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I.INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The Propaganda Movement was a literary and cultural organization formed

in 1872 by Filipino émigrés who had settled in Europe. Composed of Filipino

liberals exiled in 1872 and students attending Europe's universities, the

organization aimed to increase Spanish awareness of the needs of its colony, the

Philippines, and to propagate a closer relationship between the colony and

Spain. Propaganda Movement was organized for literary and cultural purposes

more than for political ends, the Propagandists, who included upper-class

Filipinos from all the lowland Christian areas, strove to "awaken the sleeping

intellect of the Spaniard to the needs of our country" and to create a closer, more

equal association of the islands and the motherland. Among their specific goals

were representation of the Philippines in the Cortes, or Spanish parliament;

secularization of the clergy; legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality; creation

of a public school system independent of the friars; abolition of the polo (labor

service) and vandala (forced sale of local products to the government);

guarantee of basic freedoms of speech and association; and equal opportunity

for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government service. Propaganda Period as a

completion to the said subject.

Propaganda Movement period was not a radical agitation to overthrow

Spanish rules by a bloody revolution but instead it was a peaceful campaign

following these aims:

 Equality of Filipinos and the Spaniards before the law

 Assimilation of the Philippines as a regular province of Spain

 Filipinization of Philippine parishes

 Individual liberties for the Filipinos, such as freedom of speech, freedom of

the press, freedom to assembly and freedom of petition for action on all

complaints.

The members were from the middle class families representing the group of

Filipino Intelegencia

 Jose Rizal (Laong Laan and Dimasalang): the greates novelist of the

movement

 He wrote his poetical masterpiece entitled Mi Ultimo Adios (My

Last Farewell)

 Noli Me Tangere (1887)

 El Filibusterismo (1891)

 Graciano Lopez Jaena : served as the first editor of La Solidaridad

 He wrote Ang Fray Botod (Friar Botod)

 La Hija Del Fraile (The Child of the Friar)

 En Honor Del Presidente Morayta De La Assossacion

Hispano Filipino 1884

 Marcelo H. Del Pilar ( Plaridel) : established Diariong Tagalog in 1883

 He wrote Ang Cadaquilaan ng Dios (God’s Goodness)

 Kaiingat Kayo (Be Careful)

 Dasalan at Tocsohan ( Prayers and Jokes)

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this research is to determine how Propagandists writings

affect the Philippine Literature during the Spanish regime and to give importance

to the literary works of the propagandists during the propaganda movement.

Significance of the Study

The significance of this study can be viewed in the following perspectives:

Students of Arellano University. This study will help the students recognize the

works of the propagandists and to give importance to their role in our history.

Future Researchers. This study will serve as a guide for future researchers in

developing new ideas and concepts regarding the propaganda movement and

the writings of the propagandists.

Statement of the Problem

1. How did the propaganda movement help the Filipinos during the

Spanish regime?

2. What is the social relevance of the writings of the propagandists?

3. What is the psychological effect of the writings of the propagandists to

the Filipinos?
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II. PRESENTATION OF DATA

After 300 years of passivity under Spanish rule, the Filipino spirit was

reawakened when the 3 priests Gomez, Burgos and Zamora were guillotined

without sufficient evidence of guilt. In February 17, 1872, Fathers Mariano

Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora (Gomburza), all Filipino priest, was

executed by the Spanish colonizers on charges of subversion. The charges

against Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora were their alleged complicity in the

uprising of workers at the Cavite Naval Yard. The death of Gomburza awakened

strong feelings of anger and resentment among the Filipinos. They questioned

Spanish authorities and demanded reforms.The illustrados led the Filipinos’

quest for reforms. Because of their education and newly acquired wealth, they

felt more confident about voicing out popular grievances. However, since the

illustrados themselves were a result of the changes that the Spanish government

had been slowly implementing, the group could not really push very hard for the

reforms it wanted. The illustrados did not succeed in easing the sufferings of the

Filipinos; but from this group arouse another faction called the intelligentsia. The

intelligentsia also wanted reforms; but they were more systematic and used a

peaceful means called the Propaganda Movement.

The Spaniards were unable to suppress the tide of rebellion among the

Filipinos. The once religious spirit transformed itself into one of nationalism and

the Filipinos demanded changes in the government and in the church. The

martyrdom of the three priests apparently helped to inspire the organization of

the Propaganda Movement, which aimed to seek reforms and inform Spain of the

abuses of its colonial government.

The most outstanding Propagandists were Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez

Jaena and Marcelo Del Pilar. José Rizal, a physician, scholar, scientist, and

writer. His greatest impact on the development of a Filipino national

consciousness, however, was his publication of two novels--Noli Me Tangere

(Touch me not) in 1886 and El Filibusterismo (The reign of greed) in 1891.

Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted orator and pamphleteer who had left the islands

for Spain in 1880 after the publication of his satirical short novel, Fray Botod

(Brother Fatso), an unflattering portrait of a provincial friar. In 1889 he

established a biweekly newspaper in Barcelona, La Solidaridad (Solidarity),

which became the principal organ of the Propaganda Movement, having

audiences both in Spain and in the islands. Marcelo del Pilar, a reformminded

lawyer. Del Pilar was active in the antifriar movement in the islands until obliged

to flee to Spain in 1888, where he became editor of La Solidaridad and assumed

leadership of the Filipino community in Spain.

Jose P. Rizal

Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado Alonso y Realonda was born on June 19,

1861. He was the seventh child and second son among the eleven siblings of

Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso. Jose was mature beyond his years. His

imaginative ventures in the arts were always anchored in reality. Although he

was obviously a gifted child, Jose’s schooling did not begin right away because

he was too frail. Instead, tutors took charge of his early education. He enrolled at

the Ateneo de Manila when he was eleven years old, a proud Atenean wearing

the school uniform. At the age 17, he met Leonor who touched his heart much

more deeply. Leonor was Jose Rizal’s first true love. He later immortalized her as

Maria Clara in his novel Noli Me Tangere. She was to him the embodiment of all

that was good and noble in a Filipina of his generation. After graduating from the

Ateneo he enrolled two courses at the University of Santo Tomas: medicine, and

philosophy and letters. He also studied at the University of Berlin, Leipzig and

Heidelberg. In December 1888, the Filipinos in Barcelona formed an association

called La Solidaridad, with Jose Rizal as honorary president. La Solidaridad was

the Filipino’s first political mouthpiece, Rizal was lucky to have been in Paris

during his stay he continued working on his novel El Filibusterismo, a sequel to

Noli Me Tangere. Rizal landed in Manila on June 26,1892 and on the fifth of July

he was arrested and taken to Fort Santiago. After he was taken to Dapitan,

during the proceedings against him Rizal continued to live as a partner to

condemn the uprising and disallow the use of his name. On December 30,1896

at Bagumbayan 7:oo in the morning Rizal’s death sentence was confirmed.

NOLI ME TANGERE

It stirred the nationalist sentiments of the 19th and 20th centuries. Its

influence can be seen in present-day works of fiction, drama and films. It

continues to be popular even in the contemporary Philippine setting because the

reflections and insights of the book remain true today.

Noli Me Tangere was written in Spanish and was published in 1887 in

Berlin. The first publication was in Spanish and there was an initial 2,000 copies.

Thereafter, the novel was translated into Filipino, French, German, Chinese and

other Philippine dialects. The best known English translation of the book was

done by Charles Derbyshire in 1912 and by Leon Maria Guerrero in 1961. This

book together with El Filibusterismo is part of the school curriculum for Philippine

junior and senior high school students, and the mandatory Jose Rizal course in

college.

EL FILIBUSTERISMO

Also known as El Fili in Filipino, the novel was published in 1891 in Ghent,

Belgium. It was shipped to the Philippines via Hong Kong and many of the copies

were confiscated before reaching the Philippine shore. 'El Filibusterismo' was

thereafter serialized in El Nuevo Regimen in Madrid and translated into Filipino,

other Philippine dialects, English, German, Japanese and French.

El Filibusterismo shows the maturity of Jose Rizal as a writer. The novel,

with its tale of revenge runs off from Noli Me Tangere’s central theme of love and
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martyrdom. El Filibusterismo, although more than a hundred years old still finds

application in a society where tyrants and corruption reign.

MI ULTIMO ADIOS

Farewell, my adored Land, region of the sun caressed,

Pearl of the Orient Sea, our Eden lost,

With gladness I give you my Life, sad and repressed;

And were it more brilliant, more fresh and at its best,

I would still give it to you for your welfare at most.

On the fields of battle, in the fury of fight,

Others give you their lives without pain or hesitancy,

The place does not matter: cypress laurel, lily white,

Scaffold, open field, conflict or martyrdom's site,

It is the same if asked by home and Country.

I die as I see tints on the sky b'gin to show

And at last announce the day, after a gloomy night;

If you need a hue to dye your matutinal glow,

Pour my blood and at the right moment spread it so,

And gild it with a reflection of your nascent light!

My dreams, when scarcely a lad adolescent,

My dreams when already a youth, full of vigor to attain,

Were to see you, gem of the sea of the Orient,

Your dark eyes dry, smooth brow held to

a high plane

Without frown, without wrinkles and of shame without stain.

My life's fancy, my ardent, passionate desire,

Hail! Cries out the soul to you, that will soon part from thee;

Hail! How sweet 'tis to fall that fullness you may acquire;

To die to give you life, 'neath your skies to expire,

And in your mystic land to sleep through eternity!

If over my tomb some day, you would see blow,

A simple humble flow'r amidst thick grasses,

Bring it up to your lips and kiss my soul so,

And under the cold tomb, I may feel on my brow,

Warmth of your breath, a whiff of your tenderness.

Let the moon with soft, gentle light me descry,

Let the dawn send forth its fleeting, brilliant light,

In murmurs grave allow the wind to sigh,

And should a bird descend on my cross and alight,

Let the bird intone a song of peace o'er my site.