Guide Questions:

1. In your judgement, do you think the reasons that had caused the Filipinos to revolt
against the Spaniards were sufficient and likewise legitimate? Was the kind of their
response against the colonizer proportionate? Explain.

For me, the reasons that had caused the Filipinos to revolt against the Spaniards were
sufficient and legitimate. These reasons include denial of human rights. Another is the lack of
religious freedom. There are also abuses from the friars. There is also rampant racial
prejudice. There is also forced labor. Another is the usurpation of Filipno lands by religious
orders. Worst is the malpractices of Spanish government officials in the beaurucracy
resulting to massive graft and corruption. Plus the excessive taxes being collected to the
Filipinos. Another is also due to the loss of power and influence of the native chieftains.
Also, the loss of power of the local prienst who controlled the craft of magic and idolatry to
Christian missionaries.

However their response against the colonizer were not appropriate. They had no sense of
unity and nationalism back then. The don’t have national leaders to unify them. There was
even no training and preparations in warfare plus the fact that they lack superior arms and
weapons against the more organized Spaniards. Also, Filipinos are more loyal to the
Spaniards. So they helped the Spaniards than their fellow Filipinos. The uprisings were more
localized and random. Thus the revolts were easily defeated by the more superior and
organized Spanish forces. The Spanish policy divide et impera proved to be advantageous for
the Spaniards because it developed animosity among the natives. Although these revolts were
mostly a failure it did taught the future generations of Filipinos the importance of unity. The
failure of each revolt was a step towards political awakening.

2. Among the reasons known causing the failure of the early revolts of the Filipinos against
the Spaniards, identify two and explain why are you convinced that their fight against the
colonizer was doomed to fail.

Without a sense of national unity and nationalism their fight against the colonizers was
doomed to fail. Unity and nationalism is very important in raising awareness and unity
amongst the natives. Without these characteristics it would be very difficult to defeat the
Spaniards. The Spaniards have already establised a strong and organized government. They
already have strong forces and military warfare that can defeat any suppression and revolts.
They Filipinos on their own have no centralized form of leadership and decision. Any group
individual or group can just act on their own against the Spaniards. To me, this is like a
suicide attempt. It’s like the battle of David and Goliath. You cannot defeat a strong froce
with a weaker and divided forces. This is what happened with the early Filipino revolts
against the Spaniards.

Another is the absence of national leaders. Without someone who can inspire the
Filipinos during those early revolts, it would really be of a disadvantage to any group. You
need someone to motivate you. Someone who will have the charisma of gathering and
uniting the rest of the Filipinos to fight for a common interest. Someone who has the will and
dedication to stand against a common enemy which was the Spaniards at that time. We now
have national heroes now, but back then these national heroes wre just regular individuals
who were not even united with each other. If only our national heroes back then have been
united then it could be possible that they have won those revolts.