I. Introduction

Philippines is said to be the “gateway to the Pacific”. In examining its geographical

location in the globe, you can go in any continent if you are in the Philippines. Up in the North

are the countries of Asia; extending to the East is the United States of America and the Pacific

Ocean; down in the South is Australia; and in the West is the Africa and Europe. This is the

major reason why so many countries colonized and want to colonize the country. In addition to

the fact that the archipelago is rich in natural resources that are used for input and raw materials.

Both Spain and America had the same goal that was to make the Philippines an economic

stronghold and strong capitalist to penetrate Asian market for the American, and the world for

the Spaniards. Spain also used the geographical location of the Philippines for spreading

Christianity. Americans used Philippines as a democratic model for Asia for their political

motives; established military stronghold in the Pacific for them to easily penetrate China, in case

of war; and spread education, civil service, liberal social security and Protestantism.

Almost 400 years, the Philippines was under the control foreign invasions, but the

Filipinos showed strong sense nationalism, and fought for their independence.

Nationalism is the loyalty and devotion to a nation. It is a sense of national consciousness

exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture

and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups. Furthermore, it is a

belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with his or her nation.

Finally, it is a patriotism or love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it. This

provides a need to live in a country and a want to be there. Nationalism brings people with

similar thoughts and experiences together. Citizens in a country can bond through their joint love

of their country. Nationalism gives people pride in their own country to do better than all other

countries in the world.

There are two perspectives on the origins and basis of nationalism, one is

the primordialist perspective that describes nationalism as a reflection of the ancient and

perceived evolutionary tendency of humans to organize into distinct groupings based on an

affinity of birth; the other is the modernist perspective that describes nationalism as a recent

phenomenon that requires the structural conditions of modern society in order to exist.  There are

various definitions for what constitutes a nation, however, which leads to several different

strands of nationalism. It can be a belief that citizenship in a state should be limited to one ethnic,

cultural, religious, or identity group, or that multi-nationality in a single state should necessarily

comprise the right to express and exercise national identity even by minorities. The adoption of

national identity in terms of historical development has commonly been the result of a response

by influential groups unsatisfied with traditional identities due to inconsistency between their

defined social order and the experience of that social order by its members, resulting in a

situation of anomie that nationalists seek to resolve. This anomie results in a society or societies

reinterpreting identity, retaining elements that are deemed acceptable and removing elements

deemed unacceptable, in order to create a unified community. This development may be the

result of internal structural issues or the result of resentment by an existing group or groups

towards other communities, especially foreign powers that are or are deemed to be controlling

them.

In its general form the issue of nationalism concerns the mapping between the ethno-

cultural domain (featuring ethno-cultural groups or “nations”) and the domain of political

organization. In breaking the issue into its components, we have mentioned the importance of the

attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity.

Nationalism is achieved by the following elements: unified national consciousness;

identity; unified national history; and social solidarity. In unified national consciousness, we are

aware of what is happening in our country as a whole, and most important is, we involve

ourselves in national issues, not just because it affects our own daily lives, but because

Philippines is our home. Nationalism gives us identity from the rest of the world. Patronizing

local goods and products than foreign products is a good example. It not only help our local

businessmen, but it also help our economy grows. In unified national history, our national history

is the product of regional history. Every part of the Philippines has its own unique history that

can give us pride. In social solidarity, or oneness, there is harmony in our major institutions:

family, school, church, and government. These institutions play major role and affect our daily

lives, thus these must function in a synchronized way.

For the most part, countries with higher nationalism have more prosperous economy and

are overall, wealthier. People want to earn more money and they want to prosper for the good of

the country because of nationalism. Also, countries with higher nationalism have less corruption

in banks and other such things. People trust their fellow citizens to treat them with respect and

they trust their money with the banks. Without corruption, banks can prosper to help the whole

good of the country. Nationalism also unites people for one cause. You would be surprised how

powerful a united nation can become.

Pride in their own country motivates people to work harder in society. They want to

further their own countries and by working harder they do just that. People want to join together

to fight against any threats that might befall the country and society. It makes the country get

over these incidents more easily and afterwards, makes the country stronger. When something

bad might happen, people are able to comfort each other using their strong nationalistic views of

their own country. This is important for countries to help heal past wounds that they might have

suffered due to wars or natural disasters, like tsunamis and hurricanes.

The main reasons why nationalism is a good thing in societies around the world have

been represented by these three examples. Nationalism can strengthen countries and make the

country better for all people. Nationalism has been defined and it has been explained why

nationalism is a good thing. Also, an explanation of why nationalism can bring people together

has been given. Supporting nationalism is for the betterment of countries around the world, and

in turn, the whole world prospers. There are also two importance of nationalism. One is

patriotism which solidifies a nation under one government. The other is that it minimizes

intrastate violence and keeps a country from civil war.

II. Development: Trends and Transitions

The 300 years of the Philippines under the control of the Spanish Monarchy brought

about one of the most important elements of building a nation, the nationalism. The Spanish

regime invoked the sudden will of the Filipinos for freedom. During the pre-colonial period,

early Filipinos didn't exhibit any sense of nationalism simply because they did not had yet

established a national identity. Their primary focus was their community without showing any

sign of interests with other barangays. This system was interrupted when the Spanish colonizers

came to the Philippines.

One of the most important reason of the colonizers in capturing the Philippines was

because they wanted the country to be their economic stronghold wherein they can penetrate the

world of commerce and industry. As they were able to totally colonize the Philippines, they were

also able to execute their plan of making the country an economic stronghold. The Spanish

colonizers introduced the Philippines to the industry of trade and commerce. The Spaniards were

able to penetrate the industry and many transactions were dealt with by the Philippines under the

control of Spain.

Throughout the long years of colonization of the Spain to the Philippines, there were

already revolts happening in many areas of the country. These were mainly rebellion against the

policies and cultural impositions of the Spaniards. Filipinos resisted the impositions of the

Spaniards including the teachings of the Catholic religion which converted many Filipinos from

their old religion of paganism and anituism to Catholicism.

It was only during the end of nineteenth century, that the nationalism of the Filipinos

awakened. As the world of trade and commerce continues to propagate, many political ideas

were disseminated throughout the world through publishing of different books. One of the most

important political ideas was the idea of liberalism. Ideology of liberalism reached the minds of

many Filipinos especially the ilustrados who studied abroad. During the Spanish period, many

world events happened. Some of these were the Seven Years’ War, French Revolution, US

Declaration of Independence, and Latin American War of Independence. The opening of the

Philippines to the world of trade of commerce paved the way for many Filipinos to acquire the

knowledge of liberalism. This became the vehicle of the Filipinos to demand for, at first, equality

among Spaniards and Filipinos and, later on, for independence from the colony of Spain. The

Liberalism ideas awakened the consciousness of the Filipino people and the start of the growing

sense of nationalism among Filipinos. This was the age of enlightenment for the Filipinos.

Equipped with the ideas of liberalism, the Filipinos most especially the middle classes strived

harder to achieve political and social changes. Various revolts began throughout the whole

archipelago. They wanted to get rid of the racial prejudice and social exploitation of the

Spaniards to the Filipinos. Nationalism sentiment of the Filipinos were truly born when many

injustices of the Spanish colonizers spread throughout the country.

The Secularization movement is one of the main factors that led to the rise of Filipino

nationalism. This was a conflict between Spanish friars and Filipino priests. On November 1774,

a royal decree provided for the secularization of all parishes or the transfer of parochial

administration from the regular friars to the secular priests. It was clearly observed that there

were also racial implications on the issue which include the Filipinos’ brown skin, lack of

education and inadequate experience. Monsignor Pedro Pelaez fought for secularization

movement and sided the Filipinos but eventually he died due to an earthquake and later other

priests continue his unfinished fight like the Gomburza who were also involved in the Cavite

Mutiny and this led to the execution of the three friars namely Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and

Jacinto Zamora. Also, the Cavite mutiny led by sergeant Lamadrid provoke Filipino

Nationalism.

On the lighter side, the emergence of the middle classes brought the nationalism in

the minds of the Filipinos by educating them and arousing the consciousness of the Filipinos to

finally join and involve themselves to the growing sense of nationalism. All these happenings led

the Filipinos to many revolts against the Spanish colonizers. Various forms of movements were

made by the Filipinos against the Spaniards. Some movements were through peaceful means like

the Propaganda Movement, and others were through the use of force.

The ilustados demonstrated their sense of nationalism through the establishment of

the Propaganda Movement which was founded by Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and

Marcelo Del Pilar. These ilustrados called themselves reformists. Through their writing in the La

Solidaridad, the official news organ of the Propaganda Movement, they were able to spread their

noble ideas of liberation. The objectives of the Propaganda movement was to assimilate the

Philippines as a regular province of the Spain. Through this, the Filipino people will be able to

have an equal rights with the Spaniards. They also wanted to filipinize the Philippine parishes

which, at that time, was under the strong influence of the Spanish regular friars. The movement

also aimed to have a Filipino representation to Spanish parliament. The Propaganda Movement

did not last very long due to many problems and conflicts.

After the disbandment of the Propaganda Movement, another movement of liberalization

was established when Jose Rizal organized a news organ, the La Liga Filipina. This have the

same objectives as the Propaganda Movement. Its writings was also for the purpose of promoting

the aspirations of the Filipinos for freedom. However, like its predecessors, the La Liga Filipina

did not last very long because after days of establishment, Dr. Jose Rizal was deported to

Dapitan for execution.

As time passed by, the battle for liberation continued. This time, Filipinos were not just

demanding for equality but also for total separation from Spain. As the demand for liberation

gone deeper, the Filipino people went further when they heeded the call of the Katipunan. The

Katipunan was led by Andres Bonifacio and it aimed to have political independence. The

Katipunan which was founded as a secret revolutionary society has the primary objective of

uniting the Filipino people and struggle for separation from Spain. The Katipunan also wanted

the abolition of Spanish rule even by means of revolution.Again, various revolts were started;

this time not through peaceful means but through the use of weapons. The member of the

Katipunan which called themselves as Katipuneros equipped with revolver and bolos, fought the

enemies. It was gun versus gun. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of their fights failed. The Filipino

almost won their freedom when they were confronted by a new colonizers.

After the short independence of the Filipinos from the colony of Spain, the American

colonizers used the devastating condition of the Philippines to colonize the country. The new

colonizers hid their true intentions and introduced themselves as friends. Again, for the second

time, Filipino nationalism was on another challenge. Despite introducing themselves as friends,

still the Americans encountered revolts from the Filipino people.

The American colonizers manipulated the minds of the Filipinos. They used education as

a tool for pacifying the people. They educated many Filipinos to make them collaborate with

their plans. Many people, mostly the ilustrados, changed side and collaborated with the enemy.

The American regime became harder as the fight for liberation of the Filipino continue.

During the American colonization, the nationalist rights of the Filipinos were suppressed.

Different laws and impositions were passed suppressing the rights of the Filipinos. Some of these

were the Sedition Law which imposed death penalty or long term imprisonment on anyone who

will be caught advocating independence from US, and the Flag Law which prohibited the display

of the Philippine flag.

The Americans, during their stay in the Philippines, improved the different sectors of the

country. They established educational system different from the Spaniards to educate the

Filipinos because they believed that education is an instrument to make the people submissive to

them. They made English as a medium for instruction. They also introduced democratic

ideology. These were all embraced by the Filipinos not realizing that these were also the tools of

the enemies to pacify them. The nationalism of the Filipinos became submissive to the

Americans. In the meantime, the Americans took advantage of this and started to actualize their

true intentions of colonizing the country and exploiting the natural wealth of the Philippines.

The American colonizers projected their culture and society as a model to be emulated.

They inculcated the idea that the Filipinos must be assisted by them to be capable of managing

its own government. They promised to give back Filipino independence after they have acquired

the knowledge necessary for a politically independent country.

The strategies of the Americans continue to blind many Filipinos. There were still revolts

against the enemy demanding for independence, however, these were only few compare to the

revolts made during the Spanish colonization. This might be due to the Laws passed the

suppressed the rights of the Filipinos. The middle classes were totally blinded and their sense of

nationalism was temporarily blocked by the promise of the Americans of the progress for the

Philippines.

The battle for liberation continues until the mid-twentieth century that the promise of the

Americans was granted through the establishments of different acts and bills such as the Cooper

Bill and the Tydings McDuffie Act.

III. Challenges and Solutions

The sense of nationalism of the Filipinos led them to established hundreds of revolts

against the oppressing countries. However, all of these revolts failed to realize their goals and

objectives due to various reasons.

During the Spanish colonization period, Filipinos were afraid of going against the

Spaniards because of the intimidating power of the Spaniards. Also, during that time, Filipinos

were scattered. They could hardly participate with the revolts of other regions because of the fact

that they, too, have their own regions to protect. This idea is called ethnocentricity. These were

obviously shown through the different fights simultaneously done by the natives, well in fact,

they could have done it together. This scattered condition of the Filipinos was also used by the

enemy as their defense plan. They used the strategy called Divide and Rule tactic to use other

natives against the revolting natives.

Another factor that caused the failure of the revolution was the lack of funds. Filipinos,

during this period, did not have enough funds to finance their revolutions. They did not have the

proper equipment to battle against the highly equipped enemies.

The same fate happened when the Propaganda Movement ceased the circulation of the La

Solidaridad, its news organ, also because of lack of funds. This movement wanted to assimilate

the Philippines as an official province of the Spain but, during that time, the Spanish government

was too pre-occupied with its internal problems and it did not have enough time to read the

articles of the reformists written in the La Solidaridad. Hence, it was also a failure. The

differences in ideas, conflicts of interests and opinions and identities among the reformists also

caused its failure.

In the case of the Katipunan, aside from lack of funds and equipment, the self-interests of

some of its members led to its failure. Not all of the members of the Katipunan were committed

to the goals of the organization. Some even backstabbed other members to protect their interests.

They had conflicts of opinions that divided the organization in two-- the Magdalo and the

Magdiwang-- both parties have their own ideas on how to fight the enemies.

During the American colonization period, the Americans took advantage of the

conditions of the Filipinos after its long period under the control of the Spanish government.

They promised to help the Filipinos to regain its independence through educating and liberating

the minds of the Filipinos. They also promised the economic progress of the Philippines. The

Filipinos were, at first, a little bit doubtful of these promises and stated to have revolts. But these

revolts also failed because of the manipulative strategy of the Americans. Many Filipinos

believed that Americans were friends of the country. Filipinos, mostly the middle classes were

blinded by these promises and they collaborated with the enemies. The collaboration of the

middle classes and American colonizers weakened the nationalist force of the Filipino people.

The middle classes were totally brainwashed by the Americans. They were blinded by

their self-interests. The colonizers, however, took advantage of it and imposed laws, bills and

acts suppressing the rights of the Filipinos to express their nationalistic sentiments.

The colonizers of the Philippines were truly strong countries but Filipinos fought them

and managed to free themselves. The American, after almost half a century, granted the Filipinos

of its long awaited independence but this was interrupted by another imperialist country. The

Philippines, for the third time, was again under the control of another country. The Filipinos

fought the Japanese imperialism. Filipinos are survivors because for the third time they were able

to surpass it and be a truly politically independent country.

The long years of the Philippines under the control of its colonizers brought different

things that greatly influenced every aspect of life of the Filipino people until today. Those long

years of struggle for liberation taught the lessons of nationalism to every Filipino. After its

colonization period, the Philippines has gained knowledge of improving the political, economic,

social, and cultural aspects of the country. Filipinos gained the knowledge of different and more

effective ways of living. The scope of trade and commerce industry in the Philippines has

widened. It has now contact not just with Asian countries but also with the rest of the world.

Filipinos also acquired a very good system of education, Education is one of the most

important products of the long period of colonization of the Philippines. Many schools and

universities were established during the colonization period. Some of these were the University

of the Philippines, University of Sto. Thomas, and the Central Luzon State University, to

mention a few. These schools are making a reputation not just in the Philippines but also outside

the Philippines. Scientific program for public health and welfare were also introduced to the

country. The Political consciousness among Filipinos today is also one of the most important

contributions of the colonizers to the Philippines. Democratic idea is the most important

contribution of the American colonizers.

On the other hand, the colonization period also have its adverse effects. The Filipinos

became conscious of their political and social statuses. The period of colonization is over but the

social status among Filipinos is not eliminated. There are still social exploitation happening

inside the country. Most of the time, the poor Filipinos are exploited by the elites. After the

colonization period, the Filipinos became imitative. They imitate other countries from their

products even their style and actions. The socio-cultural heritage of the Filipinos is now hardly

seen.

In economical aspect, the Filipinos have the tendency to buy imported products because

of the colonial mentality remained in the minds of many Filipinos. The Philippine market is

flooded with imported products. This have adverse effect in the local economy of the

Philippines. Also, the natural wealth of the Philippines is subject to the intervention of other

countries.

The colonial years of the Philippines left a distinguishable trail of colonizers in the

political system of the country. Politics in the Philippines is patterned with the political system of

the United States which was one of the colonizers of the Philippines. Filipinos maintained their

bureaucratic system they inherited from Philippine colonizers. Philippines is hardly making a

stand to its decisions. They have become dependent and always seek for help to other countries

specially the US.

These negative effects of colonization are the main problems of the Filipino nationalism

today. Looking at these effects, it seemed like the Philippines was never free from its colonizers.

All of these problems are burdens for all the Filipinos to continually show their sense of

nationalism it also hinders the Philippines from establishing its national identity.

In the age of technology and mark of globalization, Filipino nationalism should also be

brought to a higher level for it not to be left behind. Filipino nationalism did not come into being

overnight nor did it remain the same after achieving the common goal of independence.

Nationalism is not just fighting the oppressors and sacrificing one's life to acquire independence.

Although sense of nationalism started with the goal of political independence, there are still

many ways to express the sense of being a Filipino. Being one with your nation is national

solidarity. National solidarity is a nationalist agenda in which the people of a nation shared the

memories of the past, it includes traditions, culture and everything that comprises the Filipino

nation, and vision of the future.

Until today, the Philippines is still struggling to establish a national identity. It is a

problem of the Filipinos to establish a unified national identity. This is an arduous task,

definitely bigger than the problem faced by the Filipinos during its colonial period.

IV. SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSION

Nationalism is a political concept wherein the people of a nation express their patriotic

love to their country and nationalism has been a big part of the Filipino people through the years.

Through nationalism, Filipinos proved to the world the glory of the Filipino nation. It is the

sentiment that led the Katipuneros and revolutionaries to fight for their freedom. It is also the

same sentiment the Filipinos are using today to fight the corruption in the Philippine

government. They express their feelings against the political leaders who are feeding themselves

with fraudulent things. This is clearly manifested by the people who are joining rallies to get the

attention of those corrupt politicians.

Nowadays, nationalism is taking a new meaning. Nationalism today is not just limited to

political concept; it is also about economic, cultural and social concept. Mere patronizing local or

Filipino-made products is clearly a manifestation of Filipino nationalism. Exercising and giving

importance to cultural heritage and traditions of the Philippines is also an expression of

nationalism. Nationalism is also shown through loving and giving respect to fellow Filipinos.

Nationalism is the building blocks of a nation. It is the base of the strength of a nation.

Like in an establishment, a weak building blocks will make the establishment unstable. Should a

strike hit this establishment, it will fall and break into pieces. A nation is highly comparable with

an establishment. Accordingly, when the sense of nationalism of the nation’s people is wary,

there is a bigger possibility that the nation will hit the ground after it was strike with its

problems. There is no nation if there is no nationalism. A nation’s existence is highly dependent

on the degree of nationalism of its people.

Filipino nationalism today is facing new challenges. These challenges are brought about

not by colonizing or oppressing country but by the fast changing environment. In the

environment bombarded with both internal and external problems, nationalism of many Filipinos

is again taking a new test of time. Globalization is one of the problems. Many challenges have

taken their toll and pushing Filipino nationalism outside its limits. This maybe one of the many

ways of the environment to make changes in the world. Just like what happened many years ago

when the burning fire of nationalism of many Filipino initiated social and political change in the

Philippines as seen through the revolts of many Filipino during colonial period and the EDSA

people power one. These particular events opened the eyes of many nations to recognize the

importance of nationalism in building a nation. The challenges facing by the Filipino nationalism

today may probably result again to another eye-opening events.

Nationalism is the initiator of change. Just like any other thing, a nation needs change to

improve and develop. A strong sense of nationalism is important to achieve the change that you

want for your nation. It is also the door for bigger possibilities. It is essential to challenge

Filipino nationalism from generation to generation to make sure it is still alive in the minds and

hearts of the Filipino people.

Accordingly, nationalism is a strong force in nation-building. Filipino Nationalism is one

of the important factors to established highly distinguished, unified national identity among the

Filipino people.