Reactions : February 2016

As part of our class requirement, our teacher divided us into two groups to debate on who should be the Philippine national hero: Andres Bonifacio or Jose Rizal. Our group was assigned for Rizal. i was nearly to the end of our Rizal textbook so my groupmates decided that i be the first speaker to speak up and give an overview about our stand.

"We strongly and firmly believe that Jose Rizal should be our foremost Philippine national hero due to the following grounds:

1. Love for his Motherland

In his writings, he always showed his deep love for his country
Amor Patrio (Love of Country) is a nationalistic essay – Rizal’s first essay on Spanish soil which was about his country. In the essay, he urged his compatriots to love their country.
“the poorer she is, the more we suffer for her.. yes, there is real joy in suffering for her..”

Rizal’s homecomings showed how brave he was in facing his enemies. It also shows that Rizal never forgot his country.
Rizal’s first homecoming:
Rizal was warned by his family and friends not to come home, but Rizal did not heed their advice.
Some of Rizal’s reasons for coming home were to save his people who had long been oppressed by Spanish tyrants; and to find out for himself how the Noli and his other writings were affecting Filipino and Spaniards in the Philippines
Indeed on coming home, he established a medical clinic –giving gratis to the poor.. He also opened a gymnasium for young folks
Rizal’s second homecoming
Rizal, who had been reunited with his family and Hongkong, left them to go back to Philippines
Rizal firmly believed that the fight for Filipino liberties had assumed a new phase – it must be fought in the Philippines and not in Spain

It has always been his love life which was sacrificed for his Mother country
In the case of ..
Leonor Rivera
He chose to face the consequences of a long distance relationship in order to study abroad and to fulfill his secret mission which is to study keenly the life, culture, langages and customs, industries and commerce, and governments and laws of the European nations in order to prepare himself in the mighty task of liberating his oppressed people from the Spanish tyranny
O-Sei-San
O-Sei-San’s beauty and affection almost tempted Rizal to settle down in Japan.. He was also offered a good job at the Spanish legislation, however, he chose to leave Japan and continue his mission

Plans for stronger campaigns
On His letter to Deodato Arellano.. “If, at last, .. I become financially independent, I shall be able to undertake a more vigorous and effective campaign than that I have been doing now

NOli Me Tangere – which gave him tough experiences especially during its publication.. was dedicated to his Fatherland

Reasons in going abroad
1ST- his secret mission
2nd- jeopardizing the safety of his loved ones
- he could fight better his enemies and serve his country’s cause with greater efficacy by writing in foreign countries

In his letter to Fr. Garcia –always in Rizal’s mind was a plan which was again directed to the future of the Philippines
“We are anxious to learn of Philippines’s past which we need to understand in order to plan intelligently for the future

As a support to the statement that Rizal’s writings, specifically his articles in other countries were effective, upon his retirement from the La Solidaridad, many of his friends in Spain urged him to continue writing for the patriotic periodical, because his articles always attracted considerable attention in European countries

2. Rizal was concerned about the welfare of the Filipinos

He joined masonry to fight better the friars
Since the friars used the Catholic religion as a shield to entrench themselves in power and wealth and to persecute the Filipino patriots, he intended to utilize Freemasonry as his shield to combat them

He studied French to translate some of the literatures in Tagalog
Rizal translated Schiller’s William Tell from German to Tagalog so that Filipinos might know the story of that champion of Swiss independence

For the information of everyone, according to Britannica Encyclopedia,
William Tell is a Swiss legendary hero who symbolized the struggle for political and individual freedom.
According to popular legend, he was a peasant from Bürglen in the canton of who defied Austrian authority, was forced to shoot an apple from his son’s head, was arrested for threatening the governor’s life, saved the same governor’s life en route to prison, escaped, and ultimately killed the governor in an ambush. These events supposedly helped spur the people to rise up against Austrian rule.

German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller.

---- This shows that Rizal had nothing against the peasants… He was in fact one w/ them in their sufferings, in the words of Dr. Germiniano de Ocampo, ophthalmologist, “He (Rizal) had all the qualities that would make an ideal ophthalmic surgeon – …. he had been properly and adequately trained by master of ophthalmic suergeons.”

----- in the book by Zaide, it was written "Had Rizal devoted his time to the practice of medicine he would have become one of Asia’s eminent ophthalmologist."

-- Even if he belonged to the middle class and had many opportunities to increase his wealth and properties, he chose to trade all comforts and luxury for his ideals and his fight for justice for the Filipinos.

Even in other countries, Rizal always cared for his countrymen
He Resented the Exhibition of Igorots in Madrid.. – the exhibiton angered Rizal – a champion of human rights

He also translated into Tagalog Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales for his nephews and nieces

Served poor people in Calamba and Dapitan
In his first homecoming, he studied thoroughly the conditions of Calamba and helped the folks in the Agrarian trouble.
In his exile in Dapitan, he practiced medicine, pursued scientific studies, established a school for boys, promoted community dev’t projects, invented a wooden machine for making bricks, and engaged in farming and farmers.

He encouraged his young nephews and his school boys to become farmers. Rizal introduced the modern methods of agriculture. He taught the Dapitan farmers how to improve their farms and increase their harvest.

Criticized his fellow compatriots in Europe for gambling..
His words were full of strength and conviction.. “… if we in whom the poor people place their modest hopes, spend our time in these things precisely when the years of youth should be employed in something more noble and lofty for the very reason that youth is noble and lofty, I fear much that we are fighting for a useless illusion and that, instead of being worthy of liberty, we are worthy of slavery.”
We could say that Rizal’s words were not only for the ilustrados but also for all the youth privileged to study at the present age.. This only shows that his teaching and his ideals penetrates every age and every generation

He emphasizes, through his actions, that time is very precious to be wasted.. in whatever way we know, in everything we do we should always be in the stance of fighting for liberty…

3. Rizal’s Love for his own language

This was manifested at an early age (8 yrs old) when he wrote his first poem in the native language .. Sa Aking mga Kababata.. where his famous line is remembered by every Filipino’s heart. . “Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang wika ay higit pa sa hayop at malansang isda” .. http://twentyfive.hubpages.com/hub/Jose-Rizal-Quotes-Best-Quotes-of-Dr-Jose-Rizal

Rizal was the first to advocate the Filipinization of his langauge’s orthography.

Rizal’s love for his native language is not love on an empty and senseless basis. Rizal and the Filipinos love for their native language would really serve a great purpose in the unity of the Filipino people.. It is just logical to say that a nation without unity in communication would never succeed in their fight for liberty.

4. Rizal’s Leadership was recognized by Filipinos both here and abroad..

In the election of who should become the Responsable, Rizal won against Marcelo H. del Pilar who was also one of the known Filipino leaders of the ilustrados.

Marcelo del Pilar himself realized the need for Jose Rizal’s collaboration in the Propaganda movement and the La Solidaridad.. he said.. “.. We would much like that you resume writing for it; not only would it strengthen La Solidaridad but we would defeat the friar intrigue in the Philippines”

Being a leader at heart.. Rizal was very concerned with the unity and teamwork of the Filipinos in Europe.. In his reply to del Pilar, he said “I consider it very important to the party that there be unity in the work; and you are already at the top and I also have my own ideas, it is better to leave you alone to direct the policy such as you understand it and I do not meddle in it”

In Paris, he created a society of Filipino patriots in Paris –the Indios Bravos.. where he emphasized that the Filipino should not be ashamed of their name and make the Spaniards revise their conception of the of the term – Indio.. In this group, the members , with the encouragement and leadership of Rizal, pledged to excel in intellectual and physical prowess in order tow in the admiration of foreigners, particularly Spaniards.

He also founded the RDLM society (Redencion de los Malayos) whose aim was “the propagation of all useful knowledge – scientific, artistic, literary, etc in the Philippines).. But there was also another aim – the redemption of the Malay race. In connection to this, his Borneo project, according to Dr. Leoncio Lopez-Rizal), was “not merely a to have a place where Filipinos could live and wok with more liberty as well as free themselves form the oppressive conditions in the Philippines .. but for something else more important w/c is to have freedom of action to attain the aims of RDLM w/c means – the Redemption of the Malay Race.

On his exile in Dapitan, his knowledge was acknowledge when the members of Katipunan asked for Rizal’s advice about a revolution.

5. Rizal hopes the best for his country and he believes that. . “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan” (He believes in the strength and capabilities of the youth)

In his message conveyed through Padre Florentino in the El Filibusterismo.. he said
“Where are the youth who will consecrate their golden hours, their illusions, and their enthusiasm to the welfare of their native land? Where are the youth who will generously pour out their blood to wash away so much shame, so much abomination… We await you, O youth! Come, for we await you!”

This was just part of the book El Fili .. but in this part you could hear Rizal calling out… awakening all who are asleep in the battlefield…

No wonder, Rizal’s writings were greatly persecuted by the Spaniards but greatly fueled the seed of Nationalism in each Filipino’s heart.."

Personally, Rizal inspired me. Studying about him in class, i realized i should not take my youth for granted. We have to develop our abilities to grow as a person and to serve our nation in the best way that we can.

The version above is the long one. We (Quenny and i) had to actually cut it in order to fit to a 5-minute time allowance for the first speaker. i actually spoke so fast to avoid having penalties regarding time restriction, thank God ma'am Donna Cuenca was still able to get the message. But i regretted speaking so fast. i think i failed to properly present the message which is the most important of all and for the sake of all who had to know and who haven't finished the book yet.

By the way, our group won. Basically, Quenie and Ron carried us to the top. Of course Nisa and i did our best. My prep was basically done beforehand and i just needed to read the document (and i had the best coach - Quenny). But the three of them really had to speak on the spot. Haha! To be fair, they're really good. And just so you know, i was really inspired by Ron. What he said will always be on my head, "Being a hero is not about how many books you've written nor how many battles you've won, it is about how many hearts/people you've inspired." Not the exact words but that's the thought of it. Nevertheless, our teacher disagreed about that statement of his. Haha! Hmm.. i don't know, why do i always have crushes on people who speak their minds out and are the sincerest people to do so? XD

to God be all glory! ;)

Sources:
Life, Works, and Writings of a Genius, Writer, Scientist, and National Hero by Gregorio F. Zaide and Sonia M. Zaide, 2ed
Mga Akda ni Rizal
i forgot what this is all about cause the info is missing :(

P.S. We spent hours and days for this debate. We even consulted kuya Ash for strategies and facts (by the way, kuya Ash is pro Bonifacio). We had 4 (i, Nisa, Ron, Quenie) spokespersons for our group and the two (Ron and Quenie) who failed to attend meetings for brainstorming due to prior commitments were the ones who got awards for best speaker/debater etc.. Talk about real talent! ;)

i hope you'd be inspired about Rizal and Bonifacio too.. they in their own ways have loved the country genuinely and literally died for her.