The Essence of Research in the Study of Rizal PDF

GE1804 TAKEAWAYS FOR WEEKS 06-07 The Essence of Research in the Study of Rizal The study of the life and works of Jose Rizal is a...

GE1804 TAKEAWAYS FOR WEEKS 06-07 The Essence of Research in the Study of Rizal The study of the life and works of Jose Rizal is a result of decades of research about Jose Rizal, as well as the study about the conditions of the Philippines during the Spanish Colonization. In essence, the life of Jose Rizal and the country's social conditions during the Spanish Colonization are inextricable. Since the term "research" has been mentioned, let us define what it is. Research is a systematic method of investigating and studying materials to establish facts and conclusions. Thus, we establish truths and information based on concrete, substantial evidence. One (1) way of obtaining information is through an interview. An interview is the method of obtaining information through an interchange of questions and answers. The researcher personally asks someone about something, which is reciprocated with information, which can be scrutinized later when corroborated with other pieces of evidence obtained in other means. The Philippines During the Spanish Colonization The Philippines, before it was colonized, had been a thriving civilization, with its own established cultures, traditions, ways of living, religions, and laws. This was also when we had established trade relations with nearby countries, such as China and Indonesia, among others. For the Chinese, we have bartered pearls and other produce for porcelain, jade, and silk, among others being carried in their junk (i.e., trading boat). Each barangay had a datu, the leader, and prime defender of the community. These leaders may not be accommodating towards outsiders, but they were not dictators (as narrated by Filomeno Aguilar). However, when Spain set foot on our native soil, the pre-colonial lifestyle began to dwindle except in some parts of Mindanao. During this time, the colonial government implemented taxation onto the colonized natives and their trade partners. The taxation system can be seen in its established Casta. The casta is divided into sections, which dictated their tax value. Peninsulares Tax-Free Americano Insulares Mestizo de Español Variable Tax Mestizo de Bombay Mestizaje Value Mestizo de Sangley Tornatras Quadrupled Sangley Tax Value Base Tax Indio Value Negrito Filipinos and the Negritos pay only the base value, making them the only ones who pay the minimum amount. The Sangleys are the pure-blooded Chinese who lived in the country. They pay to quadruple the base amount because of their business and labor skills. The mestizaje is the racially ambiguous people who paid tax based on their lineage and status. As an example, if a Sangley businessman had a mestiza de Sangley, daughter, the daughter would pay half as much as her father's tax rate. However, should the 03 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 4  GE1804 mestiza daughter marry an Americano, who paid zero tax alongside the insulares and the peninsulares, her tax would be removed altogether. However, the treatment she would receive from the masses would remain the same. Indians also lived in the country, but they were not part of the casta. Below the blancos (i.e., the "tax-free" casta) were the mestizaje, whose casta were based on their parentage. Mixed blood by nature, their status often fluctuated, and their taxes were the same as the indios (except for the mestizo de Sangleys). Of the four (4) mestizos, the Tornatras were the lowest because they had more than two (2) racial parentages, hinting that the Tornatras had the most intermingling of races. If we are to look at them today, we can use the following celebrities and heroes as examples: NAME IMAGE HERITAGE(S) CASTA Paul Patrick Filipino-German Tornatras Gruenberg (possibly multiracial "Polo Ravales" to his Filipino side) Source: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1066382/bio Trinidad Spanish (born in the Insulares (Mestizo Hermenigildo Pardo Philippines) de Español in some de Tavera references) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_Pardo_de_Tavera Kristina Bernadette Filipino-Chinese Mestizo de Sangley Aquino "Kris Aquino" Source: https://mydramalist.com/people/20452-kris- aquino Cesar Manhilot Filipino Indio "Cesar Montano" Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Montano 03 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 4  GE1804 Ramon Bagatsing III Filipino-Indian Mestizo de Bombay "Raymond (surname Filipinized Bagatsing" from Indian Bhagat Singh) Source: http://www.showbizportal.net/2011/10/raymond- bagatsing-assailed-ex-wife-cora.html Jose Protacio Rizal Multiracial Tornatras (however, Mercado y Alonso he was considered Realonda a mestizo de Sangley) Source: https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/12/30/news/top- stories/jose-rizals-prowess-in-sports-legendary/668654/ Along with the establishment of the casta was the implementation of the polo and bandala. Polo is the forced labor imposed upon Filipino men aged 16-60 years. They were required to do skilled labor for 40 days, which was reduced to 15 days. Filipinos can be exempted from this labor in two (2) ways: 1. They had to pay a fine (called a falla); or 2. Work until they paid their debt. Not even death could prevent the debt from growing. If the abled men died, their unpaid debts would be passed on to the next abled men in the family, and so on. If the able person's age was below the requirement, yet their birthday drew close to the recruitment date, then they would render polo nonetheless. The History of Land Ownership and Peasantry in the Philippines During Rizal's education in the Philippines, Paciano provided ample funding for his younger brother to study abroad. This made Rizal a member of the ilustrado, an expatriate whose sole purpose abroad was to study. However, when Rizal arrived and settled in Europe, problems began to rise in Calamba regarding the lands owned by his family. The problems with agrarian ownership have been a long-standing problem in the country, which was more evident during the Spanish Occupation. This was when the local serfs (i.e., the aliping namamahay) were stripped of their lands by the Spaniards, who used these lands for their own. These lands were cultivated by the same natives who were once the former owners. Such problems began to expound when friars became the owners, particularly in Negros and Calamba. In Calamba, the Dominicans began to exploit the natives with their ever-fluctuating tax values. This was viewed by the Calambeños as abusive and began to argue with the abusive Dominicans -- especially when they grabbed the lands owned by the Mercados. They at first appealed to the local government but were ignored due to the influence of the Dominicans in the place. Thus, they prompted Rizal to conduct an investigation, whose reports would be submitted to a local judge connected to Paciano to even the odds. However, in the end, their protestations fell onto deaf ears. 03 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 4  GE1804 The Cavite Mutiny The Cavite Mutiny was one (1) of the aftermaths of the civil war that erupted in Spain during Queen Isabella II's reign. On 27 February 1767, King Carlos III of Spain ordered the complete expulsion of the sect of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) from Spain and all her colonies. Then Governor-General Raon tried to help the religious order in exchange for bribes. Once the Jesuits destroyed their documents and hid all their possessions, there was a shortage of priests when Raon died before being punished by his successor. Then Manila archbishop Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa spearheaded the conversion and ordainment of Filipinos into the priesthood, which was heavily opposed. This argument came to be known as the secularization issue. Back then, news traveled slowly. When then Governor-General Carlos Maria de la Torre was still in the country, he received a letter about his reinstatement without knowing about the civil war in Spain. Upon his departure, his liberal program was stunted upon the sudden arrival of Rafael Geronimo Cayetano Izquierdo. Izquierdo noted that he would rule the Philippines "with a cross in one hand and a sword in the other". Thus, with a strict regime, the lives of the Filipinos began to crumble. When the mutiny occurred, the Spanish friars accused Filipino priest Jose Burgos, along with a few other secular priests, to be the masterminds of the event, despite being truly driven by the Filipinos' desires of escaping polo in Cavite, the "Land of the Brave". Due to the friar's influence, three (3) Filipino priests -- Mariano Gomez, Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora -- were implicated in the trial by another fellow Filipino, Francisco Zaldua (Saldua in other references). This event, among many others, paved the way to drive out Spain. REFERENCES: Aguilar, F. (1998). Elusive peasant, weak state: Sharecropping and the changing meaning of debt. In Clash of Spirits: The History of Power and Sugar Planter Hegemony on a Visayan Island, 63-77. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. HD9116 P53 N42 Aguilar, F. (2016). Sugar capitalism: The divergent paths of haciendas on Negros island and the Hacienda de Calamba. In Journal of Southeast Asian Studies Artigas, M. C. (1996). National glories: the events of 1872 (O. D. Corpuz, Trans.). Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. Rizal, J. P. (1889). La verdad para todos. In La Solidaridad, 1 (G. Fores-Galzon, Trans.). Pasig: Fundacion Santiago. DS651 S6 1996 Roth, D. M. (1982). Church lands in the agrarian history of Tagalog region. In Philippine social history: Global trade and local transformation (A. W. McCoy & E. de Jesus, Ed.), 131-153. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. HN713 P44 Schumacher, J. (1999). Historical introduction. In Father Jose Burgos: A documentary history with Spanish documents and their translations, 1-32. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. DS675.8 B8 S37 Schumacher, J. (2011). The Cavite mutiny: Towards a definitive history. In Philippine Studies, 59(1), 55-81 Schumacher, J. (2011). The Burgos manifesto: The authentic text and its genuine author. In Philippine Studies, 54(2), 153-304 Wickberg, E. (1964). The Chinese mestizo in Philippine history. In Journal of Southeast Asian History, 5(1), 62-100. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press Wickberg, E. (2000). The Philippine Chinese before 1850. In The Chinese in Philippine Life, 1850-1898, 25-36. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. D666 C5W5 2000 03 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 4 of 4