Arvin Miles C.

Macasa
GE6

1."THE INDOLENCE OF THE FILIPINO" RIZAL REFUTED THE ALLEGATIONS THAT FILIPINO
WERE INDOLENT. BASED ON RIZAL'S WRITING, HOW WOULD YOU DEFEND THE
ALLEGATION THAT FILIPINO IN THESE MODERN TIMES ARE STILL INDOLENT?

After Rizal completed and published his written literature specifically Noli Me Tangere, Rizal became
an active of member of La Solidaridad – an organization created in Spain compose of Filipinos that is
heavily influence by European political view – and wrote a two article specifically Sobre la Indolencia
de Los Filipinos and Los Agricultores Filipino that critiques about the accusation of the Spaniards that
the Filipino were indolent – widely recognize in local as tamad.
The Malay or Indios were involved in economic activities such as trade and agriculture before the
arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines. When the Spaniards came to colonize the Philippines, the
economic activities, trade, and agriculture gradually decreased as the years passed. Rizal stated that
indolence was not an inherited trait, however, it was influenced by the Philippines' climate, both
physically and sociologically. Atrocities, discrimination, passive governance, corruption, and the
church's baseless dogma are all major contributors to the existence of Indolence in Filipinos. The only
way to solve the problem of Filipino indolence is to look into what causes it.
Furthermore, as a result of the Philippines' colonization, many Filipinos decided to abandon their
economic engagement since the government enacted laws and activities that had a significant impact
on them, such as the galleon trade, which had a significant impact on some of the natives' small
businesses, causing them to stop participating in economic activities; Polo y Servicio, or forced labor,
was one of Spain's activities that shaped the Filipinos into mere slaves.
In Rizal’s time, Filipinos were still indolent due to the oppression of the government and also the
atrocities. The Spanish colonial government could not provide limited training and education since the
Spanish government feared the full potential of the Filipinos and it could result in the destruction of
the Spanish colonial government.

Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos (On the indolence of the Filipinos)” is a very long, and at times
angry, essay by Rizal that saw print in La Solidaridad in March 1890. From abroad and across time,
Rizal reacted to the charge, from the Spanish colonial masters, that Filipinos were indolent or lazy.
Rizal did not condemn it, rather he explained it: “We must confess that indolence does actually and
positively exist there; only that, instead of holding it to be the cause of the backwardness and the
trouble, we regard it as the effect of the trouble and the backwardness, by fostering the development
of a lamentable predisposition”. Tropical climate is a major factor, Rizal explained: “Nature knows this
and like a just mother has therefore made the earth more fertile, more productive, as a compensation.
An hour’s work under that burning sun, in the midst of pernicious influences springing from nature in
activity, is equal to a day’s work in a temperate climate”. It is the Spaniard who is lazy, argued Rizal,
as they detest manual labor and live surrounded by Filipino servants who “not only exist to take off
their shoes for them but even to fan them!” His analysis as a physician and historian led to primary
sources that proved Filipinos in pre-Spanish times were not so: “Indolence in the Philippines is a
chronic malady, but not a hereditary one. The Filipinos have not always been what they are.”
(Ocampo, 2019)
Rizal explains, and he does not disagree with the Spaniards' accusation that Filipinos are Indolent, in
an article published in La Solidaridad, even though Rizal and gave reasons why Filipinos are Indolent
towards the accusation of Spanish colonial master. Rizal mentioned that climate is one of the major
contributors of the Filipino Indolence since working during daytime especially eight in the morning to
two in the factors can lead for some individuals to being stressed and in order to relieved Filipino will
take a rest however the Spaniards accuse them indolence for having a break. Rizal stated that true
indolent was the Spaniards since they live with Filipinos and treat them as a slave in short Spaniards
cannot live without the Filipinos. Filipino's can change as the months or years passed' Filipino people
were not always who they are currently.

Rizal says that an illness will worsen if the wrong treatment is given. The same applies to indolence.
People, however, should not lose hope in fighting indolence. Even before the Spaniards arrived, Rizal
argues, the early Filipinos were already carrying out trade within provinces and with other neighboring
countries; they were also engaged in agriculture and mining; some natives even spoke Spanish. Rizal
enumerates several reasons that may have caused the Filipinos' cultural and economic decadence.
The population has decreased in number. Due to forced labor, many men have been sent to
shipyards to construct vessels. Meanwhile, natives who have had enough of abuse have gone to the
mountains. As a result, the farms have been neglected. Segregated from Spaniards, Filipinos do not
receive the same opportunities that are available to the foreigners. (Wikipedia, n.d.)
Rizal delineates indolence as an illness since the need for research or studies into the phenomenon
is required in order to acquire proper solutions, and when the wrong treatment is given, it can result in
exacerbated. The Philippines was rich in agricultural products and also have a unique product,
Filipinos are active in terms of economic improvement of the Philippines, but the colonization of Spain
to the Philippines, the participation of the Filipinos in the economic activities gradually decrease since
the Spanish Colonial government establish an activity that can result for the Filipinos to avoid
activities due to stress, for instance, forced labor and this is the reason why Filipinos must choose to
avoid that to work. Filipinos have a hindrance in terms of acquiring education since Filipinos with a
piece of great knowledge can destroy the Spanish colonial government.

The Filipinos live simples life in the preconquest era they have many opportunities in order to grow
their lifestyle they can engage to business without the abuses in the term of financial. However, when
the King of Spain orders his expedition to conquer the Philippines, this is the start of the Filipinos ' be
indolence to avoid abuses of the Spanish colonial government law and activities, resulting in some
business owners to stop particularly the small business owner. Their many reasons Rizal stated
about the causes of the Filipinos being indolent. Rizal gave his idea that only methods to cure this ill
was education and limited training in order for the Filipinos to live full potential in their life.

Rizal published an article located in La Solidaridad to defend the Filipinos against the Spaniards'
accusations that they are indolent. Without understanding the exact situation of the Filipinos during
their conquest, Filipino people approached them but were turned down because the Spaniards saw
them as inferior. Many reasons why Filipinos become indolent are because of economic abuses of
the Spanish colonial government and the climates, also particularly hot weather since when the
Filipinos try to relax or take a break after a long day of hard labor, they were indolence because they
stop to work.
References

Ocampo. (2019). The indolence of the Filipino. Retrieved from Inquirer:

https://opinion.inquirer.net/120136/the-indolence-of-the-filipino#ixzz76ay8zLjT

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Sobre la indolencia de los filipinos. Retrieved from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobre_la_indolencia_de_los_filipinos