Chapter 3

Rizal and the Theory of

Nationalism
 NATIONALISM is a
concept that has a very broad
and vague meaning. It is a
concept where the meaning
lies on how people interpret it
on the basis of their
experiences and
preconceived beliefs.
NATIONALISM it is a
feeling of
belongingness,
which uplifts the
spirit of oneness to
fellow countrymen
and at the same time,
looking up to a
common goal for the
nation’s development
.
Acquiring a better understanding of Rizal’s
life demands a deeper and profound
analysis of his life and writings. His firm
beliefs were the results of what he had
seen and experienced during his European
days.
Thus, to clear up vague thoughts about him
requires a glimpse into his part
Rizal was one of the elites who demanded
changes in the Philippine government
during the Spanish colonization. Together
with his ilustrado friends, Rizal voiced the
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Inclusion of Filipinos as representative in the
Cortes.
Filipinization in churches and equal
rights were among the request made by
Rizal to the Spanish government.

Rizal fought for equality with the Spaniards;

he wanted that he and his fellow ilustrados
acquired the same education and wealth as
the Spanish students and families in the
Philippines.
5
Jose Rizal came from a family belonging to
the middle class. His father owned lands.
One of their most profitable goods was
sugar cane, and the family lived a good life
compared with the common Filipinos during
those times. Well provided and was
sustained in his studies, Rizal had a family
that belonged to the wealthy few, the
ilustrados.
The fortune of his family was well used, he
was sent to schools run by Dominicians
and Jesuits. Rizal was able to acquire his
education from Spanish schools, allowing 6
him to nurture his skills and talents. He
excelled in almost all aspects of his
studies. He was good in
￮ language

￮ spelling

￮ science

￮ able to master numerous foreign

languages.
His skills grew as he increased his
acquisition of various courses. Rizal was
good in Spanish, making it advantageous
7
For him to interact in a class dominated by
Spaniards. Education led Rizal to a deeper
understanding of equality and order in
society. Rizal’s urge to learn also
increased his desires for reforms.
Education opened his eyes to biases in
the Philippines and the abuses of the
Spaniards against the Filipinos.
The unheard cries of the natives and
increasing fame of Rizal fueled revolts in
the country. The natives organized groups
and continued to engage in bloody battles
8
to acquire reforms and democracy. Rizal’s
writings made a huge impact on the minds
of the natives who wished to break free
from the abuses of the Spaniards. Thus,
when Rizal was imprisoned, numerous
plans to break him of out jail were initiated
by the revolting group. None of them
prospered as Rizal preferred to engage in
a bloodless battle for independence.
The dilemma that Rizal faced was
depicted in his two famous novels, the Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
9
In Noli Me Tangere, Rizal was represented
by both Elias and Ibarra. In the chapter,
“Voice of the Hunted,” Elias believed in the
need for radical reforms in the armed
forces, priesthood, and administrative
justice system. Meanwhile, Ibarra did not
agree with the reforms Elias wanted and
believed in the power of the authorities and
the need for necessary evil. In the chapter,
“Elias Story,” Elias saw the need for an
armed struggle and resistance against the
opposing forces while Ibarra disagree
10
And believed that education was the key to
make the people liberated, so he
encouraged the building of schoolhouses
to educate those who are worthy of it. But
in the chapter “Chase on the Lake,” Elias
suddenly had a change of heart; he
believed in reforms while Ibarra became a
filibuster, initiating revolution. This change
of heart in Ibarra was a product of
hardships and the desire to attain personal
vengeance. This trend of vagueness
continued in the novel El Filibusterismo,
11
where Rizal was reflected in the characters
of Simoun, Basilio, and Padre Florentino.
In the chapter “Simoun” Simoun, who was
Ibarra in disguise, again being adamant for
a revolution, and Basilio was being like
Ibarra initially in the Noli when he
proclaimed his belief in education as a tool
for equality and freedom. In the conclusion
of the Fili, Rizal has implied his resolution
when in the story, he killed Simoun, the
promoter of revolution, and made Padre
Florentino, an advocate of peace, prevail.
12
In real life, Rizal reiterated his stand
regarding his stand regarding this issue in
his December 15 Manifesto when he
declared that he was against the
revolution, and he favored the reform
programs, especially that regarding
education. The portrayals of Rizal in the
different characters of his novels depicted
how his mind struggled on whether to fight
for revolution on reform. His mind was
open as he saw the plight of his fellowmen
who suffered under the oppressive hands
13
of Spain. He allowed himself to be a
realistic as he understood why there was a
need for revolution. But his initial concept
of thinking dominated his mind, as he
believed in an orderly and peaceful
environment wherein he did not want to
see blood shed nor people hurt. This side
of Rizal being an idealist was stronger than
his small portion of being a realist because
he wanted to have freedom through
peaceful means. In addition to being an
idealist who did not want to see ugly face
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of society , Rizal also expressed his
gratitude to Spain since he did not want to
fight against it. Since Spain was also like a
mother country to him, it justified why
Rizal, as a child of Spain, did not want to
stab his own mother.

But Rizal also loved his own nation, so in

the process of making circumstances
favorable for both, his appeal was reforms
and education. However, his plea for
education and some other reform was
impossible during those times, and those 15
were not what the people then currently
needed. What would liberate the people
was the massive movement of the natives
united against the oppressors.

Rizal was very idealistic, he wanted to set

the Filipinos free from their hardships from
the hands of the Spaniards, yet he did not
want to separate from Spain too, so he
failed to see what the true demanded of
the natives was to totally break free the
colonizers.
16
Rizal’s dream to set his fellowmen free from the
wrath of the tyrant Spaniards prevailed until the day
he died. He was a victim of the abuses of the
Spaniards. When he died, the natives were able to
push through their freedom with their strong
nationalism that had been heated up and
strengthened by his artistic and realistic viewpoints in
his writings. He had influenced numerous natives
fight for independence.

The result of independence was very sweet

for the Filipinos who fought and died for it, and it was
17
a regret feel that Rizal was not able to see
that the revolution he did not favor was what
liberated his people.

Nationalism usually springs from the

consciousness of a national identity of being
one people. It is that all pervading spirit that
binds together men of diverse castes and
creeds, clans and colors, and unites them into
one people, one family, one nation with
common aspirations and ideals. (Anderson,
1983)
18
There were many things that built up
nationalism in the Filipinos; the abuse of the
Spanish people, the opening of international
trade, the influence of liberal thoughts in the
Philippines, the revolution in Cavite, the death
of GOMBURZA, the rise of new middle class,
the secularization movement, and most of all,
the death of Dr. Jose Rizal.

These events developed nationalism in the

Philippines. They did not let other nationality
rule the Philippines. The Filipinos believed

19
that nationalism was the only thing that would
make them prove that they were really Filipinos
and for which they were willing to fight until
their last breath.

The nationalistic ideas of Rizal inspired the

realization oft the Filipino people of their sense of
dignity, conviction in their country, and
understanding of their true identity. The profuse
declaration that Filipinos were “indios” by the
Spaniards and their other demoralizing

20
assertions caused the Filipinos to lose their
pride and respect, so they became blind to
the ills around them. All these were reversed
when Rizal unceasingly defended his people
through his writings, texts that were powerful
enough to restore pride and nationalism in
the hearts of the Filipinos and influence a
revolution.

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RIZAL’S NATIONALISM AS
TRACED BY ITS CULTURAL
ROOTS
The Philippine experience in the formation
of consciousness of a national identity had
its roots in the pre-Hispanic period and
developed through two difficult but
significant periods of Western
colonization, culminating in the eventual
inauguration of the Philippine Republic in
1946.

23
According to archeologists and historians, the
origin of our culture was hypothesized on the
following:
a) Our indigenous culture began to
develop in the prehistoric and pre-
Christian eras.
b) These early cultures ranged from the
crude Old Stone Age to the Metal Age
with organized community life.
c) The early settlers came from Borneo,
Indo-China, South China, and some
other parts of SEA.
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Foundation of Our Indigenous Culture

It is believed that 25,000 years ago, the

Negritos arrived in the Philippines and were
considered the first people who arrived here.
The early occupants of the Philippine Islands
were believed to have reached areas through
of a land bridge connecting Malaysia and
China.

25
Studies show that the Malays, one of the early
settlers in the country, migrated around 300 to 200
B.C. They brought with them their skills in mining
and smelting of iron tools, weapons, utensils, and
ornaments. Also, they developed irrigation for
agriculture; cultivated fruit trees, spices, fiber,
ornamental plants, and some other agricultural
products; used carabaos and horses as working
animals; and used technology in the manufacture of
ornamented pottery and glass beads in the art of
weaving. They started the development of our
indigenous culture.
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 The second wave of Malay immigrants
brought with them the system of writing called
the syllabaries system.

A syllabary is a phonetic writing system

consisting of symbols representing syllables. A
syllable is often made up of a consonant plus a
vowel or a single vowel.
In Hiragana each syllable is represented by a
separate symbol. In Inuktitut the orientation of
the symbols is used indicate different vowels,
and the small symbol is used to write syllable
final consonants, as in Inuktitut.
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The second wave of Malay immigrants
arrived around the 13th century, the
beginning of the Christian era. In the latter
half of the half of the 14th century and
through the 15th century, the Muslim Malays,
the last group of Malays to migrate to the
Philippines came, and it marked the
foundation and development of Islam in
Mindanao and Sulu.

28
The existence of the writing system on the
islands, the use of metal and the absences of
human sacrifices and cannibalism were the
results of the country’s contacts with the
Arabs, Chinese, and Malay traders in the 9th
century, the pre-Christian tot the pre-colonial
era.

29
 As time passed by, numerous
cultural migrations were experienced by
the Filipinos. The combination of
numerous bloodlines coming from Asian
migrants assimilated so well to produce
the Filipino people and our indigenous
culture.

30
Until the Spaniards came, the settlers in
the Philippines had established a certain
culture and agricultural technology of their
own. They had their own traditions, which
had been altered by the numerous
traditions and cultures of the colonizers.
Trade relations with the other Asian
neighbors continued even before the
arrival of the Spaniards, and the settlers
developed religious and social norms of
their own.
31
During this period, the settlers already had a
shared language, system of writing, literature,
and political and judicial systems based on the
accepted standards of the period.

Remote areas in the Philippines were inhabited

by the earliest descendants of the early settlers
of the island, the Negritos. The numerous
historical influences made the Filipinos a mixture
of various ethnicity.

32
Despite the countless similarities of the early
Filipino tribes and inhabitants, unity was hard to
attain in the country as a whole. Regardless of
the shared territory, racial characteristics and
beliefs, the Filipinos remained disunited and
were broken into different political factions
during the precolonial era.

33
￮ Their lack of unity and identity made it
easier for the colonizers to conquer the
Philippines. The country was divided into
small independent political groups called
barangays, which were constantly fighting
for survival. However, it is firmly
established that these groups of people
molded our identity as a people and gave
us a heritage that Western colonization
could not uproot in four centuries.

34
The People Filipinos, belong to a mixture
of races. Centuries of contact with the
Western and Asian Countries through of
trade and colonization made the Filipino
race very complex.

A Filipino is a combination of the East and

West, so the character exhibits curious
contradictions foreigners find hard to
understand.

35
Common Traits. It is difficult if not
impossible, to define what a Filipino is
Common traits of Filipinos are difficult to
depict the existence of numerous races
and beliefs have been developed and
preserved.

All that can be done is to pick out

some traits common to the average
Filipinos a separate those that are
obviously Spanish or American

36
Hospitality. Hospitability is a part of
Filipino culture, and it is naturally felt and
seen in every household whenever visitors
come and even or even strangers pass by.

Close family ties. the most basic unit of

society where interaction starts and simple
negotiations among its members are held,
consists of grandparents, parents and
siblings.

37
Respect for Elders. Parents always
remind their children and say “Respect
your Elders”

Fatalistic. Fatalism in Filipinos is best

symbolized in the phrase ”Bahala na.”
phrase that defies translation but which
may be rendered loosely as “come what
may.”

38
Loyalty. This refers to the faithfulness and
trustworthiness to a close companion or
friend.

Jealousy. A man strongly dislikes a

woman who flirts with several men. For
him what is “his is his ”and what is “yours
is yours”

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Sense of “Pakikisama” Filipinos are able to
fit with other people and set aside their
selfish wants. They have sense of
camaraderie, setting aside individually and
welcoming collaboration.

The Identified traits have become an

identity of Filipinos. Like all men the world
over. The Filipino has the weaknesses of
the fallen Adam. but he has his strengths
that he uses to become an asset to his
family and the society in which he
belongs. 40
Phelan(1957) attributes the survival of our
indigenous culture thus:

This indigenous culture was

practiced on the islands. Under Spain
jurisdiction, there was a blending of
significant elements in the old culture
coming up with a new society. What ever
damage they experience, either
psychologically or materially, they survive

41
Phelan analyzed the factors that sustained
the native culture in its survival and he
considered the inward of native culture in
its survival and he considered the inward
cohesiveness of native Philippine Society
as the most important

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