On the 120th anniversary of the founding of Rizal’s La Liga Filipina (July 3, 1892 to July 3, 2012) and on the day that we were freed from American dominion (July 4, 1946), let us remember how the Liga was carefully thought out by Rizal when he saw that the Propaganda Movement in Spain was in vain. An ingenious plan of building a Filipino civic organization, the first of its kind in the country, Rizal saw Liga as creating a distinct ‘Filipino’ nation in the hearts and minds of his countrymen within the social milieu of the Spanish rule. A nation within a Spanish colony. It is thus a fulfillment of a statement Rizal made when he said:

“If our countrymen are counting on us here in Europe, they are very much mistaken…The battlefield is the Philippines…there we will help one another, there together we will suffer or triumph perhaps. The majority of our compatriots in Europe are afraid…they are brave only so long as they are in a peaceful country! The Philippines should not count on them; she should depend on her own strength.”

We wonder how Rizal thought of constructing what is to be the Filipino nation? How do we build a country from the ground up? We are fortunate to have the main objectives of the La Liga Filipina recorded in our history. This is, shall I say, a primer to – How2BuildaNation101:

1. To unite the whole archipelago into one vigorous and homogenous community;

2. Mutual protection in every want and necessity;

3. Defense against all violence and injustice;

4. Encouragement of instruction, agriculture, and commerce; and

5. Study the application of reforms

As we can see, Rizal never saw nationalism as an end in itself. Leon Ma. Guerrero writes, “Rizal’s concept of a nation, as we should remind ourselves on occasion, was moral, unselfish, responsible, based uncompromisingly on a general recognition of mutual rights and duties… He never confused national independence with individual and social freedom.” (italics mine)