Rizal

GROUP 2 :RIZAL’S ESSAYS

ORTEGA, OLLERO

PASTRANA PEÑALOSA PFLEIDER
To the young women of Malolos (London, February 22, 1889)
This famous letter was written by Rizal in Tagalog, while he was reading in London, upon the request of M.H. del Pilar. The story behind this letter is this; On December 12, 1888, a group of twenty young women of Malolos petitioned Goveror-General Weyler for permission to open a “night school” so that they might study Spanish under Teodoro Sandiko. The Spanish priest, Fr. Felipe Garcia, objected so that the governor-general turned down the petition. However, the young women, in defiance of the friar’s wrath, bravely continued their agitation of the school --- a thing unheard of in the Philippines in those times. They finally succeeded in obtaining government approval to their project on condition that Senorita Guadalupe Reyes should be their teacher. The incident caused a great stir in the Philippines and in far away Spain. Del Pilar, writing in Barcelona on February 17, 1889, requested Rizal to send a letter in Tagalog to the brave women of Malolos. Accordingly, Rizal although busy in London annotating Morga’s book , penned this famous letter and sent in to Del Pilar on February 22, 1889 for transmittal to Malolos. For full text of this letter in original Tagalog and in English and Spanish translations, see A Letter to the Young Women of Malolos by Jose Rizal, edited by Teodoro M. Kalaw and published by the National Lobrary, Manila, 1932.

Rizal expressed hope for the future after hearing about their courage and their desire to learn. He then asked the women to carefully ponder on these seven points which are still relevant and could apply not only to women but to everyone.
1st: the tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice and negligence of others.
2nd: what makes a man contemptible is his lack of dignity and his abject fear of the contemner
3rd: ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so is he. A man who does not think for himself lacks personality. The blind man who allows himself to be guided by the thought of another is like the beast led by a halter.
4th: he who loves his independence must first aid his fellowmen. He who refuses to give protection to others will find himself abandoned.
5th: if the Filipino woman will not change her way of life, let her not rear children, but just bear them. She must be deprived of being the mistress of the house, otherwise she will consciously betray husband, child, native land, and all.
6th: all men are born equal, naked without bonds. God did not create man to be a slave. He did not endow him with intelligence so that he may be imposed upon, nor did he bless him with reason so that he may be deceived by others
7th: consider well what kind of religion is being taught you. See whether it is the will of God or it follows the teaching of Christ that the poor be succored and that those who suffer be alleviated.

The Indolence of the Filipinos

English translation by Derbyshire; originally written in Spanish, was published in La Solaridad in five installments, from July 15 to September 15, 1890.

• Indolence - Inclination to laziness; Sloth

I.

• The nature of indolence.

o “We must confess that indolence does actually and positively exist there, only that, instead of holding it to be the cause of the backwardness and the trouble, we regard it as the effect of the trouble and backwardness…”

• Misuse of indolence.

o “The word indolence has been greatly misused in the sense of little love for work and lack of energy, while ridicule has concealed the misuse.”

• Its causes or rather predisposition questioned.

o Hot climate – requires individual quiet and rest.

o Wrong governance

▪ “The evil is not that indolence exists more or less latently but that it is fostered and magnified.

II.

• Comparison of indolence with illness

o “Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady but not a hereditary one.”

• “Filipinos have not always been what they are…”

o Forgotten Industry

III. Causes that awoke the predisposition of indolence

• Internal Disorders

• Expeditions that wasted all the moral and material energies of the country.

o Captivity and Slavery.

o Resulted to depopulation, abandonment of industry, agriculture and commerce.

“Still they struggled a long time against indolence, yes: but their enemies were so numerous that at last they gave up!”

IV. What fostered and sustained indolence?

• “He who does not act freely is not responsible for his actions...”

• Cut-off communication with other neighboring countries.

• “Natives were not allowed to go to their labors, that is, their farms without permission of the governor…”

• Sordid return the natives get from his work

• “rich man will not go to heaven” and “the pig is cooked in its own land”

• Gambling was fostered and even perfected by the government.

• Lack of material inducement and the absence of moral stimulus.

• Education of the natives

V. Reduced the causes to 2 classes:

• Defects of training

• Lack of national sentiments