ESTEBAN, ROMAN CHRISTOPER A. BSCHEM 1-1 Critical Analysis in "The Philippines: A Past Revisited"

ESTEBAN, ROMAN CHRISTOPER A. BSCHEM 1-1 Critical Analysis in “The Philippines: A Past Revisited” By Renato Constantino History plays a big role in understanding events from the past while developing a better future for the people of today. History gives people valuable insights into the problems facing contemporary society. As described in many textbooks, the Philippines has a rich and colorful history; our forefathers have struggled to achieve sovereignty from the Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese colonizers. The history of Filipinos, written and known, seems to insufficiently grasp how these events significantly impacted the way we live today. There are many more things that Filipinos can do to economically and intellectually achieve real independence, other than fighting, suffering and being manipulated. Renato Constantino was a Filipino historian, journalist, political scientist, and scholar. He was the author of the book “The Philippines: A Past Revisited.” His work from pamphlets, columns, and books focused on influencing the intellectual development of every generation in Filipino history. Constantino focused mainly on colonial historiography and allows everyone to explore historical lessons from past years, which are the key to the pursuit of true independence. His famous works include “The Filipino Miseducation,” “Veneration without Understanding’ and Philippine two-volume stories, “A Past Revisited” and “The Continuing.” In 1975, with the support of his wife, Leticia R. Constantino, his book, “The Philippines: A Past Revisited” was published. This work is essentially Constantino’s attempt in broadening the understanding of Filipinos through the use of history. The book reviews the history of the Philippines from the early colonial period to the end of World War II. It includes detailed information about colonizers’ manipulation, struggles and oppression of the Philippine masses. This book was literature with open eyes, and honesty that allowed people to understand their ideology in a concise and comprehensible way with its clarity and direct expression. Constantino continuously pointed out in the first chapter that the Philippines will only achieve real freedom in the present situation by focusing on and understanding the colonial experiences of the Filipino masses. It is indeed important for historians in writing the Philippine historiography to acknowledge the experience and point of views of ethnic minorities. These disclosures and corrections made by the masses from historical misconceptions make the way people see history today a big difference. This would also make it possible for the Philippines to understand fully that the feigned culture and identity of society was due to the long colonial post of the country and that certain historical events written in textbooks were contaminated mostly by racism and harm. The Philippine history we know may have historical facts written by foreign historians from biased sources. Looking closer to the country’s pre-colonial era, the Philippines has a diverse culture that is composed of a small number of people ruled by the Datu. It has plenty of natural resources to support humanity. The book says that autonomous barangay communities have a subsistence farming system that provides them with enough food to meet their day-to-day needs. The indigenous peoples were used to only taking what they needed and did not aspire to get rich, thus generating no surplus. They have no concept of private property, means ownership, nor power over other primitive economic units. Baranganic society has social stratification; a master and a slave; but its relationships weren’t rigid, only to the matter of fact that the debtors pay debts to servitude. Moreover, during this period, certain communities such as Muslim South transitioned into a class society in which wealth became a key factor and resource access. The fact that societies already have less well-developed hierarchies, nevertheless is well articulated; leaders, free workers, and dependents or slaves were present in the past, but this does not specify the emergence of class society as a whole. Native people lived in harmony until the invaders colonized and tricked them into various "liberations" concepts. As stated in the book, the Spanish came first to the Philippines to liberate them from the slavery of the devil, then came the Americans that sought to free them from Spain's oppression, then the Japanese liberated them from the American Imperialism. Those colonizers made the indigenous people believe that their policy was their genuine intentions and not in their interests, but behind these actions were treason, struggles and endless oppression. Their policies benefit the country. The book of Constantino contains detailed and simple historical reports on American and Spanish colonization justifications. The Philippines have become aware, resentful and resistant to these countries in the quest for true independence. It is obvious that Spaniard’s transplanted feudalism into the Philippines in the colonization of Spain, where landowners provide land to tenants in return for loyalty and services. Friars play a major role in indigenous abuses and oppression for the time being. Slavery was used to intensely seize land and productions and religious justification to disguise the real motivations behind colonization. Constantino uncovered at this time the instruments for peace used by the Spaniards, including the hacienda and the commendation system, which contributed greatly to the ongoing suffering of the indigenous. To protect and educate the population, the encomienda system was introduced in the Philippines. It was originally intended to ensure the indigenous people were adequately defended from the colony and educated about Catholicism, according to the book. But the encomienda was described in their colonization as an act of gaining wealth that led to the abuse of the indigenous peoples. They had been forced to turn religion into Catholicism, paid greater homage than nonCatholics, and were treated by encommenderos as slaves. These leaders disregarded their duties to protect and preserve peace and order in the community and instead committed abuse for their self-interests and greed for power. With the transition to the hacienda, Spaniards and other elite groups went on to illegally accumulate vast areas of land and exploited indigenous people to work for them. This system can still be seen today, when the government continues to use Filipino farmers to demand reduced prices and seize and refuse their land rights. In addition, the Spanish operated the polo y servicio system, the bandala system, and the reduction by different means. Polo y servicio is a practice that requires native men aged 16 to 60 with 40 working days. Polo rules include payment and rice for each polista, they should not be taken to remote places and not be required to work during seasons of harvest. Yet Polo workers were constantly forced to work, were treated as slaves, and were refused food to keep them alive. The Bandala system, another instrument of exploitation from the first half of the 17th century, is a form of Direct Taxation with promissory notes that require native farmers to sell their goods to the government for the lowest possible price. This system was mainly used to raise funds for war with European countries. The indigenous peoples became worse and indebted to the head due to their forced disposition, especially when drought hit their crops harshly. On the other hand, the reduccion is a policy of relocating indigenous people to bigger communities for the convenience of the administration implemented by the Spanish friars. This policy was designed to control the movements and actions of the indigenous people within the community easily. Friars could then easily teach them basic Christian principles, and enforce a heavy collection of tax by the Spanish government. The awareness and awareness of oppression gradually emerged with all the suffering that Spanish colonization had brought to the Philippines. The masses began to revolt against the colonists on account of unjust colonial expressions, violations, and economic injustices, mostly committed by the Church, including frequent daily interference, personal insults, sexual offenses against women, forced work and additional tributes, and charges against indigenous people. Colonial abuses led people to resist the friars violently when their suffering and agony peaked. The Boholano revolution, led by Francisco Dagohoy, was one of the most successful and longest resistance movements in the history of the Philippines for 85 years. In the Spanish period, apart from the Tamblot uprising, one of two major rebellions took place in Bohol which opposed Spaniard Catholicism within their community. It was an act of revenge to a Jesuit priest's refusal to give his brother a proper Christian burial, and his sympathy for the thousands of people who also suffered from colonizer injustices, which once aggravated and ignited Dagohoy's revolt against the Spaniards with forced labor, overtaking taxation, and oppression of Spain. Constantino also revealed the treason and egotistical interests of some Filipinos, which led to numerous failed revolt attempts against the Spaniards and prolonged the Philippines colonization. The leader of the Ilocanos revolt against the official system, Dergo Silang for instance, uses the grievances of the people. Silang abolished tributes and work during his time and confiscated the wealth of the church, the owners and the class of his own people (Constantino, 1975). Although he could have become a good leader of the oppressed, Silang places himself first and chose to protect the British by sending him an ultimatum by Spaniards. The Ilustrados, which appeared at the end of the nineteenth century to be intermediaries and vanguards of the Propaganda Movement, certainly helped the Philippines' history through their writings that matched the struggles of the people. It brought the majority of the public's sense of nationality and conscience to colonial oppression through their articulation and resentment, but Constantine made clear in his book that these elites were reformists too, who preferred to be led by Spain and thought that, instead of fighting for genuine independence, people could gain equal rights as Spaniards. By the continuing act of resistance against Spanish colonization, the revolt against the oppressors gradually emerged from different leaders. Whilst leaders led the resistance successfully, some of them became their own people's traitors and exploiters. Unfortunately, most of the locals were undervalued and not credited for their contributions to awaken the colonial consciousness and the consciousness of the Natives. Under American colonization, the aspirations of the people for true liberation went on. However, because of the miseducation of the Philippines, the colonizers have again been fooled by instigating a misconception of reality. They were made to think that independence from the United States was truly a gift. Education was the most effective tool for the colonization of the Philippines. With the successful building of public schools throughout the nation, Americans began supporting English and served an imperial vision to implant a new generation of follower culture and identity. In addition, this education system was designed to divide society and stop nationalism in the country. During this time, Americans took over not only the Philippines, but every citizen's mind. With education as a tool for settlement, Americans have used it as a way to exploit the economy for the indigenous. Their intention was a mask for the educational purpose of the colonial administration in the Philippines. The education carried out through American colonization in Philippine culture can still be observed and demonstrated today. Filipinos with a complex colonial mindset and inferiority have a personal feeling that they are inadequate and not adequate to compare with each other. The true standards of beauty are, as is written in Philippine mindsets, fairer or even whiter skin. Meanwhile, people with dark skin were always connected to a lower and unattractive social class. Race discrimination seems to be a matter of concern today for most people. The Philippines indeed loved to degrade their racial group by enhancing their appearance and seeking validation from society. I'm not opposed to people who use whitening products, as their trust and self-esteem will improve. They must also be aware, however, that every race is important in building a better society. Incorporated political and intellectual control over the Philippines by colonizers from different countries. The influence of Americans and Asians in our culture, traditions, beliefs, and customs can be mainly observed. The Spanish have a strong influence on the Filipino religious faith; they have established altars and have devoted their lives to saints. They worship gods. The language of Tagalog and the surnames are similar to that of Spanish. The culture and traditions of Spain influenced some of the annual holidays and festivities. In the business sector, trade, food, clothing, music, and language, American and other Asian influences are also well-known. When the Philippines practice the adopted culture and traditions of the colonizers continuously, it is time that we question even our identity as a Filipino. Unfortunately, as Constantino put it in his book, even the Filipino term was not ours originally and was a racial and elitist connotation. It was used first to classify Spaniards born in the Philippines and other elite groups with rich, educational, and Spanish culture, and later became a national identity for Philippine citizens. In conclusion, Renato Constantino had success in his book, "The Philippines: A Revisited Past," with his critical review and re-evaluation of Philippine history. Arranged systematically, the book provides a detailed and long-lasting summary of the clarifications of previous historians' historical misconceptions of the past, including colonial education and colonizers' religious justifications. His aim was to broaden the knowledge of young generations by revisiting history. Also noteworthy is that his work has contributed extensively to the collection of usable past and will remain important throughout the years. The understanding Constantino has was always from good judgment in redefining history and correcting reality, in regard to concrete experiences, sufferings, and struggle of the masses as a basis of Filipino history. Only then can we genuinely perceive history as a unified and collective process if historians explore the other side of history. Philippine history exists much more, and we only have to look at all aspects of the country's formation and life patterns. It is like diving into the world's largest sea to explore the Philippines' historical past. The deeper you get, the more you meet on the way to these discoveries and revelations. Your awareness is awakened and you want to uncover reality and your awareness. REFERENCES Simbulan, R.G. (2007). Renato Constantino: The Centennial Filipino Scholar, 1919-1999. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00472330080000301?journalCode=rjoc20&#:~:te xt=Renato%20Constantino%20was%20the%20Filipino,Filipino%27s%20quest%20for%20genui ne%20nationhood Constantino, R. & Constantino, L.R. (1975). The Philippines: A Past Revisited. Quezon City: Tala Pub. Services