Module 4- Acquire New

Knowledge
To the Young Women of Malolos
About:

 Letter written in Tagalog

 Written while Rizal was in London
 Request of Marcelo H. Del Pilar

Rizal’s Letter to the young women of Malolos

On December 12,1888, a group of 20 women of Malolos petitioned Governor-
General Wyler for permission to open a night school so that they may study
Spanish under Teodoro Sandiko. Father Felipe Garcia, objected resulting into
the turning down of the petition by governor-general. In defiance of the ire of
the friars, these young women courageously sustained their agitation for the
establishment of the school.
On December 12, 1888, Alberta ui Tangcoy, Teresa and Natia Tontoco,
Merced, Agapita, Basilia, Paz and Felicia Tiongson, Eugenia and Aurea
Tangchangco, Leocia and Olympia Reyes and Maria de los Reyes presented
a petition to Governor Weyler asking that they should be allowed to open the
night school. (Capino et al, 1977).
They triumphed in the end and were granted permission to their project on the
condition that Señorita Guadalupe Reyes should be their teacher. Praising
these young women for their bravery, Marcelo H. del Pilar requested Rizal to
write a letter commending them for their extraordinary courage. So on
February 22, 1889, Rizal sent del Pilar the letter for transmittal to the young
women of Malolos.
The letter Rizal transmitted

Salient points:

 Rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars

- Rizal emphasized the need for maintaining the independence of mind and
reason with the attendant strengthening the will. Moreover, he urged women
to be vigilant over their rights and not to be docile and passive in their attitude
towards the many injustices forced upon them.

 The defense of private judgement

-youth is a flower-bed that is to bear rich fruit and must accumulated wealth
for its descendants. What offspring will be that of a women whose kindness of
character is expressed by mumbled prayers; who knows nothing by heart but
awits, novenas, and alleged miracles; whose amusement consists in
playing panguingue or in the frequent confession of the same sin? What sons
will she have but acolytes, priest servants or cockfighters? It is the mothers
who are responsible for the present servitude of our compatriots, owing to the
unlimited trustfulness of their loving hearts, to their ardent desire to elevate
their sons. Maturity is the fruit of infancy and the infant is formed on the lap of
its mother.

 Qualities Filipino mothers need to possess;

-The Filipino mother has to be a noble wife.

 Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their children

- She has to rear her children in the service of the state. The women of Sparta
should serve as a model for rearing children for the service of the state,
according to Rizal.

 Duties and responsibility of a wife to her husband

-a wife has to set the standards of behavior for men around her. Basic things
a wife must instill in the mind of her husband: activity and industry; noble
behavior; and worthy sentiments.

 Counsel to young women on their choice of a lifetime partner

- Rizal’s advice to unmarried Men and Women

For men:
Should not consider physical beauty
Nor sweetness of disposition of a woman
For women:
Don’t surrender woman hood to weak & timid heart
Reminder’s on Equality, Self-Respect and True Spirit of Religion

1. The tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and

negligence on the part of others.
2. What makes one contemptible is lack of dignity and abject fear of one
who holds one in contempt.
3. Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he is; a man who
does not think for himself and allows himself to be guided by the thought
of another is like a beast led by a halter.
4. He who loves his independence must first aid his fellowmen, because
he who refuses protection to others will find himself without it.
5. If the Filipina will not change her mode of being, let her rear no more
children, let her merely give birth to them. She must cease to be the
mistress of the home, otherwise she will unconsciously betray husband,
child, native land and all.
6. All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not create man
to be a slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him
hoodwinked or adorn him with reason to have him deceived by others.
7. Consider well what kind of religion they are teaching you. See whether
it is the will of God or according to the teachings of Christ that the poor be
succored and those who suffer alleviated.

Summary:

1. Filipino mothers should teach their children love of God, country and
fellowmen
2. Filipino mothers should be glad and honored, like Spartan mothers to
offer their sons in defense of their country
3. Filipino women should know how to protect their dignity and honor
4. Filipino women should educate themselves aside from retaining their
good racial values
5. Faith is not merely reciting prayers and wearing religious pictures. It is
living the real Christian way with good morals and manners.

Sobre La Indolencia delos Filipinos

This was the longest essay written by Rizal, which was published in
five instalments in the La Solidaridad, from July 15 to September 15 1890
(Romero et at., 1978). As the most important analytical study made by Rizal
about our society, during the Spanish Regime, this essay represents his
defense of the Filipinos from the charge that they were inherently lazy or
indolent.
According to Rizal, whenever something goes wrong in the Philippines,
there is a tendency to blame the Filipinos. On this basis, he tried to analyze
the social and political conditions of the time to prove that indolence was the
cause rather the effect of the backwardness in the country. While Rizal’s
colleagues were on the opinion that indolence was non-existent in the country,
Rizal believed otherwise. For him indolence, which he defined as inactiveness,
little love for work, or complete disregard for work, had become a way of life
for many Filipinos.
Rizal’s thesis in this essay was simple: That Filipinos were not born
lazy but had a predisposition to become lazy. Acknowledging the tendency for
the Filipinos to become indolent due in part to the tropical climate, Rizal noted
that it was the European, surrounded by servants, who was the paragon of
laziness n the tropics. People in the tropics are expected to work less. Hot
climate, however, was compensated by the fertility of the soil. As a
consequence, the peasants did not have to work hard to insure good crops.
 Recognizing its existence, Rizal sought to look for the causes. The
accounts for early Spanish chronicles like Morga, San Agustin, and Colin
clearly showed that Pre-Spanish Filipinos were noted for their activity and
honesty. Consequently, industry, manufacturing, mining and commerce
flourished among the people. The social malady was thus, not something
inborn or hereditary. What, therefore, led to the collapse of this natural
willingness of the Filipinos to work?
The deterioration of the industry of the Filipinos can be attributed to
two sets of factors: those attributable to the Spanish colonizers; and those
attributable to the Filipinos’ own faults. What, therefore, were the factors that
fostered indolence attributable to the Spanish colonizers? These were the
following (National Heroes Commission, 1964):

1. Wars and Internal disorders that followed Spanish

Conquest. Thousands of Filipinos were drafted as archers and rowers to
repel the Dutch and Portuguese. Many were not able to return to the
islands, thus reducing the number of potential farmers, fisherman and
labourers.
2. Piratical Attacks on Coastal Towns and Villages By Muslim
Pirates. These attacks, instigated and encouraged by the government,
further reduced the number of inhabitants on coastal towns and villages.
As a consequence, people lost the interest as the frightful raids by the
Muslims had deprived them the fruits of their labor.
3. Forced Labor in Shipbuilding. Because the Filipinos were required to
render forced labor in the cutting of timber for the construction of galleons
and to man ships going to Acapulco, they were hindered from cultivating
their own fertile lands. Consequently, very few were left to till the fields.
4. Government’s Neglect and Apathy to Agriculture, Industry and
Commerce. There was no encouragement for the manufacturer or the
farmer. it did not give aid when the harvest was poor, or when typhoon
destroyed the wealth of the land, nor did it seek a market for the products
of the colony. Only Galleon Trade was permitted, resulting into the
isolation of the colony from its previous trading partners in the Southeast
Asia.
5. Absence of Material and Moral Incentives To Work Harder. Man
works for a purpose; remove the purpose and you reduce him to inaction.
Since Filipinos were aware that their work can cause them trouble and that
only others will reap benefits from their exertion of effort, they lose interest
to work.
6. The Teaching of the Spanish Missionaries That Heaven is for the
Poor. The Filipinos preferred not to work hard and remain poor so that
they could enter heaven easily the moment they die.
7. Too Much Government Restriction and Red Tape In The Approval
of Permit To Transact Business. Native enterprises practically
disappeared as a consequence of too many restrictions in the approval of
permits in engaging in business.
8. Encouragement And Propagation Of Gambling. Government’s
encouragement and propagation of gambling bred dislike for steady and
difficult work due to its promise of easy money.
9. Ownership of the Big Estates by the Friars. Since religious
corporations controlled the best tracts of lands in some provinces, many
towns did not prosper despite the efforts of their inhabitants.
10. Example Set By the Spaniards in Disdaining Manual Labor. Dislike
for manual labor reinforced by the practice of surrounding themselves by
servants created among the Filipinos the desire to equal the Spaniards in
their manners. In effect, this led to creation of an aversion and hatred of
manual work.
11. Deprivation of Human Dignity. The education of the Filipino from
birth to death was brutalizing, depressing, and anti-human. For five to ten
years the youth comes in contact with books chosen by the same priest
who boldly declare that it is an evil for Filipinos to know Castilian, that the
Filipino should not be separated from his carabao and that he should not
have any further ambition. Spanish educational system, therefore, failed in
promoting economic enterprise and activity.

As already pointed out, indolence of the Filipinos stemmed not only

from factors attributable to the Spanish colonizers, there were also factors
attributable to the Filipinos themselves. Notable among these are the
following (National Heroes Commission, 1964):

1. Feeling of Inferiority. The prevalence of a feeling of inferiority among

the Filipinos paralyzed all tendencies towards advancement and
developed in them the idea of giving up without fighting or exerting effort.
2. Placing Hopes on Miracles. Nurtured with the stories of anchorites
who lead a contemplative and lazy life, the Filipinos spent their giving
money to the Church in the hope of miracles and wonderful things.
3. Lack of Spirit To Pursue Lofty Purposes As their minds had been
conditioned that they belong to an inferior race and that they should not
aspire to be greater than the curate, Filipinos sealed and shaped their
actions to be in conformity with the most pernicious routines not based on
reason but imposed and forced.
4. Lack of National Sentiment. The lack of national sentiment breeds
another evil, which is the scarcity of any opposition to the measures that
are prejudicial to the people and the absence of any initiative that will
redound to their welfare. To Rizal, a man in the Philippines is only an
individual; he is not member of a nation.

Rizal concluded his essay by stressing the need for good education
and liberty as the keys to achieving progress in the Philippines and in solving
the problem of indolence. Thus, he averred (National Heroes Commission,
1964):
 Without education and liberty – the soil and sun of mankind –
no reform is possible, no measure can give the desired result. Since some
day or other he will become enlightened, whether the Government likes it or
not, let his enlightenment be as gift given to him and not as a spoil of
war. We wish the policy to be sincere and consistent or highly civilizing
without petty reservations, without distrust, without fear nor misgivings,
wishing the good for the sake of good, civilization for the sake of civilization,
without ulterior thoughts of gratitude or ingratitude, or if not, a policy of
courageous, open exploitation, tyrannical, and selfish without hypocrisy
or deception, withal a well thought out, and studied system for domination and
compelling obedience, for ruling to get rich, and getting rich to enjoy. If the
government adopts the first, it can rest assured that some day or other
it will reap the fruits and find a people who will be with it at heart and in
interest; there’s nothing like a favour to win friendship or enmity, or it is either
hurled into his face or bestowed on him in spite of himself. If the
government decides in favor of a systematic and regulated exploitation stifling
the desire for independence of the colonist with the jungle of gold and the
sheen opulence, paying with material wealth the lack of freedom let the
government attend more to material interests rather than to the interests
of the four friar corporations; let it send out intelligent employees to develop
industry, just judges, all well paid, so that they would not pilfer and lay aside
all religious pretext. This policy has the advantage in that while it may not
completely lull to sleep the instinct of liberty, yet the day the mother country
loses her colonies she will at least keep the gold amassed and not regret
having reared ungrateful children.

Filipinas Dentro De Cien Años

Cognizant of the relevance of historical events in the life of the people,

Rizal felt that it was high time to remind Spain that the forces and
circumstances that ushered in the French and Spanish Revolutions could
have a telling effect for her in the Philippines. He, therefore, wrote Filipinas
Dentro De Cien Años or The Philippines A Century Hence to forecast the
future of the country within a hundred years.

The aforementioned essay came out as a series of four articles in the

La Solidaridad from September 30 1889 to February 1, 1890 (Romero et al,
1978). As this essay was Rizal’s attempt at political prognostication or
prediction, he tried to respond to the question, what would become of the
Philippines within one hundred years? Would Philippines remain colony of
Spain? Would it become a regular province of Spain? Would it become
independent or would it be a colony of another nation? For Rizal, it is
necessary to open the book that tells of our past, before its destiny can be
predicted.
 First cause of the misery is Spain’s implementation of their military
policies, because of such laws, the Philippine population decreased
dramatically. Poverty became more rampant than ever, and farmlands were
left to wither. The family as a unit of the society was neglected, and overall,
every aspect of the life of the Filipino was retarded.

A second cause of this misery was the deterioration and

disappearance of Filipino indigenous culture. With the conquest of the sword
and the cross, came the destruction of native ways of living of the people.
This, in effect, resulted into the people’s lost of confidence in the past, lost of
faith in the present, and lost of hope in the future.

A third cause if this miserable condition of the people was

their passivity and submissiveness to the Spanish colonizers. They had
resigned themselves to their fate since the friars had been very effective in
developing a culture of silence among the people.

What then had made the people realize their sad plight under the
Spanish tutelage? As a result of racial discrimination, the Filipinos became
aware that they were a distinct people. For the first time, they had come to
realize the colonial policies and their resultant conditions could no longer be
condoned. In effect, they accumulated grievances against the colonial
masters, which culminated in the outbreak of uncoordinated and unsuccessful
revolts.

One question raise by Rizal in this essay was, could Spain prevent the
progress of the Philippines? Should Spain decide to do so, what could she
possibly do: keep the people ignorant; keep the people in poverty; or
exterminate the Filipino race?

Keeping the people ignorant had failed. This can be attested by the
awakening of national consciousness among the people, which had united
them. Despite repression in schools to brutalize Filipino students, writers,
artist, and free thinkers had emerged. With the spread of enlightenment, the
ilustrado class arose.

Recourse to impoverishment also was futile. Keeping the people in

poverty created in the Filipinos the desire to change things. They became less
attached to life and started exploring adventurous ideas.
 Extermination of the people as an alternative to hindering progress
was an impossibility according to Rizal. Why? The people had survived in
spite of the wars they had multiplied threefold in the face of these wars and
epidemics. Moreover, to wipe out Filipino race would necessitate sacrificing a
huge number of Spain’s manpower and definitely Spain will not allow this to
happen. In addition to the foregoing, exterminating the Filipinos can also bring
about the endangering of her other provinces, as well as her independence in
the European continent.

Can the divide et impera or dive and rule policy still work to foster
enmity between and among the natives? To Rizal, this would no longer be
effective owing to the ease of movement in the archipelago brought about by
improved means of transportation. With the facility of travel in the islands, the
people’s opportunity to exchange ideas can be enhanced. This, in effect, can
lead them to realize their common plight which can foster in them greater
unity as a people.

Thus, Spain has no way of blocking reforms and progress people

sought for. What does this imply then? There is a need for Spain to change
her colonial policy in the Philippines. This policy, according to Rizal has to be
compatible with the needs of the people and relevant to the pace of the rising
nationalism of the people. Should Spain not alter her colonial policy, the
people will then be forced by circumstances to seek civil liberties and national
identity apart from the mother country.

The third article of Rizal’s essay centered on the reforms and political
changes needed for the Philippines to remain under Spanish rule.
Nevertheless, he stressed that reforms have to be initiated by the government
for them to be peaceful and effective. This was because “any change
originated by the masses would definitely be fatal and violent.” What, then,
are the reforms that the Spanish government should institute in the country;
granting of Spanish citizenship to the people; filling of government positions
through competitive examinations; and reforms in commerce agriculture and
education; and greater security for the individual and other reforms.

The last article of this essay delved on the stages that would lead the
Philippines to independence. A stressed by Rizal in this essay, independence
would be unavoidable should Spain not assimilate the Philippines as one of its
provinces. Inasmuch as the Filipinos are not ready for independence, Rizal
predicted that Spain would be deposed or replaced by another power.

Which colonizing power will replace Spain? Will it be a European

power? An Asian power? To Rizal, European powers will definitely not be
interested in taking over the Philippines. England was already controlling India,
Singapore, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. Germany on her part, was avoiding
any foreign entanglement as scattering her forces in a distant country would
endanger her existence in Europe. France was already firmly entrenched in
Indochina, while Holland was dominant in Indonesia. Moreover, these
European powers were too preoccupied with their competition in dividing
Africa among themselves.

Asian powers would not be interested in gaining control of the

Philippines. China, according to Rizal, was immersed in expelling Europeans
occupying various part of the country. Japan, another potential conqueror,
was being harassed by Russia and England.

If Spain will not be replaced either by a European or an Asian power,

which country then will be interested in what Spain has to give up? To Rizal,
this country is none other than the United States of America, which he
labelled as the Great American Republic, considering that he interests lie in
the Pacific and which has no hand in the scramble for Africa.

What Rizal envisioned in this essay came true. On May 1, 1898, the
Americans entered the Philippines. Fifty years after Rizal’s death, the
independence of the country was recognized on July 4, 1964. This was in
fulfillment of what predicted in his essay. He was a visionary and very
prophetic when he said that “History does not record in its annals any lasting
domination by one people over another, of different races, of diverse usages
and customs, of opposite and divergent ideas. One of the two had yield and
succumb.”