Module 2 Midterm Module

MODULE 2: APPRAISAL OF SELECTED POEMS AND

ARTICLES OF RIZAL

POETRY

LESSON 1
 TO MY FELLOW CHILDREN
LEARNING OUTCOME:
Write an essay on the celebration of “Linggo ng Wika “
DISCUSSION:
In 1869 when Rizal was 8 years old , he wrote a poem in tagalog. “Sa Aking
Mga Kababata” It was written before he went to Binan to begin his formal schooling
under Maestro Justiniano Cruz. It pointed out the nationalistic significance of the
mother tongue in the life of our people . It is the language we learned since birth and
it gave us a sense of identity. Language could not only be our way to communicate
but it also served as the reflection of our culture. Rizal also highlighted on this poem
that all languages were equal in terms of its significance and usage. Filipino language
like other languages had its own alphabet and words. The values and attitude that
still valid and usable today is we should be more proud of our nationality and identity,
and by enriching our language we could show our sense of pride as Filipinos as Rizal
said :
.
Whenever people of a country truly love
The language which by heav'n they were taught to use
That country also surely liberty pursue
As does the bird which soars to freer space above.
Rizal scorn those who refuse to learn their native language when he said :
Whoever knows not how to love his native tongue
Is worse than any best or evil smelling fish.
He expressed his wish that the native tongue should be cherish and enriched :
To make our language richer ought to be our wish
The same as any mother loves to feed her young
Apparently Rizal at an early age already felt that some of his countrymen have
developed a colonial mentality to the prejudice of our native language. Beside
1
praising nationalism, liberty and freedom, he advocated racial equality. This was an
attitude he showed later in his vision of one world . He aptly pointed out the equality
of our language to Latin, and Spanish because God gave it to us . Our Language like
others have alphabets which, however were lost when destroyed by invaders in the
earlier years:
Tagalog and the Latin language are the same

And English and Castilian and the angels' tongue;
And God, whose watchful care o'er all is flung,
Has given us His blessing in the speech we claim,
Our mother tongue, like all the highest that we know

Had alphabet and letters of its very own;
But these were lost -- by furious waves were overthrown
Like bancas in the stormy sea, long years ago.
Below is the full text of “To My Fellow Children” for you to read and as reference.
To My Fellow Children
by Dr. José Rizal
(English version of “Sa Aking mga Kababata”)
Whenever people of a country truly love

The language which by heav'n they were taught to use
That country also surely liberty pursue
As does the bird which soars to freer space above.
For language is the final judge and referee

Upon the people in the land where it holds sway;
In truth our human race resembles in this way
The other living beings born in liberty.
Whoever knows not how to love his native tongue

Is worse than any best or evil smelling fish.
To make our language richer ought to be our wish
The same as any mother loves to feed her young.
Tagalog and the Latin language are the same

And English and Castilian and the angels' tongue;
And God, whose watchful care o'er all is flung,
Has given us His blessing in the speech we calim,
Our mother tongue, like all the highest tht we know
2
Had alphabet and letters of its very own;
But these were lost -- by furious waves were overthrown
Like bancas in the stormy sea, long years ago.
https://www.kapitbisig.com/philippines/poems-written-by-dr-jose-rizal-to-my-fellow-
children-by-dr-jose-rizal-english-version-of-sa-aking-mga-kababata_617.html
RELATED TOPIC
BELOW ARE THE LEGAL BASES IN THE USE AND ENRICHMENT OF THE
FILIPINO LANGUAGE
LEGAL BASIS IN THE CELEBRATION OF LINGGO NG WIKA

Proclamation No. 35 of March 26, 1946 of President Manuel L, Quezon provided for a
week-long celebration of the national language.
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q=father+of+the+filipino+language&oq=father+of+the+filipino+language&aqs=chrome..
69i57.14619j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UT
CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS IN THE USE OF FILIPINO
LANGUAGE
Section 6. The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be

further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other
languages.
Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the
Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of
official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.
Section 7. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of

the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English.
The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall
serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.
Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.
Section 8. This Constitution shall be promulgated in Filipino and English and shall be
translated into major regional languages, Arabic, and Spanish.
Section 9. The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of

representatives of various regions and disciplines which shall undertake, coordinate,
and promote researches for the development, propagation, and preservation of Filipino
and other languages.
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https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/constitutions/the-1987-constitution-of-the-
republic-of-the-philippines/the-1987-constitution-of-the-republic-of-the-philippines-
article-xiv
https://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7104.htm#.Xz8yAGgzbIV
Sponsored by: The ChanRobles Group

.
LEGAL BASIS IN THE CREATION OF “COMMISSION ON THE FILIPINO
LANGUAGE”
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7104
AN ACT CREATING THE COMMISSION ON THE FILIPINO LANGUAGE,

PRESCRIBING ITS POWERS, DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES.
Section 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the "Commission on the Filipino
Language Act."
chan robles virtual law library
Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. — Pursuant to the mandate of the Constitution, it is

hereby declared to be a policy, of the Government to ensure and promote the
evolution, development and further enrichment of Filipino as the national language of
the Philippines, on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. To this end,
the Government shall take the necessary steps to carry out the said policy.chanrobles
virtual law library
Sec. 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act, the following terms and defined as
follows:
(a) Commission — refers to the Commission on the Filipino Language.chanrobles
virtual law library
(b) Chairman — refers to the Chairman of the Commission. chan robles virtual law
library
(c) Filipino — refers to the national language of the Philippines.
(d) Philippine languages — refers to the indigenous languages of the Philippines,
including the national language and the regional and local languages.
(e) Regional language — refers to the lingua franca or the commonly spoken language
of a region.
(f) Major language — refers to a language spoken and used by at least one-fiftieth
(1/50) or two percent (2%) of all Filipinos, based on the most recent available data of
the National Census Office. chan robles virtual law library
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(g) Auxiliary language — refers to a particular language, spoken in certain places,
which supports or helps the national and/or official languages in their assigned
functions.
(h) Other languages — refer to foreign languages, whether official or not, as long as
they have influenced the indigenous languages and cultures to a certain degree.
(i) Ethnolinguistic regions — refer to certain geographical areas where particular
groups of people speak a common language.
(j) Disciplines — refer to various fields of learning.
Sec. 4. Creation of the Commission on the Filipino Language. — There is hereby

created a commission to be known as the Commission on the Filipino Language,
composed of representatives of various ethnolinguistic groups and different
disciplines, which shall undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the
development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages
and which shall be directly under the Office of the President.chan robles virtual law
library
Sec. 5. Composition of the Commission. — The Commission shall be composed of

eleven (11) commissioners, one of whom shall serve as Chairman. The commissioners
shall represent the major Philippine languages, as defined in Section 3 of this Act:
Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon and the major language of Muslim Mindanao;
the Northern Cultural Communities; the Southern Cultural Communities; and such
other Philippine languages or ethnolinguistic regions as the Commission may decide
upon: Provided, That at least four (4) of these commissioners shall also represent
various disciplines. .library
The Chairman and two (2) of the commissioners shall serve on a full-time basis;
the remaining eight (8) shall serve on a part-time basis and shall attend the regular
and special meetings of the Commission.
Sec. 6. Appointment and Qualifications of Commissioners. — The commissioners

shall be appointed by the President, with the consent of the Commission on
Appointments, from the list of nominees to be submitted by the different
ethnolinguistic regions in the country. The President shall appoint the eleven (11)
commissioners the
Chairman and the two (2) full-time commissioners. The President shall likewise
appoint from the remaining eight (8) commissioners, four (4) commissioners who shall
serve for a term of five (5) years and four (4) who shall serve for a term of three (3)
years. In the absence of the Chairman, the commissioners shall choose a temporary or
acting chairman from the two (2) full-time commissioners.
No one shall be appointed as commissioner unless he/she is a natural-born Filipino
citizen, at least thirty (30) years old, morally upright an noted for his/her expertise in
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linguistics, the culture and language of the ethnolinguistic region and the discipline
he/she represents.
Sec. 7. Term of Office. — The Chairman and the two (2) full-time commissioners shall
serve for a term of seven (7) years. Four (4) of the remaining commissioners shall serve
for a term of five (5) years and the four (4) other commissioners, for a term of three (3)
years. The commissioners may be reappointed for a maximum of one (1) term by the
President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments.c
Sec. 8. Vacancy. — In case a vacancy occurs prior to the expiration of the term of
office of a commissioner, the replacement shall serve only the unexpired portion of the
term of office that was vacated. The Commission shall, within thirty (30) days from the
date the vacancy occurs, recommend to the President a replacement from the list of
nominees submitted by the particular ethnolinguistic region affected by the vacancy,
subject to the confirmation of the Commission on Appointments: Provided, That, in
the event of the Commission fails to make such recommendation, the vacancy shall be
filled up by the President, also from the said list of nominees and with the consent of
the Commission on Appointments.
Sec. 9. Compensation. — The Chairman and the two (2) full-time commissioners shall
have the same rank, privileges, salary, allowances and other emoluments as the
Chairman and members, respectively, of other constitutional commissions, which
shall not be decreased during their term of office. Each of the part-time commissioners
shall receive his/her compensation in the form of an honorarium for every meeting
he/she attends, at a rate to be determined by the Commission.
Sec. 10. Rules of Procedures and Meetings. — The Commission shall adopt its own
rules and procedures and shall hold sessions at least once a month or as often as the
Commission deems necessary. A majority of the eleven (11) commissioners shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
Sec. 11. Organizational Structure. — The Commission shall determine its

organizational structure: Provided, That technical personnel of the Commission shall
be exempt from the rules and regulations of the Office of Compensation and/or
eligibility requirements of the Civil Service Commission.
Sec. 12. Director General. — There shall be a director general who shall be appointed
by the Commission for a term of seven (7) years and who may be reappointed for a
maximum of one (1) term. The Commission shall determine the powers, functions,
duties and compensation of the director general.
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Sec. 13. The Secretariat. — There shall be a secretariat to be headed by the director
general. The functions, duties and compensation of its personnel shall be determined
by the Commission, upon the recommendation of the director general.
Sec. 14. Powers, Functions and Duties of the Commission. — The Commission,
pursuant to the pertinent provisions of the Constitution, shall have the following
powers, functions and duties:
(a) Formulate policies, plans and programs to ensure the further development,
enrichment, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine language;
(b) Promulgate rules, regulations and guidelines to implement its policies, plans and
programs;
(c) Undertake or contract research and other studies to promote the evolution,
development, enrichment and eventual standardization of Filipino and other Philippine
languages. This will include the collation of works for possible incorporation into a
multi-lingual dictionary of words, phrases, idioms, quotations, sayings and other
expressions, including words and phrases from other languages now commonly used
or included in the lingua franca;
(d) Propose guidelines and standards for linguistic forms and expressions in all official
communications, publications, textbooks and other reading and teaching materials;
vry
(e) Encourage and promote, through a system of incentives, grants and awards, the
writing and publication, in Filipino and other Philippine languages, of original works,
including textbooks and reference materials in various disciplines;
(f) Create and maintain within the Commission a division of transaction which shall
encourage through incentives, undertake and vigorously support the translation into
Filipino and other Philippine languages of important historical works and cultural
traditions of ethnolinguistic groups, laws, resolutions and other legislative
enactments, executive issuances, government policy statements and official
documents, textbooks and reference materials in various disciplines and other foreign
materials which it may deem necessary for education and other purposes;
(g) Call on any department, bureau, office, agency or any instrumentality of

Government or on any private entity, institution or organization for cooperation and
assistance in the performance of its functions, duties and responsibilities;
(h) Conduct, at the national, regional and local levels, public hearings, conferences,
seminars and other group discussions to identify and help resolve problems and
issues involving the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other
Philippine languages;
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(i) Formulate and adopt guidelines, standards and systems for monitoring and
reporting on its performance at the national, regional and local levels; and submit to
the Office of the President and to Congress an annual progress report on the
implementation of its policies, plans and programs;
(j) Appoint, subject to the provisions of existing laws, its officials and employees and
such other personnel as are necessary for the effective performance of its functions,
duties and responsibilities; and dismiss them for cause;
(k) Organize and reorganize the structure of the Commission, create or abolish
positions, or change the designation of existing positions to meet the changing
conditions or as the need therefor arises; Provided, That such changes shall not affect
the employment status of the incumbents, reduce their ranks, decrease their salaries
or result in their separation from the service; and
(l) Perform such other activities which are necessary for the effective exercise of the
abovementioned powers, functions, duties and responsibilities. law library
Sec. 15. Franking Privilege. — The publications of the Commission, such as

dictionaries, vocabularies, grammars, pamphlets, circulars, leaflets and all other
similar printed matter shall enjoy the use of the mails free of postage.
Sec. 16. Transfer of Existing Agency. — All personnel, records, assets, equipment,
funds and properties belonging to the Institute of Philippine Languages under
Executive Order No. 117 are hereby transferred to the Commission, which shall
execute, administer, handle and dispose of such assets, properties and
appropriations, in accordance with the provisions of this Act. All research,
dictionaries, publications and other intellectual outputs of the Institute are likewise
deemed transferred to the Commission.
The Commission shall effect the transfer herein provided in a manner that will ensure
the least disruption of ongoing programs of the Institute. The qualified and necessary
personnel of the Institute shall be transferred to and be absorbed by the Commission:
Provided, That the tenure, rank, salaries and privileges of such personnel are not
reduced or adversely affected: Provided, further, That, in the period prior to the actual
assumption of duties by the Commission and its functioning as such, all officers and
employees of the Institute shall continue to exercise all their functions and discharge
all their duties and responsibilities: Provided, finally, That the existing Institute of
Philippine Language shall be deemed abolished upon the organization of the
Commission, its actual assumption of its duties and its functioning as such.
Sec. 17. Appropriations. — The funding requirements necessary to carry out the
provisions of this Act shall be charged to the current fiscal year appropriations of the
Institute of Philippine Languages. Thereafter, such sum as may be necessary is hereby
authorized to be appropriated in the General Appropriations Act of the year following
its enactment into law. virtual law library
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Sec. 18. Promulgation. — This Act shall be promulgated in Filipino and in English
and shall be translated into the regional languages of the Philippines. In case of doubt,
the Filipino version shall be binding.
Sec. 19. Separability Clause. — In the event any provision of this Act or the
application of such provision is declared invalid, the remainder of this Act or the
application of the said provision shall be affected thereby.
Sec. 20. Repealing Clause. — All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders or parts
thereof that are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or
amended accordingly. chary
Sec. 21. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its
complete publication in the Official Gazette or in one (1) newspaper of general
circulation. virtual law library
Approved: August 14, 1991

https://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7104.htm#.Xz8yAGgzbIV
COMPREHENSION
COMPREHENSION CHECK
CHECK
Direction: answer the following question; Write your answers in the space provided.
1. How Old Rizal When he wrote the poem?
2. What is the main idea of the poem Sa Aking Kababata?
3. In what thing Rizal compares one who does not love his language?
4. What should we do with our language as Filipinos?
5. What is the moral lesson of the poem Sa aking Mga Kababata?
Direction: Read laws relative to the use and enrichment of Filipino Language and
answer the following.
1. Who is the father of Filipino Language?
2. What is the legal basis of the week long celebration of our National
language?
3. What is Republic Act no. 7104?
4. Is there a constitutional provision in the use of Filipino as medium of
instruction? Cite the Specific provision.
ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITIES
1. Write an essay on how you celebrate “Linggo ng Wika “ when you were in
9
High school.
Rubrics
5 The essay is every comprehensive with complete details -Ideas are properly
organized
4 The essay is comprehensive with complete details Ideas are properly
organized
3. The essay is not comprehensive - with complete details Ideas are properly
organized
2. The essay is not comprehensive with incomplete details and Ideas are
organized
1- The essay is not comprehensive with few details and Ideas are poorly
organized
LESSON 2
 THROUGH EDUCATION THE MOTHERLAND RECEIVES LIGHT
LEARNING OUTCOME:
 Make a compilation of at least poems regarding Education
DISCUSSION:
At early age of sixteen. Rizal was already aware of his motherland and love of
country was also awakened in him, Inspired by the gain he had through education.
The young Rizal envisioned what education can do to a country if its leadership
would be made up of new breed of educated youth. He expressed his thought of
education in the poem entitled “ Through Education the Motherland Receives light”
which was written in 1876.
Rizal hoped his countrymen to seek knowledge in order to live a life of

enlightenment which would make the country rise to the height of honor and
prestige. He looked at wise education not only for the truth, knowledge and
refinement but also love for one’s country. He pictured beautifully education as the
foundation of knowledge which gives endless glory.
The vital breath of prudent Education

Instills a virtue of enchanting power;
She lifts the motherland to highest station
And endless dazzling glories on her shower.
And as the zephyr's gentle exhalation
10
Revives the matrix of the fragrant flower,
So education multiplies her gifts of grace;
With prudent hand imparts them to the human race
Rizal urged his fellow students to educate themselves because wise education
gives birth to science and arts. As the hope of the motherland they could do a lot to
improve not only their lives but also the social conditions in the Philippines :
Where Education reigns on lofty seat

Youth blossoms forth with vigor and agility;
Her error subjugates with solid feet,
And is exalted by conceptions of nobility.
She breaks the neck of vice and its deceit;
Black crime turns pale at Her hostility;
The barbarous nations She knows how to tame,
From savages creates heroic fame.
Through wise education. The youth is directed along the path of righteousness
and goodness. If the youths follow the path they will be inspired.:
So he who prudent Education doth procure

The towering heights of honor will secure.
If wise education lures the heart
And in those breasts will surely pour delight
Which seek her mystic benefits to find,
Those souls She sets aflame with love of right
Rizal’s view was prophetic for educated individuals who would assume leadership
And as the mighty rock aloft may tower
Above the center of the stormy deep
In scorn of storm, or fierce Sou'wester's power,
Or fury of the waves that raging seep,
Until, their first mad hatred spent, they cower,
And, tired at last, subside and fall asleep, --
So he that takes wise Education by the hand,
Invincible shall guide the reigns of motherland.
The glory of true education is inestimable for the individual’s

On sapphires shall his service be engraved,
A thousand honors to him by his land be granted
11
Reiterating the radiance of wise education, Rizal ended his poem with a feeling
of triumph. Comparing the wonderful gift of wise education to the motherland with a
gift of the golden sun to the world. He says:
And as in early morning we behold

The ruby sun pour forth resplendent rays;
And lovely dawn her scarlet and her gold,
Her brilliant colors all about her sprays;
So skillful noble Teaching doth unfold
To living minds the joy of virtuous ways.
She offers our dear motherland the light
That leads us to immortal glory's height.
Below is The full text of the “ Through Education the Motherland Receives
Light” for you to read
and as reference.
THROUGH EDUCATION OUR MOTHERLAND RECEIVES LIGHT

The vital breath of prudent Education
Instills a virtue of enchanting power;
She lifts the motherland to highest station
And endless dazzling glories on her shower.
And as the zephyr's gentle exhalation
Revives the matrix of the fragrant flower,
So education multiplies her gifts of grace;
With prudent hand imparts them to the human race.
For her a mortal-man will gladly part
With all he has; will give his calm repose;

For her are born all science and all art,
That brows of men with laurel fair enclose.
As from the towering mountain's lofty heart
The purest current of the streamlet flows,
So education without stint or measure gives
Security and peace to lands in which she lives.
Where Education reigns on lofty seat

Youth blossoms forth with vigor and agility;
Her error subjugates with solid feet,
And is exalted by conceptions of nobility.
She breaks the neck of vice and its deceit;
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Black crime turns pale at Her hostility;
The barbarous nations She knows how to tame,
From savages creates heroic fame.
And as the spring doth sustenance bestow

On all the plants, on bushes in the mead,
Its placid plenty goes to overflow
And endlessly with lavish love to feed
The banks by which it wanders, gliding slow,
Supplying beauteous nature's every need;
So he who prudent Education doth procure
The towering heights of honor will secure.
From out his lips the water, crystal pure,

Of perfect virtue shall not cease to go.
With careful doctrines of his faith made sure,
The powers of evil he will overthrow,
Like foaming waves that never long endure,
But perish on the shore at every blow;
And from his good example other men shall learn
Their upward steps toward the heavenly paths to turn.
Within the breast of wretched humankind

She lights the living flame of goodness bright;
The hands of fiercest criminal doth bind;
And in those breasts will surely pour delight
Which seek her mystic benefits to find,
Those souls She sets aflame with love of right.
It is a noble fully-rounded Education
That gives to life its surest consolation.
And as the mighty rock aloft may tower

Above the center of the stormy deep
In scorn of storm, or fierce Sou'wester's power,
Or fury of the waves that raging seep,
Until, their first mad hatred spent, they cower,
And, tired at last, subside and fall asleep, --
So he that takes wise Education by the hand,
Invincible shall guide the reigns of motherland.
On sapphires shall his service be engraved,

A thousand honors to him by his land be granted:
For in their bosoms will his noble sons have saved
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Luxuriant flowers his virtue had transplanted:
And by the love of goodness ever lived,
The lords and governors will see implanted
To endless days, the Christian Education,
Within their noble, faith-enrapture nation.
And as in early morning we behold

The ruby sun pour forth resplendent rays;
And lovely dawn her scarlet and her gold,
Her brilliant colors all about her sprays;
So skillful noble Teaching doth unfold
To living minds the joy of virtuous ways.
She offers our dear motherland the light
That leads us to immortal glory's height.
Reference :
Capino0, Diosdado G., et. Al.,1977
https://allaboutjoserizal.weebly.com/lw-through-education-our-motherland-receives-
light.html
LAWS ON EDUCATION
Long before we gained our independence, Rizal had conceived already the
importance of education in a democratic society, thus following his educational
philosophy, our constitutionalist put a provision to ensure that Filipinos would avail
the right of access to quality education in all level.
Below is an excerpt from our constitution
Article II section 17 state that “the State shall give priority to education,
science and technology, Arts, culture and sports to foster patriotism and
nationalism, accelerate social progress, and promote total human liberation
and development.
Article XiV section 1 state that “the state shall protect and promote the right
of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate
steps to make such education accessible to all.
Programs on education made the dreams of Rizal a reality now.
REFERENCE
Deleon, Hector S. Textbook on Philippine Constitution, 2011
14
COMPREHENSION
CHECK
Direction: Answer the following Question. Write your answer in the answer sheet
provided.
1. How Old Rizal when he wrote “Through Education the Motherland Received
Light”?
_________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the foundation of Knowledge that gives glory to the nation?
________________________________________________________________________
3. What stanza tells that educated youth can rectify his mistakes and turn away
from vices. ?
_________________________________________________________________________
4. Which verses say that once wise education lures the heart an individual
becomes lover of righteousness.?
________________________________________________________________________
5. Which stanza tells that educated individual is resilient and ready to assume
leadership?
_______________________________________________________________________
ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITIES
1. Make a compilation of at least five poems relative to Education
Rubrics
5-Author is acknowledge, with title, message is clear, and background is
complete(when, where the poem was written and aim of the author)
4- Author is acknowledge, with title, message is clear, and background is not
3- Author is acknowledge, with title, message is not clear, and background is
not
1- Author is acknowledge, with no title, message is not clear, and background
is complete(when, where the poem was writ
1- Author is acknowledge, with title, message is clear, and background is
complete(when, where the poem was written and aim of the author)ten and
aim of the author)
15
LESSON 3
TO THE FILIPINO YOUTH
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
 State the message of the “ To the Filipino Youth”

 Know that the most important role of the youth.
DISCUSSION:
The Licio-Literario de Manila , an association of arts lovers in Manila regularly

held literary contest to stimulate and develop literary talents. In 1879 , it opened one
for works in verse and prose with a special prize to Filipinos and Mestizos. Rizal
participated in the contest by submitting a poem entitled “To The Filipino Youth” He
identified himself as a native which would later become a national ideology, the object
of his endeavor.. the poem with the theme “Grow oh timid Flower “ is the first
testimony of Rizal’s nationalism, his belief the Philippines is the motherland of the
Filipinos.
Eager to shake off the belief among the Filipinos that the white man was
superior to them, Rizal encouraged the “timid flower , fair hope of the fatherland to lift
up the radiant brow and show the talent resplendently. He urged the youth to “fly
swifter than the wind and descend with art and science to break the chain that has
bound the poetic genius of the nation.
Rizal called the open the horizon and write poetry about the country
Hold high the brow serene,
16
O youth, where now you stand;
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be seen,
Fair hope of my fatherland!
Come now, thou genius grand,
And bring down inspiration;
With thy mighty hand,
Swifter than the wind's violation,
Raise the eager mind to higher station.
He urged the singer to dissipate man’s sorrow.

Thou, who now wouldst rise
On wings of rich emprise,
Seeking from Olympian skies
Songs of sweetest strain,
Softer than ambrosial rain;
Thou, whose voice divine
Rivals Philomel's refrain
And with varied line
Through the night benign
Frees mortality from pain
To the sculptor , rizl request was to animate the hard rock with life
Thou, who by sharp strife
Wakest thy mind to life ;
And the memory bright
Of thy genius' light
Makest immortal in its strength ;
And to the painter , Rizal’s request was to give beauty to his canvas.
And thou, in accents clear
Of Phoebus, to Apelles dear ;
Or by the brush's magic art
Takest from nature's store a part,
To fig it on the simple canvas' length
Rizal urged the youth to develop their talents and find out what genius would be
proclaimed throughout the world for having served the country,
Go forth, and then the sacred fire
Of thy genius to the laurel may aspire ;
To spread around the fame,
And in victory acclaim,
Through wider spheres the human name
17
And when the youths answer the call heaven should be thanked for the joy of his
motherland, the Philippines. The nationalistic poem ends with an expression of
Rizal’s deep sense of gratitude.
Day, O happy day,
Fair Filipinas, for thy land!
So bless the Power to-day
That places in thy way
This favor and this fortune grand !
Below is the full text of the poem for you to read and as reference
TO THE PHILIPPINE YOUTH

by Jose Rizal
Hold high the brow serene,

O youth, where now you stand;
Let the bright sheen
Of your grace be seen,
Fair hope of my fatherland!
Come now, thou genius grand,
And bring down inspiration;
With thy mighty hand,
Swifter than the wind's violation,
Raise the eager mind to higher station.
Come down with pleasing light

Of art and science to the fight,
O youth, and there untie
The chains that heavy lie,
Your spirit free to blight.
See how in flaming zone
Amid the shadows thrown,
The Spaniard'a holy hand
A crown's resplendent band
Proffers to this Indian land.
Thou, who now wouldst rise

On wings of rich emprise,
Seeking from Olympian skies
Songs of sweetest strain,
Softer than ambrosial rain;
18
Thou, whose voice divine
Rivals Philomel's refrain
And with varied line
Through the night benign
Frees mortality from pain;
Thou, who by sharp strife

Wakest thy mind to life ;
And the memory bright
Of thy genius' light
Makest immortal in its strength ;
And thou, in accents clear

Of Phoebus, to Apelles dear ;
Or by the brush's magic art
Takest from nature's store a part,
To fig it on the simple canvas' length ;
Go forth, and then the sacred fire

Of thy genius to the laurel may aspire ;
To spread around the fame,
And in victory acclaim,
Through wider spheres the human name.
Day, O happy day,

Fair Filipinas, for thy land!
So bless the Power to-day
That places in thy way
This favor and this fortune grand !
Translated by Charles Derbyshire

https://www.univie.ac.at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/rizal/rzpoem1.htm
COMPREHENSION
CHECK
1. What is Rizal's message to the Filipino youth?

2. What is the main idea of the poem to the Filipino youth?
3. What did Rizal want from the youth?
4. Which is emphasized by Jose Rizal in the poem to the Filipino youth?
ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITY
19
Direction: Fill in the table below by naming famous Filipinos, their profession, losses
or trial and achievement
Name of famous Profession Losses or Achievement
Filipinos trials
Ex. Manny Pacquiao boxing Five losses World champion in 8
division
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
LESSON 4
HYMN TO LABOR
LEARNING OUTCOME:
 Make a compilation of poems relative to labor or work
DISCUSSION
Shortly before his departure for Europe on February 3, 1888, Rizal wrote a
poem entitled “HYMN TO LABOR” upon the request of his friends from Lipa, Batangas
in connection with their town fiesta. Rizal extolled man’s labor and industry, singing
praise to labor, of the country, wealth and vigor.
Rizal said in this poem that labor makes nation ready anytime:
For the Motherland in war,
For the Motherland in peace,
Will the Filipino keep watch,
He will live until life will cease!
He awakened the youths to be worthy of their elders by following their footsteps:
Teach, us ye the laborious work

To pursue your footsteps we wish,
For tomorrow when country calls us
20
We may be able your task to finish.
And on seeing us the elders will say :
"Look, they're worthy 'f their sires of yore!"
Incense does not honor the dead
As does a son with glory and valor.
Rizal stressed the role of labor in keeping up the dignity of man, keeping the family
happy, and the country strong
For the labour of man sustains

Family, home and Motherland.
Rizal also said that only those who know how to work are true lovers and can sustain
their children;
If some youth would show his love
Labor his faith will sustain :
Only a man who struggles and works
Will his offspring know to maintain.
Below is the full text of Hymn to labor for you to read
HYMN TO LABOR
For the Motherland in war,
For the Motherland in peace,
Will the Filipino keep watch,
He will live until life will cease!
MEN:
Now the East is glowing with light,

Go! To the field to till the land,
For the labour of man sustains
Family, home and Motherland.
Hard the land may turn to be,
Scorching the rays of the sun above...
For the country, wife and children
All will be easy to our love.
(Chorus)
WIVES:
Go to work with spirits high,

For the wife keeps home faithfully,
21
Inculcates love in her children
For virtue, knowledge and country.
When the evening brings repose,
On returning joy awaits you,
And if fate is adverse, the wife,
Shall know the task to continue.
(Chorus)
MAIDENS:
Hail! Hail! Praise to labour,

Of the country wealth and vigor!
For it brow serene's exalted,
It's her blood, life, and ardor.
If some youth would show his love
Labor his faith will sustain :
Only a man who struggles and works
Will his offspring know to maintain.
(Chorus)
CHILDREN:
Teach, us ye the laborious work

To pursue your footsteps we wish,
For tomorrow when country calls us
We may be able your task to finish.
And on seeing us the elders will say :
"Look, they're worthy 'f their sires of yore!"
Incense does not honor the dead
As does a son with glory and valor.
http://www.joserizal.ph/pm08.html
LAWS RELATIVE TO LABOR

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION TO PROTECT LABOR
Aware of the importance of labor in keeping a family and in our existence as a nation,
the protection of the Filipino workers are now enshrine in the 1987 constitution,
article 12 section 12 which runs as follows
“The state shall promote the preferential use of Filipino labor, domestic
materials and locally produced goods and adopt measures that help make
them competitive..
The practice of all professions in the Philippines shall be limited to Filipino

citizens save in cases prescribed by law.”
22
THE LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES is the legal code governing employment
practices and labor relations in the Philippines. It was enacted by late president of
the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos in the exercise of his then extant legislative
powers.
Wikipedia
COMPREHENSION
CHECK
1. Which stanza tells us that work makes nation always ready even in time of
war?
2. Based from the poem what should the children learn from their parents?
3. What do you think is the purpose why man must work
4. Can parents show true love to their children without love of work.
5. Why did Rizal wrote Hymn to Labor?
ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITY
1. Make a compilation of at least five poems relative to Labor or work.
Rubrics
complete(when, where the
poem was written and aim of the author)
3- Author is acknowledge, with title, message is not clear, and background is
not
complete(when, where
the poem was written and aim of the author)
2-Author is acknowledge, with no title, message is not clear, and background is
the poem was writ
poem was written and aim of the author)ten and aim of the author)
23
LESSON 5
SONG OF THE TRAVELLER
LEARNING OUTCOME:
 Write a narrative report on the sacrifices or life of OFWs.
DISCUSSION:
His poem speaks of Rizal's homesickness despite his enjoyment of freedom

abroad. Rizal is talking about the life of a traveler, that being a traveler he
encounters a lot of obstacles (the ups and downs of our life), but it is not just about
travelling it's about on how we manage the obstacle in our life. RizaL never found
happiness outside his own country. He felt he will die in foreign shores. Looking back
to his country, he wrote of his ruined home and lost love. Rizal ended his poem by
giving himself the push a stronger will to travel. He left to others the love and joys of
his native land, there was no more turning back.
THE SONG OF THE TRAVELLER

by Jose Rizal
Like to a leaf that is fallen and withered,

Tossed by the tempest from pole unto pole ;
hus roams the pilgrim abroad without purpose,
Roams without love, without country or soul.
Following anxiously treacherous fortune,
24
Fortune which e 'en as he grasps at it flees ;
Vain though the hopes that his yearning is seeking,
Yet does the pilgrim embark on the seas !
Ever impelled by the invisible power,

Destined to roam from the East to the West ;
Oft he remembers the faces of loved ones,
Dreams of the day when he, too, was at rest.
Chance may assign him a tomb on the desert,

Grant him a final asylum of peace ;
Soon by the world and his country forgotten,
God rest his soul when his wanderings cease !
Often the sorrowing pilgrim is envied,

Circling the globe like a sea-gull above ;
Little, ah, little they know what a void
Saddens his soul by the absence of love.
Home may the pilgrim return in the future,

Back to his loved ones his footsteps he bends ;
Naught wìll he find but the snow and the ruins,
Ashes of love and the tomb of his friends,
Pilgrim, begone ! Nor return more hereafter,

Stranger thou art in the land of thy birth ;
Others may sing of their love while rejoicing,
Thou once again must roam o'er the earth.
Pilgrim, begone ! Nor return more hereafter,

Dry are the tears that a while for thee ran ;
Pilgrim, begone ! And forget thine affliction,
Loud laughs the world at the sorrows of man.
Translated by Arthur P. Ferguson
COMPREHENSION
CHECK
1. What stanza tells us that travellers may die in foreign land?
25
2. What stanza tells that Rizal was not happy abroad?
3. Based from the poem what happened to the love ones of travellers upon
their
return?
ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITY
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
1. Write a narrative report on the sacrifices or life of OFWs.
LESSON 6
MY LAST FAREWELL
LEARNING OUTCOME:
 Make a compilation of elegy
DISCUSSION:
Background
"Mi Ultimo Adiós" (English; “My Last Farewell”) is a poem written by Filipino
propagandist and writer Dr. José Rizal before his execution by firing squad on
December 30, 1896. The piece was one of the last notes he wrote before his death.
“My Last Farewell” is a 14-verse valedictory poem written shortly before he was put to
death. This poem expresses love, death, unfathomable grief and a man sure of his
own convictions. It contains lines that enlightened and ignited the flame of millions of
people's hearts.
The poem was originally written in Spanish and was not given any title. Rizal
hid the paper containing the poem in an alcohol stove which was later given to his
sister Narcisa.
26
https://www.google.com/search?
q=my+last+farewell&oq=my+last+frell&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.8870j0j7&sourceid=ch
rome&ie=UTF-8
MY LAST FAREWELL
by Jose Rizal
Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress'd

Pearl of the Orient seas, our Eden lost!,
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.
On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of fight,
Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed;
The place matters not-cypress or laurel or lily white,
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight,
T is ever the same, to serve our home and country's need.
I die just when I see the dawn break,

Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.
My dreams, when life first opened to me,

My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high,
Were to see thy lov'd face, O gem of the Orient sea
From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free;
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.
Dream of my life, my living and burning desire,

All hail ! cries the soul that is now to take flight;
All hail ! And sweet it is for thee to expire ;
To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.
If over my grave some day thou seest grow,

In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power.
Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
27
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen ;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.
Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky,
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o 'er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, 0 my country, that in God I may rest.
Pray for all those that hapless have died,

For all who have suffered the unmeasur'd pain;
For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried,
For widows and orphans, for captives by torture tried
And then for thyself that redemption thou mayst gain.
And when the dark night wraps the graveyard around

With only the dead in their vigil to see
Break not my repose or the mystery profound
And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound
'T is I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.
And even my grave is remembered no more

Unmark'd by never a cross nor a stone
Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er
That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.
Then will oblivion bring to me no care

As over thy vales and plains I sweep;
Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air
With color and light, with song and lament I fare,
Ever repeating the faith that I keep.
My Fatherland ador'd, that sadness to my sorrow lends

Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!
I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends
For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,
Where faith can never kill, and God reigns e'er on high!
Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,

Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed !
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day !
Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my way;
28
Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest !
Translated by Charles Derbyshire

BIOGRAPHY OF OTHER FILIPINOS WHO WERE EXECUTED
1. Jose Abad Santos
COMPREHENSION
Comprehension check
CHECK
1.
1. What is the message of the last farewell of Rizal?

2. When was my last farewell written?
3. Where did Rizal hide his last poem?
4. Whom Rizal Handed the alcohol stove.
ENRICHMENT
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY
1. Make a compilation of at least five elegy
Rubrics

complete(when,
where the
3- Author is acknowledge, with title, message is not clear, and background is not
the poem was written and aim of the author)
2-Author is acknowledge, with no title, message is not clear, and background is
29
the poem was writ
complete(when, where the poem was written and aim of the author)ten and aim of
the author)
ARTICLES
LESSON 7
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
LEARNING OUTCOME:
 Explain the ‘cause and effect’ theory in relation to Rizal’s prediction that the
Philippines would become colony of America.
 Identify the Filipino legacy in the “The Philippines a Century Hence”
DISCUSSION
In this article Rizal expressed his views on the Spanish colonization in the
Philippines and predicted with amazing accuracy THE TRAGIC END OF Spain’s
sovereignty in Asia. He portrayed at the beginning of his article the glorious past of the
Filipinos then described their economic stagnation and unhappiness under the harsh
and bungling Spanish Rule. Toward the last paragraphs of the article he peered into
the future and warned Spain of what would happen to her colonial empire in Asia if
she would not adopt a more liberal and enlightened policy toward the Philippines.
Significant passages in his historical essay are as follows:
30
To recapitulate: the Philippines will remain Spanish if they enter upon
the life of law and civilization . If the rights of their inhabitants are respected,
If the other rights due them are granted . If the liberal h policy of e government
are carried out with out trickery or meanness Without subterfuges, or false
interpretations. Otherwise, if an attempt is made to see in the Islands a lode to
be exploited, a resource to satisfy ambitions….shutting its ears to all cries of
reason, then, however great maybe the loyalty of the Filipinos it will be
impossible to hinder the operations of the inexorable law of history. Colonies
established to subserve the policy and commerce of the sovereign country, all
eventually become independent…
If the Philippines secure their independence after heroic and stabborn

conflict, they can rest assured that neither England nor Germany, nor France
and still less Holland will dare to take up what Spain has been unable to hold.
Perhaps the great American republic , whose interest lie in the pacific
and who had no hand in the spoliation of Africa may someday dream of foreign
possession. This is not impossible, for the example is contagious, covetousness
and ambition are among the strongest vices.
Very likely, the Philippines will defend with inexpressible valor the liberty
secured at the price of so much blood and sacrifice. With the new men that will
spring from their soil and with the recollection of their past, they will perhaps
strive to enter freely upon the wide road of progress and all will labor together to
strengthen their fatherland, then the mines will be made to give up their gold
for relieving destress, iron for weapons, copper, lead and coal. Perhaps the
country will revive the maritime and mercantile life which the islanders are
fitted by their nature , ability and instinct and once more free, like the birds
that leaves its cage. Like the flowers that unfold to the air, will recover the
pristine virtues that are gradually dying out and will again become addicted to
peace, cheerful, happy, joyous hospitable and daring.
Below is the full text of the article for you to read
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
1.Following our usual custom of facing squarely the most difficult and delicate
questions relating to the Philippines, without weighing the consequences that our
frankness may bring upon us, we shall in the present article treat of their future.
In order to read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to open the book of its past,
and this, for the Philippines, may be reduced in general terms to what follows.
Scarcely had they been attached to the Spanish crown than they had to sustain with
their blood and the efforts of their sons the wars and ambitions of conquest of the
Spanish people, and in these struggles, in that terrible [32]crisis when a people
31
changes its form of government, its laws, usages, customs, religion and beliefs the
Philippines were depopulated, impoverished and retarded—caught in their
metamorphosis, without confidence in their past, without faith in their present and
with no fond hope for the years to come. The former rulers who had merely endeavored
to secure the fear and submission of their subjects, habituated by them to servitude,
fell like leaves from a dead tree, and the people, who had no love for them nor knew
what liberty was, easily changed masters, perhaps hoping to gain something by the
innovation.
Then began a new era for the Filipinos. They gradually lost their ancient traditions,
their recollections—they forgot their writings, their songs, their poetry, their laws, in
order to learn by heart other doctrines, which they did not understand, other ethics,
other tastes, different from those inspired in their race by their[33]climate and their
way of thinking. Then there was a falling-off, they were lowered in their own eyes, they
became ashamed of what was distinctively their own, in order to admire and praise
what was foreign and incomprehensible: their spirit was broken and they acquiesced.
Thus years and centuries rolled on. Religious shows, rites that caught the eye, songs,
lights, images arrayed with gold, worship in a strange language, legends, miracles and
sermons, hypnotized the already naturally superstitious spirit of the country, but did
not succeed in destroying it altogether, in spite of the whole system afterwards
developed and operated with unyielding tenacity.
When the ethical abasement of the inhabitants had reached this stage, when they had
become disheartened and disgusted with themselves, an effort was made to add the
final stroke for reducing so many dormant wills and intellects to nothingness, in order
to make of the individual [34]a sort of toiler, a brute, a beast of burden, and to develop
a race without mind or heart. Then the end sought was revealed, it was taken for
granted, the race was insulted, an effort was made to deny it every virtue, every
human characteristic, and there were even writers and priests who pushed the
movement still further by trying to deny to the natives of the country not only capacity
for virtue but also even the tendency to vice.
Then this which they had thought would be death was sure salvation. Some dying
persons are restored to health by a heroic remedy.
So great endurance reached its climax with the insults, and the lethargic spirit woke
to life. His sensitiveness, the chief trait of the native, was touched, and while he had
had the forbearance to suffer and die under a foreign flag, he had it not when they
whom he served repaid his sacrifices with insults and jests. Then he began to study
himself and to realize his misfortune. [35]Those who had not expected this result, like
all despotic masters, regarded as a wrong every complaint, every protest, and
punished it with death, endeavoring thus to stifle every cry of sorrow with blood, and
they made mistake after mistake.
32
The spirit of the people was not thereby cowed, and even though it had been awakened
in only a few hearts, its flame nevertheless was surely and consumingly propagated,
thanks to abuses and the stupid endeavors of certain classes to stifle noble and
generous sentiments. Thus when a flame catches a garment, fear and confusion
propagate it more and more, and each shake, each blow, is a blast from the bellows to
fan it into life.
Undoubtedly during all this time there were not lacking generous and noble spirits
among the dominant race that tried to struggle for the rights of humanity and justice,
or sordid and cowardly ones among the dominated that aided [36]the debasement of
their own country. But both were exceptions and we are speaking in general terms.
Such is an outline of their past. We know their present. Now, what will their future
be?
Will the Philippine Islands continue to be a Spanish colony, and if so, what kind of
colony? Will they become a province of Spain, with or without autonomy? And to reach
this stage, what kind of sacrifices will have to be made?
Will they be separated from the mother country to live independently, to fall into the
hands of other nations, or to ally themselves with neighboring powers?
It is impossible to reply to these questions, for to all of them both yes and no may be
answered, according to the time desired to be covered. When there is in nature no
fixed condition, how much less must there be in the life of a people, beings endowed
with mobility and movement! So it is that in order to deal [37]with these questions, it
is necessary to presume an unlimited period of time, and in accordance therewith try
to forecast future events.
II.What will become of the Philippines within a century? Will they continue to be a
Spanish colony?
Had this question been asked three centuries ago, when at Legazpi’s death the
Malayan Filipinos began to be gradually undeceived and, finding the yoke heavy, tried
in vain to shake it off, without any doubt whatsoever the reply would have been easy.
To a spirit enthusiastic over the liberty of the country, to those unconquerable
Kagayanes who nourished within themselves the spirit of the Magalats, to the
descendants of the heroic Gat Pulintang and Gat Salakab of the Province of Batangas,
independence was assured, it was merely a question [42]of getting together and
making a determined effort. But for him who, disillusioned by sad experience, saw
everywhere discord and disorder, apathy and brutalization in the lower classes,
discouragement and disunion in the upper, only one answer presented itself, and it
was: extend his hands to the chains, bow his neck beneath the yoke and accept the
future with the resignation of an invalid who watches the leaves fall and foresees a
long winter amid whose snows he discerns the outlines of his grave. At that time
discord justified pessimism—but three centuries passed, the neck had become
33
accustomed to the yoke, and each new generation, begotten in chains, was constantly
better adapted to the new order of things.
Now, then, are the Philippines in the same condition they were three centuries ago?
For the liberal Spaniards the ethical condition of the people remains the same, that is,
the native Filipinos have not advanced; for the [43]friars and their followers the people
have been redeemed from savagery, that is, they have progressed; for many Filipinos
ethics, spirit and customs have decayed, as decay all the good qualities of a people
that falls into slavery that is, they have retrograded.
Laying aside these considerations, so as not to get away from our subject, let us draw
a brief parallel between the political situation then and the situation at present, in
order to see if what was not possible at that time can be so now, or vice versa.
Let us pass over the loyalty the Filipinos may feel for Spain; let us suppose for a
moment, along with Spanish writers, that there exist only motives for hatred and
jealousy between the two races; let us admit the assertions flaunted by many that
three centuries of domination have not awakened in the sensitive heart of the native a
single spark of affection or gratitude; and we may see whether or not [44]the Spanish
cause has gained ground in the Islands.
Formerly the Spanish authority was upheld among the natives by a handful of
soldiers, three to five hundred at most, many of whom were engaged in trade and were
scattered about not only in the Islands but also among the neighboring nations,
occupied in long wars against the Mohammedans in the south, against the British and
Dutch, and ceaselessly harassed by Japanese, Chinese, or some tribe in the interior.
Then communication with Mexico and Spain was slow, rare and difficult; frequent and
violent the disturbances among the ruling powers in the Islands, the treasury nearly
always empty, and the life of the colonists dependent upon one frail ship that handled
the Chinese trade. Then the seas in those regions were infested with pirates, all
enemies of the Spanish name, which was defended by an improvised fleet, generally
manned by rude adventurers, when not by foreigners and enemies, [45]as happened in
the expedition of Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, which was checked and frustrated by the
mutiny of the Chinese rowers, who killed him and thwarted all his plans and schemes.
Yet in spite of so many adverse circumstances the Spanish authority has been upheld
for more than three centuries and, though it has been curtailed, still continues to rule
the destinies of the Philippine group.
On the other hand, the present situation seems to be gilded and rosy—as we might
say, a beautiful morning compared to the vexed and stormy night of the past. The
material forces at the disposal of the Spanish sovereign have now been trebled; the
fleet relatively improved; there is more organization in both civil and military affairs;
communication with the sovereign country is swifter and surer; she has no enemies
abroad; her possession is assured; and the country dominated seems to have less
spirit, less aspiration for independence, a word that is to it almost incomprehensible.
34
Everything then at first [46]glance presages another three centuries, at least, of
peaceful domination and tranquil suzerainty.
But above the material considerations are arising others, invisible, of an ethical
nature, far more powerful and transcendental.
Orientals, and the Malays in particular, are a sensitive people: delicacy of sentiment is
predominant with them. Even now, in spite of contact with the occidental nations, who
have ideals different from his, we see the Malayan Filipino sacrifice everything—
liberty, ease, welfare, name, for the sake of an aspiration or a conceit, sometimes
scientific, or of some other nature, but at the least word which wounds his self-love he
forgets all his sacrifices, the labor expended, to treasure in his memory and never
forget the slight he thinks he has received.
So the Philippine peoples have remained faithful during three centuries, giving up
their liberty and their independence, sometimes dazzled by [47]the hope of the
Paradise promised, sometimes cajoled by the friendship offered them by a noble and
generous people like the Spanish, sometimes also compelled by superiority of arms of
which they were ignorant and which timid spirits invested with a mysterious
character, or sometimes because the invading foreigner took advantage of intestine
feuds to step in as the peacemaker in discord and thus later to dominate both parties
and subject them to his authority.
Spanish domination once established, it was firmly maintained, thanks to the

attachment of the people, to their mutual dissensions, and to the fact that the
sensitive self-love of the native had not yet been wounded. Then the people saw their
own countrymen in the higher ranks of the army, their general officers fighting beside
the heroes of Spain and sharing their laurels, begrudged neither character, reputation
nor consideration; then fidelity and attachment to Spain, love of the fatherland, made
of the [48]native,encomendero1 and even general, as during the English invasion; then
there had not yet been invented the insulting and ridiculous epithets with which
recently the most laborious and painful achievements of the native leaders have been
stigmatized; not then had it become the fashion to insult and slander in stereotyped
phrase, in newspapers and books published with governmental and superior
ecclesiastical approval, the people that paid, fought and poured out its blood for the
Spanish name, nor was it considered either noble or witty to offend a whole race,
which was forbidden to reply or defend itself; and if there were religious
hypochondriacs who in the leisure of their cloisters dared to write against it, as did the
Augustinian [49]Gaspar de San Agustin and the Jesuit Velarde, their loathsome
abortions never saw the light, and still less were they themselves rewarded with miters
and raised to high offices. True it is that neither were the natives of that time such as
we are now: three centuries of brutalization and obscurantism have necessarily had
some influence upon us, the most beautiful work of divinity in the hands of certain
artisans may finally be converted into a caricature.
35
The priests of that epoch, wishing to establish their domination over the people, got in
touch with it and made common cause with it against the oppressive encomenderos.
Naturally, the people saw in them greater learning and some prestige and placed its
confidence in them, followed their advice, and listened to them even in the darkest
hours. If they wrote, they did so in defense of the rights of the native and made his cry
reach even to the distant steps of the Throne. And not a few priests, both secular
[50]and regular, undertook dangerous journeys, as representatives of the country, and
this, along with the strict and public residencia2then required of the governing
powers, from the captain-general to the most insignificant official, rather consoled and
pacified the wounded spirits, satisfying, even though it were only in form, all the
malcontents.
All this has passed away. The derisive laughter penetrates like mortal poison into the
heart of the native who pays and suffers and it becomes more offensive the more
immunity it enjoys. A common sore, the general affront offered to a whole race, has
wiped away the old feuds among different provinces. The people no longer has
confidence in its former protectors, [51]now its exploiters and executioners. The masks
have fallen. It has seen that the love and piety of the past have come to resemble the
devotion of a nurse who, unable to live elsewhere, desires eternal infancy, eternal
weakness, for the child in order to go on drawing her wages and existing at its
expense; it has seen not only that she does not nourish it to make it grow but that she
poisons it to stunt its growth, and at the slightest protest she flies into a rage! The
ancient show of justice, the holy residencia, has disappeared; confusion of ideas
begins to prevail; the regard shown for a governor-general, like La Torre, becomes a
crime in the government of his successor, sufficient to cause the citizen to lose his
liberty and his home; if he obey the order of one official, as in the recent matter of
admitting corpses into the church, it is enough to have the obedient subject later
harassed and persecuted in every possible way; obligations and taxes increase without
thereby increasing rights, privileges [52]and liberties or assuring the few in existence;
a régime of continual terror and uncertainty disturbs the minds, a régime worse than
a period of disorder, for the fears that the imagination conjures up are generally
greater than the reality; the country is poor; the financial crisis through which it is
passing is acute, and every one points out with the finger the persons who are causing
the trouble, yet no one dares lay hands upon them!
True it is that the Penal Code has come like a drop of balm to such bitterness.3 But of
what use are all the codes in the world, if by means of confidential reports, if for
trifling reasons, if through anonymous traitors any honest citizen may be exiled or
banished without a hearing, without a trial? Of what use is that Penal Code, of what
use is life, if there is no security in the home, no faith in justice and confidence [53]in
tranquility of conscience? Of what use is all that array of terms, all that collection of
articles, when the cowardly accusation of a traitor has more influence in the timorous
ears of the supreme autocrat than all the cries for justice?
36
If this state of affairs should continue, what will become of the Philippines within a
century?
The batteries are gradually becoming charged and if the prudence of the government
does not provide an outlet for the currents that are accumulating, some day the spark
will be generated. This is not the place to speak of what outcome such a deplorable
conflict might have, for it depends upon chance, upon the weapons and upon a
thousand circumstances which man can not foresee. But even though all the
advantage should be on the government’s side and therefore the probability of
success, it would be a Pyrrhic victory, and no government ought to desire such.[54]
If those who guide the destinies of the Philippines remain obstinate, and instead of
introducing reforms try to make the condition of the country retrograde, to push their
severity and repression to extremes against the classes that suffer and think, they are
going to force the latter to venture and put into play the wretchedness of an unquiet
life, filled with privation and bitterness, against the hope of securing something
indefinite. What would be lost in the struggle? Almost nothing: the life of the
numerous discontented classes has no such great attraction that it should be
preferred to a glorious death. It may indeed be a suicidal attempt—but then, what?
Would not a bloody chasm yawn between victors and vanquished, and might not the
latter with time and experience become equal in strength, since they are superior in
numbers, to their dominators? Who disputes this? All the petty insurrections that
have occurred in the Philippines were the work of a few fanatics or discontented
soldiers, who had to deceive and humbug the people or avail themselves of their power
over their subordinates to gain their ends. So they all failed. No insurrection had a
popular character or was based on a need of the whole race or fought for human
rights or justice, so it left no ineffaceable impressions, but rather when they saw that
they had been duped the people bound up their wounds and applauded the overthrow
of the disturbers of their peace! But what if the movement springs from the people
themselves and bases its cause upon their woes?
So then, if the prudence and wise reforms of our ministers do not find capable and
determined interpreters among the colonial governors and faithful perpetuators among
those whom the frequent political changes send to fill such a delicate post; if met with
the eternal it is out of order, proffered by the elements who see their livelihood in the
backwardness of their subjects; [56]if just claims are to go unheeded, as being of a
subversive tendency; if the country is denied representation in the Cortes and an
authorized voice to cry out against all kinds of abuses, which escape through the
complexity of the laws; if, in short, the system, prolific in results of alienating the good
will of the natives, is to continue, pricking his apathetic mind with insults and charges
of ingratitude, we can assert that in a few years the present state of affairs will have
been modified completely—and inevitably. There now exists a factor which was
formerly lacking—the spirit of the nation has been aroused, and a common
misfortune, a common debasement, has united all the inhabitants of the Islands. A
numerous enlightened class now exists within and without the Islands, a class created
37
and continually augmented by the stupidity of certain governing powers, which forces
the inhabitants to leave the country, to secure education abroad, and it is
[57]maintained and struggles thanks to the provocations and the system of espionage
in vogue. This class, whose number is cumulatively increasing, is in constant
communication with the rest of the Islands, and if today it constitutes only the brain
of the country in a few years it will form the whole nervous system and manifest its
existence in all its acts.
Now, statecraft has various means at its disposal for checking a people on the road to
progress: the brutalization of the masses through a caste addicted to the government,
aristocratic, as in the Dutch colonies, or theocratic, as in the Philippines; the
impoverishment of the country; the gradual extermination of the inhabitants; and the
fostering of feuds among the races.
Brutalization of the Malayan Filipino has been demonstrated to be impossible. In spite

of the dark horde of friars, in whose hands rests the instruction of youth, which
miserably wastes years and years in the colleges, issuing therefrom [58]tired, weary
and disgusted with books; in spite of the censorship, which tries to close every avenue
to progress; in spite of all the pulpits, confessionals, books and missals that inculcate
hatred toward not only all scientific knowledge but even toward the Spanish language
itself; in spite of this whole elaborate system perfected and tenaciously operated by
those who wish to keep the Islands in holy ignorance, there exist writers, freethinkers,
historians, philosophers, chemists, physicians, artists and jurists. Enlightenment is
spreading and the persecution it suffers quickens it. No, the divine flame of thought is
inextinguishable in the Filipino people and somehow or other it will shine forth and
compel recognition. It is impossible to brutalize the inhabitants of the Philippines!
May poverty arrest their development?
Perhaps, but it is a very dangerous means. Experience has everywhere shown us and
especially in the Philippines, that the classes which [59]are better off have always been
addicted to peace and order, because they live comparatively better and may be the
losers in civil disturbances. Wealth brings with it refinement, the spirit of
conservation, while poverty inspires adventurous ideas, the desire to change things,
and has little care for life. Machiavelli himself held this means of subjecting a people
to be perilous, observing that loss of welfare stirs up more obdurate enemies than loss
of life. Moreover, when there are wealth and abundance, there is less discontent, less
complaint, and the government, itself wealthier, has more means for sustaining itself.
On the other hand, there occurs in a poor country what happens in a house where
bread is wanting. And further, of what use to the mother country would a poor and
lean colony be?
Neither is it possible gradually to exterminate the inhabitants. The Philippine races,

like all the Malays, do not succumb before the foreigner, [60]like the Australians, the
Polynesians and the Indians of the New World. In spite of the numerous wars the
Filipinos have had to carry on, in spite of the epidemics that have periodically visited
38
them, their number has trebled, as has that of the Malays of Java and the Moluccas.
The Filipino embraces civilization and lives and thrives in every clime, in contact with
every people. Rum, that poison which exterminated the natives of the Pacific islands,
has no power in the Philippines, but, rather, comparison of their present condition
with that described by the early historians, makes it appear that the Filipinos have
grown soberer. The petty wars with the inhabitants of the South consume only the
soldiers, people who by their fidelity to the Spanish flag, far from being a menace, are
surely one of its solidest supports.
There remains the fostering of intestine feuds among the provinces.
This was formerly possible, when communication from one island to another was rare
and [61]difficult, when there were no steamers or telegraph-lines, when the regiments
were formed according to the various provinces, when some provinces were cajoled by
awards of privileges and honors and others were protected from the strongest. But
now that the privileges have disappeared, that through a spirit of distrust the
regiments have been reorganized, that the inhabitants move from one island to
another, communication and exchange of impressions naturally increase, and as all
see themselves threatened by the same peril and wounded in the same feelings, they
clasp hands and make common cause. It is true that the union is not yet wholly
perfected, but to this end tend the measures of good government, the vexations to
which the townspeople are subjected, the frequent changes of officials, the scarcity of
centers of learning, which forces the youth of all the Islands to come together and
begin to get acquainted. The journeys to Europe contribute not a little to tighten the
bonds, for abroad the inhabitants [62]of the most widely separated provinces are
impressed by their patriotic feelings, from sailors even to the wealthiest merchants,
and at the sight of modern liberty and the memory of the misfortunes of their country,
they embrace and call one another brothers.
In short, then, the advancement and ethical progress of the Philippines are inevitable,
are decreed by fate.
The Islands cannot remain in the condition they are without requiring from the
sovereign country more liberty Mutatis mutandis. For new men, a new social order.
To wish that the alleged child remain in its swaddling-clothes is to risk that it may
turn against its nurse and flee, tearing away the old rags that bind it.
The Philippines, then, will remain under Spanish domination, but with more law and
greater liberty, or they will declare themselves [63]independent, after steeping
themselves and the mother country in blood.
As no one should desire or hope for such an unfortunate rupture, which would be an
evil for all and only the final argument in the most desperate predicament, let us see
by what forms of peaceful evolution the Islands may remain subjected to the Spanish
authority with the very least detriment to the rights, interests and dignity of both
parties.
39
III.If the Philippines must remain under the control of Spain, they will necessarily have
to be transformed in a political sense, for the course of their history and the needs of
their inhabitants so require. This we demonstrated in the preceding article.
We also said that this transformation will be violent and fatal if it proceeds from the
ranks of the people, but peaceful and fruitful if it emanate from the upper classes.
Some governors have realized this truth, and, impelled by their patriotism, have been
trying to introduce needed reforms in order to forestall events. But notwithstanding all
that have been ordered up to the present time, they have [68]produced scanty results,
for the government as well as for the country. Even those that promised only a happy
issue have at times caused injury, for the simple reason that they have been based
upon unstable grounds.
We said, and once more we repeat, and will ever assert, that reforms which have a
palliative character are not only ineffectual but even prejudicial, when the government
is confronted with evils that must be cured radically. And were we not convinced of the
honesty and rectitude of some governors, we would be tempted to say that all the
partial reforms are only plasters and salves of a physician who, not knowing how to
cure the cancer, and not daring to root it out, tries in this way to alleviate the patient’s
sufferings or to temporize with the cowardice of the timid and ignorant.
All the reforms of our liberal ministers were, have been, are, and will be good—when
carried out.[69]
When we think of them, we are reminded of the dieting of Sancho Panza in his
Barataria Island. He took his seat at a sumptuous and well-appointed table “covered
with fruit and many varieties of food differently prepared,” but between the wretch’s
mouth and each dish the physician Pedro Rezio interposed his wand, saying, “Take it
away!” The dish removed, Sancho was as hungry as ever. True it is that the despotic
Pedro Rezio gave reasons, which seem to have been written by Cervantes especially for
the colonial administrations: “You must not eat, Mr. Governor, except according to the
usage and custom of other islands where there are governors.” Something was found
to be wrong with each dish: one was too hot, another too moist, and so on, just like
our Pedro Rezios on both sides of the sea. Great good did his cook’s skill do Sancho!4
In the case of our country, the reforms take the place of the dishes, the Philippines are
Sancho, while the part of the quack physician is played by many persons, interested
in not having the dishes touched, perhaps that they may themselves get the benefit of
them.
The result is that the long-suffering Sancho, or the Philippines, misses his liberty,
rejects all government and ends up by rebelling against his quack physician.
In like manner, so long as the Philippines have no liberty of the press, have no voice in
the Cortes to make known to the government and to the nation whether or not their
40
decrees have been duly obeyed, whether or not these benefit the country, all the able
efforts of the colonial ministers will meet the fate of the dishes in Barataria island.
The minister, then, who wants his reforms to be reforms, must begin by declaring the
press in the Philippines free and by instituting Filipino delegates.[71]
The press is free in the Philippines, because their complaints rarely ever reach the
Peninsula, very rarely, and if they do they are so secret, so mysterious, that no
newspaper dares to publish them, or if it does reproduce them, it does so tardily and
badly.
A government that rules a country from a great distance is the one that has the most
need for a free press, more so even than the government of the home country, if it
wishes to rule rightly and fitly. The government that governs in a country may even
dispense with the press (if it can), because it is on the ground, because it has eyes and
ears, and because it directly observes what it rules and administers. But the
government that governs from afar absolutely requires that the truth and the facts
reach its knowledge by every possible channel, so that it may weigh and estimate them
better, and this need increases when a country like the Philippines is concerned,
where the inhabitants speak and complain in a language unknown to the authorities.
To govern in any other way may also be called governing, but it is to govern badly. It
amounts to pronouncing judgment after hearing only one of the parties; it is steering a
ship without reckoning its conditions, the state of the sea, the reefs and shoals, the
direction of the winds and currents. It is managing a house by endeavoring merely to
give it polish and a fine appearance without watching the money-chest, without
looking after the servants and the members of the family.
But routine is a declivity down which many governments slide, and routine says that
freedom of the press is dangerous. Let us see what History says: uprisings and
revolutions have always occurred in countries tyrannized over, in countries where
human thought and the human heart have been forced to remain silent.
If the great Napoleon had not tyrannized over the press, perhaps it would have warned
[73]him of the peril into which he was hurled and have made him understand that the
people were weary and the earth wanted peace. Perhaps his genius, instead of being
dissipated in foreign aggrandizement, would have become intensive in laboring to
strengthen his position and thus have assured it. Spain herself records in her history
more revolutions when the press was gagged. What colonies have become independent
while they have had a free press and enjoyed liberty? Is it preferable to govern blindly
or to govern with ample knowledge?
Some one will answer that in colonies with a free press, the prestige of the rulers, that
prop of false governments, will be greatly imperiled. We answer that the prestige of the
nation is preferable to that of a few individuals. A nation acquires respect, not by
abetting and concealing abuses, but by rebuking and punishing them. Moreover, to
this prestige is applicable what Napoleon said about great men [74]and their valets.
41
We, who endure and know all the false pretensions and petty persecutions of those
sham gods, do not need a free press in order to recognize them; they have long ago lost
their prestige. The free press is needed by the government, the government which still
dreams of the prestige which it builds upon mined ground.
We say the same about the Filipino representatives.
What risks does the government see in them? One of three things: either that they will
prove unruly, become political trimmers, or act properly.
Supposing that we should yield to the most absurd pessimism and admit the insult,
great for the Philippines, but still greater for Spain, that all the representatives would
be separatists and that in all their contentions they would advocate separatist ideas:
does not a patriotic Spanish majority exist there, is there not present[75]there the
vigilance of the governing powers to combat and oppose such intentions? And would
not this be better than the discontent that ferments and expands in the secrecy of the
home, in the huts and in the fields? Certainly the Spanish people does not spare its
blood where patriotism is concerned, but would not a struggle of principles in
parliament be preferable to the exchange of shot in swampy lands, three thousand
leagues from home, in impenetrable forests, under a burning sun or amid torrential
rains? These pacific struggles of ideas, besides being a thermometer for the
government, have the advantage of being cheap and glorious, because the Spanish
parliament especially abounds in oratorical paladins, invincible in debate. Moreover, it
is said that the Filipinos are indolent and peaceful—then what need the government
fear? Hasn’t it any influence in the elections? Frankly, it is a great compliment to the
separatists to fear them in the midst of the Cortes of the nation.[76]
If they become political trimmers, as is to be expected and as they probably will be, so
much the better for the government and so much the worse for their constituents.
They would be a few more favorable votes, and the government could laugh openly at
the separatists, if any there be.
If they become what they should be, worthy, honest and faithful to their trust, they
will undoubtedly annoy an ignorant or incapable minister with their questions, but
they will help him to govern and will be some more honorable figures among the
representatives of the nation.
Now then, if the real objection to the Filipino delegates is that they smell like Igorots,
which so disturbed in open Senate the doughty General Salamanca, then Don
Sinibaldo de Mas, who saw the Igorots in person and wanted to live with them, can
affirm that they will smell at worst like powder, and Señor Salamanca undoubtedly
has no fear of that odor. And if [77]this were all, the Filipinos, who there in their own
country are accustomed to bathe every day, when they become representatives may
give up such a dirty custom, at least during the legislative session, so as not to offend
the delicate nostrils of the Salamancas with the odor of the bath.
42
It is useless to answer certain objections of some fine writers regarding the rather
brown skins and faces with somewhat wide nostrils. Questions of taste are peculiar to
each race. China, for example, which has four hundred million inhabitants and a very
ancient civilization, considers all Europeans ugly and calls them “fan-kwai,” or red
devils. Its taste has a hundred million more adherents than the European. Moreover, if
this is the question, we would have to admit the inferiority of the Latins, especially the
Spaniards, to the Saxons, who are much whiter.
And so long as it is not asserted that the Spanish parliament is an assemblage of

Adonises, [78]Antinouses, pretty boys, and other like paragons; so long as the purpose
of resorting thither is to legislate and not to philosophize or to wander through
imaginary spheres, we maintain that the government ought not to pause at these
objections. Law has no skin, nor reason nostrils.
So we see no serious reason why the Philippines may not have representatives. By
their institution many malcontents would be silenced, and instead of blaming its
troubles upon the government, as now happens, the country would bear them better,
for it could at least complain and with its sons among its legislators would in a way
become responsible for their actions.
We are not sure that we serve the true interests of our country by asking for
representatives. We know that the lack of enlightenment, the indolence, the egotism of
our fellow countrymen, and the boldness, the cunning and the powerful methods of
those who wish their obscurantism, [79]may convert reform into a harmful
instrument. But we wish to be loyal to the government and we are pointing out to it
the road that appears best to us so that its efforts may not come to grief, so that
discontent may disappear. If after so just, as well as necessary, a measure has been
introduced, the Filipino people are so stupid and weak that they are treacherous to
their own interests, then let the responsibility fall upon them, let them suffer all the
consequences. Every country gets the fate it deserves, and the government can say
that it has done its duty.
These are the two fundamental reforms, which, properly interpreted and applied, will
dissipate all clouds, assure affection toward Spain, and make all succeeding reforms
fruitful. These are the reforms sine quibus non.
It is puerile to fear that independence may come through them. The free press will
keep the government in touch with public opinion, [80]and the representatives, if they
are, as they ought to be, the best from among the sons of the Philippines, will be their
hostages. With no cause for discontent, how then attempt to stir up the masses of the
people?
Likewise inadmissible is the objection offered by some regarding the imperfect culture
of the majority of the inhabitants. Aside from the fact that it is not so imperfect as is
averred, there is no plausible reason why the ignorant and the defective (whether
through their own or another’s fault) should be denied representation to look after
43
them and see that they are not abused. They are the very ones who most need it. No
one ceases to be a man, no one forfeits his rights to civilization merely by being more
or less uncultured, and since the Filipino is regarded as a fit citizen when he is asked
to pay taxes or shed his blood to defend the fatherland, why must this fitness be
denied him when the question arises of granting him [81]some right? Moreover, how is
he to be held responsible for his ignorance, when it is acknowledged by all, friends and
enemies, that his zeal for learning is so great that even before the coming of the
Spaniards every one could read and write, and that we now see the humblest families
make enormous sacrifices in order that their children may become a little enlightened,
even to the extent of working as servants in order to learn Spanish? How can the
country be expected to become enlightened under present conditions when we see all
the decrees issued by the government in favor of education meet with Pedro Rezios
who prevent execution thereof, because they have in their hands what they call
education? If the Filipino, then, is sufficiently intelligent to pay taxes, he must also be
able to choose and retain the one who looks after him and his interests, with the
product whereof he serves the government of his nation. To reason otherwise is to
reason stupidly.[82]
When the laws and the acts of officials are kept under surveillance, the word justice
may cease to be a colonial jest. The thing that makes the English most respected in
their possessions is their strict and speedy justice, so that the inhabitants repose
entire confidence in the judges. Justice is the foremost virtue of the civilizing races. It
subdues the barbarous nations, while injustice arouses the weakest.
Offices and trusts should be awarded by competition, publishing the work and the
judgment thereon, so that there may be stimulus and that discontent may not be
bred. Then, if the native does not shake off hisindolence he can not complain when he
sees all the offices filled by Castilas.
We presume that it will not be the Spaniard who fears to enter into this contest, for
thus will he be able to prove his superiority by the superiority of intelligence. Although
this is not the custom in the sovereign country, it [83]should be practiced in the
colonies, for the reason that genuine prestige should be sought by means of moral
qualities, because the colonizers ought to be, or at least to seem, upright, honest and
intelligent, just as a man simulates virtues when he deals with strangers. The offices
and trusts so earned will do away with arbitrary dismissal and develop employees and
officials capable and cognizant of their duties. The offices held by natives, instead of
endangering the Spanish domination, will merely serve to assure it, for what interest
would they have in converting the sure and stable into the uncertain and
problematical? The native is, moreover, very fond of peace and prefers an humble
present to a brilliant future. Let the various Filipinos still holding office speak in this
matter; they are the most unshaken conservatives.
We could add other minor reforms touching commerce, agriculture, security of the
individual [84]and of property, education, and so on, but these are points with which
44
we shall deal in other articles. For the present we are satisfied with the outlines, and
no one can say that we ask too much.
There will not be lacking critics to accuse us of Utopianism: but what is Utopia?
Utopia was a country imagined by Thomas Moore, wherein existed universal suffrage,
religious toleration, almost complete abolition of the death penalty, and so on. When
the book was published these things were looked upon as dreams, impossibilities, that
is, Utopianism. Yet civilization has left the country of Utopia far behind, the human
will and conscience have worked greater miracles, have abolished slavery and the
death penalty for adultery—things impossible for even Utopia itself!
The French colonies have their representatives. The question has also been raised in
the English parliament of giving representation [85]to the Crown colonies, for the
others already enjoy some autonomy. The press there also is free. Only Spain, which
in the sixteenth century was the model nation in civilization, lags far behind. Cuba
and Porto Rico, whose inhabitants do not number a third of those of the Philippines,
and who have not made such sacrifices for Spain, have numerous representatives. The
Philippines in the early days had theirs, who conferred with the King and the Pope on
the needs of the country. They had them in Spain’s critical moments, when she
groaned under the Napoleonic yoke, and they did not take advantage of the sovereign
country’s misfortune like other colonies, but tightened more firmly the bonds that
united them to the nation, giving proofs of their loyalty; and they continued until
many years later. What crime have the Islands committed that they are deprived of
their rights?
To recapitulate: the Philippines will remain Spanish, if they enter upon the life of law
and [86]civilization, if the rights of their inhabitants are respected, if the other rights
due them are granted, if the liberal policy of the government is carried out without
trickery or meanness, without subterfuges or false interpretations.
Otherwise, if an attempt is made to see in the Islands a lode to be exploited, a resource

to satisfy ambitions, thus to relieve the sovereign country of taxes, killing the goose
that lays the golden eggs and shutting its ears to all cries of reason, then, however
great may be the loyalty of the Filipinos, it will be impossible to hinder the operations
of the inexorable laws of history. Colonies established to subserve the policy and the
commerce of the sovereign country, all eventually become independent, said Bachelet,
and before Bachelet all the Phœnecian, Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, English,
Portuguese and Spanish colonies had said it.
Close indeed are the bonds that unite us to Spain. Two peoples do not live for three
centuries [87]in continual contact, sharing the same lot, shedding their blood on the
same fields, holding the same beliefs, worshipping the same God, interchanging the
same ideas, but that ties are formed between them stronger than those fashioned by
arms or fear. Mutual sacrifices and benefits have engendered affection. Machiavelli,
the great reader of the human heart, said: la natura degli huomini, é cosi obligarsi per
li beneficii che essi fanno, come per quelli che essi ricevono (it is human nature to be
45
bound as much by benefits conferred as by those received). All this, and more, is true,
but it is pure sentimentality, and in the arena of politics stern necessity and interests
prevail. Howsoever much the Filipinos owe Spain, they can not be required to forego
their redemption, to have their liberal and enlightened sons wander about in exile
from their native land, the rudest aspirations stifled in its atmosphere, the peaceful
inhabitant living in constant alarm, with the fortune [88]of the two peoples dependent
upon the whim of one man. Spain can not claim, not even in the name of God himself,
that six millions of people should be brutalized, exploited and oppressed, denied light
and the rights inherent to a human being, and then heap upon them slights and
insults. There is no claim of gratitude that can excuse, there is not enough powder in
the world to justify, the offenses against the liberty of the individual, against the
sanctity of the home, against the laws, against peace and honor, offenses that are
committed there daily. There is no divinity that can proclaim the sacrifice of our
dearest affections, the sacrifice of the family, the sacrileges and wrongs that are
committed by persons who have the name of God on their lips. No one can require an
impossibility of the Filipino people. The noble Spanish people, so jealous of its rights
and liberties, can not bid the Filipinos renounce theirs. A people that prides itself on
the glories of its past can not ask [89]another, trained by it, to accept abjection and
dishonor its own name!
We who today are struggling by the legal and peaceful means of debate so understand
it, and with our gaze fixed upon our ideals, shall not cease to plead our cause, without
going beyond the pale of the law, but if violence first silences us or we have the
misfortune to fall (which is possible, for we are mortal), then we do not know what
course will be taken by the numerous tendencies that will rush in to occupy the places
that we leave vacant.
If what we desire is not realized....
In contemplating such an unfortunate eventuality, we must not turn away in horror,

and so instead of closing our eyes we will face what the future may bring. For this
purpose, after throwing the handful of dust due to Cerberus, let us frankly descend
into the abyss and sound its terrible mysteries.[93]
[Contents]
IV.
History does not record in its annals any lasting domination exercised by one people
over another, of different race, of diverse usages and customs, of opposite and
divergent ideals.
One of the two had to yield and succumb. Either the foreigner was driven out, as
happened in the case of the Carthaginians, the Moors and the French in Spain, or else
these autochthons had to give way and perish, as was the case with the inhabitants of
the New World, Australia and New Zealand.
46
One of the longest dominations was that of the Moors in Spain, which lasted seven
centuries. But, even though the conquerors lived in the country conquered, even
though the Peninsula [94]was broken up into small states, which gradually emerged
like little islands in the midst of the great Saracen inundation, and in spite of the
chivalrous spirit, the gallantry and the religious toleration of the califs, they were
finally driven out after bloody and stubborn conflicts, which formed the Spanish
nation and created the Spain of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The existence of a foreign body within another endowed with strength and activity is
contrary to all natural and ethical laws. Science teaches us that it is either
assimilated, destroys the organism, is eliminated or becomes encysted.
Encystment of a conquering people is impossible, for it signifies complete isolation,

absolute inertia, debility in the conquering element. Encystment thus means the tomb
of the foreign invader.
Now, applying these considerations to the Philippines, we must conclude, as a

deduction [95]from all we have said, that if their population be not assimilated to the
Spanish nation, if the dominators do not enter into the spirit of their inhabitants, if
equable laws and free and liberal reforms do not make each forget that they belong to
different races, or if both peoples be not amalgamated to constitute one mass, socially
and politically homogeneous, that is, not harassed by opposing tendencies and
antagonistic ideas and interests, some day the Philippines will fatally and infallibly
declare themselves independent. To this law of destiny can be opposed neither
Spanish patriotism, nor the love of all the Filipinos for Spain, nor the doubtful future
of dismemberment and intestine strife in the Islands themselves. Necessity is the most
powerful divinity the world knows, and necessity is the resultant of physical forces set
in operation by ethical forces.
We have said and statistics prove that it is impossible to exterminate the Filipino
people. [96]And even were it possible, what interest would Spain have in the
destruction of the inhabitants of a country she can not populate or cultivate, whose
climate is to a certain extent disastrous to her? What good would the Philippines be
without the Filipinos? Quite otherwise, under her colonial system and the transitory
character of the Spaniards who go to the colonies, a colony is so much the more useful
and productive to her as it possesses inhabitants and wealth. Moreover, in order to
destroy the six million Malays, even supposing them to be in their infancy and that
they have never learned to fight and defend themselves, Spain would have to sacrifice
at least a fourth of her population. This we commend to the notice of the partizans of
colonial exploitation.
But nothing of this kind can happen. The menace is that when the education and
liberty necessary to human existence are denied by Spain to the Filipinos, then they
will seek [97]enlightenment abroad, behind the mother country’s back, or they will
secure by hook or by crook some advantages in their own country, with the result that
the opposition of purblind and paretic politicians will not only be futile but even
47
prejudicial, because it will convert motives for love and gratitude into resentment and
hatred.
Hatred and resentment on one side, mistrust and anger on the other, will finally result
in a violent and terrible collision, especially when there exist elements interested in
having disturbances, so that they may get something in the excitement, demonstrate
their mighty power, foster lamentations and recriminations, or employ violent
measures. It is to be expected that the government will triumph and be generally (as is
the custom) severe in punishment, either to teach a stern lesson in order to vaunt its
strength or even to revenge upon the vanquished the spells of excitement and terror
that [98]the danger caused it. An unavoidable concomitant of those catastrophes is
the accumulation of acts of injustice committed against the innocent and peaceful
inhabitants. Private reprisals, denunciations, despicable accusations, resentments,
covetousness, the opportune moment for calumny, the haste and hurried procedure of
the courts martial, the pretext of the integrity of the fatherland and the safety of the
state, which cloaks and justifies everything, even for scrupulous minds, which
unfortunately are still rare, and above all the panic-stricken timidity, the cowardice
that battens upon the conquered—all these things augment the severe measures and
the number of the victims. The result is that a chasm of blood is then opened between
the two peoples, that the wounded and the afflicted, instead of becoming fewer, are
increased, for to the families and friends of the guilty, who always think the
punishment excessive and the judge unjust, must be added the [99]families and
friends of the innocent, who see no advantage in living and working submissively and
peacefully. Note, too, that if severe measures are dangerous in a nation made up of a
homogeneous population, the peril is increased a hundred-fold when the government
is formed of a race different from the governed. In the former an injustice may still be
ascribed to one man alone, to a governor actuated by personal malice, and with the
death of the tyrant the victim is reconciled to the government of his nation. But in a
country dominated by a foreign race, even the justest act of severity is construed as
injustice and oppression, because it is ordered by a foreigner, who is unsympathetic or
is an enemy of the country, and the offense hurts not only the victim but his entire
race, because it is not usually regarded as personal, and so the resentment naturally
spreads to the whole governing race and does not die out with the offender.[100]
Hence the great prudence and fine tact that should be exercised by colonizing
countries, and the fact that government regards the colonies in general, and our
colonial office in particular, as training schools, contributes notably to the fulfillment
of the great law that the colonies sooner or later declare themselves independent.
Such is the descent down which the peoples are precipitated. In proportion as they are
bathed in blood and drenched in tears and gall, the colony, if it has any vitality, learns
how to struggle and perfect itself in fighting, while the mother country, whose colonial
life depends upon peace and the submission of the subjects, is constantly weakened,
and, even though she make heroic efforts, as her number is less and she has only a
fictitious existence, she finally perishes. She is like the rich voluptuary accustomed to
48
be waited upon by a crowd of servants toiling and planting for him, and who, on the
day his slaves refuse him obedience, as he does not live by his own efforts, must die.
[101]
Reprisals, wrongs and suspicions on one part and on the other the sentiment of
patriotism and liberty, which is aroused in these incessant conflicts, insurrections and
uprisings, operate to generalize the movement and one of the two peoples must
succumb. The struggle will be brief, for it will amount to a slavery much more cruel
than death for the people and to a dishonorable loss of prestige for the dominator. One
of the peoples must succumb.
Spain, from the number of her inhabitants, from the condition of her army and navy,
from the distance she is situated from the Islands, from her scanty knowledge of them,
and from struggling against a people whose love and good will she has alienated, will
necessarily have to give way, if she does not wish to risk not only her other
possessions and her future in Africa, but also her very independence in Europe. All
this at the cost of bloodshed and crime, after mortal conflicts, murders, conflagrations,
[102]military executions, famine and misery.
The Spaniard is gallant and patriotic, and sacrifices everything, in favorable moments,
for his country’s good. He has the intrepidity of his bull. The Filipino loves his country
no less, and although he is quieter, more peaceful, and with difficulty stirred up, when
he is once aroused he does not hesitate and for him the struggle means death to one
or the other combatant. He has all the meekness and all the tenacity and ferocity of
his carabao. Climate affects bipeds in the same way that it does quadrupeds.
The terrible lessons and the hard teachings that these conflicts will have afforded the
Filipinos will operate to improve and strengthen their ethical nature. The Spain of the
fifteenth century was not the Spain of the eighth. With their bitter experience, instead
of intestine conflicts of some islands against others, as is generally feared, they will
extend mutual support, [103]like shipwrecked persons when they reach an island after
a fearful night of storm. Nor may it be said that we shall partake of the fate of the
small American republics. They achieved their independence easily, and their
inhabitants are animated by a different spirit from what the Filipinos are. Besides, the
danger of falling again into other hands, English or German, for example, will force the
Filipinos to be sensible and prudent. Absence of any great preponderance of one race
over the others will free their imagination from all mad ambitions of domination, and
as the tendency of countries that have been tyrannized over, when they once shake off
the yoke, is to adopt the freest government, like a boy leaving school, like the beat of
the pendulum, by a law of reaction the Islands will probably declare themselves a
federal republic.
If the Philippines secure their independence after heroic and stubborn conflicts, they
can [104]rest assured that neither England, nor Germany, nor France, and still less
Holland, will dare to take up what Spain has been unable to hold. Within a few years
Africa will completely absorb the attention of the Europeans, and there is no sensible
49
nation which, in order to secure a group of poor and hostile islands, will neglect the
immense territory offered by the Dark Continent, untouched, undeveloped and almost
undefended. England has enough colonies in the Orient and is not going to risk losing
her balance. She is not going to sacrifice her Indian Empire for the poor Philippine
Islands—if she had entertained such an intention she would not have restored Manila
in 1763, but would have kept some point in the Philippines, whence she might
gradually expand. Moreover, what need has John Bull the trader to exhaust himself
for the Philippines, when he is already lord of the Orient, when he has there
Singapore, Hongkong and Shanghai? It is [105]probable that England will look
favorably upon the independence of the Philippines, for it will open their ports to her
and afford greater freedom to her commerce. Furthermore, there exist in the United
Kingdom tendencies and opinions to the effect that she already has too many colonies,
that they are harmful, that they greatly weaken the sovereign country.
For the same reasons Germany will not care to run any risk, and because a scattering
of her forces and a war in distant countries will endanger her existence on the
continent. Thus we see her attitude, as much in the Pacific as in Africa, is confined to
conquering easy territory that belongs to nobody. Germany avoids any foreign
complications.
France has enough to do and sees more of a future in Tongking and China, besides
the fact that the French spirit does not shine in zeal for colonization. France loves
glory, but the glory and laurels that grow on the battlefields of [106]Europe. The echo
from battlefields in the Far East hardly satisfies her craving for renown, for it reaches
her quite faintly. She has also other obligations, both internally and on the continent.
Holland is sensible and will be content to keep the Moluccas and Java. Sumatra offers
her a greater future than the Philippines, whose seas and coasts have a sinister omen
for Dutch expeditions. Holland proceeds with great caution in Sumatra and Borneo,
from fear of losing everything.
China will consider herself fortunate if she succeeds in keeping herself intact and is
not dismembered or partitioned among the European powers that are colonizing the
continent of Asia.
The same is true of Japan. On the north she has Russia, who envies and watches her;
on the south England, with whom she is in accord even to her official language. She
is, moreover, [107]under such diplomatic pressure from Europe that she can not think
of outside affairs until she is freed from it, which will not be an easy matter. True it is
that she has an excess of population, but Korea attracts her more than the Philippines
and is, also, easier to seize.
Perhaps the great American Republic, whose interests lie in the Pacific and who has
no hand in the spoliation of Africa, may some day dream of foreign possession. This is
not impossible, for the example is contagious, covetousness and ambition are among
the strongest vices, and Harrison manifested something of this sort in the Samoan
50
question. But the Panama Canal is not opened nor the territory of the States
congested with inhabitants, and in case she should openly attempt it the European
powers would not allow her to proceed, for they know very well that the appetite is
sharpened by the first bites. North America would be quite a troublesome rival, if she
should once get into [108]the business. Furthermore, this is contrary to her traditions.
Very likely the Philippines will defend with inexpressible valor the liberty secured at
the price of so much blood and sacrifice. With the new men that will spring from their
soil and with the recollection of their past, they will perhaps strive to enter freely upon
the wide road of progress, and all will labor together to strengthen their fatherland,
both internally and externally, with the same enthusiasm with which a youth falls
again to tilling the land of his ancestors, so long wasted and abandoned through the
neglect of those who have withheld it from him. Then the mines will be made to give
up their gold for relieving distress, iron for weapons, copper, lead and coal. Perhaps
the country will revive the maritime and mercantile life for which the islanders are
fitted by their nature, ability and instincts, and once more free, like the bird that
leaves its cage, [109]like the flower that unfolds to the air, will recover the pristine
virtues that are gradually dying out and will again become addicted to peace—
cheerful, happy, joyous, hospitable and daring.
These and many other things may come to pass within something like a hundred
years. But the most logical prognostication, the prophecy based on the best
probabilities, may err through remote and insignificant causes. An octopus that seized
Mark Antony’s ship altered the face of the world; a cross on Cavalry and a just man
nailed thereon changed the ethics of half the human race, and yet before Christ, how
many just men wrongfully perished and how many crosses were raised on that hill!
The death of the just sanctified his work and made his teaching unanswerable. A
sunken road at the battle of Waterloo buried all the glories of two brilliant decades, the
whole Napoleonic world, and freed Europe. Upon what chance [110]accidents will the
destiny of the Philippines depend?
Nevertheless, it is not well to trust to accident, for there is sometimes an imperceptible

and incomprehensible logic in the workings of history. Fortunately, peoples as well as
governments are subject to it.
Therefore, we repeat, and we will ever repeat, while there is time, that it is better to
keep pace with the desires of a people than to give way before them: the former begets
sympathy and love, the latter contempt and anger. Since it is necessary to grant six
million Filipinos their rights, so that they may be in fact Spaniards, let the government
grant these rights freely and spontaneously, without damaging reservations, without
irritating mistrust. We shall never tire of repeating this while a ray of hope is left us,
for we prefer this unpleasant task to the need of some day saying to the mother
country: “Spain, we have spent our [111]youth in serving thy interests in the interests
of our country; we have looked to thee, we have expended the whole light of our
intellects, all the fervor and enthusiasm of our hearts in working for the good of what
51
was thine, to draw from thee a glance of love, a liberal policy that would assure us the
peace of our native land and thy sway over loyal but unfortunate islands! Spain, thou
hast remained deaf, and, wrapped up in thy pride, hast pursued thy fatal course and
accused us of being traitors, merely because we love our country, because we tell thee
the truth and hate all kinds of injustice. What dost thou wish us to tell our wretched
country, when it asks about the result of our efforts? Must we say to it that, since for
it we have lost everything—youth, future, hope, peace, family; since in its service we
have exhausted all the resources of hope, all the disillusions of desire, it also takes the
residue which we can not use, the blood from our veins and [112]the strength left in
our arms? Spain, must we some day tell Filipinas that thou hast no ear for her woes
and that if she wishes to be saved she must redeem herself.
Translated by Charles E. Derbyshire
Zaide Gregorio F., and Zaide.Sonia M., “Jose Rizal”, 2008
COMPREHENSION
CHECK
Direction: Write true if the statement is true and write false if the statement is
false. Write your answer in the answer sheet.
1. The destiny of the nation can be foretold by knowing its past.

2. Some Spanish writers believed that the Filipinos had a capacity for virtue
3. For three centuries , the Filipinos were disloyal to Spain.
4. Spain must grant to the Filipinos the right to protest against all abuses
5. The Filipinos opposed the imperialistic ambition of Spain.
ENRICHMENT
ENRICHMENT ACTIVITY
ACTIVITIES
1. After reading the whole essay, What do you think of Rizal’s purposes in
writing it
2. The essay gives some of Rizal’s political, economic, social and educational
idea. Make a list of them according to these four classification
52
LESSON 8
THE INDOLENCE OF THE FILIPINOS
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
 Analyze Rizal’s “the indolence of the Filipino”

 Understand the rationalization of Filipino indolence made by Rizal
DISCUSSION
This essay of Rizal is an important historical work. It is a rationalization of the

alleged indolence of the Filipinos. Doubtful in the allege attitudes of Filipinos
towards work Rizal made a careful study on the causes why the Filipinos did not work
hard during the Spanish regime. His main contention was that the Filipinos by
nature are not indolent.
53
Long before the coming of the Spaniards, Rizal pointed out , the Filipinos were
industrious and hard working. They were very active in Agriculture, Industries,
commerce. The conquest of the Philippines by the Spaniards caused the decline in
economic activities because the Filipinos had neglected their pre colonial industries,
and had indifference in work. The decline in economic activity was due to certain
causes;
1. The desire to regain freedom and insurgency which followed the

establishment of Spanish colonial administration
2. The wars which the Filipinos fought for Spain against the Dutch,
Portuguese, English and other enemies.
3. The frightful raids of t he Muslim pirates on the coastal towns and villages.
4. Industry, commerce and Agriculture were abandon because the Filipinos
were called untimely to render force labor either during land preparation or
harvest season.
5. The Filipinos did not enjoy the fruit of their labor due to lack of stimulus to
work har.
6. Agriculture, commerce and industry were neglected by government officials
7. The influence of the Spanish attitudes towards manual labor.
8. The Christian teaching that the poor are blessed and they would inherit the
kingdom of God. Hence the Filipinos prefer to remain poor.
9. The Spanish authorities encouraged the Filipinos to indulge in gambling.
10.The Spanish educational system did not promote economic enterprise and
activity
Rizal admitted that the Filipinos did not work hard because they were wise
to adjust themselves the warm tropical climate. They don’t have to work hard
in order to live because nature gives abundant harvest by working less that
those in temperate and arid countries. Rizal explain that in tropical countries
violent work is not a good thing , as it is death, destruction, annihilation.
Nature knows like a just mother has made the earth more fertile and more
productive as a compensation. An hour’s work under the burning sun in the
midst of pernicious influences springing from nature in activity is equal to a
day’s work in a temperate climate .
Below is the full text of the “The Indolence of the Filipinos”. For you to read and
as reference in answering the questions in ensuing pages.
I DOCTOR Sancianco, in his Progreso de Filipinas, (1), has taken up this question,
agitated, as he calls it, and, relying upon facts and reports furnished by the very same
Spanish authorities that rule the Philippines, has demonstrated that such indolence
does not exist, and that all said about it does not deserve reply or even passing notice.
Nevertheless, as discussion of it has been continued, not only by government

employees who make it responsible for their own shortcomings, not only by the friars
54
who regard it as necessary in order that they may continue to represent, themselves
as indispensable, but also by serious and disinterested persons; and as evidence of
greater or less weight may be adduced in opposition to that which Dr. Sancianco cites,
it seems expedient, to us to study this question thoroughly, without superciliousness
or sensitiveness, without prejudice, without pessimism. And as we can only serve our
country by telling the truth, however bit, tee it be, just as a flat and skillful negation
cannot refute a real and positive fact, in spite of the brilliance of the arguments; as a
mere affirmation is not sufficient to create something impossible, let us calmly
examine the facts, using on our part all the impartiality of which a man is capable who
is convinced that there is no redemption except upon solid bases of virtue.
The word indolence has been greatly misused in the sense of little love for work
and lack of energy, while ridicule has concealed them is use. This much-discussed
question has met with the same fate ascertain panaceas and specifies of the quacks
who by ascribing to them impossible virtues have discredited them. In the Middle
Ages, and even in some Catholic countries now, the devil is blamed for everything that
superstitious folk cannot understand or the perversity of mankind is loath to confess.
In the Philippines one's own and another's faults,
the shortcomings of one, the misdeeds of another, are attributed to indolence. And
just as in the Middle Ages he who sought the explanation of phenomena outside of
infernal influences was persecuted, so in the Philippines worse happens to him who
seeks the origin of the trouble outside of accepted beliefs.
The consequence of this misuse is that there are some who are interested in
stating it as a dogma and others in combating it as a ridiculous superstition, if not a
punishable delusion. Yet it is not to be inferred from the misuse of a thing that it does
not exist.
We think that there must be something behind all this outcry, for it is
incredible that so many should err, among whom we have said there are a lot of
serious and disinterested persons. Some act in bad faith, through levity, through want
of sound judgment, through limitation in reasoning power, ignorance of the past, or
other cause. Some repeat what they have heard, without, examination or reflection;
others speak through pessimism or are impelled by that human characteristic which
paints as perfect everything that belongs to oneself and defective
whatever belongs to another. But it cannot be denied that there are some who worship
truth, or if not truth itself at least the semblance
thereof, which is truth in the mind of the crowd.
Examining well, then, all the scenes and all the men that we have known from
Childhood, and the life of our country, we believe that indolence does exist there. The
Filipinos, who can measure up with the most active peoples in the world, will
doubtless not repudiate this admission, for it is true that there one works and
55
struggles against the climate, against nature and against men. But we must not take
the exception for the general rule, and should rather seek the good of our country by
stating what we believe to be true. We must confess that indolence does actually and
positively exist there; only that, instead of holding it to be the cause of the
backwardness and the trouble, we regard it as the effect of the trouble and the
backwardness, by fostering the development of a lamentable predisposition.
Those who have as yet treated of indolence, with the exception of Dr. Sancianco,
have been content to deny or affirm it. We know of no one who has studied its causes.
Nevertheless, those who admit its existence and exaggerate it more or less have not
therefore failed to advise remedies taken from here and there, from Java, from India,
from other English or Dutch colonies, like the quack who saw a fever cured with a
dozen sardines and afterwards always prescribed these fish at every rise in
temperature that he discovered in his patients.
We shall proceed otherwise. Before proposing a remedy we shall examine the causes,
and even though strictly speaking a predisposition is not a cause, let us, however,
study at its true value this predisposition due to nature.
The predisposition exists? Why shouldn't it?
A hot, climate requires of the individual quiet and rest, just as cold incites to
labor and action. For this reason the Spaniard is more indolent than the Frenchman;
the Frenchman more so than the German. The Europeans themselves who reproach
the residents of the colonies so much (and I am not now speaking of the Spaniards but
of the Germans and English themselves), how do they live in tropical countries?
Surrounded by a numerous train of servants, never going afoot but riding in a
carriage, needing servants not only to take off their shoes for them but even to fan
them! And yet they live and eat better, they work for themselves to get rich, with the
hope of
a future, free and respected, while the poor colonist, the indolent colonist, is badly
nourished, has no hope, toils for others, and works under force and compulsion!
Perhaps the reply to this will be that white men are not made to stand the severity of
the climate. A mistake! A man can live in any climate, if he will only adapt himself
to its requirements and conditions. What kills the European in hot countries is the
abuse of liquors, the attempt to live according to the nature of his own country under
another sky and another sun. We inhabitants of hot countries live well in northern
Europe whenever we take the precautions the people there do. Europeans can also
stand the torrid zone, if only they would get rid of their prejudices. (2) The fact is that
in tropical countries violent work is not a good thing as it is in cold countries, there it
is death, destruction, annihilation. Nature knows this and like a just mother has
therefore made the earth more fertile, more productive, as a compensation. An hour's
work under that burning sun, in the midst of pernicious influences springing from
nature in activity, is equal to a day's work in a temperate climate; it is, then, just that
56
the earth yield a hundred fold! Moreover, do we not see the active European, who has
gained strength during the winter, who feels the fresh blood of spring boil in his veins,
do we not see him abandon his labors during the few days of his variable summer,
close his office--where the work is not violent and amounts for many to talking and
gesticulating in
the shade and beside a lunch-stand,--flee to watering places, sit in the cafs or stroll
about? What wonder then that the inhabitant of tropical countries, worm out and with
his blood thinned by the continuous and excessive heat, is reduced to inaction? Who
is the indolent one in the Manila offices? Is it the poor clerk who comes
in at eight in the morning and leaves at, one in the afternoon with only his parasol,
who copies and writes and works for himself and for his chief, or is it the chief, who
comes in a carriage at ten o'clock, leaves before twelve, reads his newspaper while
smoking and with is feet cocked up on a chair or a table, or gossiping about all
his friends? Which is indolent, the native coadjutor, poorly paid and badly treated,
who has to visit all the indigent sick living in the country, or the friar curate who gets
fabulously rich, goes about in a carriage, eats and drinks well, and does not put
himself to any trouble without collecting excessive fees? [3]
Without speaking further of the Europeans, in what violent labor does the
Chinaman engage in tropical countries, the industrious Chinaman, who flees from his
own country driven by hunger and want, and whose
whole ambition is to amass a small fortune? With the exception of some porters, an
occupation that the natives also follow, he nearly always engages in trade, in
commerce; so rarely does he take up agriculture that we do not know of a single case.
The Chinaman who in other colonies cultivates the soil does so only for a certain
number of years and then retires. [4]
We find, then, the tendency to indolence very natural, and have to admit and
bless it, for we cannot alter natural laws, and without it the race would have
disappeared. Man is not a brute, he is not a, machine; his object is not merely to
produce, in spite of the pretensions of some Christian whites who would make of the
colored Christian a kind of motive power somewhat more intelligent and less costly
than steam. Man's object is not to satisfy tile passions of another man, his object is to
seek happiness for himself and his kind by traveling along the road of progress and
perfection.
The evil is not that indolence exists more or less latently but that it is fostered
and magnified. Among men, as well as among nations, there exist not only aptitudes
but also tendencies toward good and evil. To foster the good ones and aid them, as
well as correct the evil and repress them, would be the duty of society and
governments, if less noble thoughts did not occupy their attention. The evil is that the
indolence in the Philippines is a magnified indolence, an indolence of the snowball
type, if we may be permitted the expression,
57
an evil that increases in direct proportion to the square of the periods of time, an effect
of misgovernment and of backwardness, as we said, and not a cause thereof. Others
will hold the contrary opinion, especially those who have a hand in the
misgovernment, but we do not care; we have made an assertion and are going to prove
it.
II.When in consequence of a long chronic illness the condition of the patient is

examined, the question may arise whether the weakening of the fibers and the debility
of the organs are the cause of the malady's continuing or the effect of the bad
treatment that prolongs its action. The attending physician attributes the entire failure
of
his skill to the poor constitution of the patient, to the climate, to the surroundings,
and so on. On the other hand, the patient attributes the aggravation of the evil to the
system of treatment followed. Only the common crowd, the inquisitive populace,
shakes its head and cannot reach a decision.
Something like this happens in the case of the Philippines. Instead of physician,
read government, that is, friars, employees, etc. Instead of patient, Philippines; instead
of malady, indolence.
And, just as happens in similar cases then the patient gets worse, everybody
loses his head, each one dodges the responsibility to place it upon somebody else, and
instead of seeking the causes in order to combat the evil in them, devotes himself at
best to attacking the symptoms: here a blood-letting, a tax; there a plaster, forced
labor; further on a sedative, a trifling reform. Every new arrival proposes a new
remedy: one, seasons of prayer, the relics of a saint, the viaticum, the friars; another,
a shower-bath; still another, with pretensions to modern ideas, a transfusion of blood.
"It's nothing, only the patient has eight million indolent red corpuscles: some few
white corpuscles in the form of an agricultural colony will get us out of the trouble."
So, on all sides there are groans, gnawing of lips, clenching of fists, many
hollow words, great ignorance, a deal of talk, a lot of fear. The patient is near his
finish!
Yes, transfusion of blood, transfusion of blood! New life, new vitality! Yes, the
new white corpuscles that you are going to inject into its veins, the new white
corpuscles that were a cancer in another organism will withstand all the depravity of
the system, will withstand the blood-lettings that it suffers every day, will have more
stamina than all the eight million red corpuscles, will cure all the disorders, all the
degeneration, all the trouble in the
principal organs. Be thankful if they do not become coagulations and produce
gangrene, be thankful if they do not reproduce the cancer!
58
While the patient breathes, we must not lose hope, and however late we be, a
judicious examination is never superfluous; at least the cause of death may be known.
We are not trying to put all the blame on the
physician, and still less on the patient, for we have already spoken of a predisposition
due to the climate, a reasonable and natural predisposition, in the absence of which
the race would disappear, sacrificed to excessive labor in a tropical country.
Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary one. The
Filipinos have not always been what they are, witnesses whereto are all the historians
of the first years after the discovery of the Islands.
Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Malayan Filipinos carried on an active
trade, not only among themselves neighboring countries. A Chinese manuscript of the
13th century, translated by Dr. Hirth (Globus, Sept. 1889), which we will take up at
another time, speaks of China's relations with the islands, relations purely
commercial, in which mention is made of the activity and honesty of the traders of
Luzon, who took the Chinese products
and distributed them throughout all the islands, traveling for nine months, and then
returned to pay religiously even for the merchandisethat the Chinamen did not
remember to have given them. The productswhich they in exchange exported from the
islands were crude wax,cotton, pearls, tortoise-shell, betel-nuts, dry-goods, etc. [5]
The first thing noticed by Pigafetta, who came with Magellan in 1521, on
arriving at the first island of the Philippines, Samar, was the courtesy and kindness of
the inhabitants and their commerce. "To honor
our captain," he says, "they conducted him to their boats where they had their
merchandise, which consisted of cloves, cinnamon, pepper, nutmegs, mace, gold and
other things; and they made us understand by gestures that such articles were to be
found in the islands to which we were going." [6]
Further on he speaks of the vessels and utensils of solid gold that he found in
Butuan, where the people worked mines. He describes the silk dresses, the daggers
with long gold hilts and scabbards of carved wood, the gold, sets of teeth, etc. Among
cereals and fruits he mentions rice, millet, oranges, lemons, panicum, etc.
That the islands maintained relations with neighboring countries and even with
distant ones is proven by the ships from Siam, laden with gold and slaves, that
Magellan found in Cebu. These ships paid certain duties to the King of the island. In
the same year, 1521, the survivors of Magellan's expedition met the son of the Rajah of
Luzon, who, as captain-general of the Sultan of Borneo and admiral of his fleet, had
conquered for him the great city of Lave (Sarawak?). Might this captain, who was
greatly feared by all his foes, have been the Rajah Matanda whom the Spaniards
afterwards encountered in Tondo in 1570?
59
In 1539 the warriors of Luzon took part in the formidable contests of Sumatra,
and under the orders of Angi Siry Timor, Rajah of Batta, conquered and overthrew the
terrible Alzadin, Sultan of Atchin, renowned in the historical annals of the Far East.
(Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra, Chap. XX.) (7)
At that time, that sea where float the islands like a set of emeralds on a paten of
bright glass, that sea was everywhere traversed by junks, paraus, barangays, vintas,
vessels swift as shuttles, so large that they could maintain a hundred rowers on a side
(Morga;) that sea bore everywhere commerce, industry, agriculture, by the force of the
oars moved to the sound of warlike songs (8) of the genealogies and achievements of
the Philippine divinities. (Colin, Chap. XV.) (9)
Wealth abounded in the islands. Pigafetta tells us of the abundance of

foodstuffs in Paragua and of its inhabitants, who nearly all tilled their own fields. At
this island the survivors of Magellan's expedition were well received and provisioned. A
little later, these same survivors captured a vessel, plundered and sacked it, add took
prisoner in it the chief of the Island of Paragua (!) with his son and brother. (10)
In this same vessel they captured bronze lombards, and this is thefirst mention
of artillery of the Filipinos, for these lombards were useful to the chief of Paragua
against the savages of the interior.
They let him ransom himself within seven days, demanding 400 measures
(cavanes?) of rice, 20 pigs, 20 goats, and 450 chickens. This is the first act of piracy
recorded in Philippine history. The chief of Paragua paid everything, and moreover
voluntarily added coconuts, bananas, and sugar-cane jars filled with palm-wine. When
Caesar was taken prisoner by the corsairs and required to pay twenty five talents
ransom, he replied; "I'll give you fifty, but later I'll have you all crucified!" The chief of
Paragua was more generous: he forgot. His conduct, while it may reveal weakness,
also demonstrates that the islands were abundantly provisioned. This chief was
named Tuan Mahamud; his brother, Guantil, and his son, Tuan Mahamed. (Martin
Mendez, Purser of the ship Victoria: Archivos de Indias.)
A very extraordinary thing, and one that shows the facility with which the
natives learned Spanish, is that fifty years before the arrival of the Spaniards in
Luzon, in that very year 1521 when they first came to the islands, there were already
natives of Luzon who understood Castilian. In the treaties of peace that the survivors
of Magellan's expedition made with the chief of Paragua, when the servant-interpreter
died they communicated with one another through a Moro who had been captured in
the island of the King of Luzon and who understood some Spanish. (Martin Mendez,
op, cit ) Where did this extemporaneous interpreter learn Castilian? In the Moluccas?
In Malacca, with the Portuguese? Spaniards did not reach Luzon until 1571.
60
Legazpi's expedition met in Butuan various traders of Luzon with their boats
laden with iron, wax cloths, porcelain, etc. (Gaspar de San Agustin,) plenty of
provisions, activity, trade, movement in all the southern islands. (11)
They arrived at the Island of Cebu, "abounding in provisions, with mines and
washings of gold, and peopled with natives," as Morga says; "very populous, and at a
port frequented by many ships that came from the islands and kingdoms near India,"
as Colin says; and even though they were peacefully received discord soon arose. The
city was taken by force and burned. The fire destroyed the food supplies and naturally
famine broke out in that town of a hundred thousand people, (12) as the historians
say, and among the members of the expedition, but the neighboring islands quickly
relieved the need, thanks to theabundance they enjoyed.
All the histories of those first years, in short, abound in long accounts about
the industry and agriculture of the natives: mines, gold-washings, looms, farms,
barter, naval construction, raising of poultry and stock, weaving of silk and cotton,
distilleries, manufactures of arms, pearl fisheries, the civet industry, the horn and
hide industry, etc., are things encountered at every step, and, considering the time
and the conditions in the islands, prove that there was life, there was activity, there
was movement.
And if this, which is deduction, does not convince any minds imbued with
unfair prejudices, perhaps of some avail may be the testimony of the oft-quoted Dr.
Morga, who was Lieutenant-Governor of Manila for seven years and after rendering
great service in the Archipelago was appointed criminal judge of the Audiencia of
Mexico and Counsellor of the Inquisition. His testimony, we say, is highly credible, not
only because all his contemporaries have spoken of him in terms that border on
veneration but also because his work, from which we take these citations, is written
with great circumspection and care, as well with reference to the authorities in the
Philippines as to the errors they committed. "The natives," says Morga, in chapter VII,
speaking of the occupations of the Chinese, "are very far from exercising those trades
and have even forgotten much about farming, raising poultry, stock and cotton, and
weaving cloth AS THEY USED TO DO IN THEIRPAGANISM AND FOR A LONG TIME
AFTER THE COUNTRY WAS CONQUERED." (13)
The whole of chapter VIII of his work deals with this moribund activity, this
much-forgotten industry, and yet in spite of that,how long is his eighth chapter! And
not only Morga, not only Chirino, Colin, Argensola, Gaspar de San
Agustin and others agree in this matter, but modern travelers, after two
hundred and fifty years, examining the decadence and misery, assert the same thing.
Dr. Hans Meyer, when he saw the unsubdued tribes cultivating beautiful fields and
61
working energetically, asked if they would not become indolent when they in turn
should accept Christianity and a paternal government.
Accordingly, the Filipinos, in spite of the climate, in spite of their few needs
(they were less then than now), were not the indolent creatures of our time, and, as we
shall see later on, their ethics and their mode of life were not what is now
complacently attributed to them.
How then, and in what way, was that active and enterprising infidel native of
ancient times converted into the lazy and indolent Christian, as our contemporary
writer's say?
We have already spoken of the more or less latent predisposition which exists in
the Philippines toward indolence, and which must exist everywhere, in the whole
world, in all men, because we all hate work more or less, as it may be more or less
hard, more or less unproductive. The dolce far niente of the Italian, the rascarse la
barriga of the Spaniard, the supreme aspiration of the bourgeois to live on his income
in peace and tranquility, attest this.
What causes operated to awake this terrible predisposition from its lethargy?
How is it that the Filipino people, so fond of its customs as to border on routine, has
given up its ancient habits of work, of trade, of navigation, etc., even to the extent of
completely forgetting its past?
III.A fatal combination of circumstances, some independent of the will in spite of men's
efforts, others the offspring of stupidity and ignorance, others the inevitable corollaries
of false principles, and still others the result of more or less base passions has
induced the decline of labor, an evil which instead of being remedied by prudence,
mature reflection and recognition of the mistakes made, through deplorable policy,
through regret, table blindness and obstinacy, has gone from bad to worse until it has
reached the condition in which we now see it. (14).
First came the wars, the internal disorders which the new change of affairs naturally
brought with it. It was necessary to subject the people either by cajolery or force; there
were fights, there was slaughter; those who had submitted peacefully seemed to
repent of it; insurrections were suspected, and some occurred; naturally thee were
executions, and many capable laborers perished. Add to this condition of disorder the
invasion of Limahong, add the continual wars into which the inhabitants of the
Philippines were plunged to maintain the honor of Spain, to extend the sway of her
flag in Borneo, in the Moluccas and in Indo-China; to repel the Dutch foe: costly wars,
fruitless expeditions, in which each time thousands and thousands of native archers
and rowers were recorded to have embarked, but whether they returned to their
62
homes was never stated. Like the tribute that once upon a time Greece sent to the
Minotaur of Crete,
the Philippine youth embarked for the expedition, saying good-by to their country
forever: on their horizon were the stormy sea, the interminable wars, the rash
expeditions. Wherefore, Gaspar de San Agustin says: "Although anciently there were in
this town of Dumangas many people, in the course of time they have very greatly
diminished because the natives are the best sailors and most skillful rowers on the
whole coast, and so the governors in the port of Iloilo take most of the people from this
town for the ships that they send abroad
............. When the Spaniards reached this island (Panay) it is said that there were on
it more than fifty thousand families; but these diminished greatly; ........... and at
present they may amount to some fourteen thousand tributaries." From fifty thousand
families to fourteen thousand tributaries in little over half a century!
We would never get through, had we to quote all the evidence of the authors
regarding the frightful diminution of the inhabitants of the Philippines in the first
years after the discovery. In the time of their first bishop, that is, ten years after
Legazpi, Philip II said that they had been reduced to less than two thirds.
Add to these fatal expeditions that wasted all the moral and material energies of
the country, the frightful inroads of the terrible pirates from the south, instigated and
encouraged by the government, first in order to get complaint and afterwards disarm
the islands subjected to it, inroads that reached the very shores of Manila, even Malate
itself, and during which were seen to set out for captivity and slavery, in the baleful
glow of burning villages, strings of wretches who had been unable to defend
themselves, leaving behind them the ashes of
their homes and the corpses of their parents and children. Morga, who recounts the
first piratical invasion, says: "The boldness of these people of Mindanao did great
damage to the Visayan Islands, as much by what they did in them as by the fear and
fright which the native acquired, because the latter were in the power of the
Spaniards, who held them subject and tributary and unarmed, in such manner that
they did not protect them from their enemies or leave them means with which to
defend themselves, AS THEY DID WHEN THERE WERE NO SPANIARDS IN THE
COUNTRY." These piratical attacks continually reduced the umber of the inhabitants
of the Philippines, since the independent Malays were especially notorious for their
atrocities and murders, sometimes because they believed that to preserve their
independence it was necessary to weaken the Spaniard by reducing the number of his
subjects, sometimes because a greater hatred and a deeper resentment inspired them
against the Christian Filipinos who, being of the their own race, served the stranger in
order to deprive them of their
precious liberty. These expeditions lasted about three centuries, being repeated five
and ten times a year, and each expedition cost the islands over eight hundred
prisoners.
63
"With the invasions of the pirates from Sulu and Mindanao," says Padre Gaspar
de San Agustin, [the island of Bantayan, near Cebu] "has been greatly reduced,
because they easily captured the people there, since the latter had no place to fortify
themselves and were far from help from Cebu. The hostile Sulu did great damage in
this
island in 1608, leaving it almost depopulated." (Page 380).
These rough attacks, coming from without, produced a counter effect, in the
interior, which, carrying out medical comparisons, was like a purge or diet in an
individual who has just lost a great deal of blood. In order to make headway against so
many calamities, to secure their sovereignty and take the offensive in these disastrous
contests, to isolate the warlike Sulus from their neighbors in the south, to care for the
needs of the empire of the Indies (for one of the reasons why the Philippines were kept,
as contemporary documents
prove, was their strategic position between New Spain and the Indies), to wrest from
the Dutch their growing colonies of the Moluccas and get rid of some troublesome
neighbors, to maintain, in short, the trade of China with New Spain. it was necessary
to construct new and large ships which, as we have seen, costly as they were to the
country for their equipment and the rowers they required, were not less so because of
the manner in which they were constructed. (16) Fernando de los Rios Coronel, who
fought in these wars and later turned priest, speaking of these King's ships, said: "As
they were so large, the timber needed was scarcely to be found in the forests (of the
Philippines!), and thus it was necessary to seek it with great difficulty in the most
remote of them, where, once found, in order to haul and convey it to the shipyard the
towns of the surrounding
country had to be depopulated of natives, who get it out with immense labor, damage,
and cost to them. The natives furnished the masts for a galleon, according to the
assertion of the Franciscans, and I heard the governor of the province where they were
cut, which is Lacuna de Bay, say that to haul them seven leagues over very broken
mountains 6,000 natives were engaged three months, without furnishing them food,
which the wretched native had to seek for himself!"
And Gaspar de San Agustin says: "In those times (1690), Bacolor has not the
people that it had in the past, because of the uprising in that province when Don
Sabiniano Manrique de Lava was Governor of these islands and because of the
continual labor of cutting timber for his Majesty's shipyards, WHICH HINDERS THEM
FROM CULTIVATING THE FERTILE PLAIN THEY HAVE." (17)
If this is not sufficient to explain the depopulation of the islands and the
abandonment of industry, agriculture and commerce, then add "the natives who wore
executed, those who loft their wives and children and fled in disgust to the mountains,
those who were sold into slavery to pay the taxes levied upon them," as Fernando de
64
los Rios Coronel says; add to all this what Philip II said in reprimanding Bishos
Salazar about "natives sold by some encomendoros to others, those flogged to death,
the women who are crushed to death by their heavy burdens, those who sleep in the
fields and there bear and nurse their children and die bitten by poisonous vermin, the
many who are executed and left to die of hunger and those who eat poisonous
herbs............ and the mothers who kill their children in bearing them," and you will
understand how in less than thirty years the population
of the Philippines was reduced one-third. We are not saying this: it was said by Gaspar
de San Agustin, the preeminently anti-Filipino Augustinian, and he confirms it
throughout the rest of his work by speaking every moment of the state of neglect in
which lay the farms thinned that had formerly been inhabited by many leading
families!
How is it strange, then, that discouragement may have been infused into the
spirit of the inhabitants of the Philippines, when in the midst of so many calamities
they did not know whether they would see sprout the seed they were planting, whether
their field was going to be their grave or their crop would go to feed their executioner?
What is there strange in it, when we see the pious but impotent friars of that time
trying to free their poor parishioners from the tyranny of the encomenderos by
advising them to stop work in the mines,
to abandon their commerce, to break up their looms, pointing out to them heaven for
their whole hope, preparing them for death as their only consolation? (18)
Man works for an object. Remove the object and you reduce him to inaction The
most active man in the world will fold his arms from the instant he understands that it
is madness to bestir himself, that this work will be the cause of his trouble, that for
him it will be the cause of vexations at home and of the pirate's greed abroad. It
seems that these thoughts have never entered the minds of those who cry out against
the indolence of the Filipinos.
Even were the Filipino not a man like the rest; even were we to suppose that
zeal in him for work was as essential as the movement of a wheel caught in the
gearing of others in motion; even were we to deny him
foresight and the judgment that the past and the present form, there would still be left
us another reason to explain the attack of the evil. The abandonment of the fields by
their cultivators, whom the wars and piratical attacks dragged from their homes was
sufficient to reduce to nothing the hard labor of so many generations. In the
Philippines abandon for a year the land most beautifully tended and you will see how
you will have to begin all over again: the rain will wipe out the furrows, the floods will
drown the seeds, plants and bushes will grow up everywhere, and on seeing so much
useless labor the hand will drop the hoe, the laborer will desert his plow. Isn't there
left the fine life of the pirate?
65
Thus is understood that sad discouragement which we find in the friar writers
of the 17th century, speaking of once very fertile plains submerged, of provinces and
towns depopulated, of products that have disappeared from trade, of leading families
exterminated. These pages resemble a sad and monotonous scene in the night after a
lively day. Of Cagayan Padre San Agustin speaks with mournful brevity: "A great deal
of cotton, of which they made good cloth that the Chinese and Japanese every year
bought and carried away." In the historian's
time, the industry and the trade had come to an end!
It seems that these are causes more thorn sufficient to breed indolence even in
the midst of beehive. Thus is explained why, after thirty-two years of the system, the
circumspect and prudent Morga said that the
natives "have forgotten much about farming, raising poultry, stock and cotton, and
weaving cloth, as they used to do in their paganism and FOR A LONG TIME AFTER
THE COUNTRY HAD BEEN CONQUERED!"
Still they struggled a long time against indolence, yes: but their enemies were so
numerous that at last they gave up!
IV.We recognize the causes that, awoke the predisposition and provoked the evil: now
let us see what foster and sustain it. In this connection, government and governed
have to bow our heads and say: we deserve our fate.
We have already truly said that when a house becomes disturbed and
disordered, we should not accuse the youngest, child or the servants, but the head of
it, especially if his authority is unlimited, he who does not act freely is not responsible
for his actions; and the Filipino people, not being master of its liberty, is not
responsible
for either its misfortunes or its woes. We says this, it is true, but, as will be seen later
on, we also have a large part, in the continuation of such a disorder.
The following, among other causes, contributed to foster the evil and aggravate
it: the constantly lessening encouragement that labor has met with in the Philippines.
Fearing to have the Filipinos deal frequently with other individuals of their own race,
who were free and independent, as the Borneans, the Siamese, the Cambodians, and
the Japanese, people who in their customs and feeling's differ greatly from the
Chinese, the Government acted toward these others with great mistrust and great
severity, as Morga testifies in the last pages of his work, until they finally ceased to
come to the country. In fact, it seems that once an uprising' planned by the Borneans
was suspected: we say suspected, for there was not even an attempt, although there
were many executions. (19) And, as these nations were the very ones that, consumed
Philippine products, when all communication with them had been cut off,
consumption of these products also ceased. The only
66
two countries with which the Philippines continued to have relations were China and
Mexico, or New Spain, and from this trade only China and a few private individuals in
Manila got any benefit. It, fact, the Celestial Empire sent, her junks laden with
merchandise, that merchandise which shut down the factories of Seville and ruined
the Spanish industry, and returned laden in exchange with the silver that was every
year sent from Mexico. Nothing from the Philippines at that time went to China, not
even gold, for in those years the Chinese traders would accept no payment but silver
coin. (20) To Mexico went little more: some cloth and dry goods which the
encomendoros took by force or bought from the natives at, a paltry price, wax, amber,
gold, civet, etc, but nothing more, and not even in great quantity, as is stated by
Admiral Don Jernimo de Bauelos y Carrillo, when he begged the King that "the
inhabitants of the Manilas be permitted (!) to load as many ships as they could with
native products, such as wax, gold, perfumes, ivory, cotton cloths, which they would
have to buy from the natives of the country ............... Thus the friendship of those
peoples would be gained, they would would not leave this place," (21)
The coastwise trade, so active in other times, had to die out, thanks to the
piratical attacks of the Malays of the south; and trade in the interior of the islands
almost entirely disappeared, owing to restrictions, passports and other administrative
requirements.
Of no little importance were the hindrances and obstacles that from the
beginning were thrown in the farmers's way by the rulers, who were influenced by
childish fear and saw everywhere signs of conspiracies and uprisings. The natives
were not allowed to go to their labors, that is, their farms, without permission of the
governor, or of agents and officers, and even of the priests as Morga says. Those who
know the administrative slackness and confusion in a country where the officials work
scarcely two hours a day; those who know the cost of going to and returning from the
capital to obtain a permit; those who are aware of the petty retaliations of the little
tyrants will well understand how with this crude arrangement it is possible to have the
most absurd agriculture. True it is that for some time this absurdity, which would be
ludicrous had it not been so serious, has disappeared; but even if the words have gone
out of use other facts and other provisions have replaced them. The Moro pirate has
disappeared but there remains the outlaw who infests the fields and waylays the
farmer to hold him for ransom. Now then, the government, which has a constant fear
of the people, denies to the farmers even the use of a shotgun, or if it does allow it
does so very grudgingly and withdraws it at pleasure; whence it results with the
laborer, who, thanks to his means of defense, plants his crops and invests his meager
fortune in the furrows that he has so laboriously opened, that when his crop matures,
it occurs to the government, which is impotent to suppress brigandage, to deprive him
of his weapon; and then, without defense and without security he is reduced to
inaction and abandons his field, his work, and takes to gambling as the best means of
securing a livelihood. The green cloth is under the protection of the government, it is
67
safer! A mournful counsellor is fear, for it not only causes weakness but alsoin casting
aside the weapons strengthens the very persecutor!
The sordid return the native gets from his work has the effect of discouraging him. We
know from history that the encomenderos, after reducing many to slavery and forcing
them to work for their benefit, made others give up their merchandise for a trifle or
nothing at all, or cheated them with false measures.
Speaking of Ipion, in Panay, Padre Gaspar de San Agustin says: "It was in ancient
times very rich in gold, ............... but provoked by the annoyances they suffered from
some governors they have ceased to get it out, preferring to live in poverty than to
suffer such hardships." (Page 378). Further on, speaking of other towns,
he says: "Goaded by the ill treatment of the encomenderos who in administering
justice have treated the natives as their slaves and not as their children, and have only
looked after their own interests at the expense of the wretched fortunes and lives of
their charges ..............." (Page 422) Further on: "In Leyte, where they tried
to kill an encomendero of the town of Dagami on account of the great hardships he
made them suffer by exacting tribute of wax from them with a steelyard which he had
made twice as long as the others"
This state of affairs lasted a long time and still lasts, in spite of the fact, that the breed
of encomenderos has become extinct. A term passes away but the evil and the
passions engendered do not pass away so long as reforms are devoted solely to
changing the names.
The wars with the Dutch, the inroads and piratical attacks of the people of Sulu and
Mindanao disappeared; the people have been transformed; new towns have grown up
while others have become impoverished; but the frauds subsist as much as or worse
than they did in those early years. We will not cite our own experiences, for
aside from the fact that, we do not know which to select, critical persons may reproach
us with partiality; neither will we cite those of other Filipinos who write in the
newspapers; but we shall confine ourselves to translating the words of a modern
French traveler who was in the Philippines for a long time:
"The good curate," he says with reference to the rosy picture a friar had given him of
the Philippines, "had not told me about the governor, the foremost official of the
district, who was too much taken up with the ideal of getting rich to have time to
tyrannize over his docile subjects; the governor, charged with ruling the country and
collecting the various taxes in the government's name, devoted himself almost wholly
to trade; in his hands the high and noble functions he performs are nothing more than
instruments of gain. He monopolizes all the business and instead of developing on his
part the love of work, instead of stimulating the too natural indolence natives, he with
abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all competition that may trouble him or
68
attempt to participate in his profits. It matters little to him that the country is
impoverished, without cultivation, without commerce, without, industry, just so the
governor is quickly enriched!"
Yet the traveler has been unfair in picking out the governor especially: Why only
the governor?
We do not cite passages from other authors, because we have not their works at
hand and do not wish to quote from memory.
The great difficulty that every enterprise encountered with the administration
contributed not a little to kill off all commercial and industrial movement. All the
Filipinos, as well as all those who have tried to engage in business in the Philippines,
know how many documents, what comings, how many stamped papers, how much
patience is needed to secure from the government a permit for an enterprise. One
must count upon the good will of this one, on the influence of that one, on a good
bribe to another in order that the application be not
pigeonholed, a present to the one further on so that he may pass it on to his chief; one
must pray to God to give him good humor and time to see and examine it; to another,
talent to recognize its expediency; to one further on sufficient stupidity not to scent
behind the enterprise an insurrectionary purpose; and that they may not all spend the
time taking baths, hunting or playing cards with the reverend friars in their convents
or country houses. And above all, great patience, politics, many salutations, great
influence, plenty of presents and
complete resignation! How is it strange that, the Philippines remain poor in spite of
their very fertile soil, when history tells us that the countries now the most flourishing
date their development from the day of their liberty and civil rights? The most
commercial and most industrious countries have been the freest countries: France,
England and the United States prove this. Hongkong, which is not worth the most
insignificant of the Philippines, has more commercial movement than all the islands
together, because it is free and is well governed.
The trade with China, which was the whole occupation of the colonizers of the
Philippines, was not only prejudicial to Spain but also to the life of her colonies; in
fact, when the officials and private persons at Manila found an easy method of getting
rich they neglected everything. They paid no attention either to cultivating the soil or
to fostering industry; and wherefore? China furnished the trade, and they had only to
take advantage of it and pick up the gold that dropped out on its way from Mexico
toward the interior of China, the gulf whence it never returned.
The pernicious example of the dominators in surrounding themselves with

servants and despising manual or corporal labor as a thing unbecoming the nobility
and chivalrous pride of the heroes of so many centuries; those lordly airs, which the
69
natives have translated into tila ka castila, and the desire of the dominated to be the
equal of the dominators, if not essentially, at least in their manners: all this had
naturally to produce aversion to activity and fear or hatred of work.
Moreover, 'Why work?' asked many natives. The curate says that the rich man will not
go to heaven The rich man on earth is liable to all kinds of trouble, to be appointed a
cabeza de barangay, to be deported if
an uprising occurs, to be forced banker of the military chief of the town, who to reward
him for favors received seizes his laborers and his stock, in order to force him to beg
for mercy, and thus easily
pays up. Why be rich? So that all the officers of justice may have a lynx eye on your
actions, so that at the least raised up against you, you may be indicted, a whole
complicated and labyrinthine story may be concocted against you, for which you can
only get away, not by the thread of Ariadne but by Danae's shower of gold, and still
give thanks that you are not kept in reserve for some needy occasion? The native,
whom they pretend to regard as an imbecile, is not so much so that he does not
understand that it is ridiculous to work himself to death to become worse off. A
proverb of his says that the pig is cooked in its own lard, and as among his bad
qualities he has the good one of applying to himself all the criticisms and censures he
prefers to live miserable and indolent, rather than play the part of the wretched beast
of burden.
Add to this the introduction of gambling. We do not mean to san that before the
coming of the Spaniards the natives did not gamble: the passion for grumbling is
innate in adventuresome and excitable races, and such is the Malay. Pigafetta tells us
of cock-fights and of bets in the Island of Paragua. Cock-fighting must also have
existed in Luzon and in all the islands, for in the terminology of the game are two
Tagalog words: sabong, and tari (cockpit and gaff). But there is not the least doubt
that the fostering of this game is due to the government, as well as the perfecting of it.
Although Pigafetta tells us of it, he mentions it only in Paragua, and not
in Cebu nor in any other island of the south, where he stayed longtime. Morga does
not speak of it, in spite of his having spent seven years in Manila, and yet he does
describe the kinds of fowl, the jungle hens and cocks. Neither does Morga, speak of
gambling, when he talks about vices and other defects, more or less concealed,
more or less insignificant. Moreover, excepting the two Tagalog words sabong and tari,
the others are of Spanish origin, as soltada (setting
the cocks to fight, then the fight itself), presto, (apuesta, bet), logro (winnings), pago
(payment), sentenciador (referee), case (to cover the bets), etc. We say the same about
gambling: the word sugal (jugar, to gamble), like kumpisal (confesar, to confess to a
priest), indicates that gambling was unknown in the Philippines before the
Spaniards. The word lar (Tagalog, to play) is not the equivalent of the word sunni. The
word balasa (baraja, playing-card) proves that the introduction of playing-cards was
not due to the Chinese, who have a kind of playing-cards also, because in that case
70
they would have taken the Chinese name. Is not this enough? The word tay (taltar, to
bet), paris-paris (Spanish pares, pairs of cards), politana (napolitana, a winning
sequence of cards), sapore (to stack the cards), kapote (to slam), monte, and so on, all
prove the foreign origin of this
terrible plant, which only produces vice, and which has found in the character of the
native a fit soil, cultivated by circumstances.
Along with gambling, which breeds dislike for steady and difficult toil by its
promise of sudden wealth and its appeal to the emotions, with the lotteries, with the
prodigality and hospitality of the Filipinos, went also, to swell this train of misfortunes,
the religious functions, the great number of fiestas, the long masses for the women to
spend their mornings and the novenaries to spend their afternoons, andthe night, for
the processions and rosaries. Remember that lack of capital and absence of means
paralyze all movement, and you will see
how the native has perforce to be indolent for if any money might remain to him from
the trials, imposts and exactions, he would have to give it to the curate for bulls,
scapularies, candles, novenaries,etc. And if this does not suffice to form an indolent
character, if the climate and nature are not enough in themselves to daze him
and deprive him of all energy, recall then that the doctrines of his religion teach him to
irrigate his fields in the means of canals but with masses and prayers; to preserve his
stock during an epizootic with holy water, exorcisms and benedictions that cost five
dollars an animal; to drive away the locusts by a procession
with the image of St. Augustine, etc. It is well, undoubtedly, to trust greatly in God;
but it is better to do what one can and not trouble the Creator every moment, even
when these appeals redound to the benefit of His ministers. We have noticed that the
countries which believe most in miracles are the laziest, just, as spoiled
children are the most ill-mannered. Whether they believe in miracles to palliate their
laziness or they are lazy because they believe in miracles, we cannot say; but the fact
is the Filipinos were much less lazy before the word miracle was introduced into their
language.
The facility with which individual liberty is curtailed, that continual alarm of all
from the knowledge that they are liable to secret report, a governmental ukase, and to
the accusation of rebel or suspect, an accusation which, to be effective, does not need
proof or the production of the accuser. With that lack of confidence in the future,
that uncertainty of reaping the reward of labor, as in a city stricken with the plague,
everybody yields to fate, shuts himself in his house or goes about amusing himself in
the attempt to spend the few days that remain to him in the least disagreeable way
possible.
The apathy of the government itself toward everything in commerce and

agriculture contributes not a little to foster indolence. There is no encouragement, at
all for the manufacturer or for the farmer; the government furnishes no aid either
71
when poor crop comes, when the locusts (23) sweep over the fields, or when a cyclone
destroys in its passage the wealth of the soil; nor does it take any trouble to seek a
market for the products of its colonies. Why should it do so when these same products
are burdened with taxes and imposts and have not free entry into the ports, of the
mother country, nor is their consumption there encouraged? While we see all the walls
of London covered with advertisements of the products of its colonies, while the
English make heroic efforts to substitute Ceylon for Chinese tea, beginning with the
sacrifice of their taste and their stomach,
in Spain, with the exception of tobacco, nothing from the Philippines is known: neither
its sugar, coffee, hemp, fine cloths, nor its Ilocano blankets. The name of Manila is
known only from those cloths of China
or Indo-China which at one time reached Spain by way of Manila, heavy silk shawls,
fantastically but coarsely embroidered, which no one has thought of imitating in
Manila, since they are so easily made; but the
government has other cares, and the Filipinos do not know that such objects are more
highly esteemed in the Peninsula than their delicatepia, embroideries and their very
fine jusi fabrics. Thus disappeared
our trade in indigo, thanks to the trickery of the Chinese, which the government could
not guard against, occupied as it was with other thoughts; thus die now the other
industries; the fine manufactures of the Visayas are gradually disappearing from trade
and even from use; the people, continually getting poorer, cannot afford the costly
cloths and have to be content with calico or the imitations of the Germans, who
produce imitations even of the work of our silversmiths.
The fact that the best plantations, the best tracts of land in someprovinces,
those that from their easy access are more profitable than others, are in the hands of
the religious corporations, whose desideratum is ignorance and a condition of semi-
starvation for the native, so that they may continue to govern him and make
themselves
necessary to his wretched existence, is one of the reasons why many towns do not
progress in spite of the efforts of their inhabitants. We will be met with the objections,
as an argument on the other side, that the towns which belong to the friars are
comparatively richer than those which do not belong to them. They surely are! Just as
their brethren in Europe, in founding their convents, knew how to select the best
valleys, the best uplands for the cultivation of the vine or the production of beer, so
also the Philippine monks (25) have known
how to select the best towns, the beautiful plains, the well-watered fields, to make of
them rich plantations. For some time the friars have deceived many by making them
believe that if these plantations were prospering, it was because they were under their
care, and the indolence of the native was thus emphasized; but they forget that in
same provinces where they have not been able for some reason to get possession of the
best tracts of land, their plantations, like Baurand and Liang, are inferior to Taal,
72
Balayan and Lipa, regions cultivated entirely by the natives without any monkish
interference whatsoever.
Add to this lack of material inducement the absentee of moral stimulus, and
you will see how he who is not indolent in that country must needs be a madman or at
least a fool. What future awaits him who distinguishes himself, him who studies, who
rises above the crowd? At the cost of study and sacrifice a young man becomes a great
chemist, and after a long course of training, wherein neither the government nor
anybody has given him the least help, he concludes his long stay in the University. A
competitive examination is held to fill a certain position. The young man wins this
through knowledge and perseverance, and after he has won it, it is abolished, because
......... we do not care to give the reason, but when a municipal laboratory is closed in
order to abolish the position of director, who got his place by competitive examination,
while other officers, such as the press censor, are preserved, it is because the belief
exists that the light of progress may injure the people more than all the adulterated
foods (26). In the same way, another young man won a prize in a literary competition,
and as long as his origin was unknown his work was discussed, the newspapers
praised it and it was regarded
as a masterpiece, but the sealed envelopes were opened, the winner proved to be a
native, while among the losers there were Peninsulars; then all the newspapers
hastened to extol the losers! Not one word from the government, nor from anybody, to
encourage the native who with so much affection was cultivating the language and
letters of the mother country! (27)
Finally, passing over many other more or less insignificant reasons, the
enumeration of which would be interminable, let us close this dreary list with the
principal and most terrible of all: the education of the native.
From his birth until he sinks into his grave, the training of the native is
brutalizing, depressive and antihuman (the word 'inhuman' is not sufficiently
explanatory: whether or not the Academy admit it, let it go). There is no doubt that the
government, some priests like the Jesuits and some Dominicans like Padre Benavides,
have done a great deal by founding colleges, schools of primary instruction, and the
like. But this is not enough; their effect is neutralized. They amount to five or ten
years (years of a hundred and fifty days at most) during which the youth comes in
contact with books selected by those very priests who boldly proclaim that it is an evil
for the natives to know Castilian, that the native should not be separated from his
carabao, that he should not have any further aspirations, and so on; five to ten years
during which the majority of the students have grasped nothing more than that no one
understands what the books say, not even the professors themselves perhaps; and
these five to ten years have to offset the daily preachment of the whole life, that
preachment which lowers the dignity of man, which by degrees brutally deprives him
of the sentiment of self-esteem, that eternal, stubborn, constant labor to bow the
73
native's neck, to make him accept the yoke, to place him on a level with the beast--a
labor aided by some persons, with or without the ability to write, which if it does not
produce in some individuals the desired effect, in others it has the opposite effect, like
the breaking of a cord that is stretched too tightly. Thus, while they attempt to make
of the native a kind of animal, vet in exchange they demand of him divine actions. And
we say divine actions, because he must be a god who does not become indolent in that
climate, surrounded by the circumstances mentioned. Deprive a man, then, of his
dignity, and you not only deprive him of his moral strength but you also make him
useless even for those who wish to make use of him. Every creature has its stimulus,
its mainspring: man's is his self-esteem. Take it away from him and he is a corpse,
and he who seeks activity in a corpse will encounter only worms.
Thus is explained how the natives of the present time are no longer the same as
those of the time of the discovery, neither morally or physically.
The ancient writers, like Chirino, Morga and Colin, take pleasure in describing
them as well-featured, with good aptitudes for any thing they take up, keen and
susceptible and of resolute will, very clean and neat in their persons and clothing, and
of good mien and bearing. (Morga). Others delight in minute accounts of
their intelligence and pleasant manners, of their aptitude for music, the drama,
dancing and singing; of the facility with which they learned, not only Spanish but also
Latin, which they acquired almost by themselves (Colin); others, of their exquisite
politeness in their dealings and in their social life; others, like the first
Augustinians, whose accounts Gaspar de San Augustin copies, found them more
gallant and better mannered than the inhabitants of the Moluccas. "All live off their
husbandry," adds Morga, "their farms, fisheries and enterprises, for they travel from
island to island by sea and from province to province by land."
In exchange, the writers of the present time, without being better than those of
former times, neither as men nor as historians, without being more gallant than
Hernan Cortez and Salcedo, nor more prudent than
Legazpi, nor more manly than Morga, nor more studious than Colin and Gaspar de
San Agustin, our contemporary writers, we say, find that the native is a creature
something more than a monkey but much less than a man, an anthropoid, dull-
witted, stupid, timid, dirty, cringing, grinning, ill-clothed, indolent, lazy, brainless,
immoral, etc., etc.
To what is this retrogression due? Is it the delectable civilization, the religion of

salvation of the friars, called of Jesus Christ by a euphemism, that has produced this
miracle, that has atrophied his brain, paralyzed his heart and made of the man this
sort of vicious animal that the writers depict?
74
Alas! The whole misfortune of the present Filipinos consists in that they have
become only half-way brutes. The Filipino is convinced that to get happiness it is
necessary for him to lay aside his dignity as a rational creature, to attend mass, to
believe what is told him, to pay what is demanded of him, to pay and forever to pay; to
work,
suffer and be silent, without aspiring to anything, without aspiring to know or even to
understand Spanish, without separating himself from his carabao, as the priests
shamelessly say, without protesting against any injustice, against any arbitrary
action, against an assault, against an insult; that is, not to have heart, brain or spirit:
a creature with arms and a purse full of gold ............ there's the ideal native!
Unfortunately, or because the brutalization is not yet complete and because the
nature of man is inherent in his being in spite of his condition, the native protests; he
still has aspirations, She thinks and strives to rise, and there's the trouble!
V.In the preceding chapter we set forth the causes that proceed from the government
in fostering and maintaining the evil we are discussing. Now it falls to us to analyze
those that emanate from the people. Peoples and governments are correlated and
complementary: a fatuous government would be an anomaly among righteous people,
just as a corrupt people cannot exist under just rulers and wise laws. Like people, like
government, we will say in paraphrase of a popular adage.
We can reduce all these causes to two classes: to defects of training and lack of
national sentiment.
Of the influence of climate we spoke at the beginning, so we will not treat of the
effects arising from it.
The very limited training in the home, the tyrannical and sterile education of
the rare centers of learning, that blind subordination of the youth to one of greater
age, influence the mind so that a man may not aspire to excel those who preceded him
but must merely be content to go along with or march behind them. Stagnation
forcibly results from this, and as he who devotes himself merely to copying divests
himself of other qualities suited to his own nature, he naturally becomes sterile; hence
decadence. Indolence is a corollary derived
from the lack of stimulus and of vitality.
That modesty infused into the convictions of every one, or, to speak more
clearly, that insinuated inferiority, a sort of daily and constant depreciation of the
mind so that, it may not be raised to the regions of light, deadens the energies,
paralyzes all tendency toward advancement, and at the least struggle a man gives up
without
fighting. If by one of those rare accidents, some wild spirit, that is, some active one,
excels, instead of his example stimulating, it only causes others to persist in their
75
inaction. 'There's one who will work for us: let's sleep on!' say his relatives and friends.
True it is that the spirit of rivalry is sometimes awakened, only that then
it awakens with bad humor in the guise of envy, and instead of being a lever for
helping, it is an obstacle that produces discouragement.
Nurtured by the example of anchorites of a contemplative and lazy life, the

natives spend theirs in giving their gold to the Church in the hope of miracles and
other wonderful things. Their will is hypnotized: from childhood they learn to act
mechanically, without knowledge of the object, thanks to the exercises imposed upon
them from the tenderest years of praying for whole hours in an unknown tongue, of
venerating things that they do not understand, of accepting beliefs that are not
explained to them to having absurdities imposed upon them, while the protests of
reason are repressed. Is it any wonder that with this vicious dressage of intelligence
and will the native, of old logical and consistent--as the analysis of his past and of his
language demonstrates--should now be a mass of dismal contradictions? That
continual struggle between reason and duty, between his organism and his new
ideals, that civil war which disturbs the peace of his conscience all his life, has the
result, of paralyzing all his energies, and aided by the severity of the climate, makes of
that eternal vacillation, of the doubts in his brain, the origin of his indolent
disposition.
"You can't know more than this or that old man!" "Don't aspire to be greater
than the curate!" "You belong to an inferior race!" "You haven't any energy!" This is
what they tell the child, and as they repeat it so often, it has perforce to become
engraved on his mind and thence mould and pervade all his actions. The child or
youth
who tries to be anything else is blamed with vanity and presumption; the curate
ridicules him with cruel sarcasm, his relatives look upon him with fear, strangers
regard him with great compassion. No forward
movement! Get back in the ranks and keep in line!
With his spirit thus moulded the native falls into the most pernicious of all
routines: routine not planned, but imposed and forced. Note that the native himself is
not, naturally inclined to routine, but his mind is disposed to accept all truths, just as
his house is open to all strangers. The good and the beautiful attract him, seduce and
captivate him, although, like the Japanese, he often exchanges the good for the evil, if
it appears to him garnished and gilded. What he lacks is in the first place liberty to
allow expansion to his adventuresome
spirit, and good examples, beautiful prospects for the future. It is necessary that his
spirit, although it may be dismayed and cowed by the elements and the fearful
manifestation of their mighty forces, store up energy, seek high purposes, in order to
struggle against obstacles in the midst of unfavorable natural conditions. In order
76
that he may progress it is necessary that a revolutionary spirit, so to speak, should
boil in his veins, since progress necessarily requires change; it implies the overthrow
of the past, there deified, by the present; the victory of new ideas over the ancient and
accepted ones. It will not be sufficient to speak to his fancy, to talk nicely to him, nor
that the light illuminate him like the ignis fatuus that leads travelers astray at night;
all the flattering promises of the fairest hopes will not suffice, so long as his spirit is
not free, his intelligence not respected.
The reasons that originate in the lack of national sentiment are

still more lamentable and more transcendental.
Convinced by the insinuation of his inferiority, his spirit harassed by his

education, if that brutalization of which we spoke above can be called education, in
that exchange of usages and sentiments among different nations, the Filipino, to
whom remain only his susceptibility and his poetical imagination, allows himself to be
guided by his fancy and his self-love. It is sufficient that the foreigner praise to him
the imported merchandise and run down the native product for him to hasten to make
the change, without reflecting that everything has its
weak side and the most sensible custom is ridiculous in the eyes of those who do not
follow it. They have dazzled him with tinsel, with strings, of colored glass beads, with
noisy rattles, shining mirrors and other trinkets, and he has given in return his gold,
his conscience, and even his liberty. He changed his religion for the
external practices of another cult; the convictions and usages derived from his climate
and needs, for other usages and other convictions that developed under another sky
and another inspiration. His spirit,well-disposed toward everything that looks good to
him, was then transformed, at the pleasure of the nation that forced upon him its
God and its laws, and as the trader with whom he dealt did notbring a cargo of useful
implements of iron, hoes to till the fields, but stamped papers, crucifixes, bulls and
prayer-books; as he did not have for ideal and prototype the tanned and vigorous
laborer, but the aristocratic lord, carried in a luxurious litter, the result
was that the imitative people became bookish, devout, prayerful; it acquired ideas of
luxury and ostentation, without thereby improving the means of its subsistence to a
corresponding degree.
The lack of national sentiment brings another evil, moreover, which is the
absence of all opposition to measures prejudicial to the people and the absence of any
initiative in whatever may redound to its good. A man in the Philippines is only an
individual, he is not a member of a nation. He is forbidden and denied the right of
association, and is therefore weak and sluggish. The Philippines are an organism
whose cells seem to have no arterial system to irrigate it or nervous system to
communicate its impressions; these cells must, nevertheless,
77
yield their product, get it where they can: if they perish, let them perish. In the view of
some this is expedient so that a colony may be a colony; perhaps they are right, but
not to the effect that a colony may flourish.
The result of this is that if a prejudicial measure is ordered, no one protests; all
goes well apparently until later the evils are felt. Another blood-letting, and as the
organism has neither nerves nor voice the physician proceeds in the belief that the
treatment is not injuring it. It needs a reform, but as it must not speak, it keeps silent
and remains with the need. The patient wants to eat, it wants to breathe the fresh air,
but as such desires may offend the susceptibility of the physician who thinks that he
has already provided everything necessary, it suffers and pines away from fear of
receiving scolding, of getting another plaster and a new blood-letting,
and so on indefinitely.
In addition to this, love of peace and the horror many have of accepting the few
administrative positions which fall to the Filipinos on account of the trouble and
annoyance these cause them places at the head of the people the most stupid and
incapable men, those who submit to everything, those who can endure all the caprices
and exactions of the curate and of the officials. With this inefficiency in the lower
spheres of power and ignorance and indifference in the upper, with the frequent
changes and the eternal apprenticeships, with great fear and
many administrative obstacles, with a voiceless people that has neither initiative nor
cohesion, with employees who nearly all strive to amass a fortune and return home,
with inhabit, ants who live in great hardship from the instant they begin to breathe,
create prosperity, agriculture and industry, found enterprises and companies, things
that still hardly prosper in free and well-organized communities.
Yes, all attempt is useless that does not spring from a profound study of the evil
that afflicts us. To combat this indolence, some have proposed increasing the native's
needs and raising the taxes. What has happened? Criminals have multiplied, penury
has been aggravated. Why? Because the native already has enough needs with his
functions of the Church, with his fiestas, with the public offices forced on him, the
donations and bribes that he has to make so that he may drag out his wretched
existence. The cord is already too taut.
We have heard many complaints, and every day we read in the papers about
the efforts the government is making to rescue the country from its condition of
indolence. Weighing its plans, its illusions and its difficulties, we are reminded of the
gardener who tried to raise a tree planted in a small flower-pot. The gardener spent his
days tending and watering the handful of earth, he trimmed the plant frequently, he
pulled at it to lengthen it a he grafted on it cedars and oaks, until one day the little
tree died, leaving the man convinced that it belonged to a degenerate species,
78
attributing the failure of his experiment to everything except the lack of soil and his
own ineffable folly.
Without education and liberty, that soil and that sun of mankind, no reform is
possible, no measure can give the result desired. This does not mean that we should
ask first for the native the instruction of a sage and all imaginable liberties, in order
then to put a hoe in his hand or place him in a workshop; such a pretension would be
an absurdity and vain folly. What we wish is that obstacles be not put in his way, that
the many his climate and the situation of the islands afford be not augmented, that
instruction be not begrudged him for fear that when he becomes intelligent he may
separate from the colonizing nation or ask for the rights of which he makes himself
worthy. Since some day or other he will become enlightened, whether the government
wishes it or not, let his enlightenment be as a gift received and not as conquered
plunder. We desire that the policy be at once frank and consistent, that is, highly
civilizing, without sordid reservations, without distrust, without fear or jealousy,
wishing the good for the sake of the good, civilization for the sake of civilization,
without ulterior thoughts of gratitude, or else boldly exploiting, tyrannical and selfish
without hypocrisy or deception, with a whole system well-planned and studied out for
dominating by compelling obedience, for commanding to get rich, for getting rich to be
happy. If the former, the government may act with the security that some day or other
it will reap the harvest and will find a people its own in heart and interest; there is
nothing like a favor for securing the friendship or enmity of man, according to whether
it be conferred with good will or hurled into his face and bestowed upon him in spite of
himself. If the logical and regulated system of exploitation be chosen, stifling with the
jingle of gold and the sheen of opulence the sentiments of independence in the
colonies, paying with its wealth for its lack of liberty, as the English do in India, who
moreover leave the government to native rulers, then build roads, lay out highways,
foster the freedom of trade; let the government heed material interests more than the
interests of four orders of friars; let it send out intelligent employees to foster industry;
just judges, all well paid, so that they be not venal pilferers, and lay aside all religious
pretext. This policy has the advantage in that while it may not lull the instincts of
liberty wholly to sleep, yet the day when the mother country loses her colonies she will
at least have the gold amassed and not the regret of having reared ungrateful children.
COMPREHENSION
CHECK
Direction: Write true if the statement is true and false if the statement is false
______ 1. Spanish officials believed that indolence was a cause of stupidities
______ 2. Redemption is possible even though there is no virtue
_______3. The crimes of others were attributed to indolence.
_______4. One of the duty of the society is to correct the bad attitudes of his
79
members
_______5. Many factors explained why indolence existed in the Philippines
________6. Indolence was encouraged by the friars.
________7. The wars carried on by Spain encouraged indolence.
_______8. Lack of moral supports fostered Indolence.
_______9. Many Spanish writers testified that the Filipinos were industrious
_______10. Indolence among the Filipinos was hereditary.
ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITY
1. Discuss the reasons why the Filipinos did not work hard during the time of
Rizal.
Rubrics
5- Discussion is properly organized, every paragraph has a topic with
complete
details
4-Discussion is properly organized, every paragraph has a topic with details
3 -Discussion is properly organized, most paragraph has a topic with details
2- Discussion is organized, most paragraph has a topic with few details
1- Discussion is poorly organized, paragraph has a topic with few details
80
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MODULE 2: APPRAISAL OF SELECTED POEMS AND

Write an essay on the celebration of “Linggo ng Wika “

Tagalog and the Latin language are the same

Our mother tongue, like all the highest that we know

Whenever people of a country truly love

For language is the final judge and referee

Whoever knows not how to love his native tongue

Tagalog and the Latin language are the same

Our mother tongue, like all the highest tht we know

LEGAL BASIS IN THE CELEBRATION OF LINGGO NG WIKA

CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS IN THE USE OF FILIPINO

Section 6. The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be

Section 7. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of

Section 9. The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of

Sponsored by: The ChanRobles Group

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7104

AN ACT CREATING THE COMMISSION ON THE FILIPINO LANGUAGE,

Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. — Pursuant to the mandate of the Constitution, it is

Sec. 4. Creation of the Commission on the Filipino Language. — There is hereby

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Sec. 5. Composition of the Commission. — The Commission shall be composed of

Sec. 6. Appointment and Qualifications of Commissioners. — The commissioners

Sec. 11. Organizational Structure. — The Commission shall determine its

(g) Call on any department, bureau, office, agency or any instrumentality of

Sec. 15. Franking Privilege. — The publications of the Commission, such as

Approved: August 14, 1991

 THROUGH EDUCATION THE MOTHERLAND RECEIVES LIGHT

 Make a compilation of at least poems regarding Education

Rizal hoped his countrymen to seek knowledge in order to live a life of

The vital breath of prudent Education

Where Education reigns on lofty seat

So he who prudent Education doth procure

The glory of true education is inestimable for the individual’s

And as in early morning we behold

THROUGH EDUCATION OUR MOTHERLAND RECEIVES LIGHT

For her a mortal-man will gladly part

With all he has; will give his calm repose;

Where Education reigns on lofty seat

And as the spring doth sustenance bestow

From out his lips the water, crystal pure,

Within the breast of wretched humankind

And as the mighty rock aloft may tower

On sapphires shall his service be engraved,

And as in early morning we behold

Programs on education made the dreams of Rizal a reality now.

1. Make a compilation of at least five poems relative to Education

TO THE FILIPINO YOUTH

 State the message of the “ To the Filipino Youth”

The Licio-Literario de Manila , an association of arts lovers in Manila regularly

Hold high the brow serene,

He urged the singer to dissipate man’s sorrow.

TO THE PHILIPPINE YOUTH

Hold high the brow serene,

Come down with pleasing light

Thou, who now wouldst rise

Thou, who by sharp strife

And thou, in accents clear

Go forth, and then the sacred fire

Day, O happy day,

Translated by Charles Derbyshire