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Woes in the Time of Rizal, a Burden Until Now
Truly, our trip to the North in the hopes to find answers as to whether or not Jose Rizal is still a relevant figure in our society today was indeed insightful. Not only did we find Rizal in the places that dated back to his lifetime, we also found him in new faces of the modern-day heroes we met. What’s more, we also found ourselves along the way at some point. We were able to know ourselves better in how we deal with other people, we became closer to new friends we thought we wouldn’t get along with. New friendships, new identities bloomed right after the trip. But what made the trip significant was the fact that we were able to appreciate Rizal’s patriotism by seeing why he loved this nation so much – this nation diverse of people and places that we couldn’t find anywhere but here.
As our means to relate Jose Rizal into today’s events, as well as to give meaning to our search for Rizal in the North, we decided to ask teenagers we with ages 15-19 years old from the places we went to. We wanted to know what’s their say of the sociopolitical climate of our country in comparison to what Jose Rizal had encountered during his days. Decades have passed, but have the age-old problems already been solved? Or are they still lurking in our society?
Different era, different context, but the same old stories. What happened then still happens now.
Well, it turns out what Rizal had experienced in the past still happens in the present. Here’s what they answered:
​ Discrimination and Oppression of the Minority
Corruption and Abuse of Those in Power
The Ever-Cancerous Colonial Mentality
Access to Free Education
Poverty
​ The Absence of Genuine Independence
Discrimination and Oppression of the Minority
“Before, the Spaniards treated us like slaves and now, foreigners continue to look down on us”
–17, Male
While Rizal was educating himself in the University of Santo Tomas, there had been records that he too had firsthand experiences with bullying and discrimination as he was teased by his classmates for being dark-skinned and short as compared to his Mestizo counterparts. And until now, this case is still rampant. People belonging to the minority in terms of gender, ethnicity, and religion are being discriminated just because they are different, such as in the case of the alleged drug addicts given as an example by one of the teenagers we have interviewed. Instead of giving them the same respect and treatment we receive, that they too deserve, we treat them as if they are hopeless, helpless beings who wait for their demise.
Corruption and Abuse of Those in Power
“[Ang] pang-aalipin ng mga tao na nasa mataas na position. Nasa gobyerno pa rin ang may hawak sa kapangyarihan at ang mga ordinaryong tao pa rin ang laging naaapi.”
– 16, Female
Eleven of our interviewees mentioned corruption as one of the most prevalent problem that never seems to be resolved. The friars in the time of Rizal as well as in his novels all do the same thing – sit in power, fatten up their bellies while putting the Filipinos into slavery, exploiting the poor and the underprivileged. And now, the same system is what runs our government as stated by a 19-year-old male we have interviewed:
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“The government during those times which was influenced by the church (which made them
successful for colonization). It’s the same thing today. The oppression in various ways
are made by powerful people in office. There is still that power structure
because they felt they are entitled to do it at large.”
The Ever-Cancerous Colonial Mentality
“One of the biggest problem since the time of Rizal is the lack of love for our own country or lack of nationalism,” said one of the teenagers we interviewed in the North. From language, to music to commodities, we often prefer those imports rather than our own. One 19-year-old female teenager also wowed us with what she said:
“During the Spanish era, Filipinos were mocked for their dark-skinned and flat-nosed appearances. No matter how intellectually renowned a Filipino was, Spaniards still only see them as their inferiors. Haunted by the past, Filipinos of today practice the same discrimination the Spaniards once set to us. White-skinned people are regarded as belonging to the rich class while those of the dark-skinned type to the poor class. In fact, Filipinos of today strive to portray a superficial identity different from their mother nation. Depending on the worldwide trend, they mimic the image of Korean stars or American actors/actresses. Many products are even offered to achieve this such as whitening regimens, nose enhancers, and so much more.”
Access to Free Education
An 18-year-old male also shared her sentiments by saying “We look up to Americans and other Caucasians as if they are a more superior race than us. We always try to copy what they do (e.g. Instagram posts, Instagram poses, fashion, etc.). Also, we act as if we are reliant on their power and mercy. This was evident during the Spanish rule, and this is still evident now.” At a very young age, we were already taught in English because, let’s face it: most people today judge a person’s intelligence by how fluent they speak in English. It’s not even surprising that majority of the youth today speak better and articulate their thoughts better in English than in Filipino. And it’s a sad, considering that language is what gives a nation its identity.
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It’s a bad thing that we love other cultures than our own, but what makes it worse is that we have gone to the point that we learned to loathe our skin color, our language and identity when in fact these are the things that differentiates us from other cultures. We even hate ourselves too much we often think that we are inferior compared to other races that we openly accept their maltreatment against us. We give more respect to them than towards our own fellowmen. We provide more value to products brought from abroad than those made by our locals.
Poverty
The call for free education still exists now. Similar to Rizal’s time, only the upper-class Filipinos were able to study. More often than not, those who cannot afford to send their children to school were left to rot in their current situation without having been given a chance to save themselves, even if they had the potentials to become great.
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“Hindi pa rin po nakakapag-aral ng maayos ang mga kabataan ngayon. Yung mga may kaya lang po ang
kadalasang nakakapag tapos ng pag-aaral. Yung mga mahihirap po
either hindi sila nakakapagtapos o kaya hindi talaga sila nakakapatong ng eskwelahan”
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And this becomes a cycle. Because the people suffering from poverty cannot go to school, they receive less employment opportunities, thus, pushing them further and further into the pits of poverty. Just say goodbye to your aspirations in life if you cannot pay. Although they’d say “Poverty is not a hindrance to success,” we cannot deny the fact that it slows down our growth as a nation.
Speaking of poverty, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and wider as time goes by. Those in power continues to fill up their pockets with money coming from who-knows-where whereas the less fortunate, well, they’re left to continuously suffer till death because of the lack of opportunities for them to develop and prosper.
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“Para sakin ang hirap mag-aral at maghanap ng trabaho kung mahirap ka.
Si Rizal nakapag-aral siya kasi mayaman siya, maganda rin trabaho niya kasi nakapag-aral siya.
Hanggang ngayon ganyan pa rin eh, kung wala kang pera para makapag-aral ,
mahihirapan ka ring maghanap nga trabaho na makaahon sana ng pamilya mo sa kahirapan."
– 17, Male
The Absence of Genuine Independence
The call for freedom has long been occurring. It started when the Spaniards colonized our country, then the Americans came, promising us with a brighter future, but they’re just the same evil in a different persona. And then the Japanese came, and we were forced to fight a battle in which we wouldn’t have been involved hadn’t the Americans took over our country.
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“Parang nahihirapan pa rin tayong maging independent from US,
although pinupush ng new president na tayo-tayo lang.
'Yong baga free tayo pero sa totoo lang ang mentality natin palaging bias sa west.”
– 16, Female
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Since time immemorial, we have become puppets of different nations, even until now. Although our president decided to cut our ties with the US, he again searches for new masters in the form of Russia and China. It’s like our country was meant to be perpetually under the shadows of domineering countries.
BUT HOW DO WE DEAL WITH THESE PROBLEMS?
BE EDUCATED TO EDUCATE OTHERS
Education can lead to drastic change in so many ways possible. Being properly educated does not only stop with us learning something, but it also opens doors for us in the future. With better education, we gain better chances at life and contribute to the development of our society.
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In addition, education also opens our eyes to the current condition of our society. Through the knowledge we gain from schooling, we can create our informed stances against societal issues and have the privilege to improve our society by educating others as well, especially those who are deprived from such.
The teens we have interviewed also shared their various takes on how to solve the problem of our lack of Filipino identity. One asserted that we should use our special skills and abilities to raise awareness of the importance of loving our own country and culture. Another one made it a point to use interesting means to entice people of their age to love and learn our own language and use the evolving technology to our advantage in promoting the love for the Filipino language given that the youth today are more tech savvy, yet also easily quite bored.
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And of course, what’s the best way to encourage liking is to avoid badmouthing our locally-made products. “Makakatulong din kung hindi natin pagusapan ng masama ang ating sariling mga produkto kasi marami kang maririnig na ang mga produkto natin ay hindi matibay at madaling masira or hindi dekalidad.” As they say, spread the love and not the hate.
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Talk about spreading the love. Another one of the teenagers we talked to also shared her thoughts on how to end discrimination by respecting our diversity as human beings: “Each of us is unique in certain ways. By advocating the beauty of the Filipino race through various campaigns, we can help the Philippine people realize that being a pure Filipino is something to be proud of. Additionally, patronizing our own products and being an epitome of the Filipino race are some of the many ways to handle the rampant racial discrimination of our nation,” she said.
RAISE AWARENESS OF LOVING YOUR OWN
ABOVE ALL, CHANGE STARTING FROM THE SELF PREVAILS
With the present administration advocating for their so-called change, some of the youth shared that change is better if it starts within ourselves. Well, it makes sense. We can’t just encourage others to change if we cannot initiate change inside us:
“As a youth, I will start the change from myself through the practice of generosity rather than being greedy. Sa greed galing ang corruption, and with corruption comes abuse.” – 18, Female
Considering all these responses we gathered from our younger counterparts, at least we can see that the youth, the so-called millennials are not apathetic at all, contrary to popular belief. And given their substantial answers, we could say that they are aware and involved with the present condition of our beloved Motherland. And that says a lot about our youth today. Maybe, just maybe, Jose Rizal was right – they are indeed the hope of our nation.