Indigenous social ideas, what could they be?

How indigenous are they? Are these thoughts

as indigenous as the pre-colonial beliefs and
institutions?

In the previous learning material you were

intimated with the social

thoughts of Filipino thinkers who lived in the

19th century and their social

philosophies could well be considered as the

indigenous Filipino social ideas

because they were conceived during that

period and that before them in the pre-

colonial period, there were no records of well-

grounded and documented ideas.

Those social ideas were advanced by Filipino

thinkers as Jose Rizal, Jorge Bocobo,

Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Camilo

Osias, Isabelo de los Reyes and Rafael
Palma.

Before we look into the role and significance of

these thoughts, let us go back to the gist of
their social ideas, and they are as follows:
1. Jorge Bocobo. His social thought revolved
around a culture-based education that shall
nurture the nationalism and patriotism in every
Filipino in preparation for a life filled with all the
liberties and freedom that one so desires.

2. Andres Bonifacio. Andres Bonifacio did not

have as much writing as has Jose

Rizal but his one social thought embodied in

his poem are worth it all. The poem is

evident of the nationalistic stance of Andres

Bonifacio, where he spoke about the

love one could extend to his motherland as the

ultimate kind of love.

3. Emilio Jacinto. Branded as the "Brains of the

Katipunan", Emilio Jacinto'ssocial idea
revolved around social equity and equality. If
we are to mention of the lines he wrote, it goes,
"whether their skin be dark or white, all human
persons are equal; one may be superior in
knowledge, in wealth, in beauty, but not in
being more human." We continue, "The worth
of a person is not in being a king, not in the
shape of his nose, nor in being a priest,
representative of God, nor in the loftiness of
the position he holds on this earth. That person
is pure and truly noble, even though he was
born in the forest and knows no language but
his own, who is possessed of good character,
is true to his word, has dignity and honour, who
does not oppress others
nor help their oppressors, who knows how to
feel for and care for his native land"
(https://www.thought.com/emilio-jacinto-of-the-
phiippines-95646

4. Camilo O. Osias. According to this man,

"school has an important role in the

dynamic nationalism and internationalism in

relation to democracy in the education of the
youth" and he believed that "our education
should instil love for work, spirit of tolerance,
respect for law, love for peace and practice
thrift." Simply put, his social idea revolved
around the importance of value-ridden
education for the honing of a well-rounded
personality of the Filipino youth.

5. Rafael Palma. This man advanced the

thought about academic freedom. According to
him, "The teacher should not dramatize. He
has no right to impose on his students neither
his theories nor his personal belief. He is
expected to stimulate free discussion, leaving
to his students the choice of the system of
thought which satisfies their reason." He also
advocated that "the primary purpose of
education is to develop the individual to his
highest efficiency so that he can be of use to
himself and to the community."

6. Isabelo delos Reyes. Don Belong as he was

fondly called then advanced Filipino Socialism
and the first to have talked about activism.

7. Jose Rizal. Among the renowned Filipino

indigenous social
thinkers, it was Jose Rizal who advocated the
most number of social ideas. As enunciated in
his poem "Sa Aking Mga Kabata", he
advocated for Filipino nationalism; in his essay
"The Philippines A Century Hence, he
advocated for good education, liberties and
reforms; in his Noli Me Tangere, to name a few,
his thoughts about negative social
circumstances like colonial mentality and
abuse of power and authority were very
evident; commending the efforts of the Filipino
women to educate themselves as enunciated
in his "Letter to the Yong Women of Malolos",
and a lot more.

After that very comprehensive review of the

social ideas of the cited social thinkers, let us
ponder on these thoughts and analyze on
whether or not they have impacted the national
development of the Philippines. Has these
ideas on education, social equity and equality
and socio-political ideas of nationalism,
reforms and liberties have any significance at
all to the national development of the
Philippines? Because they are just mere ideas,
did and do they play any role in the realization
of progress and development in our country?
Generally, these indigenous social and socio-
political ideas have influenced the social,
socio-political and socio-economic changes in
the Philippines particularly from the transition
of the Philippines from a colonized country to
being proclaimed as an independent one.

Specifically, the ideas mentioned earlier have

indeed been of significance, and let us discuss
each according to the impact each ideas has
had as a matter of national development. We
start off with the educational thoughts.

First and foremost, Jose Rizal's cries for the

grant of education to the indios during the
Spanish colonial period must have ushered in
a new beginning to the Filipinos because when
the Americans came over, they accorded
parochial (now regarded as Diocesan schools)
as well as free public education to the people.

While it was true that colleges were instituted

under the Spanish rule, education then was
more of a privilege for the moneyed class. With
the grant of education for all, more Filipinos
have been blessed with the chance to be
informed, thus become more participative in
government undertakings.

Taking Jorge Bocobo's advocacy for a culture-

based education, this idea must have
influenced the now localization and
contextualization of our K-12 curriculum. True
to what Mr. Bocobo has philosophized, the
localization of the curriculum could be helping
to sustain the sense of nationalism and
patriotism of the people because now, the
learners are given the opportunity to recognize
and appreciate locally-grown and produced
materials in aid of satisfying their subject
requirements. In addition to this, the curriculum
today allows the use of the local vernacular as
a medium of instruction and in this manner, the
Filipino students are taught to value their own
tongue over and above the foreign languages.

For another, Camilo Osias' educational legacy

has been carried on because the literacy rate
in the country has since been going up, from
the dismal 20% rate before World War 1 (ILA
News
2015), we now have 98.18% (marcotrends.net
Retrieved 11-08-2020) and this goes to show
that we now have more Filipinos who have
been intimated with Filipino values which they
could apply in their lives, more people who
have been made aware of their rights and
responsibilities as Filipinos who are in return
expected to be responsible citizens.

Lastly, Rafael Palma's and Jose Rizal's

advocacy about Academic Freedom is now
embodied in Section 9, paragraphs 1, 2, 7, 8
and 9 of the (Philippine) Educational Act of
1982. It is as provided for in the 1986
Philippine Constitution, Article 14, section 5
paragraph 2 which states "Academic freedom
shall be enjoyed in all institutions of higher
learning." Today, as we must observe, the
educational system in the institutions of higher
education has become more liberal thus
honing to the maximum, the capacities of the
Filipino youth who are now contributing to local
as well as national development. Also, at the
present time, corporal punishment, which was
once used to students who were not able to
comply with school requirement, is already
prohibited in schools as it (corporal
punishment) is believed to humiliate rather
than motivate the learner.

With regards the thought about social equity

and equality advanced by Emilio Jacinto, and
Filipino Socialism advocated by Isabel Delos
Reyes, this is now enunciated in Article 2,
Section 10, which says "the state shall promote
social justice in all phases of national
development. Their socialistic thought was
actually pro poor. Earlier on, during the term of
then President Ramon Magsaysay, rich and
poor alike were welcomed to the Malacañang
Palace, a move which proved that regardless
of the
socio-economic status of the people, everyone
was regarded a Filipino citizen who deserves
equal treatment by the government. There are
also numerous governmental programs which
are intended to alleviate the living condition of
the marginalized and streamlined Filipinos.
These are as well provided for in the 1987
Philippine Constitution, like Article 2, Section 9,
15, 18, 21, and 22. The inclusion of the lesser
fortunate Filipinos in the implementation of
governmental programs is tantamount to
recognizing their participation in nation-
building.

Going to the socio-political ideas of Jose Rizal,

they have impacted greatly our present socio-
political conditions in the Philippines. For
instance, reforms were gradually implemented
with the likes of restructuring the three
branches of the government from being
occupied by the colonizers and now held by
Filipinos and the grant of rights or liberties to
the people which is now embodied in the 1987
Philippine Constitution like the most basic right-
the right to life, liberty and property, which
could be read in Article 3, Section 1 thereof.
The commendation he accorded to the young
women of Malolos must have paved the way
for the grant of the right of suffrage to the
Filipino women during the 1937 plebiscite
which decided whether or not the Filipino
women were to be allowed to exercise their
right of suffrage. This resulted to the election in
1941 of Elisa Ochoa to be a member of the
Philippine Congress then. This marked the
beginning of women's participation in the
national development which is also now
provided for in Article 2, Section 14 of the 1987
Philippine Constitution.
We cannot, of course, discount the fact that the
Filipino brand of fearless

nationalism must have been taken after that of

Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio.

The might of the pen was evident in their

writings which prodded or enjoined the

people to act as one Filipino nation and cease

to toil as individuals. We have since

witnessed a united endeavour among Filipinos.

Of late, we have witnessed that as

a Filipino nation we are able to fight the

widespread devastating effect of the health

crisis in the Covid 19. Although there could be

isolated instances of individuals

who are stubborn enough to do otherwise, it

has still been generally a national

effort to combat Covid19. Sense of nationalism

has also been manifested at these
trying times through the efforts of our more
fortunate fellow Filipinos in extending
unparalleled help in the form of financial as
well as in kind' to the incapacitated and

lesser fortunate Filipinos who must have been

inflicted with the dreaded disease.

Exuding care and concern for our fellow

Filipinos is tantamount to according love

to out motherland.