Against "Ang Katamaran ng mga Pilipino"

By Alberto Lorenzo F. Yañga

Essay Against Rizal’s Essay: Ang Katamaran ng mga Pilipino

            In present times, people from other countries perceive Filipinos as lazy. Not to mention even the notion of being late has been named to us thus the term “Filipino time”. Others would be the “ningaskugon”, which was not finishing the job or project they started, and the “bahalana” mentality, which was the idea of not doing anything and just letting things happen and fall into place or just depending on the “will of God”. Did these happen just recently? Were there other instances wherein visitors or even our colonizers said that we were lazy? In fact, Dr. Jose Rizal wrote an essay regarding the causes on why Filipinos are lazy. His essay was titled “AngKatamaranngmga Pilipino” or “The Laziness of Filipinos”.

            In his essay, Dr. Rizal suggested that Filipinos are not lazy because they are just plain old lazy but because of the environmentand climate of the Philippines and the instances that the Spanish were the ones who made the Filipinos lazy due to their own laziness.Rizal stated four main points regarding his argument on why Filipinos became lazy, namely: the heat of the sun in the Philippines, the influence of the Spanish, the poor educational system, and the loss of morale of the people due to the colonization of the Spaniards. All of these supported Rizal’s argument, however, I personally disagree with his ideas.I believe that Filipinos became lazy due to the fact that the royalty of our ancestors showed that those who were on top of the food chain were the ones who did not have things to do. Most Filipinos have pride and all of them believe that they are superior over another. It would also be a possible cause that the Filipinos also wanted to work for themselves and only had the initiative and passion to work if it had a reward or incentive.

            Rizal’s first argument on why Filipinos were lazy was due to the hot climate in the Philippines. First of all, I firmly believe that even if it were cold in the Philippines, it would not change a thing on the attitude of the Filipino people. If the Filipinos were not lazy, they would work their bodies out whether it was hot or cold. Heat is never and excuse for not working. There are some cases wherein people would work under the sun just to make a living. Some good examples would be: carpenters and athletes (football, soccer, baseball etc.) The Spanish who were used to a cold climate and minimal heat even worked harder and stood longer under the sun than the Filipinos who should have adapted to the heat for a long time. I support the fact that people who really are industrious would do anything for them to finish what they have started. As Rico Blanco, the former vocalist of Rivermaya, would say “..Kung ayaw may dahilan, kung gusto palagingmayroongparaan..”

            In his second argument, he stated that Filipinos lived a peaceful and prosperous life, but due to the Spaniards’ actions, Filipinos stopped working because they did not have interest in what they were doing and they believed that they worked for the Spanish if they did, thus being called ‘lazy’. From my point of view, Filipinos should not have stopped working even if it was for our colonizers. They should have just thought about their families and earned a living. And, when the Spaniards came, more job openings flourished because of the demand of labor for the businesses of the Spanish settlers in the Philippines.

            Thirdly, Rizal said that because of the poor education at that time, Filipinos did not have the interest and knowledge to work and be productive. He stated that Filipinos did not want to work as a machine. First of all, before the Spaniards came, there was no legitimate education system in the Philippines. How would it be possible that due to education, one will cease to work? Secondly, one does not need education to be able to know how to work. It is given that humans knows how to work even without education because it is basic human instinct to figure out things and make them work by themselves.

            Rizal’s last point would be the laziness of the Filipinos due to the loss of morality due to the loss of unity within the country. Some Filipinos were also prohibited from making their own businesses shutting their work down. But, for me, this should be no excuse and they should have continued on working. Emotionally they might be down, but physically they were strong and able to withstand those hard times.