Santiago.
DS651 S6 1996.
The Propaganda Movement and La
Solidaridad
What was the
Propaganda
Movement and
E
what did it stand
SA for? What was
Rizal involvement
in it.
SA
E
The Propaganda Movement, 1880-1895: The
Creation of a Filipino Consciousness, The Making
of a Revolution
This book does not pretend to be an
exhaustive study of Filipino nationalism in
the period before the outbreak of the
E
Revolution, as it focuses its attention on the
SA
European scene, not on the penetration of
nationalist ideals in the Philippines, nor the
activities and organizations at home which
took their inspiration from the
Propagandists abroad.
Given the conditions of Philippine society then, the
effective contact with European liberalism and nationalism
and fruitful cross-fertilization towards a Filipino nationalist
ideology were bound to take place largely outside the
E
Philippines.
SA
Yet, the ultimate steps, as Rizal came to realize, and Andres
Bonifacio was to prove, had to be taken in the Philippines.
Without the work of the Propagandists, without the
laborious efforts to formulate and express their ideals,
without their success in giving form to the nationalist ideal
in the minds of many back home,
however, there could have been a revolt in 1896,
but there would not have been the Revolution. For
a revolution presupposes a people with a
consciousness of its own identity and unity as a
E
nation. The creation of that sense of national self-
SA
identity was the work of the Propaganda
Movement.
E
SA
The Propaganda Movement 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.
SA
E
SA
E
SA
E
SA
E
SA
E
Noli Me Tangere
1. What was the
context in which
Rizal wrote Noli Me
Tangere?
E
2. What literary
SA
strategies did Rizal
use in writing the
novel?
3. What does this novel
indicate about
national
consciousness.
Rizal, Jose. 1996. Noli
Me Tangere, trans.
Ma. Soledad Lacson –
Locsin. Makati:
E
Bookmark. PQ8897 R5
SA
N531 1996. (Read
dedication and Chaps
1-32).
Analysis of the novel
1. Cover / symbolisms
2. Dedication
3. Preface
E
4. The characters and
SA their
personification
yesterday and
today
5. The plot
The Morga and Rizal Search for Origins
E
SA
SA
E
SA
E
SA
E
Rizal’s Changing
view on Spanish
Rule and El
E
SA
Filibusterismo.
Rizal’s
Abandonment
of
E
SA
ASSIMILATION
Analysis of El Filibusterismo
2. Dedication
3. Preface
E
SA their
personification
yesterday and
today
5. The plot
Rizal, the Nation, and World History
How do we view Rizal’s execution, and
E
therefore the Philippines, in the context of
world history? SA
THANK YOU
E
SA
NOLI ME TANGERE
E
SA
Analysis of the novel
2. Dedication
E
SA
3. The Theme
4. Preface
5. The characters and their
personification yesterday and
today
6. The plot
READING APPROACHES
MIMESIS – a literary approach where a story is
E
viewed as a slice of life.
SA
It interprets a literary piece in relation to
existing conditions.
READING APPROACHES
Symptomatic Approach – a reading approach
E
where the message the author wants to convey is
SA
inferred from clues found between the line of
the text, the implications of the allegorical
symbols, the intent of satirical expressions,
simile or metaphors or their combinations.
READING APPROACHES
Utilitarian Reading – viewing a literary piece as
E
a socio-economic and political instrument to
SA
expose the defects of a society and to be taken
as a call for reform or changes.
The Cover
E
SA
SA
E
The Cover
• The profile and
E
stature of a woman
SA
on the left side of the
cover represent the
Motherland for whom
Rizal gave his life.
The Cover
The cross, whip and

the helmet -
E
SA
symbolize the
governing
authorities in the
Philippine soil.
The Cover
The friar's foot -
E
Tyranny
SA
The whip, helmet
and chain - Spanish
abuses
The Cover
Bamboo - Filipino
flexibility
E
SA
Flame - light and hope
Letter covered by the
title - Rizal's letter to
his parents
The Cover
Cross - Catholicism
E
Flowers - to the flowers
SA
of Heidelberg
The name of the
author
The Title
Noli Me Tangere - Means “Touch Me Not”
Noli Me Tangere - is
E
taken from the Gospel of
SA
St. John, 20:16. The
statement was uttered by
the Risen Christ to Mary
Magdalene on His
resurrection.
The Title
The title prominently
E
crosses the cover, the style
SA
of its print seem as if
they were written in
blood, an augury of pain
and suffering described in
the novel.
The Language Used in Noli Me Tangere
E
Spanish
SA
The Theme
• Theme - is the controlling idea of the
E
SA
story
The Theme of Noli Me Tangere
GREED FOR POWER
E
SA
The used and abused of power
Rizal, Jose. 1996. Noli Me Tangere,
trans.
E
SA
Ma. Soledad Lacson – Locsin.
Makati: Bookmark. PQ8897 R5
N531 1996. (Read dedication and
Chaps 1-32).
THE PREFACE
To My Fatherland,
E
Cancer is the scourge of mankind; so it is recorded
SA
in the history human distress. So virulent is it that that
it brooks no touch, not even the slightest, without
inflicting the keenest pain. Thou, too, my Fatherland,
are suffering from a social cancer;
THE PREFACE
menacing in its present aspect! As I invoke thee
E
in my dreams, in the midst of modern
SA
civilization, sometimes to keep me company , or
to compare thee with other countries that I visit,
I see thee in acute pain from the malady that for
centuries has taken root in your system.
THE PREFACE
Thy cure is my ultimate desire and the best
E
treatment I seek to effect it. I will therefore try a
SA
method, one that the ancient Greeks were won’t
to do with their stricken fellows, to expose them
on the steps of the temple for everyone to see,
pity and then for the beholder to offer a cure.
THE PREFACE
With my pen I will strive hard to record they
E
condition as I actually see it , without reservations,
SA
without giving any allowance to distinction. I will
lift partly the veil that hides thy ills and expose the
truth even though in so doing I sacrifice myself.
Being thy son I, too, posses the same weakness and
deficiencies that you have to bear.
The Characters
Jose Rizal spoke through the characters he
E
created. His personification range from
SA
models of the good and the wicked. The
round characters or the protagonists in the
story possess depth and complexity
The Characters
while the flat characters or the antagonists,
E
are employed to contrast with or
SA
complement the main characters,
exaggerate their traits and introduced
conflict.
The Characters
The round characters in Noli Me Tangere
E
include Ibarra, Tasio, Sisa, Elias and Ma. Clara
SA
while the flat characters are Fr. Damaso, Fr.
Salvi, the alferez, Dona Consolacion and Dona
Victorina. The rest are the minor characters
whose function is to allow the story to develop.
THE CHARACTERS THEIR
PERSONIFICATIONS YESTERDAY
AND TODAY
* Fr. Damaso Verdolagas -
E
SA
* Fr. Bernardo Salvi -
AND TODAY
* Fr. Hernando Sibyla -
E
SA
* Ibarra, Tasio and Elias - incorporate
the intellectuals and patriots.
AND TODAY
* Ma. Clara - is the symbol of
E
innocence, submissiveness, and the
SA
passivity of Philippine society.
* Sisa - externalizes the vicious cycle of
poverty
AND TODAY
* Crispin and Basilio - represent the
E
abused children and the broken
SA
dreams,
* Capitan Tiago - typifies Filipinos who
would go to great extent to attain
power and social status.
AND TODAY
* Dona Consolacion - personifies the
E
“inspiration” of the Alferezes and the civil
SA
guards. She claims to be an “Spanola” who
cannot speak Tagalog and holds Filipinos
in contempt.
AND TODAY
* Dona Victorina - depicts the alienated
E
Filipino woman bent on marrying one
SA
with prestige and high station in life.
* Filosopo Tasyo - the misunderstood
Philosopher.
THE PLOT
Please read the plot on the link provided.
E
Specifically the story of;
SA
a. the dinner d. Sisa
b. Ibarra e. Elias
c. Ma. Clara f. The escape of Ibarra
Noli Me
Tangere
File: shielaeran
Brief Biography of José Rizal
Born in the Philippines during the time of

Spanish colonization, Rizal came from a
wealthy family and, like his protagonist in Noli
Me Tangere, went to Europe in his twenties
to pursue his studies. During this time, he
banded together with likeminded expatriates
and other anti-colonial sympathizers to
advance the opinion that Spanish colonialism
was a destructive force (though Rizal never
publicly endorsed complete independence in
the Philippines).
Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere while abroad,
and when he returned to his country in the
1880s, he was accused of treason. In
response, he traveled to Europe yet again
and continued his writing and activism. By
the time the Philippine Revolution began in
1896, he was back in the Philippines, though
in exile in the city of Dapitan. At this point, he
volunteered as a doctor treating the Spanish
army, presumably to lift his exile.
Unfortunately, though, he was arrested,
found guilty of treason, and executed by
firing squad, becoming a martyr for Filipinos
struggling against colonialism.
Historical Context of Noli Me Tangere
The Spanish colonization of the

Philippines—which began in 1521—is the
driving force of Noli Me Tangere, a novel
that critiques the ways in which colonialism
leads to corruption and abuse. The book
itself predates the Philippine Revolution of
1896 by almost ten years, meaning that its
rejection of Spanish oppression was
groundbreaking and unprecedented in
Filipino society. Unfortunately, Rizal—who
had worked for the majority of his adult life to
empower his countrymen—died in 1896, two
years before the Philippines established
independence from Spain.
Other Books Related to Noli Me
Tangere
The most obvious literary work related to

Noli Me Tangere is the Gospel of John in
The New Testament. Rizal borrows the
novel’s Latin title from Jesus telling Mary
Magdalene “Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my Father” (the Latin phrase for
“touch me not” is “noli me tangere”). Rizal
scholars have pointed out similarities
between St. John and Noli Me Tangere’s
Father Salví, suggesting that this parallel
may account for the novel’s borrowed title.
The title could also refer to an antiquated
name for a type of cancer that is
excruciatingly painful and sensitive to touch.
In this sense, the novel’s title alludes
to its political nature, asserting that
the Philippines is suffering from a
“social cancer.” Noli Me Tangere is
also a precursor to postcolonial
literature, a genre that explores the
negative influence of colonization
and the unfortunate aftereffects of
decolonization, which often further
destabilized cultures that had come
to rely on the flawed but strong
presence of foreign governments.
Like Noli Me Tangere, books like
Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea or
Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John
examine the impact of colonization,
but they do so from a different
perspective. For example, while
Wide Sargasso Sea was written
during decolonization—when British
forces were withdrawing from the
Caribbean, where the book is set—
Noli Me Tangere was composed
during colonization, when the
Spanish government still occupied
the Philippines.
Despite this difference, though, postcolonial
literature concerns itself with many of the
same ideas Rizal examines, a testament to
the fact that Rizal’s brave impulse to
criticize colonialism was significantly ahead
of his time. Finally, it is worth considering
that Noli Me Tangere has a sequel, El
Filibusterismo, a book that follows Ibarra on
his quest to liberate his country from the
church and government’s oppressive rule.
In this follow-up, Ibarra no longer invests
himself in trying to change his nation using
peaceful means. Instead,he disguises
himself as a wealthy jeweler, infiltrates the
elite class, and plans a violent revolution.
Key Facts about Noli Me
Tangere
 Full Title: Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not)
 When Written: The 1870s.
 Where Written: Spain
 When Published: 1887
 Where Published: Berlin, Germany
 Literary Period: Victorian Era
 Genre: Political Fiction and Political Satire
 Setting: San Diego, Spanish Philippines
Climax: A group of bandits
(secretly organized by Father
Salví) attacks San Diego’s military
barracks. Father Salví frames
Ibarra as their ringleader, and
Ibarra is imprisoned and accused
of treason. Antagonist: The foremost
antagonists are Father Dámaso and
Father Salví, though there is reason to
believe the true antagonistic force in
Noli Me Tangere is the corruption and
unchecked power colonialism has
bestowed upon the church and all its
friars.
THE
SYNOPSIS
Noli Me Tangere Summary
Noli Me Tangere takes place in the
Philippines during the time of
Spanish colonization. In the opening
scene, a wealthy and influential
Filipino man named Captain Tiago
hosts a dinner party to welcome
Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra y Magsalin
back to the Philippines. Ibarra has
spent the last seven years studying
in Europe. In talking to the various
guests at Captain Tiago’s dinner
party, he discovers that his father,
Don Rafael, recently died, though he
doesn’t know why or how.
Noli Me Tangere Summary
During the dinner, Father Dámaso, a
loud-mouthed friar Ibarra has known
since childhood, stands up and
insults Ibarra, disparaging him for
having traveled to Europe to pursue
an education he could have obtained
in the Philippines. In response, Ibarra
swallows his pride and refrains from
directing insults at the half-drunk friar.
Instead, he leaves the dinner early,
ignoring Captain Tiago’s plea that he
stay a little longer in order to see his
fiancée (and Captain Tiago’s
daughter), María Clara.
On his way home, Ibarra walks with Señor
Guevara, a lieutenant of the Civil Guard,
Spain’s colonial armed forces that police the
Philippines. The lieutenant explains that a
few months after Ibarra left, Father Dámaso
accused Don Rafael of not going to
confession. Don Rafael was a very powerful
man, which meant he had many enemies in
both the Spanish government and in the
church. The lieutenant tells Ibarra that one
day Don Rafael came upon a government
tax collector beating a boy in the street.
When Rafael interfered, he
accidentally pushed the man too hard,
causing the tax collector to hit his
head on a rock. This injury eventually
led to the man’s death, and Ibarra’s
father was thrown in jail and accused
of subversion and heresy. At this point,
Father Dámaso heaped new
accusations on him and everybody
abandoned him. By the time he was
finally proven innocent, Guevara
explains, Don Rafael had already
died in prison.
Ibarra goes to his hometown, San Diego,
where the unfortunate events of his father’s
death took place. Since Captain Tiago owns
multiple properties there, María Clara also
relocates to San Diego. November is
approaching, a time the town celebrates
with a large festival. This festival is
surrounded by various religious holidays,
such as All Souls’ Day, which
commemorates dead people in purgatory
waiting for their souls to be cleansed before
ascending to heaven. Taking advantage of
this, San Diego’s priests implore the
villagers to purchase indulgences, which
they claim shorten the length of time a soul
must languish in purgatory.
Ibarra quickly sees that the power of the
Catholic friars in the Philippines has greatly
increased since he left for Europe, a fact
made clear by their control over even
governmental officials. For instance, Father
Salví, San Diego’s new priest, is constantly
at odds with the military ensign in charge of
the village’s faction of the Civil Guard. Salví
uses his important religious position to spite
the ensign, fining the man for missing
church services and delivering purposefully
boring sermons when he does attend.
The friars interfere with other elements of
everyday life in San Diego too, which Ibarra
learns after speaking with the
schoolmaster. The schoolmaster tells him
that Father Dámaso actively meddles with
his educational techniques by demanding
that he teach only in the country’s native
language, Tagalog, instead of instructing the
children to speak Spanish. Dámaso also
insists that the schoolmaster beat the
children, creating a hostile environment that
doesn’t lend itself to productive learning.
Hearing this, Ibarra decides to build a
secular school in San Diego, a
project his father dreamed about
before his death. On the advice of the
town’s old philosopher, Tasio, Ibarra
presents his ideas to the town’s
religious and civic leaders, making it
seem as if he wants them to be
involved with the school, even though
he plans to ignore their influence after
it is built.
Meanwhile, two poor boys named Crispín
and Basilio study to be sextons, or people
who take care of the church. They do so in
order to financially help their mother, Sisa,
but Crispín is unfairly accused of theft and
thus must work constantly with his brother
to pay off the absurd amounts the chief
sexton claims that Crispín owes the church.
When he protests this injustice one night,
Crispín is hauled away and severely beaten.
Scared for his brother’s life, Basilio
searches him out before running home
during a storm and waiting in vain with his
mother for Crispín to appear.
This never materializes, and the next
day Basilio goes back into town.
Frightened, Sisa looks for both her
boys and is told that the Civil Guard
has been ordered to arrest them for
theft, though nobody can find them.
She herself is arrested and then
released, at which point she searches
throughout the night for her boys,
working herself into permanent
insanity and destitution as she
wanders the town and the
surrounding woods.
Visiting the Catholic cemetery, Ibarra
speaks to a gravedigger and learns
that, upon Father Dámaso’s orders,
he dug up Don Rafael’s body.
Although the friar had instructed the
gravedigger to take Rafael’s body to
the Chinese cemetery—a less
respected cemetery—the gravedigger
threw Don Rafael into the lake,
thinking it a more honorable resting
place.
Ibarra and the town’s influential
religious and government leaders
decide to celebrate the new school
on the same day as the town’s fiesta.
The church makes plans to bless the
new educational building (though it is
not yet completed) directly after a
long sermon by Father Dámaso.
During this sermon, a mysterious
figure approaches Ibarra. His name
is Elías, a man whose life Ibarra
recently saved on an eventful fishing
trip.
Elías tells Ibarra that there is a plan
to kill him during the school’s
benediction ceremony, warning him
not to walk beneath a certain large
stone suspended by a pulley system.
Ibarra ignores this advice, and sure
enough, the stone hurdles toward
him. Luckily Elías takes action and
covertly puts the criminal—the man
plotting against Ibarra—in the way of
the stone, killing him instead of
Ibarra. The festivities go on, but
Ibarra now knows he has enemies.
That night, during a celebratory dinner
hosted by Ibarra, Father Dámaso arrives
uninvited. All of San Diego’s most respected
individuals are in attendance, including the
governor and the town’s other friars.
Dámaso loudly insults the school and its
architecture while also making callous
remarks about “indios,” a racial slur for
native Filipinos. He flippantly speaks about
how “indios” abandon their country because
they think they’re superior, traveling to
Europe instead. “In this life the fathers of
such vipers are punished,” he says.
“They die in jail, eh, eh, or rather,
they have no place…” When Ibarra
hears Dámaso make this crude
reference to his father’s unfair death,
he jumps up and pins the priest
down, holding a knife in his free hand
and publicly accusing Dámaso of
exhuming his father’s body. Ibarra
says he won’t kill Dámaso, but his
actions say otherwise, and as he lifts
the knife to bury it in the friar’s body,
María Clara snatches it from his
hand.
In the aftermath of this scandalous event, Ibarra
is excommunicated from the church. Captain
Tiago proves himself a spineless socialite by
calling off the wedding between Ibarra and María
Clara, instead betrothing his daughter to Linares,
a young man from Spain. Linares is the nephew
of Don Tiburcio de Espadaña, a fraudulent doctor
who treats María Clara for a sudden illness that
incapacitates her for several days after the
incident between Ibarra and Father Dámaso.
Meanwhile, the Captain General—the topmost
government official representing Spain—visits
San Diego. The friars implore him to punish
Ibarra, but because his priorities are more civic
than religious and because he supports Ibarra’s
mission to build a school, he pulls strings to have
the young man’s excommunication lifted.
While Ibarra continues his project,
Father Salví makes arrangements
with a man named Lucas, the
brother of the man hired to kill Ibarra
with the large stone. Because his
brother died, Lucas wants revenge
on Ibarra. Father Salví—who secretly
loves María Clara and who believes
Ibarra is a heretic—hatches a plot
with Lucas to frame Ibarra. With
Lucas’s help, he organizes a band of
rebels to attack the Civil Guard’s
military barracks, telling them that
Ibarra is the ringleader.
Hours before the attack takes
place, Father Salví rushes to
the ensign and warns him of
the plan, making sure to
request that the ensign let it be
known that he—Salví—was the
one to save the town by
discovering the plot and issuing
a warning.
The attack goes according to Salví
and Lucas’s plan, and Ibarra is
arrested. He is imprisoned and found
guilty, a verdict based on an
ambiguous line in a letter he sent to
María Clara. Once again Elías
comes to the rescue, breaking him
out of prison and taking him away in
a boat. Before they leave town,
Ibarra stops at María Clara’s house,
climbs onto her patio, and says
goodbye to her. She explains that
she only parted with his letter—which
led to his guilty sentencing—because
she was blackmailed.
Apparently, a man came to her and
told her that her real father is Fray
Dámaso, not Captain Tiago. The
man threatened to spread this
information if she didn’t give him
Ibarra’s letter. Feeling that she must
protect Captain Tiago’s honor and
the memory of her deceased mother,
she handed over Ibarra’s letter.
Nonetheless, she tells Ibarra that she
will always love him and that she is
deeply sorry for having betrayed him.
After saying goodbye to María Clara,
Ibarra gets into Elías’s boat. As the
two men row into the night, they
continue a heated discussion they’ve
already begun about the nature of
revolution and reform, debating the
merits of working within a corrupt
system to change it rather than
overthrowing the system completely.
As they talk, they realize they’re
being chased by another boat. Elías
tries to out-row their pursuers, but
quickly realizes they’ll eventually
catch up.
As bullets whip by, he tells Ibarra to
row, deciding to jump off the boat to
confuse the people behind them.
Before diving, he tells Ibarra to meet
him on Christmas Eve in the woods
near San Diego, where Ibarra’s
grandfather is buried with the family’s
riches. When Elías plunges into the
water, the boat follows him instead of
Ibarra. Elías throws them off by
diving deep into the water, only
surfacing periodically. Soon, though,
the people chasing him don’t see him
come back up. They even think they
see a bit of blood in the water.
Back in San Diego, Father Dámaso
visits María Clara, who tells him she
can’t marry Linares because she
doesn’t love him. She references a
newspaper, which falsely reported
that Ibarra was found dead on the
banks of the lake. She tells the friar
that this news has given her no
reason to live and, as such, she can’t
go through with the wedding, instead
deciding to enter a convent.
On Christmas Eve, the young Basilio
wanders forth from a cabin in the
woods, where he’s been living with a
kind family ever since the Civil Guard
started looking for him. He goes into
San Diego in search of Sisa, his
mother. When he finds her, she
doesn’t recognize him and runs away,
leading him back to the woods,
where she goes to the old tomb that
contains Ibarra’s grandfather. Once
he finally catches up to his mother,
though, Basilio faints. Seeing finally
that he is her son, Sisa covers him
with kisses.
When Basilio wakes up, he finds that
she has died by his side. At that
moment, Elías appears. He is
wounded, and seeing that Ibarra has
not arrived, he tells Basilio he is
about to die, instructing the boy to
burn his and Sisa’s bodies on a pyre.
Looking up at the sky, he utters his
final words: “I die without seeing
dawn’s light shining on my
country…You, who will see it,
welcome it for me…don’t forget
those who fell during the nighttime.”
The book ends without mention of
Ibarra’s fate.
•
“I die without seeing the dawn breaks
upon my homeland. You who shall be
here, meet her and remember those
who had fallen in the night.”
“Mamatay akong hindi masisilayan ang

bukang liwayway, kayong naririto
salubongin ninyo at huwag kaligtaan ang
nasa dilim.”
Jose Rizal through the

character of Elias
E
EL FILIBUSTERISMO
SA
Analysis of El Filibusterismo
2. Dedication
E
SA
3. Preface
their
personification
yesterday and today
5. The plot
THE TITLE
E
EL
SA
FILIBUSTERISMO
THE TITLE
EL FILIBUSTERISMO literally means the

“The Revolution”. It signifies a
E
movement severely punished by the
SA
government. It also deals with different
alternatives to avert it. It also explains
the reasons why revolution takes place.
THE COVER OF EL FILIBUSTERISMO
El Filibusterismo
depicts the three
E
martyred priests
SA
the GOMBURZA. Fr.
Mariano Gomez, Fr.
Jose Burgos, Fr.
Jacinto Zamora.
They were
executed in their
E
campaign for
SA
secularization of
their parishes and
were implicated in
the Cavity mutiny.
They were
garroted at
E
Luneta on
SA
February 17,
1872.
THE INTRODUCTION
El Filibusterismo was written in

dedication to the three martyred
E
SA
priests, whose death left an indelible
mark in his mind.
THE INTRODUCTION
Like Noli Me Tangere, El

Filibusterismo aims at enlightening
E
SA
the society, at bringing Filipinos
closer to the truth. But whereas in
the first novel, we are encouraged
THE INTRODUCTION
to ask and aspire for change and

liberation, in this novel, the
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society is urged to open its eyes
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to reality and rebel against the
Spanish government for its
oppression and abuse.
THE INTRODUCTION
In Noli Me Tangere, there is

aspiration, beauty, romance and
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mercy. In El Filibusterismo, all
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readers will feel its bitterness,
hatred and antipathy. The romance
and aspiration are gone.
THE INTRODUCTION
even the characters' personalities

seem to have undergone radical
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change. This is how different Rizal's
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second novel is. Considering that
both were written by the same
author, the plots and poles apart.
THE INTRODUCTION
Outright scorn and bitterness may

already may be felt at the beginning
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of the story, where Simoun promotes
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abuse and tyranny in the Spanish
government, in the hope that the
people will reach the limits of their
endurance and declare a revolution.
THE INTRODUCTION
Simoun, who is actually Noli's Ibarra

in disguise, conveys an entirely
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SA
different personality in El
Filibusterismo. While Ibarra is
trusting, aspiring and loving.
THE INTRODUCTION
Simoun is now cunningly careful in

his dealings, distrusting, and
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extremely bitter. Something changed
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in Rizal and this is reflected in the
personalities he gave in his El
Filibusterismo characters.
The Second Novel
Jose Rizal began writing his second

novel. El Filibusterismo (The Reign of
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Greed). Years after the publication of
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Noli Me Tangere. (The Social Cancer). His
inspiration in writing both novels were;
The social, economic, political and
The Second Novel
and religious conditions existing during

those times. Four years after the Noli Me
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Tangere was published, was the
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publication of El Filibusterismo. While
the first talked about the friars' and the
Spaniards' abuses, the latter talked the
The Second Novel
gravity and the unhindered abuses of the

authority.
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Emergence of El Filibusterismo
“Rizal began the printing of what he had

entitled El Filibusterismo early in July
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1891.”
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It was in October 1887 when Jose
Rizal started writing El Filibusterismo. It
took the author three years and five
places to finish his second novel.
Unlike the first novel which was written in

three European Counries, a part of El
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Filibusterismo was written in the Philippines.
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Jose Rizal properly put into words what his
eyes and heart could no longer contain. He
was able to apply his literary prowess for the
purpose of pouring out those burning within
him and bringing into the open those

facts that only few could see. Those
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things that he witnessed during his
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short visit in Calamba, triggered him
to start writing the sequel to the Noli
Me Tangere. This time, though, he
wrote in an angrier passion.
The evicting of his father, taking over of

their house, dumping heir furnitures into
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the street, sending some of his family
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members to exile, denying a Christian
burial to his brother - in - law, all of
these opened up his eyes.
“that the attitude of the authorities and

the friars on the granting of reforms was
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irreversible.” (Anacoreta P. Purino, 2014).
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Right there and then while Jose Rizal

was in Calamba practicing medicine, he
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started writing his second novel. Leaving
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the Philippines, he continues with his
effort, and when he was in London, he
made some changes and corrections to
his work.
More chapters were written in Paris and

Madrid, and finally the manuscript was
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finished in Biarritz.
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El Filibusterismo's Printing
In July 1891, Jose Rizal left Brussels for

Ghent, Belgium's University City. He had
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reasons in going to Ghent:
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1. Printing cost in Ghent was cheaper
than in Brussels
2. To flee from Suzanne's attraction.
On the 18th of September 1891. El

Filibusterismo was over and done with. The
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joyous Jose Rizal sent printed copies for Basa
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and Lopez in Hongkong. To Valentin Ventura ,
the savior of the novel, he gave the original
manuscript, and a printed copy of the book
which he autographed.
Other copies were sent to Ferdinand

Blumentritt, Mariano Ponce and other
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friends. The El Filibusterismo was well
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praised by Filipinos both in the
Philippines and in foreign lands.
The Theme
GREED FOR POWER - is the

moving force in El Filibusterismo.
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The Preface
TO THE MEMORY
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Of the priests, Don Mariano Gomez, 65
years old) Don Jose Burgos (30 years old)
and Don Jacinto Zamora (35 years old)
The Preface
EXECUTED ON THE SCAFFOLD IN BAGUMBAYAN

On February 17, 1872
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SA
Religion, by refusing to degrade you, has put
in doubts the crime that has been attributed
to you, the Government by sorrounding your
The Preface
cause in mystery and shadows, has made

belief possible in some errors,committed
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in fatal moments, and all of Filipinos, by
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venerating your memory and calling you
martyrs, does not in any manner accept
your guilt.
The Preface
In so far, therefore, that your

participation in the Cavite protest is not
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clearly shown whether you were patriots
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or not, I have the right to dedicate to
you my work as victims of the evil that I
am trying to combat. And while we are
The Preface
waiting for Spain to rehabilitate you one

day, and to refuse to be a party to your
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death, let these pages serve as a belated
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wreath of dry leaves over your forgotten
graves, and whoever attacks your
memory without any evident proof,
stains his hands with your blood.
Synopsis of Jose Rizal's Novel, "El Filibusterismo"
KOYNDOTPH
This article is based on Jose Rizal's El Filibusterismo. This novel is a sequel to the Noli.
It has a little humor, less idealism, and less romance than the Noli Me Tangere. It is
more revolutionary and more tragic than the first novel.
Explaining Simoun, The Main Character in "El Filibusterismo"
The hero of El Filibusterismo is a rich jeweler named Simoun. He was Crisostomo

Ibarra of the Noli, who, with Elias’ help, escaped from the pursuing soldiers at Laguna
de Bay, dug up his buried treasure, and fled to Cuba where he became rich and
befriended many Spanish officials. After many years he returned to the Philippines,
where he freely moved around. He is a powerful figure not only because he is a rich
jeweler, but also because he is a good friend and adviser of the governor general.
Outwardly, Simoun is a friend of Spain. However, deep in his heart, he is secretly

cherishing a terrible revenge against the Spanish authorities. His two obsessions are
rescuing Maria Clara from the nunnery of Santa Clara, and fomenting a revolution
against their hated Spanish masters.
Synopsis of the Beginning Chapters of "El Filibusterismo"
The story of El Filibusterismo begins on board the clumsy, roundish shaped steamer
Tabo, so appropriately named. This steamer is sailing upstream the Pasig from Manila
to Laguna de Bay. Among the passengers are Simoun, the rich jeweler; Doña Victorina,
the ridiculously pro-Spanish native woman who is going to Laguna in search of her
henpecked husband, Tiburcio de Espadaña, who has deserted her; Paulita Gomez, her
beautiful niece; Ben-Zayb (anagram of Ibañez), a Spanish journalist who writes silly
articles about the Filipinos; Padre Sibyla, vice-rector of the University of Santo Tomas;
Padre Camorra, the parish priest of the town of Tiani; Don Custodio, a pro-spanish
Filipino holding a position in the government; Padre Salvi, thin Franciscan friar and
former cura of San Diego; Padre Irene, a kind friar who was a friend of the Filipino
students; Padre Florentino, a retired scholarly and patriotic Filipino priest; Isagani, a
poet-nephew of Padre Florentino and a lover of Paulita; and Basilio, son of Sisa and
promising medical student, whose medical education is financed by his patron,
Capitan Tiago.
Simoun, a man of wealth and mystery, is a very close friend and confidante of the
Spanish governor general. Because of his great influence in Malacañang, he was called
the “Brown Cardinal” or the “Black Eminence”. By using his wealth and political
influence, he encourages corruption in the government, promotes the oppression of
the masses, and hastens the moral degradation of the country so that the people may
become desperate and fight. He smuggles arms into the country with the help of a
rich Chinese merchant, Quiroga, who wants very much to be Chinese consul of Manila.
His first attempt to begin the armed uprising did not materialize because at the last
hour he hears the sad news that Maria Clara died in the nunnery. In his agonizing
moment of bereavement, he did not give the signal for the outbreak of hostilities.
Synopsis of the Middle Chapters of "El Filibusterismo"
After a long time of illness brought about by the bitter loss of Maria Clara, Simoun
perfects his plan to overthrow the government. On the occasion of the wedding of
Paulita Gomez and Juanito Pelaez, he gives a wedding gift to them a beautiful lamp.
Only he and his confidential associates, Basilio (Sisa’s son who joined his revolutionary
cause), know that when the wick of his lamp burns lower the nitroglycerine, hidden in
its secret compartment, will explode, destroying the house where the wedding feast
is going to be held killing all the guests, including the governor general, the friars, and
the government officials. Simultaneously, all the government buildings in Manila will
be blown by Simoun’s followers.
As the wedding feast begins, the poet Isagani, who has been rejected by Paulita
because of his liberal ideas, is standing outside the house, watching sorrowfully the
merriment inside. Basilio, his friend, warns him to go away because the lightened
lamp will soon explode.
Upon hearing the horrible secret of the lamp, Isagani realizes that his beloved Paulita
was in grave danger. To save her life, he rushes into the house, seizes the lightened
lamp, and hurls it into the river, where it explodes.
Synopsis of the Ending Chapters of "El Filibusterismo"
Upon hearing the horrible secret of the lamp, Isagani realizes that his beloved Paulita
was in grave danger. To save her life, he rushes into the house, seizes the lightened
lamp, and hurls it into the river, where it explodes.
The revolutionary plot was thus discovered. Simoun was cornered by the soldiers, but
he escaped. Mortally wounded, and carrying his treasure chest, he sought refuge in
the home of Padre Florentino by the sea.
The Spanish authorities, however, learns of his presence in the house of Padre
Florentino. Lieutenant Perez of the Guardia Civil informs the priest by letter that he
would come at eight o’clock that night to arrest Simoun.
Simoun eluded arrest by taking poison. As he is dying, he confesses to Padre
Florentino, revealing his true identity, his dastardly plan to use his wealth to avenge
himself, and his sinister aim to destroy his friends and enemies.
The confession of the dying Simoun is long and painful. It is already night when Padre
Florentino, wiping the sweat from his wrinkled brow, rises and begins to meditate. He
consoles the dying man saying: “God will forgive you Señor Simoun. He knows that we
are fallible. He has seen that you have suffered, and in ordaining that the
chastisement for your faults should come as death from the very ones you have
instigated to crime, we can see His infinite mercy. He has frustrated your plans one by
one, the best conceived, first by the death of Maria Clara, then by a lack of
preparation, then in some mysterious way. Let us bow to His will and render Him
thanks!”
Watching Simoun die peacefully with a clear conscience and at peace with God. Padre
Florentino falls upon his knees and prays for the dead jeweler. He takes the treasure
chest and throws it into the sea; as the waves close over the sinking chest.
THE CHARACTERS
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of
THE CHARACTERS
Simoun – Crisostomo Ibarra in disguise,
left for dead at the end of Noli Me
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Tangere, has returned as the wealthy
SA
jeweler.
A Filibustero
Returned to revenge
THE CHARACTERS
Basilio – son of Sisa, a medical student

who befriended Simoun.
Isagani Villamor – Friend of Basilio and
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rejected suitor of Paulita Gomez.
Paulita Gomez – the symbol of vanity
who marries Juanito Pelaez.
THE CHARACTERS
Kabesang Tales – (Telesforo Juan de
Dios)a former Cabeza de Barangay of
Sagpang, a Barangay in San Diego’s
neighboring town Tiani, who
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resurfaced as the feared Luzon bandit
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Matanglawin.
THE CHARACTERS
Father Florentino – Isagani’s godfather,

and a secular priest, was engaged to be
married, but choose to be a priest after
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being pressured by his mother. The story
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hinting at the ambivalence of his decision
as he chooses an assignment to a remote
place, living in solitude near the sea.
Simoun’s Father counselor.
THE CHARACTERS
Juli San Jose – (Juliana de Dios), girlfriend of

Basilio, and the youngest daughter of
Kabesang Tales. To claim her father from
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the bandits, she had to work as a maid
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under the supervision of Hermana
Penchang. Eventually, she was freed but
committed suicide after Fr. Camorra
attempted to rape her.
THE CHARACTERS
Macaraig – one of Isagani’s

classmates at the University of Santo
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Tomas. He is a rich student and serves
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as the leader of the student yearning
to build the Academia de Castellano.
THE CHARACTERS
Don Custodio – Custodio de Salazar y

Sanchez de Monteredondo, a famous
“journalist” who was asked by the
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students about his decision for Academia
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de Castillano. In reality, he is quite an
ordinary fellow who married a rich
woman in order to be member of
Manila’s high society.
THE CHARACTERS
Father Camorra – The parish priest of

Tiani, San Diego’s adjacent town. He
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nearly raped Juli causing the latter to
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commit suicide.
Doṅa Victorina – She is the aunt of
Paulita Gomez and favors Juanito
Pelaez than Isagani.
THE CHARACTERS
Ben Zayb – The pseudonym of

Ibraham Ibaṅez, a journalist who
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believes he the “only” one thinking in
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the Philippines. Ben-Zayb is an
anagram of Ybanez, an alternate
spelling of his name. He also
symbolizes a corrupted media.
THE CHARACTERS
Placido Penitente – a student of the

University of Santo Tomas who was
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very intelligent and wise but did not
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want. If not only by his mother’s plea,
to pursue his studies. He also controls
his temper against Padre Millon, his
Physics teacher.
THE CHARACTERS
Placido Penitente - is also a symbol

of today’s college students who are
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lazy, unprepared and sleepy in class.
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Tiburcio de Espadaṅa – a lame
husband of doňa Victorina. Hiding
with Father Florentino.
THE CHARACTERS
Hermana Penchang – Sagpang’s rich

pusakal (gambler), She offers Juli to be
her maid so the latter can obtain money
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to free kabesang Tales.
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Fr. Millon – The Physics teacher of the
UST. He always becomes vindictive with
Placido and always taunts him during
class.
THE CHARACTERS
Father Irene – Captain Tiago’s spiritual

adviser. Although reluctant, he helped
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the students to establish the Academia
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de Castillano. The only witness to
Captain Tiago’s death, he forged the last
will and testament of the latter so Basilio
will obtain nothing from the inheritance.
THE CHARACTERS
Quiroga – A Chinese businessman who

dreamed of being a consul for his
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country in the Philippines. He hid
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Simoun’s weapon inside his house.
Don Timoteo Pelaez – Juanito’s father. He
is a rich businessman who arranged the
wedding of his son and Paulita.
THE CHARACTERS
Tandang Selo – Father of Kabesang

Tales. He raised the sick and young
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Basilio after he left their house in Noli
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Me Tangere. He died in an encounter
on the mountain with his son Tales.
THE CHARACTERS
Father Fernandez – The priest friend of

Isagani. He promised to Isagani that he and
the other priests will give in to the students
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demands.
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Sandoval – The vice leader of Macaraig’s
gang. A Spanish classmate of Isagani. He
coerces his classmates to lead alongside
with him the opening of the Spanish
language academy.
THE CHARACTERS
Hermana Bali – Another gambler in Tiani.

She became Juli’s mother figure and
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counselor, helped to release Kabesang
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Tales from the hands of the bandits.
Leeds – An American who hold stage
plays starring decapitated heads, he is a
good friend with Simoun.
THE CHARACTERS
Tadeo – Macaraig’s classmate. He

along with the other three members
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of their gang supposedly posted the
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poster that “thanked” Don Custodio
and Fr. Irene for the opening of the
Academia de Castellano.
THE CHARACTERS
Tano – Kabesang Tales elder son

after his older sister, Lucia died in
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childhood. He is currently, one of the
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guardia civil.
Pepay – Don Custodio’s supposed
“girlfriend”. A dancer, she is always
agitated of her “boyfriend’s plan.
THE CHARACTERS
Governor General – the highest ranking

official in the Philippines during the Spanish
colonial period, this unnamed character
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pretends that what he is doing is for the
good of the indios, the local citizen of the
country, but in reality, he prioritizes the
needs of his fellow Spaniards living in the
country.
THE CHARACTERS
Pecson – Basilio’s classmate who had

no idea on the happenings occurring
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around him. He suggested that they
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held the mock celebration at the
panceteria.
THE CHARACTERS
Father Hernando Sibyla – A Dominican

friar introduced in Noli Me Tangere, now
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the vice-rector of the University of Santo
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Tomas.
Captain Tiago – his health disintegrates
gradually because of the opium he was
forced to smoke given to him by Fr. Irene
To the Young Women of Malolos:
Summary and Analysis
Jose Rizal’s legacy to Filipino women is embodied in his famous essay entitled,
“To the Young Women of Malolos,” where he addresses all kinds of women –
mothers, wives, the unmarried, etc. and expresses everything that he wishes
them to keep in mind.
SUMMARY
“To the Women of Malolos” was originally written in Tagalog. Rizal penned
this writing when he was in London, in response to the request of Marcelo H.
del Pilar. The salient points contained in this letter are as follows:
1.The rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars – not all of the
priests in the country that time embodied the true spirit of Christ and His
Church. Most of them were corrupted by worldly desires and used
worldly methods to effect change and force discipline among the
people.
2.The defense of private judgment
3. Qualities Filipino mothers need to possess – as evidenced by this
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portion of his letter, Rizal is greatly concerned of the welfare of the
Filipino children and the homes they grow up in.
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4. Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their children

5. Duties and responsibilities of a wife to her husband – Filipino women
are known to be submissive, tender, and loving. Rizal states in this
portion of his letter how Filipino women ought to be as wives, in order to
preserve the identity of the race.
6. Counsel to young women on their choice of a lifetime partner
RIZAL’S MESSAGE TO FILIPINO WOMEN
Jose Rizal was greatly impressed by the fighting spirit that the young women of
Malolos had shown. In his letter, he expresses great joy and satisfaction over
the battle they had fought. In this portion of Rizal’s letter, it is obvious that his
ultimate desire was for women to be offered the same opportunities as those
received by men in terms of education. During those days young girls were
not sent to school because of the universal notion that they would soon only be
taken as wives and stay at home with the children. Rizal, however,
emphasizes on freedom of thought and the right to education, which must be
granted to both boys and girls alike.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF FILIPINO MOTHERS TO THEIR CHILDREN
Rizal stipulates a number of important points in this portion of his letter to the
young women of Malolos. The central idea here, however, is that whatever a
mother shows to her children is what the children will become also. If the
mother is always kissing the hand of the friars in submission, then her children
will grow up to be sycophants and mindless fools who do nothing but do as
they are told, even if the very nature of the task would violate their rights as
individuals.
QUALITIES MOTHERS HAVE TO POSSESS
Rizal enumerates the qualities Filipino mothers have to possess:

1.Be a noble wife.
2. Rear her children in the service of the state – here Rizal gives
reference to the women of Sparta who embody this quality
3. Set standards of behavior for men around her.
RIZAL’S ADVICE TO UNMARRIED MEN AND WOMEN
Jose Rizal points out to unmarried women that they should not be easily taken
by appearances and looks, because these can be very deceiving. Instead,
they should take heed of men’s firmness of character and lofty ideas. Rizal
further adds that there are three things that a young woman must look for a
man she intends to be her husband:
1. A noble and honored name
2. A manly heart
3. A high spirit incapable of being satisfied with engendering slaves.
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ANALYSIS
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“To the Women of Malolos” centers around five salient points (Zaide &Zaide,
1999):
1.Filipino mothers should teach their children love of God, country and
fellowmen.
2. Filipino mothers should be glad and honored, like Spartan mothers,
to offer their sons in defense of their country.
3. Filipino women should know how to protect their dignity and honor.
4. Filipino women should educate themselves aside from retaining their
good racial values.
5. Faith is not merely reciting prayers and wearing religious pictures.
It is living the real Christian way with good morals and manners.
In recent times, it seems that these qualities are gradually lost in the way
Filipino women conduct themselves. There are oftentimes moments where
mothers forget their roles in rearing their children because of the overriding
idea of having to earn for the family to supplement their husband’s
income. Although there is nothing negative about working hard for the welfare
of the family, there must always be balance in the way people go through
life. Failure in the home cannot be compensated for by any amount of wealth
or fame.
Introduction and Text of "My Last Farewell"
Translated from Spanish by Charles Derbyshire
The seventh child born to Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonzo Rizal, José
Rizal became a national hero to his country, the Philippines. His father was a
sugar plantation proprietor, and his mother also owned a small business
concern. His mother studied at Manila College. Both parents were well
educated and had established a good reputation prior to their son's birth on 19
June 1861.
José seemed to be a child prodigy, reciting the entire alphabet at two year old.
He could write in Spanish as well as Tagalog at age four. He became a skillful
sketch artist. He performed so well in school that he had achieved a bachelors
degree before he reached his 16th birthday. He attained a medical degree
from the University of Madrid at age 23.
In addition to becoming a fine poet, Rizal attained proficiency in many areas of
study, such as education, architecture, business, and horticulture. He also
excelled as a musician, theologian, psychologist, and journalist. He even held
his own as a farmer and inventor. José could speak more than 20 languages.
Most translations result in works that only vaguely resemble the style and form
of the original, but Rival's translator, Charles Derbyshire, maintained the poet's
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rime scheme in "Mi Ultimo Adios" as he translated the Rizal classic from
Spanish to English.
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The result of such care in translation means that the English version offers the
same ambiance as the original, a vital quality in a discourse that changed a
nation.
My Last Farewell ("Mi Ultimo Adiós") of Dr. Jose Rizal

Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress'd
Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!,
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.
On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of fight,
Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed;
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily white,
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight,
T is ever the same, to serve our home and country's need.
I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
My dreams, when life first opened to me,
My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high,
Were to see thy lov'd face, O gem of the Orient sea
From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free;
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.
Dream of my life, my living and burning desire,
All hail ! cries the soul that is now to take flight;
All hail ! And sweet it is for thee to expire ;
To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.
If over my grave some day thou seest grow,
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power.
Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen ;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.
Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky,
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o 'er my untimely fate sigh,
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And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, 0 my country, that in God I may rest.
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Pray for all those that hapless have died,

For all who have suffered the unmeasur'd pain;
For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried,
For widows and orphans, for captives by torture tried
And then for thyself that redemption thou mayst gain.
And when the dark night wraps the graveyard around
With only the dead in their vigil to see
Break not my repose or the mystery profound
And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound
'T is I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.
And even my grave is remembered no more
Unmark'd by never a cross nor a stone
Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er
That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.
Then will oblivion bring to me no care
As over thy vales and plains I sweep;
Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air
With color and light, with song and lament I fare,
Ever repeating the faith that I keep.
My Fatherland ador'd, that sadness to my sorrow lends
Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!
I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends
For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,
Where faith can never kill, and God reigns e'er on high!
Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,
Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed !
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day !
Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my way;
Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest !
Translated from Spanish by Charles Derbyshire
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download.jfif
Summary
and
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Analysis
La Indolencia de los Filipinos, more popularly
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known in its English version, "The Indolence
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of the Filipinos," is a exploratory essay
written by Philippine national hero Dr. Jose
Rizal, to explain the alleged idleness of his
people during the Spanish colonization.
The Indolence of the Filipinos is a study of the
causes why the people did not, as was said,
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work hard during the Spanish regime. Rizal
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pointed out that long before the coming of the
Spaniards, the Filipinos were industrious and
hardworking. The Spanish reign brought about a
decline in economic activities because of certain
causes:
 First, the establishment of the Galleon Trade cut
off all previous associations of the Philippines
E
with other countries in Asia and the Middle East.
SA
As a result, business was only conducted with
Spain through Mexico. Because of this, the small
businesses and handicraft industries that
flourished during the pre-Spanish period
gradually disappeared.
 Second, Spain also extinguished the natives’ love
of work because of the implementation of forced
E
labor. Because of the wars between Spain and
SA
other countries in Europe as well as the Muslims in
Mindanao, the Filipinos were compelled to work
in shipyards, roads, and other public works,
abandoning agriculture, industry, and
commerce.
 Third, Spain did not protect the people against
foreign invaders and pirates. With no arms to
E
defend themselves, the natives were killed, their
SA
houses burned, and their lands destroyed. As a
result of this, the Filipinos were forced to become
nomads, lost interest in cultivating their lands or in
rebuilding the industries that were shut down,
and simply became submissive to the mercy of
God.
 Fourth, there was a crooked system of
education, if it was to be considered an
E
education . What was being taught in the
SA
schools were repetitive prayers and other
things that could not be used by the students
to lead the country to progress. There were no
courses in Agriculture, Industry, etc., which
were badly needed by the Philippines during
those times.
Fifth, the Spanish rulers were a bad example
to despise manual labor. The officials
E
reported to work at noon and left early, all
SA
the while doing nothing in line with their
duties. The women were seen constantly
followed by servants who dressed them and
fanned them – personal things which they
ought to have done for themselves.
 Sixth, gambling was established and widely
propagated during those times. Almost
E
everyday there were cockfights, and during
SA
feast days, the government officials and
friars were the first to engange in all sorts of
bets and gambles.
 Seventh, there was a crooked system of
religion. The friars taught the naïve Filipinos
E
that it was easier for a poor man to enter
SA
heaven, and so they preferred not to work
and remain poor so that they could easily
enter heaven after they died.
Lastly, the taxes were extremely high,so
much so that a huge portion of what they
E
earned, went to the government or to the
SA
friars. When the object of their labor was
removed and they were exploited, they
were reduced to inaction.
Rizal admitted that the Filipinos did not work so
hard because they were wise enough to adjust
E
themselves to the warm, tropical climate. “An
SA
hour’s work under that burning sun, in the midst
of pernicious influences springing from nature in
activity, is equal to a day’s labor in a temperate
climate.”
E
SA
ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
 It is important to note that
indolence in the Philippines is
a chronic malady, but not a
hereditary one. Truth is,
before the Spaniards arrived
E
on these lands, the natives
SA
were industriously
conducting business with
China, Japan, Arabia,
Malaysia, and other countries
in the Middle East.
ANALYSIS
 The reasons for this

said indolence were
clearly stated in the
E
essay, and were not
SA
based only on
presumptions, but were
grounded on fact
taken from history.
ANALYSIS
Another thing that we might
add that had caused this
indolence, is the lack of unity
among the Filipino people. In
the absence of unity and
E
oneness, the people did not
SA
have the power to fight the
hostile attacks of the
government and of the other
forces of society
ANALYSIS
 There would also be no

voice, no leader, to sow
progress and to cultivate
E
it, so that it may be
SA
reaped in due time.
ANALYSIS
In such a condition,
the Philippines remained a
country that was lifeless,
dead, simply existing and
E
not living. As Rizal stated in
SA
conclusion, “a man in
the Philippines is an
individual; he is not merely
a citizen of a country.”
ANALYSIS
It can clearly be deduced
from the writing that the
cause of the indolence
attributed to our race is
Spain: When the Filipinos
E
wanted to study and learn,
SA
there were no schools, and if
there were any, they lacked
sufficient resources and did
not present more useful
knowledge;
ANALYSIS
 when the Filipinos wanted to
establish their businesses,
there wasn’t enough capital
nor protection from the
government; when the
E
Filipinos tried to cultivate
SA
their lands and establish
various industries, they were
made to pay enormous
taxes and were exploited by
the foreign rulers.
ANALYSIS
It is not only the Philippines,
but also other countries, that
may be called indolent,
depending on the criteria
E
upon which such a label is
SA
based. Man cannot work
without resting, and if in
doing so he is considered
lazy, they we could say that
all men are indolent.
ANALYSIS
One cannot blame a
country that was
deprived of its dignity, to
have lost its will to
E
continue building its
SA
foundation upon the
backs of its people,
especially when the fruits
of their labor do not so
much as reach their lips.
ANALYSIS
When we spend our
entire lives worshipping
such a cruel and
inhumane society,
E
forced upon us by aliens
SA
who do not even know
our motherland, we are
destined to tire after a
while.
ANALYSIS
We are not fools, we are not
puppets who simply do as we
are commanded – we are
human beings, who are
motivated by our will towards
E
the accomplishment of our
SA
objectives, and who strive for
the preservation of our
race. When this fundamental
aspect of our existence is
denied of us, who can blame us
if we turn idle?
SA
E
The Philippines A Century Hence (Jose P. Rizal)
I.
Following our usual custom of facing squarely the most difficult and delicate
questions relating to the Philippines, without weighing the consequences that our
frankness may bring upon us, we shall in the present article treat of their future.
In order to read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to open the book of its past,
and this, for the Philippines, may be reduced in general terms to what follows.
Scarcely had they been attached to the Spanish crown than they had to sustain with
their blood and the efforts of their sons the wars and ambitions of conquest of the
Spanish people, and in these struggles, in that terrible [32]crisis when a people changes
its form of government, its laws, usages, customs, religion and beliefs the Philippines
were depopulated, impoverished and retarded—caught in their metamorphosis,
without confidence in their past, without faith in their present and with no fond hope
for the years to come. The former rulers who had merely endeavored to secure the
fear and submission of their subjects, habituated by them to servitude, fell like leaves
from a dead tree, and the people, who had no love for them nor knew what liberty was,
easily changed masters, perhaps hoping to gain something by the innovation.
Then began a new era for the Filipinos. They gradually lost their ancient traditions,
E
their recollections—they forgot their writings, their songs, their poetry, their laws, in
order to learn by heart other doctrines, which they did not understand, other ethics,
SA
other tastes, different from those inspired in their race by their [33]climate and their
way of thinking. Then there was a falling-off, they were lowered in their own eyes,
they became ashamed of what was distinctively their own, in order to admire and
praise what was foreign and incomprehensible: their spirit was broken and they
acquiesced.
Thus years and centuries rolled on. Religious shows, rites that caught the eye, songs,
lights, images arrayed with gold, worship in a strange language, legends, miracles and
sermons, hypnotized the already naturally superstitious spirit of the country, but did
not succeed in destroying it altogether, in spite of the whole system afterwards
developed and operated with unyielding tenacity.
When the ethical abasement of the inhabitants had reached this stage, when they had
become disheartened and disgusted with themselves, an effort was made to add the
final stroke for reducing so many dormant wills and intellects to nothingness, in order
to make of the individual [34]a sort of toiler, a brute, a beast of burden, and to develop
a race without mind or heart. Then the end sought was revealed, it was taken for
granted, the race was insulted, an effort was made to deny it every virtue, every
human characteristic, and there were even writers and priests who pushed the
movement still further by trying to deny to the natives of the country not only
capacity for virtue but also even the tendency to vice.
Then this which they had thought would be death was sure salvation. Some dying
persons are restored to health by a heroic remedy.
So great endurance reached its climax with the insults, and the lethargic spirit woke to
life. His sensitiveness, the chief trait of the native, was touched, and while he had had
the forbearance to suffer and die under a foreign flag, he had it not when they whom
he served repaid his sacrifices with insults and jests. Then he began to study himself
and to realize his misfortune. [35]Those who had not expected this result, like all
despotic masters, regarded as a wrong every complaint, every protest, and punished it
with death, endeavoring thus to stifle every cry of sorrow with blood, and they made
mistake after mistake.
The spirit of the people was not thereby cowed, and even though it had been
awakened in only a few hearts, its flame nevertheless was surely and consumingly
propagated, thanks to abuses and the stupid endeavors of certain classes to stifle noble
and generous sentiments. Thus when a flame catches a garment, fear and confusion
propagate it more and more, and each shake, each blow, is a blast from the bellows to
fan it into life.
Undoubtedly during all this time there were not lacking generous and noble spirits
among the dominant race that tried to struggle for the rights of humanity and justice,
or sordid and cowardly ones among the dominated that aided [36]the debasement of
their own country. But both were exceptions and we are speaking in general terms.
Such is an outline of their past. We know their present. Now, what will their future
be?
E
Will the Philippine Islands continue to be a Spanish colony, and if so, what kind of
colony? Will they become a province of Spain, with or without autonomy? And to
SA
reach this stage, what kind of sacrifices will have to be made?
Will they be separated from the mother country to live independently, to fall into the
hands of other nations, or to ally themselves with neighboring powers?
It is impossible to reply to these questions, for to all of them both yes and no may be
answered, according to the time desired to be covered. When there is in nature no
fixed condition, how much less must there be in the life of a people, beings endowed
with mobility and movement! So it is that in order to deal [37]with these questions, it is
necessary to presume an unlimited period of time, and in accordance therewith try to
forecast future events.
II.
What will become of the Philippines within a century? Will they continue to be a
Spanish colony?
Had this question been asked three centuries ago, when at Legazpi’s death the
Malayan Filipinos began to be gradually undeceived and, finding the yoke heavy,
tried in vain to shake it off, without any doubt whatsoever the reply would have been
easy. To a spirit enthusiastic over the liberty of the country, to those unconquerable
Kagayanes who nourished within themselves the spirit of the Magalats, to the
descendants of the heroic Gat Pulintang and Gat Salakab of the Province of Batangas,
independence was assured, it was merely a question [42]of getting together and making
a determined effort. But for him who, disillusioned by sad experience, saw
everywhere discord and disorder, apathy and brutalization in the lower classes,
discouragement and disunion in the upper, only one answer presented itself, and it
was: extend his hands to the chains, bow his neck beneath the yoke and accept the
future with the resignation of an invalid who watches the leaves fall and foresees a
long winter amid whose snows he discerns the outlines of his grave. At that time
discord justified pessimism—but three centuries passed, the neck had become
accustomed to the yoke, and each new generation, begotten in chains, was constantly
better adapted to the new order of things.
Now, then, are the Philippines in the same condition they were three centuries ago?
For the liberal Spaniards the ethical condition of the people remains the same, that is,
the native Filipinos have not advanced; for the [43]friars and their followers the people
have been redeemed from savagery, that is, they have progressed; for many Filipinos
ethics, spirit and customs have decayed, as decay all the good qualities of a people
that falls into slavery that is, they have retrograded.
Laying aside these considerations, so as not to get away from our subject, let us draw
a brief parallel between the political situation then and the situation at present, in
order to see if what was not possible at that time can be so now, or vice versa.
Let us pass over the loyalty the Filipinos may feel for Spain; let us suppose for a
E
moment, along with Spanish writers, that there exist only motives for hatred and
jealousy between the two races; let us admit the assertions flaunted by many that three
centuries of domination have not awakened in the sensitive heart of the native a single
SA
spark of affection or gratitude; and we may see whether or not [44]the Spanish cause
has gained ground in the Islands.
Formerly the Spanish authority was upheld among the natives by a handful of soldiers,
three to five hundred at most, many of whom were engaged in trade and were
scattered about not only in the Islands but also among the neighboring nations,
occupied in long wars against the Mohammedans in the south, against the British and
Dutch, and ceaselessly harassed by Japanese, Chinese, or some tribe in the
interior. Then communication with Mexico and Spain was slow, rare and difficult;
frequent and violent the disturbances among the ruling powers in the Islands, the
treasury nearly always empty, and the life of the colonists dependent upon one frail
ship that handled the Chinese trade. Then the seas in those regions were infested with
pirates, all enemies of the Spanish name, which was defended by an improvised fleet,
generally manned by rude adventurers, when not by foreigners and enemies, [45]as
happened in the expedition of Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, which was checked and
frustrated by the mutiny of the Chinese rowers, who killed him and thwarted all his
plans and schemes. Yet in spite of so many adverse circumstances the Spanish
authority has been upheld for more than three centuries and, though it has been
curtailed, still continues to rule the destinies of the Philippine group.
On the other hand, the present situation seems to be gilded and rosy—as we might say,
a beautiful morning compared to the vexed and stormy night of the past. The material
forces at the disposal of the Spanish sovereign have now been trebled; the fleet
relatively improved; there is more organization in both civil and military affairs;
communication with the sovereign country is swifter and surer; she has no enemies
abroad; her possession is assured; and the country dominated seems to have less spirit,
less aspiration for independence, a word that is to it almost incomprehensible.
Everything then at first [46]glance presages another three centuries, at least, of peaceful
domination and tranquil suzerainty.
But above the material considerations are arising others, invisible, of an ethical nature,
far more powerful and transcendental.
Orientals, and the Malays in particular, are a sensitive people: delicacy of sentiment is
predominant with them. Even now, in spite of contact with the occidental nations,
who have ideals different from his, we see the Malayan Filipino sacrifice
everything—liberty, ease, welfare, name, for the sake of an aspiration or a conceit,
sometimes scientific, or of some other nature, but at the least word which wounds his
self-love he forgets all his sacrifices, the labor expended, to treasure in his memory
and never forget the slight he thinks he has received.
So the Philippine peoples have remained faithful during three centuries, giving up
their liberty and their independence, sometimes dazzled by [47]the hope of the Paradise
promised, sometimes cajoled by the friendship offered them by a noble and generous
people like the Spanish, sometimes also compelled by superiority of arms of which
they were ignorant and which timid spirits invested with a mysterious character, or
sometimes because the invading foreigner took advantage of intestine feuds to step in
E
as the peacemaker in discord and thus later to dominate both parties and subject them
to his authority.
SA
Spanish domination once established, it was firmly maintained, thanks to the

attachment of the people, to their mutual dissensions, and to the fact that the sensitive
self-love of the native had not yet been wounded. Then the people saw their own
countrymen in the higher ranks of the army, their general officers fighting beside the
heroes of Spain and sharing their laurels, begrudged neither character, reputation nor
consideration; then fidelity and attachment to Spain, love of the fatherland, made of
the [48]native, encomendero1 and even general, as during the English invasion; then
there had not yet been invented the insulting and ridiculous epithets with which
recently the most laborious and painful achievements of the native leaders have been
stigmatized; not then had it become the fashion to insult and slander in stereotyped
phrase, in newspapers and books published with governmental and superior
ecclesiastical approval, the people that paid, fought and poured out its blood for the
Spanish name, nor was it considered either noble or witty to offend a whole race,
which was forbidden to reply or defend itself; and if there were religious
hypochondriacs who in the leisure of their cloisters dared to write against it, as did the
Augustinian [49]Gaspar de San Agustin and the Jesuit Velarde, their loathsome
abortions never saw the light, and still less were they themselves rewarded with miters
and raised to high offices. True it is that neither were the natives of that time such as
we are now: three centuries of brutalization and obscurantism have necessarily had
some influence upon us, the most beautiful work of divinity in the hands of certain
artisans may finally be converted into a caricature.
The priests of that epoch, wishing to establish their domination over the people, got in
touch with it and made common cause with it against the oppressive encomenderos.
Naturally, the people saw in them greater learning and some prestige and placed its
confidence in them, followed their advice, and listened to them even in the darkest
hours. If they wrote, they did so in defense of the rights of the native and made his cry
reach even to the distant steps of the Throne. And not a few priests, both
secular [50]and regular, undertook dangerous journeys, as representatives of the
country, and this, along with the strict and public residencia2 then required of the
governing powers, from the captain-general to the most insignificant official, rather
consoled and pacified the wounded spirits, satisfying, even though it were only in
form, all the malcontents.
All this has passed away. The derisive laughter penetrates like mortal poison into the
heart of the native who pays and suffers and it becomes more offensive the more
immunity it enjoys. A common sore, the general affront offered to a whole race, has
wiped away the old feuds among different provinces. The people no longer has
confidence in its former protectors, [51]now its exploiters and executioners. The masks
have fallen. It has seen that the love and piety of the past have come to resemble the
devotion of a nurse who, unable to live elsewhere, desires eternal infancy, eternal
weakness, for the child in order to go on drawing her wages and existing at its
expense; it has seen not only that she does not nourish it to make it grow but that she
poisons it to stunt its growth, and at the slightest protest she flies into a rage! The
ancient show of justice, the holy residencia, has disappeared; confusion of ideas
begins to prevail; the regard shown for a governor-general, like La Torre, becomes a
crime in the government of his successor, sufficient to cause the citizen to lose his
E
liberty and his home; if he obey the order of one official, as in the recent matter of
admitting corpses into the church, it is enough to have the obedient subject later
harassed and persecuted in every possible way; obligations and taxes increase without
SA
thereby increasing rights, privileges [52]and liberties or assuring the few in existence; a
régime of continual terror and uncertainty disturbs the minds, a régime worse than a
period of disorder, for the fears that the imagination conjures up are generally greater
than the reality; the country is poor; the financial crisis through which it is passing is
acute, and every one points out with the finger the persons who are causing the
trouble, yet no one dares lay hands upon them!
True it is that the Penal Code has come like a drop of balm to such bitterness.3 But of
what use are all the codes in the world, if by means of confidential reports, if for
trifling reasons, if through anonymous traitors any honest citizen may be exiled or
banished without a hearing, without a trial? Of what use is that Penal Code, of what
use is life, if there is no security in the home, no faith in justice and confidence [53]in
tranquility of conscience? Of what use is all that array of terms, all that collection of
articles, when the cowardly accusation of a traitor has more influence in the timorous
ears of the supreme autocrat than all the cries for justice?
If this state of affairs should continue, what will become of the Philippines within a
century?
The batteries are gradually becoming charged and if the prudence of the government
does not provide an outlet for the currents that are accumulating, some day the spark
will be generated. This is not the place to speak of what outcome such a deplorable
conflict might have, for it depends upon chance, upon the weapons and upon a
thousand circumstances which man can not foresee. But even though all the
advantage should be on the government’s side and therefore the probability of success,
it would be a Pyrrhic victory, and no government ought to desire such.[54]
If those who guide the destinies of the Philippines remain obstinate, and instead of
introducing reforms try to make the condition of the country retrograde, to push their
severity and repression to extremes against the classes that suffer and think, they are
going to force the latter to venture and put into play the wretchedness of an unquiet
life, filled with privation and bitterness, against the hope of securing something
indefinite. What would be lost in the struggle? Almost nothing: the life of the
numerous discontented classes has no such great attraction that it should be preferred
to a glorious death. It may indeed be a suicidal attempt—but then, what? Would not a
bloody chasm yawn between victors and vanquished, and might not the latter with
time and experience become equal in strength, since they are superior in numbers, to
their dominators? Who disputes this? All the petty insurrections that have occurred in
the Philippines were the [55]work of a few fanatics or discontented soldiers, who had
to deceive and humbug the people or avail themselves of their power over their
subordinates to gain their ends. So they all failed. No insurrection had a popular
character or was based on a need of the whole race or fought for human rights or
justice, so it left no ineffaceable impressions, but rather when they saw that they had
been duped the people bound up their wounds and applauded the overthrow of the
disturbers of their peace! But what if the movement springs from the people
themselves and bases its cause upon their woes?
E
So then, if the prudence and wise reforms of our ministers do not find capable and
determined interpreters among the colonial governors and faithful perpetuators among
those whom the frequent political changes send to fill such a delicate post; if met with
SA
the eternal it is out of order, proffered by the elements who see their livelihood in the
backwardness of their subjects; [56]if just claims are to go unheeded, as being of a
subversive tendency; if the country is denied representation in the Cortes and an
authorized voice to cry out against all kinds of abuses, which escape through the
complexity of the laws; if, in short, the system, prolific in results of alienating the
good will of the natives, is to continue, pricking his apathetic mind with insults and
charges of ingratitude, we can assert that in a few years the present state of affairs will
have been modified completely—and inevitably. There now exists a factor which was
formerly lacking—the spirit of the nation has been aroused, and a common misfortune,
a common debasement, has united all the inhabitants of the Islands. A numerous
enlightened class now exists within and without the Islands, a class created and
continually augmented by the stupidity of certain governing powers, which forces the
inhabitants to leave the country, to secure education abroad, and it is [57]maintained
and struggles thanks to the provocations and the system of espionage in vogue. This
class, whose number is cumulatively increasing, is in constant communication with
the rest of the Islands, and if today it constitutes only the brain of the country in a few
years it will form the whole nervous system and manifest its existence in all its acts.
Now, statecraft has various means at its disposal for checking a people on the road to
progress: the brutalization of the masses through a caste addicted to the government,
aristocratic, as in the Dutch colonies, or theocratic, as in the Philippines; the
impoverishment of the country; the gradual extermination of the inhabitants; and the
fostering of feuds among the races.
Brutalization of the Malayan Filipino has been demonstrated to be impossible. In spite
of the dark horde of friars, in whose hands rests the instruction of youth, which
miserably wastes years and years in the colleges, issuing therefrom [58]tired, weary
and disgusted with books; in spite of the censorship, which tries to close every avenue
to progress; in spite of all the pulpits, confessionals, books and missals that inculcate
hatred toward not only all scientific knowledge but even toward the Spanish language
itself; in spite of this whole elaborate system perfected and tenaciously operated by
those who wish to keep the Islands in holy ignorance, there exist writers, freethinkers,
historians, philosophers, chemists, physicians, artists and jurists. Enlightenment is
spreading and the persecution it suffers quickens it. No, the divine flame of thought is
inextinguishable in the Filipino people and somehow or other it will shine forth and
compel recognition. It is impossible to brutalize the inhabitants of the Philippines!
May poverty arrest their development?
Perhaps, but it is a very dangerous means. Experience has everywhere shown us and
especially in the Philippines, that the classes which [59]are better off have always been
addicted to peace and order, because they live comparatively better and may be the
losers in civil disturbances. Wealth brings with it refinement, the spirit of
conservation, while poverty inspires adventurous ideas, the desire to change things,
and has little care for life. Machiavelli himself held this means of subjecting a people
to be perilous, observing that loss of welfare stirs up more obdurate enemies than loss
of life. Moreover, when there are wealth and abundance, there is less discontent, less
E
complaint, and the government, itself wealthier, has more means for sustaining itself.
On the other hand, there occurs in a poor country what happens in a house where
bread is wanting. And further, of what use to the mother country would a poor and
SA
lean colony be?
Neither is it possible gradually to exterminate the inhabitants. The Philippine races,

like all the Malays, do not succumb before the foreigner, [60]like the Australians, the
Polynesians and the Indians of the New World. In spite of the numerous wars the
Filipinos have had to carry on, in spite of the epidemics that have periodically visited
them, their number has trebled, as has that of the Malays of Java and the Moluccas.
The Filipino embraces civilization and lives and thrives in every clime, in contact
with every people. Rum, that poison which exterminated the natives of the Pacific
islands, has no power in the Philippines, but, rather, comparison of their present
condition with that described by the early historians, makes it appear that the Filipinos
have grown soberer. The petty wars with the inhabitants of the South consume only
the soldiers, people who by their fidelity to the Spanish flag, far from being a menace,
are surely one of its solidest supports.
There remains the fostering of intestine feuds among the provinces.
This was formerly possible, when communication from one island to another was rare
and [61]difficult, when there were no steamers or telegraph-lines, when the regiments
were formed according to the various provinces, when some provinces were cajoled
by awards of privileges and honors and others were protected from the strongest. But
now that the privileges have disappeared, that through a spirit of distrust the regiments
have been reorganized, that the inhabitants move from one island to another,
communication and exchange of impressions naturally increase, and as all see
themselves threatened by the same peril and wounded in the same feelings, they clasp
hands and make common cause. It is true that the union is not yet wholly perfected,
but to this end tend the measures of good government, the vexations to which the
townspeople are subjected, the frequent changes of officials, the scarcity of centers of
learning, which forces the youth of all the Islands to come together and begin to get
acquainted. The journeys to Europe contribute not a little to tighten the bonds, for
abroad the inhabitants [62]of the most widely separated provinces are impressed by
their patriotic feelings, from sailors even to the wealthiest merchants, and at the sight
of modern liberty and the memory of the misfortunes of their country, they embrace
and call one another brothers.
In short, then, the advancement and ethical progress of the Philippines are inevitable,
are decreed by fate.
The Islands cannot remain in the condition they are without requiring from the
sovereign country more liberty Mutatis mutandis. For new men, a new social order.
To wish that the alleged child remain in its swaddling-clothes is to risk that it may
turn against its nurse and flee, tearing away the old rags that bind it.
The Philippines, then, will remain under Spanish domination, but with more law and
greater liberty, or they will declare themselves [63]independent, after steeping
themselves and the mother country in blood.
E
As no one should desire or hope for such an unfortunate rupture, which would be an
evil for all and only the final argument in the most desperate predicament, let us see
SA
by what forms of peaceful evolution the Islands may remain subjected to the Spanish
authority with the very least detriment to the rights, interests and dignity of both
parties.
III.
If the Philippines must remain under the control of Spain, they will necessarily have
to be transformed in a political sense, for the course of their history and the needs of
their inhabitants so require. This we demonstrated in the preceding article.
We also said that this transformation will be violent and fatal if it proceeds from the
ranks of the people, but peaceful and fruitful if it emanate from the upper classes.
Some governors have realized this truth, and, impelled by their patriotism, have been
trying to introduce needed reforms in order to forestall events. But notwithstanding all
that have been ordered up to the present time, they have [68]produced scanty results,
for the government as well as for the country. Even those that promised only a happy
issue have at times caused injury, for the simple reason that they have been based
upon unstable grounds.
We said, and once more we repeat, and will ever assert, that reforms which have
a palliative character are not only ineffectual but even prejudicial, when the
government is confronted with evils that must be cured radically. And were we not
convinced of the honesty and rectitude of some governors, we would be tempted to
say that all the partial reforms are only plasters and salves of a physician who, not
knowing how to cure the cancer, and not daring to root it out, tries in this way to
alleviate the patient’s sufferings or to temporize with the cowardice of the timid and
ignorant.
All the reforms of our liberal ministers were, have been, are, and will be good—when
carried out.[69]
When we think of them, we are reminded of the dieting of Sancho Panza in his
Barataria Island. He took his seat at a sumptuous and well-appointed table “covered
with fruit and many varieties of food differently prepared,” but between the wretch’s
mouth and each dish the physician Pedro Rezio interposed his wand, saying, “Take it
away!” The dish removed, Sancho was as hungry as ever. True it is that the despotic
Pedro Rezio gave reasons, which seem to have been written by Cervantes especially
for the colonial administrations: “You must not eat, Mr. Governor, except according
to the usage and custom of other islands where there are governors.” Something was
found to be wrong with each dish: one was too hot, another too moist, and so on, just
like our Pedro Rezios on both sides of the sea. Great good did his cook’s skill do
Sancho!4
In the case of our country, the reforms take [70]the place of the dishes, the Philippines
are Sancho, while the part of the quack physician is played by many persons,
interested in not having the dishes touched, perhaps that they may themselves get the
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benefit of them.
The result is that the long-suffering Sancho, or the Philippines, misses his liberty,
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rejects all government and ends up by rebelling against his quack physician.
In like manner, so long as the Philippines have no liberty of the press, have no voice
in the Cortes to make known to the government and to the nation whether or not their
decrees have been duly obeyed, whether or not these benefit the country, all the able
efforts of the colonial ministers will meet the fate of the dishes in Barataria island.
The minister, then, who wants his reforms to be reforms, must begin by declaring the
press in the Philippines free and by instituting Filipino delegates.[71]
The press is free in the Philippines, because their complaints rarely ever reach the
Peninsula, very rarely, and if they do they are so secret, so mysterious, that no
newspaper dares to publish them, or if it does reproduce them, it does so tardily and
badly.
A government that rules a country from a great distance is the one that has the most
need for a free press, more so even than the government of the home country, if it
wishes to rule rightly and fitly. The government that governs in a country may even
dispense with the press (if it can), because it is on the ground, because it has eyes and
ears, and because it directly observes what it rules and administers. But the
government that governs from afar absolutely requires that the truth and the facts
reach its knowledge by every possible channel, so that it may weigh and estimate
them better, and this need increases when a country like the Philippines is concerned,
where the inhabitants speak and [72]complain in a language unknown to the authorities.
To govern in any other way may also be called governing, but it is to govern badly. It
amounts to pronouncing judgment after hearing only one of the parties; it is steering a
ship without reckoning its conditions, the state of the sea, the reefs and shoals, the
direction of the winds and currents. It is managing a house by endeavoring merely to
give it polish and a fine appearance without watching the money-chest, without
looking after the servants and the members of the family.
But routine is a declivity down which many governments slide, and routine says that
freedom of the press is dangerous. Let us see what History says: uprisings and
revolutions have always occurred in countries tyrannized over, in countries where
human thought and the human heart have been forced to remain silent.
If the great Napoleon had not tyrannized over the press, perhaps it would have
warned [73]him of the peril into which he was hurled and have made him understand
that the people were weary and the earth wanted peace. Perhaps his genius, instead of
being dissipated in foreign aggrandizement, would have become intensive in laboring
to strengthen his position and thus have assured it. Spain herself records in her history
more revolutions when the press was gagged. What colonies have become
independent while they have had a free press and enjoyed liberty? Is it preferable to
govern blindly or to govern with ample knowledge?
Some one will answer that in colonies with a free press, the prestige of the rulers, that
prop of false governments, will be greatly imperiled. We answer that the prestige of
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the nation is preferable to that of a few individuals. A nation acquires respect, not by
abetting and concealing abuses, but by rebuking and punishing them. Moreover, to
this prestige is applicable what Napoleon said about great men [74]and their valets. We,
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who endure and know all the false pretensions and petty persecutions of those sham
gods, do not need a free press in order to recognize them; they have long ago lost their
prestige. The free press is needed by the government, the government which still
dreams of the prestige which it builds upon mined ground.
We say the same about the Filipino representatives.
What risks does the government see in them? One of three things: either that they will
prove unruly, become political trimmers, or act properly.
Supposing that we should yield to the most absurd pessimism and admit the insult,
great for the Philippines, but still greater for Spain, that all the representatives would
be separatists and that in all their contentions they would advocate separatist ideas:
does not a patriotic Spanish majority exist there, is there not present [75]there the
vigilance of the governing powers to combat and oppose such intentions? And would
not this be better than the discontent that ferments and expands in the secrecy of the
home, in the huts and in the fields? Certainly the Spanish people does not spare its
blood where patriotism is concerned, but would not a struggle of principles in
parliament be preferable to the exchange of shot in swampy lands, three thousand
leagues from home, in impenetrable forests, under a burning sun or amid torrential
rains? These pacific struggles of ideas, besides being a thermometer for the
government, have the advantage of being cheap and glorious, because the Spanish
parliament especially abounds in oratorical paladins, invincible in debate. Moreover,
it is said that the Filipinos are indolent and peaceful—then what need the government
fear? Hasn’t it any influence in the elections? Frankly, it is a great compliment to the
separatists to fear them in the midst of the Cortes of the nation.[76]
If they become political trimmers, as is to be expected and as they probably will be, so
much the better for the government and so much the worse for their constituents.
They would be a few more favorable votes, and the government could laugh openly at
the separatists, if any there be.
If they become what they should be, worthy, honest and faithful to their trust, they
will undoubtedly annoy an ignorant or incapable minister with their questions, but
they will help him to govern and will be some more honorable figures among the
representatives of the nation.
Now then, if the real objection to the Filipino delegates is that they smell like Igorots,
which so disturbed in open Senate the doughty General Salamanca, then Don
Sinibaldo de Mas, who saw the Igorots in person and wanted to live with them, can
affirm that they will smell at worst like powder, and Señor Salamanca undoubtedly
has no fear of that odor. And if [77]this were all, the Filipinos, who there in their own
country are accustomed to bathe every day, when they become representatives may
give up such a dirty custom, at least during the legislative session, so as not to offend
the delicate nostrils of the Salamancas with the odor of the bath.
It is useless to answer certain objections of some fine writers regarding the rather
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brown skins and faces with somewhat wide nostrils. Questions of taste are peculiar to
each race. China, for example, which has four hundred million inhabitants and a very
ancient civilization, considers all Europeans ugly and calls them “fan-kwai,” or red
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devils. Its taste has a hundred million more adherents than the European. Moreover, if
this is the question, we would have to admit the inferiority of the Latins, especially
the Spaniards, to the Saxons, who are much whiter.
And so long as it is not asserted that the Spanish parliament is an assemblage of

Adonises, [78]Antinouses, pretty boys, and other like paragons; so long as the purpose
of resorting thither is to legislate and not to philosophize or to wander through
imaginary spheres, we maintain that the government ought not to pause at these
objections. Law has no skin, nor reason nostrils.
So we see no serious reason why the Philippines may not have representatives. By
their institution many malcontents would be silenced, and instead of blaming its
troubles upon the government, as now happens, the country would bear them better,
for it could at least complain and with its sons among its legislators would in a way
become responsible for their actions.
We are not sure that we serve the true interests of our country by asking for
representatives. We know that the lack of enlightenment, the indolence, the egotism
of our fellow countrymen, and the boldness, the cunning and the powerful methods of
those who wish their obscurantism, [79]may convert reform into a harmful instrument.
But we wish to be loyal to the government and we are pointing out to it the road that
appears best to us so that its efforts may not come to grief, so that discontent may
disappear. If after so just, as well as necessary, a measure has been introduced, the
Filipino people are so stupid and weak that they are treacherous to their own interests,
then let the responsibility fall upon them, let them suffer all the consequences. Every
country gets the fate it deserves, and the government can say that it has done its duty.
These are the two fundamental reforms, which, properly interpreted and applied, will
dissipate all clouds, assure affection toward Spain, and make all succeeding reforms
fruitful. These are the reforms sine quibus non.
It is puerile to fear that independence may come through them. The free press will
keep the government in touch with public opinion, [80]and the representatives, if they
are, as they ought to be, the best from among the sons of the Philippines, will be their
hostages. With no cause for discontent, how then attempt to stir up the masses of the
people?
Likewise inadmissible is the objection offered by some regarding the imperfect

culture of the majority of the inhabitants. Aside from the fact that it is not so
imperfect as is averred, there is no plausible reason why the ignorant and the defective
(whether through their own or another’s fault) should be denied representation to look
after them and see that they are not abused. They are the very ones who most need it.
No one ceases to be a man, no one forfeits his rights to civilization merely by being
more or less uncultured, and since the Filipino is regarded as a fit citizen when he is
asked to pay taxes or shed his blood to defend the fatherland, why must this fitness be
denied him when the question arises of granting him [81]some right? Moreover, how is
he to be held responsible for his ignorance, when it is acknowledged by all, friends
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and enemies, that his zeal for learning is so great that even before the coming of the
Spaniards every one could read and write, and that we now see the humblest families
make enormous sacrifices in order that their children may become a little enlightened,
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even to the extent of working as servants in order to learn Spanish? How can the
country be expected to become enlightened under present conditions when we see all
the decrees issued by the government in favor of education meet with Pedro Rezios
who prevent execution thereof, because they have in their hands what they call
education? If the Filipino, then, is sufficiently intelligent to pay taxes, he must also be
able to choose and retain the one who looks after him and his interests, with the
product whereof he serves the government of his nation. To reason otherwise is to
reason stupidly.[82]
When the laws and the acts of officials are kept under surveillance, the word justice
may cease to be a colonial jest. The thing that makes the English most respected in
their possessions is their strict and speedy justice, so that the inhabitants repose entire
confidence in the judges. Justice is the foremost virtue of the civilizing races. It
subdues the barbarous nations, while injustice arouses the weakest.
Offices and trusts should be awarded by competition, publishing the work and the
judgment thereon, so that there may be stimulus and that discontent may not be bred.
Then, if the native does not shake off his indolence he can not complain when he sees
all the offices filled by Castilas.
We presume that it will not be the Spaniard who fears to enter into this contest, for
thus will he be able to prove his superiority by the superiority of intelligence.
Although this is not the custom in the sovereign country, it [83]should be practiced in
the colonies, for the reason that genuine prestige should be sought by means of moral
qualities, because the colonizers ought to be, or at least to seem, upright, honest and
intelligent, just as a man simulates virtues when he deals with strangers. The offices
and trusts so earned will do away with arbitrary dismissal and develop employees and
officials capable and cognizant of their duties. The offices held by natives, instead of
endangering the Spanish domination, will merely serve to assure it, for what interest
would they have in converting the sure and stable into the uncertain and problematical?
The native is, moreover, very fond of peace and prefers an humble present to a
brilliant future. Let the various Filipinos still holding office speak in this matter; they
are the most unshaken conservatives.
We could add other minor reforms touching commerce, agriculture, security of the
individual [84]and of property, education, and so on, but these are points with which
we shall deal in other articles. For the present we are satisfied with the outlines, and
no one can say that we ask too much.
There will not be lacking critics to accuse us of Utopianism: but what is Utopia?
Utopia was a country imagined by Thomas Moore, wherein existed universal suffrage,
religious toleration, almost complete abolition of the death penalty, and so on. When
the book was published these things were looked upon as dreams, impossibilities, that
is, Utopianism. Yet civilization has left the country of Utopia far behind, the human
will and conscience have worked greater miracles, have abolished slavery and the
death penalty for adultery—things impossible for even Utopia itself!
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The French colonies have their representatives. The question has also been raised in
the English parliament of giving representation [85]to the Crown colonies, for the
others already enjoy some autonomy. The press there also is free. Only Spain, which
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in the sixteenth century was the model nation in civilization, lags far behind. Cuba
and Porto Rico, whose inhabitants do not number a third of those of the Philippines,
and who have not made such sacrifices for Spain, have numerous representatives. The
Philippines in the early days had theirs, who conferred with the King and the Pope on
the needs of the country. They had them in Spain’s critical moments, when she
groaned under the Napoleonic yoke, and they did not take advantage of the sovereign
country’s misfortune like other colonies, but tightened more firmly the bonds that
united them to the nation, giving proofs of their loyalty; and they continued until
many years later. What crime have the Islands committed that they are deprived of
their rights?
To recapitulate: the Philippines will remain Spanish, if they enter upon the life of law
and [86]civilization, if the rights of their inhabitants are respected, if the other rights
due them are granted, if the liberal policy of the government is carried out without
trickery or meanness, without subterfuges or false interpretations.
Otherwise, if an attempt is made to see in the Islands a lode to be exploited, a resource

to satisfy ambitions, thus to relieve the sovereign country of taxes, killing the goose
that lays the golden eggs and shutting its ears to all cries of reason, then, however
great may be the loyalty of the Filipinos, it will be impossible to hinder the operations
of the inexorable laws of history. Colonies established to subserve the policy and the
commerce of the sovereign country, all eventually become independent, said Bachelet,
and before Bachelet all the Phœnecian, Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, English,
Portuguese and Spanish colonies had said it.
Close indeed are the bonds that unite us to Spain. Two peoples do not live for three
centuries [87]in continual contact, sharing the same lot, shedding their blood on the
same fields, holding the same beliefs, worshipping the same God, interchanging the
same ideas, but that ties are formed between them stronger than those fashioned by
arms or fear. Mutual sacrifices and benefits have engendered affection. Machiavelli,
the great reader of the human heart, said: la natura degli huomini, é cosi obligarsi per
li beneficii che essi fanno, come per quelli che essi ricevono (it is human nature to be
bound as much by benefits conferred as by those received). All this, and more, is true,
but it is pure sentimentality, and in the arena of politics stern necessity and interests
prevail. Howsoever much the Filipinos owe Spain, they can not be required to forego
their redemption, to have their liberal and enlightened sons wander about in exile
from their native land, the rudest aspirations stifled in its atmosphere, the peaceful
inhabitant living in constant alarm, with the fortune [88]of the two peoples dependent
upon the whim of one man. Spain can not claim, not even in the name of God himself,
that six millions of people should be brutalized, exploited and oppressed, denied light
and the rights inherent to a human being, and then heap upon them slights and insults.
There is no claim of gratitude that can excuse, there is not enough powder in the
world to justify, the offenses against the liberty of the individual, against the sanctity
of the home, against the laws, against peace and honor, offenses that are committed
there daily. There is no divinity that can proclaim the sacrifice of our dearest
affections, the sacrifice of the family, the sacrileges and wrongs that are committed by
persons who have the name of God on their lips. No one can require an impossibility
of the Filipino people. The noble Spanish people, so jealous of its rights and liberties,
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can not bid the Filipinos renounce theirs. A people that prides itself on the glories of
its past can not ask [89]another, trained by it, to accept abjection and dishonor its own
name!
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We who today are struggling by the legal and peaceful means of debate so understand
it, and with our gaze fixed upon our ideals, shall not cease to plead our cause, without
going beyond the pale of the law, but if violence first silences us or we have the
misfortune to fall (which is possible, for we are mortal), then we do not know what
course will be taken by the numerous tendencies that will rush in to occupy the places
that we leave vacant.
If what we desire is not realized....
In contemplating such an unfortunate eventuality, we must not turn away in horror,

and so instead of closing our eyes we will face what the future may bring. For this
purpose, after throwing the handful of dust due to Cerberus, let us frankly descend
into the abyss and sound its terrible mysteries.
IV.
History does not record in its annals any lasting domination exercised by one people
over another, of different race, of diverse usages and customs, of opposite and
divergent ideals.
One of the two had to yield and succumb. Either the foreigner was driven out, as
happened in the case of the Carthaginians, the Moors and the French in Spain, or else
these autochthons had to give way and perish, as was the case with the inhabitants of
the New World, Australia and New Zealand.
One of the longest dominations was that of the Moors in Spain, which lasted seven
centuries. But, even though the conquerors lived in the country conquered, even
though the Peninsula [94]was broken up into small states, which gradually emerged
like little islands in the midst of the great Saracen inundation, and in spite of the
chivalrous spirit, the gallantry and the religious toleration of the califs, they were
finally driven out after bloody and stubborn conflicts, which formed the Spanish
nation and created the Spain of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The existence of a foreign body within another endowed with strength and activity is
contrary to all natural and ethical laws. Science teaches us that it is either assimilated,
destroys the organism, is eliminated or becomes encysted.
Encystment of a conquering people is impossible, for it signifies complete isolation,

absolute inertia, debility in the conquering element. Encystment thus means the tomb
of the foreign invader.
Now, applying these considerations to the Philippines, we must conclude, as a

deduction [95]from all we have said, that if their population be not assimilated to the
Spanish nation, if the dominators do not enter into the spirit of their inhabitants, if
equable laws and free and liberal reforms do not make each forget that they belong to
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different races, or if both peoples be not amalgamated to constitute one mass, socially
and politically homogeneous, that is, not harassed by opposing tendencies and
antagonistic ideas and interests, some day the Philippines will fatally and infallibly
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declare themselves independent. To this law of destiny can be opposed neither

Spanish patriotism, nor the love of all the Filipinos for Spain, nor the doubtful future
of dismemberment and intestine strife in the Islands themselves. Necessity is the most
powerful divinity the world knows, and necessity is the resultant of physical forces set
in operation by ethical forces.
We have said and statistics prove that it is impossible to exterminate the Filipino
people. [96]And even were it possible, what interest would Spain have in the
destruction of the inhabitants of a country she can not populate or cultivate, whose
climate is to a certain extent disastrous to her? What good would the Philippines be
without the Filipinos? Quite otherwise, under her colonial system and the transitory
character of the Spaniards who go to the colonies, a colony is so much the more
useful and productive to her as it possesses inhabitants and wealth. Moreover, in order
to destroy the six million Malays, even supposing them to be in their infancy and that
they have never learned to fight and defend themselves, Spain would have to sacrifice
at least a fourth of her population. This we commend to the notice of the partizans of
colonial exploitation.
But nothing of this kind can happen. The menace is that when the education and
liberty necessary to human existence are denied by Spain to the Filipinos, then they
will seek [97]enlightenment abroad, behind the mother country’s back, or they will
secure by hook or by crook some advantages in their own country, with the result that
the opposition of purblind and paretic politicians will not only be futile but even
prejudicial, because it will convert motives for love and gratitude into resentment and
hatred.
Hatred and resentment on one side, mistrust and anger on the other, will finally result
in a violent and terrible collision, especially when there exist elements interested in
having disturbances, so that they may get something in the excitement, demonstrate
their mighty power, foster lamentations and recriminations, or employ violent
measures. It is to be expected that the government will triumph and be generally (as is
the custom) severe in punishment, either to teach a stern lesson in order to vaunt its
strength or even to revenge upon the vanquished the spells of excitement and terror
that [98]the danger caused it. An unavoidable concomitant of those catastrophes is the
accumulation of acts of injustice committed against the innocent and peaceful
inhabitants. Private reprisals, denunciations, despicable accusations, resentments,
covetousness, the opportune moment for calumny, the haste and hurried procedure of
the courts martial, the pretext of the integrity of the fatherland and the safety of the
state, which cloaks and justifies everything, even for scrupulous minds, which
unfortunately are still rare, and above all the panic-stricken timidity, the cowardice
that battens upon the conquered—all these things augment the severe measures and
the number of the victims. The result is that a chasm of blood is then opened between
the two peoples, that the wounded and the afflicted, instead of becoming fewer, are
increased, for to the families and friends of the guilty, who always think the
punishment excessive and the judge unjust, must be added the [99]families and friends
of the innocent, who see no advantage in living and working submissively and
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peacefully. Note, too, that if severe measures are dangerous in a nation made up of a
homogeneous population, the peril is increased a hundred-fold when the government
is formed of a race different from the governed. In the former an injustice may still be
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ascribed to one man alone, to a governor actuated by personal malice, and with the
death of the tyrant the victim is reconciled to the government of his nation. But in a
country dominated by a foreign race, even the justest act of severity is construed as
injustice and oppression, because it is ordered by a foreigner, who is unsympathetic or
is an enemy of the country, and the offense hurts not only the victim but his entire
race, because it is not usually regarded as personal, and so the resentment naturally
spreads to the whole governing race and does not die out with the offender.[100]
Hence the great prudence and fine tact that should be exercised by colonizing
countries, and the fact that government regards the colonies in general, and our
colonial office in particular, as training schools, contributes notably to the fulfillment
of the great law that the colonies sooner or later declare themselves independent.
Such is the descent down which the peoples are precipitated. In proportion as they are
bathed in blood and drenched in tears and gall, the colony, if it has any vitality, learns
how to struggle and perfect itself in fighting, while the mother country, whose
colonial life depends upon peace and the submission of the subjects, is constantly
weakened, and, even though she make heroic efforts, as her number is less and she
has only a fictitious existence, she finally perishes. She is like the rich voluptuary
accustomed to be waited upon by a crowd of servants toiling and planting for him,
and who, on the day his slaves refuse him obedience, as he does not live by his own
efforts, must die.[101]
Reprisals, wrongs and suspicions on one part and on the other the sentiment of
patriotism and liberty, which is aroused in these incessant conflicts, insurrections and
uprisings, operate to generalize the movement and one of the two peoples must
succumb. The struggle will be brief, for it will amount to a slavery much more cruel
than death for the people and to a dishonorable loss of prestige for the dominator. One
of the peoples must succumb.
Spain, from the number of her inhabitants, from the condition of her army and navy,
from the distance she is situated from the Islands, from her scanty knowledge of them,
and from struggling against a people whose love and good will she has alienated, will
necessarily have to give way, if she does not wish to risk not only her other
possessions and her future in Africa, but also her very independence in Europe. All
this at the cost of bloodshed and crime, after mortal conflicts, murders,
conflagrations, [102]military executions, famine and misery.
The Spaniard is gallant and patriotic, and sacrifices everything, in favorable moments,
for his country’s good. He has the intrepidity of his bull. The Filipino loves his
country no less, and although he is quieter, more peaceful, and with difficulty stirred
up, when he is once aroused he does not hesitate and for him the struggle means death
to one or the other combatant. He has all the meekness and all the tenacity and
ferocity of his carabao. Climate affects bipeds in the same way that it does
quadrupeds.
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The terrible lessons and the hard teachings that these conflicts will have afforded the
Filipinos will operate to improve and strengthen their ethical nature. The Spain of the
fifteenth century was not the Spain of the eighth. With their bitter experience, instead
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of intestine conflicts of some islands against others, as is generally feared, they will
extend mutual support, [103]like shipwrecked persons when they reach an island after a
fearful night of storm. Nor may it be said that we shall partake of the fate of the small
American republics. They achieved their independence easily, and their inhabitants
are animated by a different spirit from what the Filipinos are. Besides, the danger of
falling again into other hands, English or German, for example, will force the
Filipinos to be sensible and prudent. Absence of any great preponderance of one race
over the others will free their imagination from all mad ambitions of domination, and
as the tendency of countries that have been tyrannized over, when they once shake off
the yoke, is to adopt the freest government, like a boy leaving school, like the beat of
the pendulum, by a law of reaction the Islands will probably declare themselves a
federal republic.
If the Philippines secure their independence after heroic and stubborn conflicts, they
can [104]rest assured that neither England, nor Germany, nor France, and still less
Holland, will dare to take up what Spain has been unable to hold. Within a few years
Africa will completely absorb the attention of the Europeans, and there is no sensible
nation which, in order to secure a group of poor and hostile islands, will neglect the
immense territory offered by the Dark Continent, untouched, undeveloped and almost
undefended. England has enough colonies in the Orient and is not going to risk losing
her balance. She is not going to sacrifice her Indian Empire for the poor Philippine
Islands—if she had entertained such an intention she would not have restored Manila
in 1763, but would have kept some point in the Philippines, whence she might
gradually expand. Moreover, what need has John Bull the trader to exhaust himself
for the Philippines, when he is already lord of the Orient, when he has there Singapore,
Hongkong and Shanghai? It is [105]probable that England will look favorably upon the
independence of the Philippines, for it will open their ports to her and afford greater
freedom to her commerce. Furthermore, there exist in the United Kingdom tendencies
and opinions to the effect that she already has too many colonies, that they are
harmful, that they greatly weaken the sovereign country.
For the same reasons Germany will not care to run any risk, and because a scattering
of her forces and a war in distant countries will endanger her existence on the
continent. Thus we see her attitude, as much in the Pacific as in Africa, is confined to
conquering easy territory that belongs to nobody. Germany avoids any foreign
complications.
France has enough to do and sees more of a future in Tongking and China, besides the
fact that the French spirit does not shine in zeal for colonization. France loves glory,
but the glory and laurels that grow on the battlefields of [106]Europe. The echo from
battlefields in the Far East hardly satisfies her craving for renown, for it reaches her
quite faintly. She has also other obligations, both internally and on the continent.
Holland is sensible and will be content to keep the Moluccas and Java. Sumatra offers
her a greater future than the Philippines, whose seas and coasts have a sinister omen
for Dutch expeditions. Holland proceeds with great caution in Sumatra and Borneo,
from fear of losing everything.
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China will consider herself fortunate if she succeeds in keeping herself intact and is
not dismembered or partitioned among the European powers that are colonizing the
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continent of Asia.
The same is true of Japan. On the north she has Russia, who envies and watches her;
on the south England, with whom she is in accord even to her official language. She is,
moreover, [107]under such diplomatic pressure from Europe that she can not think of
outside affairs until she is freed from it, which will not be an easy matter. True it is
that she has an excess of population, but Korea attracts her more than the Philippines
and is, also, easier to seize.
Perhaps the great American Republic, whose interests lie in the Pacific and who has
no hand in the spoliation of Africa, may some day dream of foreign possession. This
is not impossible, for the example is contagious, covetousness and ambition are
among the strongest vices, and Harrison manifested something of this sort in the
Samoan question. But the Panama Canal is not opened nor the territory of the States
congested with inhabitants, and in case she should openly attempt it the European
powers would not allow her to proceed, for they know very well that the appetite is
sharpened by the first bites. North America would be quite a troublesome rival, if she
should once get into [108]the business. Furthermore, this is contrary to her traditions.
Very likely the Philippines will defend with inexpressible valor the liberty secured at
the price of so much blood and sacrifice. With the new men that will spring from their
soil and with the recollection of their past, they will perhaps strive to enter freely upon
the wide road of progress, and all will labor together to strengthen their fatherland,
both internally and externally, with the same enthusiasm with which a youth falls
again to tilling the land of his ancestors, so long wasted and abandoned through the
neglect of those who have withheld it from him. Then the mines will be made to give
up their gold for relieving distress, iron for weapons, copper, lead and coal. Perhaps
the country will revive the maritime and mercantile life for which the islanders are
fitted by their nature, ability and instincts, and once more free, like the bird that leaves
its cage, [109]like the flower that unfolds to the air, will recover the pristine virtues that
are gradually dying out and will again become addicted to peace—cheerful, happy,
joyous, hospitable and daring.
These and many other things may come to pass within something like a hundred years.
But the most logical prognostication, the prophecy based on the best probabilities,
may err through remote and insignificant causes. An octopus that seized Mark
Antony’s ship altered the face of the world; a cross on Cavalry and a just man nailed
thereon changed the ethics of half the human race, and yet before Christ, how many
just men wrongfully perished and how many crosses were raised on that hill! The
death of the just sanctified his work and made his teaching unanswerable. A sunken
road at the battle of Waterloo buried all the glories of two brilliant decades, the whole
Napoleonic world, and freed Europe. Upon what chance [110]accidents will the destiny
of the Philippines depend?
Nevertheless, it is not well to trust to accident, for there is sometimes an imperceptible

and incomprehensible logic in the workings of history. Fortunately, peoples as well as
governments are subject to it.
E
Therefore, we repeat, and we will ever repeat, while there is time, that it is better to
keep pace with the desires of a people than to give way before them: the former
SA
begets sympathy and love, the latter contempt and anger. Since it is necessary to grant
six million Filipinos their rights, so that they may be in fact Spaniards, let the
government grant these rights freely and spontaneously, without damaging
reservations, without irritating mistrust. We shall never tire of repeating this while a
ray of hope is left us, for we prefer this unpleasant task to the need of some day
saying to the mother country: “Spain, we have spent our [111]youth in serving thy
interests in the interests of our country; we have looked to thee, we have expended the
whole light of our intellects, all the fervor and enthusiasm of our hearts in working for
the good of what was thine, to draw from thee a glance of love, a liberal policy that
would assure us the peace of our native land and thy sway over loyal but unfortunate
islands! Spain, thou hast remained deaf, and, wrapped up in thy pride, hast pursued
thy fatal course and accused us of being traitors, merely because we love our country,
because we tell thee the truth and hate all kinds of injustice. What dost thou wish us to
tell our wretched country, when it asks about the result of our efforts? Must we say to
it that, since for it we have lost everything—youth, future, hope, peace, family; since
in its service we have exhausted all the resources of hope, all the disillusions of desire,
it also takes the residue which we can not use, the blood from our veins and [112]the
strength left in our arms? Spain, must we some day tell Filipinas that thou hast no ear
for her woes and that if she wishes to be saved she must redeem herself?”
The inspiring poems of Rizal proved his poetical genius
that reflected about his life in his childhood memories
including his experiences and insights about education,
religion and colonial administration of Spain in the
Philippine islands. In 1874-1877, he wrote poems of
varied interest and perspectives about life : (1) My First
Inspiration ; (2) In Memory of My Town; (3) Through
Education the Mother Receives Light; (4) Intimate
Alliance between Religion; and (5) A Farewell Dialogue of
the Students.
Through Education Our Motherland Receives Light
This poem proved that he valued education so much

that may give the power of the country to survive from
any forces in the struggles of societal freedom . Through
education, it creates the virtue of power to human race.
This gives security and peace to the motherland as the
Filipinos would learn the sciences and arts as the basis to
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calm down the life of the society.
The vital breath of prudent Education

SA
Instills a virtue of enchanting power;

She lifts the motherland to highest station
And endless dazzling glories on her shower.
And as the zephyr's gentle exhalation
Revives the matrix of the fragrant flower,
So education multiplies her gifts of grace;
With prudent hand imparts them to the human race.
For her a mortal-man will gladly part

With all he has; will give his calm repose;
For her are born all science and all art,
That brows of men with laurel fair enclose.
As from the towering mountain's lofty heart
The purest current of the streamlet flows,
So education without stint or measure gives
Security and peace to lands in which she lives.
Where Education reigns on lofty seat

Youth blossoms forth with vigor and agility;
He error subjugates with solid feet,
And is exalted by conceptions of nobility.
She breaks the neck of vice and its deceit;
Black crime turns pale at Her hostility;
The barbarous nations She knows how to tame,
From savages creates heroic fame.
And as the spring doth sustenance bestow

On all the plants, on bushes in the mead,
Its placid plenty goes to overflow
And endlessly with lavish love to feed
The banks by which it wanders, gliding slow,
Supplying beauteous nature's every need;
So he who prudent Education doth procure
The towering heights of honor will secure.
From out his lips the water, crystal pure,

Of perfect virtue shall not cease to go.
With careful doctrines of his faith made sure,
The powers of evil he will overthrow,
Like foaming waves that never long endure,
E
But perish on the shore at every blow;
And from his good example other men shall learn
Their upward steps toward the heavenly paths to turn.
SA
Within the breast of wretched humankind

She lights the living flame of goodness bright;
The hands of fiercest criminal doth bind;
And in those breasts will surely pour delight
Which seek her mystic benefits to find,
Those souls She sets aflame with love of right.
It is a noble fully-rounded Education
That gives to life its surest consolation.
And as the mighty rock aloft may tower

Above the center of the stormy deep
In scorn of storm, or fierce Sou'wester's power,
Or fury of the waves that raging seep,
Until, their first mad hatred spent, they cower,
And, tired at last, subside and fall asleep, --
So he that takes wise Education by the hand,
Invincible shall guide the reigns of motherland.
On sapphires shall his service be engraved,
A thousand honors to him by his land be granted:
For in their bosoms will his noble sons have saved
Luxuriant flowers his virtue had transplanted:
And by the love of goodness ever lived,
The lords and governors will see implanted
To endless days, the Christian Education,
Within their noble, faith-enrapture nation.
And as in early morning we behold

The ruby sun pour forth resplendent rays;
And lovely dawn her scarlet and her gold,
Her brilliant colors all about her sprays;
So skillful noble Teaching doth unfold
To living minds the joy of virtuous ways.
She offers our dear motherland the light
That leads us to immortal glory's height.
E
SA
To The Filipino Youth
Dr. Jose P. Rizal
Unfold, oh timid flower!
Lift up your radiant brow,

This day, Youth of my native strand!
Your abounding talents show
Resplendently and grand,
Fair hope of my Motherland!
Soar high, oh genius great,
And with noble thoughts fill their mind;
The honor's glorious seat,
May their virgin mind fly and find
More rapidly than the wind.
Descend with the pleasing light

Of the arts and sciences to the plain,
Oh Youth, and break forthright
The links of the heavy chain
That your poetic genius enchain.
See that in the ardent zone,
The Spaniard, where shadows stand,
Doth offer a shining crown,
With wise and merciful hand
To the son of this Indian land.
You, who heavenward rise

On wings of your rich fantasy,
Seek in the Olympian skies
The tenderest poesy,
More sweet than divine honey;
You of heavenly harmony,
On a calm unperturbed night,
Philomel's match in melody,
That in varied symphony
Dissipate man's sorrow's blight;
You at th' impulse of your mind

The hard rock animate
And your mind with great pow'r consigned
Transformed into immortal state
The pure mem'ry of genius great;
And you, who with magic brush
On canvas plain capture
The varied charm of Phoebus,
Loved by the divine Apelles,
And the mantle of Nature;
Run ! For genius' sacred flame
Awaits the artist's crowning
Spreading far and wide the fame
Throughout the sphere proclaiming
With trumpet the mortal's name
Oh, joyful, joyful day,
The Almighty blessed be
Who, with loving eagerness
Sends you luck and happiness.
The Youth of Today How can you be the
“Hope of the Fatherland”

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E

AN ACT TO INCLUDE IN THE CURRICULA OF ALL PUBLIC

The Senate committee on Education sponsored a

The school is recognized as powerful agent of

The law requires the teaching of the Rizal course

Reading of Rizal’s two popular novels were even

Life, Works and writings of Dr. Jose Rizal is

May 12, 1956 a compromise inserted by

 Original Bill  Revised Version

1. Reading of Noli Me 1. Not compulsory

3. Original and 3. expurgated

5. Limited only to Noli Me 5. Noli Me Tangere, El

There is a need to give utmost importance

Literature is a reflection of the society is a fact

Literature, as an imitation of human action, often

First. we have to consider that Rizal novel is a piece of

Then as a literature the student have to situate themselves

The book should be read as a realistic intervention in the

If we teach history in truthful manner we develop

- You lose the true meaning along the way.

Translation should be truthful in words and in

A term used in the book to refer to the

Example of “excess” in relation to Rizal’s novel.

There are many colonial aspects which are not

How does excess limit literature and complicate

As progress takes place, conflicts are inevitable.

Reformation in the 16th century was a religious

Frailocracy - a form of government run by the friars.

C. Recopilacion – Laws of the Indies

F. Cumplase – a wide discretionary powers on the

H. The Residencia – a body composed of the Audiencia and

• The Rise of the Chinese Mestizo and inquilinos

• The Chinese immigrants and their descendants played

• In 16th to 19th century Spanish Philippines, the term mestizo de

• As an example, in the late 19th century, the author José

• From the time the Chinese mestizos became numerous enough to be

• The last three of these groups were considered tribute – paying

• Spanish policy may have been grounded more in economic and

• This posed a problem for mestizos who wished to be

Who declares if anyone is a hero?

No law, executive order or

How did Jose Rizal become a hero?

This could be seen in;

• Singular tributes to his honor.

The test of a person’s heroism

According to National Historical

* If the person is still and being

*An admirable leader towering over

The criteria also mention that;

“the hero must, during extreme stress

He must exhibit self-denial and

honor him with public worship, and

2. The moral character of the person

He was named ‘Jose’ in honor of San Jose (St. Joseph)

§ He loved to climb the fruit trees in their

• “R izal’s gre at - g r e at pat e r n al

• MERCADO - it means Market - Jose’s Family Name

• The Rizal’s house was

• The Rizal children were loved by their parents, but they

• The hero’s first grief was caused by the