CHAPTER 10:
extent of naming Rizal as the father if the Filipino
Noli Me Tangere, Continuing Relevance
Noli Me tangere
 Is considered by many as a landmark piece
of literature.
 Was triggered social conversations in the
late nineteenth century Philippines.
 Was translated into different languages;
French- earliest translation.
 Is a Latin phrase which means “touch me
not” and he dedicated to the Philippines as
“to my fatherland”
 1887- First published in Berlin, Germany.
 There were early attempts translate the novel
into German (by Blumentritt and even
Tagalog (by Rizal’s brother, paciano).
 American colonization- 20th century-other
translation and other editions was came out
 Charles Derbyshire- most circulated
version were English translations.
 1930’s- translated English, French,
Japanese, Tagalog, Cebuano, Waray, Iloilo
and Bikol.
 1950’s- the very controversy that surrounded
the passage of the Rizal Law indicated the
relevance of the text.
 Censorship- the suppression of the release
or publication of material deemed
inappropriate, obscene, politically
unacceptable, or a threat to security.
 Critique- an evaluation, analysis, or
assessment of a literary, philosophical, or
scientific work
 Sociology- the social science dealing with
the study of the development, structures, and
functioning if human society.
Resil Mojares- he was scholar who went to the
novel (testa-de ocampo, 2011).
Fray Salvador font- chair if the censorship
commission, outlawed the reading and possession of
Rizal’s novel.
Spanish Friars- they assessed and judged the book
as pernicious and devout Catholics not to read the
novel to avoid committing capital sins.
Vicente Barrantes- published an article La espana
Modena attacking Ferdinand Blumentritt a German
friend of Rizal.
Spaniards and Filipinos- Noli were created uproar
of debates, condemnations, affirmations and
accusations.
Noli and the study of a colonial
 Sociologist Syed Fareed Alatas- described
Rizal as “probably the first systematic social
thinker in Southeast Asia.
 Many scholars interpret Noli as Rizal’s
diagnosis of the ills of colonial society as he
assessed the role played by the church, state,
and the people.
 He underscored the importance of education
as a powerful tool of progress and he
emphasized the good qualities of the
Filipino and exposed some misguided
Filipinos that contributed to the ills of the
society.
CHAPTER 11:
Looking at the Filipino Past
 During the Spanish colonial period,
Philippine history was primarily written by
the Spaniards.
 Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas – is an
Antonio Morga’s work which Jose Rizal’s
annotation was an attempt to redress this
biased view of the Filipinos.
 Audiencia – the Royal Audiencia or the
royal court of justice in Spain and its
colonies.
 Ecclesiastics – the religious missionaries.
 Secular – having ideas and attitudes not
determined by any religious bias.
ANTONIO MORGA
 was a Spanish administrator who served in
the Philippines in the late sixteenth century.
 He was born in Seville in 1559 and began
working for the government in 1580.
 He served as the Lieutenant-Governor –
2nd most powerful position in colony.
 Also as a judge of the Audiencia in 1598.
 Served as the president of the Audiencia in
Mexico, year of 1615.
 He was later investigated for corruption and
was found guilty.
 He died in 1636 before being sent to the
gallows.
Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
- was published in 1609 in Mexico and
consisted of eight chapters.
- The first seven chapters dealt with the terms
of the governor-generals who had serve in
the Philippines from the time of Miguel
Lopez de Legazpi in 1565 to Pedro de
Acuña in 1606.
- The last chapter titled “An account of the
Philippines Islands”.
 Late 1889 at British Museum, Rizal found a
copy of the first edition of Antonio Morga’s
work and began copying the text by hand.
 September 1889, Rizal decided to publish
the annotations himself in Garnier
Hermanos, a printing press based in Paris.
Ambeth Ocampo – a historian provides five
reasons behind Rizal’s choice.
First reason: Morgan’s work in its original
Spanish edition was rare.
- Never been reprinted in full until Rizal
published his annotations in 1889.
Second reason: Provided a secular view of
historical events during the early Spanish
colonial period.
Third reason: Rizal’s belief says that a secular
account was more credible than those written by
religious missionaries.
Fourth reason: it was more sympathetic
towards the natives in contrast to the biased
accounts written by the friars.
 Rizal’s publication work, Noli Me Tángere
showing a view of the present.
 El Filibusterismo and “The Philippines a
Century Hence” illustrating a view of he
future, and the annotations clarifying a view
of the past.
 Rizal’s annotation of the Morga’s Sucesos
must also be seen within the context of the
Propaganda Movement.
 The annotations explored the possibilities of
creating a Filipino identity anchored clearly
on a pre-Spanish past.
  Pigafetta- who described the flourishing
trade of goods such as cinnamon, nuts,
CHAPTER 12: pepper and articles.
Indolence or Industry  Mining- was also practiced by early
Filipinos as evidenced by pigafetta’s
descriptions of vessels and utensil made of
pure gold.
 Indolence in the natives was a view
 Wars waged- when Rizal determines that
commonly held by foreigners who came to
circumstances that produced a predisposition
the Philippines serve as evident.
toward laziness during the early stages of
 Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos- colonization.
Rizal’s essay which means On the Indolence
 Moro Piracies- abuses by the Spaniards
of the Filipinos.
against Filipinos, an all the death and
 Indio – a term used by the Spaniards to refer
destructions took away from the Filipinos
to the native Filipinos; occasionally used in
the desire to work
a derogatory manner.
 He also stated that Filipinos had also flaws
 Moro piracy – a series of raids in several
and does not deny the existence the
Philippine towns committed by Muslims indolence
from Mindanao during the seventeenth to
 Rizal argues convincingly that indolence in
eighteenth centuries.
the Filipinos is not an inherent trait, but
 Gemelli Careri – an Italian traveler who
rather a malady with its own causes and
came to the country in the seventeenth
cures.
century.
 A more scathing portrayal was given by friar
Gaspar de San Agustin in 1720.
 Indolence was also commented upon by the
German scholar Feodor Jagor in the
nineteenth century.
 Rizal’s work, “Sobre la Indolencia de los
Filipinos”, was an attempt to rectify this
view.
 The essay was serialized in six issues of La
Solidaridad from July 15 to September 15,
1890.
- It addressed the accusations made by
foreign observers by establishing
through careful argumentation that
indolence was not an inherent trait
but was an effect of other conditions
imposed upon the Filipinos.
 Rizal’s reasoning echoes the ideas laid down
earlier by Gregorio Sanciano’s El Progreso
de las Filipinas in 1881.
- Sancianco advocated for reforms in
the government’s taxation system.
- He also confronted the issue of the
laziness of Filipinos.