Every settlement in this country that rates a paved main street has a street named after Dr. Jose Rizal. This is less out of respect for our national hero, whose shoes (though small) are impossible to fill, than out of a national guilt at having only read his works in school, and doing it cursorily while picking out the details that would probably come up on the exam. (That Fr. Damaso was served a chicken neck in his tinola, say.)
Never mind that he was a doctor, historian, philosopher, artist, polyglot and a hundred other things that we will never be, to most Filipinos, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are the end all and be all of Rizal.
To keep his spirit from turning into a hungry ghost and haunting us with aphorisms and snippets of his correspondence with everyone from the women of Malolos to Blumentritt to the Rajah of Madripoor, we’ve named our streets after him. “See?,” we can say with a clean conscience, “we remember.” What it is exactly that we remember must give us pause, but we do remember.
Elsewhere on the bastardization of history: the monument to Apolinario Mabini in Mabini, Batangas shows the hero on his feet in direct contempt of the one thing we all know about the Sublime Paralytic.
#1 by nepenthe on July 3, 2010 - 9:08 pm
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Rizal is from the middle class,just like Aguinaldo.both are counter revolutionaries.they should be treated as traitors.
“Rizal confesses that sometime between August 26 and 31, 1896, when
hostilities broke out, he told Gov. Gen. Blanco everything he knew
about the Katipunan and offered to lead a counter-revolutionary
campaign and to die fighting against the Katipunan, and that he
made the offer to die fighting against the Katipunan in a personal
letter which he wrote aboard the Castilla, and which was witnessed by a certain Col. Santalo…
From the beginning, when I had news of what
was being planned (i.e., the Revolution), I opposed it, fought it, and
demonstrated its absolute impossibility… When later, inspite of my
counsels, the movement broke out, I spontaneously offered not only my
services, but my life, and even my name, so that they might use them in the
manner they saw fit to suppress the rebellion…—Rizal, December 15,
Manifesto.
Nay, when the uprising broke out, I was on board the Castilla,
incommunicado, and I offered myself unconditionally to His Excellency…to
suppress the rebellion. But this was a personal letter and it was witnessed
by Col. Santalo. This cannot be used without the permission of His
Excellency…—Rizal, Data for My Defense”
The murderer of Andres Bonifacio and two-time vendor of the
Revolution Emilio Aguinaldo confesses that his brand of patriotism
was entirely Rizalian reformist-assimilationist, that he and the all-
Caviteno conspirators at Tejeros and Biak-na-Bato were opposed to
independence and were never for independence, that they merely
wanted to have the friars expelled or curbed, that he ordered
Bonifacio shot like a dog, and that he was happy and proud to think
that having murdered Bonifacio thus, the Katipunan, and therewith
the Revolution, disappeared with him…
“The patriotism I speak of today
will be unchangeable. We took to the field, not because we wished for
separation from the mother country. But because we are tired of bearing the
material and moral burden of that arch, the keystone of which in our
country is the friars. It is quite true that the Katipunan instilled in us
another desire—that of independence—but that desire was unattainable,
and moreover, it was in opposition to our sentiments. It served as the
banner of Andres Bonifacio, a cruel man whom I ordered shot, and with his
death the Katipunan disappeared…”—Emilio Aguinaldo, Interview with El
Imparcial, a Madrid newspaper, December 27, 1897.
all excerpts from THE EVIL THAT MEN DO
the philippine culture of corruption
a sociological, historical, and philosophical investigation
domingo castro de guzman
#2 by Renato Pacifico on July 9, 2010 - 6:59 am
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Many thanks to Governor Taft for appoint Jose Rizal as our national hero. If it were not for Gov Taft, Filipinos would be slitting throughts until now as to who would have been the national hero.
#3 by nepenthe on July 9, 2010 - 11:25 am
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Uhm,do you even know what your talking about,MR.PACIFICO?
#4 by Renato Pacifico on July 9, 2010 - 10:15 pm
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Why do people call me “Mr.”? I am a single 25-years-old cyber-bum!!!!! I live in the internet with no address.
Well, JOSE RIZAL a middle-class? A middle-class who travelled far and wide? Hmmmmm ……
#5 by Renato Pacifico on July 9, 2010 - 10:20 pm
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Noli Me Tangere was published 1887 in Berlin. In one year time, the Philippines was never the same again. WHAT? Yeah, baby, Noli Me Tangere spread like wildfire in the Philippines in 1887 much faster than internet. There must have been BArnes&Nobles in every island in every street corner at that time. Filipinos must be overly wealthy to buy the book which written in spanish. WoW! SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG WITH OUR HISTORY HERE.
Wiki Noli Me Tangere date published. Published i 1887. Printed in Berlin. Shipped by air to Philippines? Then connect Rizal’s execution. Then connect it again to Spanish-American war in Manila Bay. Then connect it Gen. Aguinaldo’s declaration of Independence. Then connect the act of treason by the Filipinos against Americans who helped them gain independence.
From the looks of it there was internet back in the days of the Spaniards. DUDE! And all Filipinos fell for it. FILIPINOS ARE GREAT!!!!!!
#6 by nepenthe on July 10, 2010 - 3:29 am
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You had me at connect sir.
Well said.
Dude.
#7 by Renato Pacifico on July 11, 2010 - 4:40 am
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The “connect” is this:
It took Admiral Dewey 3 days to steam from China to Manila Bay. So, how long does it take for Noli Mi Tangere to travel from Berlin to Manila? How long does it take to distribute Noli Mi Tangere from Manila to all outlying provinces? Aaah, yes, by Philippine Air Lines.
When Admiral Dewey vanquished the Spaniards, according to Wikipedia, only 10% understand spanish. Noli Mi Tangere was written in Spanish.
Who’d print and publish Noli Mi Tangere when there was no evident readership? If Noli Mi Tangere was so HOT! How many were printed, how many were bought, how many were read?
#8 by Renato Pacifico on July 11, 2010 - 4:44 am
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Nine years after Noli Mi Tangere was published in Berlin, Jose Rizal was “martyred” in Luneta.
6 months after Americans liberated Phiippines from Spain, Filipinos turned against Americans! 6 months, dude! Traydor ang mga Filipinos!
According to history books, galit ang mga Filipinos sa America because they were not allowed to enter Intramurus. Ing-git sila sa Americano who went in and Spaniards surrendered.
According to Admiral Dewey and American strategist, if they allowed Filipinos to go in, Filipinos would likely be routed because of inferior arms and Americans were afraid they might loot intramurus like they loot Malacanang after EDSA.
#9 by Renato Pacifico on July 11, 2010 - 4:44 am
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Nine years after Noli Mi Tangere was published in Berlin, Jose Rizal was \"martyred\" in Luneta.
6 months after Americans liberated Phiippines from Spain, Filipinos turned against Americans! 6 months, dude! Traydor ang mga Filipinos!
According to history books, galit ang mga Filipinos sa America because they were not allowed to enter Intramurus. Ing-git sila sa Americano who went in and Spaniards surrendered.
According to Admiral Dewey and American strategist, if they allowed Filipinos to go in, Filipinos would likely be routed because of inferior arms and Americans were afraid they might loot intramurus like they loot Malacanang after EDSA.