Rizal’s

Concepts on
Nation
Building
Chapter 7
Rizal’s political conviction and concept of
nationalism matured between 1882 and 1887.
From a distance he gained a better perspective
of his country’s problems.
The country inspired in him not only sympathy
but an enduring love. He began to understand
now that the prolonged subjugation of his
people was cause primarily by two factors,
namely, the absence of national consciousness
and the poor training and education of the
people. Gradually, his own lifetime plan emerge
into a reality of direction and dedicated
leadership.
his blueprint for nation building includes the
importance of education, of instilling racial
pride and dignity among the people, the
promotion of national consciousness, the re-
orientation of values and attitudes, and the
willingness to sacrifice for the country.
Rizal looked upon education as a prerequisite
to the realization of a people’s freedom. It is
through education that a people obtains
knowledge of themselves as individuals and
as members of a nation.
the long period of
colonial domination and
the constant
humiliations and
discrimination
experienced by the
Filipino people from
their colonial masters
produced a feeling of
inferiority and a lack of
racial pride and dignity.
Rizal wanted to inculcate into his
people an understanding of history
from which, he believed, sprang the
roots of genuine nationalism..
He wanted his people to dedicate
their thoughts, words, and actions not
solely to themselves as citizens of a
nation. National consciousness is a
key to the attainment f a better
society. The people must reorient
their values and attitudes in order to
contribute to the task of nation
building.
Rizal emphasized that the task of nation
building is accompanied by hardships and
sufferings which the people must inevitably
experience to bolster their courage.
The paramount problem during Rizal’s time
was the development of a national
consciousness, that is, the creation of the
spirit of nationhood in the minds of the
people. It was important that the people
realize the sordid facts of their existence,
the causes of their oppression, and the
sacrifices they must endure to be freed
from colonial domination.
Rizal’s program
of action
His program of action consisted of a plan to
organize a group of Filipino students in
Madrid. They would form the nucleus of a
group that in the future would use their varied
talents to work for solutions to the Philippine
problems. He proposed to them the writing of
a book similar to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s
Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Eugene Sue’s The
Wandering Jew which would deal with the
various aspects of Filipino life. He thought that
a similar presentation of conditions in the
Philippines would arouse his countrymen to
strive for a better way of life and coerce Spain
to initiate reforms in the country.
The book was to be the project of the
Circulo Hispano-Filipino with each
member contributing a chapter. When
details were discussed at a meeting,
most of the members wanted to write
about the Filipino women and were
scarcely interested in the other topics
of the proposed book. Disgusted,
Rizal decided to carry on the work by
himself. This book was to be entitled
Noli Me Tangere.
The Noli was finally published in March, 1887. It
elicited varied reactions from Spaniards and
Filipinos and, together with its sequel, El
Filibusterimo, which he wrote during second trip
to Europe, made Rizal a doomed man.
The regrettable turn of events which compelled
him to leave the Philippines again in 1888 made
Rizal determined to pursue his next plan of
action. From the records in the vat Filipiniana
collection of the British museum, Rizal had
pieced together the past history of the
Philippines which revealed that even before the
coming of the Spaniards, the Filipinos already
had a developed culture.
And of these records he chose to
annotate Morga’s Sucesos de las
Islas Filipinas because of it’s
objective presentation of life in the
Philippines at the time of the arrival of
the Spaniards.
Back in the Philippines, the friars
were beginning to feel the effects of
the Propaganda Movement. Anti-friar
sentiment was prevalent; social and
political discontent existed.
Rizal wrote El Filibusterismo to show his
countrymen the price they should be willing
to pay and the problems they would have to
solve first before plunging the country into a
revolution. Among the questions he
proposed for them to consider before girding
for battle were: Were there enough dedicated
and highly trained leaders among them?
Were the soldiers trained, disciplined, and
well armed? Could the collective strength of
the country insure a good chance of victory?
Were people united and educated enough to
assume their respective roles during the
war? How effective were their means of
communication?
The revolution in El Filibuterismo failed
because its leaders failed to consider these
problems. Thus did Rizal warn his countrymen
to consider seriously its decision to revolt
against Spain if no reforms granted. This was
the reason why he objected to plan of the
katipunan to rise in arms in 1896.
Since Rizal opposed a revolution during that
particular stage of the country’s development,
he thought of showing the people how to
organize themselves into a compact
homogenous body in the Philippines. Rizal’s
major plan of organization was the
establishment of La Liga Filipina (Philippine
league).
When Rizal was deported to Dapitan he had
already accomplished a major part of a self-
imposed mission of redeeming the Filipinos
from medieval colonialism. His exile
demonstrated the hero’s untiring efforts at
continuing the program of action that he
relentlessly pursued for the realization of his
blueprint for nation building. The
establishment of a school and a clinic therein,
the community development projects he
undertook, and the numerous activities he
engaged in were tasks Rizal performed to
enhance the development of his country.
Rizal’s Program
of Reforms
The nationalism he taught his people
did not end with the attainment of
independence. He looked beyond
independence to the progressive
development of a new nation in politics,
economics, technology, and education.
His writings conveyed concepts that are
applicable for all time especially to the
present in all major areas of national
development.
Rizal’s Political
Reforms
Rizal waged a relentless campaign to
ameliorate the lot of his people through
his political writings and ideas. His
political views sought to seek a self-
reliant, self-respecting government and “
a people’s government, made for the
people, by the people and answerable to
the people,” Rizal was a pragmatist in
politics in he had practical approaches for
the solution of domestic as well as
international problems.
In his essay, “ The Philippines Within a
Century,” Rizal warned the Spanish
government that unless she provided a
solution for their accumulated complaints,
the Filipino people would one day revolt
against Spain. Spain could not deprive the
people of material progress that they
deserve. Therefore, the mother country
should adopt measures to meet the
change conditions. Thus, Rizal foresaw
nationhood as the ultimate destiny of the
Philippines.
To prevent this costly and
undesirable explosion Rizal
advocated the adoption of certain
basic reforms by the government. “
Reforms,” He said , “to be effective
must come from above. Those which
come from below will be irregular and
unstable. “ he Believed that if carried
out as planned, such reforms “ will
render the Philippines the happiest
country in the world.”
 Pelarin, Jones E.
 Linde, Suzette
 Argallon, Mae Grace
 Inte, Liezela
 Macalam, Rodulfo
 Metioza, Evelyn
 Dangan