To the Young Women of Malolos: Summary

and Analysis
Jose Rizal’s legacy to Filipino women is embodied in his famous essay entitled, “To the Young Women of
Malolos,” where he addresses all kinds of women – mothers, wives, the unmarried, etc. and expresses
everything that he wishes them to keep in mind.

SUMMARY

“To the Women of Malolos” was originally written in Tagalog. Rizal penned this writing when he was in
London, in response to the request of Marcelo H. del Pilar. The salient points contained in this letter are
as follows:

1. The rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars – not all of the priests in the country
that time embodied the true spirit of Christ and His Church. Most of them were corrupted by
worldly desires and used worldly methods to effect change and force discipline among the
people.
2. The defense of private judgment
3. Qualities Filipino mothers need to possess – as evidenced by this portion of his letter,
Rizal is greatly concerned of the welfare of the Filipino children and the homes they grow up in.
4. Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their children
5. Duties and responsibilities of a wife to her husband – Filipino women are known to be
submissive, tender, and loving. Rizal states in this portion of his letter how Filipino women ought
to be as wives, in order to preserve the identity of the race.
6. Counsel to young women on their choice of a lifetime partner

RIZAL’S MESSAGE TO FILIPINO WOMEN

Jose Rizal was greatly impressed by the fighting spirit that the young women of Malolos had shown. In
his letter, he expresses great joy and satisfaction over the battle they had fought. In this portion of Rizal’s
letter, it is obvious that his ultimate desire was for women to be offered the same opportunities as those
received by men in terms of education. During those days young girls were not sent to school because of
the universal notion that they would soon only be taken as wives and stay at home with the
children. Rizal, however, emphasizes on freedom of thought and the right to education, which must be
granted to both boys and girls alike.

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF FILIPINO MOTHERS TO THEIR CHILDREN

Rizal stipulates a number of important points in this portion of his letter to the young women of
Malolos. The central idea here, however, is that whatever a mother shows to her children is what the
children will become also. If the mother is always kissing the hand of the friars in submission, then her
children will grow up to be sycophants and mindless fools who do nothing but do as they are told, even if
the very nature of the task would violate their rights as individuals.

QUALITIES MOTHERS HAVE TO POSSESS

Rizal enumerates the qualities Filipino mothers have to possess:

1. Be a noble wife.
2. Rear her children in the service of the state – here Rizal gives reference to the women of
Sparta who embody this quality
3. Set standards of behavior for men around her.
RIZAL’S ADVICE TO UNMARRIED MEN AND WOMEN

Jose Rizal points out to unmarried women that they should not be easily taken by appearances and
looks, because these can be very deceiving. Instead, they should take heed of men’s firmness of
character and lofty ideas. Rizal further adds that there are three things that a young woman must look for
a man she intends to be her husband:
1. A noble and honored name
2. A manly heart
3. A high spirit incapable of being satisfied with engendering slaves.

ANALYSIS

“To the Women of Malolos” centers around five salient points (Zaide &Zaide, 1999):
1. Filipino mothers should teach their children love of God, country and fellowmen.
2. Filipino mothers should be glad and honored, like Spartan mothers, to offer their sons in
defense of their country.
3. Filipino women should know how to protect their dignity and honor.
4. Filipino women should educate themselves aside from retaining their good racial values.
5. Faith is not merely reciting prayers and wearing religious pictures. It is living the real
Christian way with good morals and manners.
In recent times, it seems that these qualities are gradually lost in the way Filipino
women conduct themselves. There are oftentimes moments where mothers forget their
roles in rearing their children because of the overriding idea of having to earn for the
family to supplement their husband’s income. Although there is nothing negative about
working hard for the welfare of the family, there must always be balance in the way
people go through life. Failure in the home cannot be compensated for by any amount
of wealth or fame.
Dr. Jose Rizal's annotations to Morga's 1609 Philippine History
Posted under General Histor y

Tuesday February 28, 2012 (6 years ago)

TO the Filipinos: In Noli Me Tangere I started to sketch the present state of our native
land. But the effect which my effort produced made me realize that, before attempting to
unroll before your eyes the other pictures which were to follow, it was necessary first to
post you on the past. So only can you fairly judge the present and estimate how much
progress has been made during the three centuries (of Spanish rule).

(Dr. Jose P. Rizal, center beside Marcelo H. Del Pilar and other Filipinos in Madrid, Spain, 1890.)

Like almost all of you, I was born and brought up in ignorance of our country's past and
so, without knowledge or authority to speak of what I neither saw nor have studied, I
deem it necessary to quote the testimony of an illustrious Spaniard who in the beginning
of the new era controlled the destinies of the Philippines and had personal knowledge of
our ancient nationality in its last days.

It is then the shade of our ancestor's civilization which the author will call before you... If
the work serves to awaken in you a consciousness of our past, and to blot from your
memory or to rectify what has been falsified or is calumny, then I shall not have labored
in vain. With this preparation, slight though it be, we can all pass to the study of the
future.

JOSE RIZAL, Europe, 1889.

Governor Antonio de Morga was not only the first to write but also the first to publish
a Philippine history. This statement has regard to the concise and concrete form in
which our author has treated the matter. Father Chirino's work, printed at Rome in 1604,
is rather a chronicle of the Missions than a history of the Philippines; still it contains a
great deal of valuable material on usages and customs. The worthy Jesuit in fact admits
that he abandoned writing a political history because Morga had already done so, so
one must infer that he had seen the work in manuscript before leaving the Islands.

 By the Christian religion, Doctor Morga appears to mean the Roman Catholic which by
fire and sword he would preserve in its purity in the Philippines. Nevertheless in other
lands, notably in Flanders, these means were ineffective to keep the church unchanged,
or to maintain its supremacy, or even to hold its subjects.

 Great kingdoms were indeed discovered and conquered in the remote and unknown
parts of the world by Spanish ships but to the Spaniards who sailed in them we may add
Portuguese, Italians, French, Greeks, and even Africans and Polynesians. The
expeditions captained by Columbus and Magellan, one a Genoese Italian and the other
a Portuguese, as well as those that came after them, although Spanish fleets, still were
 manned by many nationalities and in them went negroes, Moluccans, and even men
from the Philippines and the Marianes Islands.

 Three centuries ago it was the custom to write as intolerantly as Morga does, but
nowadays it would be called a bit presumptuous. No one has a monopoly of the true
God nor is there any nation or religion that can claim, or at any rate prove, that to it has
been given the exclusive right to the Creator of all things or sole knowledge of His real
being.

 The conversions by the Spaniards were not as general as their historians claim. The
missionaries only succeeded in converting a part of the people of the Philippines. Still
there are Mahometans, the Moros, in the southern islands, and negritos, igorots and
other heathens yet occupy the greater part territorially of the archipelago. Then the
islands which the Spaniards early held but soon lost are non-Christian-Formosa, Borneo,
and the Moluccas. And if there are Christians in the Carolines, that is due to Protestants,
whom neither the Roman Catholics of Morga's day nor many Catholics in our own day
consider Christians.

 It is not the fact that the Filipinos were unprotected before the coming of the Spaniards.
Morga himself says, further on in telling of the pirate raids from the south, that previous
to the Spanish domination the islands had arms and defended themselves. But after the
natives were disarmed the pirates pillaged them with impunity, coming at times when
they were unprotected by the government, which was the reason for many of the
insurrections.

 The civilization of the Pre-Spanish Filipinos in regard to the duties of life for that age was
well advanced, as the Morga history shows in its eighth chapter.

 The islands came under Spanish sovereignty and control through compacts, treaties of
friendship and alliances for reciprocity. By virtue of the last arrangement, according to
some historians, Magellan lost his life on Mactan and the soldiers of Legaspi fought
under the banner of King Tupas of Cebu.

 The term "conquest" is admissible but for a part of the islands and then only in its
broadest sense. Cebu, Panay, Luzon Mindoro and some others cannot be said to have
been conquered.

 The discovery, conquest and conversion cost Spanish blood but still more Filipino blood.
It will be seen later on in Morga that with the Spaniards and on behalf of Spain there
were always more Filipinos fighting than Spaniards.

 Morga shows that the ancient Filipinos had army and navy with artillery and other
implements of warfare. Their prized krises and kampilans for their magnificent temper
are worthy of admiration and some of them are richly damascened. Their coats of mail
and helmets, of which there are specimens in various European museums, attest their
great advancement in this industry.

 Morga's expression that the Spaniards "brought war to the gates of the Filipinos" is in
marked contrast with the word used by subsequent historians whenever recording
Spain's possessing herself of a province, that she pacified it. Perhaps "to make peace"
then meant the same as "to stir up war." (This is a veiled allusion to the old Latin saying
 of Romans, often quoted by Spaniard's, that they made a desert, calling it making
peace.-C.)

Magellan's transferring from the service of his own king to employment under the King of
Spain, according to historic documents, was because the Portuguese King had refused
to grant him the raise in salary which he asked.

 Now it is known that Magellan was mistaken when he represented to the King of Spain
that the Molucca Islands were within the limits assigned by the Pope to the Spaniards.
But through this error and the inaccuracy of the nautical instruments of that time, the
Philippines did not fall into the hands of the Portuguese.

 Cebu, which Morga calls "The City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus," was at first called
"The village of San Miguel."

 The image of the Holy Child of Cebu, which many religious writers believed was brought
to Cebu by the angels, was in fact given by the worthy Italian chronicler of Magellan's
expedition, the Chevalier Pigafetta, to the Cebuan queen.

 The expedition of Villalobos, intermediate

between Magellan's and Legaspi's, gave the
name "Philipina" to one of the southern
islands, Tendaya, now perhaps Leyte, and
this name later was extended to the whole archipelago.

 Of the native Manila rulers at the coming of the Spaniards, Raja Soliman was called
"Rahang mura", or young king, in distinction from the old king, "Rahang matanda".
Historians have confused these personages. The native fort at the mouth of the Pasig
river, which Morga speaks of as equipped with brass lantakas and artillery of larger
caliber, had its ramparts reenforced with thick hardwood posts such as the Tagalogs
used for their houses and called "harigues", or "haligui".

 Morga has evidently confused the pacific coming of Legaspi with the attack of Goiti and
Salcedo, as to date. According to other historians it was in 1570 that Manila was burned,
and with it a great plant for manufacturing artillery. Goiti did not take posession of the
city but withdrew to Cavite and afterwards to Panay, which makes one suspicious of his
alleged victory. As to the day of the date, the Spaniards then, having come following the
course of the sun, were some sixteen hours later than Europe. This condition continued
till the end of the year 1844, when the 31st of December was by special arrangement
among the authorities dropped from the calendar for that year. Accordingly Legaspi did
not arrive in Manila on the 19th but on the 20th of May and consequently it was not on
the festival of Santa Potenciana but on San Baudelio's day. The same mistake was
made with reference to the other early events still wrongly commemorated, like San
Andres' day for the repulse of the Chinese corsair Li Ma-hong.

 Though not mentioned by Morga, the Cebuans aided the Spaniards in their expedition
against Manila, for which reason they were long exempted from tribute.
 The southern islands, the Bisayas, were also called "The land of the Painted People (or
Pintados, in Spanish)" because the natives had their bodies decorated with tracings
made with fire, somewhat like tattooing.

 The Spaniards retained the native name for the new capital of the archipelago, a little
changed, however, for the Tagalogs had called their city "Maynila."

 When Morga says that the lands were "entrusted" (given as encomiendas) to those who
had "pacified" them, he means "divided up among." The word "en trust," like "pacify,"
later came to have a sort of ironical signification. To entrust a province was then as if it
were said that it was turned over to sack, abandoned to the cruelty and covetousness of
the encomendero, to judge from the way these gentry misbehaved.

 Legaspi's grandson, Salcedo, called the Hernando Cortez of the Philippines, was the
"conqueror's" intelligent right arm and the hero of the "conquest." His honesty and fine
qualities, talent and personal bravery, all won the admiration of the Filipinos. Because of
him they yielded to their enemies, making peace and friendship with the Spaniards. He it
was who saved Manila from Li Ma-hong. He died at the early age of twenty-seven and is
the only encomendero recorded to have left the great part of his possessions to the
Indians of his encomienda. Vigan was his encomienda and the Ilokanos there were his
heirs.

 The expedition which followed the Chinese corsair Li Ma-hong, after his unsuccessful
attack upon Manila, to Pangasinan province, with the Spaniards of whom Morga tells,
had in it 1,500 friendly Indians from Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Panay, besides the many
others serving as laborers and crews of the ships. Former Raja Lakandola, of Tondo,
with his sons and his kinsmen went, too, with 200 more Bisayans and they were joined
by other Filipinos in Pangasinan.

 If discovery and occupation justify annexation, then Borneo ought to belong to Spain. In
the Spanish expedition to replace on its throne a Sirela or Malaela, as he is variously
called, who had been driven out by his brother, more than fifteen hundred Filipino
bowmen from the provinces of Pangasinan, Kagayan, and the Bisayas participated.

 It is notable how strictly the earlier Spanish governors were held to account. Some
stayed in Manila as prisoners, one, Governor Corcuera, passing five years with Fort
Santiago as his prison.

 In the fruitless expedition against the Portuguese in the island of Ternate, in the Molucca
group, which was abandoned because of the prevalence of beriberi among the troops,
there went 1,500 Filipino soldiers from the more warlike provinces, principally Kagayans
and Pampangans.

 The "pacification" of Kagayan was accomplished by taking advantage of the jealousies

among its people, particularly the rivalry between two brothers who were chiefs. An early
historian asserts that without this fortunate circumstance, for the Spaniards, it would
have been impossible to subjugate them.

 Captain Gabriel de Rivera, a Spanish commander who had gained fame in a raid on
Borneo and the Malacca coast, was the first envoy from the Philippines to take up with
the King of Spain the needs of the archipelago.
 -The early conspiracy of the Manila and Pampangan former chiefs was revealed to the
Spaniards by a Filipina, the wife of a soldier, and many concerned lost their lives.

 The artillery cast for the new stone fort in Manila, says Morga, was by the hand of an
ancient Filipino. That is, he knew how to cast cannon even before the coming of the
Spaniards, hence he was distinguished as 4"ancient." In this difficult art of ironworking,
as in so many others, the modern or present-day Filipinos are not so far advanced as
were their ancestors.

 When the English freeboother Cavendish captured the Mexican galleon Santa Ana, with
122,000 gold pesos, a great quantity of rich textiles-silks, satins and damask, musk
perfume, and stores of provisions, he took 150 prisoners. All these because of their
brave defense were put ashore with ample supplies, except two Japanese lads, three
Filipinos, a Portuguese and a skilled Spanish pilot whom he kept as guides in his further
voyaging.

 From the earliset Spanish days ships were built in the islands, which might be
considered evidence of native culture. Nowadays this industry is reduced to small craft,
scows and coasters.

 The Jesuit, Father Alonso Sanchez, who visited the papal court at Rome and the
Spanish King at Madrid, had a mission much like that of deputies now, but of even
greater importance since he came to be a sort of counsellor or representative to the
absolute monarch of that epoch. One wonders why the Philippines could have a
representative then but may not have one now.

 In the time of Governor Gomez Perez Dasmarinias, Manila was guarded against further
damage such as was suffered from Li Ma-hong by the construction of a massive stone
wall around it. This was accomplished "without expense to the royal treasury." The same
governor, in like manner, also fortified the point at the entrance to the river where had
been the ancient native fort of wood, and he gave it the name Fort Santiago.

 The early cathedral of wood which was burned through carelessness at the time of the
funeral of Governor Dasmarifias' predecessor, Governor Ronquillo, was made,
according to the Jesuit historian Chirino, with hardwood pillars around which two men
could not reach, and in harmony with this massiveness was all the woodwork above and
below. It may be surmised from this how hard workers were the Filipinos of that time.

 A stone house for the bishop was built before starting on the governor-general's
residence. This precedence is interesting for those who uphold the civil power. Morga's
mention of the scant output of large artillery from the Manila cannon works because of
lack of master foundrymen shows that after the death of the Filipino Panday Pira there
were not Spaniards skilled enough to take his place, nor were his sons as expert as he.

 It is worthy of note that China, Japan and Cambodia at this time maintained relations
with the Philippines. But in our day it has been more than a century since the natives of
the latter two countries have come here. The causes which ended the relationship may
be found in the interference by the religious orders with the institutions of those lands.

 For Governor Dasmarinas' expedition to conquer Ternate, in the Moluccan group, two
Jesuits there gave secret information. In his 200 ships, besides 900 Spaniards, there
 must have been Filipinos for one chronicler speaks of Indians, as the Spaniards called
the natives of the Philippines, who lost their lives and others who were made captives
when the Chinese rowers mutinied. It was the custom then always to have a thousand or
more native bowmen and besides the crew were almost all Filipinos, for the most part
Bisayans.

 The historian Argensola, in telling of four special galleys for Dasmarinas' expedition,
says that they were manned by an expedient which was generally considered rather
harsh. It was ordered that there be bought enough of the Indians who were slaves of the
former Indian chiefs, or principales, to form these crews, and the price, that which had
been customary in pre-Spanish times, was to be advanced by the encomenderos who
later would be reimbursed from the royal treasury. In spite of this promised
compensation, the measures still seemed severe since those Filipinos were not correct
in calling their dependents slaves. The masters treated these, and loved them, like sons
rather, for they seated them at their own tables an gave them their own daughters in
marriage.

 Morga says that the 250 Chinese oarsmen who manned Governor Dasmariias' swift
galley were under pay and had the special favor of not being chained to their benches.
According to him it was covetousness of the wealth aboard that led them to revolt and
kill the governor. But the historian Gaspar de San Agustin states that the reason for the
revolt was the governor's abusive language and his threatening the rowers. Both these
authors' allegations may have contributed, but more important was the fact that there
was no law to compel these Chinamen to row in the galleys. They had come to Manila to
engage in commerce or to work in trades or to follow professions. Still the incident
contradicts the reputation for enduring everything which they have had. The Filipinos
have been much more long-suffering than the Chinese since, in spite of having been
obliged to row on more than one occasion, they never mutinied.

 It is difficult to excuse the missionaries' disregard of the laws of nations and the usages
of honorable politics in their interference in Cambodia on the ground that it was to
spread the Faith. Religion had a broad field awaiting it then in the Philippines where
more than nine-tenths of the natives were infidels. That even now there are to be found
here so many tribes and settlements of non-Christians takes away much of the prestige
of that religious zeal which in the easy life in towns of wealth, liberal and fond of display,
grows lethargic. Truth is that the ancient activity was scarcely for the Faith alone,
because the missionaries had to go to islands rich in spices and gold though there were
at hand Mahometans and Jews in Spain and Africa, Indians by the million in the
Americas, and more millions of protestants, schismatics and heretics peopled, and still
people, over six-sevenths of Europe. All of these doubtless would have accepted the
Light and the true religion if the friars, under pretext of preaching to them, had not
abused their hospitality and if behind the name Religion had not lurked the unnamed
Domination.

 In the attempt made by Rodriguez de Figueroa to conquer Mindanao according to his

contract with the King of Spain, there was fighting along the Rio Grande with the people
called the Buhahayenes. Their general, according to Argensola, was the celebrated
Silonga, later distinguished for many deeds in raids on the Bisayas and adjacent islands.
Chirino relates an anecdote of his coolness under fire once during a truce for a marriage
among Mindanao "principalia." Young Spaniards out of bravado fired at his feet but he
passed on as if unconscious of the bullets.
 Argensola has preserved the name of the Filipino who killed Rodriguez de Figueroa. It
was Ubal. Two days previously he had given a banquet, slaying for it a beef animal of
his own, and then made the promise which he kept, to do away with the leader of the
Spanish invaders. A Jesuit writer calls him a traitor though the justification for that term
of reproach is not apparent. The Buhahayen people were in their own country, and had
neither offended nor declared war upon the Spaniards. They had to defend their homes
against a powerful invader, with superior forces, many of whom were, by reason of their
armor, invulnerable so far as rude Indians were concerned. Yet these same Indians
were defenceless against the balls from their muskets. By the Jesuit's line of reasoning,
the heroic Spanish peasantry in their war for independence would have been a people
even more treacherous. It was not Ubal's fault that he was not seen and, as it was
wartime, it would have been the height of folly, in view of the immense disparity of arms,
to have first called out to this preoccupied opponent,and then been killed himself.

 The muskets used by the Buhahayens were probably some that had belonged to
Figueroa's soldiers who had died in battle. Though the Philippines had lantakas and
other artillery, muskets were unknown till the Spaniards came.

 That the Spaniards used the word "discover" very carelessly may be seen from an
admiral's turning in a report of his "discovery" of the Solomon islands though he noted
that the islands had been discovered before.

 Death has always been the first sign of European civilization on its introduction in the
Pacific Ocean. God grant that it may not be the last, though to judge by statistics the
civilized islands are losing their populations at a terrible rate. Magellan himself
inaugurated his arrival in the Marianes islands by burning more than forty houses, many
small craft and seven people because one of his boats had been stolen. Yet to the
simple savages the act had nothing wrong in it but was done with the same naturalness
that civilized people hunt, fish, and subjugate people that are weak or ill-armed.

 The Spanish historians of the Philippines never overlook any opportunity, be it suspicion
or accident, that may be twisted into something unfavorable to the Filipinos. They seem
to forget that in almost every case the reason for the rupture has been some act of those
who were pretending to civilize helpless peoples by force of arms and at the cost of their
native land. What would these same writers have said if the crimes committed by the
Spaniards, the Portuguese and the Dutch in their colonies had been committed by the
islanders?

 The Japanese were not in error when they suspected the Spanish and Portuguese
religious propaganda to have political motives back of the missionary activities. Witness
the Moluccas where Spanish missionaries served as spies; Cambodia, which it was
sought to conquer under cloak of converting; and many other nations, among them the
Filipinos, where the sacrament of baptism made of the inhabitants not only subjects of
the King of Spain but also slaves of the encomenderos, and as well slaves of the
churches and convents. What would Japan have been now had not its emperors
uprooted catholicism? A missionary record of 1625 sets forth that the King of Spain had
arranged with certain members of Philippine religious orders that, under guise of
preaching the faith and making Christians, they should win over the Japanese and oblige
them to make themselves of the Spanish party, and finally it told of a plan whereby the
King of Spain should become also King of Japan. In corroboration of this may be cited
the claims that Japan fell within the Pope's demarcation lines for Spanish expansion and
 so there was complaint of missionaries other than Spanish there. Therefore it was not for
religion that they were converting the infidels!

 The raid by Datus Sali and Silonga of Mindanao, in 1599 with 50 sailing vessels and
3,000 warriors, against the capital of Panay, is the first act of piracy by the inhabitants of
the South which is recorded in Philippine history. I say "by the inhabitants of the South"
because earlier there had been other acts of piracy, the earliest being that of Magellan's
expedition when it seized the shipping of friendly islands and even of those whom they
did not know, extorting for them heavy ransoms. It will be remembered that these Moro
piracies continued for more than two centuries, during which the indomitable sons of the
South made captives and carried fire and sword not only in neighboring islands but into
Manila Bay to Malate, to the very gates of the capital, and not once a year merely but at
times repeating their raids five and six times in a single season. Yet the government was
unable to repel them or to defend the people whom it had disarmed and left without
protection. Estimating that the cost to the islands was but 800 victims a year, still the
total would be more than 200,000 persons sold into slavery or killed, all sacrificed
together with so many other things to the prestige of that empty title, Spanish
sovereignty.

 Still the Spaniards say that the Filipinos have contributed nothing to Mother Spain, and
that it is the islands which owe everything. It may be so, but what about the enormous
sum of gold which was taken from the islands in the early years of Spanish rule, of the
tributes collected by the encomenderos, of the nine million dollars yearly collected to pay
the military, expenses of the employees, diplomatic agents, corporations and the like,
charged to the Philippines, with salaries paid out of the Philippine treasury not only for
those who come to the Philippines but also for those who leave, to some who never
have been and never will be in the islands, as well as to others who have nothing to do
with them. Yet all of this is as nothing in comparison with so many captives gone, such a
great number of soldiers killed in expeditions, islands depopulated, their inhabitants sold
as slaves by the Spaniards themselves, the death of industry, the demoralization of the
Filipinos, and so forth, and so forth. Enormous indeed would the benefits which that
sacred civilization brought to the archipelago have to be in order to counterbalance so
heavy a-cost.

 While Japan was preparing to invade the Philippines, these islands were sending
expeditions to Tonquin and Cambodia, leaving the homeland helpless even against the
undisciplined hordes from the South, so obsessed were the Spaniards with the idea of
making conquests.

 In the alleged victory of Morga over the Dutch ships, the latter found upon the bodies of
five Spaniards, who lost their lives in that combat, little silver boxes filled with prayers
and invocations to the saints. Here would seem to be the origin of the anting-anting of
the modern tulisanes, which are also of a religious character.

 In Morga's time, the Philippines exported silk to Japan whence now comes the best
quality of that merchandise.

 Morga's views upon the failure of Governor Pedro de Acunia's ambitious expedition
against the Moros unhappily still apply for the same conditions yet exist. For fear of
uprisings and loss of Spain's sovereignty over the islands, the inhabitants were
disarmed, leaving them exposed to the harassing of a powerful and dreaded enemy.
 Even now, though the use of steam vessels has put an end to piracy from outside, the
same fatal system still is followed. The peaceful countryfolk are deprived of arms and
thus made unable to defend themselves against the bandits, or tulisanes, which the
government cannot restrain. It is an encouragemnnt to banditry thus to make easy its
getting booty.

 Hernando de los Rios blames these Moluccan wars for the fact that at first the
Philippines were a source of expense to Spain instead of profitable in spite of the
tremendous sacrifices of the Filipinos, their practically gratuitous labor in building and
equipping the galleons, and despite, too, the tribute, tariffs and other imposts and
monopolies. These wars to gain the Moluccas, which soon were lost forever with the
little that had been so laboriously obtained, were a heavy drain upon the Philippines.
They depopulated the country and bankrupted the treasury, with not the slightest
compensating benefit. True also is it that it was to gain the Moluccas that Spain kept the
Philippines, the desire for the rich spice islands being one of the most powerful
arguments when, because of their expense to him, the King thought of withdrawing and
abandoning them.

 Among the Filipinos who aided the government when the Manila Chinese revolted,
Argensola says there were 4,000 Pampangans "armed after the way of their land, with
bows and arrows, short lances, shields, and broad and long daggers." Some Spanish
writers say that the Japanese volunteers and the Filipinos showed themselves cruel in
slaughtering the Chinese refugees. This may very well have been so, considering the
hatred and rancor then existing, but those in command set the example.

 The loss of two Mexican galleons in 1603 called forth no comment from the religious
chroniclers who were accustomed to see the avenging hand of God in the misfortunes
and accidents of their enemies. Yet there were repeated shipwrecks of the vessels that
carried from the Philippines wealth which encomenderos had extorted from the Filipinos,
using force, or making their own laws, and, when not using these open means, cheating
by the weights and measures.

 The Filipino chiefs who at their own expense went with the Spanish expedition against
Ternate, in the Moluccas, in 1605, were Don Guillermo Palaot, maestro de campo, and
Captains Francisco Palaot, Juan Lit, Luis Lont, and Agustin Lont. They had with them
400 Tagalogs and Pampangans. The leaders bore themselves bravely for Argensola
writes that in the assault on Ternate, "No officer, Spaniard or Indian, went unscathed."

 The Cebuans drew a pattern on the skin before starting in to tatoo. The Bisayan usage
then was the same procedure that the Japanese today follow.

 Ancient traditions ascribe the origin of the Malay Filipinos to the island of Sumatra.
These traditions were almost completely lost as well as the mythology and the
genealogies of which the early historians tell, thanks to the zeal of the missionaries in
eradicating all national remembances as heathen or idolatrous. The study of ethnology is
restoring this somewhat.

 The chiefs used to wear upper garments, usually of Indian fine gauze according to Colin,
of red color, a shade for which they had the same fondness that the Romans had. The
barbarous tribes in Mindanao still have the same taste.
 The "easy virtue" of the native women that historians note is not solely attributable to the
simplicity with which they obeyed their natural instincts but much more due to a religious
belief of which Father Chirino tells. It was that in the journey after death to
"Kalualhatian," the abode of the spirit, there was a dangerous river to cross that had no
bridge other than a very narrow strip of wood over which a woman could not pass unless
she had a husband or lover to extend a hand to assist her. Furthermore, the religious
annals of the early missions are filled with countless instances where native maidens
chose death rather than sacrifice their chastity to the threats and violence of
encomenderos and Spanish soldiers. As to the mercenary social evil, that is worldwide
and there is no nation that can 'throw the first stone' at any other. For the rest, today the
Philippines has no reason to blush in comparing its womankind with the women of the
most chaste nation in the world.

 Morga's remark that the Filipinos like fish better when it is commencing to turn bad is
another of those prejudices which Spaniards like all other nations, have. In matters of
food, each is nauseated with what he is unaccustomed to or doesn't know is eatable.
The English, for example, find their gorge rising when they see a Spaniard eating snails,
while in turn the Spanish find roastbeef English-style repugnant and can't understand the
relish of other Europeans for beefsteak a la Tartar which to them is simply raw meat.
The Chinaman, who likes shark's meat, cannot bear Roquefort cheese, and these
examples might be indefinitely extended. The Filipinos' favorite fish dish is the bagong
and whoever has tried to eat it knows that it is not considered improved when tainted. It
neither is, nor ought to be, decayed.

 Colin says the ancient Filipinos had minstrels who had memorized songs telling their
genealogies and of the deeds ascribed to their deities. These were chanted on voyages
in cadence with the rowing, or at festivals, or funerals, or wherever there happened to be
any considerable gatherings. It is regretable that these chants have not been preserved
as from them it would have been possible to learn much of the Filipinos' past and
possibly of the history of neighboring islands.

 The cannon foundry mentioned by Morga as in the walled city was probably on the site
of the Tagalog one which was destroyed by fire on the first coming of the Spaniards.
That established in 1584 was in Lamayan, that is, Santa Ana now, and was transferred
to the old site in 1590. It continued to work until 1805. According to Gaspar San Agustin,
the cannon which the pre-Spanish Filipinos cast were "as great as those of Malaga,"
Spain's foundry. The Filipino plant was burned with all that was in it save a dozen large
cannons and some smaller pieces which the Spanish invaders took back with them to
Panay. The rest of their artillery equipment had been thrown by the Manilans, then
Moros, into the sea when they recognized their defeat.

 Malate, better Maalat, was where the Tagalog aristocracy lived after they were
dispossessed by the Spaniards of their old homes in what is now the walled city of
Manila. Among the Malate residents were the families of Raja Matanda and Raja
Soliman. The men had various positions in Manila and some were employed in
government work near by. "They were very courteous and well-mannered," says San
Agustin. "The women were very expert in lacemaking, so much so that they were not at
all behind the women of Flanders."

 Morga's statement that there was not a province or town of the Filipinos that resisted
conversion or did not want it may have been true of the civilized natives. But the contrary
 was the fact among the mountain tribes. We have the testimony of several Dominican
and Augustinian missionaries that it was impossible to go anywhere to make
conversions without other Filipinos along and a guard of soldiers. "Otherwise, says
Gaspar de San Agustin, there would have been no fruit of the Evangelic Doctrine
gathered, for the infidels wanted to kill the Friars who came to preach to them." An
example of this method of conversion given by the same writer was a trip to the
mountains by two Friars who had a numerous escort of Pampangans. The escort's
leader was Don Agustin Sonson who had a reputation for daring and carried fire and
sword into the country, killing many, including the chief, Kabadi.

 "The Spaniards, says Morga, were accustomed to hold as slaves such natives as they
bought and others that they took in the forays in the conquest or pacification of the
islands." Consequently in this respect the "pacifiers" introduced no moral improvement.
We even do not know if in their wars the Filipinos used to make slaves of each other,
though that would not have been strange, for the chroniclers tell of captives returned to
their own people. The practice of the Southern pirates almost proves this, although in
these piratical wars the Spaniards were the first aggressors and gave them their
character.
 Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos ("On the
Indolence of the Filipinos" in Spanish) is a socio-political essay published
in La solidaridad in Madrid in 1890. It was written by José Rizal as a response to the accusation
of Indio or Malay indolence. He admits the existence of indolence among the Filipinos, but it could
be attributed to a number of reasons. He traces its causes to factors such as the climate and social
disorders. He defends the Filipinos by saying that they are by nature not indolent, because in fact,
even before the arrival of Spaniards, Filipinos have been engaged in economic activities such as
agriculture and trade. Indolence therefore has more deeply rooted causes such as abuse and
discrimination, inaction of the government, rampant corruption and red tape, wrong doctrines of the
church and wrong examples from some Spaniards who lead lives of indolence which ultimately led
to the deterioration of Filipinos values. In the end, Rizal sums up the main causes of indolence to the
limited training and education Filipino natives receive and to the lack of national sentiment and unity
among them. Education and liberty, according to Rizal, would be the cure to Filipino indolence.
A similar work was written by Syed Hussein Alatas, entitled The Myth of the Lazy Native.

Contents
[hide]

 1Summary
o 1.1Chapter 1
o 1.2Chapter 2
o 1.3Chapter 3
o 1.4Chapter 4
o 1.5Chapter 5
 2See also

Summary[edit]
Chapter 1[edit]
Rizal acknowledges the prior work of Gregorio Sancianco and admits that indolence does exist
among the Filipinos, but it cannot be attributed to the troubles and backwardness of the country;
rather it is the effect of the backwardness and troubles experienced by the country. Past writings on
indolence revolve only on either denying or affirming, and never studying its causes in depth. One
must study the causes of indolence, Rizal says, before curing it. He therefore enumerates the
causes of indolence and elaborates on the circumstances that have led to it. The hot climate, he
points out, is a reasonable predisposition for indolence. Filipinos cannot be compared to Europeans,
who live in cold countries and who must exert much more effort at work. An hour's work under the
Philippine sun, he says, is equivalent to a day's work in temperate regions.

Chapter 2[edit]
Rizal says that an illness will worsen if the wrong treatment is given. The same applies to indolence.
People, however, should not lose hope in fighting indolence. Even before the Spaniards arrived,
Rizal argues, the early Filipinos were already carrying out trade within provinces and with other
neighboring countries; they were also engaged in agriculture and mining; some natives even spoke
Spanish. All this disproves the notion that Filipinos are by nature indolent. Rizal ends by asking what
then would have caused Filipinos to forget their past.

Chapter 3[edit]
Rizal enumerates several reasons that may have caused the Filipinos' cultural and economic
decadence. The frequent wars, insurrections, and invasions have brought disorder to the
communities. Chaos has been widespread, and destruction rampant. Many Filipinos have also been
sent abroad to fight wars for Spain or for expeditions. Thus, the population has decreased in
number. Due to forced labor, many men have been sent to shipyards to construct vessels.
Meanwhile, natives who have had enough of abuse have gone to the mountains. As a result, the
farms have been neglected. The so-called indolence of Filipinos definitely has deeply rooted causes.

Chapter 4[edit]
Filipinos, according to Rizal, are not responsible for their misfortunes, as they are not their own
masters. The Spanish government has not encouraged labor and trade, which ceased after the
government treated the country's neighboring trade partners with great suspicion. Trade has
declined, furthermore, because of pirate attacks and the many restrictions imposed by the
government, which gives no aid for crops and farmers. This and the abuse suffered under
encomenderos have caused many to abandon the fields. Businesses are monopolized by many
government officials, red tape and bribery operate on a wide scale, rampant gambling is tolerated by
the government. This situation is compounded by the Church's wrong doctrine which holds that the
rich will not go to heaven, thus engendering a wrong attitude toward work. There has also been
discrimination in education against natives. These are some of the main reasons that Rizal cites as
causing the deterioration of values among the Filipinos.

Chapter 5[edit]
According to Rizal, all the causes of indolence can be reduced to two factors. The first factor is the
limited training and education Filipino natives receive. Segregated from Spaniards, Filipinos do not
receive the same opportunities that are available to the foreigners. They are taught to be inferior.
The second factor is the lack of a national sentiment of unity among them. Because Filipinos think
they are inferior, they submit to the foreign culture and do everything to imitate it. The solution,
according to Rizal, would be education and liberty.
Hymn to Labor

For the Motherland in war,

For the Motherland in peace,
Will the Filipino keep watch,
He will live until life will cease!

MEN:

Now the East is glowing with light,

Go! To the field to till the land,
For the labour of man sustains
Fam'ly, home and Motherland.
Hard the land may turn to be,
Scorching the rays of the sun above...
For the country, wife and children
All will be easy to our love.

(Chorus)
WIVES:

Go to work with spirits high,

For the wife keeps home faithfully,
Inculcates love in her children
For virtue, knowledge and country.
When the evening brings repose,
On returning joy awaits you,
And if fate is adverse, the wife,
Shall know the task to continue.

(Chorus)
MAIDENS :
Hail! Hail! Praise to labour,
Of the country wealth and vigor!
For it brow serene's exalted,
It's her blood, life, and ardor.
If some youth would show his love
Labor his faith will sustain :
Only a man who struggles and works
Will his offspring know to maintain.
(Chorus)

CHILDREN:

Teach, us ye the laborious work

To pursue your footsteps we wish,
For tomorrow when country calls us
We may be able your task to finish.
And on seeing us the elders will say :
"Look, they're worthy 'f their sires of yore!"
Incense does not honor the dead
As does a son with glory and valor.
interpretation: Our Mother Tongue
IF truly a people dearly love
The tongue to them by Heaven sent,
They'll surely yearn for liberty
Like a bird above in the firmament.

In this first stanza we note that Rizal considers a people's mother tongue
as a gift from heaven. Growing up in the Catholic faith where language,
according to the Bible, originated from the fall of the Tower of Babel, the
poet must certainly have considered the Filipino language as a unique
blessing to a unique people who, if they only realize the value of the
treasure they hold in the tips of their tongues, would surely yearn for the
freedom to build an identity for themselves, free from the influence of
foreign lands.

BECAUSE by its language one can judge

A town, a barrio, and kingdom;
And like any other created thing
Every human being loves his freedom.

Here the poet explains why language is linked to the need for freedom, why
language is more than just a group of words people use to communicate to
each other. It is, according to Rizal, the standard by which outsiders judge
a community, a culture, a civilization.

ONE who doesn't love his native tongue,

Is worse than putrid fish and beast;
AND like a truly precious thing
It therefore deserves to be cherished.

In this third stanza we find the origin of Rizal's well-known proverb, "He
who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and smelly
fish. ("Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika, daig pa ang hayop at
malansang isda.") He then further stresses that a nation's language is a
treasure to be valued and cherished.
THE Tagalog language's akin to Latin,
To English, Spanish, angelical tongue;
For God who knows how to look after us
This language He bestowed us upon.

It is only right for Filipinos to consider Tagalog not as a lower form of

language; it is "akin to English, Spanish" and even to the language of
angels. It can be supposed from this stanza, then, that the regard people
have for their native tongue has a great influence on the regard they have
for their own identity as a nation. Tagalog is a language given by God, as
are Latin, English and Spanish. It is, therefore, not to be treated as one
inferior to other tongues. Filipinos, likewise, ought not to feel inferior to
other nations and should desire freedom for they, like everyone else, are
capable of upholding their identity themselves.

AS others, our language is the same

With alphabet and letters of its own,
It was lost because a storm did destroy
On the lake the bangka in years bygone.

Letters unique only to the Filipino language could be traced back to

Baybayin. The origins and disappearance of the use of this alphabet is a
long chapter in history.
Through Education Our Motherland Receives Light

This poem proved that he valued education so much that

may give the power of the country to survive from any forces in
the struggles of societal freedom . Through education, it creates
the virtue of power to human race. This gives security and peace
to the motherland as the Filipinos would learn the sciences and
arts as the basis to calm down the life of the society.

The vital breath of prudent Education

Instills a virtue of enchanting power;
She lifts the motherland to highest station
And endless dazzling glories on her shower.
And as the zephyr's gentle exhalation
Revives the matrix of the fragrant flower,
So education multiplies her gifts of grace;
With prudent hand imparts them to the human race.

For her a mortal-man will gladly part

With all he has; will give his calm repose;
For her are born all science and all art,
That brows of men with laurel fair enclose.
As from the towering mountain's lofty heart
The purest current of the streamlet flows,
So education without stint or measure gives
Security and peace to lands in which she lives.

Where Education reigns on lofty seat

Youth blossoms forth with vigor and agility;
He error subjugates with solid feet,
And is exalted by conceptions of nobility.
She breaks the neck of vice and its deceit;
Black crime turns pale at Her hostility;
The barbarous nations She knows how to tame,
From savages creates heroic fame.

And as the spring doth sustenance bestow

On all the plants, on bushes in the mead,
Its placid plenty goes to overflow
And endlessly with lavish love to feed
The banks by which it wanders, gliding slow,
Supplying beauteous nature's every need;
So he who prudent Education doth procure
The towering heights of honor will secure.

From out his lips the water, crystal pure,

Of perfect virtue shall not cease to go.
With careful doctrines of his faith made sure,
The powers of evil he will overthrow,
Like foaming waves that never long endure,
But perish on the shore at every blow;
And from his good example other men shall learn
Their upward steps toward the heavenly paths to turn.

Within the breast of wretched humankind

She lights the living flame of goodness bright;
The hands of fiercest criminal doth bind;
And in those breasts will surely pour delight
Which seek her mystic benefits to find,
Those souls She sets aflame with love of right.
It is a noble fully-rounded Education
That gives to life its surest consolation.

And as the mighty rock aloft may tower

Above the center of the stormy deep
In scorn of storm, or fierce Sou'wester's power,
Or fury of the waves that raging seep,
Until, their first mad hatred spent, they cower,
And, tired at last, subside and fall asleep, --
So he that takes wise Education by the hand,
Invincible shall guide the reigns of motherland.

On sapphires shall his service be engraved,

A thousand honors to him by his land be granted:
For in their bosoms will his noble sons have saved
Luxuriant flowers his virtue had transplanted:
And by the love of goodness ever lived,
The lords and governors will see implanted
To endless days, the Christian Education,
Within their noble, faith-enrapture nation.

And as in early morning we behold

The ruby sun pour forth resplendent rays;
And lovely dawn her scarlet and her gold,
Her brilliant colors all about her sprays;
So skillful noble Teaching doth unfold
To living minds the joy of virtuous ways.
She offers our dear motherland the light
That leads us to immortal glory's height.
Spoliarium
19th Century
Juan Luna

The painting features a glimpse of Roman history

centered on the bloody carnage brought by gladiatorial
matches. Spoliarium is a Latin word referring to the
basement of the Roman Colosseum where the fallen
and dying gladiators are dumped and devoid of their
worldly possessions.

At the center of Luna’s painting are fallen gladiators being dragged by Roman soldiers. On the left,
spectators ardently await their chance to strip off the combatants of their metal helmets and other
armory. In contrast with the charged emotions featured on the left, the right side meanwhile presents a
somber mood. An old man carries a torch perhaps searching for his son while a woman weeps the death
of her loved one.

The Spoliarium is the most valuable oil-on-canvas painting by Juan Luna, a Filipino educated at the
Academia de Dibujo y Pintura (Philippines) and at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain. With
a size of 4.22 meters x 7.675 meters, it is the largest painting in the Philippines. A historical painting, it
was made by Luna in 1884 as an entry to the prestigious Exposicion de Bellas Artes (Madrid Art
Exposition, May 1884) and eventually won for him the First Gold Medal.

Oyang Dapitana
Oyang is said to be a nickname of a girl whose real name is Leonor, Leonora or Teodora. This woman in
the sculpture may be his mother or his former lover. It is a claysculpture of a woman doing laundry. He
did this wood sculpture on his second year of exile in Dapitan
Mother's Revenge

19th Century
Jose Rizal

The sculpture in terra cotta (clay), Mother’s

Revenge, is an allegorical representation of
what was happening in the Philippines during
that period. Shown is a mother dog trying to
rescue her helpless pup from the bite of the
crocodile. The mother dog represents
“mother Philippines” and the patriots who
are doing their best to save the defenseless
countrymen - the pup - from the cruelty of
the Spaniards as represented by the
crocodile.

When Dr. Jose Rizal was exiled in Dapitan,

Zamboanga, he made use of his artistic talent
to create a piece that would symbolize the martyrdom and the exploitation of the indios by the
colonizers. After more than 300 years of colonial rule, Rizal was the leading figure in the clamor for
independence.

Inscribed at the base of the sculpture is “Rizal Dapitan 1894”. The sculpture is an important cultural
property in the National Museum collection.

The Triumph of Science over Death, also known as Scientia, is a clay

sculpture made by José Rizal as a gift to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt.[1]

The statue depicts a young, nude woman with flowing hair, standing on a skull while bearing a torch.
The woman symbolizes the ignorance of humankind during the Dark Ages of history, while the torch she
bears symbolizes the enlightenment science brings to the world. The woman stands atop a skull, a
symbol of death, to signify the victory that humankind aims to achieve by conquering the bane of death
through scientific advancement.[1]
The original sculpture is now displayed at the Rizal Shrine Museum at Fort Santiago in Intramuros,
Manila. A large replica, made of concrete, stands in front of Fernando Calderón Hall of the University of
the Philippines College of Medicine along Pedro Gil St. in Ermita, Manila. Another replica is found
outside the old Department of Health research facility in Muntinlupa City and now incorporated into the
design of the ongoing expansion of Festival Supermall.[2]

The motif of the statue is also used by various medical associations in the Philippines as their symbol,
the most notable of which is the Philippine College of Surgeons