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GE1804 Filipinos and their Revolution: Events, Discourse, and Historiography An Abridged Version...

GE1804 Filipinos and their Revolution: Events, Discourse, and Historiography An Abridged Version By Reynaldo Ileto BERNARDO CARPIO: AWIT AND REVOLUTION The Philippine Revolution, despite being one of the most famous events in national history, is still muddled with questions due to some problems regarding its conception. One such problem is the relationship between the educated ilustrados and the inarticulate "masses." The ilustrados were the ones who left most documents behind while the "masses" were the grunts and pawns in this revolution. In the pre-colonial Philippine society, the principalia (i.e., gentry) has a patron-client relationship with their people, which allowed them to draw and mobilize war troops. But that is not the case in the revolution, where the common folk offered both body and soul not just to the individual personalities behind the revolution, but of their conceptions of the meaning of the "times." As written by John Schumacher, the ilustrados created the basis for a Filipino history that would undermine and overthrow the Spanish narrative that mandated Filipino loyalty to Spain under moral sanctions. It seemed powerful enough to drive them to establish a nation, but it is unclear how it could impulsively break the ties provided of utang-na-loob (i.e., debt of gratitude) to Spain -- spanning three centuries of rule over the indios. After all, utang-na-loob is based on remembering the past. And the revolution changed all that. Spain has imposed censorship and other forms of intellectual repression during their rule. Because of these, the "indoctrinated" turned to reading religious tracts, such as the pasyon, corridos, and the awit, a form of metrical romances. One (1) famous awit, aside from Francisco Balagtas' more popular Florante at Laura, is the story of Bernardo Carpio, written in the Historia Famosa ni Bernardo Carpio, which is based on the legend of the Spanish hero of the same name. This tale reveals a popular perception of the past where Filipino nationalists attached their separatist views. Famously known for its unknown authorship, it has the same formula of being based in a European protagonist (which, in this case, is Spanish) fighting some Moorish enemies. It was greenlit by the friars after being filtered out from Mexico, whose negative views on the Muslim populace earned them certain control over the "indoctrinated," patronizing Spain and Catholicism further. These forms of literary work slowly replaced the indigenous literature that these Spanish priests destroyed soon after. Soon, the native priests and laymen quickly drew to them and instantly became a "blockbuster" of sorts. So powerful and popular was the impact of this awit that it was said the average indio have dreamt of emulating chivalrous knights fighting in the Crusade or saving damsels in distress, knew more about Charlemagne, the Seven Peers of France, and the destruction of Troy rather than the Philippine rajahs and the destruction of Manila caused by these colonizers. However, despite the popularity of the awit, the revolution still occurred. Contrary to some ilustrados' belief that these so-called pobres y ignorantes were enamored in fairy tales, these same clueless masses formed the bulk of the revolution, fighting both Spain and the United States. To understand this a bit, it is time to analyze what this awit is about. The original author of the Historia Famosa narrated that he cherry-picked some details in the Spanish story of Bernardo Carpio and proceeded in this manner: The king and queen of Spain have died, leaving their young son Alfonso and daughter Jimena behind. Don Sancho, the count of Cerdeña, served as an acting ruler until Alfonso comes of age. When Alfonso became king, he remained unmarried, while Don Sancho became the royal adviser and commanding general. His friend, Don Rubio, was the captain of the army. 02 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 5  GE1804 Jimena, upon reaching adulthood, had smitten both Sancho and Rubio, their inner being (called loob) confused with their feelings. Jimena rebuked Rubio's advances, "hardening" his loob, and became treacherous and selfish. Sancho, a man capable of love, won Jimena's heart by professing his life for her. This heartfelt confession resembles the kundiman of the Tagalogs. Typical in the 19th-century awit, a Moro envoy appeared to challenge Alfonso and his throne. The king entrusted Sancho to win the war but warned him to never meet Jimena. Defying this order, he sneaked into her room and professed his farewell. Jimena, with her confused loob overpowered with his words, surrendered herself to him. Sancho indeed won the war in a gruesome manner, but Rubio was already aware that both lovers met. He plotted his revenge to Sancho by manipulating Alfonso into having his sister be married to the Count of Barcelona and cement an alliance. Sancho heard this and furiously cornered his friend. Fearing for his life, his loob filled with fear and shame, Rubio backed down -- but not until he heard Jimena giving birth. Reporting it to Alfonso, the king swore to ruin the lives of his sister and his adviser. The event forced Sancho to take the infant Bernardo and flee to Cerdeña. The author took this to narrate Jimena's grief: Alin cayang loob na sacdal nang tigas What loob however hard alin namang puso ang hindi mabagbag, what heart would not be overcome by this na 'di malunusan at magdalang sindac and be saddened and struck with pain sa dalauang sintang ang loob ay tapat? for the two lovers with a pure loob? As they fled from Jimena's quarters, Sancho was attacked by Alfonso's men. When the infant cried, the king joined in the fray and accused Sancho of treachery. The former adviser knelt and begged for mercy, asking for his hand to wed Jimena. Alfonso, manipulative as he was, gave his word, but not before luring Sancho to visit the castle of Luna. Upon reaching the grounds, Sancho was chained and tortured him until he went blind. Lamenting at his pain and blindness, Sancho poured out his heart and soul in his monologue of being separated from Jimena and Bernardo. He ended it with an appeal to God to have pity on young Bernardo: At maquilala rin ang tunay na ina And may he eventually recognize at aco'i, gayon din na caniyang ama, his true mother and true father na cun siya Poon nama'i lumaqui na and when, Lord, he comes of age aco po, Dios co, nama'i maquilala. may he, Lord God, recognize me. Meanwhile, Rubio was entrusted to care for Bernardo and ordered him to withhold information on the child's parentage. Alfonso then threw his sister to a cloister, scolded her for the "sins" she committed, and forgot all the love and care he gave to her and told her that she had failed to show her utang-na-loob for things past. Much like Sancho, Alfonso left her fate to God's will. As Bernardo grew up, everybody noted upon his strength and stamina, always on the move: Na lalacad-lacad ualang pinupunta He walks and walks, but goes nowhere, ang loob at puso'i, parating balisa … his loob and heart always perturbed … With Bernardo's powers unstable, killing every animal he came across, people began to complain to Rubio. Bernardo asked his "father" to let him serve King Alfonso as a knight, but he was rebuffed by Rubio, telling him that he can't serve as a knight without his past. Realizing he was adopted, he broke down in tears, until Alfonso came along to see them. Showing pity to the young man, Bernardo was knighted and adopted by Alfonso. Killing Rubio in a duel, he was granted an army and became a general -- avenging his true father. Being adopted by Alfonso let Bernardo "refine" his powers through endless battles, with his rival being Emperor Carpio, whose territories were impenetrable even by the Twelve Peers of France. One day, Carpio's envoy, Veromilla, arrived at Spain and demanded vassalage from the king or else face invasion. Bernardo, in his usual antics, attacked the envoy: 02 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 5  GE1804 At tuloy tinampal and upuang silla He struck the chair upon which the envoy sat ay agad natapon sampong embajada, causing him to fall over nagcadurog-durog nabaling lahat na everything was crushed, broken to pieces nangusap ang hari Bernardo'i sucat na. the king tried to calm Bernardo: Anac co, aniya, icao ay maglibang My so, he said, just take it easy at iya'i 'di utos sa leing alin man, to attack an envoy as you did na ang embajada ay malalabanan is against all the rules caya ang loob mo ay magpacahusay. so straighten out your loob. As Veromilla returned to his camp, Bernardo implored to Alfonso to give his blessing and let him singlehandedly fight the enemy. As he was given his blessing, Bernardo wasted no time and laid waste to Veromilla's camp, with the envoy fleeing in panic. Upon his return, he dedicated his victory to the king, attributing it to God's mercy (awa) and to fate. He asked for a single request in return: to tell him the identity of his true parents. Alfonso tried to deceive Bernardo by making a deal: defeat Emperor Carpio for the information. Knowing Caprio's reputation, he was sure that Bernardo would die. However, he miscalculated Bernardo's powers. Conquering Carpio's nineteen castles until the emperor himself surrendered, Bernardo now owned Carpio's territories. Upon returning to Spain once more, Bernardo Carpio, as his new name, was shocked to find a French prince ruling the kingdom, also named Bernardo. Alfonso, while on a hunting trip, explained that he temporarily relinquished the throne to the French to honor the "traditional ties" between the two kingdoms. Furious with this, Bernardo Carpio scorned Alfonso's response and despised him for not honoring their bargain. He angrily declared that he would find parents by force. And by force, he did -- killing the king's horses to prevent pursuit. On his way, he knelt in prayer to both God and the Virgin Mary when, in the act of deus ex machina, a letter floated down from the heavens, revealing his parents' whereabouts and additional instructions to do before finding them. He was told to cut the ties between Spain and France, then headed by Emperor Ludovico. The French cut ties with Spain, for fear of Bernardo Carpio's powers, which prompted Bernardo to visit the castle in Luna. Shifting the narrative to Sancho, lamenting in his own darkness and Alfonso's cruelty: Icao naman cay ana sintang anac co And you my beloved son na nababalitang Don Bernardo Carpio, who, I hear, is now called Don Bernardo Carpio tanang villa't reino ay nasasapit mo have passed through a multitude of towns and 'di mo na narrating ama mong si Sancho. kingdoms and yet have not found your father, Sancho. Ano baga bunso na giulio co't sinta 'di na siniyasat ang poon mo't ama, Why, my beloved child ang puso't loob mo'i 'di na nabalisa have you not searched for your lord, your father? sa nagdaralita't dito'i nagdurusa? Haven't your heart and loob been moved by my sufferings and laments? By some act of miracle, Bernardo found Sancho's prison cell, killed the guards, and freed his father. However, their reunion was bittersweet because Sancho succumbed to his injuries. Finally, legitimizing his parentage, he brought Sancho's corpse back to Alfonso's palace, where Jimena was to be wed. Only after the father, mother, and son reunited did Bernardo pretended to discover that Sancho died -- a fitting end to a tragic tale. However, the awit provided more. Declining the Spanish throne, Bernardo Carpio roamed the lands and punished idolaters. In his exile, he found a churchlike structure with two lion statues guarding the entrance. Kneeling in prayer outside the building, a lightning bolt struck and destroyed one of the lions. Angered with this, he threw the other statue away and vowed to destroy the lightning. Not far away from the church, he saw two (2) mountains slamming 02 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 5  GE1804 against each other at regular intervals. Then an angel from heaven appeared and told Bernardo that the lightning had entered the mountain. The angel guided him towards the center of the two mountains. Bernardo stood in the middle and stopped the mountains from colliding using his strength. God, knowing that Bernardo was a powerful champion, blessed him with eternal life and cloaked him so that none may see him doing this colossal feat. This summarized awit is vital to the study of the revolution in two respects: (1) by appropriating a Spanish tale into a native retelling, it enabled a group of people without a history of themselves, as a people, to have imagined a lost past and a yearning for freedom from Spain; and (2) the awit's crafted structure enabled nationalists to use it as their medium for their political ideas. The first point argued that Bernardo Carpio's last journey alludes that Carpio represents the Philippines in the story and that he was the indigenous king of the Tagalogs trapped inside a mountain, struggling to break free and fight off the oppressors. This ideology of Bernardo Carpio earned the interest of Jose Rizal, who used the premise of the tale in El Filibusterismo as a plot device in a conversation about the possibility of an armed revolt. In this scene, Rizal was careful to separate the "mythical" from the "national" in his writings. The second point noted that to deal with the Historia Famosa and its connection with nationalist ideas, it must juxtapose the various aspects of the awit with nationalist writings. While Rizal was in Europe studying Antonio de Morga's work in a British museum, the poem Hibik ng Filipinas sa Ynang España was being secretly circulated in the local populace. The author, a teacher by the name of Hermenegildo Flores, worked with Marcelo del Pilar to bring the anti-friar issue into the light. The key to the poem's meaning lies in the opening stanza: Ynang mapag-ampon Españang marilag, Oh, beautiful and generous Mother Spain nasaan ang iyong pagtingin sa anac? where is your loving concern for your child? Acong iyong bunson abang Filipinas. It is I, your youngest born, unfortunate Filipinas. Tingni't sa dalita'i 'di na maca-iuas! Glance at me, you cannot ignore my suffering! What follows this is a history of the country under the rule of corrupt friars, who used their authority to accumulate wealth through trickery (daya) via various taxes and "voluntary" contributions, which "granted" a swift entrance to heaven. In the middle of it, it also narrated the friar-instigated murder of the liberal Governor-General Bustamante in 1719. All these narrations are accompanied with the imagery of a mother- child perspective, which became the foundation and feature of nationalist poetry directed to the mass audience. Going back to the awit, the laments of the prominent characters draw feelings of the reader's personal relationships -- effectively utilizing empathy (damay). This poem had a sequel, entitled Sagot ng España sa Hibik nang Pilipinas, illegally circulated in the country. This poem follows the same pattern as the former, which again is directed toward the reader's empathy. This is why modern writers and film critics are dismayed in the Philippine Cinema and Television industry: this form of writing and plot is a popular piece for mass consumption. This theme was re-explored in the establishment of the Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK). Its founder, Andres Bonifacio, used this in his writings, but this time its logic is aimed at demanding a revolution. Growing up in awit poetry, Bonifacio used his knowledge in his theater work to rewrite the Historia Famosa to his liking, using Tagalog names in place of the original. Through this, Bonifacio made King Alfonso represent Spain, Sancho, and Jimena to be the devoted parents of the Tagalogs (which can be interpreted as the entire country), Rubio representing the friars, and Bernardo Carpio himself as the youth of the land -- the lost indios who had no historical heritage. The mountains that imprisoned Bernardo was changed to Montalban. 02 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 4 of 5  GE1804 RIZAL AND THE UNDERSIDE OF PHILIPPINE HISTORY In contrast with the Southeast Asian neighbors having been transformed by the great traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism -- which gave them a feeling of being exotic and impenetrable, the Philippines is transparent and knowable. When John Phelan wrote his history book about the country, he never actually visited the Philippines, nor learn anything about it. He, instead, based his work on Spanish source materials and with his familiarity with Latin America. However, his work showed something regarding Filipinos and the Spanish culture: the natives were no longer passive recipients of the things Spain had. The Filipinos' responses varied from indifference and rage to simple acceptance. Because of this treatment, anything that was made by the natives was easily dismissed as either devotional or literary, except with a few personal correspondences. This had led to some degree of anxiety to Filipinos about the possibility that there was a truly Filipino history before the mid-19th century. It was until 1872, when the GomBurZa were executed, did the Filipino perspective shifted from blind acceptance of Spain's presence to an awareness that there must be something that caused them pain. The execution garnered much public sympathy and outrage that the control that Spain had begun to weaken, leading to an awakening of the nationalist spirit and the struggle for independence. However, this evolutionist view on the events depends on the assumption that the Filipinos lived in lavish innocence and wonder before being enslaved by the colonizers. Rizal himself noted to a text in a 17th-century Spanish written history book that the natives forgot their alphabet, their songs, poetry, and laws among others, to imitate other doctrines that they themselves did not know, losing their confidence in their own past, faith in the present, and hope for the future -- a dark and grim fate. Rizal labored in the British Museum to research and document the image of a flourishing pre-colonial civilization, which he awakened consciousness and self-assertion. His construction of a "usable past," in turn, privileged the other ilustrados to help educate the history-less, superstitious, manipulated masses (i.e., pobres y ignorantes -- naïve and ignorant). Given that the indios were converted into Christianity, one has to move beyond the established and familiar views of how the indios were affected by the new religion. On one hand, the Pro-Spain views that Christianity brought civilized etiquette, salvation, and unity in the archipelago. On the other hand, nationalists argued that Christianity was used as a weapon for facilitating the political and economic enslavement of the "indoctrinated". Whichever side was chosen, the indios are the passive recipient, The friars, as representatives of God on Earth, are viewed as exerting a powerful moral hold over his native wards. He interprets the rules of Christian behavior, rewarding the obedient and submissive, and punishing the evildoers. It can be implicitly stated that Christianity had an impact on the indios' resignation to their reality: resignation to forced labor and head tax, and submission to the whims of the maguinoo (i.e., native chiefs or gentry). However, it is viewed, there's always room for allowing the triumph of liberal ideas in the 19th century. REFERENCES: Ileto, R. (1998). Bernardo Carpio: Awit and revolution. In Filipinos and their revolution: Event, discourse, and historiography. Ateneo de Manila University Press Ileto, R. (1998). Rizal and the underside of Philippine history. In Filipinos and their revolution: Event, discourse, and historiography. Ateneo de Manila University Press 02 Handout 2 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 5 of 5