a). State 2 reasons and explain as mentioned by Rizal why the Filipinos did not work hard
during the Spanish regime.
The book of The Indolence of the Filipinos is an exploratory essay that explains
the various reasons why Filipino people did not work hard during the Spanish regime and
is called indolent. Rizal’s purpose of making an explanation was to show that Filipino
before are discriminated against from being oppressed and deceived. Before the
Philippines was colonized by Spain, Filipinos are known to be active and honest when
doing a trading transaction, they are industrious, passionate, independent, and defensive
for their country. Yet, when Spaniards came, Filipino are nicknamed indolent people.
According to Rizal, the attitude of Filipino as being indolent have reasons. The first
reason is that no matter how much hard work they would do on their land or do handwork,
it is still useless because the taxes made by the government were extremely high that
most of the portion of what they earned only goes to the friars who collects taxes. Later
on, another factor that fuels the attitude of Filipino being indolent was the time when the
object of their labor was removed and exploited, it causes them to be lazy and be inactive
in their life.
Furthermore, during the colonization of Spain, the Philippines is in need of
fieldwork like in agriculture and in the industry that will lift the progress of our country but
the education system is not great. According to Rizal, the education before is in question
if it is still considered as education where in fact the students in schools were just taught
unending prayers. Students who are in need to have a course that will relate and lead to
the future progress of the country are in disappointment as they were taught things that
are unnecessary for them. These results for the Filipino to be indolent as they feel that
they are learning are still useless for their lives.
Mentioned are just some of the causes why Filipino people are nicknamed
indolent. Filipino inherited negative traits from Spaniards like being corrupt, dependent,
inactive, and disloyal. In conclusion, being indolent is not merely the real attitude of
Filipino but the result of what they have experienced during the Spanish colonization.
b). How could internal disorders and the Muslim piratical attacks as mentioned by Rizal
could have been avoided? (Peace Education)
During the Spanish colonization, there were numerous attacks from the pirates and
foreign invaders that destroys the peaceful lives of Filipino. People shed blood from the
attacks which results in their houses and land being destroyed. While internal disorders
are the effect of the changes of affairs in between the people with authorities. According
to Rizal, internal disorders can be avoided if only Filipino opened their mind to all the
circumstances that are happening during that time. They should not let their stupidity and
ignorance rule so the disastrous results may be avoided. They should not be fooled by
the false principles that the Spaniards made them believe. There have been negative
effects within the country such as the decline in labor, slavery, the inevitable false
principles, and so on. As stated by Rizal that their remedies to possibly avoid the internal
disorders was to be prudent, reflect maturely on all the actions, and recognized all the
mistakes done. In addition to the remedies are to make it through a deplorable policy,
regrettable blinded ness, and obstinacy but all these are ignored so from the bad situation
it became worse.
Moreover, loss of lives and destructions of land can be avoided if only the
government did not encourage the pirates from the South to attack. The factor of
encouragement made by the government was through allowing the pirates to have a
complaint and later on they disarmed the people on the islands that became the subject
of attacks. Disarming an island that is a target of an attack is an advantage part for the
pirates as they see this island as a vulnerable victim. The impulsive behavior of decisionmaking of the government only worsen the situation during those times and there was
unending war and attacks.