A 150th birthday waiting to be celebrated
IF YOU have kept your ears close to the ground, by now you should know that on June 19, our national hero Jose Rizal will be marking his 150th birth anniversary. It’s wonderful to see Rizal’s image on streamers along the SLEX this soon. To make the event more relevant and more memorable for today’s youth, a few groups have, this early, brainstormed activities beyond wreath-laying and flag-raising. For close to three decades, the Philippine Board on Books for Young People has been celebrating National Children’s Book Day on the third Tuesday of July. That’s because the European Periodical, called Trubner’s Oriental Record, has determined that Rizal’s “The Monkey and the Turtle” was published that day. To honor him, this year’s theme is fittingly, “Lolo Jose: Nagbabasa, Binabasa.”
The entries to this year’s PBBY-Salanga competition were encouraged to write Rizal-inspired stories. “Rizaldy,” this year’s winning story written by Eugene Evasco, is about a boy who shares Rizal’s birthday. Evasco is a UP professor of creative writing and children’s literature. This is the second time he has won. His first award-winning Salanga story was in 1997 for “Federico,” the touching story of a boy with Down’s Syndrome. Honorable mention went to “Pepe’s Gift,” by Patricia Marie Grace Gomez of Bacolod, which is about Rizal’s childhood.
Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation executive director Christine Araneta Ferreira has confirmed the foundation’s own Rizal initiative. It is distributing 650 copies of Ambeth Ocampo’s book “Rizal without the Overcoat” (Anvil Publishing) to the 200 teachers participating in the Programang Gurong Kaakbay conference on May 4-6, the 100 principals invited to the Principals LEAD Program at the end of May, and the 350 teachers in Caloocan City participating in the AusAID Reading Program in June. Teachers as well as their students, along with the rest of us, need to rediscover Rizal.
A fascinating project at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of The National Library is the restoration and binding of the original manuscripts of “Noli Me Tangere,” “El Filibusterismo,” “Guillermo Tell,” and “Mi Ultimo Adios.” It is an undertaking that has rendered every bibliophile breathless in anticipation. Anne Rosette G. Crelencia, PBBY member who heads the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of TNL, acknowledges the extremely generous support of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany in bringing in the German conservators.
PBBY is also honoring Rizal with a two-day Mercado Rizal (pun intended) at the popular weekend Mercato Centrale at Bonifacio Global City on July 23 and 24. It will feature 30 stalls selling all things Rizal—paper products, memorabilia, including the hero’s signature bowler hat (may that be the next fashion accessory hit in town), T-shirts and Rizal-inspired food products. Yes, appreciate his literature through food and drink, as two current popular restaurants have done—Pia y Damaso at Greenbelt 5 and its Sisa-inspired choco dessert, and the Maria Clara drink, and Crisostomo at Resorts World and its turn of the century dishes! And books, yes! Those interested in selling their Rizaliana merchandise are welcome to e-mail [email protected] or send a message to 0917-6287546 for further information.
The countdown to Rizal’s sesquicentennial milestone has begun—with many other PBBY novel ideas being pursued. A Rizal Lookalike Contest for noontime TV shows? A Rizal cosplay and a free ophthalmology clinic for kids? A Rizal graphic novel contest? A Rizal literary trivia quiz?
Let not our classroom teachers say they were caught unaware of this birthday or that June 19 is too close to the hectic school opening to allow for any meaningful school-wide activity. It is never too early to plan your classroom and your school’s creative birthday celebration. It does not need to be elaborate or to be rehearsed to perfection. The essence is to see and appreciate the man. A hero we still need today.
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One never knows where one stumbles upon live learning situations to draw teaching tips from. At the final performance of “Ballet, Ballads and Bands” Lisa Macuja was in graceful panic because her co-performer, Side A was having technical problems with their equipment. She regaled the crowd who totally forgot about their prolonged wait for the start of the show by whipping up an instant trivia quiz for the overflow crowd from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. The question was tough: from what country did ballet originate? There were a few inaccurate answers but because of the friendly atmosphere of the quiz, those of us present will never forget the correct answer, which I will leave for you to happily Google. It was a great move for Lisa to choose two men to learn from her the first position in ballet. It helped reinforce the value of actually doing something as the best learning mode, and that ballet as an art form should be free from gender bias. And what better way to popularize “elitist” ballet by throwing in the company of Side A? Bravo to Lisa the teacher and the ballerina.
Neni Sta. Romana Cruz ([email protected]) is a member of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, the Eggie Apostol Foundation, and a trustee of the Sa Aklat Sisikat Foundation.
