During his stay in Ghent in 1891, our national hero Jose Rizal published the novel El Filbusterismo or The Subversion, also known as The Reign of Greed, in the English translation of Soledad Locsin. It was the sequel to Noli Me Tangere, his first book, and consists of thirty-eight chapters. It has been translated into numerous languages, including German, English, Japanese, Tagalog, and Ilonggo. Although the tale of the two novels was related, when reading it, there are variations that can be seen. The Noli Me Tangere is more of a romantic novel, while the political one is El Filibusterismo. The former is a heart (feeling) novel, while the latter is head job (though). Freshness, colour, humor and wisdom are contained in the prequel, while anger, hate, suffering, aggression and sorrow are contained in the sequel. The novel is thus dedicated to the memory of three priests who, during the Cavite Municipality of 1872, were tragically executed. The original manuscript and an autographed copy of the novel were sent to Valentin Ventura, who would not publish the novel without his assistance.
The novel's setting takes place thirteen years after the first novel. It tells the tale of the return of the protagonist of the first book, Crisostomo Ibarra, who presumed to be dead, now disguised as Simoun, a rich jeweller whose mission is to take revenge by forcing the government to commit as much violence as possible in order to force citizens into revolt. The failure of Ibarra's nonviolent reform to improve his countrymen's lives by education led Simoun to overcome the injustices and abusive rule of the Spanish colonizers in violence and revolution. Some characters from the first book, including Basilio, Kapitan Tiago, Maria Clara, and Padre Salvi, were still present in the sequel and new characters were also added. Simoun failed in his two revolutions at the end of the book, and ended up drinking the poison he kept in case his attempts were to fail. He confessed his true identity in his dying time to Padre Florentino, who explained that his revolution did not succeed because, with blood and greed, he chose the means. In the end, Father Florentino confiscated his possessions and dispersed them into the Pacific Sea, hoping that they would be drawn to those in need by Heaven.
I have seen three key points in the novel that the author tries to bring to the readers; 1) The violence of the Spanish Catholic clergy and officials is too much to bear, it needs to stop; 2) The rule of something powerful is not easy to break up, it takes sacrifices, mass involvement, strong ties and financial resources. And 3) A dilemma can not be fixed by addressing aggression and greed. The first novel already presented the problems and experiences of the Filipinos in the country during the Spanish rule, such as the lack of educational rights for the poor and women, the misuse of the power of the Spanish Catholic clergy, the injustices in the system, and the renunciation of the nationalist identity of the Filipinos. The novel was successful in serving its intent to manipulate the problems in society and the system, from the word Filibusterismo, which is close to the enjoyment of saying aloud what he feels. Jose Rizal was able to place more emphasis on violence and inequality in the schemes in this novel. In the first book, the tragic experience of Ibarra and the sexual violence suffered by Maria Clara in the hand of Padre Salvi that led to her death, which is like an additional fuel to the burning hate
Simoun had for the system, drives him to eventually put an end to it. Simoun tries to assault the Manila elites and officials by planting a bomb in the form of a lamp to raise uproar and disruption in order to put an end to the spoiled regimes that continually exploit his countrymen. He made the Spanish officials commit more injustices with the intention of motivating the masses to engage in his revolution. And Simoun traveled around the world to increase his wealth and gain contacts in order to be able to do this. Therefore, it takes powerful relationships and financial capital to break up an abusive structure. He also tried to persuade Basilio, Sisa's son who, with the aid of Kapitan Tiyago, also endured abuses in the hands of the authority but now a medicine student, but declined to his offer. Nevertheless, he later decided to witness the violence and oppression of the Spanish authorities again. In line with this, Jose Rizal was once again able to highlight the power that money and ties can have. Simoun, on the other hand, used this to conduct his retribution against the Spanish kingdom if the Spanish officials could use this to violate the rights of the Filipinos. And if both parties cannot come up with a compromise that everybody will profit from, it will lead to an endless war.
This is also the reason why the revolution being planned by Simoun did not succeed. His obsession with claiming vengeance for the violence he suffered at the hands of the Spanish reigns had led him to become like them. He becomes greedy and selfish; the main thing for him is to stop the system, never mind staining his hands with blood. While his purpose is nice, to enlighten his countrymen so that they can seek the revolution themselves, it is not his means to achieve it. Again, Jose Rizal was able to send the message that the issue would not be solved by resolving conflict and not by peaceful change. It is only depressing that, all the precautions he had taken, the main character was unable to avoid this cancerous disease in our system. It just proves that this abusive regime will continuously abuse us Filipinos until the last of our breath without everybody's support and understanding.
The book had been the dying poison Rizal had injected himself with. Jose Rizal did not hesitate to finish the book, despite being mindful of the repercussions he would obtain if he were to publish this novel. It is difficult to say that it was worth it to risk his life to write his book. The profound impact that the novel had left in our culture, however, had become an opportunity for the Filipinos to obtain independence. Violence, bigotry, corruption, and inequality are sufficient to enlighten and awaken Filipino nationalism to resolve the issues related to the Spanish Catholic clergy.