THE LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL

Chapter 2: The Philippines in the 19th Century as Rizal’s Context

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this chapter, students are expected to be able to:

1. Appraise the link between the individual and society

2. Analyse the various social, political, economic, and cultural changes that occurred
in the nineteenth century
3. Understand Jose Rizal in the context of his times

Dr. Jose Rizal was the first to consider the Indios as one state when he first used the
word "Filipino" to refer to all inhabitants in the Philippines whether they are of
Spanish or Filipino blood. Throughout the Spanish regime, the natives of this country
were called "Indios" while only the inhabitants with Spanish blood either
peninsulares, insulares or mestizos were considered as Filipinos. Rizal could not
have a belief of one people and one state which include all people in the archipelago
without the impact of the surroundings during his era. Jose Rizal grew up in the 19th
century, an age of vast changes in Europe, Spain and the Philippines. During this
period, the glory and power of Spain had spread in many parts of the globe.

The Global Context: The Three Great Revolutions

Contrarily, one cannot fully perceive Rizal's thought without learning the social and
political surroundings of the 19th century. Social scientists considered the 19th
century as the birth of modern life as well as the birth of many nation-states around
the globe. The birth of modernity precipitated by three great revolutions around the
world: the Industrial Revolution in England, the French Revolution in France and the
American Revolution.

Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution was an economic revolution which started with the invention
of the steam engine and resulted in the use of equipment in the manufacturing sector
in the cities of Europe. It has changed the entire economy of Europe from capitalism
which relied on machinery and wage labour. The merchants of Europe who became
wealthy through trade became the early capitalists of this apparent economy.
Farmers from rural areas and remote provinces of the country migrated to the cities
and became industrial workers while their wives remained as housekeepers at home
in what Karl Marx's characterised as the first occurrence of the domestication of
women who just stayed at home doing household chores.

Industrial Revolution that started in the west had a consequence to the Philippine
economy. An abrupt change in the economy took place between the middle of the
18th century and the middle of the nineteenth; something that might almost be called
an agricultural revolution, with concomitant development of agricultural industries
and domestic as well as foreign trade (De la Costa, 1965). The new economic
system created opportunities by the Industrial Revolution had encouraged Spain in
1834 to open the Philippine economy to world commerce. As a result, new ports and
cities were built. Foreign industry increased rapidly-foreigners were given a chance
to engage in manufacturing and agriculture. Merchant banks and financial system
were also established. The British and Americans improved machinery for
agricultural products, sugar milling and rice hulling and introduced new ways of
farming. The presence of these foreign traders stimulated agrarian production,
particularly sugar, rice, hemp, which ended the government monopoly. Indeed, the
abolition of diminution on foreign trade has produced a balanced and dynamic
economy of the Philippines during the 19th century (Maguigad & Muhi, 2001;
Schumacher, 1997).

Furthermore, the fast tempo of economic development in the Philippines during the
19th century facilitated by the Industrial Revolution resulted in the rise of a new
breed of influential and wealthy Filipino middle class. Non-existent in previous
centuries, this class, composed of Spanish and Chinese mestizos rose to a position
of power in the Filipino community and eventually became leaders in finance and
education (Agoncillo, 1990). This class composed of the ilustrados who belonged to
the landed upper class and who were highly respected in their respective pueblos or
towns, though regarded as filibusteros or rebels by the friars. The relative prosperity
of the period has enabled them to send their sons to Spain and Europe for higher
studies. Most of them later became members of Freemasonry and active in the
Propaganda Movement. Few of them sensed the failure of reformism and turned to
radicalism, and looked up to Rizal as their leader (PES 1993).

Lastly, safer, faster and more comfortable means of transportation and

communication such as railways and steamships got constructed. The construction
of steel bridges and the opening of the Suez Canal opened shorter routes to
commerce. Faster means of communication enabled people to have better contacts
for business and trade. It has resulted in closer interaction between the Philippines
and Spain and to the rest of the world in the 19th century (Romero, 1978).

The French Revolution

If the Industrial Revolution changed the economic landscape of Europe and the
Philippines, another great Revolution changed the political tone of the period-the
French Revolution. The French revolution (1789-1799) started a political revolution in
Europe and some parts of the world. This revolution is a period of political and social
upheaval and radical change in the history of France during which the French
governmental structure was transformed from absolute monarchy with feudal
privileges for the rich and clergy to a more democratic government form based on
the principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. With the overthrow of monarchical
rule, democratic principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity-the battle cry of the
French Revolution-started to spread in Europe and around the world.

Not all democratic principles spread as a result of the French Revolution. The
anarchy or political disturbance caused by the revolution had reached not only in
neighbouring countries of France. but it had also reached Spain in the 19th century.
Spain experienced a turbulent century of political disturbances during this era which
included numerous changes in parliaments and constitutions, the Peninsular War,
the loss of Spanish America, and the struggle between liberals and conservatives
(De la Costa, 1965). Moreover, there arose radical shifts in government structure
introduced by extremists in the motherland. From 1834 to 1862, for instance, a brief
span of only 28 years, Spain had four constitutions, 28 parliaments, and 529
ministers with portfolio (Zaide, 1999). All these political changes in Spain had their
repercussions in the Philippines, cracking the fabric of the old colonial system and
introducing through cracks perilous possibilities of reform, of equality and even
emancipation" (De la Costa, 1965).

Because of this political turmoil in the motherland, the global power of the "Siglo de
Oro of Spain in the sixteenth century as the mistress of the world with vast territories
had waned abroad in the nineteenth century. Her colonies had gained momentum for
independence owing to the cracks in political leadership in the motherland. Cuba, a
colony of Spain, was waging a revolution against Spain when Rizal volunteered to
discontinue his exile in Dapitan to work as volunteer doctor there for him to observe
the revolution. The divided power of Spain triggered with a continuous change of
regimes due to the democratic aspiration created by the French Revolution. This
aspiration had inspired colonies under Spain and Portugal to revolt to gain
independence from their colonial masters in the 19th century.

The American Revolution

Finally, the American Revolution, though not directly affecting the local economy and
politics of the Philippines in the nineteenth century, had significant repercussions to
the democratic aspirations of the Filipino reformist led by Rizal during this period.
The American Revolution refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the
18th century in which the 13 colonies of North America overthrew the rule of the
British Empire and rejected the British monarchy to make the United States of
America a sovereign nation. In this period the colonies first rejected the authority of
British Parliament to govern without representation and form self-governing
independent states. The American revolution had given the world in the 19th century
the idea that colonised people can gain their independence from their colonisers.
The Americans were able to overthrow their British colonial masters to gain
independence and the status of one sovereign nation-state. This significant event
had reverberated in Europe and around the world and inspired others to follow.
Indirectly, the American Revolution had in a way inspired Filipino reformists like Rizal
to aspire for freedom and independence. When Spain opened the Philippines to
world trade in the 19th century, liberal ideas from America borne by ships and men
from foreign ports began to reach the country and influenced the ilustrados. These
ideas, contained in books and newspapers, were ideologies of the American and
French Revolutions and the thoughts of Montesquieu, Rousseau. Voltaire, Locke,
Jefferson, and other political philosophers (Zaide, 1999)

The Church in the 19th Century

In addition to the three great revolutions, the weakening of the grip of the Catholic
Church of the growing secularised society of Europe and Spain has implications to
the Philippines. Conversely, the Catholic Church in Europe was the most powerful
institution in Europe. The union of Church-State has identified the Church with the
monarchy and aristocracy since the Middles Ages. Since it upheld the status quo
and favoured the monarchy, the Church in the nineteenth century had been
considered an adversary to the new Republican states and the recently unified
countries. The French saw the Church as a threat to the newly formed Republican
state, and Bismarck of Germany also saw it as a threat to the unified German
Empire. In Spain, the liberals considered the Church as an enemy of reforms. Thus
they sought to curtail the influence of the Church in political life and education. This
movement against the Catholic Church called anti-clericalism had gained strength in
the nineteenth century not only for political reasons but also for the materialistic
preferences of the people generated by the economic prosperity of the period
(Romero et al. 1978).

The declining influence of the Catholic Church in Europe and Spain has little effect,
however, to the control and power of the local Church in the Philippines. Despite the
anti-clericalism in Spain, the power of the friars in the Philippines in the 19th century
did not decline, instead, it became consolidated after the weakening of civil authority
owing to the constant change in political leadership. It means that Filipinos turned
more and more to the friars for moral and political guidance as Spanish public
officials in the colony became more corrupt and immoral. The union of the Church
and State and the so-called "rule of the friars" or "frailocracy" continued during this
period. In the last decades of the 19th century, the Spanish friars were so influential
and powerful that they practically ruled the whole archipelago. The Spanish civil
authorities, as well as patriotic Filipinos, feared them. In every Christian town in the
country, for instance, the friar is the real ruler, not the elected gobernadorcillo. He
was the supervisor of local elections, the inspector of the schools, the arbiter of
morals, and the censor of books and stage shows. He could order the arrest of or
exile to distant land any filibustero (traitor) or anti-friar Filipino who disobeyed him or
refused to kiss his hands (Zaide, 1999).

One of the aims of Dr Rizal and the propagandists in preparing the Filipino people for
revolution and independence was to discredit the friars. Exposing the abuses and
immoralities of the friars is one way to downplay their power and influence among
the people and thus can shift the allegiance of the Indios from the friars to the
Filipino reformists and leaders. The strengthening power of the friars in the 19th
century has encouraged the nationalists to double their efforts to win the people to
their side.

The Birth of Filipino Nationalism

The rise of the Filipino nation was slow but inevitable. Even in the pre-Spanish era,
the Filipinos already possessed qualities and traits for nationhood-a common racial
origin, a shared cultural heritage, and a shared love for freedom. Spain, unwittingly,
helped to unite the Filipinos by giving them the Christian religion, the Spanish
civilisation, and a centralised government. Lamentably, the immerge of nationalism
was slow because of the difficulty in social and economic intercourse among them.
However, the nineteenth century saw the flowering of the national spirit stimulated by
the following influences:
 1. The opening of the Philippines to world trade,

2. The rise of an enlightened middle class,

3. The Spanish Revolution of 1868,

4. The opening of the Suez Canal,

5. The influx of liberal ideas.

6. The Cavite Mutiny of 1872, and

7. The martyrdom of Fathers Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora

Opening of the Philippines to World Trade

The opportunity of the nineteenth century was Europe adopting a more liberal
commercial policy. Spain, following the example of other European powers,
liberalised her economic policy in the Philippines by permitting foreign firms to do
business in Manila. In 1809, the first English firm was established in the city By 1859,
there were fifteen international firms in Manila, of which seven were English, three
American. Two French, two Swiss, and one German.

In the year 1834, Manila officially opened to world trade. In later years more ports
were thrown open to world commerce, such as Sual, Iloilo, and Zamboanga in 1855;
Cebu in 1860; and Legaspi and Tacloban in 1873.

Owing to contact with the world trade, the Philippines experienced remarkable
progress in agriculture, business, and industry. There was material prosperity, and
the people enjoyed a higher standard of living. With material wealth came political
awakening. Then, too, contact with the outside world broadened the people’s minds
and made them conscious of the evils of Spain’s colonial administration.

Rise of an Enlightened Middle Class

Material prosperity produced an enlightened middle class, consisting of well-to-do

farmers, teachers, lawyers, physicians, writers, and government employees. They
read books and newspapers, discussed political problems and reforms, and sent
their children to colleges and universities in Manila and abroad.
From the enlightened middle class came the leading intellectuals of the country and
the patriots of the propaganda movement who stirred the Philippines into a
revolution. Dr Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar. the Luna brothers (Juan and
Antonio), Jose Ma. Panganiban. Mariano Ponce, Graciano Lopez-Jaena and Dr
Pedro A. Paterno were among such men.

The Spanish Revolution of 1868

On September 19, 1863, a revolution broke out in Cadiz, Spain, against the
autocratic rule of Queen Isabella II (1836-1868), led by two able generals - Serrano
and Prim. The revolutionists took advantage of the time when the queen, with her
family and court, was vacationing at San Sebastian, a seaside resort in Spain. The
queen, unable to stem the tide of a revolution that had the support of the nation, fled
to France, and the Spanish patriots, flushed with victory, established a provisional
government, with General Serrano as a reagent.

The triumph of liberalism in Spain echoed in her colonies across the seas. Colonial
officials with democratic views were sent to Manila and the Filipinos soon enjoyed
the blessings denied to them before - religious toleration, freedom of assembly,
freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.

Opening of the Suez Canal (1869)

The opening of the Suez Canal to world shipping on November 17. 1860, greatly
affected the course of the Philippine History. The canal, built by Ferdinand de
Lesseps, a Frenchmen, connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean linking Europe
and the Orient closer. It shortened, in particular, the sailing distance between
Barcelona and Manila. Formerly, a steamer form Barcelona had to sail around the
Cape of Good Hope and would reach Manila after a perilous voyage of more than
three months. By sailing via the Suez Canal, the same streamer could make the trip
in one month.
The Philippines was thus brought nearer to Spain. The canal facilitated travel and
communication. More and more Spaniards flocked to the colony and swelled the
Spanish Population. In 1810 there were only 4,000 Spaniards in the Philippines; this
number increased to 13,500 in 1870 and 34,000 in 1898. Not only Spaniards but
also world travellers with new ideas came to the Philippines via Suez Canal.
The Influx of Liberal Ideas
The ships that came to the open ports of the Philippines via the Suez Canal carried
with them men of liberal ideas from America and Europe. They bought newspaper
and books that contained the rational thoughts of Montesquieu, Rousseau, Locke,
Stuart Mill, Jefferson, Madison, as well as the democratic ideologies of the American
and French Republics. The Filipinos, after reading such things, began to wonder at
the deplorable political conditions in their country. They started to discuss politics
and reforms, liberty and justice, and, over time, they have become bold enough to
yearn for changes in the government reforms which were then urgently needed to
promote the happiness and welfare of their country.

De La Torre, Liberal Spanish Governor (1869-71). The fall of Queen Isabella II and
the rise of liberalism in Spain brought a new Spanish governor-general to Manila -
General Carlos Maria de la Torre, an able soldier and a true democrat. The Filipino
people and the Spanish liberals welcomed him and cheered him as he took office on
June 23, 1869. Governor de la Torre, as was expected, proved to be a true liberal.
He lived simply without the pomp and pageantry of his predecessors. He did away
with the palace halberdiers who had surrounded the Spanish governors-general
since 1591 with the "pomp of power and boasted of heraldry." He went out of the city
streets in civilian clothes unescorted by guards. Without a taint of racial prejudice, he
fraternised with the Filipinos as with the Spaniards and the mestizos.

Throughout his two-year term, Governor de la Torre had made some notable
achievements. He eliminated the censorship of the press and fostered free
discussion of political problems, which right was guaranteed by the Spanish
Constitution. Because of this liberal policy. Father Burgos and his compatriots
agitated for the Filipinization of the parishes

On July 7, 1869, Governor de la Torre suppressed flogging as a form of punishment

for desertion by Filipino soldiers. He substituted one month's imprisonment for it,
evidently a rather humane penalty than flogging. What considered De La Torre's
greatest achievement, however, was the peaceful settlement of the agrarian reform
trouble in Cavite.

It should be recalled that Cavite had been a hotbed of agricultural unrest since the
middle of the 18th century, because of the oppression suffered by the Filipino
tenants and the loss of their lands. In 1822 Luis Paranga started the revolt which
spread out to Imus, Kawit, Silang, Calamba, Binan, Tanawan, and other towns; but it
was finally put to an end by Governor Ricafort in 1828. Years later, however, another
agrarian trouble flared up, this time led by Eduardo Camerino. Governor de la Torre,
to prevent further bloodshed, went to Imus, Cavite, and after a conference pardoned
Camerino and his followers. To give them a decent livelihood, he appointed the
members of a new police force called Guias de La Torre (Aides of La Torre), with
Camerino as captain.

The Cavite Mutiny of 1872

At sunrise of February 17, 1872 Fathers Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, together with
their co-accused Zaldua, were escorted under heavy guard from Fort Santiago to the
Luneta. A vast crowd of soldiers and civilians, Filipinos and foreigners, were on hand
to witness the tragic event. Zaldua executed first. The Spanish promise of a sum of
gold, which he was supposed to receive for testifying falsely against the three
priests, was not fulfilled.

Of the priest-martyrs, Father Gomez, 73 years old, was the first to be garroted. As he
dignifiedly walked towards the garrote (strangulation machine), his spectacles
accidentally fell to the ground. He picked them up, slowly put them on, and said: "Let
us go where the leaves never move without the will of God" These were his last
words. He was followed by Father Zamora, age 37, who died unaware of his fate, for
he had lost his mind. The last to be executed was Father Burgos, age 35, the
youngest and most brilliant of the martyred triumvirate. The hangman got down
before him and said: "Father, forgive me, for I'm going to kill you." Calmly Father
Burgos replied to him: "I forgave you, my son. I know you are but obey your fealty.
Proceed then with your work." As he garroted, Father Burgos prayed: "My Lord,
Father of Mine, receive unto your Bosom the soul of an in no..." Death cut short his
last prayer.

The execution of Fathers Gomez. Burgos and Zamora was a colossal blunder on the
part of the Spanish officials in the Philippines. Luckily, the Church was not a party to
the injustice done by the State. Before the execution, Archbishop Gregorio Meliton
Martinez was requested by Governor Izquierdo to degrade the three priests by taking
off their priestly habits, but he refused this unholy request, and thereby manifesting
the Church’s doubt as to their guilt. On the day of the execution, the church bells of
the city tolled a funeral dirge as Christendom’s farewell salute to the departing souls
of the martyrs.

The Filipino people were stunned by the execution of the three priests. They knew
they were innocent and died for a noble cause, thus they regarded them as actual
martyrs of their fatherland. In their indignation, they forgot racial differences and
geographical barriers, they joined together as one people to fight for a common
cause. The execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora hastened the growth
of Philippine nationalism, which ultimately brought about Spain’s downfall. The
ordeal of Fathers Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora is now a cherished memory to the
Filipino people. The greatest tribute ever paid to them was written by Dr Jose Rizal
who dedicated to them his immortal novel El Filibusterismo. The dedication reads as
follows.

“The Church, refusing to degrade you, has placed in doubt the crime that has
attributed to you, the Government, causes the belief that there was some error,
committed in ruinous moments, and all the Philippines, by venerate your
remembrance and calling you martyrs, in no sense recognises your guilt. In so far,
therefore, as your connivance in the Cavite mutiny is not proved, as you may not
have been patriots, and as you may not have cherished sentiments for justice and
liberty, I have the right to devote my work to you as victims of the evil which 1
undertake to withstand. Moreover, while we await vigilantly upon Spain some day to
reinstate your good name and cease to be answerable for your death, let these
pages serve as a tardy wreath of dried leaves over unknown tombs, and let them be
understood that everyone who without clear evidence attacks your memory stains
his hands in your blood!”

Such a sublime and touching tribute to the martyrs by Dr. Jose Rizal himself a great
martyr is rare in world literature. Perhaps never in history has a renowned martyr
given a great tribute to other martyrs.

The Philippines and Spain of Rizal's Times in the 19th

Century
The Spanish founding of the Philippines was planned for Spain to have a base on
the Silk Road and a platform for her expansion towards Asia. Once the Crown
realised that its Asian prediction was impossible, it decided to stay around on the
islands. Because of their strategic importance, Spain associates her new sovereign
territory to the Mexican viceroyalty of New Spain and set up a least colonial
administration made up of military, civil servants and religious orders. During the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Philippines went from being an agrarian
subsistence economy to an intermediating economy, bridging the gap between
America, Asia and Europe through the commercial way of the galleon that joined
Manila and Acapulco.

The urge of trade, entrepreneurial activity and investments in the archipelago are
steady, above all in the second half of the nineteenth century, thanks to the opening
of the Panama Canal and external capital. The Spanish government was incapable
of adapting colonial policy to the new situation and of maintaining itself as an
advantageous market, preserving a static administration contrary to autonomist
reforms instead. Nevertheless, in difference with the negative and unfair outlook that
all colonial processes entail, the assimilation of the Philippines in the Spanish Empire
brought about the social cohesion that favoured the construction of national identity
In addition to the involvement of Catholicism-which exerted a significant influence in
Philippine society and to the immersion of the islands in an international economy,
the empire also promoted public works such as the building of lighthouses, the
Manila Harbor Board and the Hydrographic Committee of the Pacific, and favored
incipient scientific development with the construction of the Manila Observatory.

A census drawn up in 1894 based on parish registrations shows a population of

6,414,373 inhabitants, to whom we should add another million who were not
registered, made up of 'heathen' natives, Chinese, Moros and foreigners. This same
census also includes another reference, that of the Regular and Lay Clergy,
comprising 2,751 members, while Military Personnel consisted 21,513 individuals,
under three thousand of whom were from the Spanish peninsula, and the rest were
natives. These figures inform us of the religious and military imperialist régime,
dominated by an organised Spanish minority that used all the ideological and
coercive resources at its disposal.

The 1800s were a period of change for the global world order likewise a time of flux
among different European powers. In the Philippines, the Filipinos were still under
Spanish rule, and resistance to it was mostly ineffective primarily owing to the
Spaniards' policy of keeping the natives illiterate and divided along ethnic lines.

The Philippines of Rizal's Times in 1808

Ferdinand VII was king of Spain during the critical years following the Napoleonic
Wars. The country dashingly divided between Liberals, who supported a
constitutional government, and traditionalists, who mistrust modernist ideas,
particularly regarding "reforms" of church property. The South American colonies
were in revolt, the country was recovering from a horrifically destructive war, the
government had been in the hands of foreigners for over seven years, the treasury
was nearly bankrupt, and a new constitution which radically reordered the Cortes
had ratified the government. An honourable, principled, and moderate leader would
have had difficulty ruling well during the age, and Ferdinand was none of the above.

The Philippines in Rizal's Time in 1812

The legacy of the Cadiz Constitution to the Philippines was the termination of the
oppressive galleon trade. It put an end to the sufferings of the natives and the
harmful effect of the business. In 1815 the last galleon-the Magallanes-left Acapulco,
Mexico to return to Manila.

The Philippines in Rizal's Time in 1833

Carlist Wars erupt in Spain. Carlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political
movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon
family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Infante Carlos, Count of
Molina (1788-1855), and founded due to a dispute over the succession laws and
widespread dissatisfaction with the Alfonsine line of the House of Bourbon. The
movement was at its most influential in the 1830s but had a rallying following Spain's
downfall in the Spanish-American War in 1898, when Spain lost its last remaining
significant colonies, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

Notable Asian People during the Time of Dr. Rizal

Mohandas K. Gandhi born October 2, 1869, died on January 30, 1948

He was known as Mahatma Gandhi or Bapu father of Indian independence, a

prominent leader, employing non-violent civil disobedience. Gandhi led India to
freedom and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights, and democracy
across the globe. He was a son of a senior government official, Gandhi was born
and raised in a Bania community in coastal Gujarat and studied law in London.
Mahatma Gandhi became famous by fighting for the civil rights of Muslim and Hindu
Indians in South Africa as well as in his own country. He opened the minds of people
in India with his new techniques of non-violent civil disobedience that he developed.
In 1915 Gandhi returned to India, he set about organizing peasants to protest
excessive land-taxes. He reached out widely to all religious groups. Gandhi became
the leader of Muslims protesting the declining status of the Caliphate. He opposed
communism. reached out publicly to all religious groups, an assuming leadership of
the Indian National Congress in 1921. Mohandas Gandhi led nationwide campaigns
to eradicate poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity,
ending untouchability, increasing economic self-reliance, and above all for achieving
Swaraj-the independence of India from British domination.
Dr Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866-12 March 1925)

He was a Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic
of China ("Nationalist China"). As the principal pioneer of Republic of China, Sun
referred to as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China (ROC), and the
"forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China. Sun was
indeed instrumental in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the years leading up
to the Double Ten Revolution. Although he was in St. Louis, Missouri at the time, he
was appointed to serve as president of the Provisional Republic of China, when it
founded in 1912. He later co-founded the Kuomintang (KMT), serving as its first
leader. Sun was an amalgamated figure in post-Imperial China and remains unique
among 20th-century Chinese politicians for being widely revered amongst the people
from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Nguyen Tat Thanh also Known as Chi Minh, (1890-1969)

A Vietnamese Communist leader and the leading force behind the Vietnamese
struggle against French colonial rule. He was born on May 19, 1890, in the village of
Kimlien, Annam (central Vietnam), the son of an official who had resigned in protest
against French domination of his country. He attended school in Hue and then briefly
taught at a private school in PhanThiet. In the year 1911 he was employed as a cook
on a French steamship liner and after that worked in Paris and London. After World
War I, using the pseudonym Nguyen Ai Quoc (Nguyen the Patriot), Ho engaged in
radical activities and was in the founding group of the French Communist party. He
summoned to Moscow for training and, in late 1924, he was sent to Canton, China,
where he organised a revolutionary movement among Vietnamese exiles. He was
coerced to leave China when local authorities cracked down on Communist
activities, but he returned in 1930 to found the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP).
He stayed in Hong Kong as representative of the Communist International. In June
1931 Ho was arrested there by British police and remained in prison until his release
in 1933. He then made his way back to the Soviet Union, where he reportedly spent
several years recovering from tuberculosis. In 1938 he returned to China and served
as an adviser with Chinese Communist armed forces. When Japan occupied
Vietnam in 1941, he resumed contact with ICP leaders and helped to found a new
Communist-dominated independence movement, popularly known as the Vietminh,
that fought the Japanese In August 1945, when Japan surrendered, the Vietminh
seized power and proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Hanoi.
 Activity 2

Abstraction
By answering the following guide questions, write a reflection paper about the
relevance of Rizal's nationalism to the present political problems of the country
explaining the following guide questions:

1. Is Rizal's nationalist ideal still applicable to the Philippine situation today?

Explain Why yes or why not?

2. Like Rizal during the 19th century, what would you do today to address our
country's problem on corruption and abuse of power?
 Self-assessment
Fill in the blank: Find the answer from the box below and write the letter of the
correct answer on the blank before the number.

Spanish and Chinese mestizos, Industrialized Revolution, Ferdinand VII, Zaldua,

Sun Yat Sen, General Carlos Maria de la Torre, Carlism, Cadiz Constitution,
Indios,
Gandhi, American Revolution, French Revolution, Ferdinand de Lesseps,

1. The first president of China and referred to as the "Father of the Nation"
and the "fore- runner of democratic revolution".

2. Employed non-violent civil disobedience, he led India to independence and

inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights, and freedom across the
world.

3. He was requested by Governor Izquierdo to degrade the three priests by

taking off their priestly habits, but he refused this unholy request and thereby
manifesting the Church's doubt as to their guilt.

4. He was employed as a cook on a French steamship liner and after that

worked in London and Paris.

5. The fall of Queen Isabella II and the rise of liberalism in Spain brought a
new Spanish governor-general to Manila who is an able soldier and a true
democrat.

6. A legitimist and traditionalist political movement in Spain seeking the

establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne.

7. Frenchman and builder of the Suez Canal.

 8. The most important legacy to the Philippines was the termination of the
oppressive galleon trade because it put an end to the sufferings of the
natives.

9. They were not considered Filipinos during the Spanish period.

10. The economic revolution that changed the economic system of Europe in
the 19th century from feudalism to capitalism.

11. A political revolution that started in France which changed the political
landscape in Europe from monarchy to democracy.

12. It pertains to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century
in which the 13 colonies overthrew the rule of the British Empire and rejected
the British monarchy.

13. Non-existent in previous centuries, this class, rose to a position of power

in the Filipino community and eventually became leaders in finance and
education

14. He was king of Spain during the critical years following the Napoleonic
Wars.

15. Along with three co- accused Fathers Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, he
was escorted under heavy guard from Fort Santiago to the Luneta and was
executed first.
Source:
Umali, V. D., et al (2019). Jose Rizal: A Review on the Life and Works of the First
Filipino. Mandaluyong City. BOOKS ATBP. Publishing Corp.