RIZAL’S LIFE AND WORKS

The Birth of Filipino Nationalism

Introduction:

The meaning and importance of a man’s task can be understood and

appreciated when viewed within a time and its proper historical context. By studying the
Philippine in 19th century we can fully understood and appreciate Jose Rizal in the
making of a Filipino nation, one has to know the development in the century when he
lived, the period when he worked.

Discussion :

The Birth of Filipino Nationalism

The rise of the Filipino nation was slow but inevitable. The Philippine policies
during Rizal’s time were generally coming from Spain, and implemented by the
Governor General and the Catholic Church laws that were implemented in the country
were generally improvement of intellectual and collective ideals. This was the time when
Filipino priests became an important figure in the Catholic Church, Governor Generals
also left their imprint, either detrimental or positive for Filipinos.
Spain, unwittingly, helped to unite the Filipinos by giving them Christian religion, the
Spanish civilization, and a centralized government. Unfortunately, the growth of the
nationalism was slow because of the difficulty in social and economic intercourse
among them. But the 19th century saw the flowering of the national spirit stimulated by
the following influences:

1. Opening of the Philippines to World Trade

The opening of the 19th century saw Europe adopting a more liberal commercial
policy. Spain, following the example of other European powers, liberalized her economic
policy in the Philippines by permitting foreign firms to do business in Manila. In 1809,
the 1st English firm was established in the city.
In the year 1834, Manila was officially opened to world trade. In later years more
ports were thrown open to world commerce, such as Sual, Iloilo, and Zamboanga in
1855: Cebu in 1860; and Legaspi and Tacloban in 1873.
Owing to contact with the world trade, the Philippines experienced a remarkable
progress in agriculture, and industry. There was material prosperity, and the people
enjoyed higher standard of living.

2. Rise of an Enlightened Middle Class

The Filipino society was divided solely based on economic status. Before the
Philippine Revolution, there were only two: the Principalia, and the masses, or indio-as
they called it. The principalia was the highest social class which included teachers, local
officials, landlords, and ex-officials. People who are Spanish belonged to this social
class and was divided further into 2 classes: the peninsulares, and the Creoles or
Insulares. The Iberian (peninsula) and were the wealthiest and most politically powerful
among the social classes. The Isulares are those Spaniards who were born in the
Philippines. Although the Peninsulares considered themselves superior to the Insulares,
these two classes enjoyed the same social power like various government and church
positions, and composed the majority of the government.

Material prosperity produced enlightened middle class, consisting of well-to-do

farmers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, writers and government employees. They read
books and newspaper, discussed political problems and reforms, and sent their children
to colleges and universities in Manila and abroad.
From the enlightened middle class came the leading intellectuals of the country
and the patriots of the propaganda movement who stirred the Philippines into a
revolution. Dr. Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, The Luna brothers (Juan and Antonio),
Jose Ma. Panganiban, Mariano Ponce, Graciano Lopez- Jaena and Dr. Pedro A.
Paterno were among such men.
3. The Spanish Revolution of 1868
On September 19, 1863, a revolution broke out in Cadiz, Spain, against the
autocratic rule of Queen Isabella II (1836-1868), led by two able generals-Serrano and
Prim. The revolutionists took advantage of the time when the queen, with her family and
court, was vacationing at San Sebastian, a seaside resort in Spain.
The triumph of liberalism in Spain echoed in her colonies across the seas.
Colonial officials with democratic ideas were sent to Manila and the Filipinos soon
enjoyed the blessings denied to them before –religious toleration, freedom of assembly,
freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.

For further reading: The Revolution of 1868 and the Republic of 1873
https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain/The-Revolution-of-1868-and- the-
Republic-of-1873

4. Opening of the Suez Canal (1869)

By the late 18th century, political and economic changes in Europe were finally
beginning to affect Spain and, thus, the Philippines. The opening of the Suez Canal to
world shipping on November 17, 1860, greatly affected the course of the Philippine
History. The canal, built by Ferdinand de Lesseps, a Frenchmen, connects the Red Sea
and Mediterranean linking Europe and the Orient closer.
The Philippines was thus brought nearer to Spain. The canal facilitated travel and
communication. Not only Spaniards, but also world travellers with new ideas came to
the Philippines via Suez Canal. Important as a stimulus to trade was the gradual
elimination of the monopoly enjoyed by the galleon to Acapulco. The last galleon arrived
in Manila in 1815, and by the mid-1830s Manila was open to foreign merchants almost
without restriction. The demand for Philippine sugar and abaca grew apace, and the
volume of exports to Europe expanded even further after the completion of the Suez
Canal in 1869.
 The growth of commercial agriculture resulted in the appearance of a new class.
Alongside the landholdings of the church and the rice estates of the pre-Spanish nobility
there arose haciendas of coffee, hemp, and sugar, often the property of enterprising
Chinese-Filipino mestizos. Some of the families that gained prominence in the 19th
century have continued to play an important role in Philippine economics and politics.

Not until 1863 was there public education in the Philippines, and even the church
controlled the curriculum. Less than one-fifth of those who went to school could read
and write Spanish, and far fewer could speak it properly. The limited higher education in
the colony was entirely under clerical direction, but by the 1880s many sons of the
wealthy were sent to Europe to study. There, nationalism and a passion for reform
blossomed in the liberal atmosphere. Out of this talented group of overseas Filipino
students arose what came to be known as the Propaganda Movement.

5. The Influx of Liberal Ideas

On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation. It made the
Philippine closer to the world trade, communication, and travel. The canal 103 miles
long and connects the red sea and Mediterranean Sea the Philippines was opened by
Spain to the world trade (1834).
The ships that came to the open ports of the Philippines via the Suez Canal
carried with them men of liberal ideas from America and Europe. They bought
newspaper and books that contained the enlightened thoughts of Montesquieu,
Rousseau, Locke, Stuart Mill, Jefferson, Madison, as well as the democratic ideologies
of the American and French Republics.
The Spanish Revolution of 1868 the triumph of liberalism in Spain against the
autocratic rule of Isabela ll (1833-1869). Resounded across the seas to the shores of
her overseas colonies the Filipinos came to enjoy for the first time the sweet taste of a
liberal regime including
Freedom of speech
Freedom of the press
Freedom of assembly and other human rights Liberal ideas, contained book
newspapers, were ideologies of the American and French Revolutions and thoughts of
different philosophers. Montesquie, Rousseau, Voltaire, Lock and Jefferson and other
political philosophers, Moret Decree of 1870Intended to secularize higher education in
the Philippines

6. The Cavite Mutiny of 1872

On the night of January 20, 1872, about 200 Filipino soldiers and workers in the
Cavite arsenal rose in mutiny under the leadership of a certain Lamadrid, a Filipino
sergeant. The mutineers had a secret understanding with the Filipino soldiers in Manila
for a concerted uprising, the signal being the firing of rockets from the walls of
Intramuros.
 Unfortunately, the suburb of Sampaloc, in Manila, celebrated its fiesta that night
with a brilliant display of fireworks. Thinking that the fireworks had been set off by the
Manila troops, the Cavite plotters rose in arms. They killed their Spanish officers and
took control of the arsenal.
Government troops under Felipe Ginoves rushed to Cavite the following morning. A
bloody battle ensued. Many of the mutineers, including Lamadrid, were killed in the
fighting. The survivors were subdued and taken to Manila as prisoners.
The Mutiny was magnified by the Spaniards into a "revolt" so as to implicate the
Filipino priest-patriots. It was in reality just a mutiny of the Cavite soldiers and workers
who had resented the government action in abolishing their old-time privileges, notably
their exemption from the tribute and from forced labour. But Spanish writers alleged that
it was a seditious revolt directed against Spanish rule and fomented by Fathers Burgos,
Gomez and Zamora and by other Filipino leaders. This allegation was false, but it was
accepted by the government authorities because it gave them a pretext to get rid of the
Filipino leaders they did not like.

Conviction and Execution of GomBurZa

Immediately after the Cavite mutiny was suppressed, many Filipino patriots were
arrested and thrown in prison. Among these were the three priests Fathers Gomez,
Burgos, and Zamora, the three men who championed the cause of the Filipino priests
who had not been receiving their due from the Spanish authorities. Talented and
patriotic, they carried on the nationalist movement of Father Pedro Pelaez, who had
perished in the Manila earthquake in 1863.
Their movement was popularly called the Filipinization or secularization of the
clergy because it advocated the equality of right between the native secular priests—
priests who lived among the people—and the Spanish friars, who lived in religious
communities separated from the towns and cities. At that time the Filipino priests were
not allowed to hold high and profitable positions in the church because of their brown
skin and Asian ancestry.
After a farcical trial by a military court, Fathers Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora were
sentenced to die by the garrote, a strangulation machine. The court verdict was
approved by the harsh General Izquierdo, who then immediately asked Archbishop
Gergorio Meliton Martinez of Manila to deprive them of their priestly robes before their
execution. The archbishop denied this request, for he believed the three condemned
priests were innocent.
On February 15, 1872, the decision of death was announced to the three priests
Gomez, Burgos and Zamora including Zaldua.
On the morning of February 17, 1872, the three priests were garroted to death at
the Bagumbayan. The promulgated judgment was sent to Governor General Izquierdo
who immediately approved the decision. Izquierdo also requested the Archbishop of
Manila to defrock the three priests as they faced death. The Archbishop demanded a
copy of the trial and decision of the case.
 This execution was a calamitous blunder of the Spanish authorities. The Filipinos
deeply resented it, for they regard the three priests as the public martyrs of their
fatherland. In their indignation, the Filipinos forgot their regional boundaries and
differences and rallied as a united nation to fight the Spanish injustice. The blood of the
martyrs of 1872 was thus the fertile seed of Filipino nationalism.

The importance of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny to Rizal

When Rizal was preparing to study in Manila, these tragic events happened
which affected much their family in Calamba, Paciano Rizal, the elder brother of Jose
Rizal felt the injustice to the three martyred priests. Paciano was a student in Manila,
and living with Father Jose Burgos, when the latter was put to death. There and then,
he decided to stop studying and went home to Calamba. Aside from being suspected as
an active member of the organization founded by Fr. Burgos, Paciano was also
disappointed why such tragic incident happened to the priest whom he revered so
much.
This is an excerpt of Rizal’s letter to his compatriots, while he was in Europe. It
was clear to Rizal, that without the incident of the that Cavite mutiny in 1872, and the
execution of the three-martyred priests Father Burgos, Gomez and Zamora, there would
be no propaganda Movement, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

The Philippines and Spain of Rizal’s Times in the 19 th Century

The Spanish colonization of the Philippines was planned for Spain to have a
base on the Silk Road and a platform for her expansion towards Asia. The impulse of
trade, entrepreneurial activity and investments in the archipelago are steadily, above
all in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Looking at the positive aspects of colonial process
involved, the incorporation of the Philippines in the Spanish Empire brought about the
solidity that favoured the creation of a national uniqueness. Furthermore, the
participation of Catholicism that plays great influence in Philippine society and to the
involvement of the islands in an international economy, and other development such
as public works which involved building of lighthouses, the Manila Harbour Board and
Hydro graphic Committee of the Pacific
The 1800’s were period of transformation for the global world order likewise a
phase of change among different European powers. The Philippines during that
time, Filipinos were still under Spanish rule and struggling to Spaniards’ policy of
keeping the natives illiterate and divided along ethnic lines.

For further reading: Philippines- The 19th Century /Britannica

https://www.britannica.com/place/Philippines/The-19th-century
19th Century Philippines and the Friar - Problem
https://www.jstor.org/stable/979040?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents