THE PHILIIPPINES: The Past Revisited by Renato Constantino

History prior to the present the pre-pioneer Philippines' social achievements include
those spanning ancient times and early history of the Philippines archipelago and its inhabitants,
who are the forefathers of today's Filipinos. These early Filipinos had a culture and creativity that
were among the best in class, particularly in light of the events of science's history at the time
when it flourished. During the Spaniards' 300-year colonial rule, colonial scholars made
significant contributions to the burdensome legacy of clerical scholarship left by the Spaniards.
These scholars illustrated the Spanish frailocracy and reversed it by correcting some
assumptions left over from the Spaniards' reign, and it was reassessed by American colonialists
who went in for undeserved praise. This critique paper is a tribute to this great Filipino thinker, a
celebration of his life and works through an examination of his achievements and influence on
Philippine nationalist history. He will be remembered as one of the most prominent Filipino
writers of the twentieth century, influencing many generations of Filipinos through his pamphlets,
columns, and books. From the late 1960s to the present, his guidance, commentaries, historical
writings, and essays have largely influenced the contemporary nationalist movement. In terms of
content and volume of writings, no Filipino writer has contributed as much to the advancement
of the Philippine nationalist cause in the twentieth century as Constantino. In terms of material
and number of writings, no other Filipino writer in the twentieth century has come close to
Constantino's contribution to the Philippine nationalist movement. In his new novel, The
Philippines: A History Revisited, Constantino continues the effort he started in his early works by
taking a fresh look at the entire Filipino past prior to WWII. Great powers and Filipinos rejecting
historical perceptions of the Philippines. Renato Constantino was a Filipino historian and
scholar who taught us to reexamine, correct, and learn from our colonial history. He desired for
Filipinos to have a valuable memory of a history that would help them in their search for true
nationhood. Many times, Philippine History was brought up to us, and it made me wonder how
this stuff is passed down from generation to generation. While reading Renato Constantino's
novel, it occurred to me that the past that has been told to us is not as it appears to be, and it is
seen from a fixed viewpoint. When I learned how easily history can be distorted, it changed my
outlook. Most foreign sources were discovered to be biased and illiberal in their approach as
Filipino historians' understanding grew. Attempts to discover national identity, revisit the past,
and begin laying the foundations for Philippine history have increased during this period.
 Constantino has carved himself a place in Philippine history, as he resembles many of
the big events that led to the Philippines' independence. After a period of prosperous trade with
a variety of cultures and economies, the area was colonized for more than 300 years, first by
Spain and then by the United States, until being briefly occupied by the Japanese during World
War II. As Asia's oldest democracy, the Philippines has a long history of social and colonial
oppression resistance, as exemplified by Jose Rizal (1861-1896), whose anti-Spanish novels
and writings fueled Filipinos' desire for freedom and rights. Rizal, a journalist, psychiatrist,
educator, and Atenean, is now regarded as a national hero in our country. He criticizes Filipino
society's "artificial" culture and identity, which are conditioned by the country's long colonial
history, in this book. The problem of civil enslavement and determinants has exacerbated this,
turning the world into a neocolonial of American imperialists. He was upbeat about the potential
for transformational change. In the face of nationalist movements, he stressed the value of
nationalism as the Filipino people's main weapon. He also said that the most powerful way to
build a counter-consciousness for the purpose of social emancipation is through anti-imperialist
nationalism. Throughout history, the Philippines has been freed or liberated four times. The
Spaniards were the first to bring Christianity to the Philippines, freeing us from the "slavery of
the devil." The Americans, on the other hand, were the ones who freed us from Spanish tyranny.
The Japanese, who ruled with an iron hand, effectively liberated us from American imperialism.
As a result, Americans return and free us from the Japanese. History narration is both a great
honor and a tremendous burden. In certain cases, the findings presented will be an imperfect
representation of history of individual men without the influence and/or lacking the dynamic and
realistic nature of society's masses. These individuals made history not because they were
remarkable, but because they had the love of others to carry out their beliefs and conduct
actions that will go down in history. The foundations and personalities that history
commemorates should be the genuine outcomes of individuals' efforts. The task at hand is to
write the history of the Philippines from a Filipino's perspective. The true history of the Filipinos,
on the other hand, can be drawn from the anonymous masses of Filipinos and the cause and
effect of their collective lives and struggles. When people speak about history, they usually refer
to a single person rather than the collective individual that is society. There can be no past
without civilization, and there can be no civilizations without man.Furthermore, individuals who
made history may have done so without the help of the people. Individuals that are incoherent
cannot have their actions documented in history; nevertheless, the collective effort behind it
should be recorded or narrated because of its historical significance. Regarding the first
liberation, which came at the hands of the Spaniards. The first impression is that Spain was
largely feudal, and as a result, Spain transplanted feudalism's traditional characteristics to the
Philippines. While Spanish culture had feudal elements during Magellan's mission to the
Philippines, it was no longer completely feudal on an economic basis, as the capitalist trend has
diversified the nation's configurations while the old feudal systems have remained largely
unchanged. The towns grew into commercial hubs and modern financial powerhouses. To put it
another way, the working class or workers backed the middle class against the nobles and
clergy. Mercantilism was the physical expression of capitalism. The mercantilists believed,
among other things, that a country's influence was determined by the form of wealth it
accumulated. This made it illegal to move metal around the world and encouraged people to buy
gold and silver. Since the colonies were gold and silver sources, Spain occupied the Philippines,
which was a wealthy land with no functioning government at the time. Spanish colonialism was
an outside force that threatened and diverted the development of indigenous peoples. It's easy
to imagine the delight with which these European settlers greeted the discovery of such a rich
and prosperous culture. With mining traces dating back to 1000 BC, the Philippines now has
one of the world's largest gold mines. The islands had established a flourishing society that
traded in gold, and people wore gold to prove their rank when the Spanish colonizers landed on
Philippine soil. Magellan's trip to the East Indies inspired many Spaniards to embark on their
own discovery and conquest expeditions. The Spanish monarchs wanted to expand their empire
and protect their claimed lands in the East from the Portuguese. They were similarly interested
in bringing riches and spices back to Mexico and Spain from the Isles of the West, or Las Islas
del Poniente, the Spanish word for the East Indies, which stretched from the Philippines to New
Guinea. King Philip of Spain had no idea what he was getting himself into when he decided to
finance an expedition to the East Indies. The lives of the indigenous people were forever
changed as a result of the Spanish invasion. The Spaniards carried with them a new religion
and customs. They brought new practices and institutions with them from their earlier colonial
experiences in Latin America. Even though they wanted to retain certain native social systems in
order to achieve colonial goals, their use for purposes that were alien to native culture
profoundly altered them. The Spanish empire was thought to be dedicated to "all Majesties,"
including God and the king. As de la Costa put it, this proposal laid the groundwork for the union
of Church and State into a single institution that could be viewed as either a civilizing Church or
a missionary State. The patronato real, in which the pope granted the king the right to appoint
candidates for the majority of bishoprics and abbacies in Spain and her dominions, was the
king's authority over the Spanish Church. Like every other post-colonial nation, Philippine
culture is a mix of all of its colonial rulers, with roots in the country's long indigenous past. It's a
difficult culture to categorize because it's so diverse; Western influences may appear to be
dominant at first glance, but they're just a thin veneer on top of a pulsing archipelagic culture.
The Philippines' many languages represent the country's diverse histories, with each language
defining its own region. English has become the official language of the nation, even among the
locals. That generation is a member of a Baranganic Society. A defining feature of baranganic
culture was the absence of private land ownership. People of the Philippines were scattered
over many islands. They met each other by sailing between the islands, as inter-island trade
was the primary motivator for bringing these scattered settlements together. The mode of
oppression was determined by the nature of the colonizing Philippine society, as well as the
realities of the colony. The character and motives of each nation that has invaded the
Philippines are so critical that we must investigate the social status of foreign invaders when
they took over. The essence of colonialism and whether marginalized people were impartial,
objective, and subjective in any time and place decide the extent and result of any conflict. The
type of repression was influenced by the essence of the colonizing society as well as the
realities of the colony. When Spain exploited the indigenous model of social organization to
make it part of the exploitative system, most of the old communal lands were turned into private
property. Spaniards encountered cultures at various stages of growth and adopted the
standards, traditions, and frameworks of the more developed societies to use in the absorption
of other underdeveloped indigenous groups. The process of dissemination was aided by
Spanish peace movements and continued during the remainder of the region's occupation. The
galleon trade between China and Mexico also contributed to Mexico's lack of faith in its ability to
improve its economy. Only Spaniards who concentrated in Manila's capital participated in the
trade, which lasted more than two centuries until 1815. As a result of the Spaniards' determining
financial and commercial goals, early proposals to leave the Philippines were made. Despite
this, a consensus was reached. The growth and prosperity of Manila as the country's single
metropolis was a result of the galleon trade. The income from this trade allowed. Manila to
construct its stable buildings and houses. Under early Spanish rule, historians claim the
Philippines had three distinct economic structures: Western, Native, and Chinese economies.
The transportation of galleons to Mexico and silver to China, via Chinese luxury goods, was the
central aim of the Western or Spanish economy. To meet the needs of the local Spanish
population, some of these things were held in the Philippines. Manila was able to establish its
stable buildings and houses thanks to the proceeds from this exchange. According to historians,
the Philippines had three distinct economic systems under Spanish rule: Western, Native, and
Chinese economies. The central goal of the Western or Spanish economy was to transport
galleons to Mexico and silver to China via Chinese luxury goods. Any of these events were
organized in the Philippines to address the needs of the local Spanish population. The
Propaganda Movement started in the late 1800s among young Filipino expatriates as a reform
and national consciousness movement. Despite the fact that its supporters pledged allegiance
to the Spanish colonial government, the organization was violently suppressed by Spanish
authorities, who executed José Rizal, the organization's most powerful founder. One of the aims
of the Propaganda Movement was narrow and specific to their social class. Assimilation,
democracy, civil and political rights, and parliamentary representation were unimportant to the
predominantly farmer-indio class in Philippine society.The indios' demands would have been
more straightforward, expressing their desperate need for freedom and relief from misery and
oppression. Propagandistas like Rizal, del Pilar, and Antonio Luna aimed for eventual
independence after a period of assimilation and nationalist development. ls However, the
ilustrado's concept of liberty differed greatly from what the general public understood at the time.
The Propaganda Movement should be considered a failure because it did not accomplish the
integrationist changes it desired. The campaign, however, was not completely futile.Instead, it
succeeded in "damaging the prestige of the friars in particular and of Spaniards in general
among the Filipinos" and "in a positive way, it succeeded more thoroughly in awakening a sense
of unity and national consciousness among Filipinos." This anti-foreign and anti-colonial
sentiment, as well as a growing Filipino sense of being part of a single country, was most
strongly felt in Luzon. The ideas of Rizal, del Pilar, and other Propagandistas inspired Andres
Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto, leaders of the Katipunan, the clandestine, mass-based movement
that sparked the Philippine Revolution of 1896. Filipinos were united in their opposition to
colonial oppression. In certain instances, rebellion was used as a form of resistance. Other
Filipinos and Rizal began widespread protests and opposition to religious practice and values,
which Constantino contextualizes. As a result, a hidden past emerges, one that is just as true as
common history and thus deserving of acknowledgement. The popular understanding of
Philippine history puts a focus on mainstream events like emergence of the ilustrado, or middle
class, or the founding of the Propaganda Movement. Meanwhile, it's easy to overlook the fact
that Philippine society is characterized by the persistence of mass revolutions on the underneath
[or downstream]. Fanatical, millenarian, and outlier movements have all been categorized as
common movements. Renato Constantino has offered an alternate interpretation of Tagalog
cultural movements in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through his indigenous
interpretation. Since Jose Rizal is the heart and soul of the Philippine Revolution, Constantino
always puts him in the spotlight. The Philippines' national hero, writer José Rizal, was Southeast
Asia's first intellectual to systematically think about social and political issues. Rizal's ideas
about the nature of Filipino colonial culture can be credited with laying the groundwork for a
distinct Southeast Asian colonial sociology. His works on the Philippines can be divided into
three categories. The first is a critique of colonizers' attitudes toward the Philippines. Second, he
has opinions on the life and circumstances of imperial society. Finally, there are Rizal's
discussions on what liberation is and how it is defined. It served as a stepping stone for
Constantino and other Filipinos for me. Rizal was not content with writing books to rouse and
encourage his fellow men in the fight for their rights in literary, political, and polemic ways. He
delved into ancient literature, works by past explorers, and writings by former Spanish
government leaders in order to achieve his objectives. He attempted to show, through a
persuasive work, that the people of the Philippines had a high level of culture and morality prior
to the arrival of the Spaniards, that they had mastery of a unique handicraft art (possibly ship
construction), that they had a thriving trade, and that they had good contact with the outside
world. Awareness of his country's past could raise his countrymen's self-confidence, allowing
them to prosper politically and scientifically. The Filipino people have had the misfortune of
being "liberated" four times in their history. Spaniards were the first to "liberate" them from the
"devil's enslavement," followed by Americans who "liberated" them from Spanish dictatorship,
Japanese who "liberated" them from American imperialism, and Americans who "liberated" them
from Japanese fascists. After each "liberation," they witnessed their country being occupied by
international "benefactors." Every tyrant was met with opposition from the people. Despite the
fact that each struggle sought to change certain objective conditions, the people were the ones
who were most affected. The majority of the ilustrados, or elites, resisted the revolution from the
start. Some, such as Rizal, claimed that the time was not yet right to create an independent
nation because the people lacked the requisite education and political maturity. Many, on the
other hand, did so out of love for their homeland of Spain. When the Katipunan appeared to be
gaining ground, the elites started to rally behind them. Unfortunately, their agenda and desires
did not coincide with the Katipuneros' objectives. The capitalist class fought to maintain their
social status and financial resources. While the country's founding movement was once again
undermined, and the collaborationist leadership accepted a more insidious and clandestine
mode of colonial education, the reality of the people's Revolution remained hidden behind the
mask of peace and harmony. Scholars have recognized the challenges of studying the
Philippine Revolution because it involves issues of class, race, and gender. The wealthy are
seen as the key victor because they were able to retain and continue to perpetuate their status
before and after the Revolution. Apart from social status, race is a significant factor. Race has
played a crucial role in the imagining and creation of a modern nation-state since the Revolution
established the First Philippine Republic. Women played an important role in the Revolution, so
gender is still a subject worth exploring.More research is required, however, to see if women's
working conditions are changing. Rizal, on the other hand, was quickly apprehended by the
Spanish, exiled to a remote island in the south, and finally executed in 1896. Meanwhile, within
the Philippines, a strong sense of autonomy had developed among a segment of the population
that was marginalized. entsious semi-religious uprisings had accentuated Spain's long rule over
the Philippines, but none had the necessary coordination to drive the Spaniards out.
Regardless, a well-informed Filipino working class emerged in the nineteenth century, along with
a desire for Philippine independence. Mid-colonization, class interests emerged that would
ultimately jeopardize the legitimacy of their future movements, despite the fact that the people
were acquiring more resistance experience and education, and that they were actively engaging
in the historic movement that would gradually lead to unity and awareness of national identity.
When the people's dissatisfaction with colonial abuses reached a boiling point, a chief or
another would seize power and impose himself as the new authority in place of the Spaniards.
Kinship dependency, on the other hand, has now been turned into exploitative relationships.
However, observing Catholic traditions did not prohibit them from appropriating or damaging
church property during any of these rebellions and revolts in the midst of Spanish settlements.
Some priests were hanged, and others were incarcerated or banished. Both of these uprisings
served as the base for the Filipinos' subsequent series of uprisings against Spanish colonialism.
Another aspect that contributed to the rebels' high morale was their mountain units' cooperation.
The establishment of mountain settlements was advantageous in a number of ways. There was
a revival of old tribal ties in these mountain settlements. The revolutionaries were undeniably
better off than they had been before, free of tax and forced labor commitments, and no longer
subject to the threats and demands of oppressive officials and priests. Despite the fact that
people were often exploited and betrayed by government officials, their opinions were not
entirely negative. Participating in acts like these revolts taught them about their own strength
and the importance of rebellion. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this led to the
Philippines' economic transition, with new classes emerging and existing ones being changed.
Each uprising was a move forward in the revolutionary awakening of the people. Each local
rebellion contributed to the formation of national consciousness. In 1945, the Americans arrived
in the Philippines to liberate the Filipinos from Japanese rule. While the Americans' arrival in the
archipelago fifty years ago, ostensibly to free the Filipinos from the Spaniards, was met with
fierce resistance and even a war, the Americans were now recognized as liberators in 1945. As
a result of their shared war experiences, the Philippines and the United States established
stronger relations. Contsantino's book is one of Asia's most interesting histories, resembling a
short history of the Philippines. This is a topic that affects individuals as well as communities.
Learning about the Philippines before and after such events is also exciting and educational.
This book's historical events are necessary to study and analyze so you must understand and
know what occurred in the past in order to comprehend the country's future and current state.
The history of the Philippines is the legacy of its people's struggles for freedom and a better life.
The indigenous population of the archipelago gradually became aware of their status as a single
nation during anti-colonial struggles against Spaniards. However, since colonial rule was
developed at a young age in the people's social development and was only retained for a brief
reign until the twentieth century, the democratic movement was mainly negative reactions to
colonialism rather than progressive movements aimed at achieving national goals. At each
stage of the war, the main between both cultures, the governed and the leader, played a
significant role. Of form of resistance must be understood in relation to the oppressor and
oppressed populations. It is critical that we look at the other side of any text we read and set
aside our prejudices before identifying the facts and considering other important information.
Following the Philippines' independence from Spain, the United States takes control of the
region. Filipinos were known for their creativity, which they used against the United States to
show that, while promising the country independence and modernity, Americans continue to
benefit from its money and wealth. The American occupation of the Philippines sparked a revolt
that lasted until July 4, 1946