Filipino Nationalism : A Step Stone

“...We govern our children without their consent...Would not the people of the Philippines prefer the just, human, civilizing government of this Republic…” (Doc B, Albert J. Beveridge). I disagree with this black and white view of the world. The Filipinos are grown people capable of making the best decision for themselves. Children are not (due to their undeveloped frontal lobes). They do not need America to save them. They wanted freedom enough to attempt war with Spain, a global power, so they have earned that

In 1904 at the St. Louis World’s Fair there was an exhibit funded by the US Government to show Americans what life was like in the Philippine colonies. Unfortunate this exhibition was not accurate representation of people’s lives in the Philippines. They were portrayed as being uncivilized and practitioners of non-God fearing religions, even though many Philippine people converted Roman Catholicism under Spanish rule. The Government conveyed a distorted representation of the Philippines to convince Americans that the colonization of the Philippines was not just for the United States benefit but for the improvement and civilization of the population of the Philippines.

Said discusses three main ideas in the decolonizing cultural resistance: (1) the concept of national language; (2) resistance as an alternative way of conceiving human history; and (3) a noticeable pull away from separatist nationalism toward a more integrative view of human community and human liberation (pp. 215-216). Roxas-Tope (1998) wrote that the proponents of nationalism in the Philippines during the 1960s thought that it was necessary to require the writing of Philippine history by a Filipino and from the point of view of the Filipino, but when these works were published “they became textbooks, the repository of historical truths and canonical interpretations of the past” (p. 24); an act that can be considered as walking the fine line of the concept of Grand Narrative that both postcolonial and postmodern schools of thought question. In the same line, Zialcita (2005) questioned the overly nationalistic approach to the (re)writing of history because it highlights only the “Spanish state as the enemy of democrats and nationalists by the late nineteenth century” and leaves out “the Spanish state that brought in symbols, values, and an organization whose unforeseen consequence was an expanded sense of community where notions of democracy and nationalism germinated” (p. 65). Zialcita also observed this need to frame the definition of Filipino

There was an establishment of a Spanish base in the Philippines. It was first encountered when Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated the globe from 1519 to 1521. The philippines had been organized in miniscule competitive chiefdoms. The Spanish took them over between 1565 and 1650, and established full colonial rule. The Philippines remained a Spanish colonial territory until 1898. The Filipino society was the only major Christian outpost in Asia. The Spaniards introduced forced relocation, tax, tributes, and unpaid labor. There were periodic revolts by the Chinese population. The Spaniards expelled or massacred them several

The Philippines was a country ruled by dictator Ferdinand Marcos from 1917-1989 (Kenney 78). Many things could have happened to prevent Marcos from continuing his rule. These included strong guerrilla forces that were trying to

The Philippines is a land of cultural and natural diversity.  Before the Spanish colonization the main settlers in the Philippines are mainly The  Ati, Badjao, Igorots, Ilongots, Lumad, Mangayan, Negritos of Luzon, Palawan tribes and Tumandok.(https://www.slideshare.net/jhayrmoja/ung-kauri-mo-teh) . According to http://www.ph.undp.org/ ,  " estimated 12-17 million Indigenous peoples (IPs) belonging to the 110

The Filipino Middle class started to emerge. These class which were also called “The Ilustrados” studied abroad, primarily in Europe which is the cradle of reformation, in order to learn so that they could have the capability to liberate themselves from the Spanish colonizers. This also began the expansion of various European Political thought. The emergence of an educated middle class caused a demand for the recognition of its capability to lead the nation. This was manifested through the writing of Rizal, who studied in Spain and other European countries and integrate these learnings to his writings. These works which contained the abuse and maltreatment of the Spanish served as the eye-opener for his countrymen. Another Filipino who was greatly influence, not only by the works of Rizal but also the different movements which occurred in Europe was Bonifacio. Influenced by the French Revolution and the ideas of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, Bonifacio used this as tools for rebellion. In accordance to the event which led to the revolution, if the state no longer do its duty to the people, the latter have the rights to depose the former (Social Contract Theory) . Since the government led by Spanish authorities do not function for the benefit of the Filipino people, Bonifacio and the revolutionaries deemed it proper to overthrow the government and establish the same which will operate for

I believe it is important to mention a couple important events in the Philippine history. In 1521 chief Lapu-Lapu declined the invitation to the Spanish norm and Christianity from Ferdinand Magellan. The Spanish and Filipino men then fought and Magellan was found dead. Also, in 1946 the United States freed the Philippines from the Japanese during World War II.

Before the Spaniards came, Islam had already entered the Philippines, mainly in Mindanao and Sulu. Upon the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century, the conversion of the inhabitants of Luzon and Visayas were their responsibility. The people of Luzon and Visayas were mostly converted to Catholicism, while they never succeeded in converting and controlling Mindanao. The greater part of the Mindanao still remained free and Islamic, the Moros had successfully freed themselves from the Spanish rule for over 300 years. When the Philippines was sold to US in the Treaty of Paris, Mindanao was brought under control. Dr. Macapado Muslim (1994) sums up the historical roots and contemporary causes of the Moro problem foundational causes from 1898

The native demand for liberation from Spain had been building since the 1880s. In 1892 a poor warehouseman by the name of Andres Bonifacio organized a group called the Katiunan, hoping to drive the Spaniard’s out of the Philippines. As in other insurgencies, we are seeing groups coming together for the same objective, but not all insurgent groups get along. In 1896 after a reign of terror against the islanders, Emilio Aguinaldo, a rival group leader, took over leadership by having Bonifacio executed. The insurgency was forced into the hills, but the fighting continued. The people wanted Spain out and supported an independent Philippines. In 1897 Spain paid Aguinaldo off to stop the fighting and sent him to Hong Kong. This put the insurgency back into survival mode and brought a temporary peace.

The Filipinos on the other hand were not happy about transferring one trade colonizer, that being the Spanish, for another that being the Americans. Since the Philippine’s accused the USA of saying that they would be given independence directly after the Spanish-American War, the USA had to plunge a fierce struggle. In 1902 the USA defeated the Philippines and started to active things. Some things the

There were numerous ways in which the Spanish colonizers abused us, but the most concerning of all was the fact that they deprived us of our right to education. After the Spaniards left the Philippines in the hands of the Americans, the Filipinos found hope and knew that better days were coming. The Filipinos knew that freedom was finally in their hands for they are now free from oppression. They are now aware of the impact and the benefits of having American colonizers in the country. With the offer of protecting the Philippines from other colonizers, the Americans also pledged to provide public education to the citizens.

The Spanish colonization in the Philippines lead to us to make some questions in our mind on how does the Filipino survived? Even though they

The Philippines is a very diverse island because when it was being established the people that came there were mostly immigrants and migrated there from other lands. They were mainly descents of Chinese, but they also have descents of Spanish and American. They had very little contact with surrounding countries. Since, the population was made up of immigrants the Philippines was passed around by different rulers. At one point, the Philippines was ruled by the Spanish and that's why most Filipinos have Spanish names because they required them to. The Philippines gets its name from the King of Spain, Philip II, who was one of the rulers of the Philippines. Overall, Spain had a lot of influence over the history of the Philippines.

The failure to achieve political independence of pre-war nationalism in Southeast Asia was mainly due to the interplay of nationalist factors, impact of colonial response and inherent society composition. Nationalist disunity watered down mass support which was key to success, while colonial rule hindered the development of nationalism and the nature Southeast Asian society made unification hard to achieve. Different causes had different level of significance in different countries.