The Sisa Syndrome and the Filipino Colonial Mentality
The Sisa Syndrome and the Antidote to Our Depression by Ricky Rivera
Dr. Jose Rizal in his novel Noli me Tangere tells of Sisa, a woman who fell into a very deep depression when she lost her two sons. Sisa went around town looking for them. She knows that a priest killed her two sons but she never saw how and never resolved to herself why. Many think that this is something of a fictionalized narrative of the status of our country during Rizal’s time. If you read and study why Rizal included this scene in his novel, you will definitely think that Sisa alludes to our country, an image he conjured to reflect the Motherland. And she was. Rizal really meant Sisa to be the true image of our country under colonization. It is worth remembering though that Sisa’s quest for her two sons continued until today. Later, in this short story, I will tell you why I think Rizal wrote about Sisa and its significance in our present situation.
I often ask myself why some Filipinos find it extremely hard
to stay in our country. According to the Bureau of Immigration, at least 3,000 Filipinos leave the Philippines every single day. That’s 90,000 month, a million a year, and 10 million in ten. Most of these Filipinos leave due to economic reasons. And every Filipino who leaves his homeland is one less Filipino who can help rebuild this country. A report says that “this country holds a snap election every day. Men and women vote with their feet daily to search for better futures abroad.” The Filipino diaspora is not a recent phenomenon. A study by the Philippine Migrant Society of Canada says that Filipinos started leaving the country for “greener pastures” in the early 1900s. A larger number of Filipino professionals moved to other countries in the 1950’s and continued to balloon up until the 1960’s. During Martial law, the Overseas Filipino Worker phenomenon started to increase, attracting not just Filipino professionals but skilled and unskilled workers. “The history of
Dr. Jose Rizal in his novel Noli me Tangere tells of Sisa, a woman who fell into a very deep depression when she lost her two sons. Sisa went around town looking for them. She knows that a priest killed her two sons but she never saw how and never resolved to herself why. Many think that this is something of a fictionalized narrative of the status of our country during Rizal’s time. If you read and study why Rizal included this scene in his novel, you will definitely think that Sisa alludes to our country, an image he conjured to reflect the Motherland. And she was. Rizal really meant Sisa to be the true image of our country under colonization. It is worth remembering though that Sisa’s quest for her two sons continued until today. Later, in this short story, I will tell you why I think Rizal wrote about Sisa and its significance in our present situation.
I often ask myself why some Filipinos find it extremely hard
to stay in our country. According to the Bureau of Immigration, at least 3,000 Filipinos leave the Philippines every single day. That’s 90,000 month, a million a year, and 10 million in ten. Most of these Filipinos leave due to economic reasons. And every Filipino who leaves his homeland is one less Filipino who can help rebuild this country. A report says that “this country holds a snap election every day. Men and women vote with their feet daily to search for better futures abroad.” The Filipino diaspora is not a recent phenomenon. A study by the Philippine Migrant Society of Canada says that Filipinos started leaving the country for “greener pastures” in the early 1900s. A larger number of Filipino professionals moved to other countries in the 1950’s and continued to balloon up until the 1960’s. During Martial law, the Overseas Filipino Worker phenomenon started to increase, attracting not just Filipino professionals but skilled and unskilled workers. “The history of