The Propagandist

What is Propagandist? And who are they?

In 1872, the first Filipino nationalist movement, called the Propaganda Movement, was created.
It was led by a Filipino elite and inspired by the protonationalist activism of figures such as José
Burgos and his execution at the hands of colonial authorities. The members of these nationalist
movements are called propagandists. Propagandists were largely young men, often mestizos
and creoles, whose families could afford to send them to study at Spanish universities in Madrid
and Barcelona.

What is Propaganda Movement?

The Propaganda Movement was a set of communication actions through books, leaflets and

newspaper articles by a group of Filipinos who called for political reforms, lasting approximately
from 1880 to 1898 with the most activity between 1880 and 1895.

Who are the members of Propaganda Movement?

Prominent members included José Rizal, author of Noli Me Tángere and El

filibusterismo, Graciano López Jaena, publisher of La Solidaridad, the movement's principal
organ, Mariano Ponce, the organization's secretary and Marcelo H. del Pilar.

Filipino expatriates in Europe formed the Propaganda Movement. Photographed in Madrid,

Spain in 1890.

What are their aims/goals?

Specifically, the Propagandists aims were the following:

 Reinstating the former representation of the Philippines in the Cortes Generales or Spanish
Parliament
 Secularization of the clergy (i.e. usage of secular or diocesan priest rather from a religious
order)
 Legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality
 Reestablishment of Spanish citizenship for Filipinos
 Reestablishment of the Philippines as a province of Spain
 Abolition of polo y servicios (labor service) and the bandala (forced sale of local products to
the government)
 Guarantee of basic freedoms
 Equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government service

Was the propaganda movement successful?

The propaganda movement did not succeed in its pursuit of reforms. The colonial government
did not agree to any of its demands. Spain itself was undergoing a lot of internal problems all
that time, which could explain why the mother country failed to heed the Filipino's petitions.

What was the result of the propaganda movement?

The removal of the tobacco monopoly in our country. The 40 days of polo y servicio became 15
days a year. The tribute was replaced to cedula tax. They were unsuccessful in convincing the
Spaniards to grant out their reforms.

The Propaganda Movement

Propaganda Movement, reform and national consciousness movement that arose among young

Filipino expatriates in the late 19th century. Although its adherents expressed loyalty to the
Spanish colonial government, Spanish authorities harshly repressed the movement and
executed its most prominent member, José Rizal.

Public education did not arrive in the Philippines until the 1860s, and even then the Roman
Catholic Church controlled the curriculum. Because the Spanish friars made comparatively little
effort to inculcate a knowledge of Castilian, less than one-fifth of those who went to school could
read and write Spanish, and far fewer could speak it. The Filipino populace was thus kept apart
from the colonial power that had been ruling it for more than three centuries. After the
construction of the Suez Canal in 1869, sons of the wealthy were sent to Spain and other
countries for study. At home and abroad, a growing sense of Filipino identity had begun
to manifest, and in 1872 this burgeoning nationalism spawned an armed insurrection. About 200
Filipino soldiers at the Cavite arsenal revolted, killed their officers, and shouted for
independence. Plans for a similar demonstration in Manila failed. The rebellion was quickly
suppressed and led to wholesale arrests, life imprisonment, and the execution of, among others,
three Filipino priests, whose connection with the uprising was not satisfactorily explained.

In 1888 Filipino expatriate journalist Graciano López Jaena founded the newspaper La

Solidaridad in Barcelona. Throughout its course, La Solidaridad urged reforms in both religion
and government in the Philippines, and it served as the voice of what became known as
the Propaganda Movement. One of the foremost contributors to La Solidaridad was
the precocious José Rizal y Mercado. Rizal wrote two political novels—Noli me
tangere (1887; Touch Me Not) and El filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed)—which had a
wide impact in the Philippines. López Jaena, Rizal, and journalist Marcelo del Pilar emerged as
the three leading figures of the Propaganda Movement, and magazines, poetry, and
pamphleteering flourished.

While López Jaena and Pilar remained abroad, in 1892 Rizal returned home and founded
the Liga Filipina, a modest reform-minded society that was loyal to Spain and breathed no word
of independence. As with the Cavite mutiny, the Spanish authorities overreacted to a perceived
threat to their rule. They promptly arrested and exiled Rizal to a remote island in the south.
Meanwhile, within the Philippines there had developed a firm commitment to independence
among the somewhat less privileged class. Shocked by the arrest of Rizal, these activists
formed the Katipunan under the leadership of Andres Bonifacio, a self-educated
warehouseman. The Katipunan was dedicated to the expulsion of the Spanish from the islands,
and preparations were made for armed revolt. There had been many Filipino rebels throughout
the history of Spanish rule, but now for the first time they were inspired by nationalist ambitions
and possessed the education needed to make success a real possibility.
On August 26, 1896, Bonifacio issued the Grito de Balintawak (“the Cry of Balintawak”), calling
for an armed uprising against the Spanish. The centre of the revolt was in Cavite province,
where Filipino independence leader Emilio Aguinaldo first came into prominence. Spain sent
reinforcements until there was an army of 28,000, along with a few loyal regiments of Filipino
soldiers. A stiff campaign of 52 days brought about the defeat of the insurgents, but the Spanish
once again endeavoured to work against their own interests. Although Rizal had no connection
to the uprising or Katipunan, the Spanish military arrested him and, after a farcical trial, found
him guilty of sedition. He was executed by a firing squad in Manila on December 30, 1896.

The execution of Rizal breathed new life into the insurrection, and the Philippine
Revolution spread to the provinces of Pangasinan, Zambales, and Ilocos. With the destruction
of the U.S. battleship Maine on February 15, 1898, in the harbour of Havana, Cuba, and the
subsequent wave of public indignation, hostilities erupted between Spain and the United States.
The exiled Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines on May 19 and announced renewal of the
struggle with Spain. The Philippines declared independence from Spain on June 12 and
proclaimed a provisional republic with Aguinaldo as president. With the conclusion of
the Spanish-American War, the Philippines, along with Puerto Rico and Guam, were ceded by
Spain to the U.S. by the Treaty of Paris, on December 10, 1898. The Filipino struggle for
independence would continue through the Philippine-American War and would not be achieved
until after World War II.

— Michael Ray (Britannica.com)

Executive Summary of the Report

The propagandists are the members of the first Filipino nationalist movement called the
Propaganda Movement. They were young men, often mestizos and creoles, who studied at
Spanish universities in Madrid and Barcelona. The so-called Propaganda Movement was
founded in 1872 and lasted approximately from 1880 to 1898, with the most activity between
1880 and 1895. Their objectives include restoring the Philippines' former representation in the
Cortes Generales, or Spanish Parliament; secularizing the clergy; restoring Spanish citizenship
for Filipinos; making the Philippines a province of Spain; abolishing polo y servicios and
bandala; ensuring Filipino freedom; and providing equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spaniards
to enter government service. Even though they didn't succeed in their goal, they managed to
remove the tobacco monopoly in our country, reducing 40 days to 15 days of polo y servicio and
replacing tribute with cedula tax.

In 1888, Filipino expatriate journalist Graciano López Jaena founded the newspaper La

Solidaridad in Barcelona. Throughout its course, La Solidaridad urged reforms in both religion
and government in the Philippines, and it served as the voice of what became known as
the Propaganda Movement. When Rizal returned home in 1892, he founded the Liga Filipina, a
modest reform-minded society that was loyal to Spain and breathed no word of independence.
As with the Cavite mutiny, the Spanish authorities overreacted to a perceived threat to their rule.
They promptly arrested and exiled Rizal to a remote island in the south. The less privileged
classes' activists were shocked by the arrest of Rizal. They founded the katipunan led by
Andres Bonifacio. The Katipunan was dedicated to the expulsion of the Spanish from the
islands, and preparations were made for an armed revolt. Although Rizal had no connection to
the uprising or Katipunan, the Spanish military arrested him and, after a farcical trial, found him
guilty of sedition. He was executed by a firing squad in Manila on December 30, 1896. The
execution of Rizal breathed new life into the insurrection. The Filipino struggle for independence
would continue through the Philippine-American War and would not be achieved until
after World War II.