On the Indolence of the Filipinos

Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos

On the Indolence of the Filipinos

A socio-political essay published in La Solidaridad

in Madrid in 1890. Written by Dr. Jose Rizal as a response to the accusation of Indio or Malay indolence. Indolence - Laziness Rizal admits the existence of indolence among Filipinos But attributes it to a number of reasons.

Rizal traces the causes of the indolence of the Filipinos to factors such as the climate, and social disorders Rizal: Filipinos are by nature not indolent, because in fact, even before the arrival of the Spaniards, Filipinos have already been engaged in economic activities such as agriculture and trade. Indolence therefore has more deeply-rooted causes such as abuse and discrimination, inaction of the government, rampant corruption and red tape, wrong doctrines of the church and wrong examples from some Spaniards who lead lives of indolence which ultimately led to the deterioration of Filipino values.
Rizal sums up the main causes: Limited training and education Filipino natives receive

Chapter 1 Rizal admits the existence of indolence among Filipinos But says that to it cannot be attributed the troubles and backwardness of the country Rather, the indolence is the effect of the backwardness and troubles experienced by the country. Past writings on indolence revolve only on either denying or affirming, and never studying its causes in depth. One must study the causes of indolence, Rizal says, before curing it. Rizal enumerates the causes of indolence and elaborates on the circumstances that have led to it. The hot climate, Rizal points out, is a reasonable predisposition of indolence. An hours work under the Philippine sun, he says, is equivalent to a days work in temperate countries.

Chapter 2
Rizal says that an illness will worsen if the wrong

treatment is given. The same applies to indolence. People should not lose hope in fighting indolence. Even before the Spaniards arrived, the early Filipinos were already carrying out trade within provinces and with neighboring countries; They were also engaged in agriculture and mining. Some natives even spoke Spanish. All these disproves the notion that Filipinos are by nature indolent. Rizal then asks what would have caused Filipinos to forget their past.

Chapter 3
Rizal enumerates several reasons that may have caused

the Filipinos cultural and economic decadence: The frequent wars, insurrections, and invasions have brought disorder to the communities. Chaos has been widespread, and destruction rampant. Many Filipinos have also been sent abroad to fight wars for Spain or for expeditions. Thus the population has decreased. Due to forced labor, many men have been sent to shipyards to construct ships. Meanwhile, natives who have had enough of abuse have gone to the mountains. As a result, the farms have been neglected. The so-called indolence of the Filipinos definitely has deep-rooted causes.

Chapter 4 Filipinos, according to Rizal, are not responsible for their misfortunes, as they are not their own masters. The Spanish government has not encouraged labor and trade, which ceased after the government treated the countrys neighboring trade partners with great suspicion. Trade has declined because of the many restrictions imposed by the government as a response to pirate attacks. Also, the government does not give aid for farmers and their crops. This, and the abuses suffered under encomienderos, have caused many farmers to abandon their fields. Businesses were monopolized by government officials; red tape and bribery proliferate; rampant gambling is tolerated by the government. Such situation was compounded by the Churchs wrong doctrine which says that the rich will bot go to heaven, thus engendering distaste for work. Natives were also discriminated in access to education. Such were the main reasons that Rizal cited as the cause of deterioration of values among Filipinos.

Chapter 5
According to Rizal, all the causes of indolence can be

reduced to two factors. 1) The limited training and education Filipino natives receive. Sefgregated from the Spaniards, Filipinos do not receive the same opportunities that are available to the foreigners. They are taught to be inferior. 2) The lack of national sentiment of unity among the Filipinos. Because Filipinos think they are inferior, they submit to the foreign culture and do everything to imitate it.
The solution, according to Rizal: Education Liberty