Indolence of the Filipino People

Indolence does exist among the Filipinos, Rizal admitted, but it cannot be attributed to the troubles and backwardness of the country; rather it is the effect of the backwardness and troubles experienced by the country. One must study the causes of indolence, Rizal says, before curing it. Past writings on indolence revolve only on either denying or affirming, and never studying its causes in depth. The hot climate, he points out, is a reasonable predisposition for indolence. He therefore enumerates the causes of indolence and elaborates on the circumstances that have led to it. Filipinos cannot be compared to Europeans, who live in cold countries and who must exert much more effort at work. An hour’s work under the Philippine sun, he says, is equivalent to a day’s work in temperate regions.

-Paredes. Jose Victor

To the Young Women of Malolos

According to Rizal, women in Malolos must be reasonable and open their eyes because they are the first to influence the consciousness of man. Always put in their mind that it is better to die with honor than living with dishonor that nobody has the right to subjugate one another. And the friars can no longer assert that they alone are responsible for their unjust order; because god gave us reason and will of our own to distinguish the just from unjust. Rizal wants that the women in Malolos should be the one to open the eyes of their children so that they may guard their honor, love to their fellowmen, and they native land.

-Paredes, Jose Victor

THe Philippines Within a Century

The Philippines a Century presents a prediction of Rizal of how the Philippines would be through the century. Rizal presented an idea of how our Motherland will end up centuries later proposing that our country will end up in either of the three ways;(1) that the Philippines will remain to be a colony of Spain but will be in good terms with its captors;(2) that the Philippines will try to cut the ties of our Motherland from its captors through violent means;(3) and lastly that we will be colonized by another country.
The thoughts of Rizal were not only based on his mere imagination, he tried to read in between the lines of the History of the many nations to come up with his recommendations of how the Philippines would look like. Rizal saw how the uprising in different nations started and thought that if Spain continuous to ignore the cries of its inhabitants, there will come a time that the oppressed will come into arms to recapture their lost freedom. In his essay, Rizal exposed the several issues that concern our country. The abuse of human rights, the lack of freedom of the press and the lack of representation in the Spanish Cortes are the key points discussed in the lengthy essay of Rizal. According to Rizal, the Filipinos must enjoy liberty of the press so that they can voice out their cries against the cruelty of the Spaniards. In addition, they must also have a representative in the Spanish Cortes to make known to the government and to the nation whether or not their decrees have been duly obeyed. Lastly, Filipinos are also seeking for justice and for human rights. Learning to live together and prospering as a nation will help build a strong foundation or our motherland.

- Paredes, Jose Victor

The Indolence of the Filipinos

The Indolence of the Filipinos shows the reasons why the Filipinos gradually became lazy as the Spaniards stated. Some of the reasons were the introduction and wrong education of religion, the introduction of gambling, and coastal trade was banned.

The introduction of religion may have been a good thing that was given to the Philippines. However, the friars taught that the rich would not go to heaven, therefore making the poor not want to get rich, hence them not working.

The introduction of gambling gave the thought of "easy money". Since one can get rich through gambling, there would be no use of work. Because although winning in gambling was rare, once winning, one receives more than the labor's fee.

Banning coastal trade costs the Filipinos a lot of work force. The coastal trade and relation between the Philippines and other countries was good. Many of the Filipinos at the time were making a living from coastal trade, enjoyed it, and made it a way of life. Removing trade made many seek other jobs that they did not enjoy therefore they may not perform their best.

The indolence of the Filipinos in the Spanish period shows its effects even in the present period. We even have the term ningas kugon as the term to do things later rather than now. Even in our language, it shows that the Filipinos are indolent.

----Joyce Sia

The Philippines Within A Century

According to Jose Rizal's article he predicted on what will happen to the Philippines within 100 years. First, Philippines will remain as Spain's colony but will have good relation and in good terms. This means that a colonizer must do their responsibility to their colony and if not the colonized can make reforms. Second, the Philippines will have their freedom from Spain with the means of violence like revolts. He also stated that if the Philippines indeed will have their freedom, a strong country will colonized us. Rizal was right after all, because USA did colonized us. During that time, many Filipinos to some of Spain's culture and little did they know that they already forgot our Filipino culture.


- Bedonia, Alfonso Eumir III

Indolence of the Filipino People

Rizal agreed to the Spaniards that we are lazy but in a different reason. Rizal stated in his article three main points on why the Filipinos are lazy. First, hot climate because as the Spaniards noticed that our farmers that time are mostly waking up at around 9am and they thought that we enjoyed sleeping. Little did they know that our farmers are really waking up early like 3 or 4 in the morning and go to the fields to work and them go back home like 6 or 7 in the morning to take their sleep for the work they had done. The reason for this is because of the heat, who would ever want to work on the field with so much heat anyway? With this climate, the Filipino farmers who had this idead which is a good one took the chance to work in the morning. Second, blaming Spain for the indolence of the Filipinos. Most Filipinos that time couldn't work for their families because Spain was doing forced labor on the Filipinos which caused some of them to work in different places to build infrastructures like churches. Also, Spain didn't allowed the Filipinos to use weapons which lead to Filipinos getting killed by the pirates from the south. Last is blaming Filipinos for being indolent. In the first place if a person doesn't want to be a lazy then he can but if a person lacks determination then he/she be lazy. Being responsible must first came from us and Filipinos must not let other people control us. Of course Filipinos want their freedom but who must do the work to get that freedom, the Filipinos do.


- Bedonia, Alfonso Eumir III

To the Young Women of Malolos

Rizal wrote these two years after he made the Noli Me Tangere to the 20 young women of Malolos who are members of the Chinese Mestizos family. This serves as an open attack to the abuse of the Friars and to encourage the Filipino women to have an education. According to Rizal, Spaniards must respect the Filipino women and treat them accordingly. The Filipino women must have their education to know the reality that Spaniards are abusing them. This is like a wake-up call to the women to fight for what is right. Rizal also wrote this for a reason that if Filipino women doesn’t have a proper education then it's like teaching their children to be the same as them. This will make the Philippines have no progress in the future. In the end, the Filipino women did have their education.


- Bedonia, Alfonso Eumir III

To the Young Women of Malolos

Ito ay nagawa ni Jose Rizal dalawang taon makalipas na magawa niya ang nobelang “Noli Me Tangere.” Tulad ng pagkakalarawan niya sa nobela ay tulad rin dito na ang mga babae noon ay tunay na mali ang pagtrato ng mga Espanyol at hindi lamang sa mga babae pati na rin sa lahat ng mga Pilino. Ito ay inilaan niya sa dalawampung babae ng Malolos na animo ay nilalarawan na dapat ay hindi lamang basta ganoon ang pagtrato sa kanila sapagkat nararapat sa kanila ang mas maayos at mas magandang pagtrato.

-Reyes, Samuel Kim S.

Philippines Within A Century

Sa pagbabasa ng sinulat ni Jose Rizal na ‘Philippines Within a Century’, masasabi kong hindi lamang siya isang bayani na pagkakakilala sa kanya ngunit isa na ring ‘historian’ o mananalaysay. Ang kanyang gawa na ito ay nagpapakita ng hula niya sa mga bagay-bagay na maaaring mangyari sa loob ng isang daang taon. Ipinakita ni Jose Rizal dito ng maayos ang tatlong bagay na maaring mangyari sa ating bansang Pilipinas pagkatapos ng maraming taong nakalipas. Una, nasabi niyang ang Pilipinas ay mananatili sa ilalim ng pamamahala ng mga Espanyol ngunit nasa mabuting kalagayan na naman. Pangawala ay ang Pilipinas ay handang gumawa ng madugong rebolusyon para makamtan ang kalayaan at ang panghuli ay masakop muli ng isa pang makapangyarihang bansa.

Ang mga batayan ni Jose Rizal ay hindi lamang batay sa mga imahinasyon niya ngunit batay na rin mismo sa mga naobserbahan niya sa ibang lugar na pinagsama-sama niya kaya siya nakabuo ng isang kongklusyon tungkol sa ating bansa. Naisip niya na pag-aralan ang mga nangyayari sa ibang bansa at mga nangyari na at naihalintulad niya ito sa ating bansang Pilipinas. At ayon sa kanyang gawa, nasaaad niya na dapat makamtan ng mga Pilipino ang kalayaan lalong lalo na ang kalayaan sa ‘press’ para naman malayang masabi ng mga Pilipino ang mga nais nilang iparating sa mga namamahala.

-Reyes, Samuel Kim S.

Indolence of the Filipino People

Sa unang bahagi ay inamin ni Jose Rizal ang katamaran talaga na namamalagi sa mga Pilipino ngunit hindi ito maaaring maikonekta sa masamang kalagayan at kahinaan ng bansa datapwat ito ay maii-konekta sa mga kahinaan at masamang kalagayan na nararanasan ng bansa. Upang maunawan ng husto ang ginawa na ito ni Jose Rizal ay dapat muna mapag-aralan ang mga dahilan ng katamaran ng isang tao at ang kailalimang dahilan nito parang maintindihan ito. Sunod naman ay binanggit niya na ang katamaran ng mga Pilipino ay lalong lumalala dahil sa maling pagtrato dito. Ngunit sinabi niyang hindi naman dapat mawalan ng pag-asa na gamutin itong sinasabing ‘katamaran’ na ito. Inihalintulad niya ito sa sakit na lalong lumalala kapag mali ang paggamot dito. At isa pa ay nasasaad dito na ang katamaran ng Pilipino ay maaari dahil sa kakulangan ng pag-aaral.

-Reyes, Samuel Kim S.