I. IntroductionPhilippines is said to be the gateway to the Pacific. In examining its geographical location in the globe, you can go any continent if you are in the Philippines. Up in the North are the countries of Asia; extending to the East is the United States of America and the Pacific Ocean; down in the South is Australia; and in the West is the Africa and Europe. This is the major reason why so many countries colonized and want to colonize the country. In addition to the fact that the archipelago is rich in natural resources that are used for input and raw materials.

Both Spain and America had the same goal that was to make the Philippines an economic stronghold and strong capitalist to penetrate Asian market for the American, and the world for the Spaniards. Spain also used the geographical location of the Philippines for spreading Christianity. Americans used Philippines as a democratic model for Asia for their political motives; established military stronghold in the Pacific for them to easily penetrate China, in case of war; and spread education, civil service, liberal social security and Protestantism.

Almost 400 years, the Philippines was under the control foreign invasions, but the Filipinos showed strong sense nationalism, and fought for their independence.

Nationalism is theloyalty and devotion to anation. It is a sense of nationalconsciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of othernationsor supranational groups. Furthermore, it is a belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with his or hernation.

Finally, it is a patriotism or love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it. This provides a need to live in a country and a want to be there. Nationalism brings people with similar thoughts and experiences together. Citizens in a country can bond through their joint love of their country. Nationalism gives people pride in their own country to do better than all other countries in the world.

There are two perspectives on the origins and basis of nationalism, one is theprimordialistperspective that describes nationalism as a reflection of the ancient and perceived evolutionary tendency of humans to organize into distinct groupings based on an affinity of birth; the other is themodernist perspective that describes nationalism as a recent phenomenon that requires the structural conditions of modern society in order to exist.There are various definitions for what constitutes a nation, however, which leads to several different strands of nationalism. It can be a belief that citizenship in a state should be limited to one ethnic, cultural, religious, or identity group, or that multi-nationality in a single state should necessarily comprise the right to express and exercise national identity even by minorities.The adoption of national identity in terms of historical development has commonly been the result of a response by influential groups unsatisfied with traditional identities due to inconsistency between their defined social order and the experience of that social order by its members, resulting in a situation ofanomiethat nationalists seek to resolve.This anomie results in a society or societies reinterpreting identity, retaining elements that are deemed acceptable and removing elements deemed unacceptable, in order to create a unifiedcommunity.This development may be the result of internal structural issues or the result of resentment by an existing group or groups towards other communities, especially foreign powers that are or are deemed to be controlling them.

In its general form the issue of nationalism concerns the mapping between the ethno-cultural domain (featuring ethno-cultural groups or nations) and the domain of political organization. In breaking the issue into its components, we have mentioned the importance of the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity.

Nationalism is achieved by the following elements: unified national consciousness; identity; unified national history; and social solidarity. In unified national consciousness, we are aware of what is happening in our country as a whole, and most important is, we involve ourselves in national issues, not just because it affects our own daily lives, but because Philippines is our home. Nationalism gives us identity from the rest of the world. Patronizing local goods and products than foreign products is a good example. It not only help our local businessmen, but it also help our economy grows. In unified national history, our national history is the product of regional history. Every part of the Philippines has its own unique history that can give us pride. In social solidarity, or oneness, there is harmony in our major institutions: family, school, church, and government. These institutions play major role and affect our daily lives, thus these must function in a synchronized way.

For the most part, countries with higher nationalism have more prosperous economy and are overall, wealthier. People want to earn more money and they want to prosper for the good of the country because of nationalism. Also, countries with higher nationalism have less corruption in banks and other such things. People trust their fellow citizens to treat them with respect and they trust their money with the banks. Without corruption, banks can prosper to help the whole good of the country. Nationalism also unites people for one cause. You would be surprised how powerful a united nation can become.

Pride in their own country motivates people to work harder in society. They want to further their own countries and by working harder they do just that. People want to join together to fight against any threats that might befall the country and society. It makes the country get over these incidents more easily and afterwards, makes the country stronger. When something bad might happen, people are able to comfort each other using their strong nationalistic views of their own country. This is important for countries to help heal past wounds that they might have suffered due to wars or natural disasters, like tsunamis and hurricanes.

The main reasons why nationalism is a good thing in societies around the world have been represented by these three examples. Nationalism can strengthen countries and make the country better for all people. Nationalism has been defined and it has been explained why nationalism is a good thing. Also, an explanation of why nationalism can bring people together has been given. Supporting nationalism is for the betterment of countries around the world, and in turn, the whole world prospers. There are also two importance of nationalism. One is patriotism which solidifies a nation under one government. The other is that it minimizes intrastate violence and keeps a country from civil war.II. Development: Trends and Transitions

The 300 years of the Philippines under the control of the Spanish Monarchy brought about one of the most important elements of building a nation, the nationalism. The Spanish regime invoked the sudden will of the Filipinos for freedom. During the pre-colonial period, early Filipinos didn't exhibit any sense of nationalism simply because they did not had yet established a national identity. Their primary focus was their community without showing any sign of interests with other barangays. This system was interrupted when the Spanish colonizers came to the Philippines.

One of the most important reason of the colonizers in capturing the Philippines was because they wanted the country to be their economic stronghold wherein they can penetrate the world of commerce and industry. As they were able to totally colonize the Philippines, they were also able to execute their plan of making the country an economic stronghold. The Spanish colonizers introduced the Philippines to the industry of trade and commerce. The Spaniards were able to penetrate the industry and many transactions were dealt with by the Philippines under the control of Spain.

Throughout the long years of colonization of the Spain to the Philippines, there were already revolts happening in many areas of the country. These were mainly rebellion against the policies and cultural impositions of the Spaniards. Filipinos resisted the impositions of the Spaniards including the teachings of the Catholic religion which converted many Filipinos from their old religion of paganism and anituism to Catholicism. It was only during the end of nineteenth century, that the nationalism of the Filipinos awakened. As the world of trade and commerce continues to propagate, many political ideas were disseminated throughout the world through publishing of different books. One of the most important political ideas was the idea of liberalism. Ideology of liberalism reached the minds of many Filipinos especially the ilustrados who studied abroad. During the Spanish period, many world events happened. Some of these were the Seven Years War, French Revolution, US Declaration of Independence, and Latin American War of Independence. The opening of the Philippines to the world of trade of commerce paved the way for many Filipinos to acquire the knowledge of liberalism. This became the vehicle of the Filipinos to demand for, at first, equality among Spaniards and Filipinos and, later on, for independence from the colony of Spain. The Liberalism ideas awakened the consciousness of the Filipino people and the start of the growing sense of nationalism among Filipinos. This was the age of enlightenment for the Filipinos. Equipped with the ideas of liberalism, the Filipinos most especially the middle classes strived harder to achieve political and social changes. Various revolts began throughout the whole archipelago. They wanted to get rid of the racial prejudice and social exploitation of the Spaniards to the Filipinos. Nationalism sentiment of the Filipinos were truly born when many injustices of the Spanish colonizers spread throughout the country.

The Secularization movement is one of the main factors that led to the rise of Filipino nationalism. This was a conflict between Spanish friars and Filipino priests. On November 1774, a royal decree provided for the secularization of all parishes or the transfer of parochial administration from the regular friars to the secular priests. It was clearly observed that there were also racial implications on the issue which include the Filipinos brown skin, lack of education and inadequate experience. Monsignor Pedro Pelaez fought for secularization movement and sided the Filipinos but eventually he died due to an earthquake and later other priests continue his unfinished fight like the Gomburza who were also involved in the Cavite Mutiny and this led to the execution of the three friars namely Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora. Also, the Cavite mutiny led by sergeant Lamadrid provoke Filipino Nationalism.

On the lighter side, the emergence of the middle classes brought the nationalism in the minds of the Filipinos by educating them and arousing the consciousness of the Filipinos to finally join and involve themselves to the growing sense of nationalism. All these happenings led the Filipinos to many revolts against the Spanish colonizers. Various forms of movements were made by the Filipinos against the Spaniards. Some movements were through peaceful means like the Propaganda Movement, and others were through the use of force.

The ilustados demonstrated their sense of nationalism through the establishment of the Propaganda Movement which was founded by Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, and Marcelo Del Pilar. These ilustrados called themselves reformists. Through their writing in the La Solidaridad, the official news organ of the Propaganda Movement, they were able to spread their noble ideas of liberation. The objectives of the Propaganda movement was to assimilate the Philippines as a regular province of the Spain. Through this, the Filipino people will be able to have an equal rights with the Spaniards. They also wanted to filipinize the Philippine parishes which, at that time, was under the strong influence of the Spanish regular friars. The movement also aimed to have a Filipino representation to Spanish parliament. The Propaganda Movement did not last very long due to many problems and conflicts. After the disbandment of the Propaganda Movement, another movement of liberalization was established when Jose Rizal organized a news organ, the La Liga Filipina. This have the same objectives as the Propaganda Movement. Its writings was also for the purpose of promoting the aspirations of the Filipinos for freedom. However, like its predecessors, the La Liga Filipina did not last very long because after days of establishment, Dr. Jose Rizal was deported to Dapitan for execution.As time passed by, the battle for liberation continued. This time, Filipinos were not just demanding for equality but also for total separation from Spain. As the demand for liberation gone deeper, the Filipino people went further when they heeded the call of the Katipunan. The Katipunan was led by Andres Bonifacio and it aimed to have political independence. The Katipunan which was founded as a secret revolutionary society has the primary objective of uniting the Filipino people and struggle for separation from Spain. The Katipunan also wanted the abolition of Spanish rule even by means of revolution.Again, various revolts were started; this time not through peaceful means but through the use of weapons. The member of the Katipunan which called themselves as Katipuneros equipped with revolver and bolos, fought the enemies. It was gun versus gun. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of their fights failed. The Filipino almost won their freedom when they were confronted by a new colonizers.

After the short independence of the Filipinos from the colony of Spain, the American colonizers used the devastating condition of the Philippines to colonize the country. The new colonizers hid their true intentions and introduced themselves as friends. Again, for the second time, Filipino nationalism was on another challenge. Despite introducing themselves as friends, still the Americans encountered revolts from the Filipino people. The American colonizers manipulated the minds of the Filipinos. They used education as a tool for pacifying the people. They educated many Filipinos to make them collaborate with their plans. Many people, mostly the ilustrados, changed side and collaborated with the enemy. The American regime became harder as the fight for liberation of the Filipino continue.

During the American colonization, the nationalist rights of the Filipinos were suppressed. Different laws and impositions were passed suppressing the rights of the Filipinos. Some of these were the Sedition Law which imposed death penalty or long term imprisonment on anyone who will be caught advocating independence from US, and the Flag Law which prohibited the display of the Philippine flag.

The Americans, during their stay in the Philippines, improved the different sectors of the country. They established educational system different from the Spaniards to educate the Filipinos because they believed that education is an instrument to make the people submissive to them. They made English as a medium for instruction. They also introduced democratic ideology. These were all embraced by the Filipinos not realizing that these were also the tools of the enemies to pacify them. The nationalism of the Filipinos became submissive to the Americans. In the meantime, the Americans took advantage of this and started to actualize their true intentions of colonizing the country and exploiting the natural wealth of the Philippines.

The American colonizers projected their culture and society as a model to be emulated. They inculcated the idea that the Filipinos must be assisted by them to be capable of managing its own government. They promised to give back Filipino independence after they have acquired the knowledge necessary for a politically independent country.

The strategies of the Americans continue to blind many Filipinos. There were still revolts against the enemy demanding for independence, however, these were only few compare to the revolts made during the Spanish colonization. This might be due to the Laws passed the suppressed the rights of the Filipinos. The middle classes were totally blinded and their sense of nationalism was temporarily blocked by the promise of the Americans of the progress for the Philippines.

The battle for liberation continues until the mid-twentieth century that the promise of the Americans was granted through the establishments of different acts and bills such as the Cooper Bill and the Tydings McDuffie Act.III. Challenges and Solutions

The sense of nationalism of the Filipinos led them to established hundreds of revolts against the oppressing countries. However, all of these revolts failed to realize their goals and objectives due to various reasons.

During the Spanish colonization period, Filipinos were afraid of going against the Spaniards because of the intimidating power of the Spaniards. Also, during that time, Filipinos were scattered. They could hardly participate with the revolts of other regions because of the fact that they, too, have their own regions to protect. This idea is called ethnocentricity. These were obviously shown through th different fights simultaneously done by the natives, well in fact, they could have done it together. This scattered condition of the Filipinos was also used by the enemy as their defense plan. They used the strategy called Divide and Rule tactic to use other natives against the revolting natives.

Another factor that caused the failure of the revolution was the lack of funds. Filipinos, during this period, did not have enough funds to finance their revolutions. They did not have the proper equipment to battle against the highly equipped enemies.

On the other hand, the Propaganda Movement ceased the circulation of the La Solidaridad, its news organ, also because of lack of funds. This movement wanted to assimilate the Philippines as an official province of the Spain but, during that time, the Spanish government was too pre-occupied with its internal problems and it did not have enough time to read the articles of the reformists written in the La Solidaridad. Hence, it was also a failure. The differences in ideas, conflicts of interests and opinions and identities among the reformists also caused its failure.

In the case of the Katipunan, aside from lack of funds and equipment, the self-interests of some of its members led to its failure. Not all of the members of the Katipunan were committed to the goals of the organization. Some even backstabbed other members to protect their interests. They had conflicts of opinions that divided the organization in two-- the Magdalo and the Magdiwang-- both parties have their own ideas on how to fight the enemies.

During the American colonization period, the Americans took advantage of the conditions of the Filipinos after its long period under the control of the Spanish government. They promised to help the Filipinos to regain its independence through educating and liberating the minds of the Filipinos. They also promised the economic progress of the Philippines. The Filipinos were, at first, a little bit doubtful of these promises and stated to have revolts. But these revolts also failed because of the manipulative strategy of the Americans. Many Filipinos believed that Americans were friends of the country. Filipinos, mostly the middle classes were blinded by these promises and they collaborated with the enemies. The collaboration of the middle classes and American colonizers weakened the nationalist force of the Filipino people.

The middle classes were totally brainwashed by the Americans. They wer blinded by their self-interests. The colonizers, however, took advantage of it and imposed laws, bills and acts suppressing the rights of the Filipinos to express their nationalism sentiments.

The colonizers of the Philippines were truly strong countries but Filipinos fought them and managed to free themselves. The American, after almost half a century, granted the Filipinos of its long awaited independence but this was interrupted by another imperialist country. The Philippines was again under the control of another country. The Filipinos fought the Japanese imperialism. Filipinos are survivors because for the third time they were able to surpass it and be a truly politically independent country.

The long years of the Philippines under the control of its colonizers brought different things it greatly influenced every aspect of life of the Filipino people until today. Those long years of struggle for liberation taught the lessons of nationalism to every Filipino. After it colonization period, the Philippines has gained knowledge of improving the political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of the country. Filipinos gained the knowledge of different and more effective ways of living. The scope of trade and commerce industry in the Philippines was widened. It has now contact not just with Asian countries but also with the rest of the world.

Filipinos also acquired a very good system of education, Education is one of the most important products of the long period of colonization of the Philippines. Many schools and universities were established during the colonization period. Some of these were the University of the Philippines, University of Sto. Thomas, and the Central Luzon State University, to mention a few. These schools are making a reputation not just in the Philippines but also outside the Philippines. Scientific program for public health and welfare were also introduced to the country. The Political consciousness among Filipinos today is also one of the most important contributions of the colonizers to the Philippines. Democratic idea is the most important contribution of the American colonizers.

On the other hand, the colonization period also have its adverse effects. The Filipinos became conscious of their political and social statuses. The period of colonization is over but the social status among Filipinos is not eliminated. There are still social exploitation happening inside the country. Most of the time, the poor Filipinos are exploited by the elites. After the colonization period, the Filipinos became imitative. They imitate other countries from their products even their style and actions. The socio-cultural heritage of the Filipinos is now hardly seen.

In economical aspect, the Filipinos have the tendency to buy imported products because of the colonial mentality remained in the minds of many Filipinos. The Philippine market is flooded with imported products. This have adverse effect in the local economy of the Philippines. Also, the natural wealth of the Philippines is subject to the intervention of other countries.

The colonial years of the Philippines left a distinguishable trail of colonizers in the political system of the country. Politics in the Philippines is patterned with the political system of the United States which was one of the colonizers of the Philippines. Filipinos maintained their bureaucratic system they inherited from Philippine colonizers. Philippines is hardly making a stand to its decisions. They have become dependent and always seek for help to other countries specially the US.

These negative effects of colonization are the main problems of the Filipino nationalism today. Looking at these effects, it seemed like the Philippines was never free from its colonizers. All of these problems are burdens for all the Filipinos to continually show their sense of nationalism it also hinders the Philippines from establishing its national identity.

In the age of technology and mark of globalization, Filipino nationalism should also be brought to a higher level for it not to be left behind. Filipino Nationalism did not come into being overnight nor did it remain the same after achieving the common goal of independence. Nationalism is not just fighting the oppressors and sacrificing one's life to acquire independence. Although sense of nationalism started with the goal of political independence there are still many ways to express the sense of being a Filipino. Being one with your nation is national solidarity. National solidarity is a nationalist agenda in which the people of a nation shared the memories of the past, it includes traditions, culture and everything that comprises the Filipino nation, and vision of the future.

Until today, the Philippines is still struggling to establish a national identity. It is a problem of the Filipinos to establish a unified national identity. This is an arduous task, definitely bigger than the problem faced by the Filipinos during its colonial period.IV. SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSION

Nationalism has been a bigger part of the Filipino people. Through nationalism, Filipinos proved to the world the glory of the Filipino nation. It is the sentiment that led the Katipuneros and revolutionaries to fight for their freedom. It is also the same sentiment the Filipinos are using today to fight the corruption in the Philippine government. They express their feelings against the political leaders who are feeding themselves with fraudulent things. This is clearly manifested by the people who are joining rallies to get the attention of those corrupt politicians. Nationalism is a political concept wherein the people of a nation express their patriotic love to their country.

Nowadays, Nationalism has taken a new meaning. Nationalism is not just limited to political concept; it is also about economic concept, cultural and social concept. Mere patronizing local or Filipino-made products is clearly a manifestation of nationalism. Exercising and giving importance to cultural heritage and traditions of the Philippines is also an expression of nationalism. Nationalism is also shown through loving and giving respect to fellow Filipinos.

Nationalism is the building blocks of a nation. It is the base of the strength of a nation. Like in an establishment, a weak building blocks will make the establishment unstable. Should a strike hit this establishment, it will fall and break into pieces. A nation is highly comparable with an establishment. Accordingly, when the sense of nationalism of the nations people is wary, there is a bigger possibility that the nation will hit the ground after it was strike with its problems. There is no nation if there is no nationalism. A nations existence is highly dependent on the degree of nationalism of its people.

Filipino nationalism today is facing new challenges. These challenges are brought about not by colonizing or oppressing country but by the fast changing environment. In the environment bombarded with both internal and external problems, nationalism of many Filipinos is again taking a new test of time. Globalization is one of the problems. Many challenges have taken its toll and it is pushing Filipino nationalism outside its limits. This maybe one of the many ways of the environment to make changes in the world. Just like what happened many years ago when the burning fire of nationalism of many Filipino initiated social and political change in the Philippines as seen through the revolts of many Filipino during colonial period and the EDSA people power one. These particular events opened the eyes of many nations to recognize the importance of nationalism in building a nation. The challenges facing by the Filipino nationalism today may probably result again to another eye-opening events.

Nationalism is the initiator of change. Just like any other thing, a nation needs change to improve and to develop. A strong sense of nationalism is important to achieve the change that you want for your nation. It is also the door for bigger possibilities. It is essential to challenge Filipino Nationalism from generation to generation to make sure it is still alive in the minds and hearts of the Filipino people.

Accordingly, nationalism is a strong force in nation-building. Filipino Nationalism is one of the important factors to established highly distinguished, unified national identity among the Filipino people.