Angel Rose C. TrocioBA Psychology 4PI 100 A

Should Rizal be the Philippine National Hero?A Position Paper

Before forwarding my position on this question, I rigorously searched and scanned for legislative documents that would state the reasons why Jose Rizal is the country’s national hero. One prior knowledge I know was that his declaration was enacted during the American occupation.

I am saddened, however, by the fact I discovered. That the twisting of facts on the experiences of martyrs and activists during Martial Law has not only happened, but also on the declaration of Philippine national symbols. Indeed, this goes to further prove that historical and cultural revisionism has long existed in our country. Sadly, we tolerate and accept it with open hearts.

In our elementary and high school classes, we were taught to believe that Jose Rizal is our national hero. That among the names who fought against the Spanish colonizers, he was the greatest one. However, on the 2002 executive summary report done by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) entitled “Selection and Proclamation of National Heroes and Laws Honoring Filipino Historical Figures”, the introduction has stated that:

“No law, executive order or proclamation has been enacted or issued officially proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a national hero.”

I felt that there is a high need to actually revisit the laws enacted which made us study on the Life and Works of Rizal compulsorily. The executive summary report made by NHCP further added that there are actually nine national heroes namely Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Aguinaldo, Apolinario Mabini, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Sultan Dipatuan Kudarat, Juan Luna, Melchora Aquino and Gabriela Silang, on the following basis:

Heroes are those who contribute to the quality of life and destiny of a nation.(As defined by Dr. Onofre D. Corpuz). (paragraph 1-3, Criteria for National Heroes, Selection and Proclamation of National Heroes and Laws Honoring Filipino Historical Figures, National Historical Commission of the Philippines)

Based on the same document, additional criteria for heroes are as follows:

1. A hero is part of the people’s expression. But the process of a people’s internalization of a hero’s life and works takes time, with the youth forming a part of the internalization.

2. A hero thinks of the future, especially the future generations.

3. The choice of a hero involves not only the recounting of an episode or events in history, but of the entire process that made this particular person a hero. (As defined by Dr. Alfredo Lagmay)

Putting these hard facts forward, I am in favor of putting Jose Rizal as our national heroes, however, along with these nine heroes whose efforts and contributions we cannot just simply set aside due to a possible contention that only one of them should stand out. Our identity as Filipinos are not modeled by solely one historical personality because at the end of the day, we are celebrating Independence Day because the known and unknown people who fought back to reclaim this sovereignty at that time.

Heroes are those who have a concept of nation and thereafter aspire and struggle for the nation’s freedom. Hence, to become a hero is to become a revolutionary. In reality, however, a revolution has no end. Revolutions are only the beginning. One cannot aspire to be free only to sink back into bondage. The revolution is not a stage, but a continuous process. It is undeniable that revolution is needed to fight for a Filipino item or value being deprived of us. The revolution is not made to function due to one person alone, but of the collective consciousness of the Filipino people to overthrow oppression and discrimination of all sorts.

For me, the crux of the matter is to give credit where credit is due – give credits not just to Rizal, but to all of the unsung heroes who valiantly stood up to counter colonization done by countries trying to concentrate their powers on the world.

But digging further into the surface, I questioned, if Rizal is not the only national hero recognized by the NHCP, then why are we teaching our people to believe that he is the one true hero in this country? What were the decisions or actions in the past that led us to think this way? What has been done to actually realign this wrong fact?

I can’t help but account it on the priorities our government make. They are so entrenched on the idea of improving the economy and political sphere that they neglect the educational, historical and cultural sphere. We have neglected the educational value of teaching our youth and our people the historical and cultural facts about our country and fail to see that these aspects affect how we run this country in totality. No wonder we are so confused and lost as a country.

The only way to correct this is to reconsider the facts we are teaching in school. Education is so powerful a tool that we often neglect it. We must devise ways to counter this historical and cultural revisionism going on. Being part of those who have been enlightened by the crooks of this revisionism, it is our moral responsibility to do all that we can to correct this.