Urmatam, Odeza Gayl A. P.

I 100 R

JOURNO RIZAL: A CLOSER LOOK TO LAONG LAAN AND DIMAS ALANG

During the Spanish Colonial rule in the Philippines, the print journalism served as a tool
for propaganda of the government. The newspapers catered to the Spanish elites thus the Spanish
language was primarily used as a medium (Rosario-Braid and Tuazon 1999). Any independently
owned publications faced strict government censorship and any deviation caused detrimental
repercussions. Journalism then was a state apparatus to maintain the status quo; only in the 1880s
did journalism take on its role as catalyst of social change.
Ironically, according to Escote (2008), the pursuit for a free press in the Philippines start-
ed in Barcelona, Spain when La Solidaridad was established. The La Solidaridad was one of the
newspapers to expose the oppressed state of the Filipinos and questioned the autocratic rule of
the friars. The emerging consciousness that journalism as an instrument of advancing social and
economic reforms in the Philippine came from the ilustrados. Jose Rizal, along with Graciano
Lopez-Jaena, Marcelo Del Pilar, Antonio Luna, and many others, were the pioneers of the alter-
native press in the country (Teodoro, 2012).
This research paper primarily aims to discuss Jose Rizal and his contribution to the field
of journalism and communication. Furthermore, the researcher also has the following objectives:
1) to study Jose Rizal as a journalist, and a pioneer of alternative journalism;
2) to examine his selected articles in La Solidaridad and Diariong Tagalog, and;
3) to compare Rizal’s versus the contemporary style in news writing.
Jose Rizal is known to have worked as a journalist for a small period of time in his life,
yet there are only few books that extensively talks about his contributions in the field of journal-
ism. He is more recognized as a poet and a novelist. In this study, there will be a more in-depth
discussion of Rizal as an alternative journalist, and a closer examination of his news and editorial
articles. Furthermore, this research will contribute to a more comprehensive study of the national
hero, and the state of the press during his time.
The Alternative Press
The idea and the term “alternative press” in the Philippines was defined only during the
Martial Law era. The late President Ferdinand Marcos shut down TV and radio stations, and
newspaper outfits that were critical to his government. Only the media companies owned by his
cronies, and those that conformed to his rule were left to operate as a propaganda apparatus of
the government. The alternative press materialized as a refutation to the dictatorship, and as a
contrast to the controlled media content propagated by the crony press. These were illegal, semi-
legal, and underground newsletters, newspapers and magazines by different groups resisting
Marcos’ tyrannical rule.
According to Teodoro (2012), “The term, alternative press has been variously defined as
that part of the press consisting of magazines and newspapers published by groups, movements
or individuals advocating social and other changes, as distinguished from that part of the press
consisting of publications published by business and political interests committed to the defense
and preservation of the status quo.”
Although the term had emerged and defined decades after the colonial times, Teodoro
asserts that the alternative press has long existed during the Spanish colonial rule. Newspapers
that challenged the colonial system, and exposed the plights of Filipinos under an oppressive rule
had operated and circulated in the country during the Spanish regime. The rise of publications
such as La Opinion (1887), La Solidaridad (1889), Ang Kalayaan (1896), La Independencia
(1898) and many others, was a response to the abuse and cruelty of the Spaniards (Haban 2008).
It was also a result of the growing consciousness of the Filipinos to freedom and nationalism.

Rizal in Diariong Tagalog

The Diariong Tagalog was the first Spanish-Tagalog newspaper in the Philippines. It was
published in 1882 by Marcelo H. Del Pilar and Francisco Calvo (Fernandez 1989). Both Del Pi-
lar and Calvo were reformists and demanded a political representation in the Spanish parliament
(Caño n.d).
 By that time, 21-year-old Jose Rizal had just arrived in Spain, and the managing editor of
Diariong Tagalog, Basilio Teodoro, had asked him to write for the paper. Rizal wrote an essay
titled, “El Amor Patrio,” and sent it to the Philippines. It was Rizal’s first published literary
piece. This essay was regarded as one of Rizal’s most significant work as it is a literary piece
written at the age of twenty-one before he was even influenced by liberal thought by universities
in Spain (Bonoan 1996).
In El Amor Patrio, or Love of Country, Rizal professes his love for his country. He uses
flowery words and metaphors to describe the Philippines and its natural resources. He paints an
image using words depicting the beauty of mother nature, and how it reminds him of his loved
ones. Rizal also declares his love loyalty to his country, like a son to his mother until death.
The El Amor Patrio was only one of the many articles Rizal sent to Diariong Tagalog.
However, due to lack of funding, the newspaper had ceased to circulate and some of Rizal’s
work were unpublished. Despite its short lifespan, Diariong Tagalog was recognized as the
Philippine newspaper that was in the forefront of uniting both Filipino and Spanish interests.

Rizal in La Solidaridad
The ilustrados, or the Filipinos educated abroad, were influenced by the Western liberal
thought. Their consciousness of nationalism had been awakened by liberal ideas.This ideological
influence resulted in their awareness of the injustices committed by the Spaniards to the Fil-
ipinos, thus their clamour for reform. What they wanted to put forward was the representation of
Filipinos in the Spanish government where all decisions for the Philippines were made. Along
with this are sixteen reforms that the ilustrados want to advance in the parliament such as the
mandatory teaching of Spanish language to the Filipinos; the non-mandatory collection of alms
by the Church; building of infrastructures such as secondary schools and roads, and others (Caño
n.d).
On 1888, the La Solidaridad organization was formed, and a newspaper daily with the
same name started publishing the next year in Barcelona. The newspaper was written and pub-
lished by Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo Del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, Antonio Luna, Jose Rizal
and many others who were members of the Propaganda Movement (Landicho, 1986). According
to Caño, La Solidaridad was written by a group of Filipinos, but its content was not for the Fil-
ipino people but for the Spanish.
When the newspaper was newly established, Lopez Jaena, who was then the editor-in-
chief, sought advice from Rizal, thus he gave the following advice:
Be careful not to publish exaggerations or lies or imitate others who avail them-
selves of dishonest means and of vulgar and ignorable language to attain their
ends. See that the periodical is just, honest, and truthful so that its opinion may
always be respected. It is necessary that we show our enemies that we are more
worthy that they, morally and humanly speaking. Should we tell the truth we
shall win our cause, because reason and justice are on our side. There is no need
for knaveries. (Ramirez, 2010, Philippine Journalism Handbook p.3)

The periodical exposed the abuses of the Spaniards against the Filipinos, and disputed
anti-Filipino reports and articles on Spanish propaganda machineries. According to Ramirez
(2010), copies of the newspaper were smuggled in the Philippines, which inspired Filipino publi-
cations to embed militancy in their writings as well.

Los Agricultores Filipinos

One of Jose Rizal’s article was the Los Agricultores Filipinos or The Filipino Farmers.
This essay was published in March 25, 1889. At the beginning of the article, Rizal commends the
existing policies and projects in the agricultural sector by the Spaniards. However, for Rizal, this
is not enough and he asserts the need for public consultations with the farmers who are the ones
who truly know the state of the land they are tilling. He puts emphasis on the significance of the
farmers in the society as the ones who make the land productive that create food and profit for
the country.
Rizal posits that the farmers are the poorest sector in the society, and the most exploited
and most affected by the tyrannical rule of their landlords. His explanation is that aside from the
natural calamities that befall them and affect their crops, farmers also have to worry pleasing the
the capitalist that owns them, the civil guard that arrests them for non-compliance of orders.
Sometimes, the farmer is also summoned by a high official in the court for questioning, and he
has to spend his earnings to travel and wait to be requested in the presence of the judge. Rizal
also sees the tulisan, or the bandits in the community as an inconvenience to the farmer. The
farmer is denied to the use of firearms to protect himself, and sometimes confiscated by the gov-
ernment. He also cites the inefficiency of royal decrees, and the stagnant and non-progressing
sector of agriculture.
With this, Rizal addresses the “Mother Country” or the Spain to look into the behavior of
the government in the Philippines. He asks for a remedy in the present situation of the farmers,
and asserts that Filipinos should be given representation in the courts so that they are able to in-
form the Mother Country of their problems and expose the abuses and injustices being done to
them. Aside from this, Rizal suggests further reforms in the structure of issuing reports from the
people. He says that it should not be centered to Manila only, but rather issued in every court of
every town.

La Verdad Para Todos

La Verdad Para Todos or The Truth for All, published on May 31, 1889, is an article that
countered the two articles published in a Manila newspaper. The articles namely, The Petitions
and The Authorities in the Philippines contained charges that the Filipino citizens were defects of
race, ignorant, and depraved. Rizal countered these claims on his essay, and said that the insults
and slander against the Filipino race is not new but rather a common incident. He claims that it
was not surprising that these articles were written and published because the Filipinos are forbid-
den to retaliate.
Rizal agrees that there is immorality in the Philippines but such fault is not attributed to
the Filipino people but rather to the people that governs them. He uses the common family as an
analogy to the situation wherein the father is the authority and is in charge with the state of
things inside the household. In this context, the father is the Spanish government, and the chil-
dren were the Filipinos. Albeit there are few of the authorities that did not abuse their powers,
Rizal asserts that the majority of them are tyrannical and subject their constituents to maltreat-
ment.
 He roots immorality by discussing the internals of the politics in the Philippines. Rizal
contends that every town’s structure is composed of two parties: one group consists of those who
can live without the support of individuals in powers, and the other consists of “vagabonds” and
“intriguers” who needed the friars for support and protection. Furthermore, Rizal claims that the
friars, the ones who hold authority over the Filipinos, did not teach the Christian morals but only
superstitions.
By the end of his article, he said that Filipinos, as children of Spain, had bad teachers
who are to blame. Once again, Rizal asserts that the Spaniards must give the Filipinos their due
freedom, and that they should be treated well. He warns the Spanish government that if a system
of oppression persists, the people will be encouraged to resist and fight.

Una Profanacion
Published on July 1889, the Una Profanacion or ‘A Profanation’ article, criticized and
lambasted the friars for their refusal to conduct a Christian burial for Jose Rizal’s brother-in-law,
Mariano Herbosa. This article was unsigned, but was identified as written by Rizal himself.
Herbosa, along with a certain Isidro Alcala, died from cholera, an infectious and fatal
bacterial disease on May 23, 1889. Father Anonuevo, an enemy of Rizal and Herbosa had sent a
telegram to the ecclesiastical governor in Manila, stating that Herbosa had not confessed since
his marriage up to his death. The governor then responded, denying a Christian burial for him.
Consequently, the bodies were buried in a cemetery outside of the town without the Catholic rit-
uals done by the church.
Rizal reported the said events in his article, and claimed that his brother-in-law was better
buried outside town without the grave-diggers who will desecrate his remains, and without the
priests who hurriedly and lazily officiates the funeral. The families must be grateful, Rizal wrote,
because the hill where the remains were buried were more hygienic than the cemetery intended
for Christian burials.
Furthermore, Rizal chastised the friars, especially Father Añonuevo, and the government
who had used Catholicism for a petty revenge against him and his brother-in-law. Rizal attests
that the friars could not have known that Herbosa had not confessed to the church. He argues that
the would-be deceased, upon knowing their incoming death, would confess to neighbouring
towns and churches instead. Moreover, the cholera disease that the victims contracted were
rapidly spreading that it only took twenty hours for it to take the life of Herbosa and Alcala.
In his article, Rizal also questioned the purpose of putting “Rizal’s brother-in-law” as an
adjective to Herbosa in the telegram. He accused Anonuevo of using his brother-in-law to exact
revenge on him because of his writings. Justice, he asserted, has been insulted, and a crime of
slander had been committed against the dead man.

Verdades Nuevas
As a response to an article in La Patria, a newspaper in Madrid, Rizal wrote the article,
Verdades Nuevas or New Truths, in July 31, 1889. The article that he responded to was titled,
Philippine Affairs, and was written by a certain Vicente Belloc Sanchez who wrote negatively
about the proposed reforms in the Philippines which will damage the reputation and leadership of
the Spanish friars.
In the beginning, Rizal discusses that Belloc’s article posits that 1) the introduction of
reforms in the country will obstruct the peaceful religious order; 2) the friars have been exem-
plary leaders of the Catholic faith; and 3) the Filipinos or Indios were nothing but savages, bar-
baric and uncivilized before the Spaniards came. Rizal defended his position in going against the
article by stating that unlike Belloc who stayed in the Philippines for twelve years, Rizal had
resided in the country for more than twenty years.
He countered the arguments by questioning the writer’s basis on stating that there was a
peaceful religious order in the land. Rizal pointed out the lack of effort of the Spanish adminis-
tration towards gaining the respect and affection of the Filipino people. He proceeded to chal-
lenge the claims that the advocated reforms in the country will topple down the established orga-
nization of politics in the country. He also questions why the Spanish government cannot seem to
emancipate itself from the authority of the friars.
 Finally, Rizal disputes the final claim that the Indios before the arrival of the Spaniards
were barbaric. He cites the claims of religious Spaniards who reported to the Spanish mainland
that the Filipinos then were able to read and write in their own language and characters.

Rizal vs. Contemporary Alternative News Writing Style

At present, journalism has evolved over time. It has transcended its traditional print
medium to radio, television, and online. Furthermore, the newspapers in the Philippines have un-
dergone changes in terms of its format, lay-out, and content due to the established rules and laws
in practicing responsible journalism. The contemporary newspapers are guided by international
and local Code of Ethics, canons of taste, and existing laws. In Philippine context, not only does
the Philippine constitution and the Revised Penal Code demand ethical and responsible journal-
ism from the press, but also non-government organizations like the Center for Media Freedom
and Responsibility (CMFR), and Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) ensure that
the watchdogs are being watched from committing abuse of power, and corruption.
In comparing the newspapers from contemporary and Spanish regime, the press during
the Spaniards’ rule has relatively more freedom than the current. This can be discerned by juxta-
posing the content and writing styles of both.
The selected articles or essays of Jose Rizal from La Solidaridad, and Diariong Tagalog,
like Verdades Nuevas, Una Profanacion and La Agricultores Filipinos, are considered “news”
during his time. As per observed, these lengthy articles were written in first person, in pure sub-
jectivity, and as mere reactions to mainstream notions and articles published in mainstream
newspapers. Furthermore, Rizal, as well as other journalists that time, utilized literary devices
such as metaphors, imagery, analogies and flamboyant descriptions to their news writing styles.
Rizal’s article, Verdades Nuevas and La Verdad Para Todos are two of his many articles that
counter other writers’ ideas.
In contrast, news articles from present-day alternative newspapers like Pinoy Weekly, Bu-
latlat, Northern Dispatch, and Davao Today, (as well as mainstream newspapers like Philippine
Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, Manila Bulletin, etc.) follow the objective writing of news
stories. The writer is not involved in the story, and merely reports a certain event as is. Moreover,
the journalist does not insert personal views in their works, and gather details through interviews
from reliable sources. News articles usually follow the “inverted pyramid” format where the lead
statement contains the gist of the story: the who, what, where, when, and how.
Putting Rizal’s news articles in today’s context, these can be classified as editorial essays.
Rather than mere reporting, he expresses his opinions, arguments, and criticisms against the
Spanish rule. In addition, in today’s context, our national hero Rizal may now be facing multiple
libel lawsuits, and cases of inciting sedition or rebellion.

Pioneer of the Alternative Press

Jose Rizal, and his fellow propagandists wrote and published many articles in both La
Solidaridad and Diariong Tagalog newspapers. These articles’ goal was to expose and oppose the
Spanish oppressive rule, and propose changes or reforms in the current social, economic and po-
litical system. They challenged the mainstream notions, and carried the struggles of the Filipino
masses that time that inspired other revolutionary periodicals to arise such as Emilio Jacinto’s
Kalayaan, which was responsible for the high recruitment rate of the revolutionary army
(Ramirez, 2010).
Although Jose Rizal departed from the journalism field because of his rift with Marcelo
Del Pilar, who was the editor of La Solidaridad that time, Rizal’s contribution to the field of
journalism was substantial to the overthrow of the Spanish government. Among with other pro-
pagandists, Rizal is considered as one of the pioneers of the alternative press. With its subversive
nature, the alternative media emerged to contest existing dominant state apparatus to further sub-
vert the Filipino people. Through journalism, Rizal gave voice to the calls for reform and
progress in the country. The alternative press they had created protested against the government-
controlled media. La Solidaridad, and Diariong Tagalog were two of the newspapers or propa-
ganda machineries to counter the Spanish agenda.
This subversive press persisted even in the arrival of new colonizers in the country — the
Americans and the Japanese. The guerilla press, and underground newspapers emerged to com-
bat the misinformation and miseducation of the Filipinos about the true state of the country. Even
during the rise of a dictator and Martial Law in 1972, the alternative press, or “mosquito press”
fought the repressive regime, urging the Filipinos to take arms and fight the state forces.
As the semi-feudal and semi-colonial system in the Philippines persist up until today, the
alternative press continues to thrive even in the shadows of elite-controlled media corporations.
The spirit of a free, and progressive press lives on so long as it has not freed the masses from
their chains. Resistance is inevitable when there is oppression. 

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