diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

in, among others, Fr. Jose A. BurgosliThe Franciscan's accusations wereimmediately disapproved by his superiors in Manila, who decided to changehim as their representative before the Court, inspite' of the considerableinfluence he then enjoyed over the press and the political circles in Madrid.18The harm his writing caused not only his Franciscan brothers, but thePhilippine Church in general, was real and its effects would be felt in thesucceeding decades.The negative influence of Coria's writings and activities on Rizal's mindis unmistakable and easily verifiable from a reading of the Noli. FrayDamaso's racist slurs against the Filipinos, his opposition to the teaching ofSpanish, the manipulation of their genuine faith and trust in the missionaryfor his own political ends (on debatable legal grounds), the untempered andextemporaneous apology for all things Franciscan—if anything, they echomany of the paragraphs one can mad in Coria's Memoria. There are evendetails which seem to confirm the parallels between some of the Noli'sparagraphs and the Franciscan's writings:CoriaThirty-five years in the Islandsgive us the right to think that weknow whatever happens there,the various uprisings we have,.witnessed, and during which wehave helped to save the SpanishFlag.49Well, go to the market place andlet there be a discussion, and timewill show us the truth andconfirm once again that he"whom God would destroy, Hefirst makes mad.52Noli.... I've had 23 years of rice andbananas, and I can speak withauthority on the matter. Don'tcome to me with theories andrhetoric; I know the natives.50. . one of their procuratorsdeclared: "The lowest laybrotheris more powerful than theGovernment with all itssoldiers."'The native is forced to buyelsewhere lands that are as goodas ours, if not better. I fear we areon the decline. Whom God woulddestroy, He first makes mad.53The above are from Coria's controversial articles published first in LaDiscusi6n and later in Altar y Tram's'', which Burgos answered in the firstnewspaper. The parallels in the Memoria and the Noli are no less surprising.71