Buod: Sa kanyang liham sa mga kadalagahan ng Malolos na sinulat noog 1889, ipinahahayag ni Jose Rizal ang kanyang papuri at paggalang sa katapangang ipinamalas ng mga ito sa pagsusulong ng karapatan sa edukasyon – isang di-karaniwang hakbang para sa maraming kababaihan sa kanyang panahon. Ayon kay Rizal , namulat siya sa pananaw na ang kababaihang Pilipino ay katuwang sa layunin para sa ikagagaling ng bayan. Batay sa kanya, ang mithiin ng mga kadalagahan ng Malolos para sa karunungan ay patunay ng pagkamulat sa tunay na kahulugan ng kabanalan – kabanalang nakatuon sa kabutihang-asal, malinis na kalooban at matuwid na pag-iisip. Binibigyang-diin ni Rizal ang tungkulin ng kababaihan – bilang dalaga at asawa – sa pagbangon ng kanilang dignidad at halaga sa lipunan. Kaugnay nito, inilalarawan niya ang katangian ng kababaihan sa Europa at bilang halimbawa ay pinakita ang babaing Sparta bilang huwaran ng pagiging mabuting ina. Ipinapayo ni Rizal na gamitin ang halimbawang ito upang maitaguyod ang isang anak na marangal at magtatanggol sa bayan. Bahagi rin ng liham ang pagpapaalala ni Rizal sa lahat na gamitin ang isipang kaloob ng Diyos, upang matukoy ang katotohanan at hindi maging alipin ninuman. Pinupuna ang mga hindi kanais-nais na gawain ng mga prayle, gayundin ang pagiging mulat ukol sa tunay at huwad na relihiyon. Ang payo ni Rizal ay “mulatin ang mata ñg anak sa pag-iiñgat at pagmamahal sa puri, pag-ibig sa kapwa sa tinubuang bayan, at sa pagtupad ñg ukol. Ulit-uuliting matamisin ang mapuring kamatayan sa alipustang buhay”.

Mga Tala: Ika-17 ng Pebrero 1889 nang isulat ni Jose Rizal – gamit ang wikang Tagalog – ang liham na ito habang ginagawa ang anotasyon sa aklat ni Morga. Isinulat niya ito sa London, limang araw matapos ipaalam sa kanya ni Marcelo H. del Pilar ang isang mahalagang pangyayari sa bayan ng Malolos. Ayon sa pagsasalaysay, ika-12 ng Disyembre 1888 nang may 20 kadalagahan ng Malolos ang naghain ng petisyon kay Gobernador-Heneral Weyler upang magtayo ng isang “panggabing paaralan.” Layunin nila na mag-aral ng wikang Español sa ilalim ni Teodoro Sandiko, isang propesor sa Latin. Gayunpaman, hindi sinang-ayunan ni Padre Felipe Garcia, ang kura paroko, ang petisyon. Naging dahilan ito upang hindi rin pumayag ang gobernador-heneral na maitatag ang paaralan. Sa kabila ng pagtutol, hindi dagliang sumuko ang mga kadalagahan sa kanilang layunin. Patuloy silang nanawagan at nang lumaon, pumayag na rin ang pamahalaan na maitatag ang paaralan, bagama’t tumagal lamang ito ng tatlong buwan. Si Señora Guadalupe Reyes ang nagsilbing guro ng mga kadalagahan.

Europa Pebrero 1889

SA MGA KABABAYANG DALAGA SA MALOLOS:

Nang aking sulatin ang Noli Me Tangere, tinanong kong laon, kung ang pusuang dalaga’y karaniwan kaya diyan sa ating bayan. Matay ko mang sinaliksik yaring alaala; matay ko mang pinagisa-ngisa ang lahat ñg dalagang makilala sapul sa pagkabatá, ay mañgisa-ñgisa lamang ang sumaguing larawang aking ninanasá. Tunay at labis ang matamis na loob, ang magandang ugalí, ang binibining anyó, ang mahinhing asal; ñgunit ang lahat na ito’y laguing nahahaluan ñg lubos na pagsuyó at pagsunod sa balang sabi ó hiling nang nagñgañgalang amang kalulua (tila baga ang kaluluwa’y may iba pang ama sa Dios,) dala ñg malabis na kabaitan, kababaan ñg loob ó kamangmañgan kayá: anaki’y mga lantang halaman, sibul at laki sa dilim; mamulaklak ma’y walang bañgo, magbuñga ma’y walang katas.

Ñguní at ñgayong dumating ang balitang sa inyong bayang Malolos (=Malolos, Bulacan), napagkilala kong ako’y namalí, at ang tuá ko’y labis. Dí sukat ako sisihin, dí ko kilala ang Malolos, ni ang mga dalaga,liban sa isang Emilia, at ito pa’y sa ñgalan lamang.

Ñgayong tumugon kayo sa uhaw naming sigaw ñg ikagagaling ñg bayan; ñgayong nagpakita kayo ñg mabuting halimbawa sa kapuá dalagang nagnanasang paris ninyong mamulat ang mata at mahañgo sa pagkalugamí, sumisigla ang aming pag-asa, inaaglahì ang sakuná, sa pagka at kayo’y katulong na namin, panatag ang loob sapagtatagumpay. Ang babaing tagalog ay di na payukó at luhod, buhay na ang pagasa sa panahong sasapit; walá na ang inang katulong sa pagbulag sa anak na palalakhin sa alipustá at pagayop. Di na unang karunuñgan ang patuñgó ñg ulo sa balang maling utos, dakilang kabaitan ang ñgisi sa pagmura, masayang pangaliw ang mababang luhá. Napagkilala din ninyo na ang utos ñg Dios ay iba sa utos ñg Parí, na ang kabanalan ay hindi ang matagal na luhod, mahabang dasal, malalaking kuentas, libaguing kalmin, kundí ang mabuting asal, malinis na loob at matuid na isip. Napagkilala din ninyo na dí kabaitan ang pagkamasunurin sa ano mang pita at hiling ñg nagdidiosdiosan, kundi ang pagsunod sa katampata’t matuid, sapagka’t ang bulag na pagsunod ay siyang pinagmumulan ñg likong paguutos, at sa bagay na ito’y pawang nagkakasala. Dí masasabi ñg punó ó parí na sila lamang ang mananagot ñg maling utos; binigyan ñg Dios ang bawat isa ñg sariling isip at sariling loob, upang ding mapagkilala ang likó at tapat; paraparang inianak ñg walang tanikalá, kundí malayá, at sa loob at kalulua’y walang makasusupil, bakit kayá ipaaalipin mo sa iba ang marañgal at malayang pagiisip? Duag at malí ang akalá na ang bulag na pagsunod ay kabanalan, at kapalaluan ang mag isipisip at magnilay nilay. Ang kamangmañgan’y, kamangmañgan at dí kabaita’t puri. Di hiling ñg Dios, punó ñg kataruñgan, na ang taong larawan niya’y paulol at pabulag; ang hiyas ñgisip, na ipinalamuti sa atin, paningniñgin at gamitin. Halimbawá baga ang isang amang nagbigay sa bawat isang anak ñg kanikanyang tanglaw sa paglakad sa dilim. Paniñgasin nila ang liwanag ñg ilaw, alagaang kusá at huag patain, dala ñg pag-asa sa ilaw ñg iba, kundí magtulongtulong magsangunian, sa paghanap ñg daan. Ulol na di hamak at masisisi ang madapá sa pagsunod sa ilaw ñg iba, at masasabi ng ama: “bakit kita binigyan ng sarili mong ilaw?” Ñguni’t dí lubhang masisisi ang madapá sa sariling tanglaw, sapagka’t marahil ang ilaw ay madilim, ó kayá ay totoong masamá ang daan.

Ugaling panagot ng mga may ibig mang ulol, ay: palaló ang katiwalá sa sariling bait; sa akalá ko ay lalong palaló ang ibig sumupil ng bait ng iba, at papanatilihin sa lahat ang sarili. Lalong palaló ang nagdidiosdiosan, ang ibig tumarok ng balang kilos ng isip ng DIOS; at sakdal kapalaluan ó kataksilan ang walang gawá kundí pagbintañgan ang Dios ng balang bukang bibig at ilipat sa kanya ang balá niyang nasá, at ang sariling kaaway ay gawing kaaway ng Dios. Dí dapat naman tayong umasa sa sarili lamang; kundí magtanong,makinig sa iba, at saka gawain ang inaakalang lalong matuid; ang habito ó sutana’y walang naidaragdag sa dunong ng tao; magsapinsapin man ang habito ng huli sa bundok, ay bulubundukin din at walang nadadayá kungdí ang mangmang at mahinang loob. Nang ito’y lalong maranasan, ay bumili kayo ng isang habito sa S. Francisco at isoot ninyo sa isang kalabao. Kapalaran na kung pagka pag habito ay hindí magtamad. Lisanin ko ito at dalhin ang salitá sa iba.

Sa kadalagahang punlaan ng bulaklak na mamumuñga’y dapat ang babai’y magtipon ng yamang maipamamana sa lalaking anak. Ano kaya ang magiging supling ng babaing walang kabanalan kundí ang magbubulong ng dasal, walang karunuñgan kungdí awit, novena at milagrong pangulol sa tao, walang libañgang iba sa panguingue ó magkumpisal kayá ng malimit ng muli’t muling kasalanan? Ano ang magiging anak kundí sakristan, bataan ng cura ó magsasabong? Gawá ng mga ina ang kalugamian ngayon ng ating mga kababayan, sa lubos na paniniwalá ng kanilang masintahing pusó, at sa malaking pagkaibig na ang kanilang mga anak ay mapakagaling. Ang kagulañga’y buñga ñg pagkabatá at ang pagkabata’y nasa kanduñgan ñg ina. Ang inang walang maituturó kundí ang lumuhod humalik ñg kamay, huwag magantay ng anak ng iba sa duñgó ó alipustang alipin. Kahoy na laki sa burak, daluro ó pagatpat ó pangatong lamang; at kung sakalí’t may batang may pusong pangahas, ang kapangahasa’y tagó at gagamitin sa samá, paris ng silaw na kabag na dí makapakita kundí pag tatakip silim. Karaniwang panagot ang una’y kabanalan at pagsinta sa Dios. Ñguní at ano ang kabanalang itinuró sa atin? Magdasal at lumuhod ng matagal, humalik ng kamay sa parí, ubusin ang salapí sa simbahan at paniwalaan ang balang masumpuñgang sabihin sa atin? Tabil ng bibig, lipak ng tuhod, kiskis ng ilong….. bagay sa limos sa simbahan, sangkalan ang Dios, may bagay baga sa mundong ito na dí arí at likhá ng Maykapal? Ano ang inyong sasabihin sa isang alilang maglimos sa kayang panginoon ng isang basahang hiram sa nasabing mayaman? Sino ang taong dí palaló at ulol, na mag lilimos sa Dios at magaakalang ang salantá niyang kaya ay makabibihis sa lumikhá ng lahat ñg bagay? Pagpalain ang maglimos sa kapus, tumulong sa mayhirap, magpakain sa gutom; ñguní at mapulaan at sumpain, ang biñgi sa taghoy ng mahirap, at walang binubusog kundí ang sandat, at inubos ang salapí sa mga frontal na pilak, limos sa simbahan ó sa frayleng lumalañgoy sa yaman, sa misa de gracia ng may tugtugan at paputok, samantalang ang salaping ito’y pinipigá sa buto ñg mahirap at iniaalay sa pañginoon ñg maibili ng tanikalang pangapus, maibayad ng verdugong panghampas. Ó kabulagan at kahiklian ng isip!

Ang unang kabanalan ay ang pagsunod sa matuid, anoman ang mangyari. “Gawá at hindí salitá ang hiling ko sa inyo” ani Cristo; “hindí anak ni ama ang nagsasabing ulit-ulit ama ko, ama ko, kundí ang nabubuhay alinsunod sa hiling ñg aking ama.” Ang kabanalan ay walá sa pulpol na ilong, at ang kahalili ni Cristo’y di kilala sa halikang kamay. Si Cristo’y dí humalik sa mga Fariseo, hindi nagpahalik kailan pa man; hindí niya pinatabá ang may yaman at palalong escribas; walá siyang binangit na kalmen, walang pinapagcuintas, hiningan ng pamisa, at di nagbayad sa kanyang panalangin. Di napaupa si San Juan sa Ilog ng Jordan, gayon din si Cristo sa kanyang pangangaral. Bakit ngayo’y ang mga pari’y walang bigong kilos na di may hinihinging upa? At gutom pa halos nagbibili ng mga kalmen, cuentas, correa at ibapa, pang dayá ng salapi, pampasamá sa kalulua; sa pagkat kalminin mo man ang lahat ng basahan sa lupá, cuintasin mo man ang lahat ng kahoy sa bundok ibilibid mo man sa iyong bayawang ang lahat ng balat ng hayop, at ang lahat na ito’y pagkapaguran mang pagkuruskurusan at pagbulongbulongan ng lahat ng pari sa sangdaigdigan, at iwisik man ang lahat ng tubig sa dagat, ay di mapalilinis ang maruming loob, di mapatatawad ang walang pagsisisi. Gayon din sa kasakiman sa salapi’y maraming ipinagbawal, na matutubos kapag ikaw ay nagbayad, alin na ngá sa huag sa pagkain ng karne, pagaasawa sa pinsan, kumpari, at iba pa, na ipinahihintulot kapag ikaw ay sumuhol. Bakit, nabibili baga ang Dios at nasisilaw sa salaping paris ng mga pari? Ang magnanakaw na tumubos ng bula de composicion, ay makaaasa sa tahimik, na siya’y pinatawad; samakatuid ay ibig ng Dios na makikain ng nakaw? Totoo bagang hirap na ang Maykapal, na nakikigaya sa mga guarda, carabineros ó guardia civil? Kung ito ang Dios na sinasamba ñg Frayle, ay tumalikod ako sa ganyang Dios.

Maghunos dilí ngá tayo at imulat natin ang mata, lalong laló na kayong mga babai, sa pagka’t kayo ang nagbubukas ng loob ng tao. Isipin na ang mabuting ina ay iba, sa inang linalang ng fraile; dapat palakhin ang anak na malapit baga sa larawan ng tunay na Dios, Dios na dí nasusuhulan, Dios na dí masakim sa salapí, Dios na ama ng lahat, na walang kinikilingan, Dios na dí tumatabá sa dugó ng mahirap, na dí nagsasaya sa daing ng naruruhagi, at nangbubulag ng matalinong isip. Gisingin at ihandá ang loob ng anak sa balang mabuti at mahusay na akalá: pagmamahal sa puri, matapat at timtimang loob, maliwanag na pagiisip, malinis na asal, maginoong kilos, pagibig sa kapuá, at pagpipitagan sa Maykapal, ito ang ituró sa anak. At dahil ang buhay ay punó ng pighatí at sakuná, patibayin ang loob sa ano mang hirap, patapañgin ang pusó sa ano mang pañganib. Huag mag antay ang bayan ng puri at ginhawa, samantalang likó ang pagpapalaki sa batá, samantalang lugamí at mangmang ang babaing magpapalaki ñg anak. Walang maiinom sa labó at mapait na bukal; walang matamis na buñga sa punlang maasim. Malaki ngang hindí bahagyá ang katungkulang gaganapin ng babai sa pagkabihis ng hirap ng bayan, nguni at ang lahat na ito’y dí hihigit sa lakas at loob ng babaing Tagalog. Talastas ng lahat ang kapanyarihan at galing ng babayi sa Filipinas, kayá ñgá kanilang binulag, iginapus, at iniyukó ang loob, panatag sila’t habang ang iba’y alipin, ay ma-aalipin din naman ang lahat ng mga anak. Ito ang dahilan ng pagkalugamí ng Asia; ang babayi sa Asia’y mangmang at alipin. Makapangyarihan ang Europa at Amerika dahil duo’y ang mga babai’y malaya’t marunong, dilat ang isip at malakas ang loob.

Alam na kapus kayong totoo ñg mga librong sukat pagaralan; talastas na walang isinisilid araw araw sa inyong pagiisip kundí ang sadyang pang bulag sa inyong bukal na liwanag; tantó ang lahat na ito, kayá pinagsisikapan naming makaabot sa inyo ang ilaw na sumisilang sa kapuá ninyo babayi; dito sa Europa kung hindí kayamutan itong ilang sabi, at pagdamutang basahin, marahil ay makapal man ang ulap na nakakubkob sa ating bayan, ay pipilitin ding mataos ñg masantin na sikat ñg araw, at sisikat kahit banaag lamang … Dí kami manglulumo kapag kayo’y katulong namin; tutulong ang Dios sa pagpawí ñg ulap, palibhasa’y siya ang Dios ñg katotohanan; at isasaulí sa dati ang dilag ñg babaying Tagalog, na walang kakulañgan kundí isang malayang sariling isip, sapagka’t sa kabaita’y labis. Ito ang nasang lagì sa panimdim, na napapanaginip, ang karañgalan ñg babaying kabiak ñg pusó at karamay sa tuá ó hirap ñg buhay: kung dalaga, ay sintahin ñg binatá, di lamang dahilan sa ganda ó tamis ñg asal, kundí naman sa tibay ñg pusó, taas ñg loob, na makabuhay baga at makapanghinapang sa mahiná ó maruruwagang lalaki, ó makapukaw kayá ñg madidilag na pagiisip, pag isang dalaga bagang sukat ipagmalaki ñg bayan, pagpitaganan ñg iba, sapagka at karaniwang sabi sabi ñg mga kastilá at pari na nangagaling diyan ang karupukan at kamangmañgan ñg babaying tagalog, na tila baga ang mali ñg ilan ay malí na nang lahat, at anaki’y sa ibang lupá ay walá, ñg babaing marupok ang loob, at kung sabagay maraming maisusurot sa mata ñg ibang babai ang babaying tagalog….. Gayon ma’y dala marahil ñg kagaanan ñg labí ó galaw ñg dilá, ang mga kastilá, at parí pagbalik sa Espanya’y walang unang ipinamamalabad, ipinalilimbag at ipinagsisigawan halos, sabay ang halakhak, alipustá at tawa, kundí ang babaing si gayon, ay gayon sa convento, gayon sa kastilang pinatuloy, sa iba’t iba pang nakapagñgañgalit; sa tuing maiisip, na ang karamihan ng malí ay gawá ñg kamusmusan, labis na kabaitan, kababaan ñg loob ó kabulagan kayang kalalañgan din nila….. May isang kastilang nagayo’y mataas na tao na, pinakai’t pinatuloy natin sa habang panahong siya’y lumiguyliguy sa Filipinas … pagdating sa Espanya, ipinalimbag agad, na siya raw ay nanuluyang minsan sa Kapangpañgan, kumai’t natulog, at ang maginoong babaying nagpatuloy ay gumayon at gumayon sa kanya: ito ang iginanti sa napakatamis na loob ng babayi … Gayon din ang unang pahili ng pari sa nadalaw na kastila, ay ang kanyang mga masusunuring dalagang tagahalik ng kamay, at iba pang kahalo ang ñgiti at makahulugang kindat … Sa librong ipinalimbag ni Dn. Sinibaldo de Mas, at sa, iba pang sinulat ng mga pari, ay nalathala ang mga kasalanang ikinumpisal ng babai na di ilinilihim ng mga pari sa mga dumadalaw na Kastila, at kung magkaminsan pa’y dinadagdagan ng mga kayabañgan at karumihang hindi mapaniniwalaan … Di ko maulit dito ang mga di ikinahiyang sinabi ng isang fraile kay Mas na di nito mapaniwalaan … Sa tuing maririnig ó mababasa ang mga bagay na ito’y itinatanong namin kung Santa Maria kaya ang lahat ng babaying kastila, at makasalanan na kaya baga ang lahat ng babaying tagalog; ñguni kong sakali’t magsumbatan at maglatlatan ng puri’y … Datapua’t lisanin ko ang bagay na ito, sapagka’t dí ako paring confesor, ó manunuluyang kastilá, na makapaninirá ñg puri ng iba. Itabi ko ito at ituloy sambitin ang katungkulan ñg babai.

Sa mga bayang gumagalang sa babaing para ñg Filipinas, dapat nilang kilanlin ang tunay na lagay upang ding maganapan ang sa kanila’y inia-asa. Ugaling dati’y kapag nanliligaw ang nagaaral na binata ay ipinañgañganyayang lahat, dunong, puri’t salapi, na tila baga ang dalaga’y walang maisasabog kundi ang kasamaan. Ang katapang-tapañga’y kapag napakasal ay nagiging duag, ang duag na datihan ay nagwawalanghiya,na tila walang ina-antay kundi ang magasawa para maipahayag ang sariling kaduagan. Ang anak ay walang pangtakip sa hina ñg loob kundi ang alaala sa ina, at dahilan dito, nalunok na apdo, nagtitiis ñg tampal, nasunod sa lalong hunghang na utos, at tumutulong sa kataksilan ñg iba sa pagka’t kung walang natakbo’y walang manghahagad; kung walang isdang munti’y walang isdang malaki. Bakit kaya baga di humiling ang dalaga sa iibigín, ñg isang marañgal at mapuring ñgalan, isang pusong lalaking makapag-ampon sa kahinaan ng babai, isang marangal na loob na di papayag magka anak ng alipin? Pukawin sa loob ang sigla at sipag, maginoong asal, mahal na pakiramdam, at huwag isuko ang pagkadalaga sa isang mahina at kuyuming puso. Kung maging asawa na, ay dapat tumulong sa lahat ng hírap, palakasin ang loob ng lalaki, humati sa pañganib, aliwin ang dusa, at aglahiin ang hinagpis, at alalahaning lagi na walang hirap na di mababata ñg bayaning puso, at walang papait pang pamana, sa pamanang kaalipustaan at kaalipinan. Mulatin ang mata ñg anak sa pagiiñgat at pagmamahal sa puri, pagibig sa kapua sa tinubuang bayan, at sa pagtupad ñg ukol. Ulituliting matamisin ang mapuring kamatayan saalipustang buhay. Ang mga babai sa Esparta’y (=Sparta) sukat kunang uliran at dito’y ilalagda ko ang aking halimbawa:

Nang iniaabot ñg isang ina ang kalasag sa papasahukbong anak, ay ito lamang ang sinabi: “ibalik mo ó ibalik ka,” ito ñga umuwi kang manalo ó mamatay ka, sapagkat ugaling iwaksi ang kalasag ñg talong natakbo ó inuwi kaya ang bangkay sa ibabaw ñg kalasag. Nabalitaan ñg isang ina na namatay sa laban ang kanyang anak, at ang hukbo ay natalo. Hindi umiimik kundi nagpasalamat dahil ang kanyang anak ay maligtas sa pulá, ñguni at ang anak ay bumalik na buhay; nagluksa ang ina ñg siya’y makita. Sa isang sumasalubong na ina sa mga umuwing galing sa laban, ay ibinalita ñg isa na namatay daw sa pagbabaka ang tatlong anak niya,—”hindi iyan ang tanong ko ang sagot ñg ina, kundi nanalo ó natalo tayó?—Nanalo ang sagot ñg bayani. Kung ganoo’y magpasalamat tayo sa Dios!” ang wika at napa sa simbahan.

Minsa’y nagtagó sa simbahan ang isang napatalong harí nila, sa takot sa galit sa bayan; pinagkaisahang kuluñgin siya doon at patain ñg gutum. Ñg papaderan na ang pinto’y ang ina ang unang nag hakot ñg bato. Ang mga ugaling ito’y karaniwan sa kanila, kayá ñga’t iginalang ng buong Grecia (=Greece) ang babaing Esparta. Sa lahat ñg babai, ang pulá ñg isa ay kayo lamang na taga Esparta ang nakapangyayari sa lalaki. Mangyari pa, ang sagot ñg babai, ay kami lamang ang nagaanak ñg lalaki. Ang tao, ñg mga Esparta ay hindí inianak para mabuhay sa sarili, kungdi para sa kanyang bayan. Habang nanatili ang ganitong mga isipan at ganitong mga babai ay walang kaaway na nakatungtong ñg lupang Esparta, at walang babaing taga Esparta na nakatanaw ñg hukbo ng kaaway. Dí ko inaasahang paniwalaan ako alang-alang lamang sa aking sabi: maraming taong dí natingin sa katuiran at tunay, kundí sa habito, sa putí ñg buhok ó kakulangan kayá ng ngipin. Ñguní at kung ang tanda’y magalang sa pinagdaanang hirap, ang pinagdaan kong buhay hain sa ikagagaling ng bayan, ay makapagbibigay ñg tandá sa akin, kahit maiklí man. Malayó ako sa, pagpapasampalataya, pag didiosdiosan, paghalili kayá sa Dios, paghahangad na paniwalaa’t pakingang pikit-mata, yukó ang ulo at halukipkip ang kamay; ñguni’t ang hiling ko’y magisip, mag mulaymulay ang lahat, usigin at salain kung sakalí sa ngalan ng katuiran itong pinaninindigang mga sabi:

Ang una-una. “Ang ipinagiging taksil ñg ilan ay nasa kaduagan at kapabayaan ñg iba.”

Ang ikalawa. Ang iniaalipustá ng isa ay nasa kulang ñg pagmamahal sa sarili at nasa labis ñg pagkasilaw sa umaalipustá.

Ang ikatlo. Ang kamangmañga’y kaalipinan, sapagkat kung ano ang isip ay ganoon ang tao: taong walang sariling isip, ay taong walang pagkatao; ang bulag na taga sunod sa isip ng iba, ay parang hayop na susunod-sunod sa talí.

Ang ikaapat. Ang ibig magtagó ñg sarili, ay tumulong sa ibang magtagó ñg kanila, sapagkat kung pabayaan mo ang inyong kapuá ay pababayaan ka rin naman; ang isa isang tingting ay madaling baliin, ñguní at mahirap baliin ang isang bigkis na walis.

Ang ika-lima. Kung ang babaing tagalog ay dí magbabago, ay hindí dapat magpalaki ñg anak, kungdí gawing pasibulan lamang; dapat alisin sa kanya ang kapangyarihan sa bahay, sapagka’t kung dili’y ipag kakanulong walang malay, asawa, anak, bayan at lahat.

Ang ika-anim. Ang tao’y inianak na paris-paris hubad at walang talí. Dí nilalang ñg Dios upang maalipin, dí binigyan ñg isip para pabulag, at dí hiniyasan ñg katuiran at ñg maulol ñg iba. Hindí kapalaluan ang dí pagsamba sa kapuá tao, ang pagpapaliwanag ñg isip at paggamit ñg matuid sa anomang bagay. Ang palalo’y ang napasasamba, ang bumubulag sa iba, at ang ibig paniigin ang kanyang ibig sa matuid at katampatan.

Ang ika-pito. Liniñgin ninyong magaling kung ano ang religiong itinuturó sa atin. Tingnan ninyong mabuti kung iyan ang utos ng Dios ó ang pangaral ni Cristong panglunas sa hirap ñg mahirap, pangaliw sa dusa ñg nagdudusa. Alalahanin ninyo ang lahat ñg sa inyo’y itinuturó, ang pinapatuñguhan ñg lahat ng sermon, ang nasa ilalim ng lahat ng misa, novena, kuintas, kalmen, larawan, milagro, kandilá, corea at iba’t iba pang iginigiit, inihihiyaw at isinusurot araw-araw sa inyong loob, taiñga, at mata, at hanapin ninyo ang puno at dulo at saka iparis ninyo ang religiong sa malinis na religion ni Cristo, at tingnan kung hindí ang inyong pagkakristiano ay paris ng inaalagang gatasang hayop, ó paris ng pinatatabang baboy kayá, na dí pinatatabá alang alang sa pagmamahal sa kaniya, kundí maipagbili ng lalong mahal at ng lalong masalapian.

Magbulay-bulay tayo, malasin ang ating kalagayan, at tayo’y mag isip isip. Kung itong ilang buhaghag na sabi’y makatutulong sa ibinigay sa inyong bait, upang ding maituloy ang nasimulan ninyong paglakad.

“Tubó ko’y dakilá sa puhunang pagod” at mamatamisin ang ano mang mangyari, ugaling upa sa sino mang mañgahas sa ating bayan magsabi ng tunay. Matupad nawá ang inyong nasang matuto at harí na ñgang sa halaman ñg karunuñgan ay huwag makapitas ñg buñgang bubut, kundí ang kikitili’y piliin, pagisipin muná, lasapin bago lunukin, sapagka’t sa balat ñg lupá lahat ay haluan, at di bihirang magtanim ang kaaway ng damong pansirá, kasama sa binhí sa gitná ñg linang.

Ito ang matindin nasá ñg inyong kababayang si…

JOSÉ RIZAL

Europa, 1889.

*** Mula sa Patnugot: Hinango ang mababasa dito mula sa websayt ng JoseRizal.info bilang isang serbisyo para sa madla sa paggunita sa pambansang bayani ng Pilipinas, Gat Jose Rizal, sa kaniyang ika-150 kapanganakan. Ang emanila at The Filipino Australian, bilang kasama sa pagtaguyod ng ganitong pag-alaala at pagbibigay dangal ay bumuo ng isang websayt na may taguring “Rizaliana Sesquicentennial Radio Festival in Sydney”.

The Rizaliana radio festival is their way of celebrating the hero’s sesquicentennial year and their tribute to the hero’s life-time fight for freedom.

The radio program segments will be aired alternatingly in December 2011 by participating community radio programs. After each broadcast, the radio segment will be uploaded to this site nd archived for playback.

Dr Mars Cavestany, a multi-awarded Filipino Australian writer, stage actor and playwright, is the man behind the project, Rizaliana Sesquicentennial Radio Festival in Sydney (RSRFS). Dr Cavestany is in charge of concept, production design, script adaptation and artistic direction.

This site is provided by The Filipino Australian and maintained by members of the “Broadcast Cell” group of Filipino Press Group of Sydney.

Learn more….

On reading the message, we thought we misread it.

Our reader was claiming that the article is anti-Filipino! And the article is “degrading” Filipinos and should therefore be removed.

Our reader has sorely missed the whole point of the article.

The ‘Anti-Filipino Remarks’ article is Part 1 of a series of articles in defense of the Filipino titled “In Defense of the Filipino” (what else?). There are 15 articles in the series by Jon Royeca. The last article in the series is “Why Is the Philippines A Poor Country?”

Here is a copy of the message (for security reason, we scrubbed the sender’s email address):

We would like to invite our reader “Ji” to please re-read the article and other blog posts in the series. Our reader should also follow Jon Royeca’s responses to other readers’ comments in order to appreciate how Royeca was “defending the Filipino”.

There are certain articles published on this website which may highlight what is wrong with us as a nation, like Edwin Bael’s article, “Let us build each other up“, but that does not make us anti-Filipino, does it?

By publishing such articles, aren’t we making the Filipino community at large better informed?

Rest assured that emanila, since its inception in 1998, has maintained respect for everyone and has not harboured any biases or prejudices against any nationality or race, be it Filipino or otherwise.

Are we anti-Filipino? Let us hear from you.

That Filipino is General Carlos P. Romulo (14 January 1899, Camiling, Tarlac, Philippines – 15 December 1985, Manila, Philippines) – diplomat, politician, soldier, journalist, educator, and author.

Below is an extract from Wikipedia about the man who helped shape the future of the United Nations.

In his career in the United Nations, Rómulo was a strong advocate of human rights, freedom and decolonization.

During the selection of the UN’s official seal, he looked over the seal-to-be and asked, “Where is the Philippines?” US Senator Warren Austin, head of the selection committee, explained, “It’s too small to include. If we put the Philippines, it would be no more than a dot.” “I want that dot!” insisted Romulo.

Today, a tiny dot between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea can be found on the UN seal.

In 1948 in Paris, France, at the third UN General Assembly, he strongly disagreed with a proposal made by the Soviet delegation headed by Andrei Vishinsky, who challenged his credentials by insulting him with this quote: “You are just a little man from a little country.” In return, Romulo replied, “It is the duty of the little Davids of this world to fling the pebbles of truth in the eyes of the blustering Goliaths and force them to behave!”, leaving Vishinsky with nothing left to do but sit down.

President of the UN General Assembly

He served as the President of the Fourth Session of United Nations General Assembly from 1949–1950, and chairman of the United Nations Security Council.

He had served with General Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific, was Ambassador to the United States, and became the first non-American to win the Pulitzer Prize in Correspondence in 1942.

The Pulitzer Prize website says Carlos P. Romulo of Philippine Herald was awarded “For his observations and forecasts of Far Eastern developments during a tour of the trouble centers from Hong Kong to Batavia.” He was a candidate for the position of United Nations Secretary-General in 1953, but did not win.

Rómulo served eight Philippine presidents, from Manuel L. Quezon to Ferdinand Marcos, as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines and as the country’s representative to the United States and to the United Nations. He also served as the Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives during the Commonwealth era.

General Romulo died, at 86, in Manila on 15 December 1985 and was buried in the Heroes’ Cemetery (Libingan ng mga Bayani). He was honored as the Philippines’ greatest diplomat in the 20th Century.

In 1980, he was extolled by United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim as “Mr. United Nations” for his valuable services to the United Nations and his dedication to freedom and world peace.

But unknown to many, there were two other occasions in the Philippines when the power of the Philippine President to declare martial law was invoked.

The first time was on September 21, 1944 by Philippine President Jose P. Laurel. The other occasion was on December 4, 2009, through Proclamation No. 1959 signed by President Macapagal-Arroyo officially placing Maguindanao province under a state of martial law.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia on martial laws in the Philippines and in other countries:

Philippines

President of the Philippines Jose P. Laurel of the wartime Second Philippine Republic (puppet-government under Japan) placed the Philippines under martial law in 1944 through Proclamation No. 29, dated September 21. Martial law came into effect on September 22, 1944, at 9:00 am. Proclamation No. 30 was issued the next day, declaring the existence of a state of war between the Philippines and the United States and the United Kingdom. This took effect on September 23, 1944 at 10:00 am.

The country was under martial law again from 1972 to 1981 under the authoritarian rule of Ferdinand Marcos. Proclamation No. 1081 (Proclaiming a State of Martial Law in the Philippines) was signed on September 21, 1972 and came into force on September 22 – exactly 28 years after similar proclamations by President Laurel. Martial law was declared to suppress increasing civil strife and the threat of communist takeover following a series of bombings and a government-staged assassination attempt on then Defence Minister Juan Ponce Enrile in Manila. The declaration of martial law was initially well-received by some sectors, but it eventually proved unpopular as excesses and human rights abuses by the military emerged, such as the use of torture as a method of extracting information. The well-known People Power Revolution of 1986 took place because of the many violated rights and abuse of authority of Marcos. The People Power Revolution eventually ousted Marcos, and he fled to Hawaii where he died in exile in 1989.

There were rumours that incumbent President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was planning to impose martial law to put an end to military coup plots, general civilian dissatisfaction, and criticism of the legitimacy of her presidency due to dubious election results. Instead, a “State of National Emergency” was imposed to crush a coup plot and to tackle protesters which lasted from February 24, 2006 until March 3 of the same year.

On December 4, 2009, through Proclamation No. 1959, President Macapagal-Arroyo has officially placed Maguindanao province under a state of martial law. The declaration also suspended the writ of habeas corpus in the province. The announcement was made days after hundreds of government troops were sent to the province, which would later raid armories of the powerful Ampatuan clan. The Ampatuan family was implicated in the massacre that saw the murder of 57 persons, including women members of the rival Mangudadatu clan, human rights lawyers, and 31 media workers, in the worst incident of political violence in the nation’s history. It has also been condemned worldwide as the worst loss of life of media professionals in one day in the history of journalism.

If you are into serious research work into Philippine martial laws, you may wish to visit the Country Studies website, particularly the site’s section on Philippines.

We don’t normally include in this site news about developments in the Philippines including politics, economics, technology, education, and property developments.

But the news that in the Philippines will soon rise the world’s largest domed arena will be an exception.

The arena called “Philippine Arena” would have 50,000 seats ~ more than three times the 16,000 seats of Araneta Coliseum or more than twice the size of the largest domed arena in the United States. Visit this page > World’s largest domed arena to rise in the Philippines

If only for its academic significance on how a third-world country like the Philippines can build the world’s largest domed arena, we thought that this development should be included in this site.

It’s going to be a very interesting multi-dimensional study!

He is considered a national hero of the Philippines, and the anniversary of Rizal’s death is commemorated as a Philippine holiday called Rizal Day. Rizal’s 1896 military trial and execution made him a martyr of the Philippine Revolution.

The seventh of eleven children born to a wealthy family in the town of Calamba, Laguna, Rizal attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts. He enrolled in Medicine and Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas and then traveled alone to Madrid, Spain, where he continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He attended the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg.

Rizal was a polyglot conversant in at least ten languages. He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels, Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. These are social commentaries on the Philippines that formed the nucleus of literature that inspired dissent among peaceful reformists and spurred the militancy of armed revolutionaries against the Spanish colonial authorities.

As a political figure, Jose Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led by Andrés Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. He was a proponent of institutional reforms by peaceful means rather than by violent revolution. The general consensus among Rizal scholars, however, attributed his martyred death as the catalyst that precipitated the Philippine Revolution.

Chronology of Events

1848, June 28 Rizal’s parents married in Kalamba, La Laguna: Francisco Rizal-Mercado y Alejandra (born in Biñan, April 18, 1818) and Teodora Morales Alonso-Realonda y Quintos (born in Sta. Cruz, Manila, November 14, 1827)

1861, June 19 Rizal born, their seventh child

1861, June 22 Christened as José Protasio Rizal-Mercado y Alonso-Realonda

1870, age 9 In school at Biñan under Master Justiniano Aquin Cruz

1871, age 10 In Kalamba public school under Master Lucas Padua

1872, June 10, age 11 Examined in San Juan de Letran college, Manila, which, during the Spanish time, as part of Sto. Tomás University, controlled entrance to all higher institutions

1872, June 26 Entered the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, then a public school, as a day scholar

1875, June 16, age 14 Became a boarder in the Ateneo

1876, March 23, age 15 Received the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree, with highest honors, from Ateneo de Manila

1877, June Entered Sto. Tomás University in the Philosophy course

1877, November 29 Awarded diploma of honorable mention and merit by the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country, Amigos del País, for the prize poem

1878, June, age 16 Matriculated in the medical course. Won Liceo Artistico-Literario prize, in poetical competition for “Indians and Mestizos”, with the poem “To the Philippine Youth”

Wounded in the back for not saluting a Guardia Civil lieutenant whom he had not seen. The authorities ignored his complaint

1880, April 23, age 19 Received Licco Artístico-Literariodiploma of honorable mention for the allegory, “The Council of the Gods”, in competition open to “Spaniards, mestizos and Indians”. Unjustly deprived of the first prize

1880, December 8 Operetta “On the Banks of the Pasig” produced

1881, age 20 Submitted winning wax model design for commemorative medal for the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country centennial

1882, May 3, age 21 Secretly left Manila taking a French mail steamer at Singapore for Marseilles and entering Spain at Port Bou by railroad. His brother, Paciano Mercado, furnished the money

1882, June Absence noted at Sto. Tomás University, which owned the Kalamba estate. Rizal’s father was compelled to prove that he had no knowledge of his son’s plan in order to hold the land on which he was the University’s tenant

1882, June 15 Arrived in Barcelona

1882, October 3 Began studies in Madrid

1886 Received degree of Licentiate in Medicine with honors from Central University of Madrid on June 19 at the age of 24

- Clinical assistant to Dr. L. de Wecker, a Paris oculist.

- Visited Universities of Heidelberg, Leipzig, and Berlin

1887, Feb. 21, age 26 Finished the novel Noli Me Tangerein Berlin

- Traveled in Austria, Switzerland and Italy

1887, July 3 Sailed from Marseilles

1887, August 5 Arrived in Manila. Traveled in nearby provinces with a Spanish lieutenant, detailed by the Governor-General, as escort

1888, Feb Sailed for Japan via Hong Kong

1888, Feb. 28 to April 13, age 27 A guest at the Spanish Legation, Tokyo, and traveling in Japan

1888, April-May Traveling in the United States

1888, May 24 In London, studying in the British Museum to edit Morga’s 1609 Philippine History

1889, March, age 28 In Paris, publishing Morga’s History. Published “The Philippines A Century Hence” in La Solidaridad, a Filipino fortnightly review, first of Barcelona and later of Madrid

1890, February to July, age 29 In Belgium finished El Filibusterismowhich is the sequel to Noli Me Tangere.

- Published “The Indolence of the Filipino” in La Solidaridad

1890, August 4 Returned to Madrid to confer with his countrymen on the Philippine situation, then constantly growing worse

1891, January 27 Left Madrid for France

1891, November, age 30 Arranging for a Filipino agricultural colony in British North Borneo

- Practiced medicine in Hong Kong

1892, June 26, age 31 Returned to Manila under Governor-General Despujol’s safe conduct pass

- Organized a mutual aid economic society: La Liga Filipina on July 3.

1892, July 6 Ordered deported to Dapitan, but the decree and charges were kept secret from him.

- Taught school and conducted a hospital during his exile, patients coming from China coast ports for treatment. Fees thus earned were used to beautify the town. Arranged a water system and had the plaza lighted

1896, August 1, age 35 Left Dapitan en route to Spain as a volunteer surgeon for the Cuban yellow fever hospitals. Carried letters of recommendation from Governor-General Blanco

1896, August 7 to September 3 On Spanish cruiser Castilla in Manila Bay

- Sailed for Spain on Spanish mail steamer and just after leaving Port Said was confined to his cabin as a prisoner on cabled order from Manila. (Rizal’s enemies to secure the appointment of a governor-general subservient to them, the servile Polavieja had purchased Governor-General Blanco’s promotion.)

1896, October 6 Placed in Montjuich Castle dungeon on his arrival in Barcelona and the same day re-embarked for Manila. Friends and countrymen in London by cable made an unsuccessful effort for a Habeas Corpuswrit at Singapore. On arrival in Manila was placed in Fort Santiago dungeon

1890, December 3 Charged with treason, sedition and forming illegal societies, the prosecution arguing that he was responsible for the deeds of those who read his writings

- During his imprisonment Rizal began to formulate in his mind his greatest poem who others later entitle, “My Last Farewell.”(later concealed in an alcohol cooking lamp)

December 12 Rizal appears in a courtroom where the judges made no effort to check those who cry out for his death

1896, December 15 Wrote an address to insurgent Filipinos to lay down their arms because their insurrection was at that time hopeless. Address not made public but added to the charges against him

1896, December 27 Formally condemned to death by a Spanish court martial

- Pi y Margall, who had been president of the Spanish Republic, pleaded with the Prime Minister for Rizal’s life, but the Queen Regent could not forgive his having referred in one of his writings to the murder by, and suicide of, her relative, Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria.

1896, December 29 Completes and puts into writing “My Last Farewell.” He conceals the poem in an alcohol heating apparatus and gives it to his family. He may have also concealed another copy of the same poem in one of his shoes but, if so, it is lost in decomposition in his burial

1896, December 30, age 35 years, 6 months, 11 days Roman Catholic sources allege that Rizal marries Josephine Bracken in his Fort Santiago death cell to Josephine Bracken; she is Irish, the adopted daughter of a blind American who came to Dapitan from Hong Kong for treatment.

- Shot on the Luneta, Manila, at 7:03 a.m., and buried in a secret grave in Paco Cemetery. (Entry of his death was made in the Paco Church Register among suicides.)

1887, January Commemorated by Spanish Free-masons who dedicated a tablet to his memory, in their Grand Lodge hall in Madrid, as a martyr to Liberty

1898, August Filipinos who placed over it in Paco cemetery, a cross inscribed simply “December 30, 1896″, sought his grave, immediately after the American capture of Manila. Since his death his countrymen had never spoken his name, but all references had been to “The Dead”

1898, December 20 President Aguinaldo, of the Philippine Revolutionary Government, proclaimed December 30th as a day of national mourning

1898, December 30 Filipinos held Memorial services at which time American soldiers on duty carried their arms reversed

1911, June 19 Birth semi-centennial observed in all public schools by an act of the Philippine Legislature

1912, December 30 Rizal’s ashes transferred to the Rizal Mausoleum on the Luneta with impressive public ceremonies

Source: Order of the Knights of Rizal

12. THE FIRST AND ORIGINAL FILIPINOS

All those historians supposedly educated today in English under U.S. WASP colonialism are even incapable to define what is Filipino. The so-called “State Historian” in one Teodoro A. Agoncillo, in his required history textbook for our public schools called “A History of the Filipino People”, or words to that effect, admits on page 6 of this same book that “it is difficult if not impossible to define what is Filipino” when this is the easiest thing to do if the History being taught were only the true one and not the revised and falsified one under U.S. WASPo orders.

The first Filipinos were, of course, the vassals of King Philippe the Second of Spain and the Philippines (el Rey Felipe Segundo de España y de Filipinas). Among those vassals were the Peninsulares that settled in these Islands called “Felipenos”. Aside from the Spanish Peninsulares there were the Chinos Cristianos that were paying tribute and taxes to El Rey Felipe Segundo for which they were also called “Felipenos” or “supporters and tax-payers of Felipe.

Thus, the Chinos Cristianos like Sinloc were “Felipenos”, that is to say Filipinos, since they paid tribute and taxes to El Rey Felipe Segundo after accepting him as their natural sovereign (soberano natural) jointly with the indigenous Tagalogs, Visayan, Ilocanos, Pampangos, Mindanao Lumad, etcetera who also accepted El Rey Felipe Segundo de España in a Synod-Referendum Organized in Manila during the years 1598 and 1599.

It is ironically a WASP historian who, grudgingly, admits this truth as fact. In his book “The Hispanization of the Philippines”, John Leddy Phelan, in pages 23 and 25 of his doctoral thesis points out that the local chieftains “were ferried to Manila” where they were individually asked if they accepted the King of Spain as their soberano natural (natural sovereign).

Among those tribes was the tribe of the Chinese settlers in Baybay (San Nicolas) and Binondo. To this question all the tribal Chieftains answered Sí (Yes). Only the twenty five tribes of the Cordillera, the so-called Ygorrots, said No. What is curious is that even the Moros, or semi-slamized tribes of Mindanao and Sulú (Joló) also said Yes although they did not always keep their word.

After this 1599 synod-referendum, the Chinese tribe of Baybay, or the Mayi-in-ila Kung Shing Fu, played a pivotal role in the great Galeon trade between Manila, Acapulco and Seville. The Chinese here were the ones who went home to China and brougth back the principal products of the said Galleon trade such as silk, sandal wood, porcelain, jade, etcetera.

On the other hand, the U.S. WASPs, after duping Presidente Emilio Aguinaldo in HongKong, with false assurances that they, the Americans, were his allies against Spain, later waged a treacherously unjust war against the 1896-1898 República de Filipinas that had declared its independence in Kawit, Cavite on June 12 1898.

And during that unjust War, the U.S. WASPs massacred, according to writer Gore Vidal, three million defenseless Filipinos who were merely defending their freedom along with their newly founded Republic and country. And upon winning that unjust war, the U.S. WASPos never admitted the Filipinos as American Citizens nor allowed the Philippines to be a U.S. State as promised to the Partido Federalista organized by Pardo de Tavera, Legarda and Luzuriaga.

And while Filipinos were never made American Citizens by their new masters, Chinos Cristianos like Don Carlos Palanca, Don Severo Limtuaco and Afonso Dy Buncio continued being Spanish Citizens up to the end of the Japanese occupation of Manila. But let us go back to the history of Sin Loc.

13. WHO WAS SIN LOC?

What we know about Sin Loc is, more or less, what most of his descendants know about him today, such as Don Manuel Locsin, Don Aurelio Locsin and his learned wife, the already mentioned Doña Soledad Lacson de Locsin.

Everybody also knows that SIN LOC arrived at Iloilo around 1750 and called himself “Agustin” upon baptizing himself a Catholic in order to later marry Cecilia Junsay y Martínez from Molo, Yloilo, who was a Mestiza Terciada, that is to say a mix of Chinese, Visayan and Spanish.

And Tía Chóleng (Doña Soledad Lácson), wife of Tío Iyo (Don Aurelio Locsin), happened to be a good historian and was acclaimed as a cultured woman ( “culta literata de la provincia de Negros”) according to the Laureled Prince of Ylongo and Spanish Poetry from Yloilo, Don Flavio Zatagoza Cano in his book “Cantos a España” (1936, Ciudad de Yloilo).

It was then Tía Chóleng who made studies on the culture and old trade in Arévalo and in Molo, old Yloilo municipalities, and explained to this writer that SIN LOC was a silk merchant dealing with other weaves from China. There is the mental picture of SIN LOC as a cloth merchant settled in Molo.

After knowing this personal circumstances of SIN LOC, it became possible for us to piece together his life in the ambiance that was existing in old Molo and Yloilo. And history, as recorded in Spanish, can give us the 1750 ambiance of the Philippines of that time.

Upon writing SIN LOC’s story in the form of an illustrated novel, all the details that possibly influence his life can be easily reconstructed so that his descendants today may be enabled to appreciate his greatness based in his personal humility and in his work aside from his bravery and heroicity.

14. THE SUPPOSED SPANISH MASSACRES OF THE CHINESE IN THE PHILIPPINES

To anger the Chinese against the Spanish Conquistadores in the Philippines, the Sino-Spanish relations in the past were deliberately poisoned by the intervening U.S.WASP colonialists by deliberately misrepresenting historical facts related to these incidents.

For colonial reasons of their own, the U.S. WASP colonizers of these Islands have always tried to paint themselves as “the good guys” and the “liberators” of the Filipinos, including those of Chinese descent, from the so-called abuses and cruelties of the Spanish conquistadores and their frailes.

Among these so-called abuses and cruelties is the so-called “massacre” of the Chinese in the 17th century in Manila and environs. In so-called Philippine History books written in English by U.S. WASP lackeys, the Spanish massacred the Chinese in Manila without any justification and in great numbers reaching twenty thousand up to thirty thousand and even up to sixty thousand victims.

But this so-called massacres are instantly belied when we count the true number of Spaniards living inside Intramurso when such massacres occurred. While there were hardly a thousand Spaniards inside Intramuros, the Chinese residing in Binondo, Santa Cruz and tondo usually numbered thirty thousand.

The question that immediately comes to mind is how can one thousand Spaniards in Intramuros, including women, children and old people, “massacre” twenty thousand, or more, Chinese rebels outside the walls of Intramuros. While the Chinese in Manila where in the tens of thousands, there were never more than thirteen thousand Spaniards all over these Islands during the first two centuries of their government.

It is not, of course, denied that there were disagreements between the Spanish and the Chinese in the coures of Philippine history, but this matter needs a second look since it neither can be denied that there is an anti-Spanish sectarian propaganda from U.S. WASP quarters since 1900. And we all know now that there is upon us a U.S. neocolonialism that affects Philippine economy, language and culture.

This is why the story of SINLOC, the NOBLE CHINO CRISTIANO, becomes relevant and should be known by his descendants and the entire Filipino people, if not the entire world if only to expose the innacuracies that come with the teaching of so-called Philippine History in our schools to our unaware children.

Rulers already existed with their own territories, and steel was already in use for implements, including weapons to defend each ruler’s territory.

Museums in the Philippines and in the United States have collections of pottery, weaving and artwork, both aesthetic and martial.

Like all cultures around the world, the inhabitants of the Visayas already had a martial system. Magellan and his crew, who wore armours of steel, confidently took on Lapu Lapu and his men, who only wore cloth. Early scribes reported that the natives were proficient with “esgrima”, fencing.

Systemic Spanish colonisation took place not long after Magellan’s skirmish with the natives. Eventually, the Spaniards continued northwards from Cebu in the Visayas, to the Luzon area. The Visayas and Luzon back then did not have a common language or a united kingdom so it was relatively easy for the Spaniards to overpower the region.

Mindanao was a different story. Its kingdoms were already united and the terrain didn’t make it easy for the Spaniards. It was too costly for the Spaniards to wage war with the people of Mindanao. Outposts were maintained mainly for trade and to discourage other European nations from colonising Mindanao.

For fear of being attacked, the colonial Spaniards banned weapons hence prompting the Filipinos to train underground. Sticks were used because blades were illegal. Forms or katas were disguised as dances. This continued on even through the change of colonizers from the Spaniards to the Americans.

Balintawak Arnis is a form of Filipino martial art whose inception started in the early 1950′s by Venancio “Anciong” Bacon. In Balintawak Escrima, the “olisi” (rattan stick) is used primarily as a training tool to familiarise students with weapons and blows. The olisi represents a Filipino sundang or bolo. The theory is that the stick is an extension of the arm and that the body can only move in so many ways.

In Balintawak, the student is taught that there is a defense and counterstrike for every attack and subsequent counterstrike delivered by the opponent. In short, a counter for every counter.

Anciong’s style was known to be a “cuentada” system. Cuentada comes from the Spanish word “contar”, to count. Cuenta in Bisaya means to calculate or count. In effect, Anciong’s style was calculating and like maths, precise.

Balintawak can be like a dance – elegant, balanced, and sometimes baffling. The techniques are direct and fundamental. He taught “suyop” a visayan word for “sucking” which means to draw in your opponent.

Anciong also believed in continuous research and discovery and he was often seen walking along Colon Street in Cebu, ducking and weaving. He was shadow fighting, constantly thinking of scenarios of possible attacks and its counters.

Balintawak is reaction based, training the body’s reflexes and balance thus wonderful for developing agility, flexibility and coordination. Anciong’s catchphrase was, “Simhota ko dong!” verbally translated it means come and smell me. It actually means, “Come and sense me!”

Balintawak focuses on learning defense rather than offense. An offensive attack is inherent in everyone. Even a two year old kid knows how to hit.

Reacting in a protective manner is something that needs to be refined. After all, we go out in public without the intention to attack anyone. More often, we don’t expect to be assaulted and it is vital to know some form of self defense.

Balintawak practitioners, in its early days, were taught to be fighters. Part of the knowledge imparted to them was psychological warfare. And they were taught to ignore the pain if they were hit.

Back then Balintawak training was shunned by some because it was considered to be a brutal way of learning a martial art. Only the patient and strong took part. Daily practice at Balintawak Street produced blood and welts.

It was also at the time a closed system, where only family members were taught. Non-blood relatives who did get invited or accepted became part of the family. Family and Christian values were upheld especially respect for the elders.

Balintawak was considered to be “sagrado” or sacred. A divine art given to Anciong and learning Balintawak was a privilege. Some teachers of Balintawak refused payment from devote students.

Anciong disliked stick twirling. He considered it unnecessary and impractical in real fights. He further developed his style which dealt a simple block for an attack followed by an immediate counter. Anciong Bacon started his own group because he thought that training should concentrate on defense, one block followed by one counter, rather than attack. There is no limit as to what part of the body may be hit, and control of power and technique is taught in order to protect the training partner. Injury is avoided and safety is imposed.

Balintawak is not a sport. There are no rules when a person is being attacked in the street. What is considered foul in other arts is taught in Balintawak.

The word “Balintawak” also refers to the area in Luzon where Filipinos, in the late 1800′s first started their revolution against Spanish rule. The “Cry of Balintawak”, was understood to refer to the first skirmish between the katipuneros and the guardia civil. It is now taken to refer to the tearing of the cedulas, or community tax certificates, followed by patriotic shouts, to mark their withdrawal from Spain.

The Filipinos fought with what they had, their bolos and sticks. The few guns and little ammunition they had were mainly captured from the Spanish forces.

Little by little, the revolutionary forces gained ground in Visayas and Luzon. At one point, the revolutionary leaders were reported to have written to the leaders of the kingdoms in Mindanao only to be told that they have been fighting the Spaniards for the last 300 years.

The spread of Balintawak to the world was made easier when Attorney Villasin broke down Anciong’s system to groupings. These levels of skill ensured that students became increasingly adept with Balintawak.

Teofilo Velez embraced this form of education and to his credit, students of “Teovel”, notably Bobby Taboada and Nene Gaabucayan, primarily introduced this form of Filipino Martial Art to Europe and the United States. Bobby Tabimina is also currently introducing his form of Balintawak to the rest of the world.

Anciong taught at the back of a barber shop at Balintawak Street in Cebu. Anciong’s Arnis being a non-conformist art fittingly became christened Balintawak.

These questions are very important, focusing as they do on two quintessential elements that bring “humanness” into our existence: dreams and justice. Both speak to our imperfect nature that most of the time seeks and struggles for what is due and what ought to be.

On the matter of dreams, the Philippine Elibrary (http://www.elib.gov.ph) reveals that “For Dreams Must Die” is a work of fiction by Zoilo M. Galang about the love of Jose Rizal and Leonor Rivera. Fiction aside, sufficient documentation exists to prove the historical fact of Jose and Leonor’s love. Enough historical data also show that Rizal could not pursue (rather, neglected) this love (and other loves) for a love that: “carries with it a divine stamp which renders it eternal and imperishable”; and “among all loves”…“is the greatest, the most heroic and the most disinterested.”1/

In letters to Blumentritt, he confided about Leonor: “When my fiancée (Leonor Rivera) abandoned me, I found that she was right, that I deserved it, but nevertheless my heart was bleeding. Recently I received her letter announcing that soon she would marry – she was always very much solicited by Filipinos and Spaniards.”2/ “My fiancee (Leonor Rivera), who was faithful to me for more than eleven years, is going to marry an Englishman, an engineer of the railroad. Well the first blow of the railroad is for me. However, I prefer this progress to our former situation! When I received the news, I thought I would lose my mind, but that has already passed away and I have to smile, for I must not cry. Oh, do not be surprised that a Filipino woman should prefer the name Kipping (of the engineer) to Rizal. No, don’t be astonished. An Englishman is a free man and I am not. Enough! Let this be the last word!”3/

In other writings, he declared: “In my heart I have suppressed all loves, except that of my native land; in my mind I have erased all ideas which do not signify her progress; and my lips have forgotten the names of the native races in the Philippines in order not to say more than Filipinos.” 4/ “…the thought of my whole life has always been love of my country and her moral and material development…” 5/ “My dreams when a lad, when scarcely adolescent: my dreams when a young man, now with vigor inflamed: were to behold you one day: Jewel of eastern waters: griefless the dusky eyes: lifted the upright brow: unclouded, unfurrowed, unblemished and unashamed”. 6/

He had, in another letter to Blumentritt, reflected pensively: “…in my life, happiness was always followed by misfortune, and the more beautiful the one was, the more terrible the other one appeared… …When I am alone, my gaiety disappears; many confused and sad thoughts assail me; it seems to me as if I had lost something, or as if luck had abandoned me.” 7/

So, in all his humanity, Rizal’s personal romantic dreams with Leonor became a victim of historic circumstances, and thus had to die and be sacrificed, for his larger, national dream – like moth to flames – of seeing the greater glory of the Philippines; as he wrote to Mariano Ponce: “I am very busy these days for I am working ad majorem Phil. gloriam”8/ (a Latin phrase literally meaning ‘to the greater glory of the Philippines’, a paraphrase of the more common expression Ad majorem gloriae Dei.)

I submit Rizal died with his dreams alive: of seeing the Philippines holding high her brow serene, no matter how long it would take. I also submit his undying vision of a more beautiful Philippines 9/ galvanized his “last ounce of courage” to turn himself as his consciousness came to an end and his body was flung forward by the firing squad’s bullets on his back such that, when he landed, his face looked towards the open and limitless sky instead of being slammed into the limited confines of the ground. The significance of that act compels us, new generations of Filipinos, to actualize his dream.

So, will real democracy ever be realized in our country? It all depends on us, the Filipino people: whether we can overcome the momentum of innumerable “impossibilities” incessantly drilled into our minds since “time immemorial” to include the concept of true democracy.

But before we talk more about democracy, let’s turn our attention first to the matter of justice.

Rizal wrote that: “Justice is the foremost virtue of civilized nations. It subdues the most barbarous nations; injustice excites the weakest to rebellion.” 10/ and “…there is nothing that wins man more than the idea of justice, serene, without hatred or fury, as there is nothing like injustice to arouse his indignation.” 11/ As virtue or as idea, justice refers to the “habitual inclination of the will” and “the constant and permanent determination to give everyone his or her rightful due.” 12/ If our justice system favors only the rich, then that system is not giving every one his/her rightful due when redress of grievance is applied for, and we could as well call it an injustice system.

Whether worth calling justice or injustice system, the many aspects of law enforcement, prosecution, adjudication, incarceration, etc. all make up a composite function of government. But government, democratic or not, is a function of whether the people can and do effectively assert their role as citizens and ultimate sovereigns of the Republic. In sum, justice administration is a function of government and government is a function of people.

On the latter relationship, Rizal wrote: “People and government are correlated and complementary. A stupid government is an anomaly among a righteous people, just as a corrupt people cannot exist under just rulers and wise laws. Like people, like government, we will say, paraphrasing a popular adage.” 13/

If we might paraphrase Rizal in turn: we need righteous people and/or just rulers; let’s just assume for the moment we already have wise laws for it is generally felt our problem mainly lies in the area of implementation. With this formulation, we have three options, namely: (1) righteous people, (2) just rulers, or (3) both righteous people and just rulers. Obviously, the third is ideal, but it requires the realization of the first and the second options. The second could perhaps be achievable if elections were not largely based on money and the people were to choose wisely. The first needs radical changes in the hearts, minds and behaviors of enough of our people to form a critical mass that can effect changes in national values and overcome the momentum of centuries of negativity and impossibility conditioning.

Since the second option presumes that people would choose wisely regardless of money involved, realization of the first appears to be its precondition. It seems then that we are left with the first as the choice that promises true and lasting change. The radical changes in t-e-a (thoughts, emotions, actions) that this first alternative necessarily implies, can perhaps transpire if enough of us follow St. Paul’s urging: “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may judge what is God’s will, what is good, pleasing, and perfect.”14/ This ‘renewal of minds’ seems to be “the way” to attain “the spirit that gives life and not just the letter that kills” of our Constitution and laws, and thus allow us to approach or approximate “the ways of the kingdom of God, where kingdom citizens have the perfect law of righteousness in their hearts”.15/

Democracy, I submit, is part of God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will, as He made each one of us in His own image16/, individually endowing us with inalienable power to choose. This ‘power to choose’ gets wielded by the righteousness or unrighteousness in our hearts and, depending on which character we allow to prevail or resolve to uphold, serves as the fount for the quality of democracy we enjoy. In Rizal’s view, democracy is not really that impossible to do, for it simply boils down to helping each other out and working together for common ends: “He who wants to help himself should help others because if he neglects others, he too will be neglected by them. One midrib is easy to break, but not a bundle of many midribs tied together.”17/

Along these lines, we might want to have our own “t-e-a party” for righteousness!

In closing, the question we might want to ask is: how long will it take us, as a people, to change our dynamic set of beliefs, feelings, attitudes and behavior patterns regarding real democracy, from “cannot be” to “can be”? One cannot exactly tell. But, if we are to “encourage one another and build one another up”18/, then yes, it shall come to pass, in God’s own time… And yes, the destiny of the Philippines will be beautiful because a critical mass of enlightened Filipinos shall hold it in their loving hands!! That’s the dream that must never die!!!

_________________________

* Edwin D. Bael is a Knight Commander of the Order of the Knights of Rizal. He was Consul General of the Philippines in Los Angeles, California (2000-2002) and is now the Managing Principal of Bael Consulting, LLC, based in Phoenix, Arizona.

1/ “Love of Country”, La Solidaridad, Madrid, 31 October 1890.

2/ Letter to Blumentritt, Biarritz, 29 March 1891, Epistolario Rizalino, V, Part II, No. 94, p.584.

3/ Letter to Blumentritt, Brussels, 23 April 1891, Epistolario Rizalino, V, Part II, No. 95, p. 589

4/ “Farewell to 1883”, Speech

5/ Letter to the Governor and Captain General of the Philippine Islands, Hongkong, 21 Mar 1892, Epistolario Rizalino, III No. 577, p. 306

6/ 4th Stanza, Ultimo Adios, 1896, Nick Joaquin translation

7/ Letter to Blumentritt, Brunn, 19 May 1887, Epistolario Rizalino, V, No. 22, pp. 134-135

8/ Letter to Mariano Ponce, Epistolario Rizalino, II, No. 191, p. 46

9/ “Tomorrow we shall be citizens of the Philippines whose destiny will be beautiful because it will be in loving hands.” El Filibusterismo, Ghent, 1891, p. 191.

10/ “The Philippines a Century Hence”, La Solidaridad, 15 December 1889.

11/ “Let Us Be Just”, La Solidaridad, 15 April 1890.

12/ http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/p/Justice.htm; Fr. John A. Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary,

13/ “The Indolence of the Filipinos”, La Solidaridad, 15 September 1890.

14/ Romans 12:2, NAB

15/ http://www.free-ebooks.net/ebook/123-What-Are-Christians-Fighting-For-/html/4#read; What Are Christians Fighting For?” by John Jones, p. 4.

16/ Genesis 1:27, NAB

17/ Message to the Women of Malolos, Europe, February 1889, Epistolario Rizalino, II Doc. No. 223, p.117

18/ 1 Thessalonians 5:11, NAB