The Philippines a Century Hence

by José Rizal

Overview

Filipinas dentro de cien anos is a socio-political essay written in four parts in the magazine La soldiered by José Rizal. “The Philippines a Century Hence” is an essay written by Philippine national hero Jose Rizal to forecast the future of the country within a hundred years. Rizal felt that it was time to remind Spain that the circumstances that ushered in the French Revolution could have a telling effect for her in the Philippines. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789354626531
Publisher:	True Sign Publishing House
Publication date:	04/20/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	363 KB

About the Author

José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda, known to posterity simply as José Rizal, was a Filipino nationalist, polymath, physician, writer, and revolutionary thinker whose intellectual and literary contributions catalyzed the awakening of Filipino national consciousness under Spanish colonial rule. Born on June 19, 1861, in Calamba, Laguna, to a prosperous and well-educated family, Rizal exhibited prodigious talent from an early age. He mastered multiple languages—including Spanish, Latin, German, French, and English—alongside the native Filipino tongues, and cultivated interests in poetry, sculpture, anthropology, ophthalmology, and political philosophy.

Rizal studied at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila and earned a degree in Philosophy and Letters from the University of Santo Tomas. Disillusioned with the academic climate in the Philippines, he left for Europe in 1882 to further his studies. In Madrid, he completed a degree in medicine at the Universidad Central de Madrid, followed by advanced specialization in ophthalmology in Paris and Heidelberg, where he trained under prominent European doctors. While in Europe, he engaged with liberal thinkers, joined reformist circles, and became a leading voice in the Propaganda Movement, a collective of expatriate Filipino intellectuals advocating for civil liberties and equal treatment under Spanish law.

Rizal’s literary achievements remain central to Philippine history and identity. His novels Noli Me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891) exposed the injustices of friar-led colonial rule and inspired the ideological underpinnings of the Philippine Revolution. His essays—particularly The Philippines a Century Hence and The Indolence of the Filipino—demonstrated a mastery of sociopolitical analysis and a prophetic understanding of postcolonial development. Through them, he dissected the moral and administrative failures of Spanish colonization and articulated a vision of a dignified, autonomous Filipino nation rooted in education, civic virtue, and historical awareness.