Pinay Ako!

[muñequita linda 0]

The “El Filibusterismo” was essentially a call to revolution although with many limitations. Nevertheless, it was published in an extensively more relaxed atmosphere than the "Noli". It created a stir, when for the first time, a Spanish newspaper, the liberal "Nuevo Regimen" (New Regime) reproduced the novel in daily sequels in October 1891.

But the friars too were convinced of the value of the "Fili". They are said to have offered Rizal a professorship at the University of Manila, an estate and 100,000 pesos in cash for the retraction of both novels. To this offer, Rizal is supposed to have answered that he will not undo with the left hand what he has done with the right. If his books were true, then he would have written about them, the friars. If not, then they would have nothing to fear. "You are trying to drown me in a glass of water, but you cannot even succeed in doing it in an ocean." He dismisses brusquely even the request of his sister to consider the offer.

If that was true, then Rizal would have risen from his grave. University of Manila was founded in 1913! He was a graduate from UST but did not consider professorial position for number 1: he didn't submit his thesis while a student and 2: there would be no schools willing to accept someone who's grilling their hind.

Noli was more romantic a novel but did not dismiss the idea of revolution (Please read the novel) while El Fili was more political. Anyways, something to think about.

I believe Besame Mucho's source meant Ateneo de Manila instead of University of Manila. When translated into English, ateneo means educational institution and then, perhaps, some foreign historian literally translated Ateneo de Manila to University of Manila!

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Wow, I didn't know the house was already renovated. The first and the last time I saw that house, it was different from what you described here. That was a long time ago in the late 80's anyway.

A girl with piercing blue eyes. Bracken was born in Hong Kong on August 9, 1876 to Irish parents, James Bracken, a corporal in the British Army, Elizabeth Jane McBride who married on May 3, 1868 in Belfast, Ireland. When her mother died shortly after childbirth, she was adopted by an American named George Taufer.

So I guess we are both right. She was an American born of Irish parents in Hong Kong.

Rocky

[Anna and Jeff 3]

The “El Filibusterismo” was essentially a call to revolution although with many limitations. Nevertheless, it was published in an extensively more relaxed atmosphere than the "Noli". It created a stir, when for the first time, a Spanish newspaper, the liberal "Nuevo Regimen" (New Regime) reproduced the novel in daily sequels in October 1891.

But the friars too were convinced of the value of the "Fili". They are said to have offered Rizal a professorship at the University of Manila, an estate and 100,000 pesos in cash for the retraction of both novels. To this offer, Rizal is supposed to have answered that he will not undo with the left hand what he has done with the right. If his books were true, then he would have written about them, the friars. If not, then they would have nothing to fear. "You are trying to drown me in a glass of water, but you cannot even succeed in doing it in an ocean." He dismisses brusquely even the request of his sister to consider the offer.

If that was true, then Rizal would have risen from his grave. University of Manila was founded in 1913! He was a graduate from UST but did not consider professorial position for number 1: he didn't submit his thesis while a student and 2: there would be no schools willing to accept someone who's grilling their hind.

Noli was more romantic a novel but did not dismiss the idea of revolution (Please read the novel) while El Fili was more political. Anyways, something to think about.

I believe Besame Mucho's source meant Ateneo de Manila instead of University of Manila. When translated into English, ateneo means educational institution and then, perhaps, some foreign historian literally translated Ateneo de Manila to University of Manila!

I highly doubt that. Rizal wasn't licensed to teach since he didn't finish his thesis in UST. (Submitting all the requirements for thesis and passing it gave a person a license to teach). Second, he was dismayed with the educational system in the Philippines, hence he sought higher and better system in abroad, e.g. Spain, France, etc.

[muñequita linda 0]

I took that Rizal course in college, but I never paid attention to what our professor was saying. Instead of listening, I was mooning over him. He's kind of cute and smart anyway. Everybody got a crush on him.

Anyway, reading Rizal's life and writings based on the college text book (Rizal's life and writings) we used, IMO, he was like many of his idealist Filipino contemporaries, except that he came from a rich family. He made a lot of travels abroad to further his studies. He just wants a better life for the Filipino people and that is why he used his writings to voice his objections instead of taking arms againts the Spanish. Of course, he was a frail man, small in stature, but big in ideals.

I went to visit my cousin in Calamba Laguna and we went to see Rizal's ancestral home. Calamba is a tourist destination. You will get a grand tour of Rizal's home as a child for a small fee which was quite an experience for me during that time. It somehow gave me a glimpse of Rizal's childhood by looking at that little Nipa hut sitting in the backyard. According to his biography, he and his siblings used to play in that little Nipa hut.

Rocky

P.S.

Rizal was also like any red-blooded guy. He had a lot of girlfriends before he married Josephine Bracken, an American girl.

Me too, I had 24 units of Spanish in college and the last three were all about Noli Me Tangere, in Spanish. We had to read and write things about Noli in Spanish! Our teacher was a young Spanish meztisa in her early thirties and had a striking resemblance to Rosemarie Gil. Every male student was very diligent in his school work, probably aspiring to be the teacher's pet.

Rocky, that nipa hut looks like the gazebo in your backyard! Just kiddin'.

[muñequita linda 0]

The “El Filibusterismo” was essentially a call to revolution although with many limitations. Nevertheless, it was published in an extensively more relaxed atmosphere than the "Noli". It created a stir, when for the first time, a Spanish newspaper, the liberal "Nuevo Regimen" (New Regime) reproduced the novel in daily sequels in October 1891.

But the friars too were convinced of the value of the "Fili". They are said to have offered Rizal a professorship at the University of Manila, an estate and 100,000 pesos in cash for the retraction of both novels. To this offer, Rizal is supposed to have answered that he will not undo with the left hand what he has done with the right. If his books were true, then he would have written about them, the friars. If not, then they would have nothing to fear. "You are trying to drown me in a glass of water, but you cannot even succeed in doing it in an ocean." He dismisses brusquely even the request of his sister to consider the offer.

If that was true, then Rizal would have risen from his grave. University of Manila was founded in 1913! He was a graduate from UST but did not consider professorial position for number 1: he didn't submit his thesis while a student and 2: there would be no schools willing to accept someone who's grilling their hind.

Noli was more romantic a novel but did not dismiss the idea of revolution (Please read the novel) while El Fili was more political. Anyways, something to think about.

I believe Besame Mucho's source meant Ateneo de Manila instead of University of Manila. When translated into English, ateneo means educational institution and then, perhaps, some foreign historian literally translated Ateneo de Manila to University of Manila!

I highly doubt that. Rizal wasn't licensed to teach since he didn't finish his thesis in UST. (Submitting all the requirements for thesis and passing it gave a person a license to teach). Second, he was dismayed with the educational system in the Philippines, hence he sought higher and better system in abroad, e.g. Spain, France, etc.

Now, you got to see that the teaching position was offered to him. The Spaniards would have not cared if Rizal was qualified to teach or not. They just wanted him to shut up!

Rocky, you finished law school at the University of Manila, did you not?

Edited February 4, 2009 by mariquita linda

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

OO nga eh. That was the first picture I found in the Google search that looked anything like the little Nipa hut in Rizal's backyard.

Rocky

P.S.

Bullwinkle said it looks like a gazebo too.

[Anna and Jeff 3]

The “El Filibusterismo” was essentially a call to revolution although with many limitations. Nevertheless, it was published in an extensively more relaxed atmosphere than the "Noli". It created a stir, when for the first time, a Spanish newspaper, the liberal "Nuevo Regimen" (New Regime) reproduced the novel in daily sequels in October 1891.

But the friars too were convinced of the value of the "Fili". They are said to have offered Rizal a professorship at the University of Manila, an estate and 100,000 pesos in cash for the retraction of both novels. To this offer, Rizal is supposed to have answered that he will not undo with the left hand what he has done with the right. If his books were true, then he would have written about them, the friars. If not, then they would have nothing to fear. "You are trying to drown me in a glass of water, but you cannot even succeed in doing it in an ocean." He dismisses brusquely even the request of his sister to consider the offer.

If that was true, then Rizal would have risen from his grave. University of Manila was founded in 1913! He was a graduate from UST but did not consider professorial position for number 1: he didn't submit his thesis while a student and 2: there would be no schools willing to accept someone who's grilling their hind.

Noli was more romantic a novel but did not dismiss the idea of revolution (Please read the novel) while El Fili was more political. Anyways, something to think about.

I believe Besame Mucho's source meant Ateneo de Manila instead of University of Manila. When translated into English, ateneo means educational institution and then, perhaps, some foreign historian literally translated Ateneo de Manila to University of Manila!

I highly doubt that. Rizal wasn't licensed to teach since he didn't finish his thesis in UST. (Submitting all the requirements for thesis and passing it gave a person a license to teach). Second, he was dismayed with the educational system in the Philippines, hence he sought higher and better system in abroad, e.g. Spain, France, etc.

Now, you got to see that the teaching position was offered to him. The Spaniards would have not cared if Rizal was qualified to teach or not. They just wanted him to shut up!

Which, undeniably, they failed!

[Señor Bonito 2]

There is no one who, more than a century ago, would have perceived the problems of de-colonization with such sharpness as Rizal had. The politicians - of the Mother Country as well as of the liberated countries - could have avoided such mistakes through the study of José Rizal!

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Rocky, you finished law school at the University of Manila, did you not?

Yep. 2007.

Rocky

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

There is no one who, more than a century ago, would have perceived the problems of de-colonization with such sharpness as Rizal had. The politicians - of the Mother Country as well as of the liberated countries - could have avoided such mistakes through the study of José Rizal!

I think Apolinario Mabini was much more of pragmatist than Rizal, from what I have read. Of course, Mabini had the opportunity to indulge his ideas in later life, something the Spanish did not let Rizal do! What would have happened, had Mabini prevailed in his vision for the Philipines, instead of his being cloistered away in a library? He always thought it was better to have a rich uncle, rather than a doting mother!

Food for thought, from a Kano.

--Bullwinkle

Edited February 4, 2009 by Rocky_nBullwinkle

[Señor Bonito 2]

There is no one who, more than a century ago, would have perceived the problems of de-colonization with such sharpness as Rizal had. The politicians - of the Mother Country as well as of the liberated countries - could have avoided such mistakes through the study of José Rizal!

I think Apolinario Mabini was much more of pragmatist than Rizal, from what I have read. Of course, Mabini had the opportunity to indulge his ideas in later life, something the Spanish did not let Rizal do! What would have happened, had Mabini prevailed in his vision for the Philipines, instead of his being cloistered away in a library? He always thought it was better to have a rich uncle, rather than a doting mother!

Food for thought, from a Kano.

--Bullwinkle

I am not sure if Mabini was more pragmatic than Rizal. But, sure, The Sublime Paralytic was a realistic man. Knowing that the Americans would never relinquish its grip on the Philipines, Mabini made several negotiations with the Americans, like a cease fire or an armistice but all failed. And in the end, Mabini finally took the oath of allegiance to the United States in February of 1903.

To answer your question, if Mabini prevailed in his dialogues with the Americans, the Philippines, in my opinion, would have become a U.S. state in the early 20th century.

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Cause and Effect of the execution of Fathers Burgos, Gomez and Zamora

But such isolation was practicable only so long as the Europeans had to go by the Cape of Good Hope or the Straits of Magellan in order to reach the Far East, and before steam and electric, power had shortened distances. With the opening of the Suez Canal, the Philippines too was opened to the commerce of the civilized world. As a free and civilized nation, Spain was ashamed to imitate China by forbidding the islands to foreigners; besides, it did not have sufficient, strength to compel the great powers, if the need should arise, to abide by such a decision. Thanks to the increasing ease of communications events in Europe were already echoing in the ears of the Filipinos who, excited by these novelties, were beginning to think anew. Their awakening became even more thorough when the Filipino secular clergy, led by Father Burgos, appealed to the Spanish throne and Rome for the recovery of the parishes which the Spanish government had taken from them and given to the friars, confining the mselves to missionary work, should turn over all parishes to the Spanish and Filipino secular clergy in accordance with canon law. Since the friars were bound to lose the case because the petition was just and lawful, they put it about that the claimants were really agitators whose aim was to seize the parishes in order to organize an insurrection against the Spanish regime in the Philippines, The religious Orders claimed to be the sole support of Spanish rule and that, if they were removed from the parishes, the whole regime would come tumbling down, citing the precedent of the Mexican revolution which had been started by secular parish priests.

At this stage of the controversy, the garrison of the Cavite Arsenal mutinied. The ringleaders of the clerical dispute, offended because their claims had not been fairly met, were beyond any doubt, said their enemies, also the ringleaders of the insurrection and, as such, they. were condemned to death. The trial was held amid great mystery and secrecy; the sentence was hastily carried out; afterward it was forbidden to speak of the affair; and for these reasons no Filipino believed, or now believes, in the guilt of the executed priests.

Although Burgos and his companions, Gomez and Zamora, had worked for the rights, of a particular class and not of: the people as a whole, yet had they asked for justice, and died for having asked. True, already on the scaffold, Burgos still. could not understand why he should die, being innocent; which proves that he had not before then thought it possible that he should have to sacrifice his life for the cause he defended. But these were Christian priests, and they died like Christ, slandered by the friar-scribes, because they had sought to take away from the friars the administration of the parishes, the seat of their, power and influence over :the masses and the principal source of their wealth. So it is that the Filipinos keep them in grateful and imperishable memory, and the people venerate them as martyrs to justice.

The Spanish Government did not know and did not want to know anything about the friars in the Philippines or about the Filipinos. They first, in possession of the parishes, were in continuous contact with the latter, and informed against their personal enemies as enemies of Spain, handing them over to the constabulary to be tortured, and to the authorities to be banished. Those in authority who refused to do what the friars wished lost their jobs, and the most liberal minister in Spain, when in powers did whatever the friars wanted. The friars wanted to make an example of Burgos and his companions so that the Filipinos should be afraid to go against them from then on. But that patent injustice, that official crime, aroused not fear but hatred of the friars and of the regime that supported them, and a profound sympathy and sorrow for the victims. This sorrow worked a miracle: it made the Filipinos realize their condition for the first time. Conscious of pain, and thus conscious of life, they asked themselves what kind of a life they lived. The awakening was painful, and working to stay alive more painful still, but one must live. How? They did not know, and the desire to know, the anxiety to learn, overwhelmed and took possession of the youth of the Philippines. The curtain of ignorance woven diligently for centuries was rent at last: fiat lux, let there be light, would not be long in coming, the dawn of a new day was nearing.

Source

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

The Spanish Regime in the Philippines Before the Revolution.

There were formerly in Manila Latinity schools where that language was taught together with a little Spanish, the only mandatory requirements for the study of philosophy, theology and jurisprudence in the University of Santo Thomas, run by the Dominicans. The Philippine priests and lawyers who were Burgos's contemporaries, with the exception of sons of Spaniards, knew Latin perfectly well but hardly any Spanish because the educational system was wholly religious. Of those few Filipinos who had enough financial resources to study in Manila, the majority studied for the priesthood because the friars looked askance at lawyers while priests were held in high esteem by the natives. Later, in order to discourage young Filipinos from going to Spain or elsewhere abroad for studies not available in Manila,, there to pick up liberal and irreligious ideas, the friars amended the educational structure and opened medical and pharmaceutical schools, believing that they could thus at least choose the textbooks and teachers most suitable to their purposes: between. two unavoidable evils, the lesser was to be preferred. However, such was the thirst for knowledge and learning that many scions of wealthy families preferred to study in Spain and travel about Europe. Among those who went abroad for the express purpose of working for the improvement of the political situation of the Filipinos, Don Jose Rizal, a medical student, and Don Marcelo H. del Pilar, a Bulacan lawyer persecuted by his town's parish priest, deserve special mention.

From the political point of view the Philippines was then in a deplorable state. As a mere Spanish possession it did not enjoy constitutional guarantees, so that the King, through the Minister of the Colonies, the member of his government responsible for these matters, had in his hands, the whole of the legislative and executive power. In so far as he also appointed and transferred justices and judges at his discretion, he was also the absolute head of the judicial branch. He was represented in the archipelago by the governor general of the Philippines, who was always, a military man with the rank of lieutenant-general or captain-general in the army, and who exercised dictatorial authority to suspend at his discretion the enforcement of the decrees issued. by the Colonial Ministry when in his judgment they were prejudicial to peace and order in the islands; to banish any citizen or compel him to change his place of residence without being heard in his own defense; to prohibit the public ation or importation into the archipelago of books, pamphlets and articles not approved by the official censors; to search domiciles and correspondence without judicial warrant; to prohibit associations and assemblies for political purposes, as well as the exercise of any religion except the Roman Catholic: in brief, to prohibit the exercise of all those natural rights, older than any human law, which are due to any citizen. Thus the country was in effect in a permanent state of war, although peace had reigned everywhere for three centuries.

The governor general was also commander-in-chief of the army in the Philippines. As viceregal patron he appointed all parish priests and other ecclesiastical employees. He was assisted in his multiple functions, although with more independence and greater powers than ordinary secretaries, by the director general of the public treasury, in affairs pertaining to this field; the director general of civil administration, in affairs pertaining to police, public works, communications, agriculture, industry, commerce, mines, forests, public instruction and others; and by the deputy commander-in-chief in military matters.

The governor himself assisted by the executive secretary, handled official business outside the jurisdiction of the said officials. An Administrative Council had been established to advise him on matters of great weight and importance, and he could also convoke the Council of State, composed, in addition to the high officials already mentioned, of the chief commandant of the naval station and squadron, the archbishop of Manila, and the president of the Manila high court.

All the departments and provincial governments were staffed with peninsular Spaniards, personnel unfamiliar with the country and relieved every time there was a cabinet change (in Madrid). Very few Filipinos secured employment as army officers, as officials in the civil administration, or as judges and prosecuting attorneys. A few Filipinos, more outstanding for their wealth than for their learning, just recently served as members of the Administrative Council, but these positions were unpaid and besides the body was purely advisory in nature. Every government employee tried to make the most of the short time he usually had in office so that dismissal should not catch him unprovided for. In every government centre or branch office the employees covered up for one another because if any of them were to be brought to book their whole class and race would be dishonoured. Any Filipino who denounced the abuses of the Spanish officials and friars was persecuted as a subversive. The archipela go was not represented in the Spanish parliament.

There was no representative municipal government except only in the city of Manila. Town mayors merely collected taxes and enforced the orders of the provincial authorities. They could repair highways with forced labour, but otherwise hand neither funds nor authority to undertake other public works. A mayor was not the leader of his community but only the servant of the town's parish priest and constabulary commanding officer.

Source

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Say goodbye to Bullwinkle! Say hello to Mister Bill!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Reforms Sought by La Solidaridad

Faced with this state of affairs, all those Filipinos concerned with the future of their country could not remain indifferent. They foresaw that easier and faster contact with civilized nations would before long awaken in. the hearts of the Filipinos their inborn love of the freedoms enjoyed by those others, and that such aspirations, if they were not assuaged by suitable and opportune reforms, would irremediably sweep the people away into insurrection, as had been shown in Europe and America. The abuses being committed in the Philippines found no echo in Spain, nor did the complaints of the Filipinos, because the latter had no representatives in -the parliament, and because the friars and the officials of the insular government both had reason to conceal abuses and complaints and to lead the Spanish nation to believe that the natives were content with the existing regime and would rebel if it were changed. On the other hand any political demonstrations in the islands were suppressed and rigorously punished so that neither the statesmen nor the other sectors of the Spanish nation had any idea of the real and true needs and desires of the Filipinos. Since a periodical published in the peninsula as the spokesman of their aspirations might perhaps supply the deficiency, certain Manila residents took it upon themselves to solicit subscriptions and contributions to meet the necessar y expenses, and the fortnightly La Solidaridad was published, first with Don Graciano Lopez Jaena as editor, and shortly afterward, Don Marcelo H. del Pilar.

This periodical, after giving a more detailed account of the political condition and sufferings of the Filipinos, made it clear, among other things, that the Filipinos, far from being satisfied with their fate, longed and hoped for from the Spanish government those changes and reforms which would gradually allow them the progressive enjoyment of the benefits of civilization; that the few Filipinos then living in Spain were compelled to give public expression to the desires of their countrymen because statements of this nature were punished in the islands with tortures, forcible changes of residence, and exile; that these desires, derived as they were from needs arising in the natural course of things, far from being diminished by repression, would instead grow until they became irresistible, just as air acquires greater power to expand the more it is confined; that the Spanish government should not let these suppressed desires explode into an insurrection since it should forestall the Filipinos from seeking the cure for their ills in separation; and that the love and gratitude of the Filipinos toward Spain were the only support capable in the course of time of maintaining Spanish rule in the Philippines inasmuch as only they would not fail in its times of grave danger and distress.

Going on from there to the reforms or improvements which might assuage the people's anxieties, the periodical asked, among other things, that the insular government cease to be military in nature and become civil; that the powers of the governor general be limited and fixed by law; that the individual liberties sheltered under the Spanish constitution be given to the Filipinos; that the friars be expelled or that at least the parishes be entrusted to the secular clergy; that, except for the posts of governor general and heads of department, which should always be reserved for Spaniards, public offices in the insular government be filled by competitive examinations, such examinations to be held in Spain for half of the vacancies and in the Philippines for the other half; that tenure of such offices be secure; that the constabulary should be reformed or suppressed, etc.

As was to be expected, the friars published another periodical to oppose these claims; their main argument was the incapacity of the native due to his ignorance and inborn laziness. They alleged that the sought for reforms, incompatible with his primitive state, would spoil the native, accustomed as he was to work under threat of the whip -- the reforms would, so to speak, be too strong a food for his unsophisticated stomach; that, if their petitions were granted, the Filipinos would ask for more, turning more and more demanding and vexatious, and never satisfied; that really the masses in the country were happy with their lot and paid no heed to La Solidaridad which was edited by a handful of subversives. They were told in reply that the native was ignorant because he was badly instructed, principally because the friars, who were the inspectors of the government primary schools and the private secondary schools, did not want him to be instructed; that notwithstanding official statistics in the Philippines the proportion of persons who could read and write to the total population, was, if not equal to, greater than, in the peninsula; that the indolence of the native was largely due to the lack of cheap and easy transport facilities for his products; that reform were sought precisely so that the native might rise from the primitive state in which he was being kept and so that the government, better informed of his needs, might meet them accordingly; that the number of representatives of the Filipinos in parliament might be fixed in proportion to those who could read and write; and lastly that to clarify and dispel all manner of doubts it would be convenient, by way of experiment, to implant some reforms and permit the Filipinos freely and peacefully to express what they felt. Since these arguments were unanswerable, the organ of the friars had the impudence to declare more than once, with heavy emphasis, that the freedoms enjoyed in the peninsula had been won with blood, not ink. Such provocation was, of course, childish but, for that very reason, rash in the extreme. While all this was taking place the Spanish government remained silent, but its actions showed in a way that left no room for doubt that it was on the side of the friars, abandoning the people who bore all the burdens of the state. Once in a while an outstanding liberal, weary of waiting for his party's turn in power, would raise the kite of vague promises which, once he had in his hands the cabinet portfolio he coveted, he tried to forget.

Source