CHAPTER 1:
THE RIZAL LAW,
LITERATURE, AND THE
SOCIETY
OVERVIEW
“How is this man relevant today?" and "Why do I need
to study Rizal?"The answers to these questions can be
summed up in two points:
1. It is mandated by law.
2. The life and works of Dr. Jose Rizal
comprise a lesson in nation-building that can
foster the development of the Filipino youth in
all aspects of citizenship
HISTORY OF RIZAL LAW

RIZAL LAW
o Educational institutions in the
Philippines are mandated to
include Rizal's life and writings in
their curriculum.
o The Act obliged all public and
private schools, colleges and
universities
nationwide
to
educate students about Rizal's
views which were greatly depicted
in his famous writings like the
Noli
Me
Tangere
and
El
Filibusterismo.
Rizal's firmness toward the abuses of the
Spaniards and the role played by the Catholic
Church to promote such misconduct during those
days were condemned by numerous Catholic
Church. Thus, Rizal Law was viewed as an act of
degradation to the Catholic beliefs. The Roman
Catholic Church in the Philippine strongly
opposed the printing and distribution of
Rizal's works because they would corrupt the
Catholic faith of the new generation.
and the one who sought its sponsorship
to
accuse
the
oppositions
as
communist action.
Catholic churches argued that such Bill defied the
freedom of religion, encouraging as many
supporters as they could get to stop the
reproduction and reading of Rizal's novels Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Believers of
Catholic faith were advised to produce and send
written documentaries to their representatives and
senators stating unfavorable views about the
Rizal Bill.
Crusades took place, and tension between the
supporters of Rizal and the Catholic Church
emerged.
Symposiums
promoting
the
eradication of the bill were organized.

One symposium with Fr. Jesus Cavanna, as guest
o rendered a message that Rizal's works in
view of the past injustices would corrupt
the present setup of Catholic churches in
the country.
 Nevertheless,
Jesus
Paredes,
a
radio
commentator,
o argued that Catholics were not deprived of
their right to decline reading Rizal's
novels if they felt like they could threaten
their salvation
 As a response, Archbishop Rufino Santos of
Manila
o asserted that Catholic students would
be affected if the mandatory reading of
uncensored writings of Rizal would
prevail.
o In his pastoral letter, he added that
many versions of Rizal's writings would
be read.
o The reading of the circular containing
the clear opposition of the Archbishop
led to Manila Mayor Arsenio Lacson's
to walking out of the mass. The Mayor
had always been a supporter of the Rizal
Bill.

1955 Senate election
 making then Senator Claro M. Recto,
the main proponent of the Rizal Bill,
During those days, support groups of the
Catholic churches,
o
o
like the Catholic Action of the
Philippines,
the Congregation of the Mission, the
Knights of Columbus,
o

However, a
organized by








and the Catholic Teachers Guild,
collaborated to block such bill.
countermovement
was

also
Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of
1896),
Alagad ni Rizal,
the Freemasons,
and the Knights of Rizal.
In addition, a bill cowritten by both José P.
Laurel and Recto was sponsored by the
Senate Committee on Education, which was
opposed by
o Francisco Soc Rodrigo,
o Mariano Jesús Cuenco, and
o Decoroso Rosales
Furthermore, Cuenco argued that
o Rizal directly attacked the practices,
beliefs, and creeds of the Church.
o Rizal's views were not limited to the
abuses of the friars during his days but
it was a total disbelief of the Bible and
the Catholic faith.
o Rizal did not believe in the existence of
the purgatory, and that Moses and
Jesus Christ were not mentioned in the
Bible.
o The argument that Rizal refrained from
doubting the dogmas of the Catholic
Church was fallacious and misleading.
o His denial of a purgatory has opposed
the beliefs of the majority of the
members of the Chamber of the Senate
Committee, including that of Domocao
Alonto, senator of Sulu;
o thus, the senator bluntly exposed his
opposition to Filipinos who viewed Rizal
as their national hero, and he despised
his writings.
o He viewed Rizal as a saint worshipped
by many so that his writings became a
Bible of Indonesian in quest of their
independence.
However, such views of Alonto were countered
by a supporter of the Rizal Bill, namely, Pedro
Lopez, a Cebuano like Cuenco, saying that the
essence of the independence movement
began in their province when Lapu-Lapu fought
Ferdinand Magellan
The tension brought by the Rizal bill, led to the
threatening of various Catholic schools to
close down if the bill was passed.
This threat created a counterattack from Recto,
saying that if such dilemma in the educational
sector
happened,
schools
would
be
nationalized.
The words of Recto made an impact that led Catholic
schools to punish legislators who supported the Rizal bill
by not supporting them in the next election.
Furthermore, Recto argued that the people who
eliminated Rizal's writings from schools buried his
memories as national hero. He added that this was
not a fight against Recto but a fight against Rizal
(Abinales & Amoroso, 2005).
APPROVAL
The Chairman of the Committee of Education catered to
the views of the Catholic Church and made adjustments
to compromise the opposition and the approbation of the
supporters of the Rizal Bill.


On May 12, 1956, the inserted compromise
[contents] on the bill, which specified that only
college (university) students would have the
option of reading unexpurgated versions of
clerically contested reading materials, such as
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, was
approved unanimously.
The bill was enacted on June 12, 1956
HONORING FILIPINO NATIONAL HEROES
The Philippines recognized the significant contribution of
certain personalities to the growth of Filipino minds, the
acquisition of independence, and their participation in
the molding of Philippine history.


Nonetheless, there was no law nor, executive
order nor proclamation issued officially to
proclaim a Filipino historical icon as a national
hero.
Even Jose Rizal, despite his enormous
contribution to Philippine history, was not
clearly proclaimed as a National Hero. There
were laws enacted honoring significant
historical persons and their heroic acts that
molded history.
Jose Rizal's position in Philippine History is a tribute to
the continued respect or acclamation of the people
in recognition of his contribution to the significant social
transformations that took place in our country.


Jose Rizal was not the only one who was
recognized as a hero;
Bonifacio also acquired a spotlight in heroism.
o He remained an inspiring icon who did
his best to acquire knowledge and fight
against the Spanish Colonizers.
o
He received an indirect acknowledgment
of his heroic deeds, by being recognized
as a national hero and his day of birth
was made a national holiday.
Rizal and Bonifacio were great men who
contributed to the acquisition of the Philippine
independence from the Spanish regime and abuses.
Despite the absence of a formal declaration proclaiming
them as national heroes, Philippine history applauded
these men and had kept their contributions passed on to
generations.
As historian argues, that heroes must not be
legislated, the acclamation for heroes would be
recognition enough. Also, their recognition is better
executed in the academe, where the stories about their
contributions to our country's history would be relived.

To recognize important personalities in our
history,
the
Government
promulgated
programs and committees that would keep an
eye on remarkable icons from the past. Thus,
on March 28, 1983, then President Fidel V.
Ramos issued Executive Order No. 75 titled
"Creating the National Heroes Committee
under the Office of the President."
o The said Committee was created to
learn, assess, and suggest national
personalities in recognition of the
impact that such people made on
Philippine history.
It was the Committee's duty to make sure that just
recognition be given to heroes for their authentic
character and extraordinary triumphs for the country.
HONORING FILIPINO NATIONAL HEROES
o
o
Rizal's written masterpieces, the Noli Me Tangere and
its sequel El Filibusterismo are considered constant
and inspiring sources of patriotism and nationalism
for the youth during their formative years.





The Technical committee of the National Heroes
Committee held a series of meetings on June 3,
1993, August 19, 1993, September 12, 1994, and
November 15, 1995,
o defining, discoursing, and deliberating
upon the merits of the various definitions
and criteria of a hero.
The committee adopted the following criteria as
basis for historical researchers in determining who
among the great Filipinos would be officially
proclaimed as national heroes:
o (a) heroes are those who have a concept of
nation and thereafter aspire and struggle
for the nations freedom, heroes are those
The Rizal Bill showed the existence of a
corrective space, an ensemble of discourses and
practices creating the field of literary education
in the Philippines.
It is a written work, which shows the life of
Filipinos from the past and is a good source
of learning the value of education.
The novels portrayed the Filipino people whose
national character had been shaped by literary
works and the reading of these works;
the Bill gave Rizal and his novels not only a
central place in the state's nationalist project,
but also a recognition of their vital role in
enabling Filipinos to grasp the ideals of
freedom and nationalism
Rizal was equipped with extraordinary literary skills.
Such was seen in his masterpieces the Noli Me Tangere
(1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891).



The Noli dealt with the country's present, and
the Fili pointed to its future.
Meanwhile Rizal's remarks of
Morga (Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas) traced
the lineaments of the country's past.

Writing had become his tool for reforms to
awaken the Filipinos from abuses that the
colonizers had been doing for centuries in the
country.

Literature gives importance to nationalism;
thus, Rizal viewed it as something essential.
Literature has always been reliant on history,
bringing people back to the past where social,
psychological, and linguistic resources portray
old events that impact the present time. Two
presuppositions exist in the vitality on
nationalism accorded to literary works and vice
versa:
In compliance, the National Heroes Committee
submitted criteria for national heroes.

who define and contribute to a system or life
of freedom; `
(b) and order for a nation; and
(c) heroes are those who contribute to the
quality of life and destiny of a nation

the ability of literature to honestly present
history and to intervene in history.

Literature opens the door leading to significant
events, which describe certain setups,






behaviors and the current image of society
today.
Literature can be a good basis of history and
taking a glance of the past attributes of
Filipinos. Nevertheless, literature has its
intervening function, taking a look at Rizal's
novels; it was artefactual: a mixture of reality
best portrayed by fiction characters, which
represent certain people back then.
It's a result of all the observations and
experiences of Jose Rizal in Philippine society.
Literature was his way of showcasing society's
creative hard work and ambitions. Hence,
Filipinos back then were able to acquire,
preserve, and reshape their culture through
literature, which was rooted in their ancestors'
days. This shows the intertwined relationship of
literature
and
Philippine
nationalism,
strengthened by the idea that literature
embodies and creates culture.
Furthermore, literature is a good driving tool
to execute authority and command one's
country. Rizal argues that Tagalog literature is
living and vigorous. Through writing people can
exercise authority; hence, Filipinos ought to be
participative in the literary field, especially in
matters affecting the country as a whole.
Literature allows people to speak and change
the future; it's an execution of dominance in
one's literary work.
Nevertheless,
literature
assumed
an
intervening function precisely because Rizal's
novels served as artefactual, concrete examples
of a "Filipino culture" that was conceived as the
sum total of all the products of a society's
creative labor and aspirations. At the same
time, these works were the means by which any
other Filipino could acquire, preserve, and
reshape such a culture.
In this manner, the relationship between
literature and Philippine nationalism was
cemented through the paradoxical notion that
literary works both embodied culture and
helped create that culture.

Also, literature must not only demonstrate that
it has a past to show but also a future to
touch.

Thus, Rizal asserted that Tagalog literature is
living and dynamic. Likewise, he also
recognized that writing is an exercise in
authority, and in the contest over authority
Filipinos must not only be active participants,
they must-particularly in matters pertaining to
their country-exercise command

Rizal has written a Tagalog novel after the
appearance of Fili. In 1891-1892, he wrote his
third novel, "Makamisa.”
o
o
o
o
This novel was written for the Tagalog
readers and not for the European
readers.
At the time he had written such novel he
was on his way back to the Philippines,
and the propaganda movement was
starting to shift. At home when Rizal
embarked on his third novel, he was
also assisting his brother Paciano in
translating the Noli to Tagalog. Making
Tagalog novels was Rizal's way of
speaking to his fellow Filipinos. Rizal
was also motivated to write a novel with
a modern sense of the world, an artistic
and literary novel.
Rizal's third motive was to write a novel
that would deal exclusively with the
usages, virtues, and defects of the
Tagalogs.
To achieve his motives Rizal wrote
Makamisa, which he admitted to have
given him a hard time in Tagalog.
Though it was aborted, Rizal's "turn to
the native" was not in vain, if taken as
a sign of the desire for a literature more
deeply anchored in the realities of home
CHAPTER 2:
SOCIOPOLITICAL AND
ECONOMIC CONDITION OF
THE PHILIPPINES


The relationship between the individual and
society is interlinked. Society cannot exist
without the individual; at the same time, the
individual is molded by the social structures in
which he or she is a part. The 19th century was
a period of social change.
This was the era that Dr. Jose Rizal thrived in.
This chapter will discuss the social structures
in 19th century Philippines to place Rizal in the
context of his time.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
 The product of Spanish colonization which
upheld the landholding system brought by the
arrival of the conquistador, made the
Philippines feudalistic in setup. Dominion
toward the land owned was practiced wherein
the authority and power resided in the hands of
the wealthy few. Hence, there was a huge gap
between the landlords and their tenants.
 It resulted in a PYRAMID STRUCTURE OF
SOCIAL DIVISION.
o Spaniards dominated the peak of the
pyramid structure of the social system
of the Philippines in the 19th century.
SPANISH
OFFICIALS,
PENINSULARES,
AND
FRIARS
comprised the topmost part of the
pyramid.
o The middle part is composed of the
favored natives, mestizos or the halfbreeds, the Philippine-born Spaniards
and the criollos. This group was called
the MIDDLE CLASS that enjoyed
second priority in the social strata.
o The LANDLESS INDIOS were degraded
and enslaved by society, allowing them
to occupy the lowest part of the
pyramid.
 Spanish occupation shaped the social structure
of the Philippines. It made the Philippine
embrace the "master-slave" relationship
allowing the elites to hold the indios captive.
Exploitation was rampant and the Spaniards'
tax and mandatory contribution dragged the
poor down.
Thus, the powerless remained helpless, and the rich
increased in power. The social structure left the indios
powerless in their own native land.
POLITICAL SYSTEM
Philippine government in the 19th century revolved
around the dominion of the Spanish colonizers.
The Spanish monarch held the
 executive,
 legislative,
 judicial, and
 religious power.

Such power was executed in the Philippines
through the Ministro De Ultramar (Ministry
of the Colonies) established in Madrid in 1863.
Through the Ministro De Ultramar, the
Philippine affairs were governed in accordance
with the will of the Spanish monarch. Also it
was the Ministro De Ultramar's duty to report
to the King of Spain.
As the commander-in-chief of the armed forces,
 he held the civil guards, and all government
officials in the Philippines submitted to him.
In addition, the governor- general
 held the supreme authority in the economic
and financial dealings of the country. In 1784,
he acquired a portion of the IntendantGeneral's power.
 The executive power resided in the governorgeneral, with the central government structure
highly reliant on his decisions.
 The governor-general's power extended up to
the legislative processes. He had the power to
suspend local laws or any decree coming from
Spain if he found it ineffective in the setup of
the Philippines.
 The governor-general led the Royal Audiencia,
also known as the Supreme Court, during the
Spanish era, which lasted until 1861. He
enjoyed the judicial power in some point.
 The superiority of the governor-general was also
depicted in the field of religion. He was given the
privilege to select a priest who would occupy
a certain position in the church and society
 The Philippines' centralized system put
governance in the hands of one person, the
governor-general, who moved in accordance
with the mandate of the Spanish government.
 was responsible for all government and
religious activities, which included the
administration of justice. He had disciplinary
powers, which were often weak because of
biases and decisions made through impulse.


During the Spanish era, the Philippine
government had already existed, but it was
ruled and it functioned under the control of
the King of Spain. The Philippines back then
had its own form of government. The country
functioned under a unified government
system, which moved in accordance with the
demands of the Spanish government.
The power within the country revolved around
one person, the governador-general. He took
action in line with the will of Spain.
Having almost all powers in the country, he could
discipline or punish any person based on his impulsive
judgment. The governor-general was responsible for
dealing with the nation's political matters and religious
dealings in the church.






The Lieutenant-General or general Segundo
Cabo
o assisted the governador-general with
regard to the matters of the nation.
o The Board of Authorities advised the
governor- general on matters raised to
them, and with regard to the
administrative agenda, it was the
Council of Administration whose voice
was heard. In 1874, the
Secretariat of the Central Government
o was made to further assist the governorgeneral and his growing power in the
nation.
o Also, the central government was later
on introduced to a bigger body of
administrative
advisers,
the
Directorate
of
the
Civil
Administration.
The national or central government was
then followed by the operating hierarchy of
governance starting at the top,
ALCADIA
o which was the provincial government,
o run by the alcalde mayor or the civil
governors.
CABILDO OR AYUNTAMIENTO,
o Next in line was the city government call
o which was under the administration of
two alcaldes ordinarios or the mayor
and vice mayor.
GOBERNADORCILLO
o fondly called capitan.
o The capitan served as the chief
executive and judge of the towns he ran.
o Attaining such position demanded a
yearly winning vote coming from the



board composed of the members of the
town principalia.
o The principalia consisted of old or
former cabeza de barangay or people of
high standing in the community. In
addition, there was the
CABEZA DE BARANGAY,
o the leader of the smallest unit of
government, the barangay or barrio.
o controlled the barangay, and such title
was usually given to Mestizo or Filipino
Chinese people who were responsible for
levying taxes and maintaining peace in
the barangay
The Courts
o were ruled by the Royal Audiencia,
o the acting judicial body and the
highest court that litigated cases and
was composed of Spaniards.
In each town, an Alferez or second lieutenant
o headed the corps of guardia civil.
o Peace and order in the country was
upheld by the guardia civil or
cuardrilleros who served as the peace
forces that did police duties.

The Royal Audiencia
o also acted as auditor of the finances of
the government.
o The governor-general of the Royal
Audiencia, acting separately or together,
occasionally made laws for the country
called autos acordados. These laws
covered very broad fields, ranging from
tribute collection to the control of
corruption
in
the
provincial
government.

Philippine government had no official body in
charge of the enactment of laws. Laws that were
applied in the Philippines during the Spanish
colonization emanated from various sources.
An example of the Philippine law during the
Spanish era was the Laws of the Indies or
Leyes.
o were royal decrees issued several times
by the King of Spain intended for
Spanish colonies.
o Several laws promulgated in Spain were
also adopted in the Philippines. The
Laws were Codigo Comercio, Codigo
Penal, Codigo Civil, Las Siete
Partidas, and Las Leyes de Toro.
o Numerous groups of laws were made by
the Spanish rulers intended only for the
Philippines.

o
The laws did not seek equality and
fairness, but they were made to hold the
Philippines captive under the mandates
of Spain.

For three brief periods, the Philippines was
represented in the Spanish Cortes (Spanish
legislature): from 1810 to 1813, 1820 to 1823, and
from 1834 to 1837. The Filipinos and their Spanish
sympathizers failed to restore our representation to the
Spanish law-making body after 1837.
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
 Pitiable and limited to the wealthy few
 Only for middle class people
 Censored by the friars for fear that the
knowledge would expose the injustices of the
country
 FRIARS--o resulted in an overemphasis on
religious matters
o outdated teaching methods
o poor classroom facilities
o limited curriculum
o lack of teaching materials
o absence of academic freedom
Corruption in education existed to maintain control
over the Philippine territory. There was inadequate
educational system in the country for almost three
centuries. Government intervention in schools was
nonexistent; hence, schools could freely add or omit
topics in their curricula. Back then, schools were mostly
run by friars, embracing their teachings and
manipulations. The fear of God was emphasized and
obedience to the friars was instilled in the minds of
the people.
Indios remained inferior, in the belief that they were
incapable of growth and acquiring a higher status in
society because of their race. Obedience to the friars
was preached as the gateway to being close to God;
thus, the natives remained under the control of the friars
(de Tavera, 1905).
The Philippine educational system was a mirror of
Spain's outdated educational system. Students
memorized and repeated the contents of books, which
they did not understand. In most cases, knowledge was
measured in terms of the ability of the students to
memorize, largely hampering intellectual progress.


COLLEGE OF SAN JUAN DE LETRAN
o Only official secondary school in the
Philippines
UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS
Opened its doors to Filipino students
four decades before the end of the
Spanish rule up to the end of the
Spanish regime
GOVERNOR MANUEL CRESPO Y CEBRIAN
o Organized a commission to study and
recommend remedial measures to
improve elementary education in the
Philippines
o Such measures were put into action
when the Educational Decree of
December 20, 1863 was issued. The
said Decree obliged all major towns in
the Philippines to establish one primary
school for boys and girls.
o Educators of the primary schools
were trained at a normal school for men
opened in 1865. Spanish was the
medium of instruction in the school
which that was placed under the
supervision of the Jesuits. This school
started as the Escuela Normal
Elemental, and by 1893 it was training
male teachers for work in the secondary
schools
o
The Decree of 1863
 was a breakthrough in the educational
history of the Philippines under Spain.
 Such Decree asked, for government
supervision in public schools, as well as a
training school for teachers.
 Absurdly, the friars assigned to implement
the educational decree from Spain were
among the most vocal and were against the
teaching of Spanish to the Philippines.
 For them, teaching the indios the native
language of the Spaniards would increase
their knowledge and encourage the people
to clash with the Spanish rule. An
enlightened people could not be kept long in
subjugation.
Keeping the Filipinos under the Spanish control
demanded for intellectual isolation and extreme
dogmatic manipulation by the friars. This was to keep
the Filipinos away from the ideas of freedom and
independence (Ganzon, 1967). The government's
support was comprehensible because the interests of
Spain and the Spaniards were at stake.
Safeguarding the interest of Spain called for the
friars' opposition to all initiatives that offered growth
for the Philipine educational system.
 The measure undertaken by the friars to protect
the Spaniards' interest was the censorship of
books and teaching materials that might

defy
the
church
and
the
Spanish
government.
Friars blocked the enforcement of the Madrid
orders regarding education. A case in point was
the Moret Decree in 1870, which intended to
secularize higher education in the colony.
The friars strongly opposed the idea of
government control over higher education in
the Philippines. This bitter opposition, coupled
with the political developments in Spain, made
the implementation of the Moret Decree
impossible (Alzona, 1932).


Such corrupt conditions in education urged Rizal and
some of his fellow ilustrados to continue their
studies abroad.
 Students fought for their right to freedom of
education and for equality in the educational
system between the Spaniards and the
Filipinos as regards quality of learning.
 The biases in the educational system
encouraged the students to petition in 1870
led by Felipe Buencamino at the University of
Santo Tomas. Inspired by the Moret Decree,
the students circulated anonymous letters
that criticized the Dominican methods of
instruction, demanded better professors, and
government control of the university, and
suggested keeping the university updated on
academic developments in Spain. Authorities
considered such petition as an act of rebellion
against the King of Spain, amd petitioners were
sought, but nobody was hurt during the heat
of such issue. When the social, political, and
intellectual dissatisfaction became widespread
in the Philippines, Spain could not initiate the
much-needed reforms because she was
harassed by her own impassive resistance to
the developing economic and industrial
progress of the other European countries.
CHALLENGE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
 Mankind's advancement in the field of science,
technology, physics, and chemistry resulted in
the creation of a community embracing a life of
ease caused by technology.
 The massive usage of new machineries was the
trademark of industrialization.
 Production of goods and commodities was made
easier, less expensive, and faster because of the
state-of-the-art
inventions
of
numerous
scientists in the European continent.
 Industrialization
mechanized
production,
which in turn, increased the demand for raw
materials and markets for finished products.
 It encouraged free-trade policies that hastened
the development of the international commerce.





Trading centers and cities flourished, and
people enjoyed material and economic
prosperity, better standards of living, better
education, and social opportunities.
The usage of metal-base equipment to
reproduce goods; the discovery of oil, gasoline,
electricity as basic sources of power and
industrial energy; and the invention of the
internal combustion engine heralded the
advent of the motorized age. It became a
contributing factor for more businessmen to
engage in their quest for business expansion.
Industrialization was man's application of
science in the practical problems of lighting,
transportation, communication, and any other
forms of transmissions and tractions. Thus,
man was able to conquer time and distance
Engineering was at its best, and the
construction of bridges, and more factories, and
the opening of Suez Canal made trading more
convenient. Also, a safer, faster, and more
comfortable means of transportation, such as
railways and steamships, was constructed.
Faster means of communication, such as the
telephone, telegraph, and cable facilities,
enabled people to have a better contact for
business and trade. Closer communication
between the Philippines and Spain and between
Europe and Asia was now feasible.
In 1834, routes for trade opened doors for
Filipinos who got a glimpse of the rapid
development in the European continent. Back
then, the high demands for more goods also
increased the need for more raw materials.
The Philippines is a country rich in raw
materials; thus, trade opened in the country,
allowing Filipino businessmen to interact with
some other traders. The struggle for the
recognition of the farmer and the worker was
now imminent.
Contact with the political and socioeconomic
developments in Europe opened the minds of
the educated few who sought changes to bring
what they saw and learned abroad to the
Philippines.
CHALLENGE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
NEGATIVES


On the other hand, the development and fast
growth brought by industrialization increased
the tension within the community.
It widened the gap between the rich and the
poor, creating a division based on the status
quo in Europe.





The clash between the bourgeoisie, a rich,
powerful, and influential class in western
society, and the proletariat or the modern
working class that was largely illiterate and
landless began.
The emerging conflict was then heated up when
numerous philosophers inflicted their views on
the increasing injustice in society.
Exploitation of workers was visible, and
competition among capitalists prevailed.
Workers organized unions to allow their voices
to be heard, and the essence of freedom resided
in the proletariat and people who had been
exploited. Before 1848, the idea of socialism
started to attract many supporters.
Such economic ideology demanded an
equitable distribution of the fruits of
production. One of the socialist philosophers
was Karl Marx (1818-1883), who brilliantly
expounded on the philosophy of socialism, now
known as Marxism, which has become the most
influential concept among labor circles.
ALTERED POSITION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN THE 19TH CENTURY
 Europe's most influencial institution was the
Church. The Roman Catholic Church back then
was an ally of the monarch and aristocrats. The
Church uplifted the monarchical rule so as not
to destroy the tradition within Europe.
 Thus, in the battle between the republican and
the monarchical forms of govenment, the
Church was in favor of the monarch.
 The Church became an opponent of the
republican state; the French viewed the Church
a threat to their newly established republican
state, and Bismarck of Germany considered the
Church as a threat to the new unified German
Empire.
 Pope Leo XIII opposed the unification of liberals
in Italy. Meanwhile, in Spain, the liberals
considered the Church an enemy of the
reforms. In addition, other countries were also
determined to break the Church's tie in political
and state matters. This movement was called
"anticlericalism" (Burns and Ralph, 1964).
Anticlericalism became a hot topic in the 19th
century because of the increase in people's
materialistic views brought about by economic
prosperity and the desire for freedom.
To protect the leadership of Pope Leo XIII, he
accepted the changes in France and Germany to
maintain what was left of the church's power and
influence.
o The democratic state of France and its
demands was considered by Pope Leo
o
o
o
XIII without surrendering the doctrines
of the church.
He came to terms with Bismarck and
accepted Protestant hegemony in
Germany.
Five years before he ascended the papal
throne, the Italian Parliament curtailed
the papal sovereign authority in the
Vatican through a series of laws in
1871.
The former Pope did not protest nor
question the decision of the Italian
government, which showcased an act of
recognition of the authority of the Italian
government.
On the verge of the eradication of the church power
from the government, Pope Leo XIII issued the Rerum
Novarum on May 15, 1891, which defined the modern
position of the church on social questions.
o The Rerum Novarum called for just
treatment within the labor sector but
condemned Marxism and promoted
social justice, which was in line with the
church's doctrines. The church in Europe
made adjustments to cope with the fastchanging demands of the people brought
about by their request for reforms.
 Rizal, together with his fellow patriots,
o made an effort to open the minds of the
Filipino people to adapt the changes that
were emerging in the Western states. He
and his comrades crafted a framework for
reforms in the Philippines.
o The sight of the strengthening of the
bourgeoisie, the emerging power of the
proletariat, the battle for democracy and the
nationalistic ideas of great thinkers, and the
flexibility of churches allowed Rizal to
stipulate ideas of reform to attain a more
livable Philippines open for changes and
enjoying freedom in the aspect of social,
economic, and political matters. His
thought encouraged the new breed of
middle class to join his battle for reforms.

Spain abandoned the mercantilism viewpoint and
reluctantly opened the Philippines to world
trade.
o Such action was the result of economic
liberalism in Europe and the United States.
o Spain opened Philippine ports to foreign
trade starting with Manila in 1834, followed
by Sual, Iloilo, and Zamboanga in 1855,
Cebu in 1860, and Legazpi and Tacloban in
1873.
o

These ports became accessible to European
vessels. The Philippines was drawn once
again within the orbit of world trade.
Foreign trade and contact with some other
businessmen, made agriculture in the country
become more advanced.
o The introduction of agricultural machinery
and increased banking facilities that
extended crop loans encouraged the
opening of new farm areas. Improved
methods of cultivation and preparation of
crops for the market increased the volume
of local exports.
o Trading and commerce were made easy
because of the construction of better roads,
and railroads and bridges enhanced
transportation and communication.
o Also, steam navigation and such facilities
for speedy communication as the telegraph,
the telephone, and the cable gave added
impetus to economic progress.
These developments encouraged social mobility and
interaction among the people, thus, facilitating closer
understanding and unity. These developments raised
the people's awareness of what was going on around
them, and experiencing a little bit of life of ease, they
continued to seek more freedom than before. The
essence of democracy also reached the minds of the
natives, and the seed of reform continued to take root
and grow.
CHAPTER 3:
RIZAL AND THE
THEORY OF
NATIONALISM
Nationalism is a concept that has a very broad and
vague meaning. It is a concept where the meaning lies
on how people interpret it on the basis of their
experiences and preconceived beliefs. Ideally, it is
understood as the feeling of belongingness, which
uplifts the spirit of oneness to fellow countrymen and,
at the same time, looking up to a common goal for the
nation's development. In short, nationalism is viewed
as a basic building block in the attainment of national
unity and progress (Funtecha, 2009).
OVERVIEW
Do you want to know who you are as a Filipino?
Although Dr. Jose Rizal was formed by the
events of his time, his thoughts and actions
were rooted in his family and cultural origins.
Tracing Rizal's roots will help you understand
why Rizal was the way he was.
This chapter will discuss Rizal's origins and
influences. At the same time, being a Filipino
millennial, you will also get to know yourself
through your cultural origin.
OBJECTIVES
1. By the end of this lesson, you should be able
to: Explain what "nation" means and
differentiate this from the concept of
"nationalism":
2. Discuss Rizal's foundation of nationalism
as traced by his cultural roots and 3.
Explain how Rizal's work relate to
Philippine nationalism
Acquiring a better understanding of Rizal's life
demands a deeper and more profound analysis
of his life and writings. His firm beliefs were the
results of what he had seen and experienced
during his European days. Thus, to clear up
vague thoughts about him requires a glimpse
into his past.
Rizal was one of the elites who demanded
changes in the Philippine government during
the Spanish colonization. Together with his
other ilustrado friends, Rizal voiced the
inclusion of Filipinos as representatives in the
Cortes. Filipinization in churches and equal
rights were among the requests made by Rizal
to the Spanish government. Rizal fought for
equality with the Spaniards; he wanted that he
and his fellow ilustrados acquired the same
education and wealth as the Spanish students
and families in the Philippines.
Jose Rizal came from a family belonging to the middle
class. His father owned lands. One of their most
profitable goods was sugar cane, and the family lived a
good life compared with the common Filipinos during
those times. Well provided and was sustained in his
studies, Rizal had a family that belonged to the wealthy
few. the ilustrados. The fortune of his family was well
used; he was sent to schools run by Dominicans and
Jesuits. Rizal was able to acquire his education from
Spanish schools, allowing him to nurture his skills and
talents. He excelled in almost all aspects of his studies.
He was good in language, spelling, and science, and he
was able to master numerous foreign languages. His
skills grew as he increased his acquisition of various
courses. Rizal was good in Spanish, making it
advantageous for him to interact in a class dominated
by Spaniards. Education led Rizal to a deeper
understanding of equality and order in society. Rizal's
urge to learn also increased his desires for reforms.
Education opened his eyes to biases in the Philippines
and the abuses of the Spaniards against the Filipinos.
The unheard cries of the natives and the increasing
fame of Rizal fueled revolts in the country. The natives
organized groups and continued to engage in bloody
battles to acquire reforms and democracy. Rizal's
writings made a huge impact on the minds of the
natives who wished to break free from the abuses of the
Spaniards. Thus, when Rizal was imprisoned,
numerous plans to break him of out jail were initiated
by the revolting group. Nevertheless, none of them
prospered as Rizal preferred to engage in a bloodless
battle for independence.
The dilemma that Rizal faced was depicted in his two
famous novels, the Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo. In Noli Me Tangere, Rizal was
represented by both Elias and Ibarra. In the chapter,
"Voice of the Hunted," Elias believed in the need for
radical reforms in the armed forces, priesthood, and
administrative justice system. Meanwhile, Ibarra did
not agree with the reforms Elias wanted and believed
in the power of the authorities and the need for
necessary evil. In the chapter, "Elias' Story," Elias saw
the need for an armed struggle and resistance against
the opposing forces while Ibarra disagreed and believed
that education was the key to make the people
liberated, so he encouraged the building of
schoolhouses to educate those who are worthy of it.
But in the chapter "Chase on the Lake," Elias suddenly
had a change of heart; he believed in reforms while
Ibarra became a filibuster, initiating revolution. This
change of heart in Ibarra was a product of hardships
and the desire to attain personal vengeance. This trend
of vagueness continued in the novel El Filibusterismo,
where Rizal was reflected in the characters of Simoun.
Basilio, and Padre Florentino. In the chapter "Simoun"
Simoun, who was Ibarra in disguise, again being
adamant for a revolution, and Basilio was being like
Ibarra initially in the Noli when he proclaimed his belief
in education as a tool for equality and freedom. In the
conclusion of the Fili, Rizal has implied his resolution
when in the story, he killed Simoun, the promoter of
revolution, and made Padre Florentino, an advocate of
peace, prevail. In real life, Rizal reiterated his stand
regarding this issue in his December 15 Manifesto
when he declared that he was against the revolution,
and he favored the reform programs, especially that
regarding education. The portrayals of Rizal in the
different characters of his novels depicted how his
mind struggled on whether to fight for revolution or
reform. His mind was open as he saw the plight of his
fellowmen who suffered under the oppressive hands of
Spain. With this, he allowed himself to be a realist as
he understood why there was a need for revolution. But
his initial concept of thinking dominated his mind, as
he believed in an orderly and peaceful environment
wherein he did not want to see blood shed nor people
hurt. This side of Rizal being an idealist was stronger
than his small portion of being a realist because he
wanted to have freedom through peaceful means. In
addition to being an idealist who did not want to see
the ugly face of society, Rizal also expressed his
gratitude to Spain since he did not want to fight against
it. Since Spain was also like a mother country to him,
it justified why Rizal, as a child of Spain, did not want
to stab his own mother. But Rizal also loved his own
nation, so in the process of making circumstances
favorable for both, his appeal was for reforms and
education. However, his plea for education and some
other reforms was impossible during those times, and
those were not what the people then currently needed.
What would liberate the people was the massive
movement of the natives united against the oppressors.
Rizal was very idealistic; he wanted to set the Filipinos
free from their hardships from the hands of the
Spaniards, yet he did not want to separate from Spain
too, so he failed to see what the true demand of the
natives was: to totally break free from the colonizers.
Rizal's dream to set his fellowmen free from the wrath
of the tyrant Spaniards prevailed until the day he died.
He was a victim of the abuses of the Spaniards. When
he died, the natives were able to push through their
freedom with their strong nationalism that had been
heated up and strengthened by his artistic and realistic
viewpoints in his writings. He had influenced
numerous natives to fight for independence. The result
of independence was very sweet for the Filipinos who
fought and died for it, and it was a regret feel that Rizal
was not able to see that the revolution that he did not
favor was what liberated his people.
Nationalism usually springs from the consciousness of
a national identity of being one people. It is that all
pervading spirit that binds together men of diverse
castes and creeds, clans and colors, and unites them
into one people, one family, one nation with common
aspirations and ideals (Anderson, 1983).
There were many things that built up nationalism in
the Filipinos: the abuse of the Spanish people, the
opening of international trade, the influence of liberal
thoughts in the Philippines, the revolution in Cavite,
the death of GOMBURZA, the rise of new middle class,
the secularization movement, and most of all, the death
of Dr. Jose P. Rizal. These events developed
nationalism in the Philippines. They did not let the
other nationality rule the Philippines. The Filipinos
believed that nationalism was the only thing that would
make them prove that they were really Filipinos and for
which they were willing to fight until the last breath of
their life.
The nationalistic ideas of Rizal inspired the realization
of the Filipino people of their sense of dignity,
conviction in their country, and understanding of their
true identity. The profuse declaration that Filipinos
were "indios" by the Spaniards and their other
demoralizing assertions caused the Filipino people to
lose their pride and self- respect, so they became blind
to the ills around them. All these were reversed when
Rizal unceasingly defended his people through his
writings, texts that were powerful enough to restore
pride and nationalism in the hearts of the Filipinos and
influence a revolution.
RIZAL'S NATIONALISM
CULTURAL ROOTS
AS
TRACED
BY
ITS
The Philippine experience in the formation of
consciousness of a national identity had its roots in the
pre-Hispanic period and developed through two
difficult but significant periods of Western colonization,
culminating in the eventual inauguration of the
Philippine Republic in 1946.
Foundation of Our Indigenous Culture. According to
archeologists and historians, the origin of our culture
was hypothesized based on the following: (a) our
indigenous culture began to develop in the prehistoric
and pre-Christian eras; (b) these early cultures ranged
from the crude Old Stone Age to the Metal Age with
organized community life; and (c) the early settlers
came from Borneo, Indo-China, South China, and
some other parts of Southeast Asia. It is believed that
25,000 years ago, the Negritos arrived in the
Philippines and were considered the first people who
arrived here. The early occupants of the Philippine
islands were believed to have reached the arcas
through of a land bridge connecting Malaysia and
China.
Studies show that the Malays, one of the early settlers
in the country, migrated around 300 to 200 B.C. They
brought with them their skills in mining and smelting
of iron tools, weapons, utensils, and ornaments. Also,
they developed irrigation for agriculture; cultivated
fruit trees, spices, fiber, ornamental plants, and some
other agricultural products; used carabaos and horses
as working animals; and used technology in the
manufacture of ornamented pottery and glass beads
and in the art of weaving. They started the development
of our indigenous culture.
The second wave of Malay immigrants brought with
them the system of writing called the syllabarics
system. They arrived around 13th century, the
beginning of the Christian era. In the latter half of the
14th century and through the 15th century, the
Muslim Malays, the last group of Malays i migrate to
the Philippines cames, and it marked the foundation
and development of Islam in Mindanao and Sulu.
The existence of the writing system on the islands, the
use of metal and the absence of human sacrifices and
cannibalism were the results of the country's contacts
with the Arabs, Chinese, and Malay traders in the 9th
century, the pre-Christian to the pre- colonial era. As
time passed by, numerous cultural migrations were
experienced by the Filipinos. The combination of
numerous bloodlines coming from Asian migrants
assimilated so well to produce the Filipino people and
our indigenous culture. Until the Spaniards came, the
settlers in the Philippines had established a certain
culture and agricultural technology of their own. They
had their own traditions, which had been altered by the
numerous traditions and cultures of the colonizers.
Trade relations with the other Asian neighbors
continued even before the arrival of the Spaniards, and
the settlers developed religious and social norms of
their own. During this period, the settlers already had
a shared language, system of writing, literature, and
political and judicial systems based on the accepted
standards of the period.
Remote areas in the Philippines were inhabited by the
earliest descendants of the early settlers of the island,
the Negritos. The numerous historical influences made
the Filipinos a mixture of various ethnicity. Despite the
countless similarities of the early Filipino tribes and
inhabitants, unity was hard to attain in the country as
a whole. Regardless of the shared territory, racial
characteristics and beliefs, the Filipinos remained
disunited and were broken into different political
factions during the precolonial era. Their lack of unity
and identity made it easier for the colonizers to conquer
the Philippines. The country was divided into small
independent political groups called barangays, which
were constantly fighting for survival. However, it is
firmly established that these groups of people molded
our identity as a people and gave us a heritage that
Western colonization could not uproot in four
centuries.
close relationship among the members. The father is
the head of the family while the mother is its light.
Respect for elders. Parents always remind their
children and say, "Respect your elders." It is very
offending not to hear the words "po" and "opo" when
the young address older persons. Filipinos consider
this practice as a sign of good parenting. Another one
is showing parents power over their children, such as
consulting them on important matters and not talking
back.
Fatalistic. Fatalism in Filipinos is best symbolized in
the phrase "Bahala na." It is a phrase that defies
translation but which may be rendered loosely as
"come what may." Filipinos' fatalistic nature is caused
by their reliance on fate. Such belief has been firm
despite explanations of facts and science; no logical
viewpoint could ever bend such belief that all things
are in line with fate.
oyalty. This refers to the faithfulness and
trustworthiness to a close companion or friend. Loyalty
is best portrayed through helping one another not only
the benefactor but also his family. For Filipinos,
friendship is sanctified, and a small help and favor will
always be remembered until the reciever's last daw of
life.
The People. Filipinos, belong to a mixture of races.
Centuries of contact with the Western and Asian
countries through of trade and colonization made the
Filipino race very complex. A Filipino is a combination
of the East and West, so the character exhibits curious
contradictions that foreigners find hard to understand.
Jealousy. A man, strongly dislikes a woman who flirts
with several men. For him what is "his is his" and what
is "yours is yours." What is meant for him is only for
him and even his closest friend cannot kiss his wife
even as a brotherly kiss. In short, Filipinos are
territorial.
Common Traits. It is difficult, if not impossible, to
define what a Filipino is. Common traits of Filipinos are
difficult to depict the existence of numerous races,
practices, and beliefs have been developed and
preserved with the passing of time. All that can be done
is to pick out some traits common to the average
Filipinos and to separate those that are obviously
Spanish or American.
Sense of "pakikisama". Filipinos are able to fit in with
other people and set aside their selfish wants. They
have an inherit sense of camaraderie, setting aside
individuality and welcoming collaboration. It is a trait
of honest acceptance of the differences among people,
creating an environment suitable for everyone.
Hospitality. Hospitability is part of the Filipino culture,
and it is naturally felt and seen in every household
whenever visitors come or even strangers pass by. Even
a poor Filipino would offer what he has, such as food,
shelter, and accommodation to the extent that the
owner would sleep on the floor just to make the visitor
or stranger feel at home.
Close family ties. Family, the most basic unit of society
where interaction starts and simple negotiations
among its members are held, may consist of
grandparents, parents, and siblings. Filipinos are
family-centered; they have always viewed blood to be
thicker than water. The family comes first, creating a
The identified traits have become an identity of
Filipinos. Like all men the world over, the Filipino has
the weaknesses of the fallen Adam, but he, too, has his
strengths that he uses to become an asset to his family
and the society in which he belongs.
Phelan (1957) attributes the survival of our indigenous
culture thus: This indigenous culture was practiced on
the islands. Under Spain's jusrisdiction, there was a
blending of significant elements in the old culture coming
up with a new society. For the Filipinos, their identity
remained while absorbing the cultural influences of the
Spaniards. Whatever damage they experienced, either
psychologically or materially, they survived. Phelan
analyzed the factors that sustained the native culture in
its survival and he considered the inward cohesiveness
of native Philippine society as the most important.
CHAPTER 4:

RIZAL'S SOCIAL ORIGIN
AND HISTORICAL
CONTEXT



ANG NINUNONG TSINO NI RIZAL
Don Dominggo Lamco



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
isang tsinong mangangalakal Orihinal na
nagmula sa Chinchew, China
Napadpad sa Maynila noong 1960
Siya ay nabawtismuhan
Sa edad na 35, siya ay nabawtismohan sa
Parian
simbahan ng San Gabriel, isang linggo noong
Hunyo ng 1697. Noong araw ding iyon, kinuha
niya ang pangalang "Dominggo". (Sunday in
Spanish)
Inez Dela Rosa



Asawa ni Don Dominggo Lam-co
Nagmula rin sa Chinchow
1741- namatayan sila ng anak na babae ni
Dominggo na si Josepha Didnio
Francisco Mercado


Nag-iisang anak ni Don Dominggo at Inez Dela
rosa
Lolo sa tuhod ni Rizal
ANG PAGPAPALIT NG APELYIDONG LAM-CO




Sa lugar ng Laguna naging isang Chinese
Community Leader
Nakaranas ng diskriminasyon dahil sa
apilyedong instsik na "Lam-co"
1849, pinalitan ni Don Dominggo ang kanyang
apelyido ng kastilang "Mercado" -Alin sunod rin
sa utos ng Gobernador Heneral na si Heneral
Narciso Claveria Bautista
"Mercado"-nabagay sa kanilang pagiging
negosyante na ang kahulugan ay "palengke".
PAGPAPALAYA SA NAMAMANANG IMPLUWENSIYA
Francisco Mercado


Namuhay kasama ng mga "cajas ablertas" (mga
nadestiyero) at ang kanilang mga paraan.
Nakatira sa isang kalapit na hacienda ni San
Juan Bautista ng Calamba.
Ang estate na kanyang tinitirhan ay binili gamit
ang pera na naiwan sa Mexico ng mga
relihiyosong kastila.
Mayo 26, 1771-nagpakasal siya sa isang
mestisang Tsino na si Cirila Bernacha
Noong 1783, siya naging alcalde o punong
opisyal ng bayan ng Biñan at pumanaw noong
1801.
Nagkaroon sila ng dalawang anak na lalaki, si
Juan at Clemente
Juan Mercado




Ang panganay nila Francisco Mercado at Cirilia
Bernacha,
Sa edad na dalawapu't dalawa (22) ay nakipag
asawa kay Cirila Alejandra sa Tubigan
Tatlong beses naging punong opisyal ng Biñan
taong 1808,1813,1815.
Nagkaroon sila ng labing tatlong anak ni Cirila
Alejandra at ang kanilang bunso ay si Franciso
Mercado.(Ama ni Pepe)
Francisco Mercado (Rizal) – LUNTIANG KABUKIRAN





Siya ang pinakabata sa labintatlong anak nina
Cirila Alejandro at Juan Mercado.
naulila sa maagang edad na walo (8) kung saan
ang kanyang nakatatandang kapatid na si
Potencia at ang kanyang ina ang kasama para
sa paglaki.
Lumipat sila sa Calamba, Laguna matapos
mamatay ang kanilang ina
Nag-aral siya ng Latin at pilosopiya sa Colegio
de San Jose sa Manila at dito niya nakilala ang
kanyang asawa, si Teodora Alonso Realonda na
doon din nag-aral.
Sa kabila ng kabataan ni Francisco Mercado
siya ay nangungupahan ng mga ari-arian.
Taong 1948 pinakasalan ni Francisco Mercado
si Teodora Alonzo, isang katutubong tagaMaynila, na sa loob ng maraming taon ay
naninirahan sa kanyang ina sa Calamba.
Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo



Ama ni Teodora Alonzo
Isang kapitan-munisipal ng Biñan, Laguna,
isang kinatawan Espanyol Cortes
Anak nina Maria Florentina isang meztisang
instsik at Kapitan Mariano Alejandro
Brijida de Quintos 1


Ina ni Teodora Alonzo
Siya ay isa sa mga anak ni Regina Ochoa, na
may Kastila, Tsino at Tagalog na mga ninuno at
Atty. Manuel de Quintos, isang tanyag na
abogado sa Lingayen.

San Pedro Macati sa panahon ng pag-aalsa ni
Kapitan Novales
MESTIZONG TSINO














Ang dugong Tsino ni Rizal ay parehong galing
sa mga pamilya ng kanyang ina at ama.
Manuel de Quintos
o Ama ng ina ni Rizal
o Mestizo Tsinong na kilalang abogado sa
Maynila
Domingo Lam-co
o masipag at matalinong Tsino na
mangangalakal
o lolo sa tuhod ng ama ni Rizal
o Ang tanging anak niya na si Francisco
na may matalas na isip at liberal na
binata ay naging kapitan ng municipal
ng Biñan noong 1783
Simula ng ika-15 siglo ay mayroon ng mga
mestizo Tsinong na nagtatag sa rehiyon
partikular na sa Luzon.
Ang mga Tsino ay direktang kasangkot sa
ekonomiya at lipunan ng Pilipinas.os
Sa pagdating ng mga Espanyol noong 1560 ay
nakita ito bilang bagong oportunidad ng mga
Tsino.
Taong 1603-20,000 na populasyon ng mga
Tsino ang naitala na mas marami kumpara sa
1,000 na populasyon ng mga Espanyol.
Hinati ng gobyerno ng mga Espanyol sa
Pilipinas sa apat na kategorya:
o Espanyol at mga Espanyol na Mestizo walang binabayaran
o Indios mga malay na dati nang nakatira
sa Pilipinas na siyang mga Pilipino na
ngayon
o Tsino – purong Tsino
o Mestizong Tsino – Tsino na may halong
ibang lahi
Ang huling tatlong grupo ay may binabayarang
pagpupugay ngunit nakabase sa kategorya ang
kanilang binabayad at serbisyo.
Pinapanatili ng lehislasyon ng Espanyang mga
kategoryang ito
Ang estado ng mga magulang ang siyang
batayan lalo na ang estado ng ama
Hindi na magbabago ang estadong mestizo
Tsino ng lalaki hanggang sa susunod pa na
henerasyon
Ang anak ng Tsinong ama at indio o mestizang
ina ay isang mestizo Tsino
Nakabatay naman sa pagpapakasal ang estado
ng isang babae
o Ang mestiza na nagpakasal sa isang
Tsino o mestizo ay magiging mestiza
Tsina
Ang mestiza na nagpakasal sa isang
indio ay magiging isang indio pati na
ang kanyang mga anak
Ang implikasyon ng ganitong sistema ay
nagtagal hanggang ang lehislasyon ay
napanatili at laging may maraming populasyon
ang mga mestizo
Nasa Ikalimang henerasyon ng mestizo Tsino si
Rizal dahil sa kanyang ninuno mula sa
kanyang ama na si Domingo Lam-co hanggang
sa ama ni Rizal ay nag-asawa ng mga mestiza.
Sa pagdating ng mga espanyol noong 1521,7
umusbong na ang naging tungkulin ng mga
Tsino sa ekonomiya ng bansa.
Ang mga Tsinong mangangalakal ay nagpatuloy
hanggang sa mayamang pangangalakal sa
pagitan ng Maynila at Tsina at ipamahagi ang
mga naangkat mula Tsina sa gitnang Luzon.
Nanatili ang mga Tsino malapit sa pamayanan
ng mga Espanyol at pinagsisilbihan sila sa
iba't-ibang paraan tulad ng pagbibigay ng
pagkain, bilang mangangalakal ng tingian at
bilang manggagawa ng Espanyol.
Nakilala ang Binondo bilang bayan ng mgs
Tsino noong 1697.
Isang maharlikang isang maharlikang utos ang
ipinasa para sa pagpapatalsik ng mga Tsino
ngunit napagtanto ni Gobernardor Dasmarinas
na kailangang panatilihin ang mga Tsino sa
Maynila para sa ekonomiya.
Bumili ng lupain ang Gobernador upang ibigay
Ito sa mga prominenteng Tsino para sa mga
mangangalakal at mga manggagawa.
Walang kinalaman ang mga katanungang"
pangrelihiyon at pangkultura, ngunit kalaunan
ay ginawa ito ng mga Dominikano na isang
komunidad ng mga may-asawang Katolikong
Tsino.
Sa kabilang banda naman ay ang mga hindi
katoliko
ay
nag-proselytize,
nagbinyag
nagpakasal, at nadagdag sa komunidad ng mga
kasal na Katoliko, na umabot sa limang daan o
higit pang 1600.
Walang
binabayarang
buwis
at
hindi
nahahaluan ng hindi Tsino o mestizo ang mga
Tsino sa Binondo na may kaakibat na mga
pribilehiyong pamamahala sa sarili.
Noong ika-17 siglo ay na dapat na maging
panirahan na ng mga Tsino at kanilang mga
susunod na henerasyon ang Binondo ngunit
ang mga indios ay nagsimula naman na
manirahan doon at kalaunan ay dumami na rin
ang populasyon nila sa Binondo,
Ang naging resulta ay ang pagbuo nga
magkakahiwalay na pamayanan ng mestizo at
indio sa loob ng Binondo.
o
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Taong 1741, ang mga mestizong Tsino ay
kinilala bilang isang natatanging elemento sa
lipunang Pilipino, sapat na marami upang
organisahin at iuri ng hiwalay.
Sila ay pinakamarami sa mga probinsya sa
gitnang Luzon ng Tondo, Bulacan, at
Pampanga, na binubuo ng 60% ng mga mestizo
sa ang Pilipinas. 90% sa Luzon at 10% sa ibang
bahagi ng Pilipinas
Sa kalagitnaan ng ika-19 na siglo, matatag na
naitatag ang posisyon ng mestisong Tsino sa
ekonomiya at lipunan ng Pilipinas,
1750-1850 na nagdala ng interesanteng
pagbabago
sa
kanilang
heograpikong
pamamahagi. Nagsimula silang mapansin sa
mas malayong Luzon - Abra, at lalo na sa Nueva
Ecija. Sa Visayas, ang pinakamalaking grupo
ng mestizo noon ay nasa Cebu, ngunit
pagkatapos ay marami na sila sa Antique. Sa
Mindanao, napansin na sila sa silangang
bahagi ng isla (probinsya ng Caraga) at sa
Misamis.
Sa paglipas ng panahon ay talagang lumakas
pa ang kanilang posisyon sa ekonomiya ng
Pilipinas.
Nagkaroon din sila ng malakas na interes sa
monopolyo ng panloob na kalakalan na ang
mga gobernador ng probinsya lamang ang
kanilang mga katunggali,
Ang
retail
commerce
ng
Maynila
ay
eksklusibong pinangangasiwaan ng mestisong
Tsino at mga Tsino. Sila rin ang may hawak sa
karamihan ng mga tindahan ng mga
manggagawa at aktibo sa panlungsod na
wholesaling.
Inilarawan pa nga sila ni Bowring, isang
kilalang mananalaysay, sa kanyang pagbisita
sa Pilipinas, bilang ang pinakamasipag,
mapangalagaan, at matipid na elemento sa
populasyon ng Pilipinas.
Ang mga mestiza ang nagpayaman sa lungsod
ng Cebu.
Mula sa Cebu, ipinadala ng mga mestizo ang
kanilang mga ahente sa pamimili patungong
silangan sa Leyte at Samar, patimog sa Caraga
at Misamis, at pakanluran sa Negros at Panay
upang bumili ng mga lokal na produkto para
ibenta sa mga dayuhang mangangalakal sa
Maynila.
CHAPTER 4:
o
Domingo Lam-co was influential in building
Tubigan barrio, one of the richest parts of the
great estate. In name and appearance, it
recalled the fertile plains that surrounded his
native, Chinchew, "the city of springs." His
neighbors were mainly Chinchew men; his wife
was also from Chinchew. She was Inez de la
Rosa. They were married in the Parian church
by the same priest, who over 30 years before,
had baptized Domingo.
o
Lam-co and his wife suffered a great loss in
1741 when their baby daughter, Josepha
Didnio, lived only for five (5) days. They had at
that time one other child, a boy of ten,
Francisco Mercado, whose Christian name was
given partly because he had an uncle of the
same name.
o
Among the Chinese, the significance of a name
counts much, and it is always safe to seek a
reason for the choice of a name. T Lam-co
family was not given to the practice of taking
the names of their god - parents. "Mercado"
recalls an honest Spanish encomendero.
"Mercado" and "Merchant" mean much the
same; Francisco, therefore, set out in life with a
surname that would free him from the prejudice
that followed those with Chinese names
reminding of his Chinese ancestry (Wickberg.
2000).
RIZAL'S SOCIAL ORIGIN
AND HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
OVERVIEW
The Filipino-Chinese mestizos were an
important element of 19th century Philippines.
They were the Filipino middle class in those
times, and they played a significant role in the
agitation for reforms, in the revolution, and in
the formation of Filipino nationality.
This chapter will discuss Dr. Jose Rizal's
ancestry, starting from his Chinese ancestor
who moved to the Philippines from China. This
chapter will also discuss how Rizal's ancestors
established themselves as a well-to-do FilipinoChinese family amid Spanish governance.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Trace Rizal's ancestry;
2. Discuss the important role of FilipinoChinese mestizos in nation-building during the
19th century; and
3. Explain the Cavite
GOMBURZA Execution.
Mutiny
and
the
LIBERALIZING HEREDITARY INFLUENCE
o
Francisco Mercado lived near enough to hear of
the "cajas abiertas" (exiles) and their ways. He
did not live in a Jesuit parish but in the
neighboring hacienda of St. John the Baptist of
Calamba. Everybody in his neighborhood knew
that the estate had been purchased with money
left in Mexico by pious Spaniards who wanted
to see Christianity spread in the Philippines,
and it seemed to them sacrilege that the
government should take such property for its
own secular uses. Francisco Mercado was a
bachelor, therefore, more free to visit Manila
and Cavite, and he was possibly the more likely
to be interested in political matters. He married
on May 26, 1771 Bernarda Monicha, a Chinese
mestiza of the neighboring hacienda of San
Pedro Tunasan (Craig, 2005 pp. 59-62)
o
Mr. and Mrs. Francisco Mercado had two
children, both boys, Juan and Clemente. In
1783, he was an alcalde or chief officer of the
town, and he lived till 1801. His name appears
so often as godfather in the registers of
RIZAL'S CHINESE ANCESTRY
o
Within the walls of Intramuros lived the
Spanish rulers and few other persons who the
fear and jealousy of the Spaniards allowed to
come in. Some were Filipinos who ministered to
the needs of the Spaniards, but a greater
numbers were the Sangleys or Chinese, the
mechanics in all trades and excellent workmen.
o
Domingo Lam-co was a native of the Chinchew
district, where the Jesuits first, and later the
Dominicans, had a mission, and he perhaps
knew something of Christianity before leaving
China. One church account indicated his home
definitely, for it specified Siongque, an
agricultural community near the great city. He
was baptized in the Parian church of San
Gabriel on a Sunday in June of 1697. Following
the customs of the other converts on the same
occasion, Lam-co took the name Domingo, the
Spanish for Sunday, in honor of the day.
baptisms and weddings that he must have been
a good natured, liberal, and popular man. Mrs.
Francisco survived her husband by a number
of years and helped to nurse through his baby
ailments a grandson also named Francisco, the
Father of Jose Rizal. Francisco Mercado's eldest
son, Juan, built a fine house in the center of
Biñan.
o
At 22, Juan married a girl of Tubigan, who was
two (2) years his senior, Cirila Alejandra,
daughter of Domingo Lam-co's Chinese godson,
Siong-co. Cirila's father's silken garments were
preserved by the family within living memory,
and this is likely because Jose Rizal was, Siongco's great grandson (Craig. 68-73). Juan
Mercado was three times chief officer of Biñan
in 1808, 1813, and 1815 (Craig. 68-73).
o
Young Francisco was only eight (8) years old
when his father died, but his mother and sister
Potenciana looked after him well. First he
attended a Biñan Latin school, and later he
seemed to have studied Latin and Philosophy at
the College of San Jose in Manila. A sister,
Petrona, for some years was a dress goods
merchant in nearby Calamba. There, she later
married and shortly after became widowed.
Probably upon their mother's death, Potenciana
and Francisco moved to Calamba.
o
Francisco, in spite of his youth, became a
tenant of the estate. The landlords early
recognized the agricultural skill of the
Mercados by further allotments, as they could
bring more land under cultivation. A year after
his sister Potenciana's death. Francisco
Mercado married Teodora Alonzo, a native of
Manila, who for several years had been residing
with her mother in Calamba. Her father,
Lorenzo Alberto, was is said to have been very
Chinese in appearance. He had a brother who
was a priest, and a sister, Isabel, who was quite
wealthy. Their mother. Maria Florentina was on
her mother's side, of the famous Florentina
family of Chinese mestizo originating from
Baliwag. Bulacan, and her father was Captain
Mariano Alejandro of Biñan. Lorenzo Alberto
was the municipal captain of Biñan in 1824.
The grandfather, Captain Gregorio Alonzo, was
a native of Quiotan barrio, and he was
municipal captain twice, in 1763 and again in
1768. Captain Lorenzo was educated to be a
surveyor. He was wealthy and had invested a
considerable sum of money with the American
Manila shipping firms of Peele, Hubbell and Co,
and Russell Sturgis and Co. The most obscure
part of the Rizal's family tree was the Ochoa
o
o
branch,
the
family
of
the
maternal
grandmother, for all the archives (church, land,
and court) disappeared during the latedisturbed conditions of which Cavite was the
center (Craig, p. 70-71).
Regina Ochoa, who became the wife of attorney
Manuel de Quintos, was of Spanish, Chinese,
and Tagalog ancestry. Manuel de Quintos was
an attorney of Lingayen and an uncle was the
leader of the Chinese mestizos in a protest they
had made against the arbitrariness of their
provincial governor. The home of the Quintoses
was in San Pedro Macati at the time of Captain
Novales's uprising, the so-called American
revolt, a protest against the Peninsulars sent
out to supersede the Mexican offers that had
remained loyal to Spain. All the branches of
Mrs. Rizal's family were much richer than the
relatives of her husband; there were numerous
lawyers and priests among them, the old-time
proofs of social standing, and they were
influential in the country. To recall relatives of
Mrs. Rizal who were in the professions would
help to an understanding of the prominence of
the family. Felix Florentino, an uncle, was the
first clerk of the Nueva Segovia (Vigan) court. A
cousin - germane, Jose Florentino, was a
Philippine deputy in the Spanish cortes, and a
lawyer of note, as was also his brother, Manuel.
The priest of Rosario, Vicar of Batangas
Province, Father Leyva, was a half-blood
relation, and another priestly relative was Mrs.
Rizal's paternal uncle, Father Alonzo (Craig, pp.
72-73).
Mrs. Rizal was baptized in Santa Cruz, Manila
on November 18, 1827, as Teodora Morales
Alonzo. She was given an exceptionally good
fundamental education by her gifted mother
and completed her training at Santa Rosa
College, Manila, which was in charge of Filipino
sisters.
THE CHINESE MESTIZO
o
Jose Rizal's Chinese descent came from his
maternal grandfather, Manuel de Quintos, a
Chinese mestizo who had been a well-known
lawyer in Manila. Both Don Lorenzo and his
father, Don Cipriano, had been mayors of
Bifiang. On the other hand, Jose descended
from an industrious and intelligent Chinese
merchant, Domingo Lam-co, who married a
Chinese mestiza, Ines dela Rosa. From the
Parian the family migrated to Biñan and
became tenants in the Dominican estate. Lamco's only son, Francisco who was to be Rizal's
great grandfather, was a keen-witted and liberal
young man. He became quite well-to-do and
popular enough to be appointed municipal
captain of Biñan in 1783.
o
o
Early in the 15th century, Chinese mestizos
were already established in the region,
particularly in Luzon. The Chinese had been
significantly involved in the economic and
social affairs of the Philippines. Direct contact
between China and the Philippines existed from
at least the Sung Period (960-1279). Through
the junk trade several points in the Philippines
enjoyed regular commercial and cultural
contacts with the Chinese.
The arrivals of the Spanish conquerors in the
Philippines in the 1560s meant new
opportunities for the Chinese. By 1603, barely
32 years after the founding of Manila as a
Spanish settlement, the Chinese population
there was estimated at 20,000 in contrast to
perhaps 1,000 Spaniards. They were classified
separately into four categories by the Spanish
government in the Philippines: those who did
not pay any tribute (which included Spaniards
and Spanish mestizos), indios (Malayan
inhabitants of the archipelago who are now
called Filipinos), Chinese, and Chinese
mestizos. The last three of these groups were
considered tribute-paying classes, but the
amount of their tribute-payments and the
services demanded of them varied. Normally,
the indio paid the lowest. The Chinese mestizopaid double the tribute paid by the indio. The
maintenance of these categories in orderly
fashion was provided by the Spanish
legislation. Legal status as Chinese, mestizo,
indio - by the terms of its legislation, was not
ordinarily a matter of personal choice or
orientation. Rather, it was the status of the
parents, particularly the father, that was the
most important. Thus, the son of a Chinese
father and an india or mestiza mother was
classified as a Chinese mestizo. Subsequent
male descendants were inalterably Chinese
mestizos. The status of female descendants was
determined by their marriages. A mestiza
marrying a Chinese or mestizo remained in the
mestizo classification, as did her children. But
by marrying an indio, she and her children
became in that classification. Thus, females of
the mestizo group could change status, but
males could not. The implications of this
system were that so long as legislation
remained constant there would always be a
sizeable group of people legally classified as
mestizos (Wickerberg, 1964, pp. 64-66).
o
Purely in terms of his ancestry, Rizal might be
considered a fifth-generation Chinese mestizo.
His paternal ancestor, a Catholic Chinese
named Domingo Lam-co, married a Chinese
mestiza. Their son and 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 pardor.or tax census register, to that of
the indios. Thus, Rizal's father and Rizal
himself were considered an indio (Craig. p. 41).
o
The development of Chinese mestizo in the
Philippines can be understood by first
considering briefly certain features of the
history of the Chinese in the Philippines. When
the Spaniards arrived in 1521, the Chinese
moved into an important economic position.
Chinese merchants carried on a rich trade
between Manila and the China coast and
distributed the imports from China to the area
of Central Luzon, to the immediate north of
Manila. The Chinese established themselves at
or near Spanish settlements, serving them in
various ways: as provisionary of food, as retail
traders. and as artisans (Wickerberg, 1964. pp.
3-5).
Binondo was founded as a Chinese town in
1594. A royal order was passed for the
expulsion of all Chinese from the Philippines;
however, Governor Dasmarinas realized that
the city of Manila, the largest Spanish
settlement, needed to retain at least a small
group of Chinese for its economic services.
Therefore, he purchased a tract of land across
the river from the walled city and gave it to a
group of prominent Chinese merchants and
artisans as the basis for a new Chinese
settlement. In the beginning. religious and
cultural questions were not involved, but the
missionary enterprise of Spanish Dominican
fathers soon made Binondo a kind of
acculturation laboratory where the Dominicans
made it a community of married Catholic
Chinese. On the other hand, non-Catholics in
areas within Binondo were proselytized,
baptized, married, and added to the community
of married Catholics, reaching five hundred or
more in 1600. The Chinese had founded
Binondo on the basis of Dasmarinas' land grant
to be tax free and inalienable to non-Chinese
and non mestizos. The grant was accompanied
by limited self-governing privileges. Thus,
during the 17th century, Binondo was intended
to be a settlement for Catholic Chinese and
their mestizo descendants. However, Indios
began to settle in Binondo. The eventual result
was the formation of the separate communities,
o
mestizos, and indios within Binondo. Later,
when the mestizo population grew and became
the leading element in Binondo, they broke
away from the Chinese forming their own
Gremio de Mestizo de Binondo in 1741. By
1741, the Chinese mestizos had been
recognized as a distinct element in Philippine
society. sufficiently numerous to be organized
and classified separately, and they were bulked
in three central Luzon provinces of Tondo,
Bulacan, and Pampanga, comprising 60% of
the mestizos in the Philippines. The province of
Tondo alone accounted for almost 30% of the
mestizo population in the Philippines. But away
from Central Luzon, there were no large
concentrations of mestizos. Some mestizos are
in some other parts of Luzon but in the Visayas
and Mindanao, very few were accounted for.
Indeed, 90% lived in Luzon while the 10% were
spread in few spots on the other islands notably the provinces of Cebu, Iloilo, Samar,
and Capiz. By the middle of the 19th century.
the position of the Chinese mestizo in
Philippine economy and society was firmly
established, 1750-1850 which brought some
interesting changes in their geographic
distribution. Though they were still numerous
in Central Luzon they began to be noticed in
farther Luzon - Abra, and especially in Nueva
Ecija. In the Visayas, the largest group of
mestizo before was in Cebu, but afterward there
were a number of them in Antique. In
Mindanao, they were already noticed in the
eastern part of of the island (Caraga province)
and in Misamis (Wickerberg, 1964).
o
o
In terms of economic position, it became
stronger than ever. Not only did they have
substantial land interests, but they were well
on the way to monopolizing internal trading
with only the provincial governors as their
competitors. Manila's retail commerce was
handled exclusively by the Chinese mestizo and
the Chinese. They also had the majority of
artisan's shops and were active in urban
wholesaling. They were even described by
Bowring, a noted historian, upon his visit to the
Philippines, as being the most industrious,
preserving, and economical element in the
Philippine population.
It was the mestizos who made Cebu wealthy.
From Cebu, the mestizos sent their purchasing
agents eastward to Leyte and Samar,
southward to Caraga and Misamis, and
westward to Negros and Panay to buy up local
products for sale to foreign merchants in
Manila. They bought up tobacco, sea slugs and
mother-of-pearls, cacao, coconut oil, coffee,
and wax, among some other precious native
products. Mestizos in the other parts in the
Visayas had their own ships and had invested
in the trade. It was even noted that the
mestizo's strength in these engaging economic
activities made the Philippines known to some
other parts of the world. Products were
exported to overseas markets. Philippine
products, like the hemp and sugar, had already
been exported in quantity while the products of
European factory industry, particularly the
English textiles, began to find markets in the
Philippines.
o
The rise of the mestizo to economic importance
was paralleled by a rise in social prominence.
Indeed, the mestizo's wealth and the way they
spent it made them, in a sense, the arbiters of
fashion in Manila and in the other large
settlements. Although they built up their
savings, sometimes into real fortunes, the
Chinese mestizos were fond of gambling and
ostentation, especially in dress. Besides
entertaining
friends
and
others
with
sumptuous feasts, mestizo families often
expended great sums of money on feast days.
Hence, a great prestige came to be attached to
the name mestizo. Indeed, there were some
places in Central Luzon where everyone in the
region claimed to be mestizo. The best
illustration of this kind of mestizo-craze
attitude might be found in the character of
Capitan Tiago in Rizal's novel. Capitan Tiago is
an excellent example of an indio cacique of m
means who wished to be regarded as a Chinese
mestizo and was able to purchase for himself a
place in the wealthy and famous Cremio de
Mestizos de Binondo (Wickerberg, 1964).
o
However, not all indios admire the mestizos.
Because of this lack of admiration, there were a
number of petty disputes between the mestizo
and indio gremios and their litigation dragged
on over the decades. With the rise of the
mestizos to a position of affluence and prestige,
their relations with the indios became a matter
of increasing concern to the Spaniards. It was
from this time - the middle of the 19 century that we began to find the "divide and rule"
theme in Spanish writings. The indios and
mestizo must be kept separated. The brains
and money of the mestizos must not be allowed
to become allied to the numerical strength of
the indios. The separate gremios should be
maintained and their rivalries encouraged
wherever possible. From this time onward,
Spanish conservatives were haunted by fears of
an indio revolution led by the mestizos. The last
half of the 19 century was a so-called period of
occupational
rearrangement
and
social
Filipinization. To a large extent, these two
phenomena were the results of changes in
Spanish policy in the middle and late 19th
century. Free enterprise was to be given an
opportunity to make the Philippines a profitable
colony for Spain. As part of this general policy,
in 1844, the Spanish government revoked the
indulto de comercio and henceforth forbade
Spanish officials to involve themselves in
trading. This measure eliminated the last
obstacle of the mestizo in their dominance in
international trade. Furthermore, Spanish
policy also pushed aside the barriers to Chinese
immigration and residence. Thus, the Chinese
could come to the Philippines without any
restriction as to number, and with little, if any,
restriction as to where in the archipelago they
might reside. By the 1880s, the Chinese
population had soared to almost 100,000; the
Chinese were found in every corner of the
Philippines (Wickerberg, 1964).
AGRARIAN RELATION AND THE FRIAR LANDS
o
It was until the 20th century that monastic
haciendas were the dominant form of land
tenure in the region surrounding Manila.
Throughout most of the 333 years of Spanish
colonization in the Philippines, ecclesiastical
estates occupied nearly 40% of the surface area
in the four Tagalog-speaking provinces, namely,
Bulacan, Tondo (now known as Rizal), Cavite,
and Laguna de Bay. An understanding of the
history of the friar lands within the Tagalog
region would help us understand the many
revolts and eventually the Philippine Revolution
of 1896 that happened in history. Some
American officials noted that the estates
somehow served as an overriding source of the
revolt. According to documents, on the eve of
the Philippine Revolution of 1896, four religious
orders owned at least 21 haciendas in the
provinces surrounding Manila. Seven years
later, 1903, the American colonial government,
fearful of further outbreaks of agrarian unrest
if friar land-ownership continued, bought 17 of
these estates for division and sale to the
Filipinos while four (4) of them remained. Three
decades later they were to become principals in
the Sakdal uprising of 1936. Over the next few
years, the Church sold the last remaining
estates largely to the Philippine government
(Roth, 1982).
o
Among the four religious orders, the
Dominicans owned ten estates, thus, calling
them the largest landlords in the region,
followed by the Augustinians with seven, the
Order of St John with the large Hacienda
Buenavista in Bulacan and the Recollects,
owners of two valuable and intensively
cultivated estates in Cavite. The archdiocese of
Manila owned the remaining estate-the
Hacienda of Dinalupihan in Bataan Province.
The haciendas ranged in size from the
Augustinians' mini estate of Binagliag (294)
hectares) in Angat, Bulacan. There, hacienda
boundaries conformed very closely to the
municipal boundaries, which had been
established as administrative and pastoral
units. The close correspondence of town and
hacienda seemed to lie in the fact that in Cavite
and Laguna all of the haciendas formed a
compact
and
contiguous
group
From
Muntinlupa in the north and Calamba in the
south, Laguna de Bay in the east and Naic in
the west, there stretched an unbroken expanse
of friar lands (Roth, 1982).
o
Hacienda towns in the Philippines during the
19th century were arranged in the following:
they had a municipal center (municipio) with a
centrally located plaza where the parish
church, a government building, and perhaps a
jail usually would be found. The residence of
the friar administrators (the casa hacienda) and
a granary were the only visible evidences
marking the presence of a friar estate. The
municipio was the home for the wealthier
citizens of the town - the traders, artisans, and
tenants who leased but did not actually till the
land. Outside the municipio were the barrios
where the peasants lived near the fields they
cultivated as sharecroppers and agricultural
laborers
ORIGIN OF THE ESTATES
o
The historical beginnings of these estates were
traced to the land grants which were made to
the early Spanish conquistadores. During the
late 16 and early 175 centuries, approximately
120 Spaniards received grants within a 100kilometers radius of Manila. This land grant
consisted of a large unit of land known as a sitio
de gagado, mayor (equivalent to 1,742 hectares)
and several smaller units called caballerias
(42.5 hectares) while the larger grants
measured two or three sitios and may have
included a sitio de gagado menor (774
hectares).
o
The Spanish hacienderos were quick to show
their unwillingness and inability to exploit their
lands. By 1612 the original land grants were
consolidated into 34 estancias (ranches). The
Spanish landowners sold their lands to some
other Spaniards who in turn mortgaged or
donated their estates to the religious orders.
Spanish success in owning lands in other parts
of the empire poses the question of their failure
in the Philippines.
o
The religious orders acquired their estates in a
variety of ways. Several of the largest haciendas
were donated to the orders by Spaniards
seeking spiritual benefit while some lands were
purchased directly from their Spanish owners.
Filipino donors and sellers also contributed
directly to the formation of the religious estates,
though to a lesser extent than the Spaniards.
Former Filipino chiefs and headmen were
invariably the ones who sold or donated the
land. Collectively known as principales by the
Spaniards, they were converted into village and
town by officials of the colonial government.
suppliers of agricultural products for the
Spaniards in Manila, Biñan, and Santa Rosa.
The estates grew and prospered as a result of
the liberal policy of exemption, which the
government had adopted for them, so they
quickly became the Dominican's most
profitable properties. The exemption, however,
had its negative side, particularly on the side,
of the Filipinos. More exemptions meant that
more Filipinos were siphoned off from the non
hacienda villages, which then had to fill their
labor quotas from diminishing population
bases. Consequently, the burden of forced labor
grew increasingly heavy on the Filipinos living
outside the estates. But because of the
inadequacy of government supervision. many
hacienderos
exceeded
their
quotas
of
exemption. Thus, the 17 and 18 centuries were
filled with complaints and petitions from
Filipinos outside the haciendas who felt they
were being discriminated against and who
wanted relief from excessive labor obligations.
When the agrarian revolt of 1745 broke out, one
of the grievances of the rebels was the
institution of exempted labor and the abuses
that resulted from it.
EARLY PERIOD OF SPANISH COLONIZATION
o
The Spaniards brought with them to the
Philippines their ideas of landownership and
their experiences from the New world where
they met people of different cultural orientation
and confronted new ecological and economic
conditions. Thus the late 16th and early 17th
centuries was a time of experimentation on the
estates. Most of the estates catered is cattle
ranching overshadowing rice, sugar, and
tropical fruits. The economically sophisticated
Jesuits devoted more of their lands to sugar
although their operations were small compared
to the sugar culture.
o
The transfer of estates from unsuccessful
Spanish landowners to the monastic orders was
accomplished with relative ease. Their
transformation into profitable enterprises was
more difficult, however. To make them
productive, the religious orders invested
thousands of pesos in the improvement of their
estates. Dams and irrigation works were built
on a large scale and money was advanced to
prospective tenants and laborers to entice them
onto the estates. In addition, they called upon
the help of the colonial government in supplying
their labor needs.
o
The institution of exempted labor largelyaccomplished its main purpose of populating
the estates and making them dependable
o
In 1745, five provinces near Manila upted in an
agrarian revolt, which directly expressed
Filipino anger with the estates. The basic issues
in the revolt were land usurpation by the
haciendas and the closing of the haciendas'
land to common use for pasturage and forage."
o
The flashpoint of the rebellion was a dispute
between the Hacienda of Biñan and the
neighboring town of Silang, Cavite. It was in
1740 that the Dominicans began formal
proceedings to gain control of the land. Three
years later a fraudulent survey was conducted,
which included the disputed land within the
boundaries of the hacienda. The results of the
survey were then hastily ratified by the Royal
Audencia which had failed to adequately
evaluate the facts of the case and overlooked
the grossly incorrect units of areal measure
used by the surveyors. The errors, which
permeated all aspects of the decision, gave the
citizens of Silang ample reason to believe that
money rather than justice had been the arbiter.
Thus, the Dominicans took possession of the
land in early 1745 and began to expel the
people of Silang and replace them with tenants
in Biñan. It also happened to nearby estates,
like the town of San Mateo in Tondo and a
contiguous Augustinian hacienda, and the
Recollects requested that the survey be made of
their hacienda in Imus.
o
The revolt of 1745 by a few years became a
turning point in the socio-economic history of
the friar estates. The Filipinos who reacted
against the estates and the system of exemption
underscored excesses, which became part of
the hacienderos search for land and labor. On
the other hand, the attempt to close the
haciendas commons showed that new ideas of
landownership
were
in
the
air
and
foreshadowed the economic forces.
THE CAVITE
EXECUTION
o
o
MUTINY
AND
THE
o
These ideals and aspirations had taken root in
the course of the dispute over the rights of
Filipino secular priests to the parishes, an
intra-church dispute. Yet, even though the
movement was increasingly nationalist by the
1870s, the campaign was still carried on within
the framework of the long-standing dispute in
the Philippine church between regular and
secular clergy.
o
So how did the controversy start? The roots of
controversy went far back in the history of the
church in the Philippines, even to its
foundation and fundamental structure. They
are to be found particularly in three elements in
that history - the structure of the patronato
real, the visitation controversy, and the late and
erratic development of a native clergy. With the
grant of the patronato real, the Spanish crown
received the most complete control over the
church in the Indies, including the Philippines,
in exchange for its commitment to financially
support the missionary enterprise. Their
influence increases at the passing of time: the
clergy came increasingly to be considered as
employees of the state, and religion as a means
of government. With the dissolution of the
religious orders in the peninsula in 18365 and
the confiscation of much of church property,
the continued existence of the religious orders
in the Philippines was totally dependent on
their political usefulness to a government that
had little faith in their religious mission. The
age-old visitation controversy was the second
element at the root of the movement of the
secularization of the parishes. It was a struggle
of the religious orders or regular clergy to
maintain the corporate freedom of action and
unity against the desire of the bishops to
exercise the authority of their office in the
governance of their diocese. With the
establishment of a hierarchy, almost every new
bishop attempted to exercise the right and duty
of his office to conduct visitation of inspection
in the parishes of his diocese. The religious,
anxious to preserve their corporate structure
and their subordination to their own superiors,
resisted such visitation, basing themselves on
their papal privileges. When pushed to the wall,
they responded by threatening to abandon all
the parishes, a threat more than once
temporarily carried out (Schumacher, 1972).
GOMBURZA
The futile insurrection had been followed by
terrible reprisals and a hardening everywhere of
the articulated tyranny, terrorism, and
espionage with which the Spanish government
ruled in the 16 and 19 century. Such from the
beginning had been its practice in the long and
uninspiring record of the Spanish occupation in
the Philippines: sore oppression leading to the
inevitable revolt and then savage vengeance.
With the rest of these victims of insensate rage,
marched on the morning of February 28, 1872,
three beloved priests and servants of God,
whowere put to death by the Spanish
authorities (Schumacher, 1972).
Their death marked a turning point in the
history of Filipino nationalism, a catalyst that
brought together the liberal reformist elements
in Philippine society with the growing selfawareness of a people into a movement that
before long would be directed at independent
nationhood. Jose Rizal himself looked back to
that date, as decisive in his own development
as a nationalist, in a letter to his fellow Filipinos
in Barcelona in 1889: To quote
"Without 1872 there would not now be a Plaridel,
a Jaena, a Sanciano, nor would the brave and
generous Filipino colonies exist in Europe.
Without 1872, Rizal would now be Jesuit and
instead of writing the Noli me Tangere, would
have written the contrary. At the sight of those
injustices and cruelties, though still a child, my
imagination awoke, and I swore to dedicate
myself to avenge one day so many victims. With
this idea, I have gone on studying, and this can
be read in all my works and writings. God will
grant me one day to fulfill my promise."
o
death of the three priests, the concern of
Burgos for the equality of Filipinos with
Spaniards and for justice to all remained at the
core of the nationalist aspirations and
representations.
Their death witnessed the long struggle of the
Filipino priests in the aspect of religion.
Although the struggle for the rights of the
Filipino clergy suffered an eclipse with the
o
The long failure of the bishops to enforce their
rights to visitation was closely linked to the
third factor, the failure of the Spanish
missionaries to encourage the development of a
native Filipino clergy. Accounts were made that
there were no native Filipino, or indio, priests
ordained before 1698. The only first serious
efforts in the direction of the Filipino clergy were
taken at the end of the 17th century.
o
The resistance of the native Filipino priests was
under the leadership of Fr. Pedro Pelaez,
seconded by Fr. Mariano Gomez. With the
tragic death of the former, the latter was being
passed on the leadership until his execution in
1872 signaled the failure of the Filipino priests
to obtain their rights. In the process of
resistance, however, the ecclesiastical dispute
was to become an overtly nationalist question,
as the Filipino clergy replied to racial
discrimination with a firm and ringing assertion
of their equality as priests in the one Catholic
Church (Schumacher, 1972).
o
During the term of Governor-General Carlos
Maria Dela Torre (1869-1821), he showed that
he was democratic in his sympathies and
quickly named a series of reform committees for
every aspect of government in the Philippines.
However, documents proved that he was
suspicious of the Filipino liberals, particularly
of the Filipino clergy and of their intention.
Within months after his arrival, numerous
Filipinos accused of anti-Spanish sentiments
were placed under surveillance, and their mails
subjected to government inspection. Though he
remained intent on reforms within the
government, De la Torre did not intend to allow
any liberalization, which might endanger
Spanish rule in the Philippines. One prominent
example was when a group of university
students under the leadership of Felipe
Buencamino began to agitate against the
university
administration
and
circulate
anonymous leaflets calling for changes in the
system. Not long after Buencamino found
himself in prison, from which he emerged four
months later.
o
Meanwhile, Fr. Burgos challenged openly the
religious sector by writing articles in the Madrid
newspaper La Discusion. La Discusion was a
frankly
republican
and
anticlerical
newspaper, and appeard to have been the
vehicle for a series of attacks on the continued
existence of the friars in the Philippines. In
retaliation, Fr. Joaquin de Coria, procurator in
Madrid
of
the
Philippine
Franciscans,
published a series of articles in defense of the
work of the friars evidently making use of
odious comparisons at the expense of the
Filipino clergy to extol the works of the friars.
Because of opening his identity in criticizing the
friars and defending the clergy, Fr. Burgos
temporarily ruptured his friendship with the
Jesuits. Fr. Pedro Bertran, the Jesuit superior,
upbraided him for bringing ecclesiastical
questions into the public press, above all in
anticlerical publications, such as La Discusion.
The anticlerical activities of the Filipino clergy
were supported by the Filipino liberals in
Madrid. They had their own press organ in
Madrid to defend their interests and promote
their aspirations. The chief contact, at least of
the priests, was Manuel Regidor, a colleague of
the republican politician Rafael M. Labra, who
was publishing the newspaper El Correo. At
about the same time, a newspaper devoted
totally to the Philippines, El Eco Filipino, begun
to be published in Madrid by Fr. Federico
Lerena, a peninsular who was brother-in- law
to Jose Ma. Basa. It survived until the time of
the Cavite Mutiny. Meanwhile, the policy of
vigilance and suspicion on the part of De La
Torre was replaced by one of the active
repressions. With the change of government in
Spain, a new governor-general, Rafael de
Izquerdo (18-71-1873), had been sent to
replace De la Torre. His ideas on the governance
of a colony were in no way influenced by
liberalism; thus, the tentative liberalization was
quickly abolished. It was in this atmosphere
that the outbreak of January 20, 1872 took
place in the arsenal of Cavite. Its exact nature
and the extent to which it was instigated and
supported from sources outside the workers
and troops who took part in it are still hidden
from us and must probably remain so until the
proceedings of the courts martial become
available. According to the official version that
survives, the revolt on the part of the garrison
which took place was only part of a much larger
revolt, carried out not only by the army but also
by the naval forces directed from Manila with
accomplices in the provinces as well. The
purpose was to put to death all Spaniards and
to proclaim a provisional government under Fr.
Burgos, to prepare the way for a more
permanent
government.
The
principal
organizers in Cavite itself were sergeant
Lamadrid and Francisco Zaldua (executed
together with GOMBURZA) who were in contact
with the junta headed by Burgos, Pardo de
Tavera, Regidor, and some other lawyers and
priests (Schumacher, 1972).
CHAPTER 5:
RIZAL IN EUROPE
o
OVERVIEW
o
Dr. Jose Rizal's experiences as a student at the
University of Santo Tomas was unpleasant, so
much so that after his fourth year at UST, Rizal
decided to study in Spain because he was fed
up with the bigotry that prevailed in the said
school. This chapter will discuss Rizal's higher
education and life abroad. You will also learn
about the Propaganda Movement, Rizal's
growth as a propagandist, and his relationship
with the other Propagandists.
OBJECTIVES
o
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
1. Discuss student activism in Spain;
2. Explain the Propaganda Movement and how
it inspired nationalism; and
LUNA AND HIDALGO'S ACHIEVEMENT
o
3. Explain how the Noli Me Tangere contributed
to Filipino national consciousness.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES IN SPAIN
o
A huge portion of Europe was illiterate in
1880s, education was poor, and its quality was
very low. Though improvements were blooming
in Europe, the educational system was awful.
Primary and secondary schools were stuck in
their old and ineffective ways of teaching.
Students were forced to be bookish rather than
be enthusiastic, all was dependent on
memorization alone. Numerous professors of
universities had two jobs and were far more
focused in their political career than in
teaching. In general. universities in 1867 to
1868 and 1875 were behind, and few people
could afford to send their child to school.
Churches back then made efforts to exclude
irreligious teachings from schools. Hence,
educational advancement was hard to attain.
Also, the churches held a tantamount amount
of power and were influential, leaving Spanish
universities stagnant and old style. This
prevented students from acquiring greater
knowledge than the parishes, which somehow
lessened the chances of revolts and questioning
of the mandates of the Church and its defective
ruling.
Progress had only begun at the end of the 1880s
wherein there was a renewal of Spain's
university life. By this time Filipino students
began to arrive in Spain and were able to
acquire deeper knowledge about the Spanish
ways. It was in the 1880s and 1890s when
Spain opened its doors to Filipinos. Being able
to know Spain at that time, Filipino students
were able to understand the dealings of Spain's
laws and policies in the Philippine. They were
able to interact more than when they were in
the Philippines. Ideas became free-flowing.
Rejection and evaluation of the abuses of the
church and state in the Philippines were
opened in class, and proclamation of liberty
burned the desires of Filipino students who
were awakened to the truth of the Spanish
ruling. Hence, the aspiration for independence
and Philippine liberty strengthened and
numerous church dogmas were rejected
(Schumacher, 1997).
Filipino artists, namely, Juan Luna Y Novicio
and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, rose to fame in
the year 1884. Two painters won prizes at the
Exposicion de Bellas Artes in Madrid. Juan
Luna Y Novicio's Spoliarium received a gold
medal of the first class while Felix Resurreccion
Hidalgo received a medal of the second class for
his Las Virgenes Cristianas Expuestas al
Populacho or Christian Virgin to the Populace.
As fellow countrymen, they were proud of their
achievements. Furthermore, Pedro Paterno
made efforts to organize a banquet in honor of
the two Filipino painters. Such event and
triumph was made known to the media and
journalist in Madrid. A liberal newspaper, El
Imparcial, covered the masterpiece of the two
Filipino painters, which showed the various
forces at work in the Flipino movement. Such
attracted the of attention the people in Madrid
(National Centenial Commission, 1999).
THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT
o
The extreme abuses of the Spanish government
caused Filipinos to initiate revolts to throw the
Spanish forces out of the Philippines. Seeking
Independence from Spain, Filipinos were
enraged by the tyranny of the Spaniards. The
public execution of the three priest known as
GOMBURZA marked the beginning of the
propaganda movement intended to attain
independence from Spain. Such movement
called for reforms in the political, social, and
economic setup of the country. Marcelo H. Del
Pilar, a lawyer, mason, and pamphleteer, was
one of the voices and leaders of the peaceful
reform movement. With his brother Fr. Toribio
del Pilar exiled to Guam in 1872, he desired to
uplift the welfare of his countrymen through
preaching work and self-dignity in public
places. As a radical thinker, his ways were
condemned by the Spanish government, and he
was forced to flee to Spain where he
collaborated with the other reformist there.
Marcelo H. Del Pilar took over the editorship of
La Solidaridad after Graciano Lopez Jaena.
o
o
Graciano Lopez Jaena, another prominent
leader of the reform movement, mocked the
friars' corrupt practices through his work Fray
Batod. Through this literary masterpiece he
humiliated the power hungry friars and their
immoral conducts. It was this reason he was
arrested. As time went by, the number of
reformists increased and was later on joined by
Filipino reformists coming from Spain, namely,
Jose Rizal in 1882, Felix Ressurrection Hidalgo,
Eduardo de Lete, Mariano Ponce, Jose
Alejandrino, Edilberto Evanglista, Galicano
Apacible, Antonio and Juan Luna, 'and' many
more. In addition, Antonio Ma. Regidor and
Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, who were exiled in
Europe, also became part of the reformist
movement. Later on, the La Solidaridad was
established in 1889. It was achieved through
the help of Pablo Rianzares. It became the
newspaper of the reformists in Spain. Jose Rizal
wrote under pseudonyms Dimas- alang and
Laong Laan, Marcelo H. Del Pilar as Plaridel;
Antonio Luna, Taga-ilog. and Mariano Ponce,
Kalipulako, Naning, and Tikbalang The other
reformists were Jose Ma. Panganiban, Isabelo
de los Reyes, Pedro Serrano Laktaw, Jose
Alejandrino Laktaw, and some others. They
were contrbutors to the said propaganda.
According to Agoncillo (1990), the following
were among the main demands of the
reformists:
o
Fairness among Filipinos before the
law,
o Assimilation of Philippines as a regular
province of Spain;
o Restoration
of
the
Philippine
representation in the Cortes
o Filipinization
of
the
Philippine
churches; and
o Granting of individual liberties, such as
freedom of speech, of the press, and of
association and redress of grievances
THE LA SOLIDARIDAD
o
o
o
o
On December 31, 1888, an organization called
"La Solidaridad" was founded. This was led by
Galicano Apacible and Graciano Lopez Jaena.
At that time, Jose Rizal was in England, and he
was the honorary president of the organization.
The reform movement was sustained by the
former Spanish minister, Dr. Miguel Morayta,
and a professor and Austrian ethnologist,
Ferdinand Blumentritt. La Solidaridad was its
official newspaper.
The La Solidaridad was the organ of the
patriotic society established by Filipino
expatriates in Barcelona (La Solidaridad,
(1889). The aims of this fortnightly organ in
Philippine opinion were:
o To work peacefully for political and
social reforms;
o To portray the deplorable conditions of
the Philippines and for Spain to
o remedy them; To oppose the evil forces
of reaction and medievalism;
o To advocate liberal ideas and progress;
and
o To champion the legitimate aspirations
of the Filipino people to life, democracy,
and happiness
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo were
written by Jose Rizal to awaken the nationalism
and awareness of Filipinos toward the tyranny
of the Spaniards. Thus, the novels attacked
corrupt, immoral, and abusive friars. The friars,
in defense, banned the books, importation and
distribution. Also, Rizal annotated the Sucesos
de las Islas Filipinas, a book written by Dr.
Antonio Morga.
FAILURE OF THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT
o
According to Bernard (1974), the failure of the
reformists' Propaganda Movement was caused
by numerous reasons. For instance, Spain's
internal problems left them without ears to
listen to the propagandist platforms and
request, which were published in La
Solidaridad. Also, the parishes blocked all
outbreaks of the reformists through the
Philippine newspaper owned by the friars' La
Politica de España en Filipinas.The existence of
disunity also hindered the success of the
reformists, quarrels on who should lead and
conflicting ideas. Lastly, unavailability of funds
limited the movement of the propaganda
activities in Europe, which led to its failure.
o
o
At some point the propaganda movement
achieved some success in promulgating ideas
used in its battle for reforms. The
propagandists served as the voice of the many
voiceless Filipinos who suffered from the
cruelty of Spaniards. They succeeded in
expressing the extreme emotions felt by the
abused Filipinos, and such was done by putting
experiences into words. The propagandists
used their skills and talents to promote the
rights that Filipinos should have, which were
long deprived from them by the colonizers. The
movement had also touched men and women to
rise up and carry firearms to defend themselves
from countless abuses. At some point, such
effort of the propaganda movement brought
unity to Filipinos.
As time passed by, the word revolt knocked on
the hearts of Filipino reformists. They later
became revolutionaries who totally sought to
overthrow the Spanish regime. Followers of the
regime, like Andress Bonifacio, Emilio
Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Emilio Jacinto,
and some other leaders were greatly drawn
toward revolts to attain reforms (Agoncillo,
1990).
MARCELO H. DEL PILAR AS DELEGATE IN
BARCELONA OF THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT
o
As an official delegate to Spain of the Comite de
Propaganda de Manila, Marcelo H. del Pilar
carried with him the two stages of the
committee's plans. The first strategy of the
committee was to use legal and peaceful
campaign to win the heart of Spain and provide
a seat for the Philippines in the Cortes to
advance their desired reforms for the country.
Publications and propagandas were made to
fuel such plan. Also, such action paved the way
for their second strategy, which was to awaken
the consciousness of Filipinos in the
Philippines and encourage them to join the
movement that later on paved the way for
revolt. An account of a revolt, which supported
such strategy was the May 1889 struggle for
Philippine independence. The second stage
included the expulsion of friars in the
Philippines (Schumacher, 1997).
o
La Solidaridad was an effective propaganda,
which influenced numerous Spanish politicians
and a good tool in going against the friars'
prominence
in
the
Philippines.
Such
propaganda of La Solidaridad gained support
from numerous natives and had gone deeper
toward political dealings of the Spanish
government that seemed to be abusive to
natives in the Philippines. Del Pilar exerted
enormous effort to further make La Solidaridad
more effective in encouraging reforms in the
Philippines. He studied and evaluated the
Spanish political setup to invite more Filipinos
to join the propaganda.
o
Del Pilar worked hard to keep the eyes of the
masses focused on the propaganda movement
and to keep La Solidaridad running. On April 2
1889, the Masonic lodge "Revolucion,"
organized by the Filipinos of Barcelona,
petitioned Miguel Morayta, grand master of the
Gran Oriente Espanol, for affiliation of their
lodge with his federation. Del Pilar had several
meetings with Morayta after two weeks. Del
Pilar was able to make alliances with the
Spanish Masons to support La Solidaridad's
goal of taking reformation to the next level.
THE NOLI ME TANGERE
o
Noli Me Tangere, which means "touch me not"
has brought Jose Rizal both fame and
oppositions at the same time. In 1887, Jose
Rizal's literary distinction rose; the Novel was
very influential, especially to reformist and
new-generation revolutionaries. It contained
Rizal's strong conviction for patriotism and
liberty. It was total impeachment of the
Philippine political and religious regime
controlled by Spaniards. It was a declaration of
the Filipino nationalism, encouraging Filipinos
to join their fight toward reform and
independence. In the dedication of the book "mi
patria", Rizal exposed the malignance, which
was consuming away the essence of Philippine
society. Exposing such disease leds to a way of
finding cure for it. Curing the disease of the
Philippine society called for nationalism and
educating Filipinos (Schumacher, 1997).