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Collective Heroism and Noble Ethics 

A. Collective Heroism and the Bayanihan

1. No Competition in Heroism

WE ACTUALLY need to avoid putting our na­tional heroes on top of un­reachable pedestals, separated from their overlapping respective teams. Plucking out names to be projected as superstars has had a divisive effect on us all these past decades and centuries! 

We have thus downgraded millions of real heroes and heroines,  including our very own  blood ascendants and even ourselves, just because their names have not been mentioned in history books!  Actually, we have long been, and still are, a nation of heroes!

How do we best answer the question “who should teally be our national hero, Rizal or Bonifacio?” Let us answer: Both and a whole lot more!

2. Bayanihan, Valuable Heirloom

THE WORD “bayani” first appeared in our ancestors’ vocabulary as a verb, which meant – and still means – “to work for the community without seeking equivalent monetary or commodity payment.”  The nearest noun form of that verb in that sense was “bayanihan.” 

The usual visual portrayal of this shows a group of grunting but smiling men and women carrying on their shoulders a nipa house mounted in lateral bamboo poles.  The most well-known painting depiction of this was done by National Artist Carlos “Botong” Francisco.

But bayanihan teamwork was also applied to such farming tasks as preparing the ricefields, actual planting of seedlings, and harvesting the palay from the golden bowing stalks. Simply put, the principle states, “we all work together on the fields of each one of us.”

Longevity of Bayanihan in Our History

How long have the people of these islands lived the principle of synergism in the practice of bayanihan?  Let’s consider these four research items dealing with as many periods in history that plot the points along a very long timeline.

Item 1 comes from the revised edition of the book, Agos  ng  Dugong  Kayumanggi:  Isang  Kasaysayan  ng Sambayanang Pilipino (Quezon City: Abiva Publishing House, 1997, p. 114 by Dr. Jaime B. Veneracion, a contemporary historian at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and former head of the nationwide association of historians and history enthusiasts, called Asosasyon ng mga Dalubhasa at May-Hilig sa Kasaysayan (ADHIKA) ng Pilipinas:

“Bayanihan  (being) a system of cooperation among the ancient Philippine communities.  This practice traced its roots to the customs of the ancient Filipinos, called Austronesians, inside their large dwelling boats (balanghai) still in the open sea traveling gradually to the (Philippine) islands. The principle of mutual help among riders in such boats was rooted in the fact that each passenger had to do his or her part of the work in order to prevent the boat from sinking and getting them all drowned. In the ultimate analysis, therefore, bayanihan was being practiced for the common good.”

The foregoing item translated from a passage in Dr. Veneracion’s book establishes the practice of bayanihan to have started for our ancestors long before start of Spanish colonization a mere half-millennium ago. 

Item 2 notes in an 1860 Spanish dictionary that the phrase “obra comun” in the second definition of “bayani” stands as proof that bayanihan was in practice by communities at that time.  By then, the Spanish colonizers and mainly the friars and missionaries had had three centuries of penetrating the islands and attaining a functional literacy in our own vernacular languages, as such was their approach (instead of teaching Spanish to the “Indios”), and the dictionary compiler had enough basis in determining common word usages.

Item 3 is composed of research results about “Lupang Tagalog” orally shared with this writer by a close Kamalaysayan colleague about the practice of bayanihan having flourished in large tracts of free territories long after these were supposed to have been covered and transformed by the Spanish colonial authorities. 

Research on the phenomenon of “Lupang Tagalog” has discovered that it covered vast areas in Pasig, Cainta, Taguig, and adjacent areas, where Spanish rule was allowed to “hold sway only on paper,” with paperwork like regular reports all “in order” but with the people enjoying fully the continuance of their previous agrarian arrangements akin to all extant descriptions of the bayanihan system.

This item, which establishes the fact and even likelihood that bayanihan and other practices of our people persisted under conditions of “dual power” in many areas of the archipelago, in fields beyond the reach of the campanario of the parish church, is one of the many subjects of a work-in-progress of Velasquez to be published soon by Kamalaysayan probably in partnership with the city government of Pasig. 

Item 4 comes from current experiences in the Cordillera, specifically in the majestic rice terraces area in Banawe, Ifugao. The Rice Terraces were constructed by community labor, and for more than a millennium they were operated also by the community. This makes them a greater wonder than the original “Seven Wonders of the World” that were largely built by slave labor and owned only by the royalty or elite.  The Rice Terraces operated that way were extremely sustainable for thousands of years.

Item 5 is composed of research results about “Lupang Tagalog” orally shared with this writer by a close Kamalaysayan colleague about the practice of bayanihan having flourished in large tracts of free territories long after these were supposed to have been covered and transformed by the Spanish colonial authorities. 

Research on the phenomenon of “Lupang Tagalog” has discovered that it covered vast areas in Pasig, Cainta, Taguig, and adjacent areas, where Spanish rule was allowed to “hold sway only on paper,” with paperwork like regular reports all “in order” but with the people enjoying fully the continuance of their previous agrarian arrangements akin to all extant descriptions of the bayanihan system.

This item, which establishes the fact and even likelihood that bayanihan and other practices of our people persisted under conditions of “dual power” in many areas of the archipelago, in fields beyond the reach of the campanario of the parish church, is one of the many subjects of a work-in-progress of Velasquez to be published soon by Kamalaysayan probably in partnership with the city government of Pasig. 

Consider this excerpt from the website of the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The paper, titled “Efforts at Protecting Traditional Knowledge: The Experience in the Philippines,” was prepared and submitted by Atty. David Daoas as then chairperson of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples under the Office of the President in 1999.  The excerpt speaks of a still-existing but gradually dying practice of bayanihan in that historic area (underscoring mine):

“Economic forces brought about by tourism industry are changing traditionally accepted procedures of resource utilization.  The expanding woodcarving industry, which caters to the need of tourists, had depleted muyong resources of primary wood species.  Thus, economic forces directed against natural resources are compounding ecological problems of the watershed.

“The tribal economy comes from financial contributions of Overseas Contract workers (OCWs) which has direct impact on indigenous arrangement.  There are 137 OCWs in two barangays of Hingyon that has a total population of less than 1,500.  xxx  With readily available cash, the inhabitants find it doubly difficult to stick to the old bayanihan system replacing it with paid labor.  In most cases however, people are not interested in paid labor arrangements.

“Terrace labor becomes highly dependent on family members.  When family labor is not available, terraces are left uncultivated.  Cash availability, outmigration and lack of water for irrigation are factors affecting the increasing number of neglected terraces and forest areas.”

Item 5 also comes from orally shared reports from a relative in Zambales and a close friend of this writer in Bulacan.  An old aunt, who was living alone in a house near the beach in Botolan, Zambales, related to me how she would participate in the daily early-morning pukot.  A group of fishermen and other people would be pulling a stretched fishing net from the water to the shore and haul in a good amount of fresh fish still wiggling and jumping about when dumped on the sand. 

All who participated in pulling at the net ropes, whatever amount of strength was put in (my aunt, already past seventy by then), could get as much fish as they wanted to get. Everyone understood that it was only for personal or family consumption, that no one was selling, and therefore would get only what they needed for the day.  Without refrigerators, they preferred to immediately throw back into the sea whatever excess there was, if any.

That account of the pukot arrangement straight from a regular participant has held a rich wealth in profound moral and ethical lessons relevant especially for urban people like me.  A close friend in Bulacan told me recently that a system called batarisan, another word for bayanihan, was still being practiced in some pockets of his hometown.

Item 7 is a pair of passages from the Internet on bayanihan still being alive in Northern Luzon:

This comes from Estrella L. Suyu, who teaches at the Cagayan State University, Carig, Tuguegarao, Cagayan:   “Filipinos are characterized by its close family ties such that majority of married couples with children lived with their parents. The value of bayanihan sharing, cooperation, brotherhood, self-responsibility, respect, love, peace, and dignity, are still very much alive in Cagayan. 

Old songs, proverbs, and poems are still sung today,  alongside the instruments Kuribaw, tulali and the kuritang produced by Ibanags. These produced warlike or sad music. It also exhibits the beauty of the unoni, the berso, and the pabattang (proverbs and the advises through songs) which convey Ibanag history and their mores that the ethnic group keep sacred and inviolable.

And this comes from a publication of the United Nations University in 1994: “Some social observers have pointed out that seemingly crucial elements of tradition and culture that have existed in Japan and the Republic of Korea are not present in the Philippine situation. There is no such thing as a Filipino culture. Instead, we have a universe of micro-cultures with a great variety of diverse characteristics. The Ilocanos are known for hard work and clannishness, while the peoples of Central Luzon exhibit their own version of the communal spirit in what is called bayanihan. The diversity of cultural traits and traditions of the Philippines could be an asset in this respect, and not a liability.”

Bayanihan is still alive to this day! Barely alive, but still alive. All these items taken together would indicate a very long longevity period, long enough to span millennia on end, that witnessed the people of these islands living by the synergetic principle of bayanihan.

A Historic Legacy Being Wasted

Our ancestors and even some of our contemporaries have called  their practice  of human synergism, "bayanihan," which eventually yielded our word for heroes and heroism. Unfortunately, this important cultural resource of our nation has faded away especially in the past few centuries since we came under foreign subjugation.  Western-style individualism has made our people divide and quarrel in the face of crisis, instead of rallying and working together to face it. 

It was also obviously well-intentioned that a group showcasing Filipino folk dances for all of us and even other peoples to appreciate would carry the name “Bayanihan.” But the tribute being paid by the dance troupe became counterproductive as soon as the dance company’s name started to eclipse the principle in popularity, up to the point that people would equate the word bayanihan to folk dancing. In my experience of surfing the Internet’s “search engines” I found more searched items referring to the dance troupe than to the principle it was honoring by carrying its name.

While the bayanihan spirit can aptly be shown in portrayals of men carrying a nipa hut together, it has been a superficial curiosity, even counterproductive, without the necessary profound comprehension and reverence, much less practical application, that the principle deserves. 

If we may add another historical note, the very birth of our nation towards the end of the 19th century was made possible through a four-year gathering process by a unity-oriented organization that has since been remembered only for its bravery: the Katipunan.

Few Filipinos know that the 1896 Revolution was the first-ever unified enterprise of the diverse com­munities in the Philippine  archipelago  and that  the outbreak of fighting had to be preceded with a long period of painstaking socio-cultural research, house-to-house education and organizing work focused on the internalization of the unifying ethical, even spiritual, tenets of the Katipunan as spelled out in its "Kartilya."

For many Filipinos, both the Katipunan and the Revolution were a matter of battles won and battles lost. We can't blame them. History books and commemorations have emphasized battles and military figures over nation-building and statesmen.  Actually, bayanihan was the moving spirit of the Katipunan!  If we are to summarize the 14 lessons in this seven-page Kartilya, the whole lesson is magpakatao at makipagkapwa-tao. Surely, the second part of that resonated well with our people’s bayanihan culture.

Bayanihan is a heroic legacy of all Filipinos. But we are allowing it to be wasted, when its successful application can raise our nation from the morass of worsening poverty that our people are suffering today! 

This is the reason why the National Economic Protectionism (NEPA, renamed National Economic Patriotism Association) and the other member-entities of the DakiLahi: Filipinos for Life network it has recently joined,are calling for a bayanihan-inspired call for pambansang tangkilikan or mutual support among various enterprises, entities and citizens for collective gain and upliftment. 

A. Noble Ethics and the Kartilya

1. Kartilya, Surprise Treasure from the Katipunan

AS EARLY as their elementary-grade Philippine History subject, Filipinos are likely to have come across the title, Kartilya ng Katipunan written by KKK leader Emilio Jacinto.  In the pre-martial law days we even had a representation of this in our twenty-peso bill, showing it to be a thick book with that title in the cover.  Some books, like Gregorio Zaide’s enumerated some lessons, from an English translation published by Epifanio de los Santos, but scarcely was this discussed in class, save per­haps the mention of the title itself, the only thing that somehow stuck in our minds. 

It never altered our whole­sale image of the Katipunan as a brave fighting force, willing to kill and die for the attainment of our freedom.

In 1992, shortly before the centennial of the Katipunan founding, history researcher and antiques collector Emmanuel Encarnacion was able to buy an original surviving copy of the Kartilya from the Epifanio de los Santos collection. He got this for a seven-digit amount from a private collector who had earlier refused to let its contents be photographed or copied.

Encarnacion could not afford the other precious document then also in the hands of that private collector, the Jacinto Notebook, but he was nonetheless glad for he could afford to pay for the Kartilya and bring it home in ecstasy.  He then called the National Historic Institute to send its official reporters over to finally reveal its contents to the nation.

A few immediate surprises greeted NHI and the general public. The Kartilya is not a thick book that was being shown in the old twenty-peso bill, it is not even officially titled “Kartilya.” It is a very thin pamphlet of seven small pages, the last one of which is an application form to join the Katipunan. And its actual title is a long one, Sa May Nais Makisanib sa Katipunang Ito.

The footnote on page one was also a surprise, a gift for national unity. It clarifies for one and all that whenever the Katipunan used the term “Tagalog,” the official reference is to “all who were born and raised in this One-archipelago; therefore be one a Visayan, an Ilocano, a Pampango, etc., one is a Tagalog just the same.”  This belied earlier and even stubbornly-persisting allegations that Bonifacio’s consciousness and the revolution that he led concerned only the region that we now call Tagalog.

And then, the biggest surprise of all.  The Katipunan spirit enshrined in the “Kartilya” is not at all what many of us ealier thought it would be – fighting spirit, anger and wrath and bravery and killing the enemy even at the risk of getting killed. Instead, the emphasis is on how the 

Tagalogs (referring to the native Filipinos) ought to live—in honor and in unity.

The Kampanya para sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan (Kamalaysayan) immediately saw it fit to help publicize far and wide the Kartliya’s contents. Considering the consiousness context, the message emphasized the pleasant surprise element by starting with a teaser, something like this:

“Having long recognized Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan mainly for their bravery and their love for country, most Filipinos would perhaps be predisposed to guess that most of the points in that KKK Kartilya (primer) would pertain to anger and bravery. Out of the Kartilya's 14 lessons, how many, if any, would be about matters aside from anger, fighting and bravery? What's your own guess? 

“Let's check out what really is the proportion, by reading the following points from the Kartilya,. Try to see also whether there would be any points deserving to be adopted as your own guides in life...”  

This would be followed by a careful reading of the 14 lessons of the Kartilya in Tagalog; later on also as translated into English by the now-departed Paula Carolina Malay, as follows…

"A life that is not dedicated to a noble cause is like a tree without a shade or a poisonous weed.

"A deed lacks nobility if it is motivated by self-interest and not be a sincere desire to help.

"True piety consists of being charitable, loving one's fellowmen, and being judicious in behavior, speech and deed.

"All (persons) are equal, regardless of the color of their skin.  While one could have more schooling, wealth or beauty than another, all that does not make one more human than anybody else.

"A person with an noble character values honor above self-interest, while a person with a base character values self-interest above honor.

"To a (person) of honor, his/her word is a pledge.

"Don't waste time; lost wealth cam be retrireved, but time lost is lost forever.

"Defend the oppressed and fight the oppressor

"The wise man is careful in all he has to say and is discreet about things that need to be kept secret.

"In the thorny path of life, the man leads the way and his wife and children follow. If the leader goes the way of perdition, so do the followers. (The first part is an observation of the relationship of husband and wife during the time of the Katipunan; for the present, the equivalent is to say that the parents lead the way and the children follow, then proceed to the main point about responsible leadership.)

"Never regard a woman as an object for you to trifle with; rather you should consider her as a partner and helpmate. Give proper considerations to a woman's (physical) frailty and never forget that your own mother, who brought you forth and nurtured you from infancy, is herself such a person.

"Don't do to the wife, children and brothers and sisters of others what you do not want done to your wife, children and brothers and sisters.

"A (person's) worth is not measured by his/her station in life,  neither  by the height of his nose  nor  the fairness of skin, and certainly not by whether he is a priest claim-ing to be God's deputy. Even if he is a tribes-man/tribeswoman from the hills and speaks only his/her own tongue, a (person) is honorable if he/she possesses a good character, is true to his/her word, has fine perceptions and is loyal to his/her native land.

"When these teachings shall have been propagated and the glorious sun of freedom begins to shine on these poor islands to enlighten a united race and people, then all the loves lost, all the struggle and sacrifices shall not have been in vain."

How many points about anger and bravery were you able to count? Which points do you like best? Please pass on the word about the Kartilya to others.  It is no less than a precious surprise treasure unearthed for the guidance of present and future generations of this heroic race, a pleasant surprise to all who had thought they really had already known what was there to know about the Katipunan and our people’s history.

2. Sources, Two-point Summary of the Kartilya

Sources

The 14 lessons in the Kartilya ng Katipunan are deeply rooted in the rich cultural trove of the ancestors of present-day Filipinos.

There are those people who belittle the philosophical underpinnings of Katipunan writings, They, including some scholars and historians, have labeled these writings as inchoate and merely copied from the Filipinos’ Propa­ganda Movement in Europe, mainly in Spain.

This writer’s own response to those opinions is carried in an earlier work, titled, Bonifacio: Siya Ba Ay Kilala Ko? (published in both the Filipino original in 1993 and the English translation in 2004). That book was enriched a great deal by the research and writings of Dr. Virgilio Almario and Dr. Zeus Salazar.

In his Panitikan ng Revolusyon(g 1896) (p. 34) first published by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1993 (2^nd edition was published by the University of the Philippines Press in 1997), Almario described “three constelllations” of thinking that the Katipunan writers drew from and combined into a smooth integration. Almario saiys:

 “Aside from Writings of the Propaganda Movement, Bonifacio had also read other popular works in his time, like the awit and corrido from where many pieces of moro-moro were drawn, like Bernardo Carpio – and he clearly singled out as excellent Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas.

He was also reading religious works. Aside from Pasiong Henesis and the Bible, and Fr. Modesto de Castro’s influential  Urbana at Feliza (1864) and the then controversial Si Tandang Basio Macunat (1885) by Fr. Miguel Lucio Bustamante.

The “three constellations,” according to Almario, where Bonifacio and fellow Katipunan writers drew their ideas were: (1) the liberal ideas from Europe; (2) popular Christian writings represented by the Pasyon as studied by Reynaldo Ileto (who wrote Pasyon and Rebolusyon, published by the Ateneo Univers­ity Press in Quezon City in Quezon City in 1979); and (3) the ancient indigenous tradition that had been suppressed by the dominant colonial government and is intimately stamped in folk literature.

In his monograph “Ang Kartilya ni Emilio Jacinto at ang Diwang Pilipino sa Agos ng Kasaysayan,” published in Bagong Kasaysayan (BAKAS) in 1999, Dr. Salazar placed the Katipunan within the context of the differing tendencies of three large groupings of people in the Philippines during the time of the Katipunan.

 Salazar first introduces the three groupings of people in our archipelago at that time, before placing them appropriately in their contexts. Salazar says:

“The authentic Anak ng Bayan already had within themselves the “Filipino spirit’ even before 1897 and from that time to the present. In understanding this spiritt, Emilio Jacinto’s Kartilya, the basic literature of the Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan that ignited the flames of Revolution and established in August 24, 1896, the state of Haring Bayang Katagalugan to establish Inang Bayan. However, there were three contexts and trajectories of this “Filipino” spirit, in general: a) the spirit pf those Filipinos who had remained free (at least partially), like the Muslims and other ethno-linguistic mountain-residents now called lumads; b) the spirit of the aculturated Spanish-leaning or Western-leaning within the colonized society, like the ilustrados and Propagandists that began with the collaborationist ladinos; and c) the spirit of the Filipinos who got “colonized” but remained faithful to the essential characteristics of being Filipinos, like the Anak ng Bayan whose collective spirit was that of Waray, Tupung, Bangkaw, Dagohoy, Hermano Pule, up to the likes of Bonifacio and Jacinto in the period of the Revolution.

“It is appropriate that Emilio Jacinto’s writing be located in this  third category,  as one basic document of the people’s own ideology and patriotic ideology of the Katipunan. Xxx”

Did you notice the similarity between the three “constellations” of thought being referred to by Almario and the three trajectories being introduced by Salazar in their respective analyses?

Relating the “third constellation” mentioned by Almario and the “second trajectory” referred by Salazar, this writer observes that the Katipunan was deliberately selective in drawing the points it would adopt as its own.

The Illustrados’ Propaganda in Europe highlighted the bourgeois liberalism carried by the French Revolution where the aspiration of individuals to own and defend private property, and actually this was emphasized in their advocacy of the Rights of Man and the Citizen that was itself a direct documentary output of the French Revolution. But according to Almario, his thorough study of Katipunan writings did not yield even a mere mention of this point.

This writer is therefore led to conclude from from relating the Almario and Salazar analyses that Katipunan writing deliberate selectivity was based on the spirit of the Anak ng Bayan and was the criterion of choice in drawing from other “constellations” of thought. It is the best proof we had that Katipunan’s Revolution was not a mere copy of the French Revolution but was a historically-rooted original.

A close reading of Emilio Jacinto’s philosophical essay, titled, “Liwanag at Dilim” (Light and Darkness) gave this writer a starkly clear statement that could not simply  be put within any preexisting “constellation ” of thought referred to by Almario or along any which “trajectory” in the aspirations described by Salazar as harbored by the three groups of Filipinos. This is his assertion that all persons are equal because “the humanity of all humans is one.”

In all my previous and subsequent reading of philosophical writings, including the time I was teaching subjects under the Applied Cosmic Anthropology doctoral program of the Asian Social Institute in Manila, I never came across any philosophical writing stating the same postulate as absolutely and as categorically as Jacinto does in that essay.

The nearest I have seen since discovering that in Jacinto’s Katipunan writing came from the literature of the Bahá’í Faith of a period clearly subse­quent to Jacinto’s and it challenges historical researchers to establish any relationship with Jacinto’s assertion, if any could be proven to exist. 

Earlier readings of this writer that run somewhat parallel to this could only go as far as asserting that all people are equal or that all are interconnected. In fact, oneness of all humanity, with no qualifications, is not yet comprehended by the peoples of the world, including their most well-schooled intellectuals and not yet widely recognized as the current evolutionary imperative of human consciousness, a lack that accounts for most of the vital factors why Humanity cannot yet come together to solve the world’s biggest problems that pertain to the economy, environment and the absence of real lasting peace.

What an amazing genius this very young sage from Tondo has been! And we Filipinos do not really know him or the significance of his thinking! This is very relevant to fully appreciate the profound significance of the Kartilya ng Katipunan itself.

Summary

Before meeting that profound line in Jacinto’s “Liwanag at Dilim,” this writer decided to accept  the challenge aired by a close friend to prove the coherence of the Katipunan writings, and undertook to compose a short summarization for the 14 lessons of the Kartilya ng Katipunan.

What immediately came to mind was how Jesus Christ was said to have summarized the points of the Mosaic Ten Commandments to only two points: “Love God above all and your neighbor as yourself.” Before getting crucified. He was also said to have further summarized by combining the two point into only one: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Taking the challenge seriously, this writer studied deeply the 14 lessons in the Kartilya to discern their common threads, and eventually came up with this pair of points: “Magpakatao at Makipagkapwa-tao” (which roughly translates ito English thus: Fully self-actualize as humans and treat your fellow-persons fully as co-equal humans. 

This is apparently basic the premise of a number of guidelines on attitudes and behavior enumerated in various “virtues,” “values,” and “codes of ethics” formulated for the various contexts these are appropriate for.

4. Pagtitipon Ceremony, a Spiritual Monument

During the commemoration of the exact centennial of the founding of the Katipunan, Kamalaysayan (then named Kampanya para sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan) held a two-hour solemn ceremony of dozens of workers, students, entrepreneurs, professionals, tribal leaders and government officials at the Culural Center complex. Dubbed Pagtitipon ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Gathering of the Sons and Daughters of the Nation), the ceremony commemorated the quiet and solemn emergence of the revolutionary Katipunan movement in July 1892, which led to the birthing of nationhood four years later.

Participants in that ceremony, earlier intended to be held only once for that commemoration, moved for the monthly, at times even more frequent, conduct of this ceremony and the latter was later described as “a spiritual monument of the Katipunan spirit in the hearts of present-day Filipinos.”

Essential explanations about the historical roots, design and other points of attention regarding the Pagtitipon are given at length in this author’s earlier book, Kartilya Ngayon! Ang Mga Landasin ng Bagong Pagtitipon, Tugon sa mga Hamon ng Ating Panahon.

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