Lesson 28 The Indolence of The Filipinos PDF

Caraga state university
Ampayon, Butuan City 8600, Philippines

URL: www.carsu.edu.ph
Lesson 28
The Indolence of the Filipinos
Background
✓the longest essay written by Rizal

✓published in 5 installments in the La Solidaridad from July
15- September 15, 1890
✓the most important analytical study made by Rizal about the
Philippine society during the Spanish regime
✓this essay represents his defense of the Filipinos from the
charge that they were inherently lazy or indolent
Background
key points
According to Rizal, whenever something goes wrong in

the Philippines, there is a tendency to blame the Filipinos. On
this basis, he tried to analyze the social and political
conditions of the time to prove that indolence was the cause
rather than the effect of backwardness in the country.
While Rizal colleagues were on the opinion that
indolence was non-existent in the country, Rizal believed
otherwise. For him, indolence which was he defined as
inactiveness, little love for work, or complete disregard for
work, had become a way of life for may Filipinos.
Rizal’s thesis in this essay was simple:
That Filipinos were not born lazy but had

predisposition to become lazy. Acknowledging the tendency
for the Filipinos to become indolent due to 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. People in the tropics are expected to work less. Hot
climate, however, was compensated by the fertility of the soil.
As a consequence, the peasants did not have to work hard to
insure good crops.
Recognizing its existence, Rizal sought to look for the

causes. The accounts of early Spanish chroniclers like Morga,
San Agustin and Colin clearly showed that Pre-Spanish
Filipinos were noted for their activity and honesty.
Consequently, industry, manufacturing, mining and commerce
flourished among the people. The social malady was thus, not
something inborn of hereditary. What, therefore, led to the
collapse of this natural willingness of the Filipinos to work?
The deterioration of the industry of the Filipinos can be

attributed to 2 sets of factors: those attributable to the Spanish
colonizers; and those attributable to the Filipinos’ own faults. What,
therefore, were the factors that fostered indolence attributable
to the Spanish colonizers?
Factors of the Indolence of the Filipinos
(attributable to Spanish colonizers)
1. Wars and Internal disorders that followed Spanish Conquest.

Thousands of Filipinos were drafted as archers and rowers to
repel the Dutch and Portuguese. Many were not able to return to
the islands, thus reducing the number of potential farmers,
fishermen and laborers.
2. Piratical Attacks on Coastal Towns and Villages by Muslim

Raiders. These attacks, instigated and encouraged by the
government further reduced the number of inhabitants on
coastal towns and villages. As a consequence, people lost their
interest as the frightful raids by the Muslims had deprived them
the fruits of their labor.
3. Forced Labor in Shipbuilding. Because the Filipinos were

required to render forced labor in the cutting of timber for the
constructions of galleons and to man ships going to Acapulco, they
were hindered from cultivating their own fertile lands.
Consequently, very few were left to till the fields.
4. Government’s Neglect and Apathy to Agriculture, Industry
and Commerce. There was no encouragement for the manufacturer
or the farmer. It did not give aid when the harvest was poor, or when
typhoon destroyed the wealth of the land, nor did it seek a market
for the products of the colony. Only Galleon Trade was permitted,
resulting into the isolation of the colony from its previous trading
partners in Southeast Asia.
5. Absence of Material and Moral Incentives to Work Harder. Man

work for a purpose; remove the purpose and you reduce him to
inaction. Since Filipinos were aware that their work can cause them
trouble and that only others will reap benefits from their exertion of
effort, they lose interest to work.
6. The Teaching of the Spanish Missionaries that Heaven is for the

Poor. The Filipinos preferred not to work hard and remain poor so
that they could enter heaven easily the moment they die.
7. Too Much Government Restrictions and Red Tape in the

Approval of Permit to Transact Business. Native enterprises
practically disappeared as a consequence of too many restrictions in
the approval of permits in engaging in business.
8. Encouragement and Propagation of Gambling. Government’s

encouragement and propagation of gambling bred dislike for steady
and difficult work due to tis promise of easy money.
9. Ownership of the Big Estates by the Friars. Since the religious

corporations controlled the best tracts of lands in some provinces,
many towns did not prosper despite the efforts of their inhabitants.
10. Example Set by the Spaniards in Disdaining Manual Labor.

Dislike for manual labor reinforced by the practice of surrounding
themselves by the servants created among the Filipinos the desire to
equal the Spaniards in their manners. In effect, this led to creation of
an aversion and hatred of manual work.
11. Deprivation of Human Rights. The education of the Filipinos

from birth to death was brutalizing, depressing, and anti-human. For
5 or 10 years the youth comes in contact with books chosen by the
same priest who boldly declare that it is an evil for Filipinos to know
Castillan, that the Filipinos should not be separated from his carabao
and that he should not have any further ambition. Spanish education
system, therefore, failed in promoting economic enterprise and
activity.
(attributable to the Filipinos themselves)
1. Feeling of inferiority. paralyzed all tendencies towards

advancement and developed in them the idea of giving up
without fighting and 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.
(attributable to the Filipinos themselves)
3. Lack of Spirit to Pursue Lofty Purposes. As their mind 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. absence of any initiative that will

redound to the welfare of the country
For Rizal, a man in the Philippines is only an individual; he is not a
member of a nation.
The solution , according to

Rizal, would be
EDUCATION and LIBERTY.
References
Garcia, Carlito & Cruz, Cynthia. Rizal and the Development of Filipino Nationalism: A
textbook on the Life, Works and Writings of Our National Hero. Mandaluyong City: Books
Atbp Publishing Corp.,2005
Zaide, Grogorio & Zaide, Sonia. Jose Rizal: Life, Works and Writings of a Genius, Write,
Scientist and National Hero. Quezon City: All-Nations Publishing Co., Inc., 2008

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Caraga state university

Ampayon, Butuan City 8600, Philippines

✓the longest essay written by Rizal

According to Rizal, whenever something goes wrong in

That Filipinos were not born lazy but had

Recognizing its existence, Rizal sought to look for the

The deterioration of the industry of the Filipinos can be

1. Wars and Internal disorders that followed Spanish Conquest.

2. Piratical Attacks on Coastal Towns and Villages by Muslim

3. Forced Labor in Shipbuilding. Because the Filipinos were

5. Absence of Material and Moral Incentives to Work Harder. Man

6. The Teaching of the Spanish Missionaries that Heaven is for the

7. Too Much Government Restrictions and Red Tape in the

8. Encouragement and Propagation of Gambling. Government’s

9. Ownership of the Big Estates by the Friars. Since the religious

10. Example Set by the Spaniards in Disdaining Manual Labor.

11. Deprivation of Human Rights. The education of the Filipinos

1. Feeling of inferiority. paralyzed all tendencies towards

2. Placing Hopes on Miracles. Nurtured with the stories of

3. Lack of Spirit to Pursue Lofty Purposes. As their mind had been

4. Lack of National Sentiment. absence of any initiative that will

The solution , according to

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