MODULE

Jose Rizal and the

7 Propaganda Movement

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Course Learning Outcomes Module Learning Outcomes Topic Learning Outcome

CLO 8: Display professionalism MLO 1: Discuss and describe Rizal’s role TLO 1: Examine the
and excellence, being as a and works as a member of the principles advocated by
competent professional and gallant Propaganda Movement. various socio-political
movements during Jose
citizen; and
Rizal’s time.
TLO 2: Determine the
CLO 9: Display a professional importance of various
commitment to ethical practice on socio-political movements
a daily basis by being responsible in realizing Filipino
students attending their classes nationalism.
and submitting reports on time.

CLO 10: Describe on how the Rizal

fought in relevance to the modern
concept of nationalism

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Pages Recommended Time Allotment

The Propaganda Movement 2-3 45 mins
The Members of the Propaganda Movement 3-4 45 mins
The objectives of the Propaganda Movement 3-6 45 mins
Documentary / Film Showing - 1.5 hours
Module Activity 8 45 mins

TOTAL HOURS 5 hours

Page 1 of 10
Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
A. THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT

Between 1872 and 1892, a national consciousness was growing among the Filipino

émigrés who had settled in Europe. In the freer atmosphere of Europe, these émigrés--

liberals exiled in 1872 and students attending European universities--formed the

Propaganda Movement. Organized for literary and cultural purposes more than for

political ends, the

Propagandists, who

included upper-class

Filipinos from all the

lowland Christian

areas, strove to

"awaken the sleeping

intellect of the

Spaniard to the needs of our country" and to create a closer, more equal association of

the islands and the motherland. Among their specific goals were representation of the

Philippines in the Cortes, or Spanish parliament; secularization of the clergy; legalization

(image: Propaganda Movement members, Wikipedia, Google Images) of Spanish and

Filipino equality; creation of a public school system independent of the friars; abolition of

the polo (labor service) and vandala (forced sale of local products to the government);

guarantee of basic freedoms of speech and association; and equal opportunity for

Filipinos and Spanish to enter government service.

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Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
 • The most outstanding

Propagandist was José Rizal, a

physician, scholar, scientist, and

writer. Born in 1861 into a

prosperous Chinese mestizo family

in Laguna Province, he displayed

great intelligence at an early age.

After several years of medical

study at the University of Santo

Tomás, he went to Spain in 1882

to finish his studies at the

University of Madrid. During the decade that followed, Rizal's career spanned two

worlds: Among small communities of Filipino students in Madrid and other

European cities, he became a leader and eloquent spokesman, and in the wider

world of European science and scholarship--particularly in Germany--he formed

close relationships with prominent natural and social scientists. (image: Jose

Rizal, Marcelo Del Pilar, Mariano Ponce)

• The new discipline of anthropology was of special interest to him; he was

committed to refuting the friars' stereotypes of Filipino racial inferiority with

scientific arguments. His greatest impact on the development of a Filipino national

Page 3 of 10
Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
 consciousness, however, was his publication of two novels--Noli Me

Tangere (Touch me not) in 1886 and El Filibusterismo (The reign of greed) in

1891. Rizal drew on his personal experiences and depicted the conditions of

Spanish rule in the islands, particularly the abuses of the friars. Although the friars

had Rizal's books banned, they were smuggled into the Philippines and rapidly

gained a wide readership.

B. WHO WERE THE “PROPAGANDISTAS”?

The Propaganda Movement was a cultural organization formed in 1872 by Filipino

expatriates in Europe. Composed of the Filipino elite called "illustrados" (mostly sons

of the Clase Media or Middle Class families known as “Principalias”), exiled liberals and

students attending Europe's universities gravitated to the movement. La Solidaridad,

a bi-weekly Spanish language broadsheet, became the platform for intelligent

discourse on economic, cultural, political, and social conditions of the country.

The organization aimed to increase Spanish awareness of the needs of its

colony, the Philippines and labored to bring about:

• Recognition of the Philippines as a province of Spain:

• Representation of the Philippines in the Cortes Generales or the Spanish

parliament:

Page 4 of 10
Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
 • Secularization of Philippine parishes;

• Legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality;

• Equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government service;

• Creation of a public school system independent of the friars;

• Abolition of the polo (labor service) and bandala (forced sale of local products to

the government);

• Guarantee of basic freedoms of speech and association;

• Recognition of human rights

These propagandists includes José Alejandrino, Anastacio Carpio, Graciano López

Jaena, publisher of La Solidaridad, Marcelo H. del Pilar - the editor and co-publisher of

the La Solidaridad and wrote under the name "Plaridel", Eduardo de Lete, Antonio Novicio

Luna - wrote for La Solidaridad under the name "Taga-Ilog", Juan Novicio Luna - painter

and sculptor, Miguel Moran, Jose Maria Panganiban - wrote for La Solidaridad under the

name "Jomapa”, Pedro Ignacio Paterno - served as prime minister of the first Philippine

Republic, Mariano Ponce - wrote for La Solidaridad under the name "Tikbalang”, Antonio

Maria Regidor, Isabelo Jr. L. delos Reyes, and Dr. Jose Rizal - author of Noli Me Tangere

and El Filibusterismo, wrote for La Solidaridad under the name "Laon Laan". There’s also

Ferdinand Blumentritt and Miguel Morayta who were considered as “Friends of the

Propaganda” movement, who are ethnologist and a historian respectively.

Page 5 of 10
Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
 • Other important Propagandists included

Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted orator and

pamphleteer who had left the islands for

Spain in 1880 after the publication of his

satirical short novel, Fray Botod (Brother

Fatso), an unflattering portrait of a

provincial friar. In 1889 he established a

biweekly newspaper in Barcelona, La

Solidaridad (Solidarity), which became the principal organ of the Propaganda

Movement, having audiences both in Spain and in the islands. Its contributors

included Rizal; Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt, an Austrian geographer and ethnologist

whom Rizal had met in Germany; and Marcelo del Pilar, a reform minded lawyer.

Del Pilar was active in the anti-friar movement in the islands until obliged to flee

to Spain in 1888, where he became editor of La Solidaridad and assumed

leadership of the Filipino community in Spain.In 1887 Rizal returned briefly to the

islands, but because of the furor surrounding the appearance of Noli Me

Tangere the previous year, he was advised by the governor to leave. He returned

to Europe by way of Japan and (image: Ferdinand Blumentritt) North America to

complete his second novel and an edition of Antonio de Morga's seventeenth-

century work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (History of the Philippine Islands). The

latter project stemmed from an ethnological interest in the cultural connections

between the peoples of the pre-Spanish Philippines and those of the larger Malay

Page 6 of 10
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Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
 region (including modern Malaysia and Indonesia) and the closely related political

objective of encouraging national pride. De Morga provided positive information

about the islands' early inhabitants, and reliable accounts of pre-Christian religion

and social customs.

After a stay in Europe and Hong Kong, Rizal returned to the Philippines in June 1892,

partly because the Dominicans had evicted his father and sisters from the land they leased

from the friars' estate at Calamba, in Laguna Province. He also was convinced that the

struggle for reform could no longer be conducted effectively from overseas. In July he

established the Liga Filipina (Philippine League), designed to be a truly national,

nonviolent organization. It was dissolved, however, following his arrest and exile to the

remote town of Dapitan in northwestern Mindanao.

The Propaganda Movement languished after Rizal's arrest and the collapse of the Liga

Filipina. La Solidaridad went out of business in November 1895, and in 1896 both del Pilar

and Lopez Jaena died in Barcelona, worn down by poverty and disappointment. An

attempt was made to reestablish the Liga Filipina, but the national movement had become

split between ilustrado advocates of reform and peaceful evolution (the compromisarios,

or compromisers) and a plebeian constituency that wanted revolution and national

independence. Because the Spanish refused to allow genuine reform, the initiative quickly

passed from the former group to the latter.

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Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
I’M A PHILSCAN, PRO-ACADEMIC HONESTY!
Oppps! Before you challenge your wit, don’t forget to sign the honesty pledge below!
Remember, our course policy states that “students are expected to display the highest degree of
honesty and professionalism in their class work, requirements, and activities especially that the
flexible modality offers greater opportunity for cheating.”

I, a proud and honest PhilSCAn, do hereby promise to exercise highest degree

of honesty and professionalism as I accomplish the tasks laid before me. With
this, I abhor any forms of cheating, particularly any acts of plagiarism. If ever
I committed such act and got caught, I shall submit myself to due process as
stipulated in the Student Manual. So help me, God.

___________________________ _____________________________
Your Printed Name and Signature Your Parent or Guardian’s

______________________________
Your Instructor’s Printed Name and Signature

Page 8 of 10
Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
WORKSHEET 10

NAME: DATE:
COURSE/YR/SEC: INSTRUCTOR:

Essay: Read and answer the given questions below (10 points each).

1. Explain the objectives of the Propaganda movement, what were the societal conditions in the
Philippines that led to these objectives?

2. What is the role of Jose Rizal in the Propaganda movement? What are his works that
contributed to the Filipino Nationalism?

3. What is the difference of European ideas with the ideas propagated by the Spaniards in the
Philippines in term of politics and governance?

Page 9 of 10
Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT
C. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND REFERENCES

Agoncillo, Teodoro (1990): “History of the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVKim4SqP

Filipino People”, Garotech Publishing, Quezon V8
City
“Pag-gunita sa kabayanihan ni Rizal:, Xiao
De Viana, Augusto (2012): “Jose Rizal in our Time, December 28, 2012,
times”, Books Atbp Publishing, Mandaluyong https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1YG4ICvj
City Pc
Joaquin, Nick (2020):, “Culture and History”, “Ang Republic Act 1425 o Rizal Law”, Xiao
Anvil History, Mandaluyong City Time, June 5, 2020,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03G1UmD
“Mga Pahina sa Kasaysayan”, Sandra
VLKs&t=216s
Aguinaldo, i-Witness, September 21, 2019,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvUZsb85T “Democracy, the solution for the problem?”,
9k&t=1498s Ateneo Magisterial Lecture, April 12, 2021,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtJm3jAu6
“Pluma: Si Rizal, ang dakilang manunulat”,
1Q
GMA News TV, March 14, 2012,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAq_OjZI- “Rizal without the overcoat”, Ateneo
6k&t=3s Magisterial Lecture”, June 15, 2021,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXw_mQu
“Si Rizal sa landas ng paglaya”, National
3jsI&t=282s
Historical Commission of the Philippines,
October 13, 2016, “Mga tagong detalye sa Noli Me Tangere”,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX4_mB4 Ateneo Magisterial Lecture, October 30, 2020,
mplY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJhpZmD
9ww&t=263s
“Pagbabalik tanaw sa buhay ni Rizal”, I Juander,
December 1, 2016,

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Prepared by Edwin Valenzuela, LPT & Ma. Elena Ocana, LPT
Revised and Edited by Francisco L. Sanchez Jr., LPT