During the inception of the 19th century, the burgeoning of the agrarian economy served the benefit of the Inquilinos or the native lessees of the Dominican Hacienderos. The inquilinos mostly from Central Luzon such as the family of Dr. Jose Rizal benefited from this sudden rise of agro-economy. This boom paved the way for natives to afford education for their children. As supported by the words of the American Historian John Schumacher, the start of the nationalist movement in the late years of the nineteenth century almost became impossible without the Economic growth which occured during this period.
Summary of the thought ‘Illustrados during the Philippine Revolution’
In contrast, the enlightenment of the natives cannot be exclusively linked with economic prosperity but can also be also be traced with educational reform during the time. The 1863 royal decree which provided a system of compulsory education with free instruction for the poor enabled basic education for well-known Illustrados with impoverish background such as Emilio Jacinto and Apolinario Mabini. In a paper written by Majul (1978) for the National conference of Asian studies he stated that the reasons behind this decree is to efficiently teach the natives Christian religion and to give leverage to the native civilization during that time.
Although Schumatcher clearly nuanced that there are no direct discussions about Nationalism or liberalism in institutions providing education beyond Parochial Catechetical learning such as the Ateneo, the basic principles of humanism, science and philosophy satiated the instigation of principles of human dignity and equality of men. Hence the natives who had access to education were enlightened with the injustices, thus paving the way for the making of the so called Illustrados. During that time, the unimaginable oppression of the Spanish colonizers pushed the enlightened ones to vie for reform. In this paper, I would emphasize three entities which contributed to the enlightenment of these people, first would be the land disputes, the abuses of the clergy, and the economic backlash to the Filipinos.
Rizal
In Dr. Jose Rizal’s La Indolencia de los Filipinos he conceded that the Pre-colonized Philippines focused on agriculture. Although this industry continued during the Spanish colonization Filipinos lost the upper hand to earn full benefit from the industry. This may be because the ownership of the lands was handed to the Friars and was only leased to Filipino inquilinos at such a high rate. In the essay “The Making of the Nation” by Schumatcher he emphasized that the prosperity in the agricultural economy during the 19th century fueled the conflicts between the friars and the natives as the former enormously raised the value of rents for the lands. This then led to the questioning of the rightfulness of these foreign clergy to the Haciendas.
In addition, according to Sonia and Gregorio Zaide in their book published in 1994, before Rizal went home from his studies in Europe, he was already well aware of the exacerbation of the land conflicts in Central Luzon which later pushed him to send a report of his investigation in the injustices to the colonial government. His report included how the Hacienda owners never gave back for the education of the children, the fiestas or for the betterment of the farmlands while also emphasizing the continuous rise of the rental for the farmlands.
In their book they stated that this report amplified the already incepting rage from the Friars because of the earlier Publication of his novel Noli me Tangere which depicted the foreign oppression towards the Filipino people. Transitioning liberal Filipinos saw that the policies of Spain hinder their existing economic prosperity, this then lead the to the eagerness of reformists to get the ownership of the lands in their own country. This is evident in Rizal’s establishment of La Liga Filipina where he included Agriculture as one of the objectives of the association. Clearly, these land disputes led to the aggravation of the Illustrados such as Rizal himself.
Jaena
Next to the conflicts in land, the issues on the abuses of the Clergy is also a triggering factor to the reformist mindset of the Illustrados. In the beginning, the colonizers used religion to lure Filipinos to favor their patronage due to their newly brought “salvation”. although, the abuse of this patronage reflected after were only realized after centuries of abuse and malpractice. Witnessed by the well-known illustrado, Graciano Lopez Jaena during his visits to the poor in Iloilo where he felt deep empathy due to the unflagging injustices that the locals experienced under the hands of the friars. Due to this, at the age 18 he wrote “Fray Botod” which personified a fat and promiscuous priest who used his authority to abuse the people under his church. This metaphorical character emblematized the continuous assault of the Clerical institutions to his fellowmen. These secular abuses lead to the martyrdom of the three priests Padre Mariano Gomez, Padre Jose Burgos and Padre Jacinto Zamora who’s famously known as Gomburza. and was famous for fighting for the native clergy and for championing the secularization of the churches.
According to the paper written by Cesar Majul for the national conference in Asian Studies on year 1978 the martyrdom of these three priests converted a racial issue into a national one. Obviously, most of the works of the revolutionists during that time is pointing out to anti-clericalism. This hatred may be rooted to all the secular malpractice that is prevalent during the Spanish colonization. In likelihood, these clerical assaults amplified the Illustrados’ thirst for reform.
Del Pilar
Lastly, let’s tackle the economic backlash of the colonization to the Filipinos. In Marcello H. Del Pilar’s Monastic Supremacy in the Philippines, he mentioned how the Spanish government failed to make sources of revenues for the Filipino people and how these Friars make his fellowmen pay out of fear of displeasing them rather than fanaticism. This goes align with Rizal’s writing called the indolence of the Filipinos in which he mentioned that one of the reasons why Filipinos are indolent is because of the extremely high tax of the Spanish government. In his analysis, he stated that this hindered the Filipinos to work harder because majority of their labor pay goes to the taxes.
In Jose Rizal’s annotation of Governor Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas Rizal cognized the good trading relationship and economy of the Philippines before the Spanish came. The holistic backlash of the economic culture that westerners instigated may have fueled the hunger of the Illustrados to seek change for them, for the people and for the country. After their awakening, these enlightened ones took minute steps towards the reduction of civil imbalances, they continued to support their Propaganda Movement through establishing publications such as La Solidaridad which was led by Graciano Lopez Jaena who was later succeeded by Marcelo H. del Pilar.
The initial plight of this publication is to increase the awareness of the Spaniards about what the Philippines as a colony needs and to instigate a closer relationship between Spain and the colony. It may be easy to assume that these Illustrados asked for absolute independence due to the fact that the revolution they led eventually spurred into a pseudo independence in the illusion of US alliances, in contrast to this belief an article written by Augusto v. De Viana for the National Historical Commission of the Philippines he supported the idea that reformists such as Jaena, Del Pilar and Rizal advocated not for separatism but for the conversion of the Philippines from a colony into a province of Spain. To be able to fully understand there must be a clear discussion on the Individual views of the Triumvirate who initiated the plights for reform such as Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo H. del Pilar and Dr. Jose Rizal.
Establishment of Nationalism
Earlier in this paper, it was mentioned that the establishment of the publication la Solidaridad was under the illustrado, Graciano Lopez Jaena. In a deeper comprehension, this publication became the pedestal of all the succeeding steps of the Propaganda movement. According to the editorial he wrote in the publication, the objectives of it were the following: to fight reaction; to defend liberalism and to continue progressive ideas to avoid the exacerbation of the Philippines as a colony. Copies of this paper were smuggled to the Philippines in secret and was sent to educated Filipinos. Historians believed that the propaganda movement was initiated by Jaena since he was the first among the triumvirate to be ever exiled in Spain. Other than this, his iconic writing Fray Botod perfectly depicted the secular injustices to the Filipinos which became his greatest contribution to the awakening of his fellowmen.
Next to his leadership in the la Solidaridad was a successor in the person of Marcelo H. del Pilar, in contrast to Jaena who continuously fought for reform until his death in 1896, del Pilar realized that reform is no longer enough to instigate changes in the Philippines due to the prevalent abuse of power. Out of all the spearheads of the revolution it is said that del Pilar was the one who inspired Andres Bonifacio the most. He was so intimately connected to the leaders of Katipunan, that according to Zaide in year 1956 Andres Bonifacio kept del Pilar’s letters to the formers brother-in-law and considered them as relics and a basis for revolutionary action.
In his articles published in a republican newspaper in Spain, he attacked the political authority that the clergy had in the Philippines and continuously defended the narratives in Rizal’s Noli me Tangere. During that time, a friar named Fr. Jose Rodriguez issued pamphlets directly attacking the novels of Rizal. To counter the influence, del Pilar wrote a satirical tagalog pamphlet called Caiingat Cayo under the pseudo name Dolores Manapat.
In that writing, he defended Rizal by posting ad hominem on the exploitation of the friars on religion to traffic his fellowmen. Del Pilar was regarded by Governor General Ramon Blanco as “el alma des Seperatism en Filipinas” which is translated as “The true soul of separatism in the Philippines far more dangerous than Rizal” this may be because of his contributions in la Solidaridad and how he gathered local communities to hold discussions against the abuses of the friars which became his nuanced contribution to the awakening of the Filipino Nation. Despite the exclusive contributions of del Pilar the most famous of these triumvirate is still the National hero Dr. Jose Rizal.
Rizal is famously known for his works Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo which opened the eyes of majority of the filipinos. Although, beyond the knowledge of many, historians such as Aguilar and Schumatcher believed that one his biggest contribution is his scientific writings about the autochthony of Filipinos. Famous historian Aguilar stated that Rizal read countless scientific books to be able to perfectly envision the standards of living before Spanish colonization. When Rizal’s close friend Blumentritt mentioned the presence of a rare copy of Antonio de Morga’s book Sucesos de las islas Filipinas, he took advantage of it and annotated Morga. Copies of Rizal’s annotation were sent to Manila and was instantly in demand.
As Ambeth Ocampo stated, the book was already out of print in a year of continuous publication. This demand then led to the ban of this book which can rooted out of the fear of Colonizers for the Filipinos to wake up in cognizance that their heritage was already systemic and strong before the coming of the Spaniards.
His writing helped the confrontation of the collective curiosity of Filipinos about their true identity and personality. Rizal further amplified this question in his writing entitled The Philippines, a century hence where the extinction of the indigenous culture was replaced with swords and cross which according to him led to the destruction of the native Philippine culture. In the essay, he emphasized how the goal of collective ignorance failed because of the rise of great Filipino minds such as himself. This greatness is further exemplified in his Iconic novels, Noli me tangere and El Filibusterismo. Anderson in his essay on year 2003 mentioned that the birth of Noli me Tangere is a milestone on the “progression” of the Philippines. The premise of this is the lucid narration of the assaults towards the Filipinos.
In Anderson’s essay he discussed the meaningful metaphors that Rizal used. Such as the personality of Padre Damaso who symbolized the abusive friars and the iconic Crisostomo Ibarra who like the Illustrados, wanted change for the country. The big contribution of this book is the shared concession of the natives that there is indeed a problem with the system oppressing them. In effect, this made Filipinos seek more reform and changes for themselves. This is evident in the plead of the women of Malolos to the Spanish Government to give them education. In which, the national hero himself acknowledged in a letter addressed to the women of Malolos. The plead for rights to education enormously impressed Rizal and realized that there may be hope if his natives start dreaming for themselves. On the other hand, the stands of Rizal regarding the revolution is pretty unclear.
Historian Teodoro Agoncillo believed that Rizal was an idealist dreamer who thought that Filipinos could be taught under the Spanish regime, in contrast Dr. Gregoria Zaide supported that idea that Rizal supported the revolution in his essay “ Was Rizal against the Revolution” where he cited a memoir written by the katipunero named Venezuela who stated that the reaction of Rizal towards their proposal of a revolution meant that their revolution is only premature but is possible in future time. Up to now, there’s still an unending debate to whether Rizal is vying for a revolution or not. Regardless, his contribution in the making of the identity and the eagerness of the Filipino people to create their own nation is strongly acknowledged and felt through generations.
Conclusion
To answer the queston, does these thinkers really are successful in construction the thought of Filipino Nation? I would say yes. Looking back on the roots of how the Filipino people has been oppressed due to colonialism, I would say that the thought of unity among Filipinos in establishing their rights. Be it as it may, knowing the fact that some of Illustrados only went for reform and assimilation of the Philippines as a province of spain, the upheaval of the so called equality of the spaniards and the Filipino was the important part and thus, fueled the thought of establishing the Filipino nation in the following years. Looking in the contemporary period in which considering the thought of establishment of Filipino nation, there are a lot of factors in which affects the nationalism of Filipinos. Especially in the economic aspect which is the rise of globalization which from my view, will emerge and will never stop.
