LAZARTE, Louise Gabrielle A.

BSMT-2A

1. Rizal and the Popular Nationalism. What does it mean for Dr. Rizal to be
textualized? How does your view of Dr. Rizal compare with the “underside”?
Ever since Rizal was a child, there have already been rumors surrounding his magical ability
that can restore the vigor and condition of the people around him. His ability to improve his frail
body along with his intelligence made the people compare Rizal to Carpio's strength and power.
However, these different stories and readings of Rizal that lack strong evidence represent how
people can make their own interpretations and assumptions of Rizal. As Rizal grow older,
people regard his ability to fix the blindness of people due to his degree in Opthalmology as a
healing power as well as his ability to improve the condition of his patient, up until he grows up
he was still being associated with the myths specifically the pasyon and awit stories. However,
people should not associate Rizal’s education and experience in Europe as the same with how
Carpio left his homeland to deal with moros and idolaters, instead of wondering who is Rizal
based on rumors and assumptions, people should look at the other meaning of travel. Since
these myths and subjective interpretations often hinder the stories of history which should be
told in an objective manner and should only contain facts. The underlying reason for Rizal’s
travel in Europe is to study and observe the culture, laws, lifestyle, and such of those European.
This helped him prepare in liberating the country as well as seeing the problems in our country
that need reform. Along with his travel, he met different people including the great people in
Europe such as Blumentritt, De Wecker, Virchow, and such, some of these people became
Rizal’s mentor which guided and introduced him the path of his career and the life in Europe.
Moreover, he learned different languages that helped him read different literature that contains
ideas of liberalism and revolution. Thus, Rizal came back to the Philippines equipped with the
plan and goals on how to liberate and reform the country. He then established the propaganda
movement and published different readings and literature which aims for reform in the social
and political system in the country through pen and paper rather than using force. However, the
movement did not become successful, instead, it inspired nationalistic movements to fight
against the oppression of Spanish. Although Rizal’s published work and ideals are the ones the
inspired countless Filipino to stand up against the Spanish, it was Bonifacio who continued the
war against Spain using violence and force which made some historians quest why he is being
overshadowed by Rizal, when Rizal is just a typical middle-class ilustrado who was afraid to use
violence for a change. However, there has been a problem with regards to Rizal’s work, people
tend to focus on what he actually meant on the text rather than exploring the possibilities of
other meanings on his works that we could apply in our modernized society. In order for the
people to textualized, they must first understand his ideals and views by reading his published
works as a whole/interconnected rather than by part which could to misinterpretations. With his
death, there are already rumors that connect his death to Carpio’s and Jesus’, which they
believe that Rizal would reincarnate or he was just trapped in the mountains and that he would
come back to liberate the country Rizal’s work and his life are textualized by making sure that
there are no biblical narrative or any subjective perspective that would be mixed with history.
Rizal’s contribution may not be appreciated by some historians, but it was Rizal’s ideals and
ideas that drove the nationalist movement and up until now. Rather than seeing Rizal’s life the
same as with Jesus, and idolizing him as someone with strength and intelligence, I see Rizal as
a normal Filipino who willingly studied and learned the history rather than conforming to the
thinking that we should forget our history before the colonization and accepting what was given
to us. Although I knew that Rizal already realized that our culture and history are already mixed
with the colonial ones. It was unfortunate that his primary intention is not to free the country from
Spain but to accept them as long there is an equality between the races compared to Bonifacio
who advocated for achieving a Spanish-free country. However, we cannot judge his action when
he only believed that was for the best in the country. Moreover, he might not favor the use of
violence to drive the Spaniards away from the country, but his ideas and works serve as the fire
which ignited the patriotism and nationalism among the Filipinos. Going back to the comparison
of Rizal to Jesus, it would only lead to people thinking that they have to follow the path of Rizal
which would demotivate, I view Rizal as someone that embodies the ideals of what Filipinos
should have towards our country, however, rather than following his footsteps, FIlipnio should
try to practice those ideals with their own capabilities. The main idea is that we should not
exaggerate the emphasis for his life, rather we should focus on his works and we should focus
on his writings and how we can practice those ideals for the progression of our society and
culture.

2. Intra-clergy Conflicts and the Cavite Mutiny. What conflicts marred realties
between the secular and regular clergy? Why did these conflicts within the
Catholic Church impinge upon Philippine history in general and on Rizal’s politics
in particular?

The conflict between the secular and regular clergy started when cedulas that orders the
secular priests to hand over the parishes in Bacoor to the Dominicans/secular priests that were
being managed mostly by natives/secular priest without proper reason. Slowly, the parishes that
were managed and run by secular priests are being handed over to the regular priest, mostly
the parishes that are near Manila due to the fact that it would provide the regular priests a high
place in the government. Furthermore, the handing over of the parishes is due to the
connections of some regular priests with government officials that made sure that the cedula
and the request of regular priests would be approved. Furthermore, the government clearly
favors their own regular priests because they believe that Filipinos are unfit in being a priest due
to their skin and lack of experience. and more often The situation continued until the
insignificant parishes are left for the secular priests to manage. Seeing the injustices and the
fact that the parishes rightfully belong to them, the secular priests headed by Fa. Palaez and Fa.
Gomez, they created petitions, started the protest, and implemented a strategy that they would
collect money to fund the agent in Madrid that would further delay the transfer of the parishes
from secular to regular priests. This started the movement called Secularization, it was cut short
when Fa. Pelaez died but people like Manuel Peralta still tried to continue Pelaez’s campaign.
However, this secularization made the secular priests a suspect for Cavite Mutiny. The mutiny
started due to the taxes that were taken from the soldier’s salary which they were previously
exempted from. Gov. General Izquierdo cannot hold the leader of the mutiny accountable
because it is a Mestizo and a sergeant, so he tried to implicate other people such as the secular
priests including Fa. Gomez, Fa. Burgos and Fa. Zamora. The government implicated the 3
priests with the assumption that they supported the rebels and enemies due to their hatred
toward the regular priests. Burgos is the mentor and a friend to Paciano Rizal which is the
brother of our national hero, Jose Rizal. Burgos’ death is one of the driving factors which made
Rizal criticize and condemn the injustices and flaws of the church which birthed Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo, which showcases the abuses and exploitation of the friars
towards the Filipino clergy. Moreover, it opened the eyes of Rizal to a wider perspective of how
racial discrimination and injustices are prevalent in society. Thus, Rizal was able to shed a light
on the good and bad side of the society and eventually ignite the Filipino identity among the
natives.

3. Rizal in Europe, and the Propaganda Movement. What was the Propaganda
Movement, and what did it stand for? What was Dr. Rizal’s involvement in it?

The propaganda movement was established by Rizal along with other nationalists such as
Mariano Ponce, Marcelo Del Pilar and etc. They are usually composed of Ilustrados who was
able to study abroad with influenced and made them see the difference between other countries
and the Philippines. Rizal established the movement after his European travels which provided
him the information on what to reform/change in the country. The movement did not aim to drive
the Spanish away from the country, instead, it aimed for the following: equality between Filipinos
and Spaniards when it comes to opportunities, parishes, basic human rights, and the abolition of
the polo y Servicio for the Filipino. Since the members are educated, they focused more on
spreading awareness and educating the Filipinos through writing and literature. They were able
to demonstrate that the intelligence and artistic capability of the Filipino is no different from
Spaniards. La Solidad is then established to achieve those goals. Rizal was able to publish
notable works such as the Annotation of Morga’s Sucessos de las Islas Filipinas, Philippine A
Century Hence, etc. Other works of the La Solidaridad contains criticisms to the government
and friars which is why the government are confiscating and limiting the publication and spread
of those work. In addition to that challenges, since most of the published works are in Spanish,
language became a barrier in conveying the message to the Filipino who cannot understand
Spanish and the lack of budget for their publications made it hard for them to continue the
movement. Unfortunately, with the arrest of Rizal and refusal of the Spain to address their
demands, the movement collapsed. However, some of the published works were able to reach
some of the Filipinos who then lead the revolution against the Spanish and inspired other
Filipinos. Another secret organization was established by Rizal, the La Liga Filipina. It aims to
unite the country, protect the members, fight violence and injustice, and reinforce reforms. With
the same means, the La Liga Filipina aimed to fight the Spaniards using pen and paper. But
then again, the members drifted apart and were separated into Conservatives which supported
the propaganda movement and the radicals which were lead by Bonifacio who believed in using
violence to fight Spaniards. Although the propaganda movement was considered a failure, it
was able to generate nationalistic consciousness and ignite the Filipino identity of the Filipino
which started a different nationalist revolution that helped in achieving independence.