Philippines: A Century Hence by J.P. Rizal Reading through the essays of Rizal, one could s ay that the hero is not just as great writer but a great Historian as well. His essay, The Philippines a Century Hence presents a radical prophesy of Rizal of how the Philippines would be through the century. Rizal presented a clear idea of how our Motherland will end up centuries later proposing that our country will end up in either of the three ways;(1) that the Philippines will remain to be a colony of S pain but will be in good terms with it’s captors;(2) that the Philippines will try to cut the ties of our Motherland from it’s captors through violent means;(3) and lastly that we will be colonized by another country. The thoughts of Rizal were not only based on his mere imagination, he tried to read in between the lines of the History o f the many nations to come up with his recommendations of how the Philippines would look like. Rizal saw how the uprising in different nations started and thought that if Spain continuous to ignore the cries of its inhabitants, there will come a time that the oppressed will come into arms to recapture their lost freedom. In his essay, Rizal exposed the several issues that concern our country. The abuse of human rights, the lack of freedom of the press and the lack of representation in the Spanish Cortes are the key points discussed in the lengthy essay of Rizal. According to Rizal, the Filipinos must enjoy liberty of the press so that they can voice out their cries against the cruelty of the Spaniards. In addition, they must also have a r epresentative epresentative in the Spanish Cortes to “make known to the government and to the nation whether or not their decrees have been du ly obeyed. Lastly, Filipinos are also seeking for justice and for human rights. Given these things, Rizal warned Spanish that if they wouldn’t stop their abuse to the natives, they will plot separatist movements putting justice into their own hands. As a reader of Rizal, we could see in the essay his urge to put freedom in our land through peaceful negotiations with the Spanish Government in Spain. I noticed that he didn’t view Philippines as an independent country being organized by the natives. Rizal just wanted liberty from Spain and not total separation. He believes that “you can achieve freedom without being independent” for he still doubt the extent to Filipinos know about running our own government. The essay, although doesn’t want peaceful separatism, which we Filipinos know pledged to be equally treated and heard by i ts colonizers which I think is just as good as having an independent country. I guess what Rizal was thinking was that between a chaotic but independent country and a peaceful and glorious one under the government of Spain, he would rather choose the latter. The lesson I presented must also be pondered to be applied in contemporary times. E ven if deny some allegations, most of our countryman s till suffers because of the “Padre Damaso” and “Padre Salvi” in our government. Even within us, there are things which we ourselves do that make life difficult for the other person. Learning to live together and prospering as a nation will help build a strong foundation or our motherland. Source: http://www.shvoong.com/books/1781164-philippines-century/#ixzz1tKz0rdRT
(found this saved on my pc. it’s a college reaction paper to jose rizal’s The Philippines A Century Hence submitted as one of two last requirements for Rizal Course in 2008. 2008. so i guess this is an advance birthday gift to the national hero. why do i feel nationalistic these days. lol oh well. kudos!) The Great Filipino Dr. Jose Rizal has left me astounded with his achievements since his childhood: he was an artisan, a man of knowledge and wonder, a linguist, a gentleman, a master in every crafts, not to mention his hundreds of achievements and profession, profession, with a miracle of how he had att ained all of this in his short life span. There could be none left t hat cannot be attributed to him, unless he could also have been a woman once in his life. Yet the most unusual title I heard given to him by a handful of people really caught my attention. The Great Rizal, was also but a Nostradamus in the making? Then he was a doctor and artisan; next he was a great psychic, a seer, even a prophet! Interesting it was. This article he wrote in La Solidaridad gave Solidaridad gave me quite a stir. I was pondering: is it true? Is this the article that, shall say, predicted the future of the Philippines in his years? I was ready to plunge into his mind, into his precious intellect, ready to accept whatever pieces of fact that will make him, our national hero, more of a human being that he was.
I read the article, quite impressed of the heavy title as it summarizes what may the whole thing is all about. However, to tell frankly, the lengthy article didn’t give me a feeling of rush excitement. It did, if not, gave me a sense of historical nostalgia. I was caught up by what he wrote that “in order to read the destiny of a people, it is necessary to open the book of its past”. It was a strong argument, and needed a logical point of view. As much was said, the Philippines was a battleground of the clash of cultures, of blending of races and of pitiful bloodshed. Rizal in his own words painted the picture of our past clearly; the depth of his writings was proof of much grief and much work. He could have overreacted in telling his stories, but the next generation Filipinos understood the hardships of their forefathers. It can be considered that the people had had enough war, that they longed peace, and that they never stopped hoping for happiness and the right to live in their own contentment. What supplied Rizal of the heart for passion for his country became his primary mission to save from the terror and tyranny of the cruel Spaniards. Rizal was a son of liberalism. Though he did not approve of much violence, he chose to be vigilant by means of his ways of writing. With his researches on world history, he understood the pattern of cause and effect, and how it has affected and changed the whole world. The facts and figures of one’s country’s history could be a trend that a country like the Philippines may take course. In this context, I think the i dea of Rizal being a prophet is vague anymore. Science and logic were intervening. His allusion of the past Philippines to the story of Sancho Panza gave me the spark of idea that Rizal was not actually prophesying; instead, what he was telling in his article was but an analysis. Something which was not commonly done in his time, for the patterns he used were commonly for science experiments, where intelligent guesses were made from observation. He just carefully observed the present and past situation of our dear Motherland, and from then “predicted” our future. He fearlessly told the public of the plans of domination of other countries. From my own point of view, these expositions were Rizal’ s own expression of three things: installi ng fear on the current regime of Spanish tyranny for them to fl y away from the country; expressing sadness and failure, that even i f Spain let loose hold of the Philippines, there will be other countries in the world that are ready to take hold of our country; or maybe Rizal was even giving a hint of hope to the Filipinos that sooner or later, a great nation will save their country from the oppressive rule of Spain. How this article was made gave its reader a hint of the author’s thought. It was full of reverie and passion: every sentence and ideas expressed discontent of the author from tyranny, and his longing for something to do for his homeland. There could also be a possibility that the guesses he made was but a hopeless act of zealousness to the country, that he was having delusions and might have been on the verge of giving everything up. Yet there was still a factor of good reasoning that led him to think of these delusions. There was also another thing that I think the article was trying to tell. How one shall read this article must interpret it as not just as mere words but full of message for our own generation. I wrote earlier that there were patterns that make the world go on changing. History repeats itself; history may have repeated itself a hundred times now. But today’s battle was not the same battle our forefathers were fighting before. It is now a message with an intention of giving a warning. The colonization by the Spaniards which started four centuries ago is now parallel to the colonization of foreign minds of our
countrymen. Most of us Filipinos are now enslaved by materials from other countries, that we neglect the riches of our own. J ust as Rizal has thought of saving our ancestors, many modern Rizal’s will begin to save our vanishing culture. Everyone does not need to be a psychic to know what will happen. The Filipinos are now intelligent. It’s just a matter of choosing which way to take: a way alike to what Rizal and many of our heroes had taken or another way of letting things be. The article was tactful, as expected. It opened to me the thought of Rizal, not a prophet and seer, but just a normal man. Yet he was, no doubt, a genius. His ingenuity transcends through time, which eventually make him a “prophet”. He was a Great Filipino Genius. It’s the most appropriate title to be given to him.
