Quotes, Question, etc.

A Quote on the Spirit of Natinhood

    "The Spirit of nationhood had its roots in the scattered towns of Philippine Society during the Spanish period. The Ilustrados or those elite people who had the chance to take advantage of education during the Spanish era were the first voices of the Filipino masses. At first, the term Filipino referred only to the Creoles or Spanish Filipinos and the Spanish mestizos. Later the Chinese mestizos and the native elite who dominated the marks of the principalia appropriated the term Filipino to themselves. The term Filipino was then limited by property, education, and Spanish culture. The Ilustrados were the first to infuse the term Filipino to the inhabitants of the Philippines regardless of racial strains and social status. The first form of nationhood was first found in the expression in agitation for reforms. The principal propaganda effort was exerted in Spain in the hopes that when the Spanish government would be aware of what's happening in the colony, reforms might be possible.

    Three groups formed the core of the propaganda movement. First there were a group of filibusteros including Españoles Filipinos and Spanish mestizos who had been banished to the Marianas during the crackdown on liberals in the wake of the Cavite mutiny in 1872. The second group was composed of young men who had been sent to Spain for their studies. Among them were Graciano Lopez Jaena and Marcelo H. Del Pilar. The primary aim of the ilustrados was to secure for their own interest class participation in political rule and a greater share in economic benefits as a province of Spain. They failed to achieve their principal objective which is that of prodding the Spanish government to reform the colonial administration. The propaganda failed to reach the masses of their countrymen thus they have a minimal influence and for this reason there was hardly any continuity between the Propaganda and the Revolution. Several factors contributed to the ineffectiveness of the propaganda movement. Among them are the perennial lack of funds and the bickering among the propagandists themselves. For example, as a result of the misunderstanding between del Pilar and Rizal, the latter stopped contributing to the La Solidaridad before it had completed two years of its existence. A few months later, Antonio Luna who was partial to Rizal also quit. "

Taken from The Philippines: A Past Revisited by Renato Constantino, Chapter X: Revolution and Nationhood.

Facts: The Untold Mysteries of Philippine Revolution

    Did you know that there are many untold mysteries, anomalies, and secrets in the history of the Philippines? Probably you don't or you don't even bothered to know them because in elementary and high school, thing were taught as simple as what the book says about heroes and events of the past. The students were only made to memorize important names, dates and places but were not taught the significance of these things to what we Filipinos are today now. The students were thus miseducated because the things that we must learn about these heroes and events were not yet clarifies in our minds. All students, I think including us of course, were miseducated by the teachings of our foreign colonizers. In this section, we've based our facts from works of Renato Constantino, a renowned historian in Philippine history who also participated in some of the events that happened, to help enlighten your spirit and understanding of what the learning of history is all about. This also tests your knowledge about how well you know the Philippines. 

Let us start from the Entry of the Spaniards:

Did you know that the ilustrados were the first articulators of the revolution?

    Based from what we've learned from our high school history teachers, the ilustrados, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Jose Rizal, and others, were those who had the opportunity to take advantage of the education system during the Spanish period. Also these ilustrados have failed to reach the masses because of their class position and their limited understanding of the masses. They the Ilustrados, didn't have any trust on the abilities of the common people so the reforms they wantes did not materialize. They only wanted to make the Philippines a province of Spain solely because they wanted more participation in the government and they wanted reforms only for their own economic self-interest.

Additional article

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Did you know that the first 'Filipinos" were not pure filipinos but were creoles, Españoles-Filipinos, or the Spaniards born in the Philippines?

    The term Filipino was first appropriated to teh creoles and later to the Chinese mestizos and the native elite. This was opposed by the Ilustrados who appropriated the term to the inhabitants of the Philippines regardless of their class and social status.

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Did you know that three groups composed the nucleus of the reforms known as the Propaganda movement?

These are the suspected filibusteros including creoles and Spanish mestizoss who had been banished to the Marianas during the crackdown on liberals in the wake of Mutiny of 1872, the young men sent to Spain for their studies, adn the refugees who left the islands to escape persecution.

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Did you know that the first purely Filipino organization was the La Solidaridad organized in Barcelona on December 13, 1888?

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Did you know that del Pilar and Rizal, two of the Philippine's most famous adn active propagandists, had a misunderstanding resulting to the latter's withdrawal of his support fot the La Solidaridad?

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Did you know that Graciano Lopez Jaena ridiculed his colleagues in La Solidaridad when pension from Manila supporters did not materialize and that he devoted himself to fulfilling his ambition to be elected to the Cortes but without success?

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Did you know why the Propaganda movement failed to unite the Filipino people?

    It was because the Propagandists were writing in a language that the common masses did not understand. They wrote in Spanish instead of writing it in the Filipino lanuage!

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Do you know the aims of Rizal's La Liga Filipina?

These are:

(1) to unite the whole archipelago into one compact vigorous, and homogenous body;

(2) Mutual protection in every want and necessity;

(3) Defense against all violence and injustice;

(4)Encouragement of instruction, agriculture, and commerce; and

(5) Study and application of reforms.

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Did you know that during the Spanish period, land rentals increased from year to year and that social injustice was so rampant in the rural areas?

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Do you know who betrayed the Katipunan causing many of its members to be imprisoned and persecuted?

Answer: Teodoro Patiño of Diario de Manila when he revealed the Katipunan to father Mariano Gil.

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Did you know where the first real encounter between Spanish forces and the Katipunan took place?

It was in San Juan Del Monte

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Did you know that Bonifacio was tried and sentenced in a mock trialby Aguinaldo's council because he was accused of plotting Aguinaldo's death?

    "The trial was truly a farce from the beginning up to the end. Considering that: all members of the council were Aguinaldo's men including not only Gen. Noriel but also Gen. Tomas Mascardo whom Bonifacio had earlier arrested in connection with the freeing of Spanish prisoners; second, Bonifacio's counsel, Placido Martinez, acted more like a prosecutor, going so far as to say that if a punishment worse than death was available, Bonifacio deserved it for plotting Aguinaldo's death; third, the court gave credence to the fantastic story of Lt. Col. Pedro Giron, a Bonifacio partisan turned state witness, who said that Bonifacio had given him ten pesos in advance to kill Aguinaldo in case the latter did not submit to Bonifacio's authority."(Constantino, Past Revisited  p. 189)

The American Colonization

Did you know that in other countries like the United States, Russia, China, and Vietnam, their national hero is a leader of the war and revolution while in the Philippines the National Hero is just a reformist?

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Did you know that the Americans were the ones who chose Jose Rizal as our national hero?

   This was because Rizal was a perfect example of a hero whom the masses can imitate, which could not resist to their foreign rule. Rizal was also not born during the American period and as stated by Constantino in his essay entitled "Veneration without Understanding", conservative ilustrados composed the Philippine commision which approved the laws making Rizal as the national hero.

(Tagalog naman tayo dahil Kano na 'to)

Batas bilang 137 na bumuo ng distritong politiko militar ng Morong na tinatawag na lalawigan gn Rizal bilang parangal sa pinakatanyag na tao sa buong kapuluan.

Batas Bilang 243 na nagpahintulot ng isang pambayang abuloy para sa pagtatayo ng isang bantayog bilang parangal kay Rizal sa Luneta, at

Batas Blg. 345 na nagtakdang ang anibersaryo ng kanyang kamatayan ay araw ng pagdiriwang.

Ito ay nagresulta sa pagkawala halos ng saysay ng ibang mga bayaning di man lang kilala ng mga tao.

Did you know that the Americans influence us in our everyday live from the clothes we wear today to the language we speak?

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Did you know that the things that happened during the American colonization in the Philippines did not reached the ears of the American people because President McKinley was then running for re-election?

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Did you know that Nationalist expeditions to the United States are only cover-ups of the leaders and their reason for going to the U.S. is pleasure?

Japanese Cruelty

Did you know that besides the death march there was also a death train ride for the prisoners of the war during the fall of Bataan?

   Not only were our forefathers dehydrated and poisoned during the death march and death train ride but they were also imprisoned in a very small penal institution surrounded by mosquito infested swamp.

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Did you know that the Japanese also practiced cannibalism like the ones in Auschwitz, Germany where people ate people for food?