SOCIAL FILIPINO THINKERS

At the end of the lesson the learners are able to examine the social ideas of Filipino thinkers starting
from Isabelo de los Reyes, Jose Rizal, and other Filipino intellectuals.

Social thinkers are individuals in society who can be regarded as forefronts and visionaries toward
the improvement of society in a particular time. They can also be regarded as great individuals who
have contributed significantly to development of political and social thoughts and philosophy. They
also provided significant contributions to the advancement of the disciplines of the social sciences. In
the Philippines, there are a number of Filipino social thinkers who contributed toward the
advancement and enrichment of social and political thoughts.

JOSE RIZAL

Jose Rizal, the Filipino national hero, can be considered as one of the greatest Filipino social
thinkers during the nineteenth century. Syed Farid Alatas (2010) considers Rizal as the first
systematic social thinker in Southeast Asia because his writings can be used as basis of sociological
theories and concepts.

Born in Calamba, Laguna on June 19, 1861, Jose Mercado Rizal finished Bachelor en arte at
Ateneo Municipal de Manila. He enrolled in Medicine at Universidad de Santo Tomas and left for
Spain in May 1882 to finish his medicine studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid. Rizal wrote
articles to the propaganda publication, the La Solidaridad. His most outstanding writings in the La
Solidaridad included “Filipinas dentro de cien anos” or “The Philippines: A Century Hence” which
was published from September 30, 1889—February 1, 1890 and “Sobre la indolencia de los
Filipinos” or “The Indolence of the Filipinos” which came out in the La Solidaridad in 1890

Rizal’s social ideas focused on the necessity to promote a genuine propaganda campaign that will
provide information about the Philippines and their people, their capabilities and achievements,
aspirations and moral rights. These social ideas were consistently discussed by Rizal in his two
novels, namely, the Noli Me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891), and in his Annotation of
Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1890).

Rizal’s works explained the nature and conditions of Filipino colonial society during the Spanish
period. He also provided alternative ways and requirements so that Filipinos can seek liberation from
the yoke of colonial rule. According to Alatas (2010), Rizal’s works introduced three broad
sociological aspects that included the following:

1. A critique of colonial knowledge of the Philippines

2. A theory of colonial society that explains the nature and conditions of Filipino colonial society
3. Rizal’s discourse on the meaning of and requirements for emancipation

Rizal criticized the corrupt system of the Spanish colonial government including its abusive officials.
He blamed the backwardness of the Philippines and its lack of development as the main cause of
the indolence of its people. In his essay, “The Indolence of the Filipinos,” Rizal discussed how the
Filipinos, from being an advanced society before the sixteenth century became a backward country
during the Spanish period. He attributed the lack of progress and backwardness of the Philippines to
Spanish colonialism. Rizal also criticized the colonial knowledge of the Filipinos by looking into the
country’s history to address the Spanish accusations of Filipino indolence. Rizal asserts that prior to
the coming of the Spaniards, the early Filipinos were persevering and industrious people who have
developed a prosperous and vibrant economy and rich culture.

As a product of the nineteenth-century liberal traditions, Jose Rizal was also aware of the
Orientalist scholarship that flourished in Europe. This was evident in Rizal’s Annotation of Antonio de
Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas or Historical Events of the Philippine Islands. In his annotation
of Morga’s work, Rizal made significant clarifications from the original work of Morga. His annotation
corrected what Rizal believed to be as untruthful reports and insulting statements written in most of
the Spanish accounts about the Philippines. His annotation of Morga’s work also emphasized the
precolonial history of the Filipinos that was deleted from the memory of the Filipinos due to Spanish
colonialism. For Rizal, the existing historical sources about the Philippines were mostly incorrect,
prejudicial, unscientific, baseless, and irrational.

Rizal’s writings also proved a number of things about Philippine social realities during the
nineteenth century. First, he proved that the Filipinos made significant advancements in agriculture
and industry during the pre-colonial times. Second, he discussed the colonized people’s point of
view on various issues such as the lack of progress in the Philippines and the imposition of
Spanish colonial policies. Third, Rizal examined the cruelties committed by the Spanish colonizers.
And lastly, Rizal criticized the hypocrisies and irrationalities of the Spanish colonial government and
the Catholic Church (Alatas, 2010).

Rizal was also an advocate of human rights, particularly on women’s rights in

Philippine colonial society. In his “Letter to the Young Women of Malolos” (1889), Rizal provided a
number of important ideas on the rights of women and gender issues in the Philippines during the
nineteenth century.

1. Filipinos must be educated.

2. Filipino women must be courageous, strong-willed, and educated.
3. Tyranny happens if people remain coward and negligent.
4. Ignorance is tantamount to servitude.
5. A person who loves his independence must first aid his fellowmen.
6. If Filipino women will remain ignorant, complacent, weak, and passive, they should not bear
children.
7. All men are born equal, naked, and without bonds, because God did not create man to be a
slave nor did He provide him with intelligence just to deceive him. God did not give man
reason to have him deceived by others.
8. Rizal also examined the nature of Catholicism in the Philippines during the Spanish period.
Rizal said that Filipinos should examine the kind of religion the friars are teaching them. They
should, according to Rizal, “see whether it is the will of God or according to the teachings of
Christ that the poor be succored and those who suffer alleviated.” Rizal advised them to
consider what the friars were preaching to them. They must examine the “object of the
sermon, what is behind the masses, novenas, rosaries, scapularies, images, miracles,
candles, belts…”
9.

10.ANDRES BONIFACIO
11.Andres Bonifacio is regarded as the Father of the Philippine Revolution against
Spain. He also is known as the Father of the Katipunan, a secret revolutionary
society he founded in 1892 and whose goal was to win Philippine independence
from Spain by means of a revolution.

Bonifacio was born in Tondo, Manila on November 30, 1863. He came from a
poor background. His father was a tailor. He was the oldest of 6 children. His
parents died when he was only 14 years old and he had to stop school to help
support his siblings.

Andres was an avid reader and he read all of Rizal’s writings as well as the Bible
and the History of the French Revolution. His leadership abilities enabled him to
rally a big following as he prepared to strike against the Spanish authorities.
However, before his group could attack, they were discovered by the parish
priest in Tondo who reported them to the Spanish authorities.

Luckily, Bonifacio and his men were able to escape to the hills of Balintawak.
There, on August 26, 1896, Bonifacio and his men raised their rifles and sabers
crying out, "Long live the Katipunan! Long live Philippine Independence!"
Forthwith, they tore their cedulas (identification papers)
shouting, "Kalayaan!" (freedom). This event became known as the "Cry of
Balintawak" and is commemorated every year on August 26 at the foot of the
monument erected in honor of Bonifacio and his followers.

The revolution against Spain rapidly spread throughout the country. However,
the poorly armed and ill-equipped Filipinos were no match to the Spanish army.
To make matters worse for Bonifacio, a young revolutionary in the province of
Cavite named Emilio Aguinaldo emerged, resulting in a rivalry for leadership. As
a result, the group split into two factions, the Magdalo under Aguinaldo and
the Magdiwang under Bonifacio. A violent confrontation between the two groups
ensued and on May 10, 1897, Bonifacio and his brother were killed by
Aguinaldo’s men.

APOLINARIO MABINI

Apolinario Mabini was born on July 23, 1864 in Talaga, Tanuan, Batangas. His parents are
Inocencio Leon Mabini and Dionisia Magpantay Maranan. He studied at the Dominican school of
San Juan de Letran and finished law at the University of Santo Tomas in 1894. He served as the first
prime minister and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the First Philippine Republic from January 2, 1899
to May 8, 1899. He also was appointed as the President of the Supreme Court. Mabini acted as the
chief adviser of President Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898. His influence was evident in the proclamation
changing the form of government of the Philippines from being a Dictatorial Government to a
Revolutionary Government. He also provided a simple structure of government for the Philippines
during the Second Phase of the Philippine Revolution. He was the most constant defender of the
Revolution and of Philippine independence. He was also considered as the brain and conscience of
the revolution. 

Mabini introduced several social philosophies in his political writings. His major works included “El
Verdadero Decalogo,” “Ordenanzas de la Revolucion” and the “Programa constitutional de la
republica Filipina.” As a defender of the Philippine independence, Mabini can be considered as one
of the brilliant Filipino social thinkers. His social philosophy included the following:

1. Definition and Role of Citizenship

Like the national hero Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini understood the problems of the Filipinos under
the Spanish colonial government. In his article entitled “Mabini: Philospher of Citizenship,” Randy
David believes that Mabini wanted Filipinos to assert their rights as free citizens of a republic. In the
attainment of their objective, Mabini saw the need for political freedom geared toward the
establishment of self-government institutions. 

2. The Need for Radical Changes

According to Mabini, genuine social renewal can only be achieved through radical institutional and
personal changes. Personal change meant an alteration of the way of Filipinos think and live. Mabini
believes that an “internal and external revolution” was necessary in order to “establish a more solid
basis for moral education and to foreswear the vices that we have inherited from the Spaniards.”
(David, 2015) 

3. Concept of Man and Society

In his prize-winning biography of Apolinario Mabini, Cesar Adid Majul wrote about Mabini’s concept
of man and society. Mabini, according to Majul, calls man as a creation of God who possesses
certain inalienable rights called natural rights. Man, Mabini asserts, “had the right to seek those
means necessary to maintain and perpetuate his life.” Men are by nature good and just and have the
capacity to unfold his goodness and sense of justice to others. In this context, freedom can only be
understood as doing what is good, just and reasonable. He said that true liberty is only for what is
good and never for what is evil; it is always in accordance with reason and the upright and honest
conscience of the individual.” According to Majul, Mabini defined society as “an organization
instituted for mutual help, so that each could enjoy the highest possible well-being; a situation that
can never be arrived at by the sole efforts of an individual without the aid of others” (Majul, 2004,
p.197) 

4. Role of Government
Authority in society constitutes the government. According to Majul, Mabini believes that society
“should have a soul: authority. This authority need an intellect to guide and direct it: the legislative
power. It also needs a will that is active and which shall make it work: the executive. It needs a will
that is active and which punishes those who are bad: the judicial power. These powers should be
independent of one another, in the sense that one should not encroach upon the functions of the
other; but the last should be subordinate to the first; in the same manner that both will and
conscience are subordinate to the intellect” (Majul, 2004, p. 199). Mabini believes that all divisions of
the government were responsible to the people. Disruption of harmony happens when there is
usurpation of one branch of the government by another branch. This brings about chaos in the body
politic (Majul, 2004, p. 199). Mabini asserts that government must guarantee to the citizens “the
highest degree of personal security, the greatest number of rights, the maximum satisfaction of
economic wants, and the best possible education.” In turn, Mabini states that citizens must be “law-
abiding, obedient to authority, virtuous, and eminently patriotic” (Majul, 2004, p. 200).

5. The True Decalogue

Mabini developed a decalogue that is made up of truths communicated by God to men through the
use of reason. The Decalogue of Mabini focused on God, nation, independence, and the love of
neighbors. He believed that once the rules of the Decalogue were reflected upon and understood,
people will discover things which have been hidden from them by the Spaniards. Below are the main
points in Mabini’s Decalogue:

1. Love of God and one’s honor

2. Nation was to be loved as the patrimony of the race.
3. Happiness of the nation was to take precedence over that of the individual.
4. Independence was to be a major aspiration.
5. People must not recognize any person as an authority unless he had been properly elected
by them.
6. Love your neighbor not merely as a neighbor but as a fellow member of a community.
7. The True Decalogue
8.
First.  Love God and your honor over all things; God, as the source of all truth, all justice,
and all activity; your honor, the only power that obliges you to be truthful, just and
industrious.

Second.  Worship God in the form that your conscience deems most upright and fitting,
because it is through your conscience that God speaks to you, reproaching you for your
misdeeds and applauding you for your good deeds.

Third. Develop the special talents that God has given you, working and studying according
to your capabilities, never straying from the path of good and justice, in order to achieve
your own perfection, and by this means you will contribute to the progress of humanity:”
thus you will accomplish the mission that God himself has given you in this life, and
achieving this, you will have honor, and having honor, you will be glorifying God.

Fourth.  Love your country after God and your honor, and more than you love yourself,
because your country is the only paradise that God has given you in this life;  the only
patrimony of your race;  the only inheritance from your ancestors; and the only future of
your descendants:  because of your country you have life, love and interests;  happiness,
honor and God.

Fifth.  Strive for the happiness of your country before your own, making her the reigning
influence for reason, justice and work;  if your country is happy, you and your family will
also be happy.

Sixth.  Strive for the independence of your country, because you alone can have a real
interest in her aggrandizement and ennoblement, since her independence will mean your
own freedom, her aggrandizement your own perfection, and her ennoblement your own
glory and immortality.

Seventh.  In your country, do not recognize the authority of any person who has not been
elected by you and your compatriots, because all authority comes from God, and as God
speaks to the conscience of each individual, the person chosen and proclaimed by the
consciences of all the individuals of a whole town is the only one that can exercise real
authority.

Eighth. Strive that your country be constituted as a republic, and never as a monarchy:  a

monarchy empowers one or several families and lays the foundation for a dynasty; a
republic ennobles and dignifies a country based on reason, it is great because of its freedom,
and is made prosperous  and brilliant by dint of work.

Ninth.  Love your neighbor as you love yourself, because God has imposed on him and on
you the obligation to help one another, and has dictated that he does not do unto you what
he does not want you to do unto him;  but if your neighbor is remiss in this sacred duty and
makes an attempt on your life, your freedom and your properties, then you should destroy
him and crush him, because the supreme law of self preservation must prevail.

Tenth.  Always look on your countryman as more than a neighbor:  you will find in him a
friend, a brother and at least the companion to whom you are tied by only one destiny, by
the same happiness and sorrows, and by the same aspirations and interests.

Because of this, while the borders of the nations established and preserved by the egoism of
race and of family remain standing, you must remain united to your country in perfect
solidarity of views and interests in order to gain strength, not only to combat the common
enemy, but also to achieve all the objectives of human life. (Mabini, 1941, 103-105)
 

EMILIO JACINTO

ISABELO DE LOS REYES

Isabelo de los Reyes was born on July 7, 1864 in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. In June 1880, he went to Manila
to study at the San Juan de Letran College where he finished his Bachelor of Arts degree. He
studied law at the University of Santo Tomas. De los Reyes founded the first vernacular newspaper
in the Philippines, El llocano where he acted as both the editor and publisher of the newspaper. He
also wrote a number of researches on Philippine history and culture. It included Las Islas Visayas en
la Epoca de la Conquista (1887 and1889); La Expedicion de Li-Mahong contra Filipinas en 1574
(1888); Prehistoria de Filipinas (1889); El Folklore Filipino (1889); and Historia de llocos (1890). Like
Rizal, de los Reyes also criticized the friars’ ownership of large tracts of haciendas and demanded
for agrarian reform for the Filipino farmers.

During the American occupation of the Philippines, de los Reyes openly attacked the Americans and
defended the First Philippine Republic that was established by Emilio Aguinaldo in January 1899. He
was the founder and editor of two periodicals in Madrid, Spain namely, El Defensor de Filipinas and
Filipinas Ante Europa. He also wrote two books in Spain. These are lndependencia y Revolucion
and La Religion de Katipunan. The former called on Filipinos to continue the war against the United
States while the latter explained the KKK’s organization and teachings.

De los Reyes was known in Philippine history for organizing the first labor union in the Philippines ,
the Union Obrera Democratica on February 2, 1902. De los Reyes was named president while
Hermenegildo Cruz served as secretary of the Union. He also founded the La Redencion del Obrero
(The Redemption of the laborer), the first labor newspaper in the Philippines which rallied for the
rights of the ordinary laborers. As the first president of the Union, de los Reyes also initiated the
celebration of the first Labor Day on May 1, 1902. De los Reyes’s inspiration to establish a labor
union in the Philippines was based from his readings of the works of European thinkers namely, Karl
Marx, Friedrich Engels, Victor Hugo, Pierre Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, and other European
socialists. Their works inspired delos Reyes to introduce the concept of socialism into the
Philippines.