Contributory Factors of Filipino Nationalism

Racial Prejudice
- Spaniards regarded the Filipinos as belonging to the inferior races
Indios a name that carried the most unflattering and disparaging connotations to the native segment
of Philippine society
- The term Filipino, which referred to Spaniards born in the Philippines, was applied to the native only
very much later.
Filipinos described as a machine that walks, eats, sleeps and exists; an incomplete whole, a
confusion of sentiments, instincts, desires, energies, passions, colors that crowd each other without
forming a single particular one;impossible to expose to curiosity and philosophical studies

Secularization Controversy
Council of Trent (1545-1563) the secular priests would be appointed to administer the new parishes
Pope Pius V issued in 1567, upon the request of King Philip II, the Exponi Nobis, an apostolic brief that
allowed regulars to serve as parish priests without diocesan authorization and exempted them from the
bishops authority and jurisdiction
- The appointment of regular priests to Philippine parishes brought them into conflict with the
archbishop and bishops.
Bishops maintained that they were responsible for the proper administration of parishes
- they should be given the power and authority over the friar curate or cura parroco
Cura parroco invoked the papal brief as exempting them from diocesan visitation and argued that they
were subject only to the rules and regulations and the superiors of their respective religious
communities
- royal decree promulgated on November 9, 1774 ordering the secularization of the parishes (or the
turnover of parishes administered by friar curates to the seculars)
Liberal Regime of Carlos Maria de la Torre (1869-1871)
Carlos Maria de la Torre most liberal and most loved governor-general of the Philippines
-he dismissed his bodyguards and walked about the city in mufti, mingling with the natives and mestizos
-he entertained the Filipinos in receptions in his official residence
-encouraged freedom of speech and abolished censorship of the press, abolished flogging and
substituted imprisonment as punishment for desertion among native soldiers and proved his
benevolence by subduing an agrarian uprising and pardoning the rebels
-he implemented the educational decrees of 1870 which provided for limited secularization of education
and government control of certain educational institutions in the Philippines

*one decree provided for the conversion of the Dominican-owned University of Santo Tomas into a
government-controlled University of the Philippines
*the Moret Decree provided for the fusion of certain sectarian schools run by the Jesuits and
Dominicans, among them the Ateneo de Manila, San Juan de Letran and San Jose into one school called
the Philippine Institute
Rafael de Izquierdo (1871-1873)
-he announced upon his arrival that he would rule with a crucifix in one hand and a sword in the other
-ruled with an iron hand and adopted terroristic measures
-reversed the liberal policies of de la Torre
-he repealed the exemption from the tribute and forced labor that the Filipinos had been enjoying
(disgruntled Filipino workers at the Cavite arsenal mutinied in protest against this unreasonable decree)
**This produced far-reaching consequences that eventually led to the emergence of Filipino
nationalism.**
Cavite Mutiny and the Execution of GomBurZa
January 20, 1872 a group of native artillery men, marines, soldiers and workers in the arsenal of Cavite
led by a Sergeant La Madrid seized the nearby Fort of San Felipe
(Izquierdos unwarranted abolition of their privileges caused the mutiny.)
The friars saw the Cavite mutiny as a conspiracy existed to overthrow Spanish sovereignty and
establish a Filipino independent republic. In their view, the real perpetrators of the conspiracy were the
Filipino priests who were actively supported by Filipino ilustrados and businessmen.
On January 21, Izquierdo ordered the arrest of Fathers Jose Burgos, Mariano Gomez, Jacinto Zamora
and other prominent native clerics, lawyers and merchants like Joaquin Pardo de Tavers, Antonio
Regidor, Jose and Pio BAsa, Pedro Dandan, Galicano Apacible, Mariano Sevilla and Vicente del Rosario.
At the instigation of the friars, the GomBurZa were accused as leaders of the conspiracy, tried in a mock
trial which did not give them any chance to defend themselves and publicly garroted on February 17,
1872.
Jose Rizal dedicated his second novel, El Filibusterismo, to the memory of the three clerics.

The Nature of the Reform Movement: Assimilation

The dissatisfaction of the Filipino men of wealth and intellect was centered on the abuses of the Spanish
authorities, civil as well as clerical. The middle class denounced Spanish abuses and asked Spain to make
the Philippines a province of Spain. There was no clamor for independence, for reformist believed that
the Filipinos would be better if they were to become Spanish citizens enjoying all the rights and
privileges of the latter. As Spanish citizens, the Filipinos would be represented in the Spanish Cortes and
their representatives in the Cortes could propose and participate in the approval of laws beneficial to
the Filipinos.

The Great Reformists

Graciano Lopez Jaena
-born in Jaro, Ilo-ilo on December 17, 1856
-he wrote the Fray Botod
-in 1880, he secretly left for Spain, and enrolled in Medicine at the University of Valencia.
- in 1889, sensing the necessity of a newspaper to promote the interest of the Philippines and the
Filipinos, he founded the newspaper La Solidaridad. The first periodical came out on February 15, 1889,
as Pablo Rianzares as financier and Lopez Jaena as editor.
-La Solidaridad also known as Soli or Sol, became the mouthpiece of the Filipinos in Spain
-he passed away on January 20, 1896 due to Tuberculosis.

Marcelo H. del Pilar (Marcelo Hilario del Pilar y Gatmaitn)

-born in barrio Kupang, Bulakan, Bulakan on August 30, 1850
He studied at the College of San Jose and later to University of Santo Tomas where he finished his law
course in 1880.
-in 1882, he founded the nationalistic newspaper Diariong Tagalog.
-in 1888 he wrote the pamphlet Caiigat Cayo, in defense of Rizals Noli Me Tangere.
-he took over the editorship of Sol on December of 1889
-he used the pen name Plaridel in La Solidaridad

Jose Rizal (Jos Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda)

-born on June 19, 1861in Kalamba, Laguna
-in 1882, at the age of 21, he left for Spain and studied medicine
-he wrote the socio-historical novel Noli Me Tangere; he also wrote the political novel El Filibusterismo
in which he predicted the upcoming revolution
-on July 7, 1892, he was exiled in Dapitan
-he was sentenced to die on December 30, 1896 via firing squad at Bagumbayan
KKK (Kataastaasan, Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan) or Katipunan was a
Philippine revolutionary society founded by anti-Spanish Filipinos in Manila in 1892, whose primary aim
was to gain independence from Spain through revolution. The society was initiated by Filipino patriots
Andrs Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, Deodato Arellano, Valentin Diaz and others on the night
of July 7 at No. 72 Azcarraga Street, Tondo, Manila, when Filipino writer Jos Rizal was to be banished to
Dapitan.
Katipunan Members (Rank):
Bayani was the highest ranking member.

Outfit: wore a red mask and a sash with green borders, symbolizing courage and hope. The front
of the mask had white borders that formed a triangle with three Ks arranged as if occupying the
angles of a triangle within a triangle, and with the letters "Z. Ll. B." below.
K.
K.
K.
Z. Ll. B.
Monthly Dues: 25 centimos/centavos
Password: Rizal

Kawal, the mid rank.

Outfit: wore a green hood with a triangle having white lines and the letters "Z. LL. B." at the three angles
of the triangle
Z.
Ll. B.
and also wore a medallion with the letter Baybayin
Monthly Dues: 20 centavos/centimes
Password: GomBurZa

(ka) in Baybayin script.

Katipon, the lowest rank.

Outfit: wore a black hood with a triangle of white ribbon having the letters
the roman . N. . , meaning nak ng ayan

. l. . , corresponding to

Z. Ll. B.
Monthly dues: one real fuerte, or 20 cuartos, or 12.5 centimos/centavos
Password: Anak ng Bayan
Katipon could graduate to Kawal class by bringing several new members into the society. A Kawal could
become a Bayani upon being elected an officer of the society.