Anda di halaman 1dari 3

Christian Aries M.

Salgado
B.A. Political Science IV

October 17, 2014

THE MAKING OF A FILIPINO: A Story of Philippine Colonial Politics


By Renato Constantino
ABOUT THE BOOK
Heroes are not born, they are made.
This is the intellectual biography of the late Senator Claro M. Recto which is presented in historical form. This is a way
of presenting history in a biographical form. Constantino has a view in mind, that every Filipino is a hero.
AUTHORS LIFE AND DEDICATIONS

When he entered U.P., he said There was ferment all over the country. The atmosphere inside the campus was from
time to time charged with radicalism and anti-administration activism. There was an uproar and social turmoil.
During the second world war, he fought the Japanese as foot soldier and experienced living on two rations of lugaw.
He was called Rening when he was young, and lolo Ding at his old age.
During martial law, at the height of the attacks he directed against Marcos, his name was one of the first on the arrest list
but the arresting officers took his son Renato Constantino Jr. (RC)
His wife is Letizia Constantino which she acclaimed as the lighthouse of my intellectual peregrinations They have a cat
when he was young named Joe Louis.
September 15, 1999 Renato Constantino passed away.

THE STORY OF RECTOS EVOLUTION

Recto lived in these times: Ilustrado, Philippine Revolution and the Philippine American War, Hispanic Education,
Japanese and American Imperialism.
Now, Recto was peeling away the colonial veneer which had covered his patriotic soul. He began to articulate nationalist
ideas.
Like a good poker player, he was playing his cards close to his chest. No one knew exactly what he was up to, yet
everyone was certain that he was up to something.
As Ernesto del Rosario put it, Believe it or not, both liberals and Nacionalistas are thinking of Claro M. Recto as a Dark
horse.

RECTOS PLACE IN HISTORY

His courageous attempt to break away from the colonial condition was itself a great single effort which contributed to
todays relative enlightenment.
His beliefs were anchored in the in dependence for which our real heroes had fought and died.

PART III: SYSTEMATIZATION OF DISSENT


CHAPTER 8: COLLABORATION AND ECLIPSE
Philippine Independence is a myth, and man shapes his environment with the force of his ideas, and moreover to consider these
ideas as wholly the products of his mind.

Recto wants an efficient government that will make our independence a real blessing to the people and thus enjoy their
trust and support. He added that Mans thought and action is shaped by his environment.
For Recto, the nationalist is one whose highest ambition is the attainment and maintenance of national independence.

ECLIPSE AND COLONIALISM


Constantino related the idea of colonialism to an Eclipse. If the Filipino is the sun, he was being blocked by the moon
which is colonialism. Then, like an eclipse, the surrounding will be consumed by darkness, and this same darkness will consume
the real Filipino being. Filipinos are brainwashed.
The colonization process had a two- fold aspect:
1.
2.

The creation of a colonial society with the mentality that this engendered and,
The growing consciousness of nationhood as a result of the unification of the country through the techniques of colonial
administration.

AWAKENING OF CLARO M. RECTO

Rectos political life is an example of the struggle between the politician and the maturing leader. To the extent that
conventional politics acted as a pressure on him his nationalism suffered temporary erosions for personal or party
interests.
There was inconsistencies and confusion in his behavior, to be a colonial politician or a nationalist patriot.
He felt the pull of opposite forces.

REVIEW:
1.
2.

Law of opposite forces states that when a body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a
force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.
Law of Reasonable Forces- the amount of force necessary to protect oneself or ones property. This is associated with
defending one person.
Recto, a keen student of social movements, was re-examining his social conscience.
He was beginning to see the central point in the national issue that reality of our independence was in question. The
inertia of past political experience constituted an impediment to the full development of his political philosophy. But his
courage and patriotism were also acting as potent catalyst.

THREATS OF COLONIALISM

Extinction of Filipinos Filipinos became extinct mentally due to westernization of ides


Only one True Filipino exists It displays that Claro M. Recto is the only Filipino who have attained an emancipation of
being from the slavery of colonialism.
Death of a Language there is a transcendental importance of having a common language of our own.

LIMITATIONS OF CONTITUTION
Recto is the Architect of the constitution. However, he was proposing for the amendment to the constitution to make
the government semi parliamentary.
This is because our constitution was frankly an imitation of the American charter.
PARABLE OF THE BIG MAN AND THE SMALL MAN

He contrast between the rich and poor


He expressed the way the landlord (The Big Man) exploited and controlled the peasant ( The small man) who winds up in
jail with the realization that in this unequal world, the big man is always right.

CONSTANTINOS NOTION OF FREEDOM

For Filipino people, they had wrested their FREEDOM by force. Freedom is by force of arms and was experiencing a
high degree of revolutionary fervor.
Constantino is a Marxist and embody the ideas of Karl Marx, Nothing Human is Alien to me.
Filipino resistance to colonial oppression is the unifying thread of Philippine history.
If you are able to resist or able to say no to a certain condition or situation then you are free.

2 KINDS OF FILIPINOS
1.
2.

HEROES- they are the one who resist the American colonialism.
COLLABORATORS-were traitors because they are puppet of the American. Some are living abroad writing bedtime
stories about their heroic deeds.

A SUCCESFUL MISEDUCATION

There was a confusion of purpose; the guerilla thought they are fighting Japan for the Americans.
We Filipinos owe no allegiance to any Foreign power.

CRITICISMS OF RECTO TO MAGSAYSAY AND Romulo.


1.
2.

Ramon Magsaysay- Ramon and Recto are the Hegemony in politics during their time. Recto questioned his being
Americanized assimilation as president. Recto created the Nationalist party or The Lapiang makabansa to challenge
Magsaysay in presidency.
Carlos P. Romulo- Recto said that the Philippine Embassy in Washington is just a desk in the state department. He
critic him in the issue about the departure of U.S. military bases was not his effort. Ex. Ant and Elephant Crossing the
wooden bridge. The Ant in command said WE sure shook that bridge didnt we old boy.

PART 4: THE MAKING OF A FILIPINO


RECTO: POLITICAL THOUGHT ON WISDOM

Virtue of Humility is the beginning of Wisdom.


Wisdom will bridge our colonial mentality to nationalism. He saw in Nationalism the salvation of the country.
This is through inculcating the works of Jose Rizal which give birth to Rizal Law.
Catholic hierarchy are against this. It is an attck to clergy and a ridicule to Catholic faith.
They argued that out of333 pages only25 contained patriotic passages while 120 were devoted to anti- catholic attacks.

PROPOSED SOLUTION: THE MAKING OF A FILIPINO FRAMEWORK

Philippines Colonial Politics

Decolonizati
on Decolonized Filipino = A Real Filipino
Emancipati
on of Being

Redirect
of being

In order to achieve this, as Filipinos, we first need to emancipate our being from colonialism. Then we need to redirect
our being towards the Asian Nations, with whom we have common ancestry, and the same culture values.
we have drawn so close to America that we have placed Asia beyond our reach.
ENDING
the truth is that the Filipinos, like the Americans, have the right to love their country above all others. They have a right to
cherish and protect their independence; they have a right to choose a government that will serve the best interests of the people.
His development proved that only the decolonized Filipino is a real Filipino.

Anda mungkin juga menyukai