THE PHILIPPINES:

A CENTURY
HENCE
 The Philippines a Century Hence is an
essay written by Philippine national hero Jose
Rizal to forecast the future of the country
within a hundred years. Rizal felt that it was
time to remind Spain that the circumstances
that ushered in the French Revolution could
have a telling effect for him in the Philippines.
 It was published in La
Solidaridad in Madrid between
September 30, 1889 and
February 1, 1890
CAUSES OF MISERIES
 The essay started by analyzing the
various causes of the desolations suffered
by the Filipino people

1. Spain's implementation of her military

laws

2. Deterioration and disappearance of

Filipino Indigenous culture

3. Passivity and submissiveness to the

Spanish colonizers
For this, he made the following
arguments:

1. Keeping the people

uneducated and ignorant had
failed. National consciousness
had still awakened, and great
Filipino minds still emerged
from the rubble,
2. Keeping the people
impoverished also came to no
avail. On the contrary, living a
life of eternal destitution had
allowed the Filipinos to act on
the desire for a change in their
way of life. They began to
explore other horizons through
which they could move towards
progress.
3. Exterminating the people as an
alternative to hindering progress did not
work either. The Filipino race was able to
survive amidst wars and famine, and
became even more numerous after such
catastrophes. To wipe out the nation
altogether would require the sacrifice of
thousands of Spanish soldiers, and this is
something Spain would not allow.
RIZAL’S FORECAST
► These reforms were the following:

► Filing of government positions through competitive examinations

► Reforms in commerce, agriculture and Education greater security for the individual and other reforms.
Years after Rizal's death, the Philippines attained its long-awaited freedom a completion of what
he had written in the essay.

"History does not record in its archives any lasting domination by one people over another of
different races, of diverse usages and customs, of opposite and divergent ideas. One of the two
had to yield and succumb."
The essay serves as a reminder that we, Filipinos, are historically
persevering and strong-minded.
CHALLENGES THAT
CONFRONT
FILIPINOS
 "Why independence if the
slaves today become the tyrants
of tomorrow?"
 As stated by Braid (2017) in her article,

"The creeping autocracy and our inability to

exercise full control over our national
sovereignty require public awareness,
courage, and a strong sense of national
identity. But being a people divided and
fragmented, a great challenge to govenance
is being able to help citizens connect with
their communities.
 There are opportunities lost such as using
available communication technologies
Internet and mobile technology to connect
groups, to inform and educate, to enable all
of us citizens to discover the common ties
we share. The delays. we have faced in our
peace talks are indicators of our lack of
resoluteness in taking risks and meeting
challenges of establishing a more peaceful
and stable social order.
The growing social and income gaps are symptoms
of our inability to forge a common bond with our
brothers and sisters in marginalized communities.
How some of us can possibly endure living in a
most unequal community befuddles neighbors who
live in more egalitarian societies! We have failed
to utilize available communication technologies in
creating innovations that would improve dialogue
and close gaps between our fellow citizens and the
world outside. Instead, they have been used to
create chaos and spread fake news.
 If these statements appear to
be indictments of the status
quo, it is because we wish to
help establish a fairer, kinder
society by reminding fellow
citizens that our hope for
survival depends on each of us
taking responsibility."
What now, can you do for the
country as a Filipino youth?
OTHER RELATED
WRITINGS
 Apart from Rizal's essay on The
Philippines: A Century Hence, he had also
penned several other brilliant writings
that helped awaken the sense of
patriotism among the early Filipinos,
which paved the way for Philippine
Revolution, there are two other timeless
writings, these are:
 SOBRE LA
INDOLENCIA DE LOS
FILIPINOS
* This logical essay is a proof of the national
hero’s historical scholarship.

* The essay rationally countered the

accusations by Spaniards that Filipinos were
indolent (lazy) during the Spanish reign.

* It was published in La Solidaridad in five

consecutive issues on July (15 and 31),
August (1 and 31) and September 1, 1890.
Rizal explained the alleged Filipino
indolence by pointing to these Factors:
1.) The Galleon trade destroyed
the previous links of the
Philippines with other countries
in Asia and the Middle East,
thereby eradicating small local
businesses and handicraft
industries;
2.) The Spanish forced labor
compelled the Filipinos to work
shipyards, roads, and other
public works, thus abandoning
their agricultural farms and
industries;

3.) Many Filipinos became

landless and wanderers because
Spain did not defend them
against pirate snd foreign
invaders;
4.) The system of education offered by
the colonizers was impractical as it was
mainly about repetitive prayers and had
nothing to do with agricultural and
industrial technology;

5.) the Spaniards were a bad example as

negligent officials would come in late and
leave early in their offices and Spanish
women were always followed by
servants;
6) gambling like cockfights was
established, promoted, and explicitly
practiced by Spanish government
officials and friars themselves
especially during feast days;

7) the crooked system of religion

discouraged the natives to work hard
by teaching that it is easier for a poor
man to enter heaven; and
8.) The very high taxes were
discouraging as big part of
natives' earnings would only go
to the officials and friars.
LAONG LAAN
 Lopez Jaena & Del Pilar
The first editor of La Solidaridad was Graciano Lopez Jaena,
but it was totally under Marcelo del Pilar from its earliest
inauguration to its ignominious death.

It's because Del Pilar and his Comite de Propaganda in

Manila worked for the entire project and financing (real moving
force, the conduit of funds, and the organizer of the
newspaper).

• Lopez Jaena was chosen as editor because he already had

reputation as a fiery political orator and had influential contacts
among the anticlerical republicans and masons of Barcelona,
where the newspaper made its debut, but then he realized that
his editorship was only nominal (La Solidaridad vol. 1, 1996).
 LETTER TO THE
YOUNG WOMEN OF
MALOLOS
-On December 12, 1888, a group of
20 women of Malolos petitioned
Governor- General Weyler for
permission to open a night school so
that they may study Spanish under
Teodor Sandiko. Fr. Felipe Garcia, a
Spanish parish priest in Malolos
objected.
-In the end, their request was granted on the condition that Señora Guadalupe Reyes
should be their teacher and the classes will be held in day time not at night. Praising
these young women for their bravery, Marcelo H. del Pilar requested Rizal to write a
letter commending them for their extraordinary courage.
-Rizal addresses all kinds of women mothers, wives, the unmarried, etc. and expresses everything that he
wishes them to keep in mind.

-Originally written in Tagalog. Rizal composed this letter on February 22, 1889 when he was in London, in
response to the request of del Pilar.
The salient points contained in this letter are as follows:

1. The rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars not all of the priests in the country that time embodied
the true spirit of Christ and His Church. Most of them were corrupted by worldly desires and used worldly
methods to effect change and force discipline among the people.
2. The defense of private judgment.

3. Qualities Filipino mothers need to possess as evidenced by this portion of his letter, Rizal is greatly concerned of the
welfare of the Filipino children and the homes they grow up in.

4. Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their children.

5. Duties and responsibilities of a wife to her husband - Rizal states in this portion of
his letter how Filipino women ought to be as wives, in order to preserve the identity of
the race.

6. Counsel to young women on their choice of a lifetime partner.

 THE
RESPONSIBILITIES OF
FILIPINO MOTHERS
TO THEIR CHILDREN
 Rizal stipulates a number of
important points in this portion of his
letter to the young women of Malolos.
QUALITIES MOTHERS
HAVE POSSESS
Rizal enumerates the qualities Filipino mothers have to possess

1.Be a noble wife.

2 Rear her children in the service of the state-here Rizal gives reference to the women of Sparta who embody this quality

3.Set standards of behavior for men around her.

 RIZAL’S ADVICE TO
UNMARRIED MEN AND
WOMEN
 Jose Rizal points out to
unmarried women that they should
not be easily taken by appearances
and looks, because these can be
very deceiving.