Katipuneros Asked For Advice and Rizal Expressed His Thoughts of Its Impossibility and Absurdity

BAÑARES, DESIREE T.
The Life and Works of Rizal

January 31, 2020 GED0102 Section 45
Reflection 1: Jose Rizal’s Manifesto to Certain Filipinos
The end of 1896 brought about such drastic turns in the life of the prominent national
hero, Jose Rizal. Just as he was about to serve the Spanish armies as a military surgeon in Cuba,
he was met with three heavy charges pressed against him. In his Manifesto to Certain Filipinos,
he pleas his innocence by setting the tone of his detachment from the Katipunan. Rizal states that
he has never agreed upon the people’s rebellion and that the country did not yet possess the
prerequisites that liberty entails.
On an article written by Christian Bernard A. Melendez (2012), he summarizes the five
arguments made in the manifesto. First, Rizal never joined the revolution. Second, the
Katipuneros asked for advice and Rizal expressed his thoughts of its impossibility and absurdity.
Third, that he, himself, had offered to be of use however the people saw fit. Fourth, Rizal
referred to the revolution with disdain for its militant and violent pursuit. And lastly, that the
answer to the existing problems is simply reform from the existing government.
For many years, we have been taught of Rizal around the prime of his undeniably
impactful lifetime – the fire of his existence. He was given this image of constant greatness and
rising momentum. But in reading the piece, I realized that it wasn’t always the case.
From the perspective of Jose Rizal, he emphasizes the importance of the difference
between the concepts of liberties and independence. Liberty is a form of freedom from
oppression in one’s lifestyle, livelihood, actions, and sociopolitical views. It is the essence of
freedom of choice, the absence of restraints in certain aspects while limited within the rights of
others. On the other hand, independence is the freedom to govern oneself without the influence
or intervention of a foreign party. In the mind of Rizal, being independent does not always mean
freedom – but liberties can be attained even without independence.
With all due respect to the intelligence and experiences of Jose Rizal, I found that I
consistently disagreed with him. From his own words, “But I laid down as a prerequisite the
education of the people in order that by means of such instruction, and by hard work, they may
acquire a personality of their own and so become worthy of such liberties.” Freedom is not a
byproduct that needs to be deserved – it is a right first and foremost, an innate human concept
that is attached to responsibility. But nonetheless, a right to demand and pine for. People have
the responsibility of assuring and regulating their freedom, so that it is not imposed nor impeded
by others. Rizal bargains that these liberties were to be gained through education and character
development, which in the first place were unattainable for indios or the lower class natives.
This prompts me to believe that, in the context of Spanish Colonial Philippines,
independence and liberty might as well mean the same thing. The Peninsulares and the political
power would never fully grant us with equal access to the privilege and comfort they enjoyed.
Jose Rizal was correct to imply the difference of independence and liberties. But the Spanish rule
has already constricted the methods in which the latter can be received without the former – for
example, the omission of Philippine representation in the Spanish Cortes and the racial
discrimination in accessing quality education. The door has been locked, and the oppressors
would never give us the key to open it. This leaves me with the thought that the only solution
left was to break the door.
In the manifesto, Rizal also says, “I have also written (and my words have been repeated
by others) that reforms, if they are to bear fruit, must come from above, for reforms that come
from below are upheavals both violent and transitory.” As a pacifist, this was expected of him –
to prefer a clean compromise in comparison to a daring dispute between master and slave. But as
a democrat, which most of his supporters paint him to be, this is seemingly paradoxical. To
simply rely on the government to function in itself, without the help and involvement from the
people, defeats the very purpose of democracy – which implies that the power for reform (or
revolt, if chosen) comes from below. I ask, why should our freedom rest upon the hands of
others? Are we not human enough to have the right to decide our own ends, and in the process,
grapple for humanization in both the oppressor and the oppressed?
There is a certain ache in his statements, with his flickering words of contempt and spite.
He was eager to explain what has been misunderstood, and he had every right to defend himself
as he was threatened – with a majority of his crimes, treason and sedition, being false
accusations. To be honest, I find that it defies most of how Jose Rizal has been built up in his
high state of heroism and drunk with the spirit of the revolution. In the height of his manifesto,
he was a man trying to settle the outrage associated upon his name and his family.
To be fair with Rizal, he had no intention of extending the conflict upon other people – he
merely aimed to educate. The Spaniards were very simplistic in their conclusions, desperate to
quickly get rid of the problematic affairs in the Oriental territories. And so, they clung to the first
branch they could reach. Unfortunately, it was Rizal they saw and captured as the core of the
revolution, inaccurate and misjudged. Note that he also comes from a privileged perspective. He
was raised in a good home, built on a land they had maintained as a mixed race family. He had
excellent opportunities of pursuing good education and using a platform.
The Manifesto to Certain Filipinos humanizes Jose Rizal – it presents him as a man
capable of chaos within himself. There were parts I can acknowledge, for starters, that some
methods are possibly less violent than war and that Rizal was defending his own name. Yet for
the reason that Rizal lived quite a stable life during the Spanish occupation, as a half-Chinese
ilustrado, the context of the solutions in his eyes are different for the struggling Katipunero
soldiers. Rizal proposed an extension of what he has – but the indios had nothing to begin with,
so they had to fight even for the basic necessities of life. Some defended that the manifesto is not
an act of desperation, because it is against the kind of person Rizal was. But it was still privilege,
and that nonetheless, should also be put into consideration.
I used to think of heroes as if being one was an honor to simply be celebrated and
remembered. However, seeing Jose Rizal, I realize that it is just as much a responsibility due to
the impact and influence. If I was a Katipunero who had admired Rizal, I would have felt
offended by his words (perhaps even betrayed). It occurs to me that some men cannot understand
the burdens of others, no matter how much they say they do. All the more painful that Rizal
knew the living state of the people, but refused to stand firmly against it. Jose Rizal is not the
reason and end of the Revolution, because it would have stopped the minute he had died. He may
have attracted several initiates for the Katipunan, but the soldiers stayed for themselves and their
families. It was a cause beyond any man – it is a collective and accumulated movement bigger
than the expectations of Jose Rizal and his colleagues.
Give credit where credit is due, and accountability where accountability is due. Rizal’s
unintentional ammunition for the armed movement and his privileged childhood was not his fault
– that is why he is enraged. It is an explanation, but not an excuse. Rizal had the capabilities of
aiding the people in their plights and challenges. As a person who also experiences benefits from
the existing system of power, I am convinced that the solution was to trust the people in taking
action. If the law and the government, no longer serve the interest of the people, then the
necessary action has to be taken. It evokes empathy in me, so much that I cannot say that the
Revolution was a mistake – never will that occur in my mind.
The Manifesto to Certain Filipinos was an overwhelming clash of words and the existing
knowledge of what I thought Jose Rizal was like. I have learned many things from Rizal – from
his equality-driven free-thinking attitude to the power of the pen. And from his mistakes, I have
learned all the more.

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BAÑARES, DESIREE T.

The Life and Works of Rizal

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