S EE

MIRACLE
IN
L IFE
E VERYDA
Y
 GE 9- LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

OTHER
LITERARY
WORKS OF
Lea Mae L. Ortega
Instructor
The Philippines: A Century
Hence
The Indolence of the
Filipino People
To the Young Women of
Malolos
 LEARNING
OBJECTIVES:
1. Assess Rizal’s writings
2. Appraise the value of
understanding the past
 GE 9- LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

The Philippines:
A Century Hence
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE

BASED ON THE PRESENT

SITUATION OF OUR
COUNTRY, WHAT WOULD BE
THE SITUATION OF THE
PHILIPPINES AFTER 100
FILIPINAS DENTRO DE CIEN
The Philippines: A Century Hence
AÑOS
 FILIPINAS DENTRO DE CIEN AÑOS
The Philippines: A Century Hence

The essay starts by analyzing the various

causes of the miseries suffered by the Filipino
people. Dr. Rizal wrote this to forecast the
future of the country within a hundred years.
 WHAT WOULD BE THE
SITUATION OF THE
PHILIPPINES WITHIN 100
YEARS?
WOULD THE PHILIPPINES
REMAIN A COLONY OF
SPAIN?
WOULD IT BECOME
INDEPENDENT?
WOULD IT BE A COLONY OF
ANOTHER NATION?
HE PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
“In order to read the destiny of a
people, it is necessary to open the
book of it’s past.”
• This essay starts with an analysis of the causes of the
miseries of the people. One of the causes identified in this
article was Spain’s implementation of the military policies.

• Second was the deterioration and disappearance of

Filipino indigenous culture.
• Third was the passivity and submissiveness to the
Spaniards colonizers.
WHAT THEN HAD MADE THE
PEOPLE REALIZE THEIR SAD
SITUATION UNDER SPANISH
RULE?
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
Could Spain prevent the progress of the Philippines? If Spain
decides to do so, what could the country possibly do?

1. Keep the people ignorant?

2. Keep the people in poverty?

3. Exterminate the Filipino race?

E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
Keeping the people ignorant failed. Why?

• Awakening of national consciousness among

the people united them. With the spread of
enlightenment, the illustrado class arose.
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
Recourse to impoverishment also failed.
Why?
• Keeping the people in poverty created in the
Filipinos the desire to change things.
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
Extermination of the people as an alternative to
hindering progress was an impossibility according
to Rizal. Why?

• The people had survived in spite of the

wars they had engaged in and the
epidemics that had plagued society.
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
Can the divide et impera or divide and rule policy
still work to foster enmity between and among
natives? Why?

• To Rizal, this would no longer be effective owing

to the ease of movement in the archipelago brought
about by improved means of transportation.
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
Therefore, Spain has no way
of blocking reforms and
progress of the Philippines.
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
• Rizal’s essay centered on the reforms and
political changes needed for the Philippines
to remain under Spanish rule. Nevertheless,
he stressed that reforms have to be initiated
by the government for them to be peaceful
and effective.
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
• These reforms were the following:

a. freedom of the press in the country

b. representation of the Filipinos in the Spanish Cortes
c. granting of Spanish citizenship to the people
d. filing of government positions through competitive
examinations
e. reforms in commerce, agriculture and education
f. greater security for the individual and other reforms
WHICH COLONIZING
POWER WILL REPLACE
SPAIN? WILL IT BE A
EUROPEAN POWER OR AN
ASIAN POWER?
E PHILIPPINES: A CENTURY
HENCE
• If Spain will not be replaced either by a European or an
Asian power, which country then will be interested in
what Spain has to give up?

To Rizal, this country is none other than the United

States of America. What Rizal envisioned in this essay
came true. The Americans entered the Philippines and
wrestled from Spain the control of the Philippines.
Sobre La Indolencia De
Los Filipinos (The
Indolence of the Filipino
People)
he Indolence of the Filipino People
• Longest essay of Rizal published in La Solidaridad on
July 15, 1890.
• To defend the Filipinos against accusation of Mr.
Sanciano that the Filipinos are indolent.
 This is due to the observation of Sanciano to a
Filipino farmer who was having a siesta at nine
o’clock in the morning because he was already
done with his work
he Indolence of the Filipino People

According to Rizal, whenever something goes wrong in the

Philippines, there is a tendency to blame the Filipinos.
Rizal’s thesis in this essay was simple: that Filipinos
were not born lazy but had a decency to become lazy.
Acknowledging the tendency for the Filipinos to
become indolent due in part to the tropical climate,
Rizal noted that it was the European, surrounded by
servants, who was the paragon of laziness in the
tropics.
he Indolence of the Filipino People
The Deterioration of the Industry of the Filipinos can be attributed
to two sets of factors: Those attributable to the Spanish Colonizers;
and those attributable to the Filipinos’ own faults.
1. Wars and Internal disorders that followed Spanish Conquest.
2. Piratical Attacks on Coastal Towns and Villages by Muslim
Pirates
3. Forced Labor in Shipbuilding
4. Government’s Neglect and Apathy to Agriculture, Industry, and
Commerce
5. Absence of Material and Moral Incentives to Work harder
he Indolence of the Filipino People
The Deterioration of the Industry of the Filipinos can be attributed
to two sets of factors: Those attributable to the Spanish Colonizers;
and those attributable to the Filipinos’ own faults.
6. The teaching of the Spanish Missionaries that Heaven is for the
poor.
7. Too much Government Restriction and Red Tape in the
approval of the permit to transact business
8. Encouragement and Propagation of Gambling
9. Ownership of the Big Estates by the Friars
10. Examples set by the Spaniards in disdaining manual labor
11. Deprivation of Human Dignity
he Indolence of the Filipino People

1. Feeling of Inferiority. The prevalence of a feeling of

inferiority among the Filipinos paralyzed all tendencies towards
advancement and developed in them the ideas of giving up
without fighting or exerting effort.
2. Placing Hopes on Miracles. Nurtured with the stories of
anchorites who lead a contemplative and lazy life, the Filipinos
spent their giving money to the Church in the hope of miracles
and wonderful things.
he Indolence of the Filipino People
3. Lack of Spirit to Pursue Lofty Purposes. As their minds had
been conditioned that they belong to an inferior race and that
they should not aspire to be greater than the curate, Filipinos
sealed and shaped their actions to be in conformity with the
most pernicious routines not based on reason but imposed and
forced.
4. Lack of National Sentiment. The lack of national sentiment
breeds another evil, which is the scarcity of any opposition to
the measures that are prejudicial to the people and the absence
of any initiative that will rebound to their welfare.
To the Young
Women of
Malolos
To the Young Women of Malolos

When the Spaniards came into the Philippines, they brought with
them their patriarchal values about women which eventually
diffused into Philippine culture.

There was an idea that men should be the provider of the family
and protector of the women.

Filipinos were familiarized to a patriarchal system of education

which emphasized the domestic value that women were the
property of men.
To the Young Women of Malolos

• This letter was written in Tagalog, while Rizal was in London

• December 12, 1888- a group of twenty women of Malolos

petitioned Governor-General Weyler for permission to open a
night school so that they may study Spanish under Teodoro
Sandiko.

• Father Felipe Garcia objected resulting into the turning down

of the petition by the Governor-General.
To the Young Women of Malolos

But these young women courageously sustained

their agitation for the establishment of the
school. They triumphed in the end and were
granted permission to their project on the
condition that Señorita Guadalupe Reyes should
be their teacher.
izal’s Message to the Women of Malolos

The letter Rizal transmitted to the young women of

Malolos focused on the following points: the rejection of
the spiritual authority of the friars; the defense of private
judgment; qualities Filipino mothers need to possess;
duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their
children; duties and responsibilities of a wife to her
husband; and counsel to young women on their choice of a
lifetime partner.
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

The Rizal’s ultimate desire was to afford Filipino women

with the same opportunities enjoyed by men in education-
an education that will liberate women.
He emphasized the need for maintaining the independence
of mind and reason. He urged women to be vigilant over
their rights and not to be docile and passive in their
attitude towards the many injustices forced upon them.
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

• RESPONSIBILITIES OF FILIPINO MOTHERS TO

THEIR CHILDREN
It is the mothers who are responsible for the present
servitude of our compatriots, owing to the unlimited
trustfulness of their loving hearts, to their ardent desire to
elevate their sons.
What then was Rizal trying to put across here?
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

• RESPONSIBILITIES OF FILIPINO MOTHERS TO

THEIR CHILDREN
He was trying to tell the women that whatever the mother
is, would be her son becomes. Mothers who can teach
nothing else but kneeling and kissing the hand of the friars
should expect children who are not only stupid but also
exploited slaves.
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

WHAT THEN ARE THE DUTIES OF THE FILIPINO

MOTHERS TO THEIR CHILDREN?
1. To raise children close to the image of God;
2. To awaken and prepare the mind of the child for every
good and desirable idea; and
3. To teach children to prefer death with honor than life
with dishonor
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

Rizal stressed the need for mothers to

educate their children on the following
values: love for honor; sincere and firm
character; clear mind; clear conduct;
noble action; love for one’s fellowmen;
and respect for God.
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

QUALITIES MOTHERS HAVE TO

POSSESS
• The Filipino mother has to be a noble wife.
• She has to rear her children in the service of the state.
Rizal gives reference to the women of Sparta who
embody this quality.
• A wife has to set the standards of behavior for men
around her.
3 basic things a wife must instill in the mind of her husband:
activity and industry; noble behavior; and worthy sentiments
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

QUALITIES MOTHERS HAVE TO

POSSESS
Rizal gave the following advices to a married
woman:
• aid her husband;
• share his perils;
• refrain from causing him worry; and
• sweeten his moments of affliction
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

Rizal’s advice to unmarried men and

women
Rizal was directly telling young men that un
choosing their lifetime partner, they should not
consider physical beauty nor the sweetness character
of a woman, but rather give priority to firmness of
character and excellent ideas.
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

Rizal’s advice to unmarried men and

women
On the other hand, Rizal counseled young women not
to surrender their womanhood to a weak and timid
heart. There are 3 things that a young woman must
look for a man she is going to marry; a noble and
honored man; a manly heart; and a high spirit
incapable of being slave.
izal’s message to the Women of Malolos

Rizal’s advice to unmarried men and

women
On the other hand, Rizal counseled young women not
to surrender their womanhood to a weak and timid
heart. There are 3 things that a young woman must
look for a man she is going to marry; a noble and
honored man; a manly heart; and a high spirit
incapable of being slave.
To the Young Women of Malolos
SUMM
ARYmothers should teach their children love
Filipino
of God, country and fellowmen.
Filipino mothers should be glad and honored, like
Spartan mothers to offer their sons in defense of
their country.
Filipino women should know how to protect their
dignity and honor.
Filipino women should educate themselves aside
from retaining their good racial values.
Faith is not merely reciting prayers and wearing
religious pictures. It is living the real Christian way
with good morals and manners.
References:
• Clemente, J., The Life and Works of Rizal: Outcome-Based
Module. C& E Publishing, Inc., Quezon City. 2019
• Rizal, J. The Philippines: A Century Hence. Retrieved from
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35899/35899-h/35899-h.htm
 Thank you
for listening!