Name: Jessie Isa Leal D.

Sanchez Class Schedule: M-W-F 3:00-5:00 Course

& Year: BSBA FM 2 Name of Instructor: Diana Mae Atacador Subject: RZL10BA
Date of Submission: January 17, 2022

Critical Essay for Jose Rizal as Propagandist

Rizal is a huge part of Philippine history, and his works are still given life today by appreciating
and learning about his life and works. His triumphs and struggles should inspire us to do our best
and be proud of ourselves when it comes to defending our own country, because he sacrificed his
life through his work for Filipinos to be meaningful and free.

During Rizal's long career, he embraced and thought the best of what Filipinos could be, so he
did everything he could to free his fellow Filipinos from struggles and misery. To free his fellow
Filipinos from the bonds of political tyranny and its corollaries, misery and ignorance, became
his all-consuming raison d'être, pervading all aspects of his life, eventually excluding all other
considerations-family, friends, personal happiness, and life itself. Rizal rose to prominence as a
leader of the reformist movement known as Propaganda, which waged an unwavering campaign
for political and social liberties, lobbying the peninsular government through their connections
with liberal Spanish politicians. Rizal annotated the book Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, written
by the Spaniard Antonio Morga, to prove his point and refute the accusations of prejudiced
Spanish writers against his race. The book provided an unbiased depiction of 16th century
Filipino life culture. Rizal's annotation demonstrated that Filipinos had developed culture prior to
the arrival of the Spaniards. Rizal even wrote incessantly for La Solidaridad, a propaganda
mouthpiece, hoping, like his fellow propagandists, that the Filipinos' cries would be heard by the
powers that be. His greatest impact on the development of a Filipino national consciousness,
however, was the publication of two novels: El Filibusterismo in 1891 and Noli Me Tangere in
1886, both of which he hoped would be successful in achieving his goals after all other means
had failed, which led to his death. He researched Philippine history to demonstrate that we
Filipinos had our own culture prior to colonization and that we are not inferior to the white man.
It was for this reason that he tackled Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas and merged the
registers for Philippine history books at the London Library. Pride in the Filipino's worth
motivated him to debunk the myth of the so-called "indolence of the Filipino" and to label those
Filipinos who denied their native tongue as rotten fish; to study Tagalog seriously and attempt to
produce a comprehensive Tagalog dictionary. With the same conviction, he took on the generic
term indio, despite its negative connotations, and transformed it into one of dignity and nobility.

Jose Rizal as Propagandist pg. 1

Name: Jessie Isa Leal D. Sanchez Class Schedule: M-W-F 3:00-5:00 Course
& Year: BSBA FM 2 Name of Instructor: Diana Mae Atacador Subject: RZL10BA
Date of Submission: January 17, 2022

During his exile in Dapitan, he studied local flora and fauna, collected various specimens, and
shared observations with colleagues. In order to remind us Filipinos to defend our own nation
and to move forward and do the best, he used his lottery winnings to create local water and
lighting systems, he founded a school with the local boys, treated patients free of charge, and
encouraged local people to plant fruit trees, sugar cane, cocoa, and start their own marketing
company and be inspired to give our blood, sweat, and tears for our country's freedom.

Jose Rizal as Propagandist pg. 2