[Slightly revised paper (2013) originally published in 2000, 2004, and 2009.

Filipino
philosophy: Traditional approach, Part I, Section 1. Q uezon City: C & E Publishing,
Inc.]

Renato Constantinos Philosophy

of Nationalism: A Critiq ue 1
Rolando M. Gripa ldo

This paper discusses Constantinos ideas on nationalism and counter-

consciousness. It compares his ideas of industrialization with Tofflers
superindustrialization. It concludes with the relevance of the nationalist
challenge.

INTRODUCTION

Acknowledged as the foremost Filipino nationalist, Renato Constantino saw the light
of da y in 1919; he died on 15 September 1999 at the age of eighty. His parents were
middle-class. The nationalism he developed, however, was not elitist but mass-based. For
Constantino, nationalism must be people-oriented. The authentic ilustrado nationalist must
articulate the nationalism of the people by combining theory and practice. As an
intellectual, one must be well-versed in social theory but as a social reformer or a believer
in social change, one must engage onesel f in activism, and thus be in constant contact
with the people. Constantino argued that to be highly intelligent need not necessarily
redound to becoming an intellectual. Intelligence is basi call y analytic while intellect is
basicall y synthetic. Constantino (1978b: 279) quoted Hofstadter (1964: 25):

Whereas intelligence seeks to grasp, manipulate, reorder, adjust [data

and facts], intellect examines, ponders, wonders, theorizes, criticizes,
imagines. Intelligence will seize the immediate meaning of a situation and
evaluate it. Intellect evaluates evaluations, and looks for the meanings of
situations as a whole.

Though left-leaning, Constantino is not by conviction a communist. In attitude he

was much closer to the socialist Robert Owen (Merrill 1970:11-15) who identified his
bourgeois interests with the interest of the workers. According to Owen, if one takes care
of the needs of the workers by giving them good wages and adequate fringe benefits such
as sound living conditions, schools, nursery, houses, sports facilities, and the like, then
they can work harder. Consequently, production increases and profits rise.
Like Owen but unlike Marx, Constantino (see 1970:1-191) was fundamentally a
reformist through education and dissent. The basic di fferences bet ween Owen and
Constantino are at least two: first, Owen has a limited domain, the industrial workers,
while Constantinos encompasses the great majority of the countrys population; and
second, Owen retained his bourgeois position and was interested onl y in uplifting the
social and economic conditions of his workers, while Constantino was willing to sacrifice
his petty bourgeois origins by identifying his nationalist consciousness with that of the
people, thus was more like Karl Marx in this regard. For Constantino, the interests and
wel fare of the people are the interests and wel fare of the nation. Constantinos
nationalist philosoph y was devel oped against a colonial backdrop. It argues that the
effects of col onialism took root among the people in a post-col onial setting where
neocol onialism and imperialism were at work. It advocates the study of the past to learn

1
lessons, to understand the present, and to help shape the future with nationalist
underpinnings.
To understand Constantino, one needs to study two dimensions in his works
psychologi cal and economic.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSION: CAPTIVE

AND COUNTER CONSCIOUSNESS

The consciousness that devel oped among the people, according to Constantino,
during the Spanish and American colonial eras was captive, in the sense that it was
shaped and tailored to the needs of the colonizers. The Spanish friars saw to it that the
natives, through religious conversion, became doci le and illiterate, obedient and fanatical.
The Americans, on the other hand, by using education with English as the medium of
instruction, saw to it that the natives developed West ern preferences, thereby im bibing a
West ern consumerist orientation. Captive consci ousness is therefore col onial
consciousness. There is a need for a counter consciousness t o it, and that is the nationalist
consciousness.

Colonial Consciousness

The friars, or the various religious ordersAugustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans,

Recollects, and Jesuitswere responsible for shaping the col onial consciousness of the
natives during the Spanish era through the use of religion. With religion as the instrument
of domination, the friars were a ble t o control the consci ousness of the masses. The
Spanish col onial government had them as staunch allies in what Karl Marx suspect ed
all along: that religion was the opium of the masses. Prior to the educational reform of
1863, the friars never taught the Spanish language t o the natives. The net result was a
colonial consciousness that was basicall y ignorant, illiterate, subservient, servile. To
quote Constantino (1978b: 30):

Psychol ogical control was as easil y established. The fact that the
people became Catholics made God the powerful ally of their rulers. The
friars enlisted God on the side of colonialism. To the fear of ph ysical
punishment was added the infinitely m ore pot ent fear of supernatural
retribution. Thus one priest was usuall y enough to control a village, for
rebellion against the priest was equated with rebellion against God and
therefore with eternal damnation. The priest wa s their accepted ruler, the
representative of their God on earth and the intermediary for their souls aft er
death. The friars became the dominant factors in the colonial contingents
and the church became the centre of the peoples life.

It was then the clerical boast at that time that in each friar in the Philippines the
king [of Spain] had a captain general and a whole army (Constantino 1978b: 31).
During the American era, said Constantino, the manipulation of consci ousness t ook
the form of a miseducation: historical facts were distorted as to make it appear that the
American conquerors themselves were the protect ors and heroes of the natives; American
atrocities during the Filipino resistance against the U.S. army were suppressed;
resistance leaders a fter the capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo were branded as
bandits or tulisanes; the Americans sponsored Jose Rizal as a national hero since he was
a reformist who valued education; they made English as the medium of instruction to
facilitate the American type of West ernization in order to develop consumerism; they
consistently remained in control of the educational system until 1935, the beginning of
the Commonwealth period. The net effect of this type of cultural situation is the

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devel opment of a col onial consciousness that was not root ed in a nationalistic
foundation: it bred what is known toda y as a col onial mentality. Colonial mentality is a
t ype of consciousness which is foreign-oriented: for example, one studies in order to find
work abroad, or one prefers to study abroad and develops the attitude that a foreign
degree is al wa ys better than a local degree; or one prefers a foreign brand of anything
even when it is inferior in quality for as l ong as it is foreign; or one neglects t o develop
a competitive local product for export abroad and would rather continue to struggle
for tariff protecti on over a long period of time. Constantino (1978b: 277) said that
col onial mentality is a distorted consci ousness which encompasses [Filipino]
subservient attitudes towards the colonial ruler as well as [their] predisposition towards
aping Western wa ys.

Nationalist Consciousnes 2

A nationalist consciousness is necessar y as an antidote t o colonial consci ousness.

Constantino (1978b: 293-94) distinguished four t ypes of people who claim themselves t o
be nationalists. First, those who only pa y lip service to nationalism: they are the faddists
or poseurs or fair-weather nationalists who are quite dangerous since they are unreliable
and can even betray or misrepresent nationalism; second, the emotional nationalists who
are most often loyal t o the cause but who hardly understand it and so sometimes they
misrepresent nationalism; third, the purely intellectual nationalists who understand the
cause but are not willing to sacrifice their comfort or position and so they accommodate
the status quo; and lastly, the genuine nationalists who comprehend the cause and whose
dedication is unswerving. The last group attempts to transform a pluralistic grouping of
activist movements, including rightists and leftists, into a united and active front of
protest and dissent.

Economic Dimension

Neocolonial Philippine Economy

American Post-War Economic Goal. The United States economic goal after the
Second World War (Constantino 1979: 3-4) was to integrate the capitalist world into a
cohesive, cooperative syst em under its leadership. It rehabilitated the economies of its
European allies, and later those of Japan and Germany, and integrated their economies to
the world capitalist system. The next phase of this goal was t o control the Third World
economies t o insure the steady suppl y of raw materials. In the guise of helping the
economies of newl y independent states devel op, the First World countries sought to
transform them into neocol onies, that is, to continue as appendages of the former
colonizers. Economic domination by Western and Japanese transnationals was facilitated
by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and in Asia by the Asian
Devel opment Bank. Cheap labor and raw materials from Third World countries would be
utilized to sustain the high profits of transnational corporations (TNCs), thereby
perpetuating povert y and underdevelopment.
In the New International Division of La bor the TNCs transfer their low-technology,
labor intensive industries to Third World countries while retaining the high-technology,
capital-intensive industries in their home countries. In this regard, (1) they save on labor
costs; (2) they expl oit the local raw materials, utilize local credit, and sell to the local
market some of their products; (3) they pass on obsol ete equipment to devel oping
nations while applying new advances in science and technology in the home front; (4)
they meet the desire of less devel oped countries to achieve a modicum of
industrialization thereby transcending extreme backwardness; and (5) they produce
cheaper products that are more competitive in the international market. The continuation
of povert y and underdevel opment despite so-called devel opment programs led Third World
countries to demand for a New International Economic Order where economic sovereignty
would be emphasized: that is to sa y, the full control of natural resources and all economic

3
activities, including the right to nationalize. The Trilateral Commission was established
by the First World in 1972 to alleviate the growing dissatisfaction of the devel oping
countries. It tried to accommodate the following: improved access to First World markets,
higher prices of raw materials, and limited transfer of obsolet e technology. In a sense the
Third World is the battlefield of nationalism and transnationalism. Constantino contended
that government policies on any devel opment program must satisfy two conditions: they
must be attuned to the weakening of imperialist control and they must benefit primaril y
the majority of the population.
Philippine Economic Situation. In the Philippines in 1971, 69 percent of Filipinos
did not meet the basic requirements of life in terms of food, housing, clothing, fuel,
and medical care. There were more Filipino fa milies bel ow the povert y line. The 1979
figures cited by Constantino indicated the worsening of povert y: the number of those
belonging to the povert y level increased from 43.78 per cent in 1971 to 84 per cent (34
million Filipinos) in 1979.
Constantino (1979: 15-16) explained this as the result of foreign control of the
Philippine econom y, that is, mass poverty and underdevelopment are the by-products of
the countrys neocolonial status. Many foreign companies controlled the Philippine
econom y from banking and finance to the simplest consumer goods for ever yda y use.
Transnationals control processed food, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, cooking
oil, drugs, beverages, chemical products, electrical appliances, el ectrical lamps,
industrial and farm machinery, transport vehicles, rubber tires, auto fuels, bathroom
fixtures, and many others. Transnationals can fully own firms in pioneer industries, in
Export Processing Zones, in firms exporting 70 per cent of their products, and in
industries not considered overcrowded. They can repatriate their profits, estimated in
1979 as approximately t wo t o three dollars for ever y dollar invested in the country.
Pioneer firms are tax exempt while exporting industries can enjoy tax credits, tax
deductions, and tax exemptions. The Philippines borrowed from international financing
institutions to finance infrastructure projects required to attract foreign investments.
The International Monetary Fund dictated the conditions of borrowing. It is
controlled by capitalist states which contributed three-fourths of its capital and which
controlled t wo-thirds of the vot es. It finances infrastructure and agricultural projects
but never allows substantial credit for setting up basic industries of creditor countries. It
dictates when to devalue the currency and consequently the purchasing power of that
currency continues to decrease over the years. The Brazilian and South Korean economic
miracles, according to Constantino (1979: 22), benefited onl y a few while many had not
been touched by such miracles. At least half of the Brazilian and South Korean
populations were poor. To earn the necessary foreign exchange, South Korea exported
labor and promoted tourism, even prostitution. All the South Korean wealth or profits
went to Japanese and American transnationals in key and export industries and to the
ruling political and technocratic elite. Likewise Philippine surplus capital all went to the
TNCs and the wealthy Filipino partners.

TNCs and the Imperialist Argument. Constantino (1979: 25-64) maintained that the
basic imperialist argument is that the TNCs are the principal accelerator of development
because they speed up industrialization, create employment, transfer technology, bring
in capital, and generate foreign exchange earnings. The realities, however, are
different. First, the industrialization which takes place is one that is controlled by and
serves the interests of international capital. This type of devel opment denies that
country any possi bility of establishing its own industrial complex. Its econom y
becomes a mere appendage of the global giants, the whole country a sweatshop with an
unlimited supply of cheap labor.
Secondl y, foreign corporations do not appreciabl y contribute to employm ent. In
1970 some 120,400 workers were directl y employed by foreign invest ors which was
onl y one percent of the employm ent figure. In 1973, for example, Del Monte saved
more for its pineapple plantations in the Philippines than in Hawaii in that it paid the
Filipino worker only 15 cents rather than $2.64 an hour for a Hawaiian worker.

4
 Thirdly, the technology transferred to the Philippines is made only in the
geographic sense, for it remains in the hands of transnational corporations. Filipinos
have minimal access to such technology and therefore are denied the opportunity
to add to their stock of industrial knowledge and skills.
Fourthly, 90% of patent holders in the Philippines are foreigners, many of whom
are drug transnationals which do not do any basic manufacturing in the country but onl y
seek to prevent Filipino firms from producing and selling at lower costs the drugs
which global firms now sell at exorbitant prices. In 1972, 87% or 1,500 drug patents filed
were purely imitative. Moreover, some chemicals or drugs banned in the United States
found their wa y to the Philippines like Folidol, Gustathion, and DDT.
Lastl y, there seems t o be mendicant policies that are based on mistaken priorities
such as reliance (1) on export-oriented industries that primarily import their raw
materials, (2) on the tourism industry which devel ops resorts and hotels that are
mostl y affordable onl y to foreign tourists and a few Filipinos, (3) on the export of
manpower, (4) on export-oriented agricultural crops that eat up 55% of arable lands.
Philippine economic devel opment, according to Constantino, benefits onl y the
transnationals and the Filipino middle and upper classes, but the peopl es wel fare
and economic status remain untouched.
What then should be done? Constantino believed in a nationalist economic
alternative and in an ethics for nationalists.

Nationalist Economic Alternative

Historical Background. Philippine nationalism is historically associated with its

long struggle for political independence. It was mistakenly believed that nationalism was
accomplished after1946 when the Philippines beca me independent. In the neocolonialism
of the 1950s, nationalism became a subversive word associated with Senator Claro M.
Rect o, who advocated complete independence from the United States both politically and
economicall y. While President Carlos P. Garcias Filipino First policy began the setting
up of a modest industrial base under the protect ion of exchange and import controls,
Diosdado Macapagal, Garcias successor, dismantled economic controls in the early 1960s
thereby dem olishing the initail gains of economic nationalism. The econom y t ook the firm
path of devel opment chartered by the IMF a nd World Bank. The nationalism that
emerged during this time was the nationalism projected by the middle and upper classes of
societ y t o serve their own interests (see Constantino 1978a: 269-301).

Genuine Nationalism. Constantino (1979: 71) believes that genuine nationalism as

an ideology of liberation must have two basic characteristics: (1) it must be mass
nationalism and (2) it must be anti-imperialist. Nationalism must attain the twin goals of
national and social liberation. As a consequence of these twin goals, Constantino
recommended (a) the dismantling of the American bases and (b) the struggle for the
national surplusan effort to ensure that the fruits of the labor of the citizens go to the
national fund to be accumulated for public investments and to provide the necessary
services for the peopl e instead of being siphoned off t o other countries, and (c) the
unification of the various nationalist social strata for a common cause. The middle class
must realize that there is a connection bet ween imperialism and their economic woes in
that they are both beneficiaries and victims of imperial control. Their economic positi on is
steadil y deteriorating due to inflation.
Philippine labor should forge itsel f for economic unionism at the national level and
not just in the fragmented individual firms. The peasantry lacks homogeneit y and should
be brought to the mainstream of economic nationalism. Part therefore of the leadership
will have to be drawn from progressive pett y bourgeois elem ents during the initial
educational campaign for nationalism. Once united, the principal focus of the national
phase will be on anti-imperialism. The labor-peasant sector by then would have grown in
strength and experience. They should establish cooperatives. According to Constantino,
the masses and the leaders from their ranks will then be in the front lines and will serve a s

5
the main force of the nationalist movement. This happens when mass nationalism becomes
the order of the da y, and unity among the various strata is essential. Constantino (1979:
76) goes on:

Unit y in diversit y can only be achieved through constant dialogue

among the various social strata having different experiences and ideological
positions. In this sense, the struggle against imperialism becomes a struggle
for a new t ype of dem ocracy wherein the masses have effective participation
in directing the economic social and political life of a nation.

Initial Phase of the Nationalist Movement. In the initial phase therefore the
nationalist movement need not concern itself with radical demands (Constantino 1979: 71,
77) implicit in the advocacy of alternative syst ems. A broad nationalist movement is just
the beginning of the process of real liberation. This nationalist movem ent in the initial
phase may just concentrate on the minimum demand such as to restrain foreign capital
and strengthen Filipino capital, both state and private, with appropriate mechanism for the
activation and participation of the people (Constantino 1979: 77). Participation is a kind
of education which leads to the elevation of consciousness. Only a militant population can
sustain the process of national renewal. Without the element of mass participation,
establishment nationalism will take over, hindering social transformation instead of
ushering it.

Challenge to Government. It is a challenge to the government to adopt the

nationalist alternative and recognize that the general objective is that the econom y must be
controlled by Filipinos. The starting point should be the people. Constantino (1979: 79)
maintained:

Instead of a trickle-down effect, nationalists propose a bottom-up

approach which will organically connect the peoples growing productivit y
and freedom from economic deprivation to the utilization of accumulated
surpluses for investment in industrial growth that will serve the growing
needs of the population. In other words, it must be recognized that basic to
any decisi on to complete national liberation is the adoption of policies
that will ensure a socially just distribution of the national product and the
mobilization of the national surplus to increase productive capacit y
primarily for the satisfaction of the basic needs of the population.
Exports should play a subordinate role to product ion for local basic needs.
Income from exports must be devoted t o capital build-up. Increased
exportation should not be a goal in itself but only a consequence of
accumulated surplus which will be judici ousl y allocated to serve the producers
of wealth.

The sector that now monopolizes the consumption cake will be adversel y
affected by the sacrifices t o be made and it is expected that opposition to a nationalist
leadership will come from this sector.

Nationalist Austerity. There is honor in austerity and therefore national austerity

should becom e the status symbol. The evidence of surplus is all around: (1) the various
luxury and non-essential items that are consumed by a minority, and (2) the foreign
exchange which transnationals siphon out in the form of profit remittancesthat come
from surplus production and comprise the product of Filipino labor. Artificial and
distorted private consumption must be shifted t o social consumption, that is,
productive fact ors in agriculture and industry must be harnessed for the needs of the
majority. National capital must be protected against the inroads of foreign capitalists.
Nationalist capitalism must be encouraged instead of driving most of Filipino capitalists
into partnership with transnationals. Indigenous technology should be full y encouraged

6
and employed in agriculture and industry. The countrys natural resources must be
protected from imperialist plunder. The need for the developm ent of heavy industry
which serves as the foundation of any real industrialization must explore the possibilit y
of a vailing itself of the assistance of socialist and Third World countries which are
willing to transfer technology with soft-term loans, without strings attached, and which
can provide stabl e markets for its products. It is necessary that the government should
adequatel y respond to pressure especially coming from foreign monopol y capital by
utilizing the only force that can effectivel y counter such pressure, particularly the peopl e
who are united and aware of the dire consequences of foreign economic domination. The
prerequisite is a counterconsciousness through a process of mass education and mass
mobilization (Constantino 1979: 80-81).

Nationalist Ethics

Observing the nationalist ethics is essential to economic devel opment. In Ethics

for nationalists, Constantino (1970: 160-73, 1978a: 292-307) discussed the various
ethical guidelines for a genuine nationalist to follow: (1) the true nationalist must be an
advocate of social change; (2) s/he must adhere to the norm of commitment to a definite
historical purpose; (3) s/he must unify theory and practice by sel f-analysis and
reflection; (4) as one who rejects the status quo, s/he must offer a better alternative to the
existing unwanted reality; (5) s/he must not become a bigot by constantly employing
sel f-criticism; (6) s/he must consider the peoples interests as primary and over and
above his/her own self-interests; (7) s/he must aim for the collective wel fare and not for
sel f-gratification since sincere dedication to a cause needs no publicit y for the
individual; (8) s/he must articulate the nationalistic spirit of the people; (9) s/he must
assume the attitude of friendly understanding of di verse issues and discuss them
constructivel y rather than assume the attitude of looking down on one who does not
share his/her views (avoid crab mentality); (10) s/he must seek the roots of the present
problems from the past and study the present to determine what to change in the future and
how best this can be done; (11) s/he must confront the ethical and cultural realities of the
present not necessarily to idealize rural living but to depict the actual state so that the
necessar y future changes can be delineated; (12) s/he must consciousl y tame his
consumption habits, avoid an overattachment to things, guard against transforming
luxuries as necessities for personal consumption, practice the virtue of austere li ving,
and redirect consumption patterns to things Philippine; (13) s/he must specialize in a
field that one could use in the nationalist struggle, and which s/he could make use of in a
changed soci et y: s/he must therefore be cautious in applying for or accepting foreign
scholarships; (14) lastly, s/he must be selfl ess for what s/he advocates or chooses s/he
advocates or chooses for all and not for onesel f.

THE CRITIQ UE

Colonial Setting

It is understandable that colonial consciousness will develop among the natives

in a col onial setting. What is not understandable is that it will continue as a dominant
force during the post-col onial era. In other places, as in communist countries,
decol onization is rapid and nationalism seems to be the motivation. The case of Vi etnam
is a clear example. The communists alwa ys call their political system as a peoples
democracy because they believe the peopl ethe proletariat and later the total
populationhave been democratically empowered: they have a peoples rule. But unlike
Vietnam, colonialism in the Philippines has not been dismantled but has been transformed
into neocol onialism. There are many reasons for this transformation. Among them is the
perpetuation of the use of the English language as the medium of instruction in
education where, according to Constantino (1966: 54-55), the continuance of the
West ernizing influence, the devel opment of West ern tastes and cultural consumerism, is

7
assured. Second is the evident luxurious lifest yle of the ruling class who simpl y
could not sacrifice their tastes for an austere life. Third is the developm ent of crab
mentality where one condescendingly considers the opposing vi ews as inferior and tries
to pull down the opponents through lies and other means.

Filipino as Medium of Instruction

Filipino, or the Tagalog that developed in Metro Manila, can be used as a medium of
instruction as a matter of national policy but it will have to confront a stiff opposition.
Had the Americans left the Filipino revolutionary l eaders alone and did not colonize
the country, Tagalog would have been the national language since it was the language
of the revolution. Toda y we have witnessed the rise of Il okano nationalism and Cebuano
nationalism such that these natives would rather have English instead of Tagalog as the
lingua franca of the country. They object to what they call Tagalog col onialism or
Tagalog imperialism. Moreover, there are claims that Filipinos have col onized the
English language and it is now a Filipino language since it has devel oped its own
vocabulary and Filipino English is now disti nct from American English, British
English, Canadian English, and Australian English. There are also claims that Filipino
English nationalism has arrived (see Cruz 1996; Editor 1996a and 1996b; Reut ers 1996a
and 1996b). The issue now iscan a Filipino English nationalist adhere to Constantinos
mass nationalism such that his nationalism will redound to the benefit of all and not
just of the privileged few? If the answer is affirmative, then Constantino ought to
welcome this kind of development.

Consumerism

Both industrialization and superindustrialization require consumerism. Cuban

economic development is mass-based and austere but it is not democratic, so it could not
embark into a global econom y. China started with mass nationalism, the setting up of
cooperatives, thereby invol ving the people in the economic devel opment of the country
with the assurance of an equitable distribution of the nations wealth (it was not a
trickle-down but a bott om-up economic devel opment). However, it was not enough: it had
to open up its econom y t o the world by converting its centralized econom y into a market
econom y and by joining the World Trade Organization. Constantino advocated
internationalismcultural and economicon the basis of a firm nationalism. Japan and
America are practising these. What is dangerous is the preaching of internationalism
without a firm nationalistic foundation. In this case the country opens up itself to all
sorts of cultural invasion, many of which could be del eterious t o Filipino devel opment as
a global economic power. Without nationalism as a foothold, the people cannot properly
select what to consume from the outside that will be good for them as a nation because
it is possibl e that the people select only for themselves as individualsfor their own
personal interestand not for all as a nationthat is, for the national interest.
Constantino said that a nationalist choice is not a personal choice since a nationalist
must be selfl ess: it is a choice for the people or the nation.

Superindustrialization

Constantino lived in a world which is characterized as industrial or what Alvin

Toffler (1980: 1-445) called the Second Wave ci vilization. Constantino seemed to foll ow
the educational theory that is currently espoused by George S. Counts and Theodore
Brameld: reconstructionism as a philosoph y of education (see Ozmon and Craver 1997:
171-205). In outline it argues that something is wrong with societ y, that education is
the best agent of social change, and if the people want to reconstruct societ y they must
first reconstruct the school by converting allthe administration, faculty, and studentry

8
into social activistsand then use it to reconstruct soci et y. Subjects must have social
contents and about half the learning must be through the realities of li fe outside the
classroom.
Constantino advocated education as mass decol onization and mass mobilization,
the study of the past to understand the present in order to shape the future. The
reconstruction of soci et y need not only invol ve formal education but should also be
supplemented by informal education. Toffl er, on the other hand, cut off the umbilical
cord of the future from the past and constructed an image of the future based on present
cultural, economic, and technological trends. This image of the future will serve as the
guide for educational curricular offerings. This theory is called educational futurism
(see Gripaldo 2000: 113-46).
How ma y one situate Constantinos mass nationalism in superindustrialism?
Superindustrialism or Third Wave ci vilization will replace industrialism which is the
dying Second Wa ve ci vilization. There will still be hea vy industries but they will be
highly computerized. A national steel mill employing some 2,400 workers will have to be
replaced with a computerized steel mill of onl yas Peter Drucker (1993: 72-73) said
about one-sixth highly skilled electronic workers. Superindustrialism (Toffler 1970, 1980,
1990) is characterized with rapid change; transitory attachments to things, people,
places, organization, and ideas; novelt y and diversit y; customized rather than standardized
production; the rise of adhocratic working groups which are project-oriented and
temporary and which will replace most large organizations; the emergence of a
supersym bolic econom y where the means of exchange is through plastic cards rather than
paper money; the wiping out of hunger and disease through the application of new
food and drug technologies; the exploration of oceans and outer space; the return of
work from the factor y t o the cottageor what is called the electronic cottage; the rise of
prosumers or peopl e who consume what they produce without necessarily going to
the exchange market; the existence of knowl edge workers who are multi-specialists and
the decline of monospecialists whoaccording to T offl erare narrowminded and
fanatical; the decline of the political significance of the nation-state because of (i)
tribalism or the desire for ethnic independence of cultural communities, (ii) the
replacement of the nation-state by regional technopoles or regional economic
organizations, and (iii) the economic activities of transnationals which bypass the
national state and directl y make agreements with local governments.
Toffler believed superindustrialism would be full y organized by the year 2025. It
began in 1956 when service or white collar workers outnumbered industrial or blue collar
workers. For Third World countries, he recommended the shift from a highly agricultural
econom y (First Wave) t o the Third Wave econom y by bypassing the Second Wave
civilization which is dying anywa y. Former President Fidel Ramos called this shift as
pole vaulting. Toffl er enumerated four clusters of industries in a superindustrial
societ y: el ectronics and computers, space industries, oceanic industries, and biological
industries. The first cluster is ver y basic as it will be used in the other clusters. The
Philippines right now is advancing in the first cl uster: electronics and computers are its
number one export products, but this cluster still has to be full y integrated and more
knowledge input should be made to diversify its electronic products. The Philippines as
a Third World country lags behind in superindustrialism, but if it wants to catch up, it
must start making nationalistic choiceschoices not for onesel f alone but for the interest
of the nation as well. There is, to m y mind, something that can be retained from
Constantino even if one disregards the colonial past. The peoples nationalist challenge
now is: do Filipinos want to become a superindustrial societ y on or before the year 2025?
If the answer is affirmative, then by all means they must do the necessar y nationalist
measures of austerit y, educational reorientation, and mass-based establishment of
nationalist economic cooperatives.

CONCLUSION

9
 The nationalist challenge is still ver y relevant toda y. There are four important
items to consider: first, the replacement of colonial consciousness with a nationalist
consciousness thereby doing awa y with colonial and crab mentality; second, the setting up
of superindustrial nationalist cooperatives that will support the thrust towards
creating a superindustrial societ y; third, the utilization of education as the means of
realizing the image of the future as a superindustrial societ y; and fourth, the retention of
the Sartrean perspective in the nationalist ethics. For Jean-Paul Sartre (1964: 291), when
one makes a choi ce s/he does it not for himself/herself but for all humanity. For
Constantino, on the other hand, when a nationalist makes a choice, s/he does it not for
himself/herself but for the nation as a whole. When one buys a shampoo, for example,
one ought to ask onesel f: is this a product made by a Filipino company? If the quality and
price are not much different from imported brands and/or brands produced by foreign
firms in the country, then the nationalist buyer must choose what is to the interest not only
of onesel f but of the nation as well, that is to sa y, one ought to buy a shampoo made by a
Filipino company or by a Filipino-foreign joint venture or by a transnational company
based in the country, in that order. Otherwise, in the absence of any of the aforecited, the
nationalistall things being equalmay buy the i mported one or ma y attempt to use an
appropriate herbal substitute. Eventually, of course, a Third World country, once
economicall y strong, will graduate from nationalism to internationalism, that is, the
regionalism of the regional technopol e. This action is one step towards globalism where
economic choi ces to be made are choices not for oneself alone but for humanity as a whol e
itself.

NOTES

1. This paper was delivered on 1 Decem ber 1999 as a professorial chair lecture at the
Ariston Estrada Seminar Room, De La Salle University, in fulfillment of the Ariston
Estrada Sr. II Professorial Chair in Liberal Arts.
2. For Constantino (1966: 96), nationalism is an expression of the reality that we
have a country of our own, which must be kept our own. Its political expression is
independence, which means the freedom t o plan and work out our national goals
without outside interference and with our national interest as the principal criterion.
Its economic expressi on is industrialization with the desire to consciousl y control
the management of our resources. While accepting the aid and cooperation of its
technologicall y more advanced sister nations. . . , it insists on full control of its
economic destin y. Its cultural expression is the devel opment of a culture that is
rooted in our own heritage, admits of foreign influences, but retains its distinct and
separate identity.

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