MODULE 1: THE RIZAL LAW (RA 1425)
The first section of the law concerns mandating the
This lesson introduces the learners to the Rizal Law (RA
1425).It highlights the history of how the bill became law,
particularly what necessitated its proponents to propose the
bill. It likewise presents issues behind the deliberation and
approval of the law focusing on the arguments made by both
the proponents and opponents of the law.
The Rizal was as controversial as Jose Rizal himself.
The mandatory Rizal subject in the Philippines was
the upshot of this bill, which later became a law in 1956. The
bill involves mandating educational institutions in the country
to offer a course on the hero‘s life, works and writings,
especially the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The
transition from a bill to becoming a republic act was, however,
not easy as the proposal was met with intense opposition,
particularly from the Catholic Church.
Largely because the issue, then senator Claro M.
Rector- the main proponent of the Rizal Bill – was even
dubbed as the communist and an anti-Catholic. Catholic
schools threatened to stop operation if the bill was passed
though Recto calmly countered the threat, stating that if that
happened, the schools would be nationalized. Afterward
threatened to be punished in future elections, Recto remained
undeterred. Concerning the suggestion to use instead the
expurgated (edited) version of Rizal‘s novel as mandatory
readings, Recto explained his firm support for the expurgated
version exclaiming:‖ The people who would eliminate the
books of Rizal from the schools would blot out from our
minds and memory of the national hero. This is not a fight
against Recto but a fight against Rizal‖. (Ocampo 2012, p.23).
The bill was eventually passed, but with a clause that
would allow exemptions to students who think that reading the
Noli and Fili would ruin their faith. In other words, one can
apply to the Department of Education for exemption from
reading Rizal‘s novel –though not from taking the Rizal
subject. The bill was enacted on June 12, 1956.
RA 1425 and Other Rizal Laws
The Rizal Bill became the Republic Act no. 1425,
known as the ―Rizal Law‖. The fullname of the law is ―An Act
to Include in the Curricula of All Public and Private Achools,
Colleges and Universities Courses on the Life, Works and
Writings of Jose Rizal, Particularly His Novels Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the Printing and
Distribution Thereof, and for Other Purposes.‖
 Whereas, today, more than any other period of our
history, there is a need for a re-dedication to the ideals of
freedom and nationalism for which our heroes lived and
died;
 Whereas, it is meet that in honouring them, particularly
the national hero and patriot, Jose Rizal, we remember
with special fondness and devotion their lives and works
that have shaped the national character;
 Whereas, the life , works, and writings of Jose Rizal,
particularly his novels Noli me Tangere and El
filibusterismo, are a constant and inspiring source of
patriotism with which the minds of the youth, especially
during their formative and decisive years in school,
should be suffused;
 Whereas, all educational institutions are under the
supervision of, and subject to regulation by the State, and
all schools are enjoined to develop moral character,
personal discipline, civic conscience and to teach the
duties of citizenship; Now, therefore,
students to read Rizal‘s novels. The last two sections involve
making Rizal‘s writings accessible to the general public---
they require the schools to have sufficient number of copies in
their libraries and mandate the publication of the works in
major Philippine languages.(For the full text of RA 1425, read
appendix A: The Republic Act no. 1425).
Jose P. Laurel, then senator who co-wrote the law,
explained that since Jose Rizal was the founder of the
country‘s nationalism and had significantly contributed to the
current condition of the nation, it is only right that Filipinos,
especially the youth, know about and learn to imbibe the great
ideals for which the hero died. Accordingly, the Rizal Law
aims to accomplish the following goals:
1. To rededicate the lives of the youth to the ideals of
freedom and nationalism, for which our heroes lived and
died.
2. To pay tribute to our national hero for devoting his life
and works in shaping the Filipino character; and
3. To gain and inspiring source of patriotism through the
study of Rizal‘s lifer, works, and writings.
So far, no student has yet applied for exemption from
reading Rizal‘s novels. Correspondingly, former President
Fidel V. Ramos in 1994, through Memorandum Order No.
247, directed the Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports
and the Chairman of the Commission on Higher Education to
fully implement the RA 1425 as there had been reports that the
law had still not been totally carried out in 1995. CHED
Memorandum No. 3 was issued enforcing strict compliance to
Memorandum Order No. 247.
Not known to many, there is another republic act that
concerns the national hero. Republic Act No. 229 is an act
prohibiting cockfighting, horse racing, and jai alai on the
thirtieth day of December of each year and to create a
committee to take charge of the proper celebration of Rizal
day in every municipality and chartered city, and for other
purposes.
Why Study Rizal?
In our present day, the challenge for students is to
understand the purpose of studying Rizal. Scholars and
academicians are one in saying that a mandated course on
Rizal is as helpful as any other course that teaches value that a
student may carry for the rest of his or her life.
Studying Rizal in the 21st century helps students
make sense of the present by looking back at the past. For
instance, Rizal‘s illustration pf 19th century Philippines in his
works and may aid today‘s generation in recognizing the ills
of present say Philippines.
With students exposed to many foreign influences,
studying Rizal may remind and urge them to understand the
real essence of being a Filipino. Significant historical figure lie
Rizal help the younger generation navigate Philippine history
and understand why being aware of social issues are important
in the formation of one‘s national identity.
The practicality of studying Rizal in this day and age
is seen in how‘s Rizal‘s experience s and ideologies are
instrumental in grasping the current context of Philippine
Society. The mandated course on Rizal aids in developing the
critical thinking skills of students. The different challenge and
dilemma‘s that Rizal faced in his life teaches them to be aware
of and not apathetic to the issues happening around them.
 mestizo and creole families, instilling in its place American.
Thanks to the spread of public education under Washington‘s
And finally, Rizal, then and now, is a worthy role auspices, American ended up (slightly) more widely
model ans constant inspiration to all Filipinos. In every aspect understood than any of the Philippine‘s ingenious vernaculars.
of his being, Rizal is worthy emulate especially in the ideals One result of these developments was that by 1950s, Rizal‘s
he held as a nationalist. He was not only intelligent, he was two novels had become inaccessible in their original form.
also humane, creative, and innovative. As an inspiration to the English translation did exist, but these had been composed,
Philippine nation. Rizal will always be valuable subject inside some by even foreigners, in the colonial era.
and outside the classroom in understanding how the Philippine
nation came to be. (by Clemente and Cruz, The life and Works (Anderson, Benedict. 2001. Hard to Imagine. In Spectre of
of Jose Rizal,2019 comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the world,
235-47 only. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University
The Rizal Law and Philippine Literature Press.)
What is literature? What is the function of literature?
What is its relation to society? Does society require literature?
There are a number of such questions that hit human mind. It
is through such question and answer method that the author
aims at cinematographing a few aspects of literature and
society. We all know that literature mirrors society. What
happens in a society is reflected in literary works in one form
or another. The literal meaning of literature is the art of written
work in different forms, such as, poetry, plays, stories, prose,
fiction etc. It may also consist of texts based on information as
well as imagination. A society is a group of people related
to each other through their continuous and uninterrupted
relations. It is also a group of likeminded people largely
governed by their own norms and values. Human society, it is
observed, is characterized by the patterns of relationship
between individuals who share cultures, traditions, beliefs and
values etc. If one looks at the history of society, one will find
that the nature of different societies has gone through changes
from the Palaeolithic period to the present age of Information
Technology. The people‘s living style, faiths, beliefs, cultures
etc. have never remained uniformly consistent. With the
passage of time, owing to changes taking place in environment
and with emergence of new technologies, we observe that the
societies have not remained stubborn with regards to their
norms and values, the reflections of which can be found in
different forms of literature.

Literature in a society is not only banned or

attempted to be banned because of mirroring the norms and
values, not found in conformity with that society, it is
sometime marginalized or vehemently opposed due to another
form of language it is written by ,and which is different from
what people have been using. In the context of depicting or
portraying the Epics in a language commonly used by the
people during that period, examples of strong opposition by a
different section of society, who not only use conventional or
traditional form of language but they feel proud of it
considering themselves as elite group, can be seen the world
over.

In the difficult late 1950s, the domestic controllers of

the Philippine state began preparations for an elaborate
centennial celebration of the birth of Dr. Jose Rizal on June
19, 1861. Not only Rizal the greatest national martyr- having
been executed by the collapsing Spanish colonial regime in
1896- but he was also a highly gifted poet, historian, scientist,
journalist, linguist, satirist, political activist, and above all,
novelists had long been generally agreed that his two novels,
Noli Me Tangere(published in Berlin in 1887) and El
Filibusterismo (published in Ghent in 1891), are the chefs
d‘oeuvre Of Philippine literature and had a central role in the
―awakening‖ of Filipino nationalism‖ Unluckily, the‖ First
Filipino‖ had composed these works in Spanish, the lingua
franca and language of cultivation of the late Spanish-colonial
period. Still more unfortunately, the American colonial regime
of 1899-1942 had by the end wiped out--- not wholly
intentionally --- the local use of Spanish except in the few rich
 MODULE 2: RIZAL AND THE THEORY OF
NATIONALISM
Rizal and Theory of Nationalism
Nationalism is best understood by first looking into
the term nation. Benedict Anderson, a prominent historian and
political scientist who explored the origins of nationalism,
defined the nation as a fabrication, a bond between people
who did actually exist prior to its own recognition. For him,
the nation ― is an imagined community- and imagined as both
inherently limited and sovereign‖ (2006). Anderson argues
that the nation is imagined as a community because regardless
of the actual inequalities that prevail, the nation is always
conceived as deep, horizontal comradeship. It is imagined
because it exists in the figment of the people‘s collective
imagination. According to Anderson, nation-ness is a cultural
artefact that is felt as having existed since time immemorial
but is objectively modern as it first emerged toward the end of
18th century.
Following this conceptualization by Anderson, the
Philippine nation is a imagined community because one who
identifies himself or herself as a Filipino will never meet all
the other Filipino will never meet all the other Filipinos
around the world, yet he or she is convinced that they exist
and he or she is related to them. Anderson also present the
concept of homogenous empty time, borrowed from the ideas
of Walter Benjamin, Which replaced the idea of simultaneity-
along-time which referred to the medieval conception of time
as situating events in the past, present, and future
simultaneously. Homogenous empty time suggest that a nation
can be imagined as a unit, moving through time. Rizal‘s works
and Nationalism- Anderson points out that Rizal Noli Me
tangere conjured an imagined community as if the readers and
the author were familiar to and intimate with each other, with
the characters and readers being situated in the same context
of time and space. The novel provided the means of
representing the nation as an imagined community that
operated on empty time enabling the reader to be omniscient
to see a delimited society and the actuations of key people in
it.
Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo emerged as
the founding texts of Philippine Nationalism. These novels
exposed the ills of Spanish colonial government and the evils
prevailing in the Philippine society by presenting a narrative
that contextualizes the country in terms of politics, economy,
and culture.
Rizal was able to go against the colonizers and show
how literature can be used to arouse people to be catalysts of
social change. In both his novels, Rizal was able to portray the
Filipino in different dimensions, from those who had colonial
mentality, to those who willingly fought for the country at all
costs. (The Life and Works of Rizal, Clemente and Cruz 2019,
P.19-20)
The Novel‘s Legacy -For fearlessly depicting the
corruptions and abuses by the Spaniards clergy and the
colonial government during the Spanish in the Philippines, the
two novels are historically very significant. Basically a social
sketch of the country then, the Noli and Fili reveal the true
setting and condition of the Filipino society in the era.
As essential sources of sociological and
anthropological studies, the books provide rich insights into
the culture of the 19th and 20th century Philippines. Their
realistic depictions expose a conflicted colonial society
seriously split between the oppressors and the suffering local
slaves. The novel‘s characters mimic the various elements and
types of individuals in the society. Furthermore, they show
favourable positive traits of the natives then, like the sense of
gratitude, the fidelity of women to their loved ones, and the
yearning for freedom and equality.
For their explicit portrayal of what the locals really
wished for their country, the books were instrumental in
forming the Filipinos (Indios) sense of national identity but
significantly, the novels influenced the revolution led by the
Katipunan as they inspired Andres Bonifacio and the other
revolutionaries in their cause.
Rizal was arrested, exiled to Dapitan, and ultimately
executed in 1896 based principally on his writings. In 1956,
the Spanish Congress passed the Rizal Law (Republic Act
1425) requiring all levels of the Philippine schools to teach as
part of the curriculum the hero‘s two novels.
Originally written in Spanish, the Noli and the Fili
had been translated into various languages like Filipino,
English, German, French, Chinese, and some other Philippine
languages. In 2007, an English version of the Noi Me Tangere
was released to major Australian bookstores. It was published
by Penguin Books Classics as part of the publication‘s
commitment to publish the major literary classic of the world.(
Life and works of Rizal Biography, Writings, and Legacies of
our Bayani, Manebog et.al 2018 p.126)
The Economic Context
At least four historical elements basically compose the
economic context of the era in which Jose Rizal was born: (a)
at the end of the Galleon Trade, (b) the opening of the Suez
Canal, (c) the rise of export of crops economy, and (d) the
established monopolies in the Philippines.
END OF GALEON TRADE
Our locals were already trading with China, Japan,
Siam (now Thailand), India, Cambodia, Borneo, and the
Moluccas (Spice Islands) when the Spanish colonizers came to
the Philippines. In 1565, the Spanish government closed the
ports of Manila to all countries except Mexico, thereby giving
birth to Manila-Acapulco Trade popularly known as the
―Galleon Trade‖
The Galleon Trade (1565-1815) was a ship (―galleon‖)
trade going back and forth between Manila (which actually
landed first in Cebu) and Acapulco, Mexico. It started when
Andres de Urdaneta, in convoy under Miguel Lopez de
Legazpi, discovered a return route from Cebu to Mexico in
1965. The trade served as central income-generating business
for Spanish colonist in the Philippines.
Through this trans-Pacific trade, the mango de Manila,
tamarind and rice, the carabao (known in Mexico by 1737),
the cockfighting, Chinese tea and textiles, fireworks display,
tuba (coconut wine) making went to Mexico. The return
voyage, on the other hand, brought numerous and valuable
fauna into the Philippines, including guava, avocado and
papaya, pineapple, horses, and cattle (―Galleon Trade,‖ n.d.).
Other consequences of this 250-year trade were the
intercultural exchanges between Asia (especially Philippines),
Spanish America and onward to Europe and Africa.
Because of the galleon trade, Manila became a trading
hub where China, India, Japan, and Southeast Asian countries
sent their goods to be consolidated for shipping. Those who
ran the hub and did most of the work were primarily Chinese.
They arrived in the Philippines in junky yearly, bringing goods
and workforce. With the huge migration of Chinese because of
the galleon trade, the Spaniards feared them and taxed them,
sent them out of the Parian and eventually, when tension rose,
massacred some of them. ―Such massacres were at their height
in the 17th century from suspicion, unease, and fear, until the
Spaniards and the Chinese learned to live with each other in
the few centuries‖ (Ongpin, n.d.).
The Manila Galleon Trade allowed modern, liberal
ideas to enter the Philippines, eventually and gradually
inspiring the movement for independence from Spain. On
September 14, 1815, the Galleon Trade ended with Mexico‘s
war of independence.
Previously, the Philippines was governed by Spain
from Mexico. The Spanish Crown took direct control of the
Philippines and administered it directly from Madrid. The
opening of the Suez Canal and the invention of stem ships,
which lessened the travel time from Spain to the country to 40
days, made this move convenient.
OPENING OF SUEZ CANAL
An artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, the Suez
Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through
the Isthmus of Suez. Constructed by Suez Canal Company
between 1859 and 1869 under the leadership of French
diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, it was officially opened on
November 17, 1869.
With the opening of the canal, the distance of travel
between Europe and the Philippines was considerably
abbreviated and thus virtually brought the country closer to
Spain. Before the opening of the canal, a steamer from
Barcelona had to sail around the Cape of Good Hope to reach
Manila after a menacing journey of more than three months.
With the Suez Canal, the voyage was lessened to only 32 to 40
days.
It‘s the opening of the Suez Canal became a huge
advantage in commercial enterprises especially between
Europe and East Asia. More importantly, it served as a
significant factor that enabled the growth of nationalistic
desires of Jose Rizal and other Filipino ilustrados.
The Suez Canal expedited the importation not only of
commercial products but also books, magazines, and
newspapers with liberal ideas from America and Europe,
which ultimately affected the minds of Rizal and other
Filipino Reformists. The political views of Western liberal
thinkers entered the Philippines. Furthermore, the reduced
route stimulated more and more Spaniards and Europeans with
liberal ideas to come to the country and interact with local
reformists.
The availability of the Suez Canal has also encouraged
the ilustrados, especially Jose Rizal, to pursue education
abroad and learn scientific and liberal in European academic
institutions. Their social dealings with the liberals in the West
have influenced their thoughts on nationhood, politics, and
government.
RISE OF THE EXPORT OF CROP ECONOMY
During the Galleon Trade, most of the Spaniards in the
Philippines were engrossed in maritime trading undertakings
between Manila and Mexico. The exploitation of the
Philippines‘ natural resources and the progress of an export
crop economy were phenomena of the nineteenth century, not
of Spanish rules early period.
Some years after the end of the Galleon Trade,
between 1820 and 1870, the Philippines was well on its way of
developing an export crop economy. Products such as sugar,
Manila hemp, and coffee were produced of foreign markets
while imported goods of the European factory industry found
their way into many parts of the Philippines. The various
economic activities in the new export-crop economy in the
country provided many opportunities for the expanding
Chinese population. Formerly concentrated in Manila, many
Chinese moved to province that produced export crops: the
hemp producing areas southeastern Luzon and the eastern
Visayas, the sugar area of western Visayas, and the tobacco
provinces of the northeastern Luzon.
The development of the export crop industry in the
Philippines was motivated by the commercial undertakings of
North European and North American merchants, who
provided capital, organization, and access to foreign markets
and sources of imports. But since they based their operations
in port cities, especially Manila, they needed agents who could
distribute imports in the interior and buy up goods for the
export. This role was assumed primarily by Chinese.
MONOPOLIES
Another main source of wealth during the post-galleon
trade era was monopoly contracting. After 1950, government
monopoly contracts for the collection of different revenues
were opened to foreigners for the first time. The Chinese
instantly took advantage of this commercial opportunity and
thus, for the rest of the 19th century, enjoyed a pre-eminent
position in monopoly contracting in the Philippines.
The opium monopoly was especially a profitable one.
During the 1840‘s, the Spanish government had legalized the
use of opium (provided that it was limited to Chinese) and a
government monopoly of opium importation sales was
created. The majority of contracts in the monopoly were held
by the Chinese.
But even before 1850, monopolies on some products
had been established, which were basically controlled by the
colonial government. There were monopolies of special crops
and items, such as spirituous liquors (1712-1864), betel nut
(1764), tobacco (1782-1882), and explosives (1805-1864).
Among these monopoly systems, the most controversial and
oppressive to locals was perhaps the tobacco monopoly.
On March 1, 1972, Governor General Jose Basco
placed the Philippine tobacco industry under government
control, thereby establishing the tobacco monopoly. It aimed
to increase government revenue since the annual subsidy
coming from Mexico was no longer sufficient to maintain the
colony. An order was thus issued for the widespread
cultivation of tobacco in the province of Cagayan Valley,
Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Isabela, Abra, Nueva
Ecija, and Marinduque.
These provinces planted nothing but tobacco and sold
their produce only to the government at a pre-designated price,
leaving little or no profit for the local farmers. The system set
the required number of tobacco plants that must be sold to
them by each family. Nobody was allowed to keep even a few
tobacco leaves for personal use, thereby forcing the local
farmers to buy the tobacco they themselves planted from the
government. Fines and/or physical punishments were
sanctioned to anyone who would transgress any of the decrees
under the system.
The colonial government exported the tobacco to other
countries and to the cigarette factories in Manila. The tobacco
monopoly positively raised revenues for the government and
made Philippine tobacco prominent all over Asia and some
parts in Europe. Negatively though, the monopoly brought
about food shortages since the planting of basic crops like rice
was somewhat neglected and abandoned.
 The tobacco monopoly was finally abolished in 1882.
(Some references state that tobacco monopoly in the
Philippines was from 1781 to 1881, not 1782 to 1882,
although most authors agree that it lasted for exactly 100
years.) A century of hardship and social injustice caused by
tobacco monopoly prompted Filipinos in general and Novo
Ecijanos in particular, to seek freedom from colonial bondage
SOCIAL BACKGROUND
Concerning the social picture of the 19th century
Philippines, at least three topics are needed to be discussed: (a)
education, (b) the rise of Chinese Mestizo, and (c) the rise of
inquilinos.
EDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY
With the coming of the Spanish colonizers, the
European system of education was somewhat introduced to the
archipelago. Schools were established and run by Catholic
missionaries.
Aiming to convert the natives to Catholic faith and
make them obedient, the colonial government and the Catholic
Church made religion a compulsory subject at all levels.
King Philp II‘s Leyes de Indios (Laws of the Indies)
Mandated Spanish authorities in the Philippines to educate the
locals, to teach them how to read and write and to learn
Spanish. The Spanish missionaries thus established schools,
somewhat educated the natives, but did not seriously teach
them the Spanish language, fearing that the Indios would
become so knowledgeable and turn out to be their co-equal.
Less than one-fifth of those who went to school could read and
write Spanish, and far fewer could speak the language
properly.
The first formal schools in the land were the parochial
schools opened in their parishes by their missionaries, such as
the Augustinians, Franciscans, Jesuits, and Dominicans. Aside
from religion, the native children were taught reading, writing,
arithmetic, and some vocational and practical arts subjects.
Aside from the Christian Doctrines, Latin (the official
language of the Catholic Church) was also taught to the
students instead of Spanish. The Spanish friars believed that
the natives would not be able to match their skills, and so one
way for the locals to learn fast was to use strict discipline,
such as applying corporal punishment.
Later on, colleges (which were equivalent of our high
school today) were established for boys and girls. There was
no co-education during the Spanish regime as boys and girls
studied separate schools. The subject taught to college
students included history, Latin, geography, mathematics, and
philosophy.
University education was opened in the country during
the early part of the 17th century. Initially, the colleges and
universities were open only to the Spaniards and those with
Spanish blood (mestizos). It was only in the 19th century that
these universities started accepting native Filipinos. Still
giving emphasis on religion, universities then did not earnestly
teach science and mathematics.
In 1863, a royal decree called for the establishment of
a public school system in the Philippines. Formerly run totally
by religious authorities, the education in the colony was thus
finally administered by the government during the first half of
the 19th century though even then the church controlled its
curriculum. Previously exclusive for Spaniards and Spanish
mestizos, university became open to natives though their
limited their accommodations to the sons of wealthy Indio
family.
Nonetheless, as a result of the growing number of
educated natives, a new social class in the country emerged,
which came to be known as the Ilustrados. But despite their
wealth and education, the Ilustrados were still deemed by the
Spaniards as inferior. One of the aims of the Ilustrados was to
be in the same level with the proud Spaniards.
With the opening of the Suez Canal, which made the
travel to Europe faster, easier, and more affordable, many
locals took advantage of the chance to pursue higher and better
education in that continent, typically in Madrid and Barcelona.
There, nationalism and the thirst for reformed bloomed in the
liberal atmosphere. The new enlightened class in the
Philippine society would later lead the Philippine
independence movement, using the Spanish language as their
key means of communication. Out of this talented group of
students from the Philippine arose what came to be known as
Propaganda Movement. The most prominent of the Ilustrados
was Jose Rizal, who inspired the craving for freedom and
independence with his novels written in Spanish.
THE RISE OF THE INQUILINOS
At least in modern Spanish, the term inquilino has the
same meaning as the English ―tenant.‖ Contextually, the 19th
Century Inquilino system in the Philippines is better
understood as a qualified system of tenancy, or the right to use
land in exchange for rent.
As earlier explained, the elimination of the Galleon
Trade and the opening of the Suez Canal gave way for more
intensive rice cultivation and production of crops, such as
sugar cane and tobacco. Consequently, many estates turned
progressively to the Inquilino system of the land tenure. But
since the friars and secular Spanish were normally absentee
landlords, estate management was granted to an administrator
who was typically a lay Spanish mestizo of Filipino lay
brother. During harvest time, the administrator would collect
the rent of the Inquilinos, organize the delivery of the harvests
to the local marker or to Manila, and remit the income from
sales and rents to the estate owners. In some estates though,
these farm duties were consigned to trusted Inquilinos. Acting
as overlords, some Inquilinos would make innumerable and
irrational demands from farm workers.
As friars estates enlarged, outlining the boundaries that
separated these estates from communal lands became a
common cause of conflict:
Disputes over communal woodcutting and grazing areas
occurred regularly between villages and estates, with their
latter denying to the farmer their traditional communal
privileges. In Bulacan, for instance, the villagers once
complained that the friars took illegal possession of their land
and to compound this crime, they even denied the use of rivers
for fishing and the forest for collecting firewood and wild
fruits. In Cavite and Laguna, the Dominicans and Tagalogs
frequently fought over border lands. In one incident, the
former claims that the pasture lands in a nearby mountain was
included in their land grant, while the latter denied this and
regularly killed the estate cattle grazing there. Land border
conflicts became so acute in these provinces that they serve as
catalysts for agrarian uprisings. (Sobritchea, n.d.)
There were also conflicts between estate owners and
workers. These stemmed from collection of excessive taxes
and land rent, the decline of sharing agreements, extreme
demands for labor services and capricious fixing of crop
prices:
―… the hacienda structure consisted of three strata: the estate
owner, the leaseholder of Inquilino and the tenant-
sharecropper. Between the owner and the Inquilino, however,
was the administrator who often demanded a share of the
produce, over and, above the stipulated land rent. Each year at
harvest time, the inquilino paid the land rent, separated the
seed, and divided the remaining crop equally between the
sharecropper and himself. Since the sharecropper was at the
bottom rung of the hierarchy, he suffered most abuses and
demands of the two non-producing sectors above him.‖
(sobritchea, n.d.)
Consequently, there were instances of peasants taking
arms to protest the alleged abuses and usurpation of their lands
by the Jesuits, Dominicans, Augustinians, and the Recollects.
The relative freedom, which the Inquilinos acquired by sub-
leasing their farms provided them a tactical advantage for
arranging and leading these peasant protest movements.
POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
The so-called political influences affecting the 19th
century-Philippines largely impacted the locals, particularly
Jose Rizal. Under these political influences, worthy of mention
are (a) Liberalism, (b) the impact of Bourbon reforms, and (c)
the Cadiz constitution.
LIBERALISM
Liberalism is a worldview founded on the ideas of
freedom and equality. It includes a wide range of political
philosophies that consider individual liberty to be the most
significant political goal, and underscore individual rights and
equality of opportunity. Liberals normally believe that
government is necessary to protect individuals from being
abused by others though they are also aware that government
itself can pose a threat to liberty.
The French revolution (1789-1799) started a political
revolution in Europe and consequently in some other parts of
the globe. ―Having ‗Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity‖ as its
battle cry, this period became a fundamental change in the
political history of France as the French government structure
was changed from absolute monarchy (with feudal privilege
for the rich and clergy) into a more liberal government system
founded on the principle of citizenship and inalienable rights.
As an eventual repercussion of the French revolution,
Spain later experienced a stormy century of political
disturbances, which included ―numerous changes in
parliament and constitutions, the Peninsular war, the loss of
Spanish America, and the struggle between liberals and
conservatives‖ (Vallano n.d.). The liberals in Spain considered
the Catholic Church, called anti-clericalism, had gained some
strength.
Radical modifications in government form were also
introduced by liberals in Spain. These political changes had
their repercussion in the Philippines, ―cracking the fabric of
the old colonial system and introducing through cracks
perilous possibilities of reform, of equality and even
emancipation‖ (De la Costa, as cited in Vallano n.d.)
When the Philippines was opened to the world trade in
the 19th century, liberal ideas from America carried by ships
and people from foreign ports started to penetrate the country
and sway the illustrados. These political thoughts included the
ideologies of the American and French revolutions.
Furthermore, the opening of the Suez Canal eased the
importation of books, magazines, and newspaper with liberal
ideas from the West, which eventually impacted the thought of
local reformists, such as Jose Rizal. The political views of
liberal thinkers, such as Jean Jacques Rousseau (Social
Contract), John Locke (Two Treatises of Government),
Thomas Paine (Common Sense), Thomas Jefferson,
Montesquieu, Voltaire, and some others thus entered the
Philippines.
The valuable canal also encouraged more and more
liberal Spaniards and Europeans to come to the country and
intermingle with natives. The abbreviated route has also
stimulated the ilustrados like Rizal to pursue higher studies
abroad in learn liberal ideas in European universities. For sure
their school interaction with liberals in foreign lands has
affected their beliefs on politics and nationhood.
Philippines‘ actual experience of liberalism comes
from the role modelling of the ―first liberal governor-general
in the Philippines,‖ Governor-General Carlos Maria De la
Torre. After the liberals in Spain had deposed Queen Isabela II
in 1868 mutiny, a provisional government was formed, and the
new government extended to Spain‘s colonies the reform they
implemented in the motherland. The liberal General Carlos De
la Torre was appointed by the provisional government as
Governor-General of the Philippines. He held the position
from 1869 to 1871, and as widely considered to be the most
beloved of the Spanish Governor-General ever assigned in the
country.
General De la Torre‘s rule was essential in the dawn of
national consciousness of the locals in the 19th century. His
liberal democratic governance had provided Jose Rizal and the
others a preview of a democratic rule and way of life:
―De la Torre put into practice his liberal and democratic ways
by avoiding luxury and living a simple life. During his two-
year term, Governor De la Torre had many significant
achievements. He encouraged freedom and abolished
censorship. He recognized the freedom of speech and of the
press, which were guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution.
Because of his tolerant policy, Father Jose Burgos and other
Filipino priests were encouraged to pursue their dream of
replacing the friars with Filipino clergy as parish priests in the
country. His greatest achievement was the peaceful solution to
the land problem in Cavite. This province has been the center
of agrarian unrest in the country since 18th century because
the Filipino tenants who lost their land had been oppressed by
Spanish landlords. Agrarian uprisings led by local hero,
Eduardo Camerino, erupted several times in Cavite. This
agrarian problem was only solved without bloodshed when
Governor De la Torre himself went to Cavite and had a
conference with rebel leader. He pardoned the latter and his
followers, provided them with decent livelihood and appointed
them as members of the police force with Camerino as
captain.‖ (Vallano, n.d.)
THE IMPACT OF THE BOURBON REFORMS
When the Spanish Bourbon King Philipp V (b. 1700-
1746) assented to the throne, he and his successors, Ferdinand
VI (r. 1746-1759), Charles III (r. 1759-1788), and Charles IV
(r. 1788-1807), advocated a century-long effort to reform and
modify the Spanish empire. These policy changes, known
jointly as the Bourbon reforms, endeavored to curtail
contraband commerce, reclaim control over transatlantic trade,
restrict the church‘s power, reform estate finances to fill
dwindling royal coffers, and found tighter administrative and
political control within the empire.
Ideally, the Bourbon reform policies were
advantageous to the Philippines, which was under Spain from
1565 to 1898. They surely impacted the way the colony was
run by Spanish administrators but only to limited extent. For
one thing, the Philippines was practically far from Spain, and
so it was hard for the Bourbon advocates to check if reform
policies were properly implemented in Spain‘s colony in the
far East.
Moreover, there were questionable maters as regards
the effectiveness of the Bourbon reform project. The policies
lacked some ideological coherence, with the diverse and
frequently contradictory aims of Madrid policy makers, who
struggled haltingly to balance the crown‘s several commercial,
administrative, fiscal, and military aims. The reform process
was also seen as so complex, much so that Spanish reformers
sometimes promoted distinctly different kinds of policies for
province in its diverse empire. Furthermore, there were
instances when European conflicts forced Charles IV to go
home from one policy to another by the mid-1790s to meet the
needs of financing Spain‘s wars.
As a consequence, there were very different impacts of
reform in the diverse Spanish empire, having deep
consequences of colonial policy innovations in areas, such as
Mexico, while in some other regions such as the Philippines,
Chile, and New Granada, the reforms had a much more limited
impact. But while historians are questioning the overall
timing, impact, and effectiveness of the Bourbon reforms, its
impact at least is it gave people, especially the natives in the
Philippines, the idea that colonization could be done without
much intervention from the Catholic Church.
THE CADIZ CONSTITUTION
During the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, liberal
constitution was promulgated in Cadiz in March 1812. Drafted
by elected representatives, the Cadiz Constitution was put in
practice in almost all the areas of the Hispanic Monarchy still
under control of the Spanish crown.
This milestone constitution had an impact on many
other European constitutions, as well as the American states
after independence. The Cadiz Constitution was the first
constitution in Europe to deal with national sovereignty,
recognizing sovereignty as coming from the people and not
from the king. Unlike the French constitution, which applied
to all French-speaking citizen of France, this Spanish
Constitution of 1812 had a universal character as it included
everyone from overseas, like the Italian kingdoms and even
the Philippines.
During the occupation of almost all of the Iberian
peninsula by the French army in that fateful year, a group of
around 300 deputies from Spain, Spanish America, and the
Philippines promulgated a liberal constitution in the
Mediterranean part of Cadiz. This became possible especially
because the city was protected by the British Navy.
The first delegates from the Philippines were Pedro
Perez de Tagle and Jose Manuel Coretto who took their oath
of office in Madrid. The Cadiz Constitution, which was
formally implemented in Manila soon after, established the
principles of universal male suffrage, national sovereignty,
constitutional monarchy, and freedom of the press, and
advocated land reform and free enterprises. Dealing with the
policies on Spain colonies including the Philippines, the
constitution issued a decree ―granting all its colonies
representation as provinces in Spanish cortes through deputies
chosen by the various capital cities‖ (Pedrosa, n.d.). Under the
Cadiz Constitution:
Governor General Manuel Gonzales Aguilar called
for an election of Manila officials which resulted in the
selection of Don Ventura de los Reyes, a wealthy merchant
and member of the Royal Corps of Artillery of Manila, as the
deputy. The Vigan-born Don Ventura de los Reyes was a son
of poor Ilocano parents. He took part in the Ilocos revolt led
by Diego Silang in 1762, but later on engaged in vegetable and
indigo business. He was one of the delegates who signed the
Constitution but it was only after a year that those in Manila
knew about the decree.‖ (Pedrosa n.d.)
The constitutional monarchy that the Cadiz
Constitution attempted to put in place did not come to fruition
because in May of 1814, King Fernando VII declared it
invalid and restored absolutism. However, Cadiz was a very
significant period in the political history of Spanish-speaking
world at least. On the part of the locals in the Philippines, one
crucial creed embodied in the constitution was the exemption
of the natives from paying tributes and rendering public
services based on its equality clause.
For the freedom-loving people of the Philippines in
the 19th century, the constitution was very influential as it was
a liberal constitution, which vested sovereignty in the people,
recognized the equality of all men and the individual liberty of
the citizen, granted the right of suffrage.
Seeing Rizal’s Life in His Society
In various social sciences, it is a widely accepted
principle that we see the life on an individual in his/her
society, and society in the life of individual. This is precisely
the reason that 19th century Philippines, as Rizal‘s society, is
discussed here as a preliminary in studying the hero‘s life and
works.
One unique feature of Rizal, nonetheless, is that he did
not only know the valuable information about his society but
also had a quality of mind that helped him use the information
in a way that he could think about what was going on in the
world and of what might be happening within himself.
Sociologists call this quality of mind the ―sociological
imagination.‖
Having this sociological imagination, people can view
their inner life and career in terms of larger historical forces.
Those who possess this quality of mind can understand their
own experiences by locating themselves in history; they can
recognize the response available to them by becoming aware
of all of the individuals who share the same situation as
themselves.
People who cannot locate their lives in history are
unlikely to know how to respond effectively to a world in
which the lives of people around the globe are interconnected
and which one society‘s problems are part of larger global
problems. On the other hand, those who have the sociological
imagination can grasp history in the context of realities they
face and the connections between the two. As will discussed in
this book, Rizal had this quality---he knew his place in the
greater scheme of things, he understood the societal forces
shaping his life, and thus able to respond in ways that
benefited others.
 MODULE 4: THE ASCENDANCE OF THE CHINESE
MESTIZO
The Rise of Chinese Mestizo
At the beginning of the 19th century, economic and
political changes in Europe were finally starting to affect
Spain and, consequently the Philippines. Significant as an
impetus to broader trade was the gradual abolition of the
monopoly enjoyed by the Manila-Acapulco Galleon. Upon the
elimination of the galleon trade, Manila became open to
foreign merchants almost without restriction by the mid-
1830s. The demand for Philippine sugar and abaca (hemp)
grew swiftly, and the amount of exports to European countries
increased even more after the opening of the Suez Canal in
1869.
The development of commercial agriculture in the
archipelago resulted in the presence of a new class. Alongside
the landholdings of the church and the rice estates of the pre-
Spanish nobility, there emerged haciendas of sugar, coffee,
and hemp, typically owned by enterprising Chinese-Filipino
mestizos. In fact, some of the families which attained
reputation in the 19th century have continued to play a role in
the country‘s economics and politics.
In a larger perspective, the fast rhythm of economic
progress in the Philippines during the 19th century expedited
by some mentioned factors resulted in the rise of a new breed
of rich and influential Filipino middle class. Non-existent in
earlier centuries, this class, composed of Spanish and Chinese
mestizos ascended to a position of power in the Philippine
society and in due course became leaders in education and
finance. These middle class included:
―…the ilustrados who belong to the landed gentry and who
were highly respected in their respective pueblos or towns,
though regarded as filibusteros or rebels by the friars. The
relative prosperity of the period has enabled them to send their
sons to Spain and Europe for higher studies. Most of them
later became members of freemasonry and active in the
Propaganda Movement. Some of them sensed the failure of
reformism and turned to radicalism, and looked up to Rizal as
their leader.‖ Vallano, n.d.)
Our knowledge is still insufficient to allow us to
assess the overall significance of the mestizo in Philippine
history. But on the basis of what we now know we can make
some generalizations and some hypotheses for future study. It
is clear, in the first place, that the activities I have described
are those of Chinese mestizos – not Spanish mestizos. While
the Chinese mestizo population in the Philippines exceeded
200,000 by the late nineteenth century, the Spanish mestizo
population was probably never more than 35,000.
Furthermore, those who commented at all on the Spanish
mestizo noted that he was interested in military matters or the
―practical arts‖ – never in commerce. The aptitudes and
attitudes of the Chinese mestizo were in sharp contrast to this.
Secondly, the Chinese mestizo rose to prominence
between 1741 and 1898, primarily as a landholder and a
middleman wholesaler of local produce and foreign imports,
although there were also mestizos in the professions. The rise
of the mestizos implies the existence of social change during
the Spanish period, a condition that has been ignored or
implicitly denied by many who have written about the
Philippines. It needs to be emphasized that the mestizo impact
was greatest in Central Luzon, Cebu, and Iloilo. We cannot as
yet generalize about other areas.
Third, the renewal of Chinese immigration to the
Philippines resulted in diversion of mestizo energies away
from commerce, so that the mestizos lost their change to
become a native middle class, a position then taken over by
the Chinese.
Fourth, the Chinese mestizos in the Philippines
possessed a unique combination of cultural characteristics.
Lovers of ostentation, ardent devotees of Spanish Catholicism
– they seemed almost more Spanish than the Spanish, more
Catholic than the Catholics. Yet with those characteristics they
combined a financial acumen that seemed out of place.
Rejecters of their Chinese heritage, they were not completely
at home with their indio heritage. The nearest approximation
to them was the urbanized, heavily-hispanized indio. Only
when hispanization had reached a high level in the nineteenth
century urban areas could the mestizo find a basis of rapport
with the indio. Thus, during the late nineteenth century,
because of cultural, economic, and social changes, the
mestizos increasingly identified themselves with the indios. in
a new kind of ―Filipino‖ cultural and national consensus.
Those are my conclusions. Here are some hypotheses, which I
hope will stimulate further study:
1. That today's Filipino elite is made up mostly of the
descendants of indios and mestizos who rose to
prominence on the basis of commercial agriculture in the
lattetf part of the Spanish period. That in some respects
the latter part of the Spanish period was a time of greater
social change, in terms of the formation of contemporary
Philippine society, than the period since 1898 has been.
2. That in the process of social change late in the Spanish
period it was the mestizo, as a marginal element, not
closely tied to a village or town, who acted as a kind of
catalytic agent. In this would be included the penetration
of money economy into parts of the Philippines. There
were areas where the only persons with money were the
provincial governors and the mestizos.
3. That the Chinese mestizo was an active agent of
hispanization and the leading force in creating a Filipino
culture characteristic now of Manila and the larger towns.
4. That much of the background explanation of the
Philippine Revolution may be found by investigating the
relationships between landowning religious orders,
mestizo inquilinos, and indio kasamahan laborers.
It is my hope that these hypotheses may stimulate
investigation into this important topic which can tell us so
much about economic, social, and cultural change during- the
Spanish period of Philippine history
Significance of the Chinese Mestizo
The expulsion of Chinese immigrants in the
Philippines enabled the Chinese mestizo to take over the
markets that the former previously controlled. Chinese
mestizos became prominent ad influential figure in the area of
industry, commerce, and business during Spanish
colonization. They owned most profitable business by
collecting goods from the northern part of the Philippines and
used to sell them in Manila and nearby provinces. Chinese
mestizos monopolized the internal trading while the Spanish
mestizos gave way to the emergence of the Philippine middle
class described as ―more active and enterprising, more prudent
and pioneering, more oriented to trade commerce than the
Indios‖ (Bowring 1963). They shared economic power in
terms of exports. They became landholders, wholesalers,
retailers, and owners of the majority of the artisan shops.
Another significant role played by the Chinese
mestizos in the Philippine society was the formation of the
Filipino identity. This was evident during the latter part of the
19th century when they became clearly influential in the
economy of the Philippines as a Spanish colony. This caused
the Spaniards to be concerned with the ability of the Chinese
mestizos to cause discord in the society. By 1800, Chinses
mestizos in the provinces began to form opinions regarding
the Spanish colonial rule. It was not easy to separate Indios
from the Chinese mestizos since they identified themselves
with each other socially and culturally. Chinese mestizos
shared grievances with the Indios. Evidently, this emerges,
this emergent middle class, the Chinese mestizos, revive and
increase the growing national opposition to colonial abuses
and demanded sweeping social reform.
The most realistic manifestation of the budding sense
of Filipino nationalism appeared in the late 1870‘s in the
writings of Pedro Peterno and Gregorio Sanciano who were
both Chinese mestizos, Paterno and Sanciano wrote about the
essence of being a Filipino, defended the dignity of the
Filipinos, and explained the supposed indolence of the Indios.
Their writings were nurtured by Jose Rizal, a known pride of
the Malay race but also a Chinese mestizo. Rizal descended
from a pure Chinese ancestor and a long line of Chinese
mestizos and mestizas.
The significant role of the Chinese mestizos in the
making of the nation was highly evident of the turn of the
century. Their involvement in the armed revolt against
colonizers showed that they recognized Spain as the enemy –
the oppressor. The Philippine Revolution of 1896 to 1898 was
the act of determination on the part of Filipinos – Indios and
Chinese mestizos alike – to claim for themselves and for
future generations the incomparable birthright of nationhood.
MODULE 5: FAMILY, CHILDHOOD, AND EARLY
EDUCATION OF RIZAL
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado Y Alonzo Realonda was
born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna. The seventh son
of eleven children born to a relatively well-off family in a
Dominican-owned tenant land in Calamba, Laguna, Jose Rizal
lived and died during the Spanish colonial era in the
Philippines.
In his early childhood, Jose had mastered the
alphabet and learned to write and read. His early readings
included Spanish version of the Vulgate Bible. At a young
age, he already showed inclination to the arts. He amazed his
family by his pencil drawings, sketches, and moldings of clay.
Later in his childhood, he showed special talent in painting
and sculpture, wrote a Tagalog play, which was presented at a
town fiesta (and later penned a story play in Spanish, which
was presented in school.
RIZAL'S FAMILY
Don Francisco Mercado
Jose‘s father, Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado, was a
productive farmer from Biñan, Laguna. He was an
independent-minded, taciturn, but dynamic gentleman from
whom Jose inherited his ―free soul‖. Don Francisco became
tiniente gobernadorcillo (lieutenant governor) in Calamba and
was thus nicknamed tiniente Kiko. (Some student‘s comical
conjecture that the fictional Character Kikong Matsing of
Batibot was named after Don Francisco is, of course,
unfounded.)
Francisco‘s great grandfather was Domingo Lam-co, a
learned pro-poor of maka-masa Chinese immigrant
businessman who married a sophisticated Chinese mestiza of
Manila named Ines de la Rosa. One of their two children,
Francisco (also), resided in Biñan and married Bernarda
Monicha. Francisco and Bernarda‘s son, Juan Mercado,
became the gobernadorcillo (town mayor) of Biñan, Laguna.
He married Cirila Alejandra, they had 12 children, the
youngest being Jose Rizal‘s father, Francisco.
Don Francisco was born on May 11, 1818 in Biñan,
Laguna. When he was eight years old, he lost his father. He
was nonetheless educated as he took Latin and Philosophy at
the College of San Jose in Manila, where he met and fell in
love with Teodora Alonzo, a student in the College of Santa
Rosa. Married on June 28, 1848, they settled down in Calamba
where they were granted lease of a rice farm in the
Dominican-owned haciendas.
Doña Teodora Alonzo
Jose‘s mother, Teodora Alonzo (also spelled
―Alonso‖), was born and educated and highly cultured woman
from Sta. Cruz, Manila. Common biographies state that Doña
Teodora Alonzo Quintos Realonda, known as ―Lolay‖, was
born on November 8, 1926 in Sta. Cruz, Manila. Strangely
however, the volume in the church books that supposedly
contained Teodora‘s baptismal records was the only one
missing from the otherwise complete record down to the
eighteenth century (Ocampo, 2012, p.39). Asuncion Rizal-
Lopez Bantug, the granddaughter of Jose‘s sister Narcisa,
contrarily claims that Lola Lolay and all her siblings were
born in Calamba, but (just) lived in Manila (Bantug &
Ventura, 1997. P. 18).
Doña Lolay was educated at the College of Sta. Rosa,
an esteemed school for girls in Manila. She was usually
described as a diligent business-minded woman, very graceful
but courageous, well-mannered, religious, and well-read. Very
dignified, she disliked gossip and vulgar conversation.
Possessing refined culture and literary talents, she influenced
her children to love the arts, literature, and music. Herself an
educated woman, Lolay sent her children to colleges in
Manila. To help in the economy of the family, she run sugar
and flour mills, and a small store in their house, selling home-
made ham, sausages, jams, jellies, and many others. (Looking
back, her business, in a way, predated the meat-processing
commerce of the Pampangueños today and the ube jam
production of some nuns in Baguio.)
It is believed that Doña Teodora‘s family descended
from Lakandula, the last native king of Tondo. (For young
Filipino generations, Lakandula has to be distinguished from
the unofficial Hari ng Tondo, Asiong Salonga, the Manila
kingpin who was immortalized in the movie recently by
Laguna‘s own governor E. R. Ejercito.)
Lolay‘s great-grandfather was Eugenio Ursua (of
Japanese descent) who married a Filipina named Benigna.
Regina, their daughter, married a Filipino-Chinese lawyer of
Pangasinan, Manuel de Quintos. Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo, a
well-off Spanish-Filipino mestizo in Biñan, took as his
―significant other‖ Brigida Quintos, daughter of Manuel and
Regina Quintos. The Lorenzo-Brigida union produced five
children, the second of them was Jose‘s mother, Teodora
Alonzo Quintos.
Through the Claveris decree of 1849 which changed
the Filipino native surnames, the Alfonsos adopted the
surname Realonda, Rizal‘s mother thus became Teodora
Alonzo Quintos Realonda.
Jose’s Siblings
 Saturnina Rizal (1850-1913) is the eldest child of Don
Francisco and Teodora Alonzo. She and her mother
provided the little Jose with good basic education that by
the age of three, Pepe‘s Jose‘s nickname) already knew
his alphabet.
 Paciano Rizal, Jose‘s only brother, was born on March 7,
1851 in Calamba, Laguna. He was fondly addressed by
his siblings as Ñor Paciano, short for ―Señor Paciano.‖
The 10-year older brother of Jose studied in San Jose
College in Manila, became a farmer, and later a general of
the Philippine revolution. After Jose‘s execution in
December 1896, Paciano joined the Katipuneros in Cavite
under General Emilio Aguinaldo. Paciano was
commissioned as general of the revolutionary forces and
elected as secretary of finance in the Department
Government of Central Luzon.
 Narcisa Rizal (1852-1939) or simply ―Sisa‖ was the third
in the family. Later in history, Narcisa (like Saturnina)
would help in financing Rizal‘s studies in Europe, even
pawning her jewelry and peddling her clothes if needed. It
was said she could recite from memory almost all of the
poems of our national hero.
 Olympia Rizal (1855-1887) was the fourth child in the
Rizal family. Jose loved to teas her, sometimes good-
humoredly describing her as his stout sister. Jose‘s first
love, Segunda Katigbak, was Olympia‘s schoolmate at the
La Concordia College. Rizal confided to Olympia (also
spelled ―Olimpia‖) about Segunda, and the sister willingly
served as mediator between the two teenage lovers.
 Lucia Rizal (1857-1919) was the fifth child in the family.
She married Mariano Herbosa of Calamba, Laguna.
Charged of inciting the Calamba townsfolk not to pay
land rent and causing unrest, the couple was ordered to be
deported along with some Rizal family members. (Lucia‘s
husband died during the cholera epidemic in May 1889
and was refused a Catholic burial for not going to
confession since her marriage to Lucia, in Jose‘s article in
La Solidaridad tiled Una profanacion (A Profanation), he
scornfully attacked the friars for declining to bury in
―sacred ground‖ a ―good Christian‖ simply because he
was the ―brother-in-law of Rizal.‖)
 Maria Rizal (1859-1945) was the sixth child in the
family. It was to her whom Jose talked about wanting to
marry Josephine Bracken when the majority of the Rizal
family was apparently not amenable to the idea. In his
letter dated December 12, 1891, Jose had also brought up
to Maria his plan of establishing a Filipino colony in
North British Borneo. In his letter dated December 28,
1891, Jose wrote to Maria, ―I‘m told that your children
are very pretty.‖ Today, we have historical proof that
Maria‘s progenies were indeed nice-looking (lahing
maganda). Maria and Daniel had five children: Mauricio,
Petrona, Prudencio, Paz, and Encarnacion. Their son
Mauricio married conception Arguelles and the couple
had a son named Ismael Arguelles Cruz. Ismael was the
father of Gemma Cruz Araneta, the first Filipina to win
Miss International title, also the first Southeast Asian to
win an international beauty-pageant title.
o Also called ―Concha‖ by her siblings,
Concepcion Rizal (1862-1865) was the eight
child of the Rizal family. She died at the age of
three. Of his sisters, it was said that the young
Pepe loved most the little Concha who was a
year younger than he. Jose played games and
shared children stories with her, and from her he
left the beauty of the sisterly love at a young age.
 Josefa Rizal’s nickname is ―Panggoy‖ (1965-1945H).
She was the ninth child in the family. Panggoy died a
spinster. Among Jose‘s letter to Josefa, the one date
October 26, 1893 was perhaps the most fascinating.
Written in English, the letter addressed Josefa as ―Miss
Josephine Rizal.‖ (After Jose‘s martyrdom, the epileptic
Josefa joined the Katipunan and was supposed to have
been elected the president of its woman section. She was
one of the original 29 women admitted to the Katipunan
along with Gregoria de Jesus, the wife of Andres
Bonifacio. They safeguarded the secret papers and
documents of the society and danced and sung during
sessions so that civil guards would think that the meetings
were just harmless social gatherings.)
 Trinidad Rizal (1868-1951) or ―Trining‖ was the tenth
child. Historically, she became the custodian of Rizal‘s
last and greatest poem. Right before Rizal‘s execution,
Trinidad and their mother visited him in fort Santiago
prison cell. As they were leaving, Jose handed over to
Trining an alcohol cooking stove, a gift from the Pardo de
Taveras, whispering to her in a language, which the guard
could not understand, ―there is something in it.‖ That
something was Rizal‘s elegy now known as ―Mi Ultimo
Adios.‖ Like Josefa, Paciano, and two nieces, Trinidad
joined the Katipunan after Jose‘s death.
o Also called ―Choleng‖, Soledad Rizal (1870-
1929) was the youngest child of the Rizal family.
Being a teacher, she was arguably the best-
educated among Rizal‘s sisters. In his long meaty
letter to Choleng dated June 6, 1890 (―Jose Rizal
on Facebook Courtship,‖ 2013), Jose told her
sister that he was proud of her becoming a
teacher. He thus counseled her to be a model of
virtues and good qualities ―for the one who
should teach should be better than the persons
who need her learning.‖ Rizal nonetheless used
the topic as leverage in somewhat rebuking her
sister for getting married to Pantaleon Quintero
of Calamba without her parent‘s concent.
―Because of you,‖ he wrote, ―the peace of our
family has been disturbed.‖
Choleng‘s union with Pantaleon, nonetheless, resulted in the
Rizal‘s family‘s becoming connected by affinity to Miguel
Malvar (the hero who could have been listed as the second
Philippines President for taking over the revolutionary
government after Emilo Aguinaldo‘s arrest in 1901). Soledad
and Pantaleon had five children: Trinitario, Amelia, Luisa,
Serafin, and Felix. Their daughter Amelia married Bernabe
Malvar, son of Gen. Miguel Malvar.
The Surname Rizal
Had their forefathers not adopted other names, Jose
and Protacio could have been known as ―Lamco‖ (and not
Rizal) brothers.
Their paternal great-great grandfather, Chinese
merchant Domingo Lamco adopted the name ―Mercado‖
which means ―market‖. But Jose‘s father, Francisco, who
eventually became primarily a farmer, adopted the surname
―Rizal‖ (originally ―Ricial‖, which means ―the green of the
young growth‖ or ―green fields‖). The name was suggested by
a provincial governor who a friend of the family. The new
name, however, caused confusion in the commercial affairs of
the family. Don Francisco thus settled on the name ―Rizal
Mercado‖ as a compromise, and then just used his more
known surname ―Mercado.‖
When Paciano was a student at the College of San
Jose, he used ―Mercado‖ as his last name. But because he had
gained notoriety with his links to father Burgos of the
―Gomburza,‖ he suggested that Jose use the surname ―Rizal‖
for Jose‘s own safety.
 Commenting on using the name ―Rizal‖ at Ateneo,
Jose once wrote: ―My family never paid much attention [to our
second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me
the appearance of an illegitimate child!‖ (As cited in Arriza,
2012, para. 8)
But this very name suggested by Paciano to be used
by his brother became so well known by 1891, the year Jose
finished his El Filibusterismo. As Jose wrote to a friend, ―All
my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado
because the name Rizal means persecution! God! I too want to
join them and be worthy of this family name…‖ (as cited in
Arriza, 2012 para. 8).
Rizal’s Birth
Doña Teodora was said to have suffered the greatest
pain during the delivery of her seventh child, Jose. Her
daughter Narcisa recalled: ―I was nine years of age when my
mother gave birth to Jose. I recalled it vividly because my
mother suffered great pain. She labored for a long time. Her
pain was later attributed to the fact that Jose‘s head was bigger
than normal‖ (as cited in ―Lola Lolay.‖ 2013, para 8).
Jose Rizal was born in Calamba. In 1848, his parents
decided to build a home in this town in Laguna, Southern
Luzon. The name Calamba was derived from kalan-banga,
which means ―clay stove‖ (kalan) and ―water jar‖ (banga).
Jose‘s adoration of its scenic beauty---punctuated by
the sights of Laguna de Bay, Mount Makiling, palm-covered
mountains, curvy hills, and green fields---was recorded in the
poem he would later write at Ateneo de Manila in 1876, Un
Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo (In Memory of My Town). (If Rizal‘s
poem were written today, he might mention the tree-floor SM
mall, shopping centers and the South Luzon Expressway
(SLEX) terminus in the place. A city since 2001, Calamba is
said to have earned the nickname resorts in the place today.)
The first massive stone house (or bahay na bato) in
Calamba was the very birthplace of our national hero. It was a
rectangular two-storey building, built of adobe stones and
solid wood, with sliding capiz windows. Its ground floor was
made of lime stone, the second floor of hard wood, except for
the roof, which was of red tiles. There was an azotea and a
water reservoir at the back. Its architectural style and
proximity to the church implied Rizal family‘s wealth and
political influence.
The Childhood of a Phenom
A phenom is someone who is exceptionally talented
or admired, especially an up-and-comer. Rizal, especially
during his childhood, was none less than a phenom.
Jose‘s first memory, in his infancy, was his happy days
in their family garden when he was three years old. Their
courtyard contained tropical fruit trees, poultry yard, a carriage
house, and a stable for the ponies. Because the young Pepe
was weak, sickly, and undersized, he was given the fondest
care by his parents, so his father built a nipa cottage for Pepe
to play in the daytime.
Memory of his infancy included nocturnal walk in the
town, especially when there was a moon. Jose recalled the
―aya‖ 9nursemaid) relating to the Rizal children in their home
to pray the Angelus. At the early age of three, he started to
take a part in the family prayers.
When Concha died of sickness in a865, Jose
mournfully wept at losing her. He later wrote in his memoir,
―When I was four years old, I lost my little sister Concha, and
then for the first time I shed tears caused by love and grief‖
(―Memoirs of a Student,‖ n.d., para. 3).
At the age of five, the young Pepe learned to read
Spanish the family Bible, which he would refer to later in his
writings. Rizal himself remarked that perhaps the education he
received since his earliest infancy was what shaped his habits
(―Memoirs of a Student,‖ n.d., para. 3).
As a child, Rizal loved to go to the chapel, pray,
participate in novenas, and join religious processions. In
Calamba, one of the men he esteemed and respected was the
scholarly Catholic priest Leoncio Lopez, the town priest. He
used to visit him and listen to his inspiring opinions on current
events and through life views.
Also at the age of five, Pepe started to make pencil
sketches and mold in clay wax objects, which attracted his
fancy. When he was about six years old, his sisters once
laughed at him for spending much time making clay and wax
images, he then prophetically told them ―All right laugh at me
now! Someday when I die, people will make monuments and
images of me.‖
When Jose was seven years old, his father provided
him the exciting experience of riding a ‖casco‖ (a flat-
bottomed boat with a roof) on their way to a pilgrimage in
Antipolo. The pilgrimage was to fulfill a vow made by Jose‘s
mother to take him to a Shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo
should she and her child survive the ordeal of delivery, which
nearly caused her life. From Antipolo, Jose and his father
proceeded to Manila to visit her sister Saturnina who was at
the time studying at the La Concordia College in Sta. Ana.
As a gift, the child Jose received a pony named
―Alipato‖ from his father (Bantug and Ventura, 1997, p. 23).
As a child, he loved to ride this pony or take long walks in the
meadows and lakeshore with his black dog named ―Usman.‖
The mother also induced Jose to love the Arts,
literature, and the classics. Before he was eight years old, he
had written a drama (some sources say ― a Tagalog comedy,‖)
which was performed at a local festival and for which the
municipal captain rewarded him with two pesos. (Some
references specify that it was staged in Calamba festival and
that it was a gobernadorcillo from Paete who purchased the
manuscript for two pesos.)
Contrary to the ―former‖ common knowledge
however, Rizal did not write the Filipino poem ― Sa Aking
Mga Kababata/Kabata‖ (To My Fellow Children). The poem
was previously believed to be Rizal‘s first written poem at the
age of eight and was said to have been published
posthumously many years after Rizal‘s death. However, Rizal
Had a preserved correspondence (letters) with his brother
Paciano admitting that he (Jose) had only encountered the
word ―kalayaan‖ when he was already 21 years old. The term
(―kalayaan‖) was not used just in the Poem ―Sa Aking Mga
Kababata/Kabata.‖(For more details concerning this matter,
read the article, ―Did Jose Rizal Write the Poem ―Sa Aking
Mga Kabata‖?‖ in OurHappySchool.com).
The young Rizal was also interested in magic. He read
many books on magic. He learned different tricks, such as
making a coin disappear and making handkerchief vanish in
thin air.
Some other influences of Rizal‘s childhood involved
his three uncles; his Tio Jose Alberto who inspired him to
cultivate his artistic ability; his Tio Manuel who encouraged
him to fortify his frail body through physical exercises; and his
Tio Gregorio who intensified Rizal‘s avidness to read good
books.
The Story of The Moth
To import essential life lessons, Lolay held regular
storytelling seesions with the young Rizal. Doña Teodora
loved to read to Pepe stories from the book Amigo de los
Niños (The Children‘s Friend). One day, she scolded his son
for making drawings on the pages of the story book. To teach
the value of obedience to one‘s parents, she afterward read
him a story in it.
Lolay chose the story about a daughter moth who was
warned by her mother against going too near a lamp flame.
Though the young moth promised to comply, she later
succumbed to the pull of light‘s mysterious charm, believing
that nothing bad would happen if she approached it with
caution. The moth then flew close to the flame. Feeling
comforting warmth at first, she draw closer and closer, bit by
bit, until she flew too close enough to the flame and perished.
Incidentally, Pepe was watching a similar incident
while he was listening to the storytelling. Like a live
enactment, a moth was fluttering too near to the flame of the
oil lamp on their table. Not merely acting out, it did fall dead
as a consequence. Both moths in the two tales paid the price of
getting near the fatal light.
Many years later, Rizal himself felt that the moth‘s tale
could serve as an allegory of his own destiny. (A good
summary of Rizal‘s life is presented in Appendix B: Jose
Rizal: A Biography Outline.) About himself, he wrote:
Years have pass since then. The child become a
man…Steamships have taken him across seas and oceans. He
has received from experience bitter lessons, much bitter than
the sweet lessons that his mother gave him. Nevertheless, he
has preserved the heart of a child. He still thinks that light is
the most beautiful thing in creation, and that it is worthwhile
for a man to sacrifice life for it.‖ (as cited in ―My First
Reminiscence,‖ n.d.. para. 9)
RIZAL'S EDUCATION
Education in Calamba
The familiar statement that Doña Teodora was Rizal‘s
first teacher is not just a sort of ―venerating‖ his mother who
sacrificed a lot for our hero. It was actually a technical truth.
In his Memoirs, Rizal wrote, ―My mother taught me how to
read and to say haltingly the humble prayers which I raised
fervently to God.‖
In Rizal‘s time, seldom would one see a highly
educated woman of fine culture, like Doña Teodora who had
the capacity to teach Spanish, reading, poetry, and values
through rare story books. Lolay, indeed, was the first teacher
of the hero---teaching him Spanish, correcting his composed
poems, and coaching him in rhetoric. On her lap, Jose learned
the alphabet and Catholic prayers at the age of three, and
learned to read and write at age of 5.
Aside from his mother, Jose‘s sister Saturnina and
three maternal uncles also mentored him. His uncle Jose
Alberto taught him painting, sketching, and sculpture. Uncle
Gregorio influenced him to further love reading. Uncle
Manuel, for his part, developed Rizal‘s physical skills in
martial arts, like wrestling.
To further enhance what Rizal had learned, private
tutors were hired to give him lessons at home. Thus, Maestro
Celestino tutored him, and Maestro Lucas Padua later
succeeded Celestino. Afterward, a former classmate of Don
Francisco, Leon Monroy, lived at the Rizal home to become
the boy‘s tutor in Spanish and Latin. Sadly, Monroy died five
months later. (Of course, there was no truth to some naughty
student‘s comical insinuation that Rizal had something to do
with his death.)
Education in Biñan
Rizal was subsequently sent to a private school in
Biñan. In June 1869, his brother Paciano brought him to the
school of Maestro Justiniano Cruz. The school was in the
teacher‘s house, a small nipa house near the home of Jose‘s
aunt where he stayed. In Rizal‘s own words, his teacher ―knew
by the heart the grammars by Nebrija and Gainza.‖ During
Rizal‘s first day at the Biñan School, the teacher asked him:
―Do you know Spanish?‖
―A little, sir.‖ Replied Jose
―Do you know Latin?‖
―A little, sir.‖
Because of this, his classmates, especially the
teachers son Pedro, laughed at the newcomer. So later in that
day, Jose challenged the bully Pedro to a fight. Having learned
wrestling from his Uncle Manuel, the younger and smaller
Jose defeated his tormentor: (Compared to bullying victims,
we can say that Rizal did not wait for anyone to enact a law
against bullying, but rather took matters into his own hands.)
After the class, he had an arm-wrestling match with his
classmate Andres Salandanan. In that match, however, Jose
lost and almost cracked his head on the sidewalk. (That only
proves that merely being a deperado won‘t make you win all
your fights.)
In the following days, Jose was said to have fights over
Biñan boys. (If his average was two fights per day, as what
happened during his first dau in Biñan school, then he might
have been more active than today‘s MMA [mixed martial arts
fighters.] For his scuffles, he nonetheless received many
whippings and blows on the open palm from his disciplinarian
teacher.
Rizal might not have won all his brawls but he,
nevertheless, beat all Biñan boys academically in Spanish,
Latin, and many other subjects. After sometime, Jose told his
father that he had already learned all there was to be taught in
Biñan. Don Francisco firmly scolded Jose and hustled him
back to school. Maestro Curz, Jose‘s teacher in Biñan, later
confirmed, however, that Jose had indeed finished already all
the needed curricular works. So despite his wife‘s reluctance,
Don Francisco then declared to send Jose to a school in
Manila.
 MODULE 6: AGRARIAN RELATIONS AND THE
FRIAR LANDS
History of the Friars Lands
The existence of friar lands in the Philippines can be traced
back to the early Spanish colonial period when Spanish
conquistadors were awarded lands in the form of haciendas for
their loyalty to the Spanish crown. Approximately 120
Spaniards were granted either large traits of land called sitio
de Ganado mayor and smaller tracts called caballerias.
However, the hacienderos, those who owned the
hacienda, failed to develop their lands. One reason is that
Spaniards were not expected to permanently stay in the
Philippines. Many of them returned to Spain once they were
done serving in the country. Also, the livestock market during
this time was still small. Thus the Galleon Trade based in
Manila, appealed more to the Spaniards because it offered
better economic opportunities.
The Spanish friars were able to acquire land through
whatever means available to them. According to source, lands
were donated to the friars in exchange for spiritual favors.
Many Filipinos believed that the friars had no titles to the
lands thry owned because they acquired them through
usurpation and other dubious means.
When the export of agricultural crops started to
blossom in the 18th century, the inquillinato system was put
into place. In the system, one who rented land for fixed annual
amount, an inquillinos could also lease the land they were
renting from the landlord to a kasama or sharecropper who
would then be responsible for cultivating the land. The
inquillinato system functional as a three-layered system with
the landlords on top, the inquillinos in the middle, and the
kasama at the bottom.
Hacienda de Calamba Dispute
The Hacienda de Calamba was originally owned by a
Spaniards who donated the land to Jesuit friars to allow him to
permanently stay in the Jesuit monastery. However, since the
Jesuit were expelled from the Philippines, the haciends went to
the possession of the Spanish colonial government. In 1803,
the land was sold to Don Clemente de Azansa. After his death.
It was eventually sold to the Dominicans who claimed
ownership of the hacienda until late 19th century.
Rizal‘s family became one of the principal inquillinos
of the hacienda. They rented one of the largest leased parcel of
land measuring approximately 380 hectares. The main crop
was sugarcane since it was the most in demand in the world
market then. The Rizal family got their income mainly from
the land they rented. However, when conflicts on land
ownership in the hacienda arose in 1883, the family evidently
suffered,
MODULE 7: INTRACLERGY CONFLICTS AND THE
CAVITE MUTINY
The Two Faces of The 1872 Cavite Mutiny
by Chris Antonette Piedad-Pugay
The 12th of June of every year since 1898 is a very
important event for all the Filipinos. In this particular day, the
entire Filipino nation as well as Filipino communities all over
the world gathers to celebrate the Philippines‘ Independence
Day. 1898 came to be a very significant year for all of us— it
is as equally important as 1896—the year when the Philippine
Revolution broke out owing to the Filipinos‘ desire to be free
from the abuses of the Spanish colonial regime. But we
should be reminded that another year is as historic as the
two—1872.
Two major events happened in 1872, first was the 1872
Cavite Mutiny and the other was the martyrdom of the three
martyr priests in the persons of Fathers Mariano Gomes, Jose
Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (GOMBURZA). However, not all
of us knew that there were different accounts in reference to
the said event. All Filipinos must know the different sides of
the story—since this event led to another tragic yet meaningful
part of our history—the execution of GOMBURZA which in
effect a major factor in the awakening of nationalism among
the Filipinos.
1872 Cavite Mutiny: Spanish Perspective
Jose Montero y Vidal, a prolific Spanish historian
documented the event and highlighted it as an attempt of the
Indios to overthrow the Spanish government in the
Philippines. Meanwhile, Gov. Gen. Rafael Izquierdo‘s official
report magnified the event and made use of it to implicate the
native clergy, which was then active in the call for
secularization. The two accounts complimented and
corroborated with one other, only that the general‘s report was
more spiteful. Initially, both Montero and Izquierdo scored out
that the abolition of privileges enjoyed by the workers of
Cavite arsenal such as non-payment of tributes and exemption
from force labor were the main reasons of the ―revolution‖ as
how they called it, however, other causes were enumerated by
them including the Spanish Revolution which overthrew the
secular throne, dirty propagandas proliferated by unrestrained
press, democratic, liberal and republican books and pamphlets
reaching the Philippines, and most importantly, the presence
of the native clergy who out of animosity against the Spanish
friars, ―conspired and supported‖ the rebels and enemies of
Spain. In particular, Izquierdo blamed the unruly Spanish
Press for ―stockpiling‖ malicious propagandas grasped by the
Filipinos. He reported to the King of Spain that the ―rebels‖
wanted to overthrow the Spanish government to install a new
―hari‖ in the likes of Fathers Burgos and Zamora. The general
even added that the native clergy enticed other participants by
giving them charismatic assurance that their fight will not fail
because God is with them coupled with handsome promises of
rewards such as employment, wealth, and ranks in the army.
Izquierdo, in his report lambasted the Indios as gullible and
possessed an innate propensity for stealing.
The two Spaniards deemed that the event of 1872 was
planned earlier and was thought of it as a big conspiracy
among educated leaders, mestizos, abogadillos or native
lawyers, residents of Manila and Cavite and the native clergy.
They insinuated that the conspirators of Manila and Cavite
planned to liquidate high-ranking Spanish officers to be
followed by the massacre of the friars. The alleged pre-
concerted signal among the conspirators of Manila and Cavite
was the firing of rockets from the walls of Intramuros.
According to the accounts of the two, on 20 January 1872,
the district of Sampaloc celebrated the feast of the Virgin of
Loreto, unfortunately participants to the feast celebrated the
occasion with the usual fireworks displays. Allegedly, those
in Cavite mistook the fireworks as the sign for the attack, and
just like what was agreed upon, the 200-men contingent
headed by Sergeant La Madrid launched an attack targeting
Spanish officers at sight and seized the arsenal.
When the news reached the iron-fisted Gov. Izquierdo, he
readily ordered the reinforcement of the Spanish forces in
Cavite to quell the revolt. The ―revolution‖ was easily
crushed when the expected reinforcement from Manila did not
come ashore. Major instigators including Sergeant Lamadrid
were killed in the skirmish, while the GOMBURZA were tried
by a court-martial and were sentenced to die by strangulation.
Patriots like Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Antonio Ma. Regidor,
Jose and Pio Basa and other abogadillos were suspended by
the Audencia (High Court) from the practice of law, arrested
and were sentenced with life imprisonment at the Marianas
Island. Furthermore, Gov. Izquierdo dissolved the native
regiments of artillery and ordered the creation of artillery force
to be composed exclusively of the Peninsulares.
On 17 February 1872 in an attempt of the Spanish
government and Frailocracia to instill fear among the Filipinos
so that they may never commit such daring act again, the
GOMBURZA were executed. This event was tragic but
served as one of the moving forces that shaped Filipino
nationalism.
A Response to Injustice: The Filipino Version of the
Incident
Dr. Trinidad Hermenigildo Pardo de Tavera, a Filipino
scholar and researcher, wrote the Filipino version of the
bloody incident in Cavite. In his point of view, the incident
was a mere mutiny by the native Filipino soldiers and laborers
of the Cavite arsenal who turned out to be dissatisfied with the
abolition of their privileges. Indirectly, Tavera blamed Gov.
Izquierdo‘s cold-blooded policies such as the abolition of
privileges of the workers and native army members of the
arsenal and the prohibition of the founding of school of arts
and trades for the Filipinos, which the general believed as a
cover-up for the organization of a political club.
On 20 January 1872, about 200 men comprised of
soldiers, laborers of the arsenal, and residents of Cavite
headed by Sergeant La Madrid rose in arms and assassinated
the commanding officer and Spanish officers in sight. The
insurgents were expecting support from the bulk of the army
unfortunately, that didn‘t happen. The news about the mutiny
reached authorities in Manila and Gen. Izquierdo immediately
ordered the reinforcement of Spanish troops in Cavite. After
two days, the mutiny was officially declared subdued.
Tavera believed that the Spanish friars and Izquierdo used
the Cavite Mutiny as a powerful lever by magnifying it as a
full-blown conspiracy involving not only the native army but
also included residents of Cavite and Manila, and more
importantly the native clergy to overthrow the Spanish
government in the Philippines. It is noteworthy that during the
time, the Central Government in Madrid announced its
intention to deprive the friars of all the powers of intervention
in matters of civil government and the direction and
management of educational institutions. This turnout of
events was believed by Tavera, prompted the friars to do
something drastic in their desire to maintain power in the
Philippines.
Meanwhile, in the intention of installing reforms, the
Central Government of Spain welcomed an educational decree
authored by Segismundo Moret promoted the fusion of
sectarian schools run by the friars into a school called
Philippine Institute. The decree proposed to improve the
standard of education in the Philippines by requiring teaching
positions in such schools to be filled by competitive
examinations. This improvement was warmly received by
most Filipinos in spite of the native clergy‘s zest for
secularization.
The friars, fearing that their influence in the Philippines
would be a thing of the past, took advantage of the incident
and presented it to the Spanish Government as a vast
conspiracy organized throughout the archipelago with the
object of destroying Spanish sovereignty. Tavera sadly
confirmed that the Madrid government came to believe that
the scheme was true without any attempt to investigate the real
facts or extent of the alleged ―revolution‖ reported by
Izquierdo and the friars.
Convicted educated men who participated in the mutiny
were sentenced life imprisonment while members of the native
clergy headed by the GOMBURZA were tried and executed
by garrote. This episode leads to the awakening of
nationalism and eventually to the outbreak of Philippine
Revolution of 1896. The French writer Edmund Plauchut‘s
account complimented Tavera‘s account by confirming that
the event happened due to discontentment of the arsenal
workers and soldiers in Cavite fort. The Frenchman, however,
dwelt more on the execution of the three martyr priests which
he actually witnessed.
Unraveling the Truth
Considering the four accounts of the 1872 Mutiny, there
were some basic facts that remained to be unvarying: First,
there was dissatisfaction among the workers of the arsenal as
well as the members of the native army after their privileges
were drawn back by Gen. Izquierdo; Second, Gen. Izquierdo
introduced rigid and strict policies that made the Filipinos
move and turn away from Spanish government out of disgust;
Third, the Central Government failed to conduct an
investigation on what truly transpired but relied on reports of
Izquierdo and the friars and the opinion of the public; Fourth,
the happy days of the friars were already numbered in 1872
when the Central Government in Spain decided to deprive
them of the power to intervene in government affairs as well
as in the direction and management of schools prompting them
to commit frantic moves to extend their stay and power; Fifth,
the Filipino clergy members actively participated in the
secularization movement in order to allow Filipino priests to
take hold of the parishes in the country making them prey to
the rage of the friars; Sixth, Filipinos during the time were
active participants, and responded to what they deemed as
injustices; and Lastly, the execution of GOMBURZA was a
blunder on the part of the Spanish government, for the action
severed the ill-feelings of the Filipinos and the event inspired
Filipino patriots to call for reforms and eventually
independence. There may be different versions of the event,
but one thing is certain, the 1872 Cavite Mutiny paved way for
a momentous 1898.
The road to independence was rough and tough to toddle,
many patriots named and unnamed shed their bloods to attain
reforms and achieve independence. 12 June 1898 may be a
glorious event for us, but we should not forget that before we
came across to victory, our forefathers suffered enough. As
we enjoy our freedom, may we be more historically aware of
our past to have a better future ahead of us. And just like what
Elias said in Noli me Tangere, may we ―not forget those who
fell during the night.‖
The Cavite Mutiny was failed uprising against the
Spaniards resulting in disarmed, imprisoned, and dead Filipino
soldiers. Those who were suspected to be involved in the
mutiny were also arrested and executed, The Spanish
authorities and the friars used the mutiny to implicate the three
secular priests- Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto
Zamora, collectively known as GOMBURZA – and
proclaimed that they were the instigators of the said mutiny.
The priests were executed by garrote at Bagumbayan on
February 15, 1872. This event had a personal impact on Rizal
and his family since Burgos was a personal friend of his
brother, Paciano. The martyrdom of the three priests awakened
the desire for independence among many Filipino. In fact,
Rizal dedicated his El Fibusterismo to the three priests.