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Land of Bondage

The speaker is a farmer in the Philippines under Spanish colonial rule who is pleading for land rights and freedom from bondage. He argues that he works tirelessly to till the land for his lord and family but is never given the privilege of owning land himself. If his demands for land and freedom are not met, he warns that he and others who have been oppressed for 300 years will rise up against the colonizers.

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678 views1 page

Land of Bondage

The speaker is a farmer in the Philippines under Spanish colonial rule who is pleading for land rights and freedom from bondage. He argues that he works tirelessly to till the land for his lord and family but is never given the privilege of owning land himself. If his demands for land and freedom are not met, he warns that he and others who have been oppressed for 300 years will rise up against the colonizers.

Uploaded by

jaeji
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Excerpt LAND OF BONDAGE, LAND OF THE FREE by Raul Manglapus

“My family is my treasure. I live to work, I work for them. I till this land for my family to
live. But why does my lord never give me the privilege of having my own land to plow?
This is Philippines and they are Spaniards. I should have freely worked on the land
where I was born.

And now the time has come. The worst that I can ever imagine that my family could
suffer. Listen my plea so you may hear.”

You accuse me of not supporting my family. Free me from bondage, and I shall prove
you false.

You accuse me of ignorance. But I am ignorant because my master finds it profitable to


keep me ignorant. Free me from bondage, and I shall prove you false.

You accuse me of indolence. But I am indolent not because I have no will, but because
I have no hope. Why should I labor, if all the fruits of my labor go to pay an unpayable
debt. Free me from bondage, and I shall prove you false.

Give me land. Land to own. Land unbeholden to any tyrant. Land that will be free.
Give me land for I am starving. Give me land that my children may not die. Sell it to
me, sell it to me at a fair price, as one freeman sells to another and not as a usurer sells
to a slave. I am poor, but I will pay it! I will work, work until I fall from weariness for my
privilege, for my inalienable right to be free!

BUT IF YOU WILL NOT GRANT ME THIS. If you will not grant me this last request, this
ultimate demand, then build a wall around your home. Build it high! Build it strong!
Place a sentry on every parapet! For I who have been silent these three hundred years,
will come in the night when you are feasting, with my cry and my bolo at your door. And
may God have mercy on your soul!

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