Lesson 3.

5 Rizal’s Search for Origins:

Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas and La
Indolencia.

Lesson Summary
This lesson will tackle some event of Rizal’s search for origins: Sucesos De Las Islas Filipinas
and La Indolencia.

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this lesson, the learner is expected to:
a. Summarize how Rizal portrayed the pre-colonial past of Philippines.
b.Analyze the reasons for his portrayal of the pre-colonial past of Philippines.
c. Defend Rizal’s view on what are the causes and solutions to indolence.

Motivation Question
1. Why was Jose Rizal so reactive on Morga’s portrayal of the pre-Hispanic Filipinos?
2. How did Rizal describe the indolence of the Filipinos?
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas is a book written and published by Antonio de Morga
considered as one of the most important works on the early history of the Spanish colonization
of the Philippines.It was published in 1609 after he was reassigned to Mexico in two volumes by
Casa de GeronymoBalli, in Mexico City.
An account of the history of the Spanish colony in the Philippines. Antonio de Morga was
an official of the colonial bureaucracy in Manila and could consequently draw upon much
material that would otherwise have been inaccessible. His book, published in 1609, ranges
more widely than its title suggests since the Spanish were also active in China, Japan,
Southeast Asia, Taiwan, the Moluccas, Marianas. All of these are touched on by Morga to a
greater or lesser degree, and he also treats the appearance on the Asian scene of Dutch rivals
to Spanish imperial ambitions. In addition to the central chapters dealing with the history of the
Spaniards in the colony, Morga devoted a long final chapter to the study of Philippine customs,
manners and religions in the early years of the Spanish conquest. From the first edition, Mexico,
1609.
The importance of Rizal's annotations to Morga was' that he tried to use history and
historical revision, not just to express his personal views on the historiography, but to create a
sense of national consciousness or identity. Historical revision is always met with varying
degrees of opposition, and Rizal's first attempt at writing Philippine history was, exception. That
the Spaniards would object, and Rizal was prepared for this. When the Morga officially banned
in the Philippines, Rizal was not surprised. However, the first criticism of Rizal's historical work
was not by a Spaniard or by one of Rizal's enemies, but by Blumentritt in the introduction to the
book. Often overlooked, this introduction contains observations which are hidden under a
mountain of praise. Blumentritt noted, for example, that Rizal's "observations on the conduct of
the European conquerors and civilizers are in general not new to the historian. The Germans
specially discussed this theme" (Rizal 1890, introduction). Then he cites two defects of Rizal's
scholarship which have been condemned, and rightly so, by later historians. This should not be
so. The historian should not impute to the men of the sixteenth century the broad horizon of
ideas that moves the nineteenth century. The second point with which I do not agree is against
Catholicism. I believe that you cannot find the origin of numerous events -table for Spain and for
the good name of the European race in religion, but in the hard behavior and abuses of many
priests
Rizal was anearnest seeker of truthand this marked him ashistorian
•His theory was that the country was economically self-sufficient and prosperous. Entertained
the idea that it had a lively and vigorous community

•He believed the conquest of the Spaniards contributed in part to the decline of the Philippine’s
rich traditions and culture.

He then decided to undertake the annotation of Antonio de Morga’sSucesos De Las Islas Filipinas.

•His personal friendship with Ferdinand Blumentritt provided the inspiration for doing a new
editionofMorga’sSucesos.

Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos

Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos is a socio-political essay published in La solidaridad in Madrid in
1890. It was written by José Rizal as a response to the accusation of Indio or Malay indolence
The Summary of Sobre La Indolencia
Rizal acknowledges the prior work and admits that indolence does exist among the
Filipinos, but it cannot be attributed to the troubles and backwardness of the country; rather it is
the effect of the backwardness and troubles experienced by the country. Past writings on
indolence revolve only on either denying or affirming, and never studying its causes in depth.
One must study the causes of indolence, Rizal says, before curing it. He therefore enumerates
the causes of indolence and elaborates on the circumstances that have led to it. The hot
climate, he points out, is a reasonable predisposition for indolence. Filipinos cannot be
compared to Europeans, who live in cold countries and who must exert much more effort at
work. An hour's work under the Philippine sun, he says, is equivalent to a day's work in
temperate Rizal says that an illness will worsen if the wrong treatment is given. The same
applies to indolence. People, however, should not lose hope in fighting indolence. Even before
the Spaniards arrived, Rizal argues, the early Filipinos were already carrying out trade within
provinces and with other neighboring countries; they were also engaged in agriculture and
mining; some natives even spoke Spanish. All this disproves the notion that Filipinos are by
nature indolent. Rizal ends by asking what then would have caused Filipinos to forget their past.
Spain did not protect the people against foreign invaders and pirates, with no arms to
defend themselves. The natives were killed, their houses burned, and their lands destroyed.
Meanwhile, natives who have had enough of abuse have gone to the mountains. As a result,
the farms have been neglected. The so-called indolence of Filipinos definitely has deeply rooted
causes.
According to Rizal, all the causes of indolence can be reduced to two factors. The first
factor is the limited training and education Filipino natives receive. Segregated from Spaniards,
Filipinos do not receive the same opportunities that are available to the foreigners. They are
taught to be inferior. The second factor is the lack of a national sentiment of unity among them.
Because Filipinos think they are inferior, they submit to the foreign culture and do everything to
imitate it. The solution, according to Rizal, would be education and liberty.
When it comes to education, was being taught in the school were repetitive prayers and
other things that could not used by the students to lead the country to progress.
Rizal admitted that the Filipinos did not work so hard because they were wise enough to
adjust themselves to the warm, tropical climate.
It is important to note that indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a
hereditary one. Another thing that we might add that had caused this indolence, is the lack of
unity among Filipino people. It can clearly be deduced from the writing that the cause of the
indolence attributed to our race is Spain. When the Filipino people wanted to study and learn,
there were no schools, and if there were any, they lacked sufficient resources and did not
present more useful knowledge. If the Philippines wanted to established businesses, there
wasn’t enough capital nor lack of protection from the government.
Learning Task/Activity (Content Analysis)
1. What was the reason why Rizal annotated Morga’sSucesos de las Islas Filipinas?
2. What is the importance of Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas?
3. What did Rizal emphasize in annotating the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas?
This activity will enhance the student’s ability to analyze qualitative data based on the texts.
Content analysis is a tool to do research. This will help the students to look directly at the
communication via texts or transcripts.

ASSESSMENT
A. Answer the following questions in your own words or ideas.
1. Why did Rizal wrote the Indolence of the Filipino?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________.
2. Which is the message of Rizals La Indolencia de Filipino?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________.

Assessment
A. Read and understand the following statements below. Write T if the statement is
correct and F if the statement is incorrect in the space provided.
_____ 1. Seiko Usui was able to communicate with Rizal because she knows how to speak
tagalong.
_____ 2. On his way to Europe, he met a Japanese freedom fighter TetchoSuehiro
_____ 3. According to Rizal, the quarantine of their ship in America, particularly to the Chinese
immigrants, was politically motivated.
_____ 4. In Macao, Rizal stayed at the house of Don Juan Francisco Lecaros, who is married to
a Portuguese woman
_____ 5. Rizal described the Japanese as industrious and courteous people.
_____ 6. Rizal was impressed with China’s material progress as shown on its progressive cities.
_____ 7. Aside from visiting beautiful scenery and observing its people, he also studied the
Japanese language
_____ 8. Rizal arrived in Japan on board of the steamer ship Oceanic.
_____ 9. O-Sei-San was the Japanese woman with whom Rizal had a short-lived romance in
America.
Instructions
nstructions on how to submit student output
For type-written documents,, write the answers only on an 8.5”x11” bond paper 1inch margins
all sides, single line spacing, with
th a font style of Times New Roman at size 12. The student
should write their name, class schedule, subject, course instructor, and lesson number as the
header of the document. The student output should be placed in an envelope and sealed
properly.
For hand-writtern documents,, you still have to follow the same parameters above for the
paper size, margins, and header. Make sure that your penmanship are legible and just have the
right size.
For offline submissions,, you may send the hardcopy of the document sealed in a brown
envelope with your name, student number, subject, class schedule, and the name of your
course instructor. Send your documents to the Department of Liberal Arts and Behavioral
Sciences, Visayas State University, Baybay City, Leyte, 6521-A.
6521
For online submissions,, you send the document (in .pdf format) to the email address of your
instructor.
The student should write their name and class schedule as a header. He/ She may send the
document to [email protected]