Module 4 Packet SSci 7 (The Life and Works of Jose Rizal)
Module 4: Overview
This module examines the synopsis of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. It animates the
critical thinking of students on the issues and problems during Rizal’s time and today.
Consultation hours:
9-10 AM Tuesday & Friday
Virtual time: 9-10 AM every Wednesday
Module 4: Course Content: Nationalism in the Novels
Below is a schedule for Module 4
Activity
1. Warm-up Activity
2. Readings
Description
Film Title Making
Video presentation
Time to
Complete
15 min.
15 min.
Readings:
Read the synopsis of Noli Me Tangere and El
Filibusterismo
120 min.
1. Agustin, K. (n.d.). Synopsis of noli me tangere.
Scribd.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/81050121/Synopsis-ofNoli-Me-Tangere
2. Galingan, R. (n.d.). Synopsis of el Fili. Scribd.
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/333795347/Syno
psis-of-El-Fili
3. Lecture
4. Application
Lecture: Lecture-Discussion on the major themes,
plot, characters, and ideas in the novels
Application
Create a matrix describing the setting of the novel and
the character symbolism.
40 min.
60 min.
5. Assessment
Assessment
Make a creative presentation about Rizal’s
observations of the aspects of society in the late 19th
century Philippines and your own observations of the
present-day aspect of the contemporary society.
Rate students’ output using rubric.
80 min.
6. Assignment
30 min.
Assignment
Read and familiarize selected poems of Jose Rizal:
6 Hours
Total: (360 minutes)
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successfully completing the lesson, students will be able to:
a. compare and contrast the characters, plot, theme, issues and problems during Rizal’s time
and today from Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo;
b. assess the significance of Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo in the 21st
century Philippines; and
c. propose alternative actions to address the identified issues and problems from the two
novels of Rizal.
WARM UP ACTIVITY (video presentation)
Activity 1: Film Title-Making and Presentation
Instruction: If you will make a film depicting Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, what
would be the title of your film?
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1860945177/?playlistId=tt22410944&ref_=tt_pr_ov_vi
Activity 2: Readings
Instruction: Read the synopsis of the Noli and the Fili from the references found in this
module or from the content of this module.
CONTENT
Instruction: Read the Synopsis of Noli Me Tangere and El FIlibusterismo
Noli Me Tangere
(Touch Me Not)
Juan Crisostomo Ibarra is a young Filipino who, after studying for seven years in Europe,
returns to his native land to find that his father, a wealthy landowner, has died in prison as the
result of a quarrel with the parish curate, a Franciscan friar named Padre Damaso. Ibarra is
engaged to a beautiful and accomplished girl, Maria Clara, the supposed daughter and only
child of the rich Don Santiago de los Santos, commonly known as Capitan Tiago.
Ibarra resolves to forego all quarrels and to work for the betterment of his people. To show his
good intentions, he seeks to establish, at his own expense, a public school in his native town.
He meets with ostensible support from all, especially Padre Damaso’s successor, a young and
gloomy Franciscan named Padre Salvi, for whom Maria Clara confesses to an instinctive
dread.
At the laying of the cornerstone for the new schoolhouse, a suspicious accident, apparently
aimed at Ibarra’s life, occurs, but the festivities proceed until the dinner, where Ibarra is grossly
and wantonly insulted over the memory of his father by Fray Damaso. The young man loses
control of himself and is about to kill the friar, who is saved by the intervention of Maria Clara.
Ibarra is excommunicated, and Capitan Tiago, through his fear of the friars, is forced to break
the engagement and agree to the marriage of Maria Clara with a young and inoffensive
Spaniard provided by Padre Damaso. Obedient to her reputed father’s command and influenced
by her mysterious dread of Padre Salvi, Maria Clara consents to this arrangement, but becomes
seriously ill, only to be saved by medicines sent secretly by Ibarra and clandestinely
administered by a girl friend.
Ibarra succeeds in having the excommunication removed, but before he can explain matters, an
uprising against the Civil Guard is secretly brought about through agents of Padre Salvi, and the
leadership is ascribed to Ibarra to ruin him. He is warned by a mysterious friend, an outlaw
called Elias, whose life he had accidentally saved; but desiring first to see Maria Clara, he
refuses to make his escape, and when the outbreak page occurs, he is arrested as the
instigator of it and thrown into prison in Manila.
On the evening when Capitan Tiago gives a ball in his Manila house to celebrate his supposed
daughter’s engagement, Ibarra makes his escape from prison and succeeds in seeing Maria
Clara alone. He begins to reproach her because it is a letter written to her before he went to
Europe which forms the basis of the charge against him, but she clears herself of treachery to
him. The letter had been secured from her by false representations and in exchange for two
others written by her mother just before her birth, which prove that Padre Damaso is her real
father. These letters had been accidentally discovered in the convento by Padre Salvi, who
made use of them to intimidate the girl and get possession of Ibarra’s letter, from which he
forged others to incriminate the young man. She tells him that she will marry the young
Spaniard, sacrificing herself thus to save her mother’s name and Capitan Tiago’s honor and to
prevent a public scandal, but that she will always remain true to him.
Ibarra’s escape had been effected by Elias, who conveys him in a banka up the Pasig to the
Lake, where they are so closely beset by the Civil Guard that Elias leaps into the water and
draws the pursuers away from the boat, in which Ibarra lies concealed.
On Christmas Eve, at the tomb of the Ibarras in a gloomy wood, Elias appears, wounded and
dying, to find there a boy named Basilio beside the corpse of his mother, a poor woman who
had been driven to insanity by her husband’s neglect and abuses on the part of the Civil Guard,
her younger son having page disappeared some time before in the convento, where he was a
sacristan. Basilio, who is ignorant of Elias’s identity, helps him to build a funeral pyre, on which
his corpse and the madwoman’s are to be burned.
Upon learning of the reported death of Ibarra in the chase on the Lake, Maria Clara becomes
disconsolate and begs her supposed godfather, Fray Damaso, to put her in a nunnery.
Unconscious of her knowledge of their true relationship, the friar breaks down and confesses
that all the trouble he has stirred up with the Ibarras has been to prevent her from marrying a
native, which would condemn her and her children to the oppressed and enslaved class. He
finally yields to her entreaties and she enters the nunnery of St. Clara, to which Padre Salvi is
soon assigned in a ministerial capacity.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/81050121/Synopsis-of-Noli-Me-Tangere
EL FILIBUSTIRISMO
The protagonist of El Filibusterismo is a jeweler named Simoun. He is the new identity
of Crisostomo Ibarra who, in the prequel Noli, escaped from pursuing soldiers. It is revealed that
Crisostomo dug up his buried treasure and fled to Cuba, becoming richer and befriending
Spanish officials.
After many years, the newly fashioned Simoun returns to the Philippines, where he is able to
freely move around. He is a powerful figure not only because of his wealth but also because he
is a good friend and adviser of the governor general.
Outwardly, Simoun is a friend of Spain; however, in secret, he is plotting a terrible revenge
against the Spanish authorities. His two obsessions are to rescue his paramour Maria
Clara from the nunnery of Santa Clara and to foment a Philippine revolution against Spain.
The story of El Filibusterismo begins on board a steamer ship sailing up the Pasig river from
Manila to Laguna de Bay. Among the passengers are Simoun; Doña Victorina, a pro-Spanish
native woman who is going to Laguna in search of her henpecked husband, Tiburcio de
Espadaña, who has deserted her; Paulita Gomez, her beautiful niece; Ben-Zayb (anagram of
Ibañez), a Spanish journalist who writes silly articles about the Filipinos; Padre Sibyla, vicerector of the University of Santo Tomas; Padre Camorra, the parish priest of the town of
Tiani; Don Custodio, a pro-Spanish Filipino holding a position in the government; Padre Salvi,
thin Franciscan friar and former cura of San Diego; Padre Irene, a kind friar who was a friend of
the Filipino students; Padre Florentino, a retired scholarly and patriotic Filipino priest; Isagani,
a poet-nephew of Padre Florentino and a lover of Paulita; and Basilio, son of Sisa and
promising medical student, whose medical education is financed by his patron, Capitan Tiago.
A man of wealth and mystery, Simoun is a very close friend and confidante of the Spanish
governor general. Because of his great influence in Malacañang, he was called the “Brown
Cardinal” or the “Black Eminence”. By using his wealth and political influence, he encourages
corruption in the government, promotes the oppression of the masses, and hastens the moral
degradation of the country so that the people may become desperate and fight. He smuggles
arms into the country with the help of a rich Chinese merchant, Quiroga, who aspires to be
Chinese consul of Manila. His first attempt to begin the armed uprising did not materialize
because at the last hour he hears the sad news that Maria Clara died in the nunnery. In his
agonizing moment of bereavement, he did not give the signal for the outbreak of hostilities.
After a long time of illness brought about by the bitter loss of Maria Clara, Simoun perfects his
plan to overthrow the government. On the occasion of the wedding of Paulita Gomez and
Juanito Pelaez, he gives a wedding gift to them a beautiful lamp. Only he and his confidential
associates, Basilio (Sisa’s son who joined his revolutionary cause), know that when the wick of
his lamp burns lower the nitroglycerine, hidden in its secret compartment, will explode,
destroying the house where the wedding feast is going to be held killing all the guests, including
the governor general, the friars, and the government officials. Simultaneously, all the
government buildings in Manila will be blown by Simoun’s followers.
As the wedding feast begins, the poet Isagani, who has been rejected by Paulita because of his
liberal ideas, is standing outside the house, sorrowfully watching the merriment inside. Basilio,
his friend, warns him to go away because the lightened lamp will soon explode.
Upon hearing the horrible secret of the lamp, Isagani realizes that his beloved Paulita is in grave
danger. To save her life, he rushes into the house, seizes the lightened lamp, and hurls it into
the river, where it explodes.
The revolutionary plot is thus discovered. Simoun is cornered by the soldiers, but he escapes.
Mortally wounded, and carrying his treasure chest, he seeks refuge in the home of Padre
Florentino by the sea.
The Spanish authorities, however, learns of his presence in the house of Padre
Florentino. Lieutenant Perez of the Guardia Civil informs the priest by letter that he will come at
eight o’clock that night to arrest Simoun.
Simoun eludes arrest by taking poison. As he is dying, he confesses to Padre Florentino,
revealing his true identity, his dastardly plan to use his wealth to avenge himself, and his sinister
aim to destroy his friends and enemies.
The confession of the dying Simoun is long and painful. It is already night when Padre
Florentino, wiping the sweat from his wrinkled brow, rises and begins to meditate. He consoles
the dying man saying: “God will forgive you Señor Simoun. He knows that we are fallible. He
has seen that you have suffered, and in ordaining that the chastisement for your faults should
come as death from the very ones you have instigated to crime, we can see His infinite mercy.
He has frustrated your plans one by one, the best conceived, first by the death of Maria Clara,
then by a lack of preparation, then in some mysterious way. Let us bow to His will and render
Him thanks!”
Watching Simoun die peacefully with a clear conscience and at peace with God, Padre
Florentino falls upon his knees and prays for the dead jeweler. The priest then takes the
treasure chest and throws it into the sea.
Lesson 2. Nationalism in the Novels
The Plots of the Novels
Noli Me Tangere is the story of Juan Crisostomo Ibarra, scion of a wealthy family, who
returns home to San Diego “where still roam deer and boars” from his seven-year education in
the German section of sophisticated Switzerland. During his absence, his father Don Rafael
Ibarra was imprisoned for the accidental death of a Spanish tax-collector. Don Rafael died in
prison and he was denied a Christian burial by Father Damaso, San Diego’s parish priest,
because he had stopped going to confession long before his death, and was a subscriber to
liberal publications.
The young Ibarra finds the deplorable conditions in his country virtually unchanged since
he had left for Europe. Inflamed with a desire to educate his people and bring progress to his
hometown, he establishes a school, patterned after the progressive schools he had known in
Europe. His project, though enthusiastically endorsed by the townspeople, is met with
skepticism by the old scholar Tasio who years before had attempted to do the same thing but he
failed. The new parish priest, Father Salvi, also looks at the school disapprovingly for he sees it
as a dangerous threat to his authority over the natives.
During the laying of the school’s cornerstone, an attempt is made on Ibarra’s life but he
is saved by Elias, the mysterious boatman whom he had earlier rescued from death during a
picnic at the lake. The friars constantly harass and persecute Ibarra at San Diego. At one
gathering, the vilification hurled against his dead father almost provoked Ibarra to kill Father
Damaso, but his hand is stayed by his fiancée Maria Clara. He is excommunicated by the friar
and later absolved by the Archbishop.
Finally, a false rebellion is plotted and through forged documents, Ibarra is implicated as
its leader. Unwittingly, his fiancée had lent support to the plotter by providing them with a
specimen of his signature when she was forced to exchange his love letter for some letters
which contained the hidden secret or her paternity.
Ibarra is imprisoned and later rescued once again by Elias who hides him in a banca
covered with zacate and rows him under a barrage of gunfire. Elias is wounded and sacrifices
his life for his beloved friend. Ibarra quietly buries Elias in the woods belonging to his family;
then he flees the country, leaving the impression that he died from the civil guard’s bullets.
The distraught Maria Clara is urged by Father Damaso to marry the Spaniards Alfonso
Linare. She refuses and enters the nunnery of the Poor Clares instead.
El Filibustirismo picks up the threads of the narrative where Noli leaves off, with the
return of Ibarra, under an assumed name Simoun. On board the dingy steamer, Tabo, enroute
to San Diego on the Pasig River, he is the subject of conversations on the lower deck. The
thirteen years away from his country has transformed him into an exotic looking, mysterious
personality. He radiates great influence and he becomes the indispensable consultant and
closest friend of the Governor General.
No one suspects that Simoun, the affluent jeweler, is the fugitive Ibarra. Only Basilio,
son of the demented Sisa of Noli Me Tangere, comes to know the secret. But even Basilio finds
it difficult to reconcile the dreamer and the idealist that once was Ibarra to the shrewed, sly
schemer that is now Simoun.
Now a young man pursuing a medical career, Basilio stumbles on Simoun’s secret on a
Christmas day visit to his mother’s grave in the woods of the Ibarras. Simoun tries to win Basilio
to his side as he explains his plans. He has returned to overthrow the government and avenge
the injustices he has suffered. He would use his wealth and his influence to encourage
corruption in the high circles of government; as a result, he would drive the people to despair
and incite them to revolution. His obsession, the revolution, would primarily become a fulfilment
of his vow of vengeance. The people’s freedom in the process came only as a secondary
purpose.
Twice Simoun attempts to ignite the fires of rebellion but he fails. On the first occasion,
the news of Maria Clara’s death reaches him just as he is about to give the signal for the
coordinated attack on the city. He had planned this revolution so that in the ensuring confusion
he would be able to rescue Maria Clara from the nunnery. But now she is dead. In his
numbness, he forgets that his followers await his signal. Panic ensues and they break out in
disorganized rampage.
His second attempt is thwarted by Isagani, the young poet, who snatches the lamp
Simoun sends as a wedding gift to Isagani’s former sweetheart who marries another suitor. The
lamp contained a homemade bomb which was timed to blow up when all the invited high
officials and friars were seated at the wedding feast. Having been warned by his good friend
Basilio of the impending explosion, Isagani risks his life to save his faithless Paulita. Meanwhile,
a parchment prophesying doom is passed around among the wedding guests and Simoun is
pinpointed as the instigator of the scheme. The signature identifies Simoun as Ibarra.
Simoun flees with his box of jewels. Hunted by the law and wounded, he seeks
sanctuary in the house of a native priest, Father Florentino. To escape his pursuers, he takes
poison and dies in despair.
The Characters
As gospels of Philippine nationalism, Rizal’s novels convey the essence of his
nationalism that was to reverberate in the hearts of his people. He identified this essence in his
letters as his aspiration: to alleviated the sufferings of the masses, to make men worthy, to
avenge one day the many victims of cruelty and injustice, to erect a monument to the native
tongue and to educate his people.
In Noli and Fili, the essence of Rizal’s nationalism is best understood through a study of
the characters. Through their dialogue and actuations, in their ideas and ideals, or in the lack of
these are seen Rizal’s range of vision, his concept of love of country, his appeal for reforms, his
attitude towards the friars, and his views on the weaknesses of the Filipinos. The characters
are the Spaniards and the Filipinos whom Rizal praise, or condemned with compassion.
Ibarra-Simoun. The main protagonist in the Noli is Juan Crisostomo Ibarra y Magsalin,
first shown as a well-mannered young man recently arrived sometime in the 1880s from
his studies and travels in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and Spain. His maternal surname
symbolizes the “translated” Filipino. His paternity goes back to the Pelayos and Elcanos
of Northern Spain. Al Elcano was companion to Magellan. His grandfather was a taciturn
Basque, Don Saturnino, a conqueror of the soil; his father was the well-loved Don
Rafael, who was fascinated by the native camisa and indigenous culture while
subscribing to Madrid publications, and who venerates the likeness of the “executed
priest” (Fr. Jose A. Burgos). These forebears have provided Ibarra with “his more than
average height, the impression of youth and of health, equally developed in mind and
body, [with] slight traces of Spanish blood, beautifully bronzed and somewhat rosy in the
cheeks (Noli, p 13).”
Upon his return to the Philippines, Ibarra is easily the talk of the town.
Indeed one of the most serious newspaper in Manila had devoted to Ibarra a front-page
article entitled ‘Imitate Him!’; lavishing advice on him and not a few praises. It had called
him the cultured youth and wealthy businessman; two lines below that ‘the distinguished
philanthropist’; in the next paragraph, ‘the pupil of Minerva who went to the motherland
to greet the true home of the arts and sciences’; a little farther on, ‘The Filipino
Spaniard’, and so forth. (Noli, p 169)
The long-ignored respectability of the father is remembered; Don Rafael is publicly
acknowledged as “one of the most honorable and honest men in the Philippines” (Noli, p 14).
Even the friars, such as Father Sybila, are willing to accede some credit: “The young Ibarra is
sensible enough; he doesn’t seem stupid; I think he is all right (Noli, p 49).” Indeed Ibarra is
gracious and respectful but sensitive and quick to strike at anyone who would malign the good
name of his dead father. In the course of time he becomes a harassed young man whose
ambitious projects fail one by one.
In the Fili, Ibarra reappears as Simoun, an influential jeweler. His contrasting
appearance is an ingenious disguise. He is tall, lean, sinewy and very deeply tanned:
Who dressed in the English fashion and wore a pith helmet. His most striking
gesture was his long hair, completely white, which set off a black goatee so sparse that it
suggested he was a half-breed. To protect himself from the sun, he always wore a pair
of huge dark glasses that covered his eyes and part of his cheeks completely, giving him
the appearance of a man who was either blind or suffered from some defect in his
eyesight. (Fili, p 6)
Having the reputation of being the “adviser and true author of all the acts of His
Excellency the Governor-General (Fili, p 3),” he is sarcastically referred to as the “Brown
Cardinal” or “His Black Eminence” by the natives who compared him to that influential Capuchin
adviser of the notorious Cardinal Richelieu. Ibarra is no longer the educator but a corruptor bet
on the collapse of Castillian sovereignty. People recognize his carriage and his Escolta
residence, but doubt whether he is half-English or half-Latin-American.
Elias. Ibarra’s mysterious friend Elias appears in an almost deux ex machina fashion
every time Ibarra is in trouble. His robust appearance is marred by great sad eyes and a stern
mouth, long, unkempt black hair that falls to his strong neck, and a coarse dark shirt that reveals
powerful sinewy arms.
Although regarded as an outlaw, Elias is no ordinary renegade. His family misfortunes
had forced him to brigandry. Elias’ grandfather had been a bookkeeper in the employ of Don
Pedro Eibarramendia. When a fire razed the district where Don Pedro lived, the bookkeeper
was blamed. He was publicly flogged and dragged through the streets by a horse, in effect
“executed” through total ostracism and humiliation. His wife, in despair for the family’s needs,
turned to prostitution. The husband hanged himself and widow, accused of causing the hanging,
left the town with her two children.
In time, the older son Balat had become a dreaded tulisan while the younger brother
stayed in the woods with their mother. Balat eventually got caught and his body was quartered.
His trunk was buried, his limbs were exhibited in different towns, and his head was forcibly hung
at the entrance to his mother’s hut. Seeing this gory piece, the mother died on the spot.
The younger brother then fled to Tayabas to start a new life but misfortune followed him
all the way. He soon fell in love with the daughter of a wealthy man, but before they could marry,
his lineage. The woman, however, gave birth to the twins, Elias and his sister, and died soon
after. Their father was tortured in prison and left for dead.
The children were then raised by their wealthy grandfather who sent them to good
schools leaving them a large legacy. In a dispute, a disgruntled relative uncovered their past
and they were forced to leave town with an old, devoted servant who turned out to be their real
father. The father soon died in misery. Soon, Elias’ sister, bereft of her betrothed, disappeared;
she was found dead with a dagger pierced on her breast. Elias feeling abandoned and desolate
became an outlaw. As such he could freely comb the hills and towns in search of the
descendants of the man who caused his family misfortunes.
Tasio. The spirit of nationalism is also reflected in Don Anastacio, the scholar. Tasio is
the fool to the majority who are apathetic to his unorthodox ideas and bizarre behavior. Because
he had brain, his mother decided that his security lay in the priesthood and not in an academic
career. He gave up his studies for love but was widowed and orphaned in less than a year. To
avoid self-pity, idleness and the temptations of the cockpit, he concentrated on his books. He
became so engrossed in his hieroglyphics and other intellectual pursuits that he neglected his
estates and was completely ruined.
Once he had planned to open a school, but failed because so many factors worked
against him. In the story, he reacts coldly to Ibarra’s own plans for a town school, but offered
true sympathy and sensible advice. Upon Ibarra’s arrest and imprisonment, Tasio’s efforts to
testify to Ibarra’s innocence prove futile. His long walk to town compounded by his excitement
and anger at the obvious conspiracy against Ibarra exhausts him. He is found dead at the foot
of the stairs of his house.
Maria Clara. Ibarra’s fiancée is Maria Clara de los Santos, daughter of Doña Pia Alba de
los Santos and Father Damaso. Don Santiago, Doña Pia’s husband, had always regarded her
as his child. She was a Caucasian beauty with a classic profile. Her hair was fair and her nose
was well-shaped. She had a winsome mouth with cheerful dimples, white onion-fine skin, and
“her mother’s eyes, large, black, shadowed by long lashes, gay sparkling when she was at play,
thoughtful and deep otherwise (Noli, p 37).”
Her mother’s death of puerperal fever evoked endless sympathy for the orphan. She
became everybody’s darling and she responded with all graciousness. She became the object
of paternal affection and concern of her baptismal godfather, Father Damaso.
Maria Clara provided continuity and motivation in the story. She is Ibarra’s inspiration in
the planning and execution of his projects in two novels. The odyssey of her locket used by
Rizal as literary device to link incidents in the development of the plot. The locket a gift from
Capitan Tiago is tenderly given away to a leper. Much later, in the Fili, the locket is given to
Basilio by the leper as payment for medical treatment. Basilio lovingly offers to his sweetheart
Juli, who hesitantly allows her father Matanglawin (Cabesang Tales) to use it as payment to
Simoun for arms and ammunitions. Simoun is quietly overjoyed at obtaining the locket as a
memento of lost love.
Father Damaso Verdolagas. The former parish priest of San Diego, a Franciscan, is
easily the antihero in Noli. His verbosity is matched only by his arresting manner. “His classic
features, penetrating look, heavy jaws, and herculean build, gave him the appearance of a
Roman partrician in disguise (Noli, p 5).” His voice was rough and his humor, “like that of a man
who never held his tongue and who thinks that what he says s dogma and beyond and
question.”
He is depicted as an uncouth, bigoted, power-mad ingrate, the personification of
depraved evil among the friars. He had been in the country for 23 years and served as curate of
San Diego for 20 years. There he had come to know most of the townspeople intimately. He
exploited them apparently for the interest of his Church and Kin, but actually for his own
personal gain and convenience.
He had no respect for any authority except his religious superior. He denounced the
Madrid misters as “mad.” He was a renegade Carlist during the reign of King Alfonso. He
dominated his associates and caused fear due to his irritating innuendoes, downright indignities,
and utter disregard of people’s feelings. His manners were brusque thus failing to cultivate the
trust and confidence of his parishioners.
But his toughness was mellowed when he sought the welfare of Maria Clara. His love
and concern for his daughter seemed to be the only good in this Franciscan priest.
The Undesirables. These are the characters that portray the pervading social cancer in
the novels of Rizal. The most harmless looking among them erodes society with their base
intentions and nobody takes them seriously. The pretentious Chinese half-breed Don Santiago
de los Santos leads this group. He is an entertaining character and it is equally challenging to
uncover, beneath the naughty sarcasm, the cancers for which his type is responsible.
“He was short and rotund, thanks to an abundance of fat that, according to his
friends, was a sign of heavenly favour and, to his enemies, came from battening on the
poor… his face wore a habitually amiable expression… there was no lack of brains in his
skull, which in outward appearance was small and round. And covered with ebony-black
hair cut long in front and very short in the back. His eyes, small but not at all almondshaped, never betrayed emotion… he would have been quite justified in believing and
passing himself off for a handsome man if his mouth had not been distorted by the
abuse of tobacco and betel-nut …. Nevertheless, that bad habit had not impaired the
whiteness of his own teeth and two other furnished by the dentist at twelve pesos each
(Noli, p 28).
Capitan Tiago was one of the richest property-owners in Binondo, Pampanga, and the
lakeside town of San Diego. He had come to his fortune and social title by marrying Doña Pia
Alba, a prominent good-looking mestizo who was very astute in the sugar, coffee and indigo
business as well as in the management of farm lands in San Diego. Capitan Tiago would
patronize new ideas but would not dare to accept them without prior approval of the religious or
civil authorities.
“Santiago does not consider himself a native,” Father Damaso remarks about him. For
Capitan Tiago tries to imitate the Europeans in dress and in manners. “He would put on a frock
coat and top-hat to go to the cockpit, the market, religious processions, the humblest Chinese
store.” Aligning himself with the Spaniards, he would exploit the natives.” His subordinates
considered him a martinet and a tyrant; the poor thought him ruthless, cruel, and ready to profit
from all their miseries (Noli, p 34).”
Was he feared or laughed at? “It is true that his debtors welcomed him with orchestras,
gave banquets in his honour, and showered him with gifts. The best fruit will always be found on
his table, when a deer or wild pig was caught, he was given a quarter; if he admired a debtor’s
horse, it was in his stables half an hour late. But people at him behind his back and called him
Sacristan Tiago (Noli p. 55).”
About his religiosity, “Capitan Tiago had never addressed himself to God in his prayers,
not even in his greatest difficulties; he was rich, and he let his money pray for him (Noli, p 29).”
His materialism is such that he considers Maria Clara’s loss of a sweetheart secondary
only to his loss of money. Forced to break his daughter’s engagement to Ibarra, he thinks of his
money, too:
“Calm yourself, my child, I am more unfortunate than you and I am not crying.
You can find another fiancé, a better one, but I, I am losing fifty thousand pesos! (Noli, p
229).”
He is always eager to please the authorities who consider him “full of the best will in the
world, peaceful, obsequious, obedient, and generous with gifts.”
Capitan Tiago was a happy man, as happy as a man with a little brain could be in
those parts; he was rich, he was at peace with God, with the Government, and with men
(Noli, p 29).”
When this peace is later threatened, Capitan Tiago withdraws to that haven of opium. In
the Fili, this addiction causes his death.
The other undesirables are the Espadañas. Doña Victorina is another native who tries to
act more Spanish than the Spaniards. She is almost illiterate and unintelligent. She speaks little
Spanish, but she considers herself superior to most people because of her pretenses of
Spanish affinity. She claims to be 32 years old at 45 and disdains her many Filipino suitors for a
Spanish husband.
At the time of the story in the Noli, she is married to Don Tiburcio de Espadaña – a late
marriage, to be sure, but to a Spaniard nevertheless. She has grown to be “more than blowsy;
she was overblown.” Her hair had dwindled to a bun the size of an onion, her face was furrowed
with wrinkles, and her teeth were falling; she had to squint to see some distance away. She is a
pretentious and domineering shrew and holds her husband in control by threatening to tear out
his false teeth and leave him a horrible sight for days if he would not grant her wishes.
The husband is a lame and bald man who stutters and sprays saliva when he talks. A native of
Extrmadura, Spain, he had come to the Philippines as a customs official, but aside from getting
seasick and breaking a leg during his trip, he had the ill fortune of finding his dismissal papers
waiting for him upon his arrival. Jobless and hungry, he felt that a marriage to Dona Victorina
would alleviate his woes. In the Noli, through his wife’s machinations, he passes for a Doctor of
Medicine who treats only patients” of quality.” His only qualifications were his work experience
as an attendant at the Hospital of San Carlos in Madrid and his citizenship.
In the Fili, Don Tiburcio is the Philippine Ulysses, hopping from town to town, with his
Calypso in pince-nez Doña Victorina in hot pursuit. He finds refuge at the offshore residence of
Father Florentino, she finds distraction in her niece Paulita Gomez’s suitor Juanito Pelaez. The
reader parodies the Filipino without identity, and the Spaniards without dignity; harmless
creatures, yet for their huge number they magnify the insincerity and absurdity of Philippine
society.
The Supporting Characters. Other symptoms of social cancer are indicated among the
victims of poverty and ignorance. These are Sisa, driven by her sufferings to insanity, and her
sons, ten-year-old Basilio who survives the family travails and pursues a medical career in the
Fili, supporting himself through servitude to and vigilance over the opium addict Capitan Tiago,
and seven-year-old Crispin, who becomes a fatal target of the blows of the parish caretaker.
The victims of injustice are equally pathetic figures. Cabesang Tales is driven to outlaw
by circumstances that reveal the roots of agrarian malaise in the country. His son, Tano, “so
good, so honest!” is conscripted into military service in the Carolines where he is so alienated
and confused by physical and moral distress that he comes home in a state of shock. He does
not recognize the dumb old man who is his grandfather Selo, whom he shoots in a clash with
some “bandits.”
Tano’s sister Juli, beloved of Basilio, is the innocent and hardworking rustic who sacrifices her
honor and her life for her family and beloved.
The nameless and countless defeatists are typified by the fanatic Tertiary sisters, Rura,
Sipa and Juana whose examples prefigure the “spit level” Christianity of Contemporary Filipinos
– “perfect” Christians in name alone. A frivolous sense of values is displayed by Paulita Gomez,
niece of Dona Victorina and sweetheart of Isagani, who marries the more affluent Juanito
Pelaez. Another character common even today is Senor Pasta whose pretenses to learning
have made him voluble in evasive argument.
The misdirected zeal of the unholy friars has aggravated the social cancer. Along with
Father Damaso interfering with the public welfare are Father Bernardo Salvi, ecclesiastical
governor of the archdiocese and incumbent curate of San Diego, and Fathers Hernando de la
Sybila and Camorra.
The idealists and dreamers must excise the cancer before they succumb to their own
deterioration and hopelessness. The Dominican Father Fernandez lends a fair ear to his
students; he is Isagani’s classical exception to the majority of uncaring, illogical friar teachers.
Isagani, nephew of Father Florentino and a young poet trained at the Ateneo, is a symbol of the
liberated Filipino youth whose unselfish devotion urges him to save the faithless Paulita. He
aborts Simoun’s master conspiracy to blow up the Spanish hierarchy at the wedding party.
Rizal's ultimate spokesman in the Fili is Father Florentino. He is a distinguished native
priest whose serious countenance evinced the "tranquility of a soul strengthened by study and
meditation and perhaps tested by intimate moral sufferings" (Fili, p 17). He is Rizal's portrait of
the ideal shepherd of God's flock.
The delicate and noble delineation of characters is the strongest literary asset of the
novels. Replying to the torrent of comments, suggestions, and queries that were unleashed by
the Noli, Rizal said:
I am not enraged with all the Spaniards. In my work, there are noble honorable
Spaniards. . . There are also bad Indio's, worse even than various Spaniards. My
adversaries would like me to portray the Peninsular Spaniards like angels and the
Filipinos like stupid men, without drawing distinctions. This is not only folly but also an
imitation of Spanish writers, and I do not do this. Some persons enjoy grumbling or
backbiting but they are resentful when they hear the truth.
This motley array of characteristics treated humorously or satirically at times, portray the
causes and the symptoms and the cure of the social cancer itself. The suffering of the people,
the constraints in the school and judicial systems, the misdirected concern and ill-defined roles
of the military, civil, and religious authorities, and the multifarious concepts and manifestations
of nationalism, are depicted in these great works of art.
Expressions of Nationalism Among the Characters. The spirit of nationalism that
pervades in the novels is expressed in the impassioned dialogue of the principal protagonists.
At other times it is implied by the veiled comments and actuations of the sensitive characters
whose ignorance of Rizal sought to eradicate.
In the early part of the Noli, the principal character Ibarra elucidates Rizal's political
sentiment that Spain and the Philippines were two parts of one nation and that loyalty to one
was loyalty to the other. One was patria grande, the other was patria chica; today this is
recognized as nationalism and regionalism.
Ibarra states in a toast that is reminiscent of Rizal's brindis speech of 1884, "Gentlemen,
despite everything, I give you Spain and the Philippines. "(Noli, p 19)
This sentiment for one's country is based on the knowledge of the country's traditions
and culture. Thus, Ibarra explained to a young Spaniard at the Bienvenida party:
Before visiting any of those countries I would try to study its history, its Exodus,
so to speak, and after that, I found everything understandable. I saw that in all cases the
prosperity or unhappiness of nations is in direct proportion to their liberties and their
problems, and by that token, to the sacrifices or selfishness of their ancestors." ( Noli, pp
18-19)
Later as he reflects on the country's ills and the possibility of rebellion, he says:
'No, despite everything, my country comes first - first the Philippines, daughter of
Spain - first Mother Spain. What was destined, what was unavoidable, cannot stain the
honor of the Motherland." (Noli, p 47)
And later, he again says to Tasio:
"Is my love of country incompatible with love for Spain? . . . I love my country,
the Philippines, because I owe her my life and happiness, and because every man
should love his country. I love Spain, the country of my forefathers, because, after all,
the Philippines owe and will owe to Spain both happiness and future." (Noli, p 159)
Conversing with the Governor General, Ibarra honestly declares:
"Sir, my greatest desire is the happiness of my country, a happiness which I
would wish to be due to the Motherland and to the efforts of my fellow citizens, one
united to the others with eternal ties of common ideals and common interests. What I
ask can only be given by the Government after many years of continuous work and the
correct measures of reform." ( Noli, p237)
However, the disillusioned Ibarra turned Simoun in the Fili looks forward to the
separation of the Philippines from Spain and urges Basilio to work for a free nation:
"... So they refuse to integrate you into the Spanish nation. So much the better!
Take the lead in forming your individuality, and try to lay the foundations of the Filipino
nation. They give you no hope. All the better! Hope only in yourselves and your own
efforts. They deny you representation in the Spanish parliament. Good for you! Even if
you were able to elect representatives of your choosing, what could you do there but be
drowned among the many voices, yet sanction by your presence the abuses and wrongs
which may be afterward committed? The fewer rights they recognize in you the more
right you will have later to shake off their yoke and return evil for evil. If they refuse to
teach you their language, then cultivate your own. Make it more widely known, keep
alive our native culture for our people, and instead of aspiring to be a mere province,
aspire to be a nation, develop an independent, not a colonial mentality, so that in neither
rights nor customs nor language the Spaniard may ever feel at home here, or ever be
looked upon by our people as a fellow citizen, but rather, always as an invader, a
foreigner, and sooner or later you shall be free." (Fili, pp 51-52)
In Simoun , Rizal provides a philosophy of patriotism:
"However perfect humanity may become, patriotism will always be a virtue in
oppressed peoples because it will always mean the love of justice, freedom and self-
respect ... A man is great not because he goes ahead of his generation, which in any
case impossible, but because he guesses what it wants. The intellect may think that
geniuses are ahead of their time, but they only appear so to those who look at them from
afar or who mistake the rearguard for a whole generation ." (Fili, p 53)
Elias' enkindled love for country is shown in his sympathy for the poor and the
oppressed who are the victims of Spanish repression in the islands. He is the people's
spokesman as he outlines to Ibarra the abuses committed on them by the friars and the civil
authorities. And the pleads with the young man in whom he sees qualities of leadership to use
his influence to seek reforms. In vain does he convince Ibarra of the imperativeness of the
reforms to prevent the suffering masses from rising up in arms.
Towards the end of the Noli, as both he and Ibarra are being hunted by the authorities,
Ibarra invites Elias to leave the country. Elias refuses and insists:
"Impossible. It is true that I cannot live or be happy in my country but I can suffer
and die in it, and perhaps for it; that is something. Let the misfortunes of my country be
my own, and since our people are not all united by a noble ideal, since our hearts do not
beat faster to the same name, at least our common unhappiness may unite me with
them. I shall weep with them over our sorrows, and let the same misfortunes oppress all
our hearts." (Noli, p 386)
When the embittered Ibarra vows to return to incite revolution, Elias counsels by
reminding Ibarra of his former words:
"I would tell you to think well about what are you going to do. You are going to
start a war, for you have money and brains, and will easily find many helping hands;
unfortunately many are discontented. But in this fight that you propose to start, the
defenseless and the innocent will suffer most. The same sentiments that a month ago
led me to ask you for reforms, led me now to ask you to reflect further. Our country does
not think of independence from the Motherland; she asks for nothing more than a small
measure of liberty, of justice, and love. The discontented, the criminal, and the
desperate will follow you, but the people will stand apart. I would not follow you myself; I
would never resort to these extreme measures while I could see some hope in man."
(Noli, pp 388-89)
Isagani, on the other hand, nurses a sentimental desire to die for his country:
Ah, he too would like to die, to become nothing, to leave his country a glorious
name, to die for her, defending her against foreign invaders, and let the sun afterwards
shine on his dead body, an immovable sentinel on the rocks of the sea! (Fili, pp 195-96)
Contrasted to this patriotic fervor is Senor Pasta's reply to Isagani when the young poet
asked the lawyer to work for the student's cause on the question of the Academy for the
Spanish language:
"O yes, I yielded to no one in my love of country and in my progressive ideas, but
. . . I cannot commit myself. I do not know whether o or not you realize my position; it is
very delicate . . . I have many interests . . . I must act within the limits of strict prudence .
. . It would be most embarrassing. (Fili, p 116)
Tasio, disgusted with the failure of his projects and the futility of overcoming the
obstacles to progress, cynically advises Ibarra to be resigned to things as they are:
"Why shouldn't we do as that weak stem loaded with roses and buds? The wind
blows and shakes it and it blows down as if to hide its precious burden. If the stem were
to stay straight it would break, and wind would scatter the flowers, and the buds would
die unopened. But the wind passes on, and then the stem straightens up again, proud of
its treasure. Who will blame it for having bowed necessity? . . . To fight alone against the
world is not courage but foolhardiness." (Noli, pp 160-61)
Regarded as a fool by people who did not understand his progressive ideas, Tasio
withdraws into his ivory tower. Despite his frustrations, he looks forward to a bright future for his
country where ignorance shall have been replaced by liberal and noble ideas from Europe, and
his country would encourage economic and technological development.
Decadence in the Social Order. Rizal's concept of nationalism is not only expressed
explicitly in the patriotic dialogue of the characters but also largely reflected in the portrayal of a
Philippine society that needed social reforms.
The town of San Diego was typically rural, inhabited by petty, petulant people. "In San
Diego no less than in Rome, there were continuous quarrels, for each authority wanted to be the
sole master and found the other superfluous. (Noli, p 56) The mayor's office" had cost him five
thousand pesos and many humiliations, although, considering the income, it was cheap at that."
(Noli, p 55)
The dingy steamer, Tabo, that sluggishly plies the Pasig River in the Fili
Was typical of the country, something like a triumph over progress, a steamship that was
not quite a steamship, changeless, defective but an undisputable fact, which, when it
wanted to look modern, was perfectly happy with a new coat of paint. No doubt the ship
was genuinely Filipino! With a little goodwill, it could even be taken for the Ship of State
itself built under the supervision of the Most Reverent and Illustrious personages. (Fili, p
1)
The placement of the steamer’s passengers suggests the positions of the oppressed
and the oppressors in a colonial hierarchy. It also reveals the kind of discrimination that Rizal
knew so well in his college days. Accordingly,
below decks could be seen brown faces and black hair; natives, Chinese, half-breeds,
jammed in among baggage and cargo, while above them on the upper deck, under the
awning that protected them from the sun, and a handful of passengers dressed in
European style, friars and officials, were seated in comfortable armchairs, smoking huge
cigars and admiring the view, without taking the slightest notice of the efforts of the
skipper and the crew to negotiate the difficulties of the passage. (Fili, p 2)
The abuses of these “upper deck passengers” are exposed by Rizal as the true “social
cancer.” As a consequence, people had lost their self-respect. They are berated by Don Filipo:
“Sacrifice your self-esteem for a good cause. You sacrificed it before for a bad one, and you
ruined everything,” he reminds them, referring to a community project. (Noli, p 113)
But the social cancer is conditioned by foreign factors of which the local authorities wash
their hands. “It’s plain to see,” smirks Father Damaso “Ever since the Suez Canal was opened,
we have been corrupted. Before, when we had to go round the Cape (of Good Hope), we didn’t
get so many souls here, nor did so many go abroad to lose their souls.” (Noli, page 220)
Whatever the cause of source to the cancer, indolence was always pointed to be at its
root. A young Spaniard inquires:
“Are the natives really born lazy? Or was that foreigner traveler right who said
that we Spaniards use this change of laziness to excuse our own, as well as to explain
the lack of progress and policy in our colonies? He was, of course, speaking of other
colonies of ours, but I think the inhabitants there belong to the same race as these
people.”
Simoun satirically remarks:
“Beer is a good thing. I have heard Father Camorra say that the lack of energy in
this country is due to the fact that its inhabitants drink so much water.” (Fili, page 15)
“The trouble is not that there are bandits in the mountains and uninhabited places,”
Simoun continues (page 76). “The trouble lies with bandits in the towns and cities,” cynically
alluding to both religious and civil authorities, whether peninsular or local in origin, who viciously
exploited the natives. Decadence pervaded in the morass of bias and the misguided innate
virtue of family practices and values.
These are shown in Capitana Tinay’s parody of Rizal’s mother Teodora Alonso. Tinay
announces, “I shall tell my son to give up his studies. They say wise men die on the gallows.”
(Noli page 25)
Ibarra pinpoints the parochial view of the people as an urgent reason for further
education. In his letter to Maria Clara, he quoted his father’s legacy:
“You must learn something about life to serve your country. But you cannot learn
it here; if you stay with me, under my care, sharing my worries from day to day, you will
never be able to take in a long view. And when I’m gone, you will be like the plant
described by our poet Baltazar, grown in water, withering the moment it is not tended,
shriveled by a touch of sun.” (Noli, page 42)
With the fragile Sisa, it was simply a matter of ignoring the problem until it resolved itself.
Thus, did she close her hut and stoke the handful of coals in the kitchen stove? “Thus does man
cover up with the ashes of outward indifference the burning emotions of his soul lest they be
extinguished by careless exposure “to one’s fellow.” (Noli, page 85)
Ibarra laments the presence of bad officials, abetted by inert people:
“There are officials who are useless, even bad, if you will, but there are also good
ones, and, if the latter can do nothing, it is because they are faced with an inert mass,
the people, who take scant interest in the matters which concern them. However, I did
not come here to argue with you on this point; I came to ask your advice. You say I
should my head before grotesque idols.” (Noli, page 159)
As Simoun, he is irked by the absence of initiative. To Basilio, he remonstrates:
“Resignation is not always a virtue; it is a crime when it encourages oppression. There are no
tyrants where there are no slaves. Man is by nature so evil that he always abuses his powers
when he is not resisted.” (Fili, page 54) Exasperated by Basilio’s non-involvement, Simoun
chides: “Don’t you realize that a life which is not dedicated to a great idea is useless? It is a
pebble lost in the field, when it should form part of some building.” (Fili, page 52)
The Abuses of the Religious Authorities
Rizal further depicts the corruption of the clergy in the characters of Father Damaso,
Salvi, Sibyla and Camorra. The friar was generally regarded as “the chief moral, political, and
civil authority in the town, supported by his order, feared by the government, high, powerful,
consulted, listened to, believed and obeyed always by all” (Noli, page 98) As such, he
demanded privileges and enjoyed priorities over high government officials whose tenures of
office he could control. As expected, his respect for civil authority depended on its convenience
to his whims. “The highest civil official in the Philippines was, in the opinion of the priests, much
inferior to the convent cook.” (Noli, page 16) Tasio noted this to Ibarra: “The lowest lay-brother
is more powerful than the Government with all its soldiers” (Noli, page 156)
The priest made the civil officials fear them. They controlled the acts of the ignorant
natives and threatened indios’ heads with excommunication for the slightest sign of disrespect
and disobedience. In this sermon delivered on the feast of San Diego one sees the utmost
trepidation:
“Listen to what the Holy Councils say. When a native meets a priest on the
street, he shall bend his head and offer his neck so that the Father may lean on it; if the
priest and the native are both on horseback, then the native shall stop, and shall take off
his hat reverently; and finally if the native is on a horseback and the priest is on foot, the
native shall get off his horse and will not remount until the priest tells him to be off, or
has gone out of sight. That is what the Holy Councils say and whoever does not obey
shall be excommunicated. (Noli, page 199)
Father Damaso regarded the indios with contempt. He called them lazy, vicious, and
ungrateful even when he was royally entertained at their homes. He despised their aspirations
for enlightenment;
“You know what the native’s like. Let him learn a few letters and he passes
himself off as a doctor. All these chaps go off to Europe without having learned to wipe
their noses.” (Noli, page 220)
He orders the schoolmaster of San Diego to stop teaching to his pupils “Don’t go around
in borrowed clothes. Use your own native tongue. Don’t go spoiling Spanish; it’s not for you.”
(Noli, page 98)
This opposition to the education of the masses is supported by many of his colleagues.
Father Salvi secretly tries to foil Ibarra’s school project, and Fathers Irene, Sibyla, and Camorra,
argue strongly against the students’ petition for the establishment of the academy for the
Spanish language. One says’
“But the natives should now know Spanish, don’t you realize that? When they do,
they start arguing with us and they have no business arguing, all they should do is pray
and obey, they have no business interpreting laws and books.” (Noli, page 82)
This biased attitude causes Isagani’s grievances which he tells Father Fernandez. He
accuses the friars of
“Curtailing the pursuit of knowledge . . . stiffing al fervor and enthusiasm for it,
and implanting in us outmoded ideas, discredited theories and false principles
incompatible with progress.” (Fili, page 219)
The friars, who could easily encourage the latent abilities of the native, insulted and
exploited him. They made him think that religion was a matter of observing external rituals,
mouthing devotional prayers without understanding them, and rendering strict obedience to the
friars. They made him believe that salvation could be obtained through a generous donation to
the Church, paying for a large number of masses or candles lighted at the shrine of a particular
saint. Thus, Captain Tiago made his gold pray for him and completed with Doña Patrocinio on
the display of religious fervor and generosity.
Many of the friars were sadly deficient in spiritual leadership. Despite the vow of chastity,
they had immoral liaisons with native women who, either through threat or gentle persuasion
had acceded to their carnal desires. Maria Clara is a product of such liaison and Juli is a victim
of Father Camorra’s lewd designs. In utter shame, she jumps from the second-floor window of
the convent to her death.
The friars were guilty of bribery and corruption. In the Fili, Father Camorra asked
Captain Basilio for a gift of a pair of lady’s earrings; otherwise, the parish priest’s unfavorable
report would cause the Captain’s great harm. “These earrings were compulsory gifts” (Fili, page
38) and the students gave Father Irene a pair of chestnut horses to gain approval of their
petition.
The friars also enriched themselves not only by exhorting excessive fees for Church
services (200 pesos for Father Damaso’s sermon on the feast of San Diego) but also by unjust
acquisition of landed estates. The religious orders would stake claims on certain parcels of land
and rent them out to tenants. Very often, the property was already owned by some natives who
would vainly protest this illegal occupancy.
On the eve of their first harvest, a religious Order that owned the lands in the
neighboring town had claimed ownership of the newly acquired fields, alleging that they were
within the limits of its property, and to establish its claim immediately attempted to put up
boundary markers. The administrator of the religious Order’s estate, however, let it be
understood that out of pity he would allow Tales the enjoyment of the land of an annual rental, a
mere trifle, a matter of 20 or 30 pesos. (Fili, page 24-25)
Not wishing to anger the powerful friars, the peace-loving Tales gave in. After a year, for
one reason or another, the friar landlords raised the rental to P50.00. The rental increased
annually from then on and when it reached to P200.00, Cabesang Tales grumbled in protest.
The friar administrator threatened that if Tales would not pay, then another tenant would take
over. Thinking that the friar was not serious Tales refused to pay and he brought the case to
court and dared to “battle against a most powerful Religious Order before which Justice lowered
her head and judges dropped their scales and surrendered their swords.” After a long period of
litigation, the case was decided against Tales. An appeal to the higher court proved futile, and
the poor man turned to the eventual life of an outlaw.
In a letter to Felix Resurrection Hidalgo, Rizal showed his vehemence to friar hypocrisy:
I have replied to the insults that for so many centuries have been heaped upon
us and our country. I have described the social conditions, the life there, and our
beliefs, our hopes, our desires, our complaints our sorrows. I have unmasked
hypocrisy that under the clock of religion impoverished and brutalized us. I have
distinguished the true religion from the false, from the superstitious, from that
which capitalizes on the holy word in order to extract money, in order to make us
believe in absurdities of which Catholicism would blush if it would know them. I
have lifted the curtain in order to show what is behind the glittering words of our
government. I have told our complaints, our defects, our vices, and our culpable
and cowardly complacency with the miseries over there in the Philippines.
Whenever I have virtue, I have proclaimed it and rendered homage to it… The
incidents are all true and they happened!
Corruption in the Civil Government. The civil government perpetuated anomalies with
its own defective organization which was largely dependent on the authority of the friars and
with the appointment of the weak officials who had no training at all in government
administration. As Tasio succinctly points out,
“The Government itself sees nothing, and decides nothing except what the parish
priest or the head of the religious Order makes it see, hear, and decide. It is convinced
that it rests on them alone; that it stands because they support it; that it lives because
they allow it to live; and that the day they are gone, it will fall like discarded puppet. It is
only an arm, the convent is the head. (Noli, p 157)
Isagani lament this situation to Senor Pasta:
“Governments have been made for the good of peoples, and to fulfill their
purposes properly, they must follow the wishes of the citizens who best know what they need.”
(Fili, p 117)
But the Governor General clarifies to Ibarra the over-centralized and under systemized
policy:
“Here, we old soldiers must do everything and be everything: King, Ministers of
State, of War, of the Interior, of Economic Development, of Justice, and all that. What is
worse, we must consult the home government on every point, and that distant
government, according to circumstances, approves our proposal, sometimes without
knowing anything about them. And we Spaniards say: jack of all trades, master of none!
Furthermore, we come, usually knowing little about the country, and leave it just when
we are getting to know it… We in the Government do not lack good intentions, but we
are compelled to make use of the eyes and arms of others, whom we usually do not
know, and who perhaps, instead of serving the interest of the country, only serve their
own. That is not our fault but that of circumstances.” (Noli, p 236)
Regarding the presence of corrupt officials in the government, the concerned Lieutenant
Guevarra tells Ibarra:
“The continual changes in the administration, demoralization in high places,
favoritism, combined with the cheaper fares and shorter trip out here since the Suez
Canal was opened, are to blame for everything; the worst elements of the Peninsula
come here, and if a good man comes, he is soon corrupted by the present condition of
the country.” (Noli, p 22)
The majority of peninsular Spaniards sent to the Philippines resembled Tiburcio de
Espadana, the Customs official in the Noli who could not even speak Spanish correctly. Laid off
by the government that found him incompetent, he staves off hunger by marrying a wealthy
indio and naively allows himself to be called a Doctor of Medicine even though he knows
nothing about the profession.
The corrupt Governor General in the Fili bribed his way into his appointment using
Simoun’s money. His excessive lack of administrative ability is shown in his dependence on
Simoun, whose Machiavellian design and ridiculous decisions distorted his sense of values. He
pays more attention to trivial matters than to the pressing needs of the country. He tolerates
gambling as it would enrich government coffers, and, consequently, his own pocket. Although it
is prohibited to encourage the cultivation of poppy in the colony, he allows opium smoking
because it “gives the government, without any work at all, a yearly revenue of more than four
hundred and fifty thousand pesos.” (Noli, p 236)
The civil government ignored the basic needs of the people. It discouraged freedom of
the press. It entrusted the matter of educating the natives to the friars who discouraged the
learning of the natives. It often showed a maladministration of justice, with decisions constantly
tipped to favor the Spaniards, as in the case of Cabesang Tales, or favored the party that gave
“gifts” to the judges. It also exploited the natives through conscript labor and increased taxes.
The Civil Guard. One of the government agencies, the guardia civil, particularly stands
out in its cruel treatment of the natives. Rizal's novels describe the illegal searches and planned
robberies committed by the guards in the guise of law enforcement, as well as the terrible
tortures suffered by the people.
Answering Ibarra's assertion that the guardia civil is a necessary institution for the
security of the towns, Elias gives proof of its rampant abuses:
"It paralyzes communication because everybody is afraid of being harassed for
petty causes. It is concerned with appearance rather than with fundamentals --one of the
first symptoms of incapacity. A man is tied and beaten up because he has forgotten his
identity card, no matter if he is a decent person with a good reputation. The officers think
it is their duty to exact a salute, willing or unwilling, even at night, and they are imitated in
this by their subordinates, who use it as an excuse-- although an excuse is never
lacking--to manhandle and fleece the peasants. The sanctity of the home does not exist
for them; not long ago they entered a house in Kalamba through the window and beat up
a peaceful inhabitant to whom their commanding officer owed money and favors. There
is no security for the individual: when they want their barracks or their houses cleaned,
they go out and seize anyone who does not resist and make him work the whole day."
(Noli, p 309)
Elias observes that the guardia civil lorded over the towns for fifteen years, yet outlaws
abounded, robberies continued and the perpetuators were never caught. Crime existed and real
culprits went about freely, while the peaceful inhabitants cringed in terror.
"Ask any honest citizen if he looks upon the constabulary (guardia civil) as a good thing,
as a means of protection furnished by the Government and not as an imposition, a despotism
whose excesses are more harmful than the depredations of the outlaws... One cannot even
protest against the imposition of the forces of laws and order." (Noli, pp 308-309)
The Defective Educational System. Another deplorable aspect of the colonial
government was the poor administration and ineffective supervision of the educational system in
the country.
The importance of the school system was acknowledged. At the laying of the
cornerstone of Ibarra's school, the governor proclaimed:
"Residents of Sand Diego, we have the honor to preside over a ceremony whose
importance you will understand without our telling you. This is the foundation of a school,
and the school is the foundation of society, the book on which is written the future of
nations. Show us the schools of a nation and we shall tell you what kind of a nation it is."
(Noli, p 205)
Ibarra complemented:
"I want my country's good, that is why I am building the schoolhouse, but I seek it
through education, through progress. We cannot find our way without the light of
knowledge." (Noli, p 320)
The town situation was pitiful. In San Diego, before Ibarra return, there was no school
building. The schoolmaster in the Noli had to use a portion of the “ground floor of the parish
house, beside the carriage of the parish priest" as a schoolroom. Under these circumstances,
not much learning was accomplished, to the delight of Father Damaso. The schoolmaster was
limited by the curriculum prescribed by the parish priest and cautioned against teaching the
pupils the Spanish language. Added to his difficulties was the prejudice against educating the
people. Out of 200 children listed, only 25 came to class regularly. (Noli, p 96) The teacher
denounces this desperate condition to Ibarra:
"In our present circumstances, education will never be possible without the most
powerful help, first, because the young have no inducement or encouragement to study,
and secondly, because even if they had, they would be stifled by poverty and other
needs more pressing than education. They say that Germany even the son of the
peasant spends eight years in the village school. Here, who would spend half that time
where there is so little to be gained from it? They learn to read and write, they memorize
passages, whole books, in Spanish, without understanding a single word--how does
school do any good to our village boys?"
"A poor school teacher does not fight single-handed against prejudices, against
certain influences. I would need, above all, a schoolhouse, a place to teach in; now I
must do so on the ground floor of the parish house, beside the carriage of the parish
priest." (Noli, p 96)
Teachers had no prestige:
"The children lose their respect for their teacher when they see him badly used,
and unable to assert his rights. If the teacher is to be listened to, if his authority is to be
beyond question, he needs prestige, a good name, moral authority, a certain freedom."
(Noli, p 96)
Teachers were downgraded:
“Neither learning nor zeal are expected from a schoolmaster; only resignation,
self-abasement, and passivity.” (Noli, p 08)
At the college level, it was a farce. A very discouraging atmosphere is shown in the
physics class described in the Fili. The schoolroom was bare except for an impressive
mahogany framed blackboard. Whatever laboratory equipment the school had locked away in a
glass cabinet for students “to gaze at but not touch.” It would be brought out from time to time
for display. No laboratory experiments were conducted and class recitation was often a farce.
Why go to school?
One went to school, they argued not to study or learn but to complete the
prescribed course, and, if they could memorize the textbook, nothing more could be
asked of them and they would be sure to pass on to the next grade. (Fili, p 42)
One went class not to learn but to avoid the mark (for absence), there was
nothing else to the class except to recite the lessons by heart, to read the textbook, and
at most to answer one or two questions, abstract, profound, misleading, enigmatic; there
was never lacking, it is true, the usual little homily on humanity, submission and respect
for the religious, (Fili, p 92).
The professor invariably required his students to recite the day’s assignment by
heart and word for word. The human phonographs went to work, some well, others
helped by friendly promptings. Whoever accomplished a flawless recitation gains a good
mark; whoever made three mistakes, a zero.
Basilio passed his oral examination by “answering the only question they asked him like
a machine, without pausing for breath, and the examining board approved his performance
amid great laughter.” (Fili, p 42)
The college teachers were very often insulting; they even stooped to make fun of the
students’ names. And all the students felt at the end of the session that
each one of them had lost one more hour of his life and with it a measure of his
dignity and self-respect, an hour which, on the hand, had added to the discouragement,
resentment, and aversion to study in his heart.
For just like the two hundred and thirty-four [students in Physics class],
thousands before them had wasted their time and, if matters were not set right, so would
others still to come, to be brutalized, to have their dignity outrage and their youthful
enthusiasms turned into indolence and hatred, like waves on a polluted beach that one
after the other accumulate the garbage upon it. (Fili, p 103)
A few hopefully kept their optimism. Basilio joined the science enthusiast’s bandwagon:
“It is the goal of the most cultured nations.” (Fili, p 52) Señor Pasta singled out the responsibility
of students: “He who wants to learn, learns and learns well.” (Fili, p 120)
The Plight of the Filipinos. Eight million Filipinos had become the victims of human
indignities. Rizal did not spare them from censure. He sympathized with their sufferings, yet he
felt that the people’s indifference had made them inert. His sensitive pen reminded the people
that these follies and misfortunes were caused by a colonial subservience that had to stop; the
moral cast of his thoughts demanded a renewal of strength and a recourse of change.
There was abject misery among the poor: “Sugar prices were low, the rice harvest had
been lost, half the work animals had died, rentals and taxes were rising no one knew why or
what for, while more and more abuses by the Constabulary discouraged merrymaking in the
towns.” (Fili, p 37) The people were continuously exploited and harassed by the authorities such
as the despondent Sisa, whose sons are falsely accused of stealing the parish priest’s money.
The younger of the two, Crispin, is beaten to death by the sacristan mayor. The family of
Cabesang Tales suffered poverty and oppression andis driven to outlawry as Sisa becomes
insane.
It was futile to complain about the excesses of authority. Day after day they were
reminded that they had no right to question authority – they were born to serve, they were fit
only to be ruled, and therefore, they were not supposed to complain. The most effective
constraint was the threat of filibusterismo, or subversion, the serious charge for a nonconformist attitude of mind, “as an overt attempt to overthrow an established order of society.”
(Fili, p XIV)
Simoun describes the depredations of the natives to Father Florentino thus:
“Ah, if you had seen what I have: unfortunate wretches suffering unspeakable
tortures for crimes they never committed, the murders done to conceal the crimes or
blunders of others, pitiful fathers of families torn from their homes to work uselessly on
highways that crumbled the next morning and which seemed to be built to bury their
families in misery – endure, work, it is the will of God!” (Fili, p 296)
Rizal did not wholly blame the religious and civil authorities for their sordid state of
affairs. The people themselves, by their timidity, fear, and cowardice had shackled their minds
and debased their souls. They gradually allowed the Spaniards to enslave them. The Governor
General observed;
“Ah, if these people weren’t so stupid, they’d take the measure of these
Reverences! But every people deserves its fate, and let us do what everybody else
does.” (Noli, pp 51-52)
Don Filipo impatiently admits that the friars are always right “because we always start by
admitting they are right.” (Noli, pp 223-224) The Mayor concludes, “The friars are rich and
united; we are divided and poor.”
The burning need to unite and clamor for emancipation from the malaise of the country
was unheeded by the people. Many had grown callous through suffering and had learned by
experience that it was dangerous to go against the Establishment. Tasio advised Ibarra, “To
fight alone against the world is not courage but foolhardiness.” (Noli, p 161). Taking “prudence”
as synonymous with “fear,” they chose to be silent and left things as they were.
One such character is Señor Pasta who preferred security in office to a risky
involvement in the agitation for civil rights. Another is Basilio who would rather have the simple,
uneventful life of a country doctor than fight for his rights.
Simoun berates him that resignation becomes a crime when it breeds tyrants and
slaves. Still failing to arouse Basilio’s interest in his schemes, Simoun bitterly rationalizes:
“When somebody is dead it is useless to try to wake him up. Twenty years of
uninterrupted slavery, systematic humiliation, of constant prostration, can make a soul
so hunch-backed that it will take more than a day to straighten it up. Children inherit from
their fathers their ways of thought, good or bad. Long live then your ideas of a happy life,
long live the dreams of the slave who only asks for a rag with which to wrap his chains
so they won’t make so much noise or bruise his skin. Your ambition is a cozy little home,
a woman of your own, and a handful of rice. Behold the model Filipino!” (Fili, pp 54 – 55)
Tasion had earlier dampened Ibarra’s idealism with brutal frankness.
“The reforms which come from above are annulled below by the vices of all, by,
for example, the get-rich-quick madness, and the ignorance of the people who let
everything pass. Abuses cannot be corrected by royal decree if zealous authorities do
not watch over its execution, and while freedom of speech against the excesses of petty
tyrants is not granted.” (Noli, p 158)
Rizal criticized the unspoken embarrassment of the natives for their own ancestry so that
the search for national identity was a superficial imitation of European manners and mode of
dressing. Capitan Tiago, who “does not think of himself as a native,” and Doña Victorina de
Espadaña personify this colonial mentality.
The Filipinos’ gullible obedience and surrender of individual rights abetted rather than
curtailed the abuses of the friars. The Tertiary Sisters and the members of the Municipal Board
of San Diego, particularly the mayor, are examples of this subservience to the friars’ whims.
This distorted sense of values is shown in the general attitude towards gambling and
fiestas. The cockpit was a most frequented place, but people shied away from the schools. In an
effort to compete with the neighboring towns in the celebration of the feat of the patron saint, the
people of San Diego spent money lavishly, even if this meant continued poverty. Speaking
through Tasio, Rizal criticized this extravagance thus:
“Having a good time doesn’t mean making fools of ourselves. It’s the same
senseless orgy every year. And all for what? Throwing away all that money when there
is so much misery and need! But of course! I understand. The orgy, the bacchanal,
serves to drown out the general lamentation.” (Noli, p 183)
Tasio also scorns the increasing apathy of society towards the country’s need for
improvement. Sinking into pessimism shortly before his death, he admits to his good friend Don
Filipo:
“You are right; our young people think only of love affairs and pleasures; they
spend more time and effort on seducing and dishonoring a girl than on planning the
good of their country; our women are so devoted to the care of God’s house and
household that they neglect their own; our men are energetic only in the pursuit of vice
and heroic only in dishonoring themselves. Childhood awakens in meaningless routine;
youth lives its best years without an ideal; and maturity, sterile maturity, serves no other
purpose than to corrupt by its example.” (Noli, p 334)
The people despaired and turned to hatred and crime. Father Florentino clarifies this
degeneration to Simoun:
“The glory of saving a country cannot be given to one who has contributed to its
ruin. Yu believed that what crime and iniquity had stained and deformed, more crime and
more iniquity could cleanse and redeem. This was an error. Hate only creates monsters;
crime, criminals; only love can work wonders, only virtue can redeem. If our country is
someday to be free, it will not be through vice and crime, it will not be through corruption
of its sons, some deceived, others bribed; redemption presupposes virtue; virtue,
sacrifice, and sacrifice, love!” (Fili, p 295)
The Urgency of Needed Reforms
Eventually the people would rise from their lethargy, Tasio predicts. In a conversation
with Ibarra, Tasio says:
“The people do not complain because they have no voice; they do not move
because they are in a stupor; and you say that they do not suffer because you have not
seen how their hearts bleed. But someday you will see and hear! Then woe unto those
who draw their strength from ignorance and fanaticism, who take their pleasure in fraud,
and who work under cover of night, confident that all are asleep! When the light of day
reveals the monstrous creatures of the night, the reaction will be terrifying. All the forces
stifled for centuries, the poison distilled drop by drop, all repressed emotions, will come
to light in a great explosion.” (Noli, pp 157 – 158)
The same prediction is made by a ranking official who courted his own dismal cy
criticizing the Spanish administration in the islands. To the Governor General, he reasons out:
“It is because I love Spain that I am speaking now and I do not care how much it
displeases you. I do not want her to be accused in time to come of having been a
stepmother of nations, a bloodsucker of peoples, a despot over a handful of islands,
because that would be a terrible mockery of the noble purposes of our ancient kings.
How do we fulfill their sacred will and testament? They promised these islands protection
and justice and we make game of lives and liberties of their inhabitants; they promised
civilization, and we begrudge it, fearing that the natives may aspire to a full life; they
promised light, and we blindfold the natives so they may not witness our excesses; they
promised to teach virtue, and we foment vice: and instead of peace, prosperity and
justice, there is distress; commerce withers away and the masses lose their faith. Let us
put ourselves in the place of the Filipinos and ask ourselves what we would do. Ah, in
your silence, I read their right to rebel and, if things do not get better, someday they will
rebel, and in truth, justice will be on their side as well as the sympathies of all honest
men, of all the patriots of the world.” (Fili, pp 250 – 251)
All this agitation points to the urgency for immediate social and political reforms. Through
the delineation of characters, Rizal expounded on what he expected from Spain and he aroused
a moral sensitiveness in his beloved people.
Immediate reform, Rizal said, would have to start from the Spaniards. The colonial
philosophy would have to be redefined, as Father Fernandez suggested to Father Syvila:
“I say, then, why not take this opportunity, when they are still ignorant, to change
our policies completely, to place those policies on a solid and permanent foundation,
say, that of justice, instead of ignorance? There is nothing like being fair; I have always
told my brethren that, although they do not want to believe me. The natives, like any
young people, idolize justice; they even ask to be punished when they are at fault, but by
the same token they are exasperated by being punished when they do not deserve it. Is
what they want reasonable and fair? Then let us give it to them; let us give them all the
schools they want, they will soon tire of them, youth is lazy, and only our opposition
makes them active. The bonds of prestige, Father Sybila, are very much worn out; let us
make ready other bonds, say, the bonds of gratitude.” (Fili, p 83)
The old Dominican superior concurred, admitting urgency for change:
“Attacks wake us up; we discover our weaknesses, and we can improve
ourselves. Exaggerated praises only fool us, lull us to sleep, while making us ridiculous,
then we shall fall as we fell in Europe.” (Noli, p 50)
Speaking for the masses, Elias pleads that the Spaniards institute “radical reforms in the
armed forces, in the clergy, in the administration of justice, that is to say, a more paternal
approach from the Government.” (Noli, p 307)
When Ibarra asks, “Reforms? In what sense?” Elias answers: “For example, more
respect for human dignity, greater security for the individual, less strength in the armed forces,
less privileges for an organization which so easily abuses them.” (Noli, p 307)
Elias asks for the abolition of the guardia civil. But this cannot be done since the
government needed “a body of men with that unlimited power and authority which it needs to
make itself respected,” then
“we should consider well to whom we give such unlimited power placed in human
hands of ignorant and willful men, without moral training, without proven honesty, is a
weapon placed in the hands of a madman let loose in an unarmed crowd. I admit, and I
want to believe like you [Ibarra], that the Government needs this strong right arm, but it
should choose it well from among the most worthy, and since it prefers to confer
authority on itself rather than receive it from the people, let it at least show that it knows
how to do so.” (Noli, p 311)
Elias also proposed reforms in the administration of justice. Much change was
necessary about a system that upheld rental for untitled lands and arbitrary increase of rent
accompanied by the threat of expulsion if the tenant did not comply with the landlord’s
demands. This was a system that encouraged the inordinate corruption of court officials and
showed partiality in the settlement of cases. The tragic families of Elias and Cabesang Tales
and Sisa were such victims.
Regarding the state of the religious orders, Elias claims that the people do not ask for
their removal “but only for the reforms required by new circumstances and necessities.” (Noli, p
313) Let the friars pay more attention to their religious mission of teaching the True Faith rather
than encouraging superstition and fanaticism by giving greater importance to mundane
practices. Let them stop enriching themselves at the people’s expense.
The friars should also attend to their obligation “of constantly improving the young
morally and physically, of guiding them to happiness, of creating an honest, prosperous,
intelligent, virtuous, noble and loyal people,” instead of obstructing education, Isagani
admonishes. (Fili, p 218)
There was need for the government to institute reforms in the faulty educational system.
Assigning the educational system to the friars was a blunder:
“When it is a matter of giving a whole people moral sustenance, a matter of
nourishing the youth, a people’s best part, destined to be the whole, the Government not
only does not call for competitive tenders but awards the power precisely to that
organization which presides itself in not wanting education or any form of progress.” (Fili,
p 219)
The government might start by directly assuming the administration and supervision of
the schools, Isagani suggests. It also should redefine the educational goals. What was
necessary was the training of worthy professionals as lawyers and physicians.
There was need for qualified teachers, effective methods of instruction, an enriched
curriculum, adequate educational facilities, and encouragement of students. As Isagani pointed
out to Father Fernandez, “When we have real professors, you shall have real student.” (Fili, p
224)
The schoolmaster in San Diego valued his students and initiated innovations:
“Since it is necessary to have an outward and an inward calm, a serenity in the
spirit, a material and moral tranquility and receptivity for the brain to receive the ideas, I
believe that, before everything else, I should inspire in the children confidence, a sense
of security, and self-respect. Also, I realized that the sight of daily floggings killed the
sense of pity, and stifled that of personal dignity, which moves the world; and with it the
sense of shame, which once lost is difficult to recover. I tried to make study pleasant and
good-humored; I wanted to make the primer not a black book bathed in the tears of
childhood, but a friendly guide to marvelous secrets; I wanted to make the school not a
torture chamber but a playground of the mind. So I cut down floggings gradually; I took
the rod and the whip home and replaced them with the spurs of competition and selfesteem. If a child did not learn his lesson, I blamed it on his lack of effort, never on his
lack of brains. I made the children believe that they had more talent than they had, and
by trying to live up to it they were compelled to study, just as self-confidence leads to
heroism. Any child who was praised before the whole class studied twice as much the
next day.” (Noli, pp 99 – 100)
The town council could include the school in their annual program of projects:
“A fifth part of the money raised could be utilized to award prizes: for instance, to
the best herdsman, farmer, fisherman, and so on. We can organize boat races on the
river and the lake, run horse races, put up greased poles, and hold other games in which
the country folk can join … With the remainder of the money we can begin a small
building to serve as a school, for we should not expect God Himself to come down and
build it for us.” (Noli, p 112)
Such encouragement could lead to something laudable, spiritual, intellectual freedom
and renewal, according to a priest martyr:
“Do not forget that if wisdom is the patrimony of all men, only those of good heart
can inherit it; I have tried to transmit to you what I in turn received from my teachers,
adding to that legacy as much as I was able in handing it on to the next generation. You
must go to countries that are very rich. They come here seeking gold; you go to their
countries in search of the treasures that we lack. But remember all that glitters is not
gold.” (Noli, p 46)
Perceptive Spaniards like Father Fernandez realized the necessity for reforms: first, by
changing the attitude towards the natives and then advocating the much-needed changes for
the advancement and eventual freedom of the masses.
Rizal implies that the natives, on the other hand, should prove that they are worthy of the
reforms. “Money and good-will are not enough,” Tasio stresses to Ibarra, “in our country
abnegation, tenacity, and faith are also required; the field is not for sowing, it is full of weeds.”
(Noli, p 160) They should understand that reform measures would contribute to the common
good and that a sense of social consciousness would prepare them for freedom and happiness.
Circumspection would eradicate corruption:
“The reforms which come from above are annulled below by the vices of all, by,
for example, the get-rich-quick madness, and the ignorance of the people who let
everything pass. Abuses cannot be corrected by royal decrees if zealous authorities do
not watch over its execution, and while freedom of speech against the excesses of petty
tyrants is not granted.” (Tasio to Ibarra, Noli, p 158).
This preparation would start with the reorientation of the masses’ attitude towards
education. The masses should be taught that education is not only for a few but for all.
“Freedom is to man what education is in the mind,” says Isagani. (Fili, p 220)
Basilio had envisioned this freedom even as a little boy when he declared to his mother
Sisa:
“I’m not going to work for the friars anymore . . . I’m going to be a herdsman
instead, I’ll take very good care of the herds, and so I’ll make the owner like me . . . I’ll
pick fruits in the forest . .. I’ll lay traps and snares to catch birds and wild goats, I’ll fish in
the river, and when I’m bigger I’ll go hunting. I could also cut firewood . . . Meantime I’ll
be my own master . .. And since old Tasio says Crispin is very clever, we’ll send him to
Manila to study; I’ll support him by working.” (Noli, p 87)
Building up agricultural manpower was a means to self-reliance, as Isagani says:
“I see nothing wrong in training these farmers and peasants, in giving them at
least the skills that will enable them to improve themselves and to improve their work,
that will allow them to understand many things which now they do not.” (Fili, p 120)
The enlightened natives would then eradicate superstition, develop a cultured sense of
values, improve their economic lives, make their homes comfortable, and consequently, enjoy
the true happiness they deserve. They would eventually study science and bring about
technological advancement in the country. This could inspire infrastructure programs, like road
planning and development. For instance, Simoun proposed “to dig a canal, straight through from
the lake to Manila, that is to say, to make a new river channel, and close up the old Pasig. Land
will be saved, distances shortened, and mud-banks avoided.” (Fili, p 6)
The masses must develop the idea of human dignity and free themselves from the
fetters of deterioration and greed. Rizal’s belief in the integrity of the Filipinos is a renewal of
strength and an awareness that the Filipino will survive by his very endurance. This is reiterated
by Father Florentino:
“I do say that we must win our freedom by deserving it, by improving the mind
and enhancing the dignity of the individual, loving what is just, what is good, what is
great, to the point of dying for it. When a people reach these heights, God provides the
weapon, and the idols and the tyrants fall like a house of cards, and freedom shines in
the first dawn. Our misfortunes are our fault, let us blame nobody else for them. If Spain
were to see us less tolerant of tyranny and readier to fight and suffer for our rights, Spain
would be the first to give us freedom because, when the fruit of conception reaches the
time of birth, woe to the mother that tries to strangle it! But as long as the Filipino people
do not have sufficient vigor to proclaim, head held high and chest bared, their right to a
life pf their own in human society and to guarantee it with their sacrifices, with their very
blood; as long as we see our countrymen feel privately ashamed, hearing the growl of
their rebelling and protesting conscience, while in public they keep silent and even join
the oppressor in mocking the oppressed; as long as we see them wrapping themselves
up in their selfishness and praising with forced smiles the most despicable acts, begging
with their eyes for a share of the booty, why give them independence? With or without
Spain they would be the same, and perhaps, perhaps worse. What is the use of
independence if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?” (Fili, p 297)
And through Simoun, Rizal advised that the people look beyond their oppression to the
establishment of a sovereign nation. “Take the lead in forming your own individuality, try to lay
the foundations of a Filipino nation . . . and develop an independent, not colonial mentality.” (Fili,
p 51)
As long as a people keeps its own language, it keeps a pledge of liberty, just as a
man is free as long as he can think for himself. Language is a people’s way of thinking.
Fortunately, your independence is secure. Human passions watch over it.” (Fili, p 50)
These passions obliterate the individual, for it is only the nation that counts, as Elias
indicated to Basilio: “Nothing will remain of me . . . I die without seeing the sun rise on my
country. You who are to see the dawn, welcome it, and do not forget those who fell during the
night.” (Noli, p 402)
This is echoed by Father Florentino:
“Where are the youth who will dedicate their innocence, their idealism, their
enthusiasm, to the good of the country? Where are they who will give generously of their
blood to wash away so much shame, crime, and abomination? Pure and immaculate
must the victim before the sacrifice to be acceptable. Where are you, young men and
women, who are to embody in yourselves the life force that has been drained from our
veins, the pure ideals that have grown stained in our minds, the fiery enthusiasm that
has been quenched in our hearts? We await you, come for we await you!” (Fili, p 298)
Symbolism in Maria Clara and Sisa
Among the characters of Noli Me Tangere, two women, Maria Clara and Sisa, represent
the enduring sacrifices of Filipino womanhood and the nation itself.
Maria Clara, the main female character of the Noli, is portrayed by Rizal as the fruit of an
illicit love affair between the Spanish Franciscan friar, Father Damaso, and a native woman, Pia
Alba, for six years the childless wife of Capitan Tiago. Why such an origin?
In Rizal’s mind, the unhappy state of the Philippines which Maria Clara symbolizes was
the product of the exploitation of the Spanish rulers and the failure of the people. In chapter 63
of the Noli, Father Damaso sternly disapproves of the marriage of Ibarra to Maria Clara. Ibarra
symbolized the liberalism that was sweeping the Philippines as a result of stimulating influences
from European sources.
Rizal injected womanly qualities into the symbol that was Maria Clara. He molded her
into something like Leonor Rivera, his real-life sweetheart. She was the typical, although not the
ideal, Filipino woman. Thus, she is shown as a young convent-bred woman, shy and awkward
despite her innate charms. At twenty-one, she was immature and unable to form her own
convictions without the approval of her confessor or elders. She lacks the mature intellect and
industry that Rizal praised among the German women who “cared more for the substance of
things than for appearance.” Thus Maria was not Rizal’s ideal woman who would possess not
only the modesty and gentleness of Leonor Rivera but also the intellectual acumen of the
German fraulein.
The distinction between the “typical” and the “ideal” is important in understanding and
interpreting the character and symbolism of Maria Clara. As Rizal characterized her, he
exposed her weaknesses, her lack of courage, and sound judgment. At the same time, he
enfolded her in the delicate soft mist of his poetic imagination. He criticized her too, for her blind
obedience to her parents. He treated her with compassion, never with spite and hatred. He
loved her despite her shortcomings, as he loved his country.
Maria Clara was the image of the Philippines with her virtues and consistencies, a
symbol made more human by characteristics of the typical 19th-century Filipino.
Sisa is described as another symbolic character.
Sisa was still young; once she must have been pretty and charming. Her eyes,
which like her character, her sons had inherited, were beautiful, deep, and long-lashed;
her nose was well proportioned, her pale lips attractively drawn. Her complexion was
what the Tagalogs call kayumangging kaligatan, that is to say, a clear, golden brown.
Despite her youth, sorrow or perhaps hunger, had made her pale cheeks sunken; and if
her abundant hair; once her greatest glory, was still well groomed, with a so simple
chignon unadorned with pins and combs, it was not out of coquetry but habit. (Noli, p 82)
From this eloquent description, Sisa is the Philippines. Her features are beautiful but are
made uncomely by later sorrow and suffering. She represents to Motherland, as well as Rizal’s
own mother and all Filipino women.
Sisa knows her sons' characteristics intimately, even the way they walked: Basilio, with
strong sure steps; Crispin, with light irregular footfalls. She is highly sensitive, especially to slurs
against her character, as when she was referred to as the “mother of the thieves.”
She knew she was wretchedly poor, forsaken by all, even by her own husband,
but until now she had treasured her good reputation and looked with pity on the women,
scandalously dressed, who were known to the town as camp followers. Now it seemed
to her that she had fallen even lower than they in human society. (Noli, p 116)
This is the typical Filipino, submissive to all miseries, yet refusing any degradation to
honor!
She was all forgiveness, all heart, and this reaction invited further exploitation. To Sisa,
this was resignation to her fate. But when applied to a people, such an attitude may be an
acceptance of laziness and a selfish disregard for rights and duties.
Sisa in fact is both self-effacing and courageous. She could not assert her essential
ideals but she held on to her martyrdom. Perhaps this is because of acceptance for the fate of
her sons. She wanted to save them from oppression and suffer any humiliation for their sake.
The Response to the Novels. The message conveyed by the novels made Rizal
famous overnight. There was a deluge of both favorable and unfavorable response to his “eyeopeners”. Rizal’s interpretation of the political and social malaise caused the popular feeling of
animosity towards the Spaniards. The idealism and fortitude of Ibarra and Elias, the Maria Clara
type of beauty, the antiheroic friar, the meaning of the cover design—all these features were
acclaimed by his readers.
Their ambivalent message seemed to incite revolution while serving as a grave warning.
It kindled varied reactions among the readers. Within weeks of the publication and distribution of
the Noli, Rizal began receiving tributes from friends in Europe. Commendations came from such
European scholars as Doctors, Adolph B. Meyer, Friedrich Ratzel, Feodor Jagor, and Ferdinand
Bluementritt. The Filipino painter par excellence Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo wrote:
I admire your courage in saying plainly what you think and the inspiration
reflected in your work which makes one feel the palpitation of the heart of a man who
loves his country.
At Rizal’s expression that his mission had ended, Marcelo H. del Pilar retorted:
Rizal has no right yet to die. His name constitutes the purest and most
immaculate standard of sacrosanct aspirations and Plaridel and his men are no other
than mere volunteers who serve under that standard.
From other quarters, too, came words of caution and advice against the author’s return
to the Philippines where it was believed, he would be imprisoned and eventually put to death for
his brutal frankness against the ruling powers of Spain. Rizal had his own misgivings,
frustrations, and negative reactions. He grieve to Ponce:
In Madrid where I had so many friends among our countrymen, my work not only
did not find support but was not even permitted to enter, due to the neglect and strange
conduct of others, according to a friend, my only one remaining there it seems. I don’t
mind it personally; I’m sorry for what it signifies: I’m sorry because I see fading out even
our last virtue, which is our unconditional unity when it concerns the welfare of our
country. If we lose that, what will become of us be miserable in everything, what virtues
have we learned—we who came to Europe—what superiority would we have to our
other blind brothers?
In Manila, illustrious countrymen have tried to blacken my work, and I said to
myself; now that the Filipino colony of Madrid, the most patriotic, the most advanced,
behaves that way toward me, I am very sorry, because this is an implied condemnation
of my book by my countrymen, if not something worse, which would be moral
degeneration. Between the two, I would rather be sacrificed.
In the Philippines, the Spanish friars reacted to the novels with maddening anger and
alarm. The committee of Dominican Priests from the University of Santo Tomas which the
archbishop assigned to pass judgment on the Noli found it to be heretical, scandalous, and
subversive. The strongest objections were raised by the Augustinian Salvador Font, whose
report was used as the basis for Governor Terrero’s order prohibiting the circulation of the
novel, and Father Jose Rodriguez, prior of Guadalupe, who wrote a pamphlet attacking the Noli.
Simultaneously, in Madrid, Senators Jose Salamanca, Luis Ma Paredes, and Fernando Vida
lambasted the book and the author. Newsmen Vicente Barrantes and Wenceslao E. Retana
condemned the presentation of facts. The font was rebutted by Del Pilar, Rodriguez by Father
Vicente Garcia who protested:
In the words or various phrases in his book that I am going to cite, I see his faith
in God and the Christian religion that contradicts all idea of impiety and atheism.
In the Philippines, the effect of the novels on the masses was enthusiastic. Tomas
Arejola testified:
Your moral influence on us is indisputable . . . The tact and persuasiveness of a
Rizal is necessary in order that what we want to do for the common welfare of our
motherland should conform to our desires.
Alejandrino contributed ₱240 through Pedro Serrano Laktaw. Narcisa Rizal Lopez sent
₱400 “from our countrywomen, single, married, and old, who wish to send you more if they had
more money but unfortunately at this time money is scarce.” Another friend, the town druggist of
Kalamba, Mateo Elejorde, informed Rizal of how the people believed in him:
Receive thirty pesos that your friends, despite their poverty, send you. You may
use it according to your discretion… Alas! Jose! All the people here ask about you and
pin their hope on you. Even the poorest people in the mountains are asking me about
your return. It seems that they consider you the second Jesus who will liberate them
from misery… They have a thirst for news and what is happening to you. Send us the
volume of Noli if available already, and also Solidaridad, and if you have time, write us
frequently, for it is a pleasure for us to know what is happening to you there.
The few copies of the novels that cleared the Customs and reached the bookstores
were sold out. The copies changed hands rapidly, passing around in less than a month from
first-hand to third-hand at more than twice the original sale price. Even the illiterate natives were
not spared the excitement the novels generated. From the lips of those who read them, the
message was relayed, the context varying, depending on how the plot impressed the reader.
Whichever way this was, the excited retellers inflamed the intelligence of the people who
became more conscious of their plight. For the first time, the Filipinos were seeing themselves
and their problems in a truthful awareness. The people’s perception grasped the message of a
patriotic nationalism that was to become the inspiration for a future blessed with freedom and
happiness.
The ban against the books only served to arouse curiosity rather than discourage their
clandestine circulation. Some readers paid the full price for taking risks; others hesitated. With
the aplomb of the sage Tasio, Rizal resigned himself:
If the present generation does not want to read me because of fear, I shall keep
what I have written for the coming generation, but I continue and will continue working.
What are we going to do? Our countrymen are afraid to spend two or three days in
prison for the sake of enlightenment; perhaps the coming generation may be more
daring. Let us hope.
In due course, a copy of the Fili came into hands of Andres Bonifacio who interpreted
the message as a call to armed uprising. The rest is history and a fight for emancipation.
Rizal had feared that his novels would not be read by his people. But he wrote Ponce
that the Noli had been written for the Filipinos and that it was necessary that they read it. In his
reply to Barrantes, Rizal had explained why: “I ask for reforms so that the little good that there is
may be saved and the bad may be redeemed.” Hence, he determined to learn French
sufficiency to translate his novels for a Gallic audience which, he felt, would be more receptive
to his ideas than his own people. But these fears were allayed. Antonio Ma Regidor predicted:
Every Filipino patriot will read your book with avidity and upon discovering in
every line a voracious idea and every word fitting advice, he will be inspired and he will
regard your book as the masterpiece of a Filipino and the proof that those who thought
us incapable of producing intellects are mistaken or are lying.
Praises are reiterated by Ponce:
Your work continues to arouse enthusiasm among our countrymen, with very few
exceptions—exceptions which I cannot understand nor explain, considering that it is an
eminently patriotic work in which you have staked your name, exposing yourself to the
vultures of clericalism, just to prescribe some remedy to the infinite maladies of which
our mother country is complaining. Those who criticize such acts of self-denial and
sacrifice deserve eternal condemnation in the history of our motherland.
You are right in saying that we should be solidly united to ward off all the evils in
our beloved country. Let us work together, every one of us within his own sphere, toward
the same end. Let us have faith.
Ferdinand Bluementritt defined the role of Rizal in his country’s future.
You can become for your people one of those great men who will exert a definite
influence on their spiritual development.
The novels were widely circulated in his time, they survived the Spanish era, and they
have come to be adopted by the Filipinos as the living gospels of Philippine nationalism. They
have been translated into several foreign languages and native dialects, thereby reaching a
greater audience than Rizal ever anticipated. They have been interpreted in play, recorded for
prosperity in motion pictures, and scripted for sophisticated opera.
The readership and acclaim of the novels is much more extensive today. The readers
are also more discerning. They have perceived the novels as a renewal of mind and spirit.
Critics have debated the social and political influence of the novels, as well as their intellectual
and literary merits.
Rizal’s message is heeded by a grateful Filipino people in a paramount concerted effort
towards progress and self-reliance. Tasio and Isagani's dreams have finally become the reality
of 40 million eager Filipinos.
Activity 3: Lecture-Discussion
Instruction: A discussion on the major themes, plot, characters, and ideas in the novels and
your active participation is highly encouraged.
APPLICATION:
Activity 4 Matrix
:
Instruction: After reading the synopsis of the novel, complete the table below to describe
the setting and aspect of the society in the novel. (None-graded)
Setting
The town of San Diego
The house of Capitan Tiago
The townspeople
The Church and the friars
Manila
Pasig River
Description
Complete the table below by identifying the major characters in Noli Me Tangere that
symbolize colonial Philippine society. Give at least 5 characters. (None-graded)
Character
Symbolism
ASSESSMENT
Activity 5: Presentation
ASSIGNMENT:
Activity 6: Readings
Instruction: Read and study the selected poems of Jose Rizal:





Sa Aking Mga Kabata
A la Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth)
Through Education Our Motherland Receives Light
Hymn To Labor
Mi Ultimo Adios
REFERENCES
Agustin, K. (n.d.). Synopsis of noli me tangere.
Scribd. https://www.scribd.com/doc/81050121/Synopsis-of-Noli-Me-Tangere
Crudo, E. P., Guiwa, H. C., & Pawilen, R. M. (2019). A Course Module for The Life, Works, and
Writings of Jose Rizal. Manila: Rex Book Store (1st ed.). Rex Bookstore.
Galingan, R. (n.d.). Synopsis of el Fili.
Scribd. https://www.scribd.com/presentation/333795347/Synopsis-of-El-Fili
Obias, R.W., Mallari, A.A., Estella, J.R. (2018). The Life and Works of Rizal. Quezon City.C &E
Publishing, Inc.
Romero, M. C., Romana, J. R., & Santos, L. Y. (1978). Rizal and the development of national
consciousness: A textbook for the course on Rizal's life, works and writings.
(n.d.). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj5IFlzTYQ&list=PLiyC3ODSVCwzpJptbyvet_AMCnMaCpd0q