On the Indolence of the

Filipinos
Sobre la Indolencia de
los Filipinos

On the Indolence of the

Filipinos
A socio-political essay published in La

Solidaridad in Madrid in 1890.

Written by Dr. Jose Rizal as a response to
the accusation of Indio or Malay indolence.
Indolence - Laziness
Rizal admits the existence of indolence
among Filipinos
But attributes it to a number of reasons.

Rizal traces the causes of the indolence of the Filipinos to

factors such as
the climate, and
social disorders
Rizal: Filipinos are by nature not indolent, because in fact,
even before the arrival of the Spaniards, Filipinos have
already been engaged in economic activities such as
agriculture and trade.
Indolence therefore has more deeply-rooted causes such as
abuse and discrimination, inaction of the government,
rampant corruption and red tape, wrong doctrines of the
church and wrong examples from some Spaniards who lead
lives of indolence which ultimately led to the deterioration of
Filipino values.
Rizal sums up the main causes:
Limited training and education Filipino natives receive
Lack of national sentiment and unity among them

Chapter 1
Rizal admits the existence of indolence among Filipinos
But says that to it cannot be attributed the troubles and
backwardness of the country
Rather, the indolence is the effect of the backwardness
and troubles experienced by the country.
Past writings on indolence revolve only on either denying
or affirming, and never studying its causes in depth.
One must study the causes of indolence, Rizal says, before
curing it.
Rizal enumerates the causes of indolence and elaborates
on the circumstances that have led to it.
The hot climate, Rizal points out, is a reasonable
predisposition of indolence.
An hours work under the Philippine sun, he says, is
equivalent to a days work in temperate countries.

Chapter 2
Rizal says that an illness will worsen if the wrong

treatment is given.
The same applies to indolence.
People should not lose hope in fighting indolence.
Even before the Spaniards arrived, the early Filipinos were
already carrying out trade within provinces and with
neighboring countries;
They were also engaged in agriculture and mining.
Some natives even spoke Spanish.
All these disproves the notion that Filipinos are by nature
indolent.
Rizal then asks what would have caused Filipinos to forget
their past.

Chapter 3
Rizal enumerates several reasons that may have caused

the Filipinos cultural and economic decadence:

The frequent wars, insurrections, and invasions have
brought disorder to the communities.
Chaos has been widespread, and destruction rampant.
Many Filipinos have also been sent abroad to fight wars
for Spain or for expeditions. Thus the population has
decreased.
Due to forced labor, many men have been sent to
shipyards to construct ships.
Meanwhile, natives who have had enough of abuse have
gone to the mountains. As a result, the farms have been
neglected.
The so-called indolence of the Filipinos definitely has
deep-rooted causes.

Chapter 4
Filipinos, according to Rizal, are not responsible for their
misfortunes, as they are not their own masters.
The Spanish government has not encouraged labor and trade, which
ceased after the government treated the countrys neighboring
trade partners with great suspicion.
Trade has declined because of the many restrictions imposed by the
government as a response to pirate attacks.
Also, the government does not give aid for farmers and their crops.
This, and the abuses suffered under encomienderos, have caused
many farmers to abandon their fields.
Businesses were monopolized by government officials; red tape and
bribery proliferate; rampant gambling is tolerated by the
government.
Such situation was compounded by the Churchs wrong doctrine
which says that the rich will bot go to heaven, thus engendering
distaste for work.
Natives were also discriminated in access to education.
Such were the main reasons that Rizal cited as the cause of
deterioration of values among Filipinos.

Chapter 5
According to Rizal, all the causes of indolence can be

reduced to two factors.

1) The limited training and education Filipino natives
receive. Sefgregated from the Spaniards, Filipinos do not
receive the same opportunities that are available to the
foreigners. They are taught to be inferior.
2) The lack of national sentiment of unity among the
Filipinos. Because Filipinos think they are inferior, they
submit to the foreign culture and do everything to imitate
it.
The solution, according to Rizal:
Education
Liberty