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The Philippines A Century Hence - Reaction Paper

Dr. Jose Rizal wrote "The Philippines a Century Hence" in four parts published in 1889-1890. In the essay, he discusses the impacts of Spanish colonization on Philippine culture and society. He predicts that in 100 years, the Philippines will either remain under Spanish rule or gain independence. Rizal also foresees the emergence of an enlightened Filipino class that realizes Spain is exploiting, not protecting, the country. He argues the Spaniards will fight to maintain control but their schemes will ultimately fail as Filipinos remain resilient and courageous in striving for freedom.

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392 views4 pages

The Philippines A Century Hence - Reaction Paper

Dr. Jose Rizal wrote "The Philippines a Century Hence" in four parts published in 1889-1890. In the essay, he discusses the impacts of Spanish colonization on Philippine culture and society. He predicts that in 100 years, the Philippines will either remain under Spanish rule or gain independence. Rizal also foresees the emergence of an enlightened Filipino class that realizes Spain is exploiting, not protecting, the country. He argues the Spaniards will fight to maintain control but their schemes will ultimately fail as Filipinos remain resilient and courageous in striving for freedom.

Uploaded by

Azul, John Eric D.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Philippines a Century Hence (Reaction Paper)

By Dr. Jose Rizal

As most of us nowadays, Dr. Jose Rizal caught me off guard


with another essay Filipinas Dentro de Cien Anos or commonly
known as The Philippines a Century Hence is a socio-political
essay written in four parts published in La Solidaridad (1889-1890).
It is one of those astounding political-related works of Rizal that
brought forth the Filipinos into consciousness. It is an awakening
essay that elucidates how they thrive and make their lives not just a
mere survival but a life to live with full hope.

To begin with, the first part gives us a glimpse of the past. The
article provides the drastic effects of Spanish Colonization and the
ravaging and escalating poverty. The impediments of living a
normal life and the gradual decrease of the population made them
submissive to their superiors and more sluggish. Conversely, I can
say that the worst part is the vanishment of indigenous Filipino
traditions and culture such as literary works, music, traditional
dance, and other art crafts. These are the things that I am fond of
so realizing that these insane colonizers took them made me think
how wicked they were before. For these reasons, it made them
realize the oppression of the opposer and made them ask, “What
would the future hold?” “Will the Philippines remain as a colony of
Spain or as a province?” “Will they have to sacrifice something or
make an ally with other countries to attain freedom?”
In the second part, another intriguing question was asked,
“What will become of the Philippines within a century?” “Will they
continue to be a Spanish Colony?” The two possible answers are:
The dauntless ones will thrive and will continue flourishing while the
downhearted and weakling ones will remain as captives and will
forever submit to the oppressors. More so, Dr. Rizal also presents
an analogy between the present and the future circumstance and
how will it affect all classes of society. For the liberal Spaniards,
they will remain as they are and for the friars and followers, there
will be progress for the ethical aspects of Filipinos it will retrograde.
Conversely, Rizal also gives an emphasis to a serendipitous
emergence of the enlightened class. They were the ones who
initially thought that the Spanish are their protector but then they
realized that they are the real adversary who exploits and
deteriorates their free will to act.

In addition, there will be a potential outcome as there will be


new adjustments concerning the authority of the Spaniards. First,
there will be a Filipino representative in the Spanish Cortes.
Second, they can abide by the system of authority while practicing
human rights. In spite of that, as Rizal foretells the possible
outcome, they will remain under the authority of the Spaniards but
with a greater privilege now than before. They can also consider
themselves as independent citizens. However, the Spaniards will
fight for its position like a soaring eagle who flies high, and it will
make ways to devour its prey. They will find a way to hinder the
progress of the Philippines by making it impoverished as it was or
worse, exterminating some of its native people.

The third part presents a gradual proposition of reform in a


political sense from the government, and it will drastically affect the
state of their (Filipinos) stability as the oppressors will suggest more
elevated publicity by using a press that would make them more
superior to voice out while taking the opportunity to spill the
negative facets of putting a Filipino as a representative in Spanish
Cortes. As accusers, they will publicize the negative qualities of the
natives saying that they are unruly, politically trimmed, and acts
improperly. The thing is that I just cannot really get their point here
and it is very obvious that the Spaniards just want their full grasp of
power as Rizal criticized them for doing just so.

Scientifically speaking, the presentation of Rizal in the last part


of the essay, states the facts and the systematic scheme formation
of the government officials to annihilate the power of the natives. He
stated that they will devise a scheme that will worsen the situation
of the natives in order to overthrow them. However, no matter the
contingency, their schemes will only result in vain as natives will
remain dauntless and valiant. If they really want to succeed, they
must sacrifice some of their own armies and it is true because we
as Filipinos are inherently strong. I think it is something we should
be proud of that even in our time nowadays, we are still resilient. As
I read this last part, I saw how important it is the way our forefathers
did to recognize that we are strong. That no matter how strong the
wind is, we will strive and thrive to flourish.

To conclude, I condemned the atrocity of the colonizer while


commending the courageousness of our forefathers. It only wants
us to keep and teach us to remain strong while persevering towards
the ocean of life. Our part was just to apply it as they taught us, the
way Dr. Rizal wants us as the younger generation to learn from his
viewpoint. He is the foreteller, and we are the fulfillers of what he
envisioned centuries ago.

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