I. Opening Statement: Iiia. 2 RRL

Q2. Why did Simoun say that Spanish will never be the common language in the Philippines?
I. OPENING STATEMENT
The second and last novel completed by José Rizal (though he left behind the
unfinished manuscript of a third one), El Filibusterismo is a sequel to Noli Me Tangere. A dark,
brooding, at times satirical novel of revenge, unfulfilled love, and tragedy, the Fili (as it is
popularly referred to) still has as its protagonist Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra. Thirteen years older,
his idealism and youthful dreams shattered, and taking advantage of the belief that he died at
the end of Noli Me Tangere, he is disguised as Simoun, an enormously wealthy and
mysterious jeweler who has gained the confidence of the colony’s governor-general.
Jose Rizal may have been executed more than a century ago, but his written works
remain crucial since the evils that he endeavored to fight yet cost him his life: incompetent
leadership, corruption, abuse of women, and the influence of the Catholic Church over matters
in politics and of the society, evidently persist in our time and are plaguing us today. In
addition, Rizal’s ideas remain applicable and carry some “inspirational value” to this day.
IIa. 1ST RRL

Anderson (2006) Simoun says that Spanish will never be the common language
because it cannot capture idioms and ideas unique to the Philippines. By being Hispanized,
they will become truly slaves and that they will not care about their own language anymore. By
being Hispanized, they will become truly slaves and that they will not care about their own
language anymore. Simoun says that it is good that the government wants them to keep their
own language, because other countries don’t do that (like Russia and Poland), but instead,
young Filipinos want to take away their own national identity. Simoun says he watched the pro-
Spanish movement become popular, and felt sad that the smart youth thought they were
sacrificing themselves for a good cause but instead worked against their own country. Simoun
wanted to approach them and tell them they were wrong. He tells Basilio that he wanted to
destroy them.
IIb. ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION OF THE 1ST RRL
The main character saw the popularity of the pro-Spanish movement and lamented the fact that
intelligent young believed they were sacrificing themselves for a noble cause while, in fact, they were
working against their own nation. Simoun desired to approach them and inform them that they were
mistaken. To submit ourselves and give up our national identity just to please and be one ofthe
Spaniards mission is not the solution for good government. If Spaniards wants to keep the people being
slaves regardless if they are obedient and culturing their traditions nothing will change. The principles,
traditions, and beliefs that Spanish government has is not the same to our native identity. It will only
worsen our condition to the country and the colonizers will only be achieved. The things and values they
have is not in our own identity, thus why we would let them corrupt our true self? They just want to
domain the people and corrupt the culture we had before their arrival. If we will exchange our national
identity to the Spaniards then there will be nothing left to us.
IIIa. 2ND RRL

Through his El Fili, Rizal clearly put across his message: 1) incompetent leaders,
corrupt officials, and the system of government in the Philippines could steer Spain to its
downfall. In it, Simoun vented: “What is a man to do when he is denied justice? Take the law
into his own hands or wait for Spain to give him his right…?” and underscored that people will
be forced to resist the system and mobilize movements to fight for their rights when their
petitions fall on deaf ears; and 2) good leadership is not driven by self-interest but of the
significance of national sentiment to protect the society from all forms of injustice and
repression. (Peneras, 2020)
IIIb. ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION OF THE 2ND RRL

Although Rizal openly criticized the Spanish officials influenced by the friars for their
corruption and mistreatment of the natives, he also disapproved of fellow Filipinos who failed to
act on the challenges brought about by the abusive Spanish leadership. Such was exemplified
by: 1) Basilio, who, despite all the sufferings that he and his family encountered, initially
decided against supporting Simoun’s bid to overthrow the government, and 2) Señor Pasta,
who, in order to serve only the interest of those that employed him, abandoned his principles.
Rizal undoubtedly unmasked the colonial government’s injustices, but he also irrefutably
challenged the Filipinos to defend their rights through the pages of his El Fili which additionally
carries the message: social, economic, and political reforms in the country can be pulled off
through good leadership and governance when leaders have the “moral fiber” and are willing
to abandon their self-interest for the constituents’ benefit.
IV. GENERAL CONCLUSION
Rizal's life, especially his trial, reveals something of the unexpected and unaccountable
consequences of this wish for authorship. Just as evangelization resulted in conversions and
translations beyond the reach and outside the expectations of Spanish missionaries resulting,
for example in the emergence of "folk Catholicism," or figures such as the "filibustero," or even
"Rizal". So nationalist authorship sparked readings that it could not anticipate much less
control. For rather than lead to the domestication of desires and languages out of place,
nationalist authorship tended in fact to spur them into uncharted and at times, revolutionary
directions. In all cases, Castilian played a key role, keeping a sense of the foreign--that is, that
which escaped assimilation either into the colonial or the national—in circulation, available for
all kinds of use and misuse. The history of conversion made Spaniards over into a medium for
transmitting a fantasy about direct communication and unlimited transmissions across socio-
geographical divides. The name "Rizal" by the late nineteenth century thus retained and kept
in circulation the sense of the foreign which even he himself could not recognize and account
for at the point when Castilian was denied to the rest of the colony's subjects. Proclaiming in
his trial that "I am innocent," meant that "I" did not intend to commit a crime which nevertheless
bears his signature. His innocence then implies his guilt, the culpability he incurred in ignoring
the effects that a second, foreign name would have on those who felt its force.
V. CLOSING STATEMENT
In Rizal's opinion, the Filipinos of his time were not yet ready for revolution since they
were yet undeserving of freedom. That is why he keep persuading the citizen through his novel
and its characters. He wants the young people to engage themselves on the fight he started
for they are the next citizen who will fight for the country’s future. When individuals learnt to
prioritize the common good over personal gain, and when these individuals constituted a
country, “God would supply the weapon,” whether it be revolution or else, and independence
would be gained. Independence would be an illusion, a change of rulers, until a fresh
uncorrupted generation came, and it was preferable to bury the revolution in the depths of the
sea. Bonifacio, on the other hand, would disagree. History and revolution do not wait for a
perfect and innocent victim.
VI. REFERENCES
Anderson, B. (2006). Forms of Consciousness in "El Filibusterismo". Philippine Studies, 54(3),
315-356. Retrieved June 29, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42633876

I. Opening Statement: Iiia. 2 RRL

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I. Opening Statement: Iiia. 2 RRL

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Q2. Why did Simoun say that Spanish will never be the common language in the Philippines?

IIa. 1ST RRL

IIIa. 2ND RRL

IIIb. ANALYSIS/DISCUSSION OF THE 2ND RRL

IV. GENERAL CONCLUSION

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