The Philippines is not yet a nation.

It is a nation in progress.

Signs that we were not yet a national community at the end of the 19th century

Only Tagalogs and Pampangos revolted in 1896The 1898 Revolution occurred mainly in Luzon and only in some Visayan towns

in progress = in evolution

Independent barangaysIndependent townsNation of regions or ethnic groupsNation of citizens

Can we assign dates to the stages of our social evolution?

Independent barangays: before 1580Independent towns: 1580 upEthnic groups or regions: 1896Nation: 1896 or 1898 or 1946

Urbanization and Formation of Ethnicity in Southeast Asiaedited by Toh GodaQuezon City: New Day Publishers, 2009

Filipino communities abroad show how social change continued in the 20th century to the level of the ethnic group or region.

Bohol towns (17th century)Loboc 1602Dauis 1697

Bohol towns (18th century)Baclayon 1717Maribojoc 1717Talibon 1724Dimiao 1750Loon 1753Tagbilaran (S. Jose) 1767Guindulman 1787Cortes 1794 Loay 1799

Bohol towns (19th century)Calape 1802Panglao 1803Balilihan 1829Bilar 1831Catigbihan 1848Inabanga 1854Tubigon 1854Candijay 1857Anda 1858Garcia-Hernandez 1859Sierra-Bulleones 1863Alburquerque 1869Lila 1869Valencia 1871Duero 1872Sevilla 1872Carmen 1874Getafe 1876Jagna 1876Ubay 1877Antequerra 1880Corella 1884

TOTAL NUMBER OF TOWNS FOUNDED PER CENTURY16th century: 102 (12%)17th century: 128 (16%)18th century: 175 (21%)19th century: 414 (51%)

VISAYAN TOWNS BEFORE THE 20TH CENTURY: 29616th century: 19 (6%)17th century: 19 (6%)18th century: 50 (17%)19th century: 208 (70%)LUZON TOWNS BEFORE THE 20TH CENTURY: 46716th century: 82 (18%)17th century: 102 (22%)18th century: 113 (24%)19th century: 170 (36%)

TOWNS BY ETHNIC GROUPS1565-1664TAGALOGS56BICOLANOS33ILOCANOS21PANGASINENSES14PAMPANGOS13ILONGGOS11CEBUANOS 9WARAYS 8

NEW TOWNS BY ETHNIC GROUPS: 1765-1864CEBUANOS 71TAGALOGS44ILONGGOS31BICOLANOS24WARAYS24PANGASINENSES17PAMPANGOS13ILOCANOS10

Agusan townsButuan City 1596Jabonga 1624Bunawan 1635Talacogon 1874Esperanza 1891

Social evolution is proceeding within the framework of the state at different speeds in different parts of the country.

Nationhood in 1898 was a project, not yet a reality

The state is a legal entity.

The nation is a community (bayan).

The Community

sharing in common dutiesdialogueshared life

A special projectNot just a nation of one people who spoke the same languageBut a nation of various peoples who spoke different languages: a nation of nationsFor the Tagalog-Pampango project to take off, it would have to be accepted by all the ethnic groups in the PhilippinesThe earliest we know this happened was 1935

A crucial period in Philippine history: First third of twentieth century

The conditions for a nation inhabiting the Philippine Archipelago are completeAll Philippine communities conquered by AmericansThe political structure of a Philippine state set upInfrastructure of a national community in place: communications, roads, transportationLingua franca

Part of the Filipino-American strategy to bring about the nation was to make the younger generation believe through education that the nation was already there.We have ended up believing our fiction.This has bred frustration and induced migration.

Aggravating FactorNew multi-ethnic communities in the 20th century have a diminished sense of community.

The fallback is the family.

The present challenge is to develop a multi-ethnic urban culture.

For Rizal what we call the Stage of Nationhood was the Stage of UnityRizal saw the tendency to act for family or community without regard for the good of the country as a wholeRizal saw factiousness

Pag-ibig sa tinubuang bayanIS AN EXPANSION OF LOVE FOR OTHERS

Pag-ibig sa pamilyaPag-ibig sa tinubuang pamayananPag-ibig sa tinubuang rehiyonPag-ibig sa tinubuang bayan

In that order

The stages of our social evolution chart the evolution of our understanding of the common good

The biggest obstacle to the attainment of a national community is factiousness.

What is Filipino factiousness?The tayo-tayo mentality is a narrow understanding of the common good.It is the inability to think in the long-termbeyond the next generation.It is the reflection of our short history of collaboration and cooperation on a larger scale than the family or the immediate community.

Why We Vote the Way We Do

Even the best structures function only when the community is animated by convictions capable of motivating people to assent freely to the social order.Benedict XVI, Spe salvi 24

The best institutions are useless without the right values.

The Philippines is a feudal nation

What do we mean by Feudal Nation?A nation composed of two classes: the rulers and the ruledThe relations of the upper class among themselves are democraticTheir relation with the lower class is feudal. The relations of the lower class among themselves are also feudal.

Filipino society as first envisioned byRizal, Jacinto, and Mabini

a society with civil rights and civic freedoms

Gap recognized between vision and reality of Filipino societynoted by Rizal: last chapter of El FilibusterismoJacinto: CartillaMabini: El verdadero declogo

The Philippines at the end of the 19th centuryA collection of autonomous towns under a single ruler: the Captain GeneralAguinaldo = new Captain GeneralVertical loyalty ( = traditional society)But no horizontal loyalties ( = civil society)

Traditional societyDatu and maginoos

TimawaAliping namamahayAliping sa gigilid

Hindi pantay-pantay ang taoSociety is held together by vertical loyalties

Modern version oftraditional societyIn town:

Mayor + rich families

GoonsWorkersDomestic help

Civil society

Pantay-pantay ang taoANG LAHAT AY MGA MAMAMAYANSociety is held together by horizontal loyalties

Seed:THE EDUCATED CLASS

The Philippines as Feudal nationThe middle class as wild cardSometimes siding with the upper classSometimes siding with the lower classSometimes insisting on democracySometimes tolerating feudalism

The Philippines under AmericaThe middle class collaborated with the ruling class in concentrating on the campaign for independence. The ruling class established a feudal nation which the middle class supported or tolerated.

Politics as compromise.

result

combination of traditional society and civil societyCIVIL SOCIETY aka DEMOCRACY = SHELLTRADITIONAL SOCIETY = SUBSTANCE

Since 1983Movement for democracyIMPORTANT EVENTS: EDSA 1 AND 2

Their failure to change Philippine society informs us that hope for change is not in changing national leadership.

The biggest obstacle to the attainment of a civil societyis the alipin mentality among the poor and the datu mentality among the rich and powerful.

Alipin mentality = dependency

Datu mentality = privileges

OUR PROBLEM TODAYDependency lack of initiative lazinesspovertyPrivileges exemption from the law exemption from ethicscorruption

Not alipin mentality alone

Nor datu mentality alone

but datu-alipin mentalityin all individuals

Rizals Point in the FiliA datu-alipin mentality would render the institutions of a democratic society useless.Institutions are there to protect valuesIn the Philippines, there are few democratic values to protectOn the contrary, the feudal values distort the democratic institutions

What is at issue

Sensitivity toHuman Dignity

Jacintos CartillaAng kabuhayang hindi ginugugol sa isang malaki at banal na kadahilanan ay kahoy na walang lilim, kung hindi damong makamandag.Maitim man at maputi ang kulay ng balat, lahat ng taoy magkakapantay; mangyayaring ang isay higtan sa dunong, sa yaman, sa ganda; ngunit di mahihigtan sa pagkatao.Huwag mong sasayangin ang panahon; ang yamang nawalay magyayaring magbalik; ngunit panahong nagdaan nay di na muli pang magdadaan.Sa taong may hiya, salitay panunumpa.Ang babae ay huwag mong tignang isang bagay na libangan lamang, kundi isang katuwang at karamay sa mga kahirapan nitong kabuhayan.

A digressionThe alipin-maginoo mentality is the obverse of the tayo-tayo mentality. Tayo:Maginoo + AlipinLeader or messiah + FollowersLeadership in a civil society:The ability to bring out the best in everyone and to get them to act.

Persuade people to do, first, what is good; then, what is pleasing; and finally, what is perfect.

WHAT TO DO?

If the nation is an imagined communityThen we must start with the image of the nationThe ArtsCinema and televisionHeroesFrom the image we proceed to the idea of the nationIdea image reality

How do we develop a nationalistic culture?Ideabehaviorhabitcustominstitution idea = education institution = laws we have yet to develop behavior, habit, and custom

Implications for Filipino citizenshipOur citizenship is focused not on what we are but on what we want to becomeWe cannot blame people who wish to migrateThe good Filipino citizen attempts to win others to the dream of nationhoodHe tries to help others go beyond their relatively narrow application of the common good This citizenship is dynamic: its demands change as society changes

How would we know that we have reached the fourth stage of our social evolution?Not easy: at what point do we say we have reached the tipping point? Besides, we are talking of the motivations and intentions of a persons actionsBut clear in moments of crisisIf we listen to Rizal, the health of our economic life, if this benefits everyone, is an indicator of whether we have reached the fourth stage or not

Rizals Solution: WorkEconomic activity calls for the cooperation of people from different parts of the country and different sectors of societyWork can bring about unity

We must develop a civic education appropriate to our community.

The Filipino Concept of Work in Light of Philippine History

Until the 16th century, we were literally at the fringes of civilization in East Asia Some communities continue at pre-Hispanic levels of technologytoday

With Christianization, Christian Philippine communities jumped to a higher level of technology But some communities today persist at the level of technology reached in Hispanic times

Since around 1850 and especially under the Americans, continuing on to the present, communities have gradually modernized Education has been key

But after more than a hundred years of public education, a little less than half the population continues in poverty More disturbingly, families among the urban poor seem perfectly content living in miserable conditions

We seem to have a persistent problem of underdevelopment

the roots of which are within the Filipino, not outside of him.

The Enemy: The Squatter MentalityFatalism and sense of entitlementLittle educationNo sense of futureInstant gratification

Corruptions in our concepts of work(a) gawa(b) trabaho(c) hanapbuhay

GawaWork is demeaningGawa as work understood to refer only to manual laborReserved to alipinMaginoo: have someone do your work for youShortcuts admiredEven cheating is better

TrabahoWork is a form of dependencyParadoxesAng may trabahong hindi nagtratrabaho.Ang pagtratrabahong tamad o burara.

The worker = Aliping sa gigilid

HanapbuhayWork is a purely personal concernNo civic senseNo love of countryBreakdown of society

Development or progress assumes civic sense

Work determined by concept of buhayKey to so-called indolence of the FilipinoExplanation of opposition to forced labor

Our concept of work reflects our concept of the human being.

three ways of thinking of work A means of providing for ones needs and those of ones family basic

A means of contributing to the progress of societyA means of developing ones personality

The Tagalog concept of the human being stresses proneness to error and the duty to forgive.This is not very helpful to work. It may even be used to justify carelessness and low standards.

To change the Filipino concept of work we must deepen his concept of the human being.We must stress the creativity and inventiveness of the human being as a problem-solver.

GawaOriginal meaning probably to makeSecond meaning probably to workThird meaning probably to actMaking creativity and inventivenessActing problem-solvingSYNTHESIS WORK

A lesson from historyTo jump to the last stage of social evolution at least a high school education is necessary

Lessons of the middle classYou cannot tolerate trapo cultureYou cannot get rid of trapo culture by addressing the maginoo alone or the alipin alone: you must address bothToday you can no longer bully the D-E crowdThe D-E crowd must be raised to B-C levels

solutionNot in change of social structures

But in change of minds and heartspagbabago ng kaloobanRizals, Jacintos, and Mabinissolution

Radical change in three contextsThe family New persons The schoolNew ideasThe business corporationMaterial support In close mutual cooperation

Reasons to hope for greater speed and intensity today

Mass mediaIncreased interactionLessons learned from other nations experience

We cannot expect a culture to change overnight.

********************************************************In 1925 Monroe ReportFew enrolled in vocational schoolsMany enrolled in academic high schools and sought professional education in collegeThis has changed somewhat todayPeople dont mind manual work so long as it brings in money

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