Sheila Mae Abrau HIST 1

BS Management III May 10, 2021

“Building a Nation in Every Filipino”

It took years for the Chinese to build the great wall, thousands of pieces of cast iron to
form the Eiffel tower and for the Philippines, years of colonization filled with oppression and
injustice to build one united nation. The 19th century marked a point of no return for the
Filipinos, separating them from their primitive ways which present the need to carve its
lacking national identity. In this era, a multitude of factors has led to the forging of the nation
which included but is not limited to the economic, political, cultural, and social dimensions
that led us to the happenings we read in history. The vast changes all started when foreign
influences set foot on the Philippine land. The Galleon trade interrupted the natural flow of
the local industry and allowed other countries like China to barge in. Rizal expressed in his
annotations in the book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, that the opening of trade and
globalization didn’t do progress for the advantage of Filipinos rather it meant further decline
and degradation to our local talents, industries, and later on our identity (Schumacher, 1991).
Manila has become more active than before with its transformation as the center of trade, but
it costs the death of our local industries. Exports were running low as compared to imports
because of the economic gatekeeping which can also explain our admiration for foreign
goods and products instead of patronizing locals if compared to the modern days. However,
local industries continued to thrive such as the textile weaving in Iloilo which proves that
quality products from Filipinos are undeniably strong in the market although exploitation of
our workers still exists as the elite run the factories associated with the industries.

The Filipino people took what was handed in front of them until they can take it no
more. The divide grew as trade also opened to the creation of different groups by race.
According to Antonio S. Tan in the article, The Chinese Mestizos and the Formation of the
Filipino Nationality, the emergence of mestizos that resulted from the trade has contributed
to the gradual sprout of the concept of having a nation. It has also led to having middle-class
families. While our awareness broadened with the divergence brought by different races so
does our culture which started to shift drastically in the 19th century making the concept of a
nation somehow blurry in the vision of the captive Filipinos.

Religion is still playing a major role in the turnout of events under Spanish
supremacy. Frailocracy rose in power setting distance with the seculars. A point in time
opened the opportunity for putting up Filipino priests with the lack of Spanish frails which
gave a short period of power and control but later on in 1825, the frails bounced back
preventing the much anticipated Filipino rule on parishes and also with the people since
religious influences were quite strong within the 19th century. Various social and cultural
groups have differentiated reactions to secularization but the common ground was that
education has led people to divert their energy and get off the shackles of belief and religion
which were used to establish political power in the first place. Even way back before the
Spaniards decided to sail on expeditions, Christianity was used as a justification aside from
the fact that it is also for the sake of competing with Portugal. During the colonial period,
women who are educated are just bound to get married to the middle class and foreign men
but movements led by women also started that eventually established the gradual escalation
of the identity and democracy with the Filipina woman who was long under the control of
years of foreign hold (Aquino and Alegado, 1992). Secularization still has great contributions
on establishing the concept of nationality as it is in line with their cry to be separated from the
Spanish frails and create a sense of independence. These actions also boosted the confidence
of the natives eliminating the thought of inferiority with the Spaniards. While the various
classes have created many definitions of the word nation out of their own biases and roots,
one thing is for sure that the economic movements, oppression, and the rise of secularization
have prompted national awareness and the urge of forming an identity as Filipinos.

Our history reflects much of what is happening with our country today. As a country
that has been colonized for years, it is but inevitable to see the evidence of having a divide in
the beliefs and concepts within the country. However most people are now open for discourse
and our differences in culture, language, roots, and even religion have opened a rich and
progressive diversity for the Filipino nation. While issues of native inferiority still exist, the
landscapes are continuing to shift as we are now altogether in the fight for preserving heritage
and history and protecting our indigenous people. The image of the Filipina woman continues
to emerge and Filipinos are also accepting inclusivity and women empowerment became the
norm. While much of our history has taught us lessons that made us change our ways, there is
still much to learn as we are still captives under an oppressive government which I believe
was also inherited from the system and bureaucracy implanted in our land. The process is still
moving forward, I am not certain but I know for sure that it takes every Filipino to not just
build a nation but also free itself and embrace its own national identity.

Works Cited
Aquino, Belinda A. and Dean T. Alegado. The Age of Discovery: Impact on Philippine
Culture and Society Second Edition. 1992.
<https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/15243/The%20Age%20of
%20Discovery%20-%20Impact%20on%20Philippine%20Culture%20and
%20Society.pdf>.

Schumacher, John N. "“Rizal in the Context of the Nineteenth-Century Philippines.” The

Making of a Nation: Essays on the Nineteenth-Century Filipino Nationalism. ."
Ateneo University Press, , 1991. 17-34.

Tan, Antonio S. The Chinese Mestizos and the Formation of the Filipino Nationality . 1986.
<https://www.persee.fr/doc/arch_0044-8613_1986_num_32_1_2316#:~:text=The
%20Chinese%20mestizos%20were%20an,known%20as%20the%20Filipino
%20nationality.>.