IT has been almost unnoticed that in “Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinos” (1890), one of the most cited essays of José Rizal, he explicitly mentioned a book that inspired him to write his ideas: El Progreso de Filipinas (The Progress of the Philippines) (Madrid, 1881), by Gregorio Sancianco (1852 to 1897), a Chinese-Filipino from Malabon City. As of today, we know much more about his thought and about his compromise with a better and prosperous Philippines than about his discrete life. He belongs, along with Pedro Paterno, to the first generation of Filipinos who moved to Spain in order to complete higher studies, where he finished law at the Universidad de Madrid. He published several articles in some newspapers in Madrid and, indeed, his writing style is both powerful and elegant.
His only book is outstanding in many senses. Wenceslao Retana, a Spanish Filipinist well-known for his harsh criticisms, had to concede already in 1906 that “this is one of the best written and most thoughtful books ever published by a Filipino. The work belongs to the liberal trend, but it is essentially technical, carried out without any political bias. The part that is devoted to the indolence of the Filipinos is really remarkable.”
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