diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

its solution. Its founder was Federico Lerena,69 the brother-in-law of JoseMaria Basa, who, besides, others, used to distribute the paper in thePhilippines, and probably Fennin's brothers, one of the most assiduouscontributors to IlustraciOn Filipina (Manila, 1858-1860). Considering itspopularity, this paper was very probably read by Rizal and inspired thedescription of Tasio and the robber in the Noli.The Eco appeared at a moment of tremendous political and intellectualferment. Its announced purpose, stated in the second issue (18 September1871) was to "draw a little, and for brief moments, the thick veil covering thetruth" about the Philippines. And in case any doubts still lingered about theirpurpose, the editors repeated it in their final issue when they had alreadydecided to suspend publication:We have sought " ... to uproot from the eyes of this great-souled nation the blindwhich blocks it from seeing, and lighten the misery, the pain, the bitterness whichweaken the Philippines and exhaust her moral force and capacity to suffer.""How did El Eco Filipino seek to attain its purpose? There were variousunderlying ideas which frequently surfaced in each individual page of thispaper. Perhaps the main ones were the following.In the Philippines there were two classes of people, "the ignorant,"incapable through lack of education to distinguish or understand wherice thesource of the problems and ills of the country in connection with the use ofcivil and ecclesiastical authority; the "civilized class," which did recognizeand know and single out that the basic problem was the presence of thereligious clergy opposed to "every manner of progress in the Islands, everykind of reform which can lead to the bettennent of the natives . . . for theyknow that each Filipino who soon opens his understanding to the light ofreason is for the religious communities one slave less and one enemy more."Things were thus simplified and uncomplicated. The Noli accepted thisthesis in good part.As already seen, the conflict between the regular and the secular clergy inthe Philippines had started long before and was newsworthy both in Spainand in the Philippines. Opinions about it can be classed under three headings:(1) Things ought to continue as they are, according to the conservatives.(2) The regular clergy (the friars) ought to cede their parishes to the secularclergy and return to regular observance and dedicate themselves to the activemissions--the opinion maintained by Francisco Arriaga of the regularclergy, and Jose Burgos of the secular. (3) The regular clergy should80