BENESS C. PANUGAN
GE 6- 11415
ACTIVITY 2
PHILIPPINE
SITUATION
DURING SPANISH ERA
PERCEPTION ON THE EFFECTS TO DR.
JOSE RIZAL
1
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
The state of the Political system during the
Spanish colonization shows how deaf and blind
they are when it comes to the people’s cries
about fairness and is mostly occupied by a
person who should be born Spain. With these,
it reflected in the works of Dr. Jose Rizal such
as how the government before are mostly
occupied by a Spanish person. People who
mostly ran the country lacked certain
qualifications or leadership characteristics that
is why the Filipino people are mostly remained
unheard of their pleas which resulted for Rizal
to show it to his writings in order to awakened
the countrymen’s minds.
2
RELIGIOUS SYSTEM
In his two famous novels, Noli Me Tangere and
its sequel, El Filibusterismo, it is known that
one of the reasons why the main character,
Crisostomo Ibarra’s life went downhill was
because of the intervention of Padre Damaso,
an arrogant priest. Rizal made his character
symbolized how priests before holds a certain
power in the society and is considered elite.
Before, Churches held a great power in the
state’s decisions and manipulating the Filipinos
to never defy the state because it is what God
wants them to do.
3
ECONOMIC SITUATION
The occupation of the Spaniards only made the
Philippines embraced the master-slave
relationship between the two nations. Higher
taxes were imposed by officials before just to
satisfy their greedy selves and courts favored
the Spaniards more which led to closure of
most Filipino businesses. Poverty mas evident
in the lives of the natives and Rizal highlighted
this huge problem through one of his
characters, Sisa, a poor woman who was
brutalized by a church person together with his
son, Crispin who is accused of stealing which
was then killed.
4
FEUDAL SYSTEM
There was considered to be a huge gap
between the landlords and the Filipinos during
this era because authority and power in
regards to owning a land is given to those
wealthy people. The Feudal system was
specifically emphasized in Rizal’s work where
landowners pay a hefty fee to satisfy the
Spanish government. This also fueled racial
discrimination and division between the status
quo.
5
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
The education system before was only
favorable to those who are considered as
“wealthy” during those times. Thus, if you have
no money, you can’t possibly go to school.
Furthermore, the education before was
influenced by the political and religious aspect
which is why books are mostly made not to defy
the church and Spanish government. However,
Rizal always believed that education is one of
the keys in order to cure the colonial problems
of the country and it should not be influenced
by political and religious views. This is why
defying the government seemed to be a difficult
job since education is not offered to most of the
Filipinos.