ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY TRANSLATING THE IDIOM OF OPPRESSION: A GENEALOGICAL DECONSTRUCTION OF FILIPINIZATION AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY CONSTRUCTION OF THE MODERN PHILIPPINE NATION A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY BY MICHAEL ROLAND F. HERNANDEZ QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES DECEMBER 2019 ii The DISSERTATION entitled: TRANSLATING THE IDIOM OF OPPRESSION: A GENEALOGICAL DECONSTRUCTION OF FILIPINIZATION AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY CONSTRUCTION OF THE MODERN PHILIPPINE NATION submitted by Michael Roland F. Hernandez has been examined and is recommended for Oral Defense. ______________________________ _____________________________________ JEAN EMILY P. TAN, Ph.D. AGUSTIN MARTIN G. RODRIGUEZ, Ph.D. Chair Adviser ___________________________ JONATHAN O. CHUA, Ph.D Dean School of Humanities Comprehensive Examination Taken Passed: February 5 and 12, 2011 iii The Faculty of the Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University ACCEPTS THE DISSERTATION entitled: TRANSLATING THE IDIOM OF OPPRESSION: A GENEALOGICAL DECONSTRUCTION OF FILIPINIZATION AND THE NINETEENTH CENTURY CONSTRUCTION OF THE MODERN PHILIPPINE NATION submitted by Michael Roland F. Hernandez in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy. _________________________ ___________________________ REMMON E. BARBAZA, Ph.D. RAINIER A. IBANA, Ph.D. Member Member _________________________ ___________________________ ZOSIMO LEE, Ph.D. JEFFREY L. BARTILET, Ph.D. Member Member _____________________________________ AGUSTIN MARTIN G. RODRIGUEZ, Ph.D. Adviser __________________________________ JONATHAN O. CHUA, Ph.D. Dean School of Humanities Grade : (A) Excellent Date : November 5, 2019 iv ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis examines the phenomenon of Filipinization, specifically understood as the differential construction of a "Filipino identity" or 'Filipino subjectconsciousness," within three seminal texts in the history of Filipinization-viz.: 1) the Manifiesto of Padre Jose Burgos (1864); 2) the writings of the Filipino ilustrados in La Solidaridad (1889-1895); and 3) Jose Rizal's Annotations on Dr. Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (1890)-inasmuch as it leads to the nineteenth (19th) century ideological construction of the modern Philippine nation. Utilizing Jacques Derrida's deconstructive thinking, this study undertakes a genealogical critique engaged on the discursive analysis of the term "Filipino" and the various notions of Filipino identity given in the different texts mentioned above in order to philosophically demonstrate the claim that Filipinization effectively translates the colonial epistemic violence of Eurocentric racism and its consequent "horror of absolutism" into the homo-hegemony of Filipino nationalisms. Keywords: Filipinization, genealogical critique, discursive complicity, epistemic violence, Spanish colonialism, Filipino nationalism/s viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................... viii CHAPTERS I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 A. Preliminary Remarks .................................................................................... 1 B. Statement of the Problem .............................................................................. 6 C. Significance of the Study ............................................................................ 11 D. Scope and Delimitation of the Study .......................................................... 12 E. Theoretical Framework ............................................................................... 18 F. Conceptual Framework ............................................................................... 27 1. Epistemic Violence .............................................................................. 30 2. Translation ........................................................................................... 36 G. Procedural Design ....................................................................................... 41 H. Review of Related Literature and Studies ................................................... 44 II TOWARDS A GENEALOGY OF THE TERM "FILIPINO" .......................... 63 A. The Spanish Colonial Employment of the Term "Filipino" ....................... 65 B. The "Filipino" in the Manifiesto of Padre Jose Burgos .............................. 76 1. The Secularization Controversy ........................................................... 77 2. The Filipino as a Class Concept ........................................................... 80 3. The Filipino as a Catholic Identity ....................................................... 84 III THE MYTH OF FILIPINIZATION AND THE 19TH CENTURY CONSTRUCTION OF THE MODERN PHILIPPINE NATION ..................... 86 A. The Ilustrado Nationalist Propaganda ........................................................ 86 1. Monachism and Social Evils ................................................................ 88 2. Friar Monopoly of Colonial Translation .............................................. 90 3. The Friar Construction of the "Filipino" ............................................. 92 a. Religious Mystery ......................................................................... 93 b. Political Machination .................................................................... 96 4. Ilustrado Counter-Construction: Anti-Friar Propaganda ..................... 97 5. The "Filipino" as a Hispanic Identity ................................................ 101 6. The "Filipino" as "Ilustrado" ............................................................. 106 B. The Myth of Pure Race [Raza Pura] ........................................................ 112 1. José Rizal's Annotations on Antonio de Morga's Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas .................................................................................................... 114 2. The Dream of Racial Purity ............................................................... 118 C. The Myth of Filipinization ........................................................................ 119 ix 1. Filipinization as an Historical Event .................................................. 120 2. Filipinization as Christianization/Catholicization .............................. 129 3. Filipinization as Hispanization .......................................................... 132 a. Castilian as Lingua Franca and the Codification of Native Languages ................................................................................... 136 b. The Structure of the Spanish Colonial Society ........................... 138 4. Filipinization as Nationalism ............................................................. 141 a. The Ilustrado Conception of the Nación Filipina ....................... 145 b. The Nation-Myth and Violence .................................................. 151 5. Filipinization as Revolution: The Passage from Empire to the 19th Century Modern Philippine Nation-State ................................................. 154 IV FILIPINIZATION AS EPISTEMIC VIOLENCE AND THE PROBLEM OF DISCURSIVE COMPLICITY ......................................................................... 161 A. Eurocentrism and the Spanish Discourse of Superiority .......................... 163 1. Racism and the Civilizing Mission .................................................... 166 2. Filipinization as Identity Politics ....................................................... 171 a. Early 19th century Criollismo ...................................................... 172 b. Padre José Burgos and Catholic Hispanophilia .......................... 174 c. Rizal's Nativism and Secularized Hispanophilia ........................ 178 B. The Nation as Inheritance and the Question of Sovereignty .................... 187 1. Filipinization as Internal Colonialism ................................................ 189 2. Filipinization from "Below" .............................................................. 195 3. Filipinization as Discursive Complicity ............................................. 201 a. Proletarianization ........................................................................ 204 b. Nationalization ............................................................................ 207 C. The Nation-State and Capital .................................................................... 220 V RECAPITULATION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .......... 229 A. Recapitulation ........................................................................................... 229 B. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 236 C. Recommendations ..................................................................................... 241 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................... 242 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 262 A Timeline of Events in Traditional Philippine Nationalist Historiography ....... 262 B Proof of Submission to Journal ........................................................................ 266 C Curriculum Vitae ..............................................................................................