Civil Engineering Department

College of Engineering
Southern Luzon State University

Name: Roca, Rheza R. Date: September 30, 2021

Year & Section: BSCE II GA Explore It Out 2

COMO ESTAS, FELIPINAS?

Based on what you had learned from this reading, list down one development, event or
problem which occurred in the Philippines during Rizal’s time under the following
aspects: Political, Economic, Educational and Religious. For every development/ event
listed, explain how this influenced, inspired or developed Rizal’s thoughts, views and
actions. Write your answers on the table provided.

Religious Friars were historically the most powerful people. If you were a priest at
the time, you could easily make money from the collections. They also
took advantage of Filipinos' gullibility by asking for money when
someone is about to die and telling them that if they give money or any
of their property to church, they will go to heaven, which is not true. They
are only saying it to get something from the people. As a result, Filipino
nationalists, including Rizal, had more courage to depose the Parish
priests.
Furthermore, the execution of GOMBURZA resulted in the establishment
of the Propaganda movement. It also compelled Rizal to write novels and
papers such as La Solidaridad. It was also read by Bonifacio, who founded
the Katipunan to overthrow Spanish rule. Because there was a complete
silence in the Philippines following the event, as if no one tried to talk
about what had happened or pretended that nothing had happened! This
really affected Rizal since he was being influenced by Father Jose Burgos
wherein even before, he taught him about the importance of historical
investigation for the creation of a national consciousness among his
countrymen, look to their heritage which Rizal learned. His annotations
to the book show that he was looking for evidences of Filipino civilization
and emphasizing Filipino values, comparing them to the Spanish and
praising his people's success.
Educational During the 19th century, Spanish teachers instructed students. Through
their humanistic approach to education, they embedded in students a
sense of nationalism. They instilled in students the values of human
dignity, justice, and equality for all men. However, as time passed, the
Filipino students realized that something was wrong and began to
question those principles. Like dignity, but the Spaniards did not respect
or value their dignity. Justice, but there are many inequities in the
Philippines, and many Filipinos have been abused by Spaniards. For
equality, but the Spaniards do not treat us equally.

Aside from that, friars had doubts and became dubious about why they
received good grades in school; instead of being proud, they became
jealous, which is why Rizal left the Philippines at the time. As a result,
Filipinos developed a sense of pride and national identity. Rizal claimed
that Filipinos could have developed on their own before the arrival of the
Spaniards, citing "pride of being Filipinos," because when Filipinos began
to learn about Philippines history, they realized that nothing really good
happened during the reign of the Spaniards, which is one of the reasons
that led them to develop that Filipino nationalism. They realized that the
experiences they had in Spain while studying there had led them to
believe that they needed to have similar experiences in their own country.
As a result, these cultural developments that result in Filipino nationalism
have had a significant impact on Rizal as well.

Economic We were ruled by the Spaniards for over 333 years, but in the nineteenth
century, there was a change in which the country implemented strict
government provisions and foreign trading cartels. Looking back, one of
the economic developments at the time was the opening of the ports to
world trade, which resulted in a significant increase in the export
economy, allowing them to send products outside of the Philippines.
Farmers must produce a large number of products to meet the increased
demand for supplies, particularly agricultural products such as rice,
abaca, and sugar. As a result, they produced more local producers, farms,
and haciendas, which led to some conflict between inquilinous and
hacienda owners as lands increased in value and rents were raised. On
the other hand, by trading local goods, they were able to increase their
profits. This gave rise to the Filipino middle-upper class, who used the
money to educate their children, much like Rizal's family did for him!
They were able to learn a lot about nationalism in school, which
 drastically altered their perspectives and caused them to become more
patriotic. They witnessed all of the Spaniards' abuses of power and the
foolishness they perpetrated against Filipinos. This caused many of the
students, particularly Rizal, to open their minds to reality and take action.

Political Since we were under Spanish rule at the time, there have been conflicts
between liberals and conservatives, and Spain nearly lost their colonies
during the nineteenth century. As a result, the Philippines, where
governor generals have been replaced and changed on a regular basis for
many years, suffered greatly. As a result, the nation suffered greatly, as
there would be no consistent policies, resulting in political instability.
Because of rampant graft and corruption, the government was unable to
meet the basic needs of the people, taxes were not fully utilized, and
Filipinos' participation in government was extremely limited. Rizal was
motivated to call for church and government reforms as a result of this,
and the lack of concern on the part of government officials prompted
Rizal to call for education of his fellow Filipinos for the nationalistic
movement.