Biography and History Essay

The fourth chapter of Quibuyens A Nation Aborted explores the implication of Rizals intellectual work by scrutinizing the fusion of Rizals biography and history. Quibuyen begins his chapter by refuting what Austin Coates and m are Guerrero have said- that Rizal inspired the Philippines to make the frontmost revolution in Asia single-handedly with ideas all his own. Quibyen presents in this chapter both crucial things to consider in interpreting Rizals work (1) Rizals ideas that embodied like a form of debate and alike the Blumentrit (2) Rizals vision and depicted object projects and how it affected Filipinos thoughts and feelings. Quibuyen mentions lots of personas such as Father Jose Burgos, Grciano Lopez Jaena, Jose Rizal Andres Bonifacio ,Apolinario Mabini, Antonio Luna , Marcelo H. del Pilar, Gregorio del Pilar, Emilio Jacinto, among others who were destroyed by the system they wished to radically transform. He further said that they were consumed by the excitement of th e struggles.Quibuyen only contention is to prove that Rizal was not the only one who contri hardlyed for what we do endure in the present. Quibuyen enumerates triad moments that make up the national consciousness of the Filipinos (1) Burgos as the principal figure and the spectator 11-year-old Rizal. (2) the time when Bonifacio cut and heard Rizal as the speaker in the inauguration of the La Liga and in like manner when Bonifacio founded the Katipunan (3) Rizals martyrdom and the offset of the Revolution. These essential events happened in 1872, 1892, 1896 respectively. Quibyen points bring out that the making of the nation started with the time of Father Burgos until the time of Rizals execution. tally to Felipe Buencamino Sr., liberal peninsulars introduced to the Philippines the ideas of French Revolution which enlightened the Filipinos. It was in 1834 when the Philippines facilitated the opening to the national trade. Moreover, he emphasized that the first Liberal Party in the country was not a party in the sense of beingness formally constituted like the Liga or the Katipunan rather it involved a loose alliance of Comite de Reformadores and Juventud escolar Liberal. The former consisted of priests, professors and the businessmen while the latter consisted students. Hence, Buencamino stated that the first liberal as he observes, was fleck for Filipinos equality with the Spaniards. Filipinos as per Buencamino presupposed the basic principles of Enlightenment freedom, human rights, and mans dignity.Quibuyen therefore pointed out that these principles are not opposed to the moral teachings of Catholicism. That is why Burgos, also known as Catholic Liberal became the elbow greases de facto leader and spokesman. Furthermore, Quibuyen mentioned the two moral perspectives which underpinned the hunting expedition Enlightenment and Catholicism. Furthermore, Quibuyen stated in this chapter that the liberal movement aimed for equality among Filipinos not o nly in terms of secularization or Church but also equality in terms of military and the government. The Filipino liberals founded the first Filipino periodical El Eco Filipino in Madrid to rebut the friars racist periodical La Verdad. The latter discriminated the Filipinos and promoted that the Filipino was inferior to the Peninsular and incapable of assuming positions held by the Peninsular.Quibuyen further said that Rizal stood out as the Tagalog Christ in the Pasyon tho the facts that lots of Ilustrados were executed at the Bagumbayan shortly after the Katipunans exposure in 1896. That is why Bonifacio transalted Rizals Mi Ulitimo Adios to disseminate to the Filipinos. Quibuyen emblematized Rizal and Bonifacio not only as the symbol for Enlightenment but also and more important, of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Quibuyen mentions in the chapter Rizals influences, juvenile writings and college readings that would determine Rizals historical kit and boodle and constitute his majo r contributions to the nationalist movement. Among these events are his prize-winning poem A La Juventud Filipina, his writing of Junto al Pasig etc.Moreover, when Rizal went to Europe and began his historical project, he had glimpsed of the Philippine historys frame pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial. Rizal got intrigued Jagors essay hence became interested not only in his countrys past but also his countrys future. Meanwhile, Quibuyen also cited in the chapter that Burgos, Rizal and Bonifacio constitute the three links in the nationalist movement from the 1870s to the 1890s. Meanwhile Rizals edition of Antonio Morgas Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas along with his Filipinas dentro de cien anos and Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos became the basis of national view of history which Bonifacio in turn would disseminate through the revolutionary Katipunan.The El Filibuserismo and Noli Me Tangere as stated by Quibuyen are necessary to determine who among its characters share with Rizals ideas. Sinibaldo de Mas, a civil servant in Madrid has made a colonial discourse on how to rule efficiently- Informesobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842. This became the institution colonial practice in the Phillipines. Mas started with the premise that the question on how to rule depends on the governments purpose. If the purpose of the government is to keep the islands as a colony, the regime must the three policy imperatives (1) the colour population must voluntarily respect and obey the whites (2) the growth of the creole class and the formation of liberals in the colony must be prevented (3) the administration must undergo a thorough reform.Mas further pointed out that the creoles constitute a dangerous threat. However, Mas realized that it was best for Spain to prepare the Philippines for independence after when Mas had a encumbrance of the country and had examination of the working of the colonial government. He concluded that the country was in fact uns atisfying to Spain and that it did not augment the Crowns treasury. Meanwhile, the chapter progresses as Alatas stated that colonial discourse was a en garde reaction by the ruling class against popular movement for change. Lastly, I liked how Quibuyen ended up the chapter by corroborating that the radical ilustrados as mentioned by Quibuyen were amateur intellectuals because they never got paid for what they wrote and even had to suffer for it. For instance, Rizal who had to shoulder joint the cost of his research and publishing his books and instead of a book award , he ended up being exiled and executed.