I.

Introduction
Philippines is said to be the gateway to the Pacific. In examining its geographical

location in the globe, you can go in any continent if you are in the Philippines. Up in the North
are the countries of Asia; extending to the East is the United States of America and the Pacific
Ocean; down in the South is Australia; and in the West is the Africa and Europe. This is the
major reason why so many countries colonized and want to colonize the country. In addition to
the fact that the archipelago is rich in natural resources that are used for input and raw materials.
Both Spain and America had the same goal that was to make the Philippines an economic
stronghold and strong capitalist to penetrate Asian market for the American, and the world for the
Spaniards. Spain also used the geographical location of the Philippines for spreading
Christianity. Americans used Philippines as a democratic model for Asia for their political
motives; established military stronghold in the Pacific for them to easily penetrate China, in case
of war; and spread education, civil service, liberal social security and Protestantism.
Almost 400 years, the Philippines was under the control foreign invasions, but the
Filipinos showed strong sense nationalism, and fought for their independence.
Nationalism is the loyalty and devotion to a nation. It is a sense of national consciousness
exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture
and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups. Furthermore, it is a
belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with his or her nation.
Finally, it is a patriotism or love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it. This
provides a need to live in a country and a want to be there. Nationalism brings people with
similar thoughts and experiences together. Citizens in a country can bond through their joint love
of their country. Nationalism gives people pride in their own country to do better than all other
countries in the world.
There are two perspectives on the origins and basis of nationalism, one is
the primordialist perspective that describes nationalism as a reflection of the ancient and
perceived evolutionary tendency of humans to organize into distinct groupings based on an
affinity of birth; the other is the modernist perspective that describes nationalism as a recent
phenomenon that requires the structural conditions of modern society in order to exist. There are
various definitions for what constitutes a nation, however, which leads to several different

strands of nationalism. It can be a belief that citizenship in a state should be limited to one ethnic,
cultural, religious, or identity group, or that multi-nationality in a single state should necessarily
comprise the right to express and exercise national identity even by minorities. The adoption of
national identity in terms of historical development has commonly been the result of a response
by influential groups unsatisfied with traditional identities due to inconsistency between their
defined social order and the experience of that social order by its members, resulting in a
situation of anomie that nationalists seek to resolve. This anomie results in a society or societies
reinterpreting identity, retaining elements that are deemed acceptable and removing elements
deemed unacceptable, in order to create a unified community. This development may be the
result of internal structural issues or the result of resentment by an existing group or groups
towards other communities, especially foreign powers that are or are deemed to be controlling
them.
In its general form the issue of nationalism concerns the mapping between the ethnocultural domain (featuring ethno-cultural groups or nations) and the domain of political
organization. In breaking the issue into its components, we have mentioned the importance of the
attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity.
Nationalism is achieved by the following elements: unified national consciousness;
identity; unified national history; and social solidarity. In unified national consciousness, we are
aware of what is happening in our country as a whole, and most important is, we involve
ourselves in national issues, not just because it affects our own daily lives, but because
Philippines is our home. Nationalism gives us identity from the rest of the world. Patronizing
local goods and products than foreign products is a good example. It not only help our local
businessmen, but it also help our economy grows. In unified national history, our national history
is the product of regional history. Every part of the Philippines has its own unique history that
can give us pride. In social solidarity, or oneness, there is harmony in our major institutions:
family, school, church, and government. These institutions play major role and affect our daily
lives, thus these must function in a synchronized way.
For the most part, countries with higher nationalism have more prosperous economy and
are overall, wealthier. People want to earn more money and they want to prosper for the good of
the country because of nationalism. Also, countries with higher nationalism have less corruption
in banks and other such things. People trust their fellow citizens to treat them with respect and

they trust their money with the banks. Without corruption, banks can prosper to help the whole
good of the country. Nationalism also unites people for one cause. You would be surprised how
powerful a united nation can become.
Pride in their own country motivates people to work harder in society. They want to
further their own countries and by working harder they do just that. People want to join together
to fight against any threats that might befall the country and society. It makes the country get
over these incidents more easily and afterwards, makes the country stronger. When something
bad might happen, people are able to comfort each other using their strong nationalistic views of
their own country. This is important for countries to help heal past wounds that they might have
suffered due to wars or natural disasters, like tsunamis and hurricanes.
The main reasons why nationalism is a good thing in societies around the world have
been represented by these three examples. Nationalism can strengthen countries and make the
country better for all people. Nationalism has been defined and it has been explained why
nationalism is a good thing. Also, an explanation of why nationalism can bring people together
has been given. Supporting nationalism is for the betterment of countries around the world, and
in turn, the whole world prospers. There are also two importance of nationalism. One is
patriotism which solidifies a nation under one government. The other is that it minimizes
intrastate violence and keeps a country from civil war.

II. Development: Trends and Transitions

The 300 years of the Philippines under the control of the Spanish Monarchy brought
about one of the most important elements of building a nation, the nationalism. The Spanish
regime invoked the sudden will of the Filipinos for freedom. During the pre-colonial period,
early Filipinos didn't exhibit any sense of nationalism simply because they did not had yet
established a national identity. Their primary focus was their community without showing any
sign of interests with other barangays. This system was interrupted when the Spanish colonizers
came to the Philippines.
One of the most important reason of the colonizers in capturing the Philippines was
because they wanted the country to be their economic stronghold wherein they can penetrate the
world of commerce and industry. As they were able to totally colonize the Philippines, they were
also able to execute their plan of making the country an economic stronghold. The Spanish
colonizers introduced the Philippines to the industry of trade and commerce. The Spaniards were
able to penetrate the industry and many transactions were dealt with by the Philippines under the
control of Spain.
Throughout the long years of colonization of the Spain to the Philippines, there were
already revolts happening in many areas of the country. These were mainly rebellion against the
policies and cultural impositions of the Spaniards. Filipinos resisted the impositions of the
Spaniards including the teachings of the Catholic religion which converted many Filipinos from
their old religion of paganism and anituism to Catholicism.
It was only during the end of nineteenth century, that the nationalism of the Filipinos
awakened. As the world of trade and commerce continues to propagate, many political ideas
were disseminated throughout the world through publishing of different books. One of the most
important political ideas was the idea of liberalism. Ideology of liberalism reached the minds of
many Filipinos especially the ilustrados who studied abroad. During the Spanish period, many
world events happened. Some of these were the Seven Years War, French Revolution, US
Declaration of Independence, and Latin American War of Independence. The opening of the
Philippines to the world of trade of commerce paved the way for many Filipinos to acquire the
knowledge of liberalism. This became the vehicle of the Filipinos to demand for, at first, equality

among Spaniards and Filipinos and, later on, for independence from the colony of Spain. The
Liberalism ideas awakened the consciousness of the Filipino people and the start of the growing
sense of nationalism among Filipinos. This was the age of enlightenment for the Filipinos.
Equipped with the ideas of liberalism, the Filipinos most especially the middle classes strived
harder to achieve political and social changes. Various revolts began throughout the whole
archipelago. They wanted to get rid of the racial prejudice and social exploitation of the
Spaniards to the Filipinos. Nationalism sentiment of the Filipinos were truly born when many
injustices of the Spanish colonizers spread throughout the country.
The Secularization movement is one of the main factors that led to the rise of Filipino
nationalism. This was a conflict between Spanish friars and Filipino priests. On November 1774,
a royal decree provided for the secularization of all parishes or the transfer of parochial
administration from the regular friars to the secular priests. It was clearly observed that there
were also racial implications on the issue which include the Filipinos brown skin, lack of
education and inadequate experience. Monsignor Pedro Pelaez fought for secularization
movement and sided the Filipinos but eventually he died due to an earthquake and later other
priests continue his unfinished fight like the Gomburza who were also involved in the Cavite
Mutiny and this led to the execution of the three friars namely Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and
Jacinto Zamora. Also, the Cavite mutiny led by sergeant Lamadrid provoke Filipino Nationalism.
On the lighter side, the emergence of the middle classes brought the nationalism in
the minds of the Filipinos by educating them and arousing the consciousness of the Filipinos to
finally join and involve themselves to the growing sense of nationalism. All these happenings led
the Filipinos to many revolts against the Spanish colonizers. Various forms of movements were
made by the Filipinos against the Spaniards. Some movements were through peaceful means like
the Propaganda Movement, and others were through the use of force.
The ilustados demonstrated their sense of nationalism through the establishment of
the Propaganda Movement which was founded by Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and
Marcelo Del Pilar. These ilustrados called themselves reformists. Through their writing in the La
Solidaridad, the official news organ of the Propaganda Movement, they were able to spread their
noble ideas of liberation. The objectives of the Propaganda movement was to assimilate the
Philippines as a regular province of the Spain. Through this, the Filipino people will be able to

have an equal rights with the Spaniards. They also wanted to filipinize the Philippine parishes
which, at that time, was under the strong influence of the Spanish regular friars. The movement
also aimed to have a Filipino representation to Spanish parliament. The Propaganda Movement
did not last very long due to many problems and conflicts.
After the disbandment of the Propaganda Movement, another movement of liberalization
was established when Jose Rizal organized a news organ, the La Liga Filipina. This have the
same objectives as the Propaganda Movement. Its writings was also for the purpose of promoting
the aspirations of the Filipinos for freedom. However, like its predecessors, the La Liga Filipina
did not last very long because after days of establishment, Dr. Jose Rizal was deported to Dapitan
for execution.
As time passed by, the battle for liberation continued. This time, Filipinos were not just
demanding for equality but also for total separation from Spain. As the demand for liberation
gone deeper, the Filipino people went further when they heeded the call of the Katipunan. The
Katipunan was led by Andres Bonifacio and it aimed to have political independence. The
Katipunan which was founded as a secret revolutionary society has the primary objective of
uniting the Filipino people and struggle for separation from Spain. The Katipunan also wanted
the abolition of Spanish rule even by means of revolution.Again, various revolts were started;
this time not through peaceful means but through the use of weapons. The member of the
Katipunan which called themselves as Katipuneros equipped with revolver and bolos, fought the
enemies. It was gun versus gun. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of their fights failed. The Filipino
almost won their freedom when they were confronted by a new colonizers.
After the short independence of the Filipinos from the colony of Spain, the American
colonizers used the devastating condition of the Philippines to colonize the country. The new
colonizers hid their true intentions and introduced themselves as friends. Again, for the second
time, Filipino nationalism was on another challenge. Despite introducing themselves as friends,
still the Americans encountered revolts from the Filipino people.
The American colonizers manipulated the minds of the Filipinos. They used education as
a tool for pacifying the people. They educated many Filipinos to make them collaborate with
their plans. Many people, mostly the ilustrados, changed side and collaborated with the enemy.
The American regime became harder as the fight for liberation of the Filipino continue.

During the American colonization, the nationalist rights of the Filipinos were suppressed.
Different laws and impositions were passed suppressing the rights of the Filipinos. Some of these
were the Sedition Law which imposed death penalty or long term imprisonment on anyone who
will be caught advocating independence from US, and the Flag Law which prohibited the display
of the Philippine flag.
The Americans, during their stay in the Philippines, improved the different sectors of the
country. They established educational system different from the Spaniards to educate the
Filipinos because they believed that education is an instrument to make the people submissive to
them. They made English as a medium for instruction. They also introduced democratic
ideology. These were all embraced by the Filipinos not realizing that these were also the tools of
the enemies to pacify them. The nationalism of the Filipinos became submissive to the
Americans. In the meantime, the Americans took advantage of this and started to actualize their
true intentions of colonizing the country and exploiting the natural wealth of the Philippines.
The American colonizers projected their culture and society as a model to be emulated.
They inculcated the idea that the Filipinos must be assisted by them to be capable of managing
its own government. They promised to give back Filipino independence after they have acquired
the knowledge necessary for a politically independent country.
The strategies of the Americans continue to blind many Filipinos. There were still revolts
against the enemy demanding for independence, however, these were only few compare to the
revolts made during the Spanish colonization. This might be due to the Laws passed the
suppressed the rights of the Filipinos. The middle classes were totally blinded and their sense of
nationalism was temporarily blocked by the promise of the Americans of the progress for the
Philippines.
The battle for liberation continues until the mid-twentieth century that the promise of the
Americans was granted through the establishments of different acts and bills such as the Cooper
Bill and the Tydings McDuffie Act.

III. Challenges and Solutions

The sense of nationalism of the Filipinos led them to established hundreds of revolts
against the oppressing countries. However, all of these revolts failed to realize their goals and
objectives due to various reasons.
During the Spanish colonization period, Filipinos were afraid of going against the
Spaniards because of the intimidating power of the Spaniards. Also, during that time, Filipinos
were scattered. They could hardly participate with the revolts of other regions because of the fact
that they, too, have their own regions to protect. This idea is called ethnocentricity. These were
obviously shown through the different fights simultaneously done by the natives, well in fact,
they could have done it together. This scattered condition of the Filipinos was also used by the
enemy as their defense plan. They used the strategy called Divide and Rule tactic to use other
natives against the revolting natives.
Another factor that caused the failure of the revolution was the lack of funds. Filipinos,
during this period, did not have enough funds to finance their revolutions. They did not have the
proper equipment to battle against the highly equipped enemies.
The same fate happened when the Propaganda Movement ceased the circulation of the La
Solidaridad, its news organ, also because of lack of funds. This movement wanted to assimilate
the Philippines as an official province of the Spain but, during that time, the Spanish government
was too pre-occupied with its internal problems and it did not have enough time to read the
articles of the reformists written in the La Solidaridad. Hence, it was also a failure. The
differences in ideas, conflicts of interests and opinions and identities among the reformists also
caused its failure.
In the case of the Katipunan, aside from lack of funds and equipment, the self-interests of
some of its members led to its failure. Not all of the members of the Katipunan were committed
to the goals of the organization. Some even backstabbed other members to protect their interests.
They had conflicts of opinions that divided the organization in two-- the Magdalo and the
Magdiwang-- both parties have their own ideas on how to fight the enemies.

During the American colonization period, the Americans took advantage of the conditions
of the Filipinos after its long period under the control of the Spanish government. They promised
to help the Filipinos to regain its independence through educating and liberating the minds of the
Filipinos. They also promised the economic progress of the Philippines. The Filipinos were, at
first, a little bit doubtful of these promises and stated to have revolts. But these revolts also failed
because of the manipulative strategy of the Americans. Many Filipinos believed that Americans
were friends of the country. Filipinos, mostly the middle classes were blinded by these promises
and they collaborated with the enemies. The collaboration of the middle classes and American
colonizers weakened the nationalist force of the Filipino people.
The middle classes were totally brainwashed by the Americans. They were blinded by
their self-interests. The colonizers, however, took advantage of it and imposed laws, bills and
acts suppressing the rights of the Filipinos to express their nationalistic sentiments.
The colonizers of the Philippines were truly strong countries but Filipinos fought them
and managed to free themselves. The American, after almost half a century, granted the Filipinos
of its long awaited independence but this was interrupted by another imperialist country. The
Philippines, for the third time, was again under the control of another country. The Filipinos
fought the Japanese imperialism. Filipinos are survivors because for the third time they were able
to surpass it and be a truly politically independent country.
The long years of the Philippines under the control of its colonizers brought different
things that greatly influenced every aspect of life of the Filipino people until today. Those long
years of struggle for liberation taught the lessons of nationalism to every Filipino. After its
colonization period, the Philippines has gained knowledge of improving the political, economic,
social, and cultural aspects of the country. Filipinos gained the knowledge of different and more
effective ways of living. The scope of trade and commerce industry in the Philippines has
widened. It has now contact not just with Asian countries but also with the rest of the world.
Filipinos also acquired a very good system of education, Education is one of the most
important products of the long period of colonization of the Philippines. Many schools and
universities were established during the colonization period. Some of these were the University
of the Philippines, University of Sto. Thomas, and the Central Luzon State University, to

mention a few. These schools are making a reputation not just in the Philippines but also outside
the Philippines. Scientific program for public health and welfare were also

introduced to the

country. The Political consciousness among Filipinos today is also one of the most important
contributions of the colonizers to the Philippines. Democratic idea is the most important
contribution of the American colonizers.
On the other hand, the colonization period also have its adverse effects. The Filipinos
became conscious of their political and social statuses. The period of colonization is over but the
social status among Filipinos is not eliminated. There are still social exploitation happening
inside the country. Most of the time, the poor Filipinos are exploited by the elites. After the
colonization period, the Filipinos became imitative. They imitate other countries from their
products even their style and actions. The socio-cultural heritage of the Filipinos is now hardly
seen.
In economical aspect, the Filipinos have the tendency to buy imported products because
of the colonial mentality remained in the minds of many Filipinos. The Philippine market is
flooded with imported products. This have adverse effect in the local economy of the
Philippines. Also, the natural wealth of the Philippines is subject to the intervention of other
countries.
The colonial years of the Philippines left a distinguishable trail of colonizers in the
political system of the country. Politics in the Philippines is patterned with the political system of
the United States which was one of the colonizers of the Philippines. Filipinos maintained their
bureaucratic system they inherited from Philippine colonizers. Philippines is hardly making a
stand to its decisions. They have become dependent and always seek for help to other countries
specially the US.
These negative effects of colonization are the main problems of the Filipino nationalism
today. Looking at these effects, it seemed like the Philippines was never free from its colonizers.
All of these problems are burdens for all the Filipinos to continually show their sense of
nationalism it also hinders the Philippines from establishing its national identity.
In the age of technology and mark of globalization, Filipino nationalism should also be
brought to a higher level for it not to be left behind. Filipino nationalism did not come into being

overnight nor did it remain the same after achieving the common goal of independence.
Nationalism is not just fighting the oppressors and sacrificing one's life to acquire independence.
Although sense of nationalism started with the goal of political independence, there are still
many ways to express the sense of being a Filipino. Being one with your nation is national
solidarity. National solidarity is a nationalist agenda in which the people of a nation shared the
memories of the past, it includes traditions, culture and everything that comprises the Filipino
nation, and vision of the future.
Until today, the Philippines is still struggling to establish a national identity. It is a
problem of the Filipinos to establish a unified national identity. This is an arduous task, definitely
bigger than the problem faced by the Filipinos during its colonial period.

IV. SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSION

Nationalism is a political concept wherein the people of a nation express their patriotic
love to their country and nationalism has been a big part of the Filipino people through the years.
Through nationalism, Filipinos proved to the world the glory of the Filipino nation. It is the
sentiment that led the Katipuneros and revolutionaries to fight for their freedom. It is also the
same sentiment the Filipinos are using today to fight the corruption in the Philippine
government. They express their feelings against the political leaders who are feeding themselves
with fraudulent things. This is clearly manifested by the people who are joining rallies to get the
attention of those corrupt politicians.
Nowadays, nationalism is taking a new meaning. Nationalism today is not just limited to
political concept; it is also about economic, cultural and social concept. Mere patronizing local or
Filipino-made products is clearly a manifestation of Filipino nationalism. Exercising and giving
importance to cultural heritage and traditions of the Philippines is also an expression of
nationalism. Nationalism is also shown through loving and giving respect to fellow Filipinos.
Nationalism is the building blocks of a nation. It is the base of the strength of a nation.
Like in an establishment, a weak building blocks will make the establishment unstable. Should a
strike hit this establishment, it will fall and break into pieces. A nation is highly comparable with
an establishment. Accordingly, when the sense of nationalism of the nations people is wary,
there is a bigger possibility that the nation will hit the ground after it was strike with its
problems. There is no nation if there is no nationalism. A nations existence is highly dependent
on the degree of nationalism of its people.
Filipino nationalism today is facing new challenges. These challenges are brought about
not by colonizing or oppressing country but by the fast changing environment. In the
environment bombarded with both internal and external problems, nationalism of many Filipinos
is again taking a new test of time. Globalization is one of the problems. Many challenges have
taken their toll and pushing Filipino nationalism outside its limits. This maybe one of the many
ways of the environment to make changes in the world. Just like what happened many years ago
when the burning fire of nationalism of many Filipino initiated social and political change in the
Philippines as seen through the revolts of many Filipino during colonial period and the EDSA

people power one. These particular events opened the eyes of many nations to recognize the
importance of nationalism in building a nation. The challenges facing by the Filipino nationalism
today may probably result again to another eye-opening events.
Nationalism is the initiator of change. Just like any other thing, a nation needs change to
improve and develop. A strong sense of nationalism is important to achieve the change that you
want for your nation. It is also the door for bigger possibilities. It is essential to challenge
Filipino nationalism from generation to generation to make sure it is still alive in the minds and
hearts of the Filipino people.
Accordingly, nationalism is a strong force in nation-building. Filipino Nationalism is one
of the important factors to established highly distinguished, unified national identity among the
Filipino people.