Reflections on the Ideological State Apparatuses

Today’s lecture summed up and integrated all the ideological state apparatuses (ISA) previously discussed. The family, Church, education, arts & literature, and government were all used by the Spanish colonizers to hinder the proper education of scientific and secular ideas and promulgated false consciousness among the Filipino natives. By doing so, Spain hoped to supress the advancement of the factors of production thereby, retarding the Philippine society from developing further its decrepit feudal state. Indeed, the effects of these ISA have not only shaped the Philippines during its Spanish occupation, but it also had lasting effects on the modern Filipino mentality. Among the ISA’s, the Church was clearly the most influential and was in the best position to use its political clout to manipulate and distort all facets of living during the three hundred thirty years of occupation.

The Church was so effective as an ISA that this institution disabled all individuals from fully knowing the world he lives in. An uneducated and oppressed people were created because of this ISA. The Church’s distorted values and teachings also had profound consequences on the reverence and respect given by the natives to the frailocracy. Filipinos, as Professor Fernandez clearly points out, have never been anti-cleric. In fact, because of the Filipino’s misplaced reverence and fear of these hooded religious figures, they never questioned the integration of the Church’s ecclesiastical power with its political clout. There was no such thing as the separation of Church and Staten during that period. The supremacy of the Church among all the existing social institutions reigned unchecked and unbalanced. Possessing knowledge during that time was considered dangerous, and, not to mention, merited for heresy. Such was the discrimination for an educated man that disdain and being branded as a fool was the penalty for anyone expressing any secular thought in public. This was the fate met by Pilosopo Tasyo. His brilliance was seen as madness, his unmatched intellect with insanity. In fact, being called a Pilosopo is considered as an insult rather than a complement. During the reign of the Church as the prevailing ISA in the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, knowledge is shunned and is considered as the work of the devil.

Looking at these ISAs, one would expect that the Filipino would evolve and learn to overcome these hindrances after centuries of deception and oppression. It is truly disturbing to see that after the Philippines’ liberation from the grip of the Spanish and American colonizers that the country is far from being liberated from these ISAs. Their façade may have changed over time, but their effects remained at work in the background. Media, for instance, is now the strongest ISA operating in today’s society. It is now the main purveyor of false consciousness to the unknowing public who, it seems, have lost any sense of critical thinking and filtering. Because of this ineptitude, Filipinos always fall victim to the grip of consumerism. Despite the growing issues and problems in society and in the government, the media veers away from reporting the most pressing and crucial news segments and, instead, focuses on the peripherals and the non-essentials. As a result, non-trivial news such as the latest showbiz gossips as well as the ever-changing acquaintances of the president is reported over the television. The colonizers may have been long gone from the archipelago, but their ideological state apparatuses still remains. When will the Filipino people be free? (01/11/2011)

Ideological State Apparatus: Government

The Philippines had their own kind of government long before the Spaniards colonized the archipelago. Decentralization of power that was expressed in the powerful barangays was the central theme of the pre-Spanish governance found in the Philippines. The datu or rajah served as the chief executive and judge. In effect, the executive and judiciary branch were both entrusted to a common individual. Moreover, there were already articles prescribing the proper rules of conduct and laws inside a barangay. Some of them were the Maragtas code and the Kalantiao code. The judiciary process is considered primitive and superstitious in nature. As the Spanish colonizers entered the archipelago, they introduced a new government system which gave highlight to the sword and the cross.

Looking at the hierarchy of power existing during those times, one would observe a somewhat clear structure of power in the Spanish executive government. But like in any contract, one should look closer for the fine print. Though the executive branch of the Spanish government controlled on paper the everyday activities inside the Philippines, it was the frailocracy that really called the shots in governance and matters of the state. There were no clear separation of the Church and State; as a result, the ecclesiastical power emanating from the supposed reverence of the Church officials took over the legitimate executive government. The supremacy of the Church extended, not only on matters pertaining to being the sole arbiter of knowledge, but also on matters concerning the government and the State. The term under-the-saya was supposedly coined to depict the submission of the government’s authority to rule over to the friars and their orders.

Under the Malolos constitution of 1899, a clear separation of Church and state was created. American forces entered the country and introduced their own governmental system after a few years. A century after the inception of the Malolos constitution, the State is still somehow intertwined with the Church though the Church has considerably lost much of its political clout. In the wake of an important legal and economic milestone in the form of the passage of the RH bill, the Church is again flexing its influence over its millions of followers. In this regard, I strongly oppose the Church’s vocal stance against the passing of the RH bill. It is still in my firm belief in the Bible gospel passage of giving to Caesar what is of Caesar’s. The Church officials are not experts of the law. Their speaking against a bill that will supposedly corrupt the Filipino people is entirely uncalled for and inappropriate. Give to Caesar what is of Caesar’s and do not meddle with politics. (01/06/2011)

Ideological State Apparatus: Art & Literature

Art is said to have three functions, namely physical, socio-cultural, and personal. Arts’ physical function states that is created to perform some service. On the other hand, its socio-cultural function depicts relevant political and social conditions present in a community. Lastly, the personal function of art simply seeks for an artist’s self-expression and simulates an aesthetic experience to its audience. Literature also possesses three functions; they are socio-cultural function which aims to represent or to influence, cultural function and ideological function which can be used either as an ideological instrument or as a place where ideologies are exposed. In order for both art and literature to be considered as such, and not a simple craft, it is important for sense and sensibilities to be inherent in them.

It comes to no surprise that Jose Rizal was able to capture the reality of a colonial Philippines through his writings considering his passion for the arts & literature. Rizal was a true Renaissance man who was proficient in sculptures, paintings, sketches, writing novels, poetries, and essays. He was not only a medical physician, but he was also a talented artist. Through his extensive background in the arts, Rizal was able to paint in words, in the form of his novels and essays, the stark truth of the Spanish government’s inequity and incompetence as well as the overly influential frailocracy were eloquently portrayed in most of his written works. Rizal’s unique writing style resembled that of a realism style which was uncommon during his time since most of the literatures present and is in circulation only contained the escapism style reflected in the life and works of religious icons. Indeed, Jose Rizal showed extraordinary writing skill and, not to mention, a lot of guts in writing on the unpleasantries observed in the Philippines during the Spanish reign.

The Spanish colonizers effectively used the arts & literature to subject the Filipino people by generally the indigenous arts as only worthy of being called crafts and not as genuine art. The colonizers reasoned that these works does not measure up to the standards present inside the halls of the European Royal Academies for the Arts. Issues were raised on Rizal’s usage of the Spanish language as his medium for his written works. Critics argued that by choosing Spanish, Rizal cannot be considered a true nationalist since his fellow country, who only comprehends Tagalog, Visaya, and other local dialects, cannot possibly read and understand. In this light, it is important to consider the intended readers Rizal had in mind. Rizal wrote his novels to inform and awaken the insular Spaniards of the true state of governance existing in the Philippines during those times. More importantly, he used Spanish for his work with the knowledge that only under a common language can the Filipino unite and free itself from oppression. (01/04/2011)

Ideological State Apparatus: Education

Education is considered as a very powerful ideological state apparatus in any society, more so during the Hispanic period in the Philippine archipelago. The ability to transmit accumulated knowledge and to create a capable manpower is achieved through education. Unfortunately, the Spanish colonizers of Rizal's time used education to subjugate and discipline the Filipino by feeding them a defective educational system that was filled with much religious mysticism and hokum. Indeed, the irony of having a friar teach religious meta-physics instead of Physics during a Physics class was observed in Rizal's second novel. By barring access to actual scientific education, the Filipino people were left scrambling for the truth in the dark and consequently, they were led to believe that the scripture along with the rest of the Catholic doctrine held all the sacred truths they were searching for. This deception had dire repercussions to the advancement of the Filipino society. The deprivation of a proper secular education effectively aided the stagnation of the modes of production towards their advancement. As such, the country was helplessly left at the mercy of few Spanish feudal lords, which, coincidentally, were those who strongly opposed the education of the native Filipinos, the Spanish friars. A retarded society bereft of any substantial academic upbringing whose whims were easily swayed by those in power resulted from this travesty.

It is interesting to note that peace in the Bisaya dialect, kataninungan, is surprisingly close to the Filipino word for knowledge, katalinuhan. In a society where actual learning is replaced with mindless memorizations of prayers and with other needless religious fanaticism, it is expected that any person with a formal education be looked upon with much disdain and be ridiculed with foolishness. This sad truth was exemplified by how Pilosopo Tasyo was treated in the town of San Diego. His open-mindness and apparent intelligence was instead seen as madness. Rizal painted the painful reality of his beloved Mother Land being unable to empower itself with education and as a consequence, lost its sanity in the process. Sisa's fate serves as a good example of how an individual may lose one's sanity if left deprived of a proper education. The foolishness of Tasyo's intellect being perceived as madness and Sisa's unfortunate plight of insanity brought about by her lack of education aptly capture the reality that, indeed, one's peace of mind lies on one's education, as the Bisaya word kataninungan illustrates. (12/16/2010)

Ideological State Apparatus: The Church

The Church has always been an influential social institution in the Philippines. Its role of being the sole arbiter of values and knowledge has granted it an unlimited access to power over the Filipino people as well the government itself. Indeed, the Church has not showed any reservation in exercising its authority over its unwilling subjects. As to how the Church was able to acquire their current stature and importance in society is filled with much systematic execution of well-planned censorship and deception. By mandating a wide-spread censorship of educational materials pertaining to Science and Technology, let alone a secular education, the Church has effectively thwarted any secular academic enlightenment for the Filipino of that era. Because society is now covered with a veil of ignorance and oppression, the Church were successful in their plot to leave the people in the dark and be susceptible to the deception that is aptly fed by religion. By effectively suppressing education, the Church has stunted and retarded the development of the factors of production required for a society to advance to capitalism. The suppression of secular education has effectively left the Filipino society in the state of Feudalism where the Spanish friars reign supreme and the Filipino linger in oppression and impoverishment.

Indeed, the Church is full of paradox in its teachings and its actual practice. A lot of christian values were distorted in order to fit the material needs of the church. Rizal was accurate in pointing out that the value of charity was grossly misinterpreted by the Church and was consequently used to impoverish the Filipinos. Jesus himself, as Rizal reasons, did not rely on material needs but did require spiritual offering from an individual. The Church equated charity and piety with their sale of non-nonsensical artifacts like scapulars, rosaries, bible and other religious items. In fact, even the indulgence required for the salvation of the souls in purgatory was systematically auctioned off to the highest bidder as best exemplified by Hermana Ruffa and her cohort. Perhaps Kapitan Tiago was Rizal's example of a truly distorted Filipino religious fanatic engaged in a lot of deceptive religious hokum. He would tirelessly built extravagant arc-ways for every fiesta, worship the most expensive religious sculptures of his favorite saints and donate endless amounts of pesos to the masses held in San Diego. Rizal correctly pointed out that piety consists in doing what is right rather than blindly following the mandates of the friars. He said that the Filipinos should be wary of the differences of the teachings of Christ from that of the friar's. Every Catholic therefore should know

I was a bit intrigued with Professor Fernandez's story regarding a question addressed to her by a foreigner in a recent convention. He posted the question that if Rizal found the Church as one of the main contributors to the social cancer of the Filipino society, why is it that the Church still continues to be an influential social institution in today's time? The question, itself, posts several more questions. Haven't the Filipino people learned that in order for them to achieve prosperity, they need to be critical of the values and knowledge imparted by the Church? Also, haven't we learned that to engage extensively in secular education would be a great leap forward to progress and development of our nation? Don't they know that their continuing demise as ignorant people hinges on their continued practice of these distorted Christian values? At the end of this string of questions lies a very disheartening realization. Maybe, the Filipino people are still not aware of the chains created by the Church that continually bound them to these incoherent teachings. Maybe, it would take another century or longer for the Filipino people to be conscious of the Church's deception and finally break free of these chains. Despite this bleak outlook, one thing is certain. Sooner or later, The Filipinos will realize their potential and live their nation's inevitable destiny of freedom and liberty. Someday. (12/14/2010)