A Rizal for our times

June 19, Dr. Jose Rizal’s natal day, seems to have largely come and gone unnoticed. What was something big and celebrated way back has been relegated to just a mere spot on the calendar for our national hero whose martyrdom inspired the 1896 revolt that broke the back of the Spanish rule in the Philippines. What still remains of Rizal’s imprint in the collective memory is his death by firing squad in Bagumbayan which is enshrined in our Rizal Day holiday observance every Dec. 30. That our national hero has fallen a notch down in popular imagination can be attributed to the tumultuous times we are in, plus the hangover of a pandemic that has led the nation to more than two years of stupor. But it shouldn’t be the case.

Then President Diosdado Macapagal issued Proclamation No. 118 s. 1963, declaring June 19 as a special public holiday that fittingly honors Rizal’s life rather than just his death. And it is in this sense that, perhaps, Rizal the living persona would now be more relevant today than Rizal the iconoclastic statue that graces every municipal plaza in the country.

How would Rizal square up to what has become his Philippines in this 21st century? What would be his response to the situation where more than three million of his compatriots work and reside abroad as he did for quite a spell hounded not by poverty as today’s overseas Filipino workers are, but by a vengeful Spanish regime? How would he, an “ilustrado” by birth, succored by his family’s wealth and head above the ordinary peasant, see the plight of his countrymen whose lives are mired in inequity and injustice? How would he see the world with its evolving geopolitics and mixed-up alliances transform and influence the lives of not only this generation of Filipinos but of the next generations yet to come? There are a number of questions that Rizal would find challenging to answer and whose resolution involves not only judgment but also fortitude, courage, and firm determination. It would, in a sense, involve more than just dying for one’s country and more of living to realize a future that will benefit one and all.

Rizal would invariably cast his lot with those he sees as the oppressed, marginalized, and outcast. That is why he saw the education of the masses, particularly of the young and those willing to learn, as the means of breaking up the chains of ignorance and indifference that have kept majority of Filipinos in penury and economic need. He would have lauded his countrymen who have gone to work and earn their family’s income abroad so that their children at home would have the opportunity to study and educate themselves and, through them, uplift their siblings and family members as well.

Rizal would have been optimistic about the future, no matter how challenging the present circumstances may be in our lives. He sees boundless opportunities in how the new generation would be able to harness the tools of science and technology if only given the opportunity to do so by a government authority that is “people-oriented” and socially conscious instead of being driven solely by personal ambition and greed. As Rizal sees it, government reforms are the basic framework to set the country in the right direction to be a proud member of the family of nations, or in the language of present-day functionaries, “a First World or advanced economy” by 2050. It is in this context that Rizal’s vision of a Philippine society parallels that of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand in hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.

If there is one thing that can be said about him, one can say that he was truly our first “internationalist” whose wide-ranging experiences through his travels and learning abroad has come to view the global scene with a discerning eye on what the Philippines could find itself in as the world goes through its political, social, and economic revolution of sorts. What is important, as Rizal sees it, is for the Philippines to stand free and independent no matter how the winds of geopolitical change buffeted our homeland.

According to him, “Very likely the Philippines will defend with inexpressible valor the liberty secured at the price of so much blood and sacrifice. With the new men that will spring from their soil and with the recollection of their past, they will perhaps strive to enter freely upon the wide road of progress, and all will labor together to strengthen their fatherland, both internally and externally …” As events in Southeast Asia have placed the country in the nexus of contending powers and political and economic interests, it is crucial that we remain steadfast on our goal of protecting the national weal, especially the country’s freedom that millions of our countrymen, like Rizal, have worked and died for.

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Reynaldo Guioguio, Ph.D. is a retired professor of journalism at the College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines Diliman.