from the Perspective of Other Filipino Intellectuals and Patriots PHILIPPINE INSTITUTIONS 10 2ND SEMESTER | 2016-2017
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1958 Rizal Lecture
Rizal as a “realist” (which in the context of the times could mean “cautious” and therefore not yet prone to act)
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Bonifa Bonifacio cio as an “idealist” (who saw the need to act against all odds)
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Struggle for National Democracy (1967)
What made Rizal progressive and a radical of his own time was his ultimate recognition that the liberties of the individual could only be realized if the nation as a whole, particularly the masses, would be uplifted and enjoy more freedom.
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II. Jose Maria Sison Rizal’s novels explored the possibility of reform first (Ibarra) then the possibility of the revolution (Simoun).
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Ibarra is frustrated in his reformist efforts but the other forces represented by Elias are struggling to fight the oppressors.
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Pilosopo Tasyo: “Change will ultimately come with the coming of fresh ideas from abroad.”
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II. Jose Maria Sison In the second novel, the frustrated reformist Ibarra returns in the guise of Simoun the jeweler – what Sison calls the “liberal reformer who becomes an anarchist.”
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Elias and Kabesang Tales as victims of feudal oppression
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Implications that Rizal wants to show: Shortcomings of the reformism Inadequacies of the anarchism
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Pursued the story of the jewels of Simoun in his novel Mga Ibong Mandaragit
In this anti-imperialist novel, the character, Mando Plaridel, a socialist leader, recovers Simoun’s jewels and uses the treasure to set up a school for workers and revolutionaries.
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Hernandez’s poems also allude to Rizal’s characters, as in Kung Tuyo na ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan and Katipunan.
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III. Amado V Hernandez Katulad mo ay si Huli, na aliping bayad-utang Katulad mo ay si Sisa, binaliw ng kahirapan.
- Kung Tuyo na ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan Dati’y Maria Clarang himala ng dilag naging isang Sisang baliw at gulilat. - Katipunan
IV. Epifanio San Juan His essays attempt to recuperate Rizal from his perceived apostasy and distaste against the armed revolution.
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Our fatal error: we subscribe to an absolute belief, if not, veneration, as regards Rizal. Either he is a reformist or he is a revolutionary.
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Imperialist trap: Making Rizal and Bonifacio clash against each other.
IV. Epifanio San Juan The real message of [Renato] Constantino is to venerate Rizal but with a good understanding of historical specificities, the social forces and power relations at play, and the nature of ilustrados and principalia as an emergent class at that juncture of history – with all their contradictions and ambivalences.
- Epifanio San Juan
On Rizal’s Political Thought P H I L IP P I NE I N S T IT U TI O N S 1 0 2ND SEMESTER | 2016-2017
Aim of Rizal’s Theory The prerequisite in achieving a moral perfection is the development and instilment of a sense of moral dignity in his country.
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Individual as a moral being Society as a system of moral relations
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Moral perfection is the ultimate goal or end of a human being.
I. On 1. Individuals by creation possessed certain intellectual and moral potentialities or capabilities. 2. The potentialities of individuals had a natural tendency towards progress. “I view man as a masterpiece of creation , and perfect within the creations he was created, to the extent that it would not be possible to deprive him of any of these component conditions, whether moral or physical without disfiguring him or making him unhappy.”
- Rizal to Father Pastells, SJ
I. On 3. Attempts to stifle human beings’ potentialities disfigure them. “For a man to be responsible, it is necessary that he be the master of his actions and the Filipinos are neither the master of their actions nor those of their thoughts.”
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Rizal, La Verdad Para Todos
Activities of set of individuals can stifle man’s natural inclination to goodness. Moral perfection as a goal implies that we are not yet perfect.
II. On Individuals are said to be free if and only if they have reached that stage of personal discipline, intellectual integrity, and moral uplift, which, combined with love of country and a refusal to submit to tyranny, results in a willingness to give their lives in defense of all these qualities.
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Rizal’s idea of freedom focuses on the individual level, not the political level.
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Internal (individualist) freedom: self-development
External (societal) freedom: self-determination
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Goals:
The need to develop the intellectual virtues, like love of study and of what is just and noble
Cultivation of moral virtues like love of fellowmen, temperance, etc., and the possession of a sense of dignity that was both personal and racial
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For Rizal, freedom does not entail political independence.
Criticism: Even if individuals achieve their fullest potentials, but the country is not free at all, then how can they achieve total freedom?
Rizal’s Defense:
No matter how free a country is, if no one fully understands the true meaning of freedom, tyranny and moral degradation will still be emerging.
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For Rizal, freedom is a REQUISITE for political independence.
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People have every right to be free.
People learn and educate themselves in the process of struggling for freedom and liberty. They attain highest potential only when they are masters of their own destiny.
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“Colonialism is the only agency still trying to sell the idea that freedom is a diploma to be granted by a superior people to an inferior one after the years of apprenticeship.”
- Epifanio San Juan
III. On Insofar as the Filipinos were not granted freedom under the Spanish rule, the Spaniards could not blame them for all the ills the country faced during that time.
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“He who does not act freely is not responsible for his actions.”
- Rizal, Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos
But insofar as the Filipinos were viewed as having duties to themselves and their fellowmen, and having permitted themselves to arrive at a stage where Spaniards were allowed to tyrannize over them, they were responsible.
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To Rizal, people deserve a government that they permitted to rule. “[H]e loves tyranny who submits to it.” “People and governments are correlated and complementary …a fatuous government could be an anomaly among righteous people, just a corrupt people cannot exist under just rulers and wise laws. Like people, like government.”
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Rizal, Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos
“An immoral government presupposes a demoralized people, a conscienceless, greedy, and servile citizens in the settle parts, outlaws and brigands in the mountains. Like master, like slave! Like government, like country.”
- Rizal, El Filibusterismo
