Why is it that el filibusterismo is considered as "reign of the greed"?

Answer 1

"El filibusterismo", the second novel of Philippine author José Rizal was indeed translated into English under the title "The Reign of Greed".

I guess that, like "El filibusterismo", the English title refers to the abuses of the Spanish and the Church in the Philippines , parallel to the first novel, "Noli Me Tangere" ("The Social Cancer").

There's also the speech by Simoun (Crisostomo Ibarra in disguise, left for dead at the end of "Noli Me Tangere", resurfaced as a wealthy jeweller) in chapter VII :

"Called by the vices of the rulers, I have returned to these islands, and under the cloak of a merchant have visited the towns. My gold has opened a way for me and wheresoever I have beheld GREED in the most execrable forms, sometimes hypocritical, sometimes shameless, sometimes cruel, fatten on the dead organism, like a vulture on a corpse, I have asked myself—why was there not, festering in its vitals, the corruption, the ptomaine, the poison of the tombs, to kill the foul bird? The corpse was letting itself be consumed, the vulture was gorging itself with meat, and because it was not possible for me to give it life so that it might turn against its destroyer, and because the corruption developed slowly, I have stimulated GREED , I have abetted it."