Fray Botod | Review


Fray Botod by Graciano Lopez Jaena | Review


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Fray Botod (a Big-Bellied Friar) is a character sketch written by Graciano Lopez Jaena in 1874 when he was eighteen years old. In this story, he portrays Fray Botod as a bloated, abusive, cruel, lazy, indifferent, greedy and lustful priest.  He used this as a metaphor for the abuses of the Catholic Church during the Spanish Era in the Philippines. 

The priest in the story, Fray Botod uses the church and religion as way to exploit and oppress his subjects. He takes advantage of his position to do whatever he wants from molesting and having exploitative relationships with young girls. He neglects his responsibilities as a priest and pursues gambling, threatening and punishing college students. 

From this story of Graciano Lopez Jaena, we can conclude that even before then in the Spanish Era, those who are in position abuses their power in order to satisfy and please themselves. This shows how unfair the system is between those who are in power and to those who are not. It also shows the discrimination on women during the Spanish Era and how they are harassed and abused.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


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Graciano López Jaena (December 18, 1856 – January 20, 1896) was a Filipino journalist, orator, revolutionary, and national hero who is well known for his newspaper, La Solidaridad.

Philippine historians regard López Jaena, along with Marcelo H. del Pilar and José Rizal, as the triumvirate of Filipino propagandists. Of these three ilustrados, López Jaena was the first to arrive in Spain and may have begun the Propaganda Movement which advocated the reform of the then-Spanish colony of the Philippines and which eventually led to the armed Philippine Revolution that begun in Manila in 1896. The Propaganda Movement was a key step towards a Philippine national identity.



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