Friday 25 March 2011

The Philippines A Century Hence | Go to post ➜

A Written Report about Rizal’s Essay

THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE

In the first few paragraphs of the first part of the essay, particularly the second paragraph, it gave me a sense of historical nostalgia and I was caught up by this: “In order to read the destiny of the people, it is necessary to open the book of its past.” It was a hard-hitting argument, and required a reasonable point of view.

When the natives of the land strive hard in the conquest of the Spanish people, and with the latter succeeds the invasion, when they try to abolish the natives’ form of government, its customs, religion and beliefs, the native people, who is still in the process of change will have no “confidence in their past, without faith in their present and with no fond of hope in the years to come”, the Philippines will be empty, depleted and will slow down.

As a student who studies the life and works of Rizal, we could always see and feel in his writings his fervor in liberating his countrymen towards cruelty and injustices made by the Spanish authorities and the friars. As he compared Spain to a “nurse, who, unable to live elsewhere, desires the eternal infancy, eternal weakness for the child, in order to go on drawing her wages and existing at its expense, it has seen not only that she does not nourish it to make it grow but that she poisons it to stunt its growth and at the slightest protest she flies into a rage!” That’s how Rizal viciously compared Spain to a rotten and worthless nurse. A nurse who should’ve been caring the child and deliberately wants to destroy the child is at the same extracting every little thing from it at its own expense.

From the second part of the essay, Rizal pointed out the answers to the questions: What will become of the Philippines within a century? Will they continue to be a Spanish colony? To a person who is fervent and passionate over the liberty of the country, for those men who are strongly willed to accept any battle for the country’s freedom, the answer would have been easy. Independence is assured; it was merely a question of getting together and making a determination. But for him who is easily despaired and weak in fighting for his own motherland, a person who will just subdue himself, people who, out of ignorance and prudence, makes himself discreet while the invaders are slowly taking over their precious land, is like watching himself die and just accepting the future without fighting for it. Hence, liberation is not achieved.

Rizal’s essay, The Philippines a Century Hence presents a deep-seated prophesy on how the Philippines would be in a century. Rizal presented apparently an idea of how our Motherland will end up centuries later suggesting that our country will end up either in three ways. First, that the Philippines will remain to be a dependent of Spain but will be in good terms with its subjugator; second, that the Philippines will attempt to cut the ties of our native land from it’s subjugator through violent means; and lastly that the Philippines will be colonized by a different country. Rizal’s judgment weren’t based on his imagination. He traveled in different nations and observed keenly their form of government, their way of living and even learned to use their own language in order for him to know the lines of the History of the many nations to come up with his recommendations of how the Philippines would seem to be. With his travels, he saw how the uprising in different countries started and thought that if Spain persists to overlook the cries of its inhabitants, it will come to a point that the oppressed will come into arms to bring back their lost freedom.

In this essay, Rizal uncovered numerous issues that concerned our country. The lack of freedom of the press, the lack of the representation in the Spanish Cortes and the abuse of human rights are the key points argued in the extensive essay of Rizal. For him, the Filipinos must achieve the liberty of the press in order for us to cry out the cruelties of the Spanish government. The Filipinos must also have a representative in the Spanish Cortes to “make known to the government and to the nation whether or not their decrees have been duly obeyed.” Finally, the Filipinos hunt for justice and human rights. Rizal then informed the Spanish government that if the oppression will not come to a stop, the natives will be forced to revolt against them and thereby putting justice into their own hands.

It is clear that Rizal has a strong urge to free his countrymen from servitude and tyranny that no matter what it cost, even if it meant to risk his own life, he knows that it will be all worth it. He will die of dignity because of his love for his country.

“I have always loved my poor country,

and I am sure that I shall love her until death…

Happen what may, I shall die blessing her and

desiring the dawn of her redemption.”

-Jose Rizal

Prepared by:

Shehyll Caress G. Bayog

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