1890s Philippines – I Would Have Fought In Writing The Propaganda Movement And Supported Jose Rizal’s Wish For My Country To Be A Province Of Mother Spain!

1890s: The question was: “My dear Philippines, continue to be or not to be Independent of Mother Spain, or shift to being a Spanish Province?”

Today, Thursday, 12 June 2025 – Independence Day of my country the Philippines – I write this because I have a (historically late) quarrel with those Filipino expatriates in Europe in the 1890s who did not support Jose Rizal’s move to have Mother Spain assimilate the islands and declare the Philippines a province of Madre España. In this endeavor, Rizal failed, and Spain allowed my country to continue being independent of it.

The above photograph, from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) is that of several Filipino expatriates in 1890 who were members of the “Propaganda Movement,” who actually were composed of Indios (indigenous peoples of the Philippines), Mestizos (mixed race), and Insulares (Spaniards born in the Philippines). Prominent members were Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena (publisher of La Solidaridad), Mariano Ponce who was Secretary of the group, and Marcelo Hilario Del Pilar. (My preliminary findings say we may have been related by blood.)

Jose Rizal was actually thinking differently – he wanted the Philippines as a province of Mother Spain, not independent as the other patriots would continue to have her. They were angry at Spanish abuses in the country, and they wanted Filipinos themselves to govern the islands.

Differently, Rizal felt that the Filipinos were not ready to rule themselves! History proves Rizal right.

Thursday, 12 June 2025, is the 80^th Independence Day of my country. Am I happy? Yes and No!

Yes, because we Filipinos can exercise the right as a people to determine our own government and how we should rule our own people.

No, we have so far shown that we Filipinos become selfish when we become public leaders!

Our leaders have no Vision! What is that?! UoPeople says (“University of the People,” uopeople.edu):

“According to Merriam-Webster, vision is defined as ‘the act of power of imagination.’ When you apply vision to the future, you can create a mental picture that can be used to direct your actions. Vision serves as a guide and can be used to provide a sense of purpose.”

Further, "To achieve your vision or goal, you can start by setting small, attainable goals as stepping stones. Each relatively little bit of success will help to continue propelling you forward on (to) your bigger journey.”

Thank you, UoPeople!

The Filipino Propagandists of the 1890s considered first & foremost the bigger goal of Philippine Independence and ignored or forgot the smaller goals that should lead to it, such as education of the people and technologies of production, manufacturing and distribution.

Personally: To achieve your vision or goal, you start by setting small, attainable goals as stepping stones. Each relatively little bit of success will help to continue propelling you forward on your bigger journey. You do not achieve your final journey except if you achieve your smaller journeys toward that promising horizon in the distance.@517