The Life and Writings of Dr. José Rizal

Antonio Morga, known for his work Sucesos de las Filipinas, described the Filipino natives and their colonial rulers during the early decades of Spanish rule. His description of the natives was written less than 70 years after Magellan first set foot in the islands, and a few decades after the Spanish colonizers have gained ascendancy in Luzon and parts of the Visayas, particularly Cebu. At this time, the Spanish were still quite busy with reduccion—gathering the natives into villages, with a church and a government house as focal points. Morga’s description of the social structure can also be viewed as the probable justification for Spain’s annexation of the islands in terms of civilizing the natives while reaping great profit from the island’s natural wealth.

"Men and women alike are so self-seeking and covetous that if there is money in it for them they will easily let themselves be won over."

"In their assemblies, marriage-feasts and celebrations, the natives of these islands give themselves up to drinking this wine [tuba] night and day without ceasing and pass it round to one another, some singing and others drinking. Drunkenness is thus quite common and among them is not considered to be a vice, not dishonourable or disgraceful."

"Nowhere in these islands were there kings or supreme overlords to rule over them all as is the manner in other kingdoms and provinces, but in every island and in each province of the islands there were many chiefs recognised by the natives themselves. Some were greater than others; each one had supporters and subjects from different districts and families who obeyed and respected him. Some chiefs had friendly dealings with others and sometimes had quarrels and wars."

"Their principalities and domains are inherited by filiation and descent from father to son and heir, and failing them, their brothers and collateral relatives. Their chief's duties were to rule and govern their subjects and followers, to assist them in trials and necessities. In turn they received veneration and respect, were served in wars, on voyages, and in their tilling, fishing and the building of their houses. The subjects whenever called to render this help were prompt to obey their lords. The descendants and relatives of such chiefs, even though they did not inherit the domain, were held in the same respect; all of them were regarded as nobles, and as persons exempt from the services rendered by the commons. The same status of nobility and chieftainship were accorded the women, just as for the men. Whenever any of these rulers showed more spirit than others in war or some other occasion, such ruler gained more followers, even from among the other chiefs who submitted to his leadership. These latter, however retained their government and special control of their own group, called by them Barangai."

"The primacy of these chieftains over those of their Barangai was such that they held them, as it were, as subjects, treating them well or ill, disposing of their persons, children and property at will, without meeting any resistance or rendering any account to anyone else. For very slight annoyances or minor occasions of dispute they killed, wounded, and enslaved them."

Almost 300 years later, José Rizal wrote a graphic description of the Philippine social and political structure in his two novels. Interestingly, the structures had remained basically the same, except for the allegiance to the king in Spain of the colonial officials and friars who had replaced the native chieftains. Soon after the execution of Rizal at Bagumbayan—now known as the Luneta—the Philippine Revolution was set in motion. Some Spanish historians preferred to call it an insurrection, which may not be too far off the mark, considering that it was not a unified uprising before 1898. Intramuros, the center of the Spanish colonial government, was under siege by Aguinaldo’s soldiers when Admiral Dewy steamed into Manila Bay. With the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War, possession of the Philippines changed hands. For nearly 50 years, the Filipinos worked unceasingly for independence. They were cheated of victory in the Revolution and they were not going to be cheated a second time. In 1946, the United States granted independence to the Philippines. The native chieftains came into power. Was there a significant change in the socio-political structure?

Manuel L. Quezon is supposed to have said that he preferred a government run like hell by Filipinos, rather than a government run like heaven by Americans, or words to that effect. Evidently, heaven heard his words and fulfilled his wish. The present-day native chieftains are now called senators and congressmen (“senatongs” and “tongressmen”, according to the irreverent), sharing power with a President who is expected to be a superman and miracle worker, with the judiciary as some kind of referee. What of the rest of the natives, now called the citizens of the Republic? The Constitution, the fundamental law of the land, safeguards the rights and obligations of the rulers and the rules, but it has undergone so many charter changes that one never really knows which Constitution is invoked when the present-day chieftains choose to refer to it.

Once again, the present-day native chieftains are proposing charter changes, even as everybody knows that there are too many “foreign” concepts in the Constitution that has never really worked, because Morga’s description of the rulers and the ruled is almost the same description of the Philippines in the 21^st century. The present chieftains are practically clueless about governing in a representative democracy, being too busy with hair-splitting over words in a document that would ultimately gather dust among the cobwebs in the rusted metal file drawers in some government office. In fairness to the idealists among them, they still feel some kind of moral obligation to work for the tribute exacted from their subjects, which is now called tax. Let me digress a little about the tax system in the Philippines. Gloria Arroyo, who wrested power from President Joseph Estrada in January 2000, admitted that her government obtained only about 20% of the total collectible taxes. But this is really more a problem of implementation rather than a fundamental error in the tax system. Just as the Constitution may be a noble document, so could the tax system be viewed. Both would be as irrelevant as a toothless tiger if it were not implemented with truth and justice.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the ruling class, you have an unwritten formula for governance that has worked well for you for many centuries, long before the imperialists came. Stop fooling around with useless alien concepts of government and just drink your tuba day and night without ceasing. Crack your whips every now and then to make your alipin [slaves], aka constituents, tremble in their bakya [wooden shoes] to let them know who is in charge. Does this sound familiar? "Amo, susundin ko po yung inuutos ninyo sa akin pero kung anuman po ang mangyari sa akin kayo na po ang bahala sa pamilya ko." (“Was he ordered to assassinate his boss's enemy?”) This plea has been uttered by your alipin for thousands of years. Not to worry, you have everything under control. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.