THE SOCIAL THINKERS AND THE INSTITUTE OF PHILIPPINE CULTURE

FILIPINO SOCIAL THINKERS

1. JOSE RIZAL (REFORMIST)
 Intelligence is the solution to the ills of the country.
 Their consciousness should be freed from fanaticism, docility, inferiority, and hopelessness.
 He started La Liga Filipina with the job of enlightening the minds of the people.
 Believed in Agnostic Deism – the view that God created the universe with its law, never to interfere
with it again
 •“Human problems are irrational human creations and can be solved through rational solutions. If
reason commits mistakes, only reason can correct them.”
 “What is the use of independence if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?”

WRITTEN BOOKS:

 Noli me Tangere- English title : Touch Me Not and the Social Cancer.
 - Rizal’s first novel, Exposes the social and inequities of many Spanish Catholic
friars and government officials during his time.
- Published in early 1887 in Europe
-Dedicated the novel to the country of his people whose social miseries and
sorrows he brought to light an attempt to awaken them to the
truths concerning the ills of their society.
-Depicts the real conditions of Filipino society under the Spanish regime:
corrupt Spanish Officials and friars, the Filipino way of life had been backward,
anti-intellectual, anti-progressive, and the country was not in any way catching
up on developments.

CHARACTERS:
1. Crisostomo Ibarra- represents the small group of Filipinos who had a
chance to study abroad and dreamt of improving the
country.
2. Padre Damaso- corresponds to Wicked but ironically respected priest.
Revealed to be The biological father of Maria Clara.
3. Maria Clara- Ibarra’s Fiancee’, arguably stands for powerless Filipina
then.
4. Capitan Tiago- represents the rich Filipinos who opted to be allies (tuta)
of Spanish officials and friars just to preserve their wealth and political
position.
5. Pilosopo Tasio- Symbolizes those whose ideas were advanced that other
people could not understand him.
6. Elias- Ibarra’s mysterious friend and supporter. Signifies the Filipinos
who wished to revolutionize the country by liberating it from Spanish
tyranny.
7. Sisa and sons: Crispin and Basilio- Epitomize a Filipino family oppressed
by the Spanish authorities.
 8. Doňa Victorina- represents some Filipina who wanted to be classified as
Spanish
9. Don Tiburcio-husband of Doňa Victorina, incompetent and unqualified
Spaniards who illegally practiced their supposed profession in the
Philippines.
10. Padri Salvi- the curate who secretly harbors lust for Maria Clara,
represents the seemingly kind but in fact wicked Spanish Friars.
11. Don Rafael Ibarra- Ibarra’s father, epitomizes the rich and the same time
virtuous and generous Filipinos during Spanish era.

 The El Filibusterismo
- Jose Rizal second novel as the sequel of Noli Me Tangere ( The Reign
of Greed)
- Was Written against the background of threats and oppressions he
and his family suffered because of the Noli and the so-called Calamba
Agrarian trouble.
- Dedicated to the memory of GOMBURZA, the three Filipino patriotic
priests who were accused of being filibuster and thus executed.
Filibusterismo- derived from the term filibustero.
Filibustero- means subversive, dissident, revolutionary, seditious,
insurrectionary and treasonous.

2. Marcelo H. Del Pilar-a.k.a Plaridel, lawyer, writer, journalist, and social thinker.
-Skilled, experienced, and respected Filipino political leader in the nation’s
history. A prominent figure in the Propaganda Movement, he was a co-
publisher and the second and last editor of La-Solidaridad, the society’s
publication.
3. Isabelo de los Reyes