Kasaysayan 1: Examining La Solidaridad: Ingratitudes

One of the earliest masterpieces of Jose Rizal was the Ingratitudes, which was
created and published on January 15, 1890 in Madrid, Spain as an article in the
revolutionary newspaper spearheaded by the illustrados called La Solidaridad. The
Ingratitudes was Rizal's response to a captain general who gave him and his colleagues
the title of ungrateful mainly due to their criticisms of the church and the Spanish
government in the Philippines. Prior to this event, Jose Rizal, as well as his colleagues,
were heavily involved in exposing the truth of the methods and schemes used by the
governor-general and the friars to earn more profit and prolong their stay in the country.
For 3 centuries and 3 decades, the Spaniards exploited our capital and resources, and
inflicted violence to display terror and inspire obedience to the Filipinos. Among these
issues, Rizal addressed the very high rates of rent being collected by the friars from the
inquillinos. He then enumerated and recalled some past events, mainly ones that he
and/or his colleagues took part of, that may have urged the Governor General to accuse
them of being ungrateful like their opposition to the friar' land grabbing. In an almost

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satirical voice, Rizal tries to apologize for their "ungratefulness" and their "promises",
ultimately justifying that they meant everything for the betterment of our nation.

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Rizal deemed it important that the readers of the report (that he cited at the

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beginning) understand that calling him and his colleagues at the La Solidaridad
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"ungrateful" is unfair, especially because he believes that this accusation roots from
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their being critical of how Spain handles its colony. He wanted to clear the readers of
the mindset that being critical meant being rebellious and uncooperative, and that
fighting for equality should not be misinterpreted as chaotic nor disgraceful. He wanted
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the readers to understand that their work is imperative to bringing justice and fairness in
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our government system by citing examples and past dealings with a biased
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government.

The friars, as landlords, had an advantage over smaller landowners and workers
and used this leverage to impose unfair regulations or schemes to the Filipinos. Even
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though efforts were made to inform the government of such mistreatments, the friars
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were still able to project their power and influence by suppressing oppositions, which
was further suppressed by the government's lack of action. The friars were also big
players in education which was an essential tool in fighting for equality. Using their
influence, the friars tried to corrupt their students causing them to "disown the truth" for
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the interests of the friars.

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This article was mainly written to explain how high ranking officials oppose
opposition through manipulating certain scenarios. It was Rizal's counter-argument to
the general's accusation, telling his side of the story and explaining how his actions, as
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patriotic as they may be, was misinterpreted as ingratitude.

Rizal's target audience, for us, are the Filipinos especially those who were
dragged into thinking that a liberal mind and scholarly thinking equals ingratitude. It was
the essay's duty to ascertain and emphasize the fact that fighting for equality and justice
can be misguidedly interpreted as toxic behavior especially by those who enjoy the

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 current status quo. In addition, the text may also be written to appeal to the government
and the Spaniards in general. One of the most important implications of Jose Rizal’s
writings is the fear it brings to the unstable and weakening powers of the Spaniards.
Although the Noli Me Tangere preceded this text, the Filipinos and Spaniards alike,
showed no improvement in terms of their actions and mindset. Therefore, this text may
have been written in order to assert this fact once more, and bring hope to the
despairing Filipinos all over the country.

In summary, Rizal wanted to point out that filipinos are indeed ungrateful not for
the Spanish colonizers but rather for their own country. The Spanish colonizers were
abusing their rule in the country spoiling its resources for their own interests at the stake
of the Filipino's rights and freedom. The Filipinos, on the other hand, had allowed this to
happen without standing up against them to fight for their country. In fact, the Spaniards
seemingly implies that the Filipinos should not only look after the interests of the country
but also the colonizers since they took it under their command.

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From this text, Rizal implied two ways by which we can deal with the situation.

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First, is to demand reform and development from the government through negotiations,

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and second is to make the Filipinos change their mindset and see how these events

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were brought about not only by the actions of the government officials and the friars but

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also by the decisions made by the Filipinos. Rizal then showed how futile it is to expect
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change from the government which inflicted nothing but pain to our motherland, and so,
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instigating us to think how we, as Filipinos, can be the actual owner of our country, by
acting as one. We are the Filipinos, not them, and so, all that is present and erected,
living or nonliving, here in our territory belongs to us, and not even colonization can take
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that right away from us.

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