JOSE RIZAL AND PHILIPPINE NATIONALISM
Philippine Nationalism
It is a belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with or
becoming attached to one's nation. It is referred to as the awakening and support
towards political identity associated with modern Philippines leading to a wide-ranging
campaign for social, political and economic freedom in the Philippines.
Rizal has been ranked by his biographer, both Filipinos and foreigners, as one of the
great intellectual leaders of Asia, together with Mahatma Gandhi of India and Dr. Sun
Yat-son of China.
While in Barcelona, Rizal contributed essays, poems, allegories, and editorials to the
Spanish newspaper La Solidaridad. Most of his writings both in his essays and
editorials, centered on individual rights and freedom specifically for the Filipino people.
Nationalism is not a product of a sudden outburst of sentiment. It is brought about by
certain factors that gradually developed, like a seed nourished by common ideals and
aspiration for national unity. It is an extreme feeling of love for one's country.
The development of nationalism in the Philippines was the reaction to colonialism. The
Filipinos love for freedom motivated them to unite against their colonizer. Nationalism
seeks to preserve and foster a nations traditional cultures and cultural revivals have
been associated with nationalist movements. It also encourages pride in national
achievements and is closely linked to patriotism.
Factors that led to the Development of Nationalism
1. Spread of Liberalism
Liberal ideas from Europe filtered in when Spain gradually exposed Philippines to
international trade. The children of the principalias were able to obtain education abroad
thereupon giving them exposure to the libertarian ideas.
2. The rise of a middle class from which come the "Illustrados" or elites that soon
become the main agitators against the Spanish Regime.
3. The bureaucratic centralized government established in Manila, caused widespread
discontent in the entire archipelago.
4. The Cavite mutiny (execution of Gomburza) became a spark among the educated
Illustrados.
5. Secularization controversy- due to lack of secular priest, Pope Pius issued Espanic
mobis (1567) which allowed the regular clergy to serve as parish priest without diocesan
authority and be exempted from bishop's authority.
6. Propaganda Movement
How to show Nationalism
1. Study the history of your own country, know how and where your ancestors came
from. Know the hardships your country has experienced, and the great actions done by
them to solve their problems. This would help you know where your ancestors came
from and how your country came to be.
2. Show willingness to learn about your country's culture and practices. Respect them
and be happy to practice them. This is important because to show that you love your
country you have to appreciate the most practiced thing in the country and that is the
culture of the people.
3. Singing the national anthem and respect the Philippine flag.
4. Speak Filipino correctly.
5. Buy our Philippine made products.
6. Be a proactive citizen.
The Concept of "Bayani" and "Kabayanihan"
Bayani is someone who is brave, valiant, who fights and works towards a common goal
in a cooperative endeavor for his "bayan" or community and willing to die for it in
exchange. A modern bayani can be someone who sacrifices even the smallest things
for the benefit of others. A good example of modern bayani is Efren Peñaflorida, he
sacrificed his time and effort just to teach "out of school youth" in a simple pushcart
classroom. He may not have deed for the country, but he responded to the needs of
others education.
According to Historian Esteban de Ocampo, he defines a hero (bayani) prominent figure
who accomplished an admirable feat in any significant action or event, and who is
honored after death due to his or services to the nation. "Kabayanihan" and "heroism"
maybę equivalent terms but they don't have the same meaning. Heroism consists of
putting others first, even at your peril. The noun heroism comes from the Greek heros,
which referred to as demigod, someone who shows great courage and valor. Heroism is
highly valued in the society or culture because heroism touches the heart of every
member in the society and fills the society's admiration. Bayani as a person;
kabayanihan as a heroic act; For one to be "bayani" in meeting with various challenges
both in daily life and in critical historical moments, he or she must have all or at least
most of the following:
1. determination
2. perseverance
3. courage
4. diligence
5. enthusiasm
6. humility
7. inspiration and effect of inspiring others.
How to become a Hero (Bayani) by Sheba Kanshozi Kirabo
These tips helped people we call heroes today, like Fred Rwigema and Nelson
Mandela.
● Initiate the change you want to see.
A true hero isn't just talk; he should constantly think about how they can take
action help others.
● Put others before yourself.
When you are making decisions at work or at home, take some time to think how
your actions will affect someone else.
● Be ready to act when others are passive.
A hero will be willing to take action and confront injustice straight on.
● Perform random acts of kindness.
Who made Rizal our foremost and National Hero and why?
Who is the Filipino thinker whose teachings and noble thoughts have been frequently
invoked and quoted by authors and public speakers on almost all se as biographer
Rafael Palma occasions? None but Rizal. And why is this so? Because as said, "The
doctrines of Rizal are not for one epoch but for all epochs. They are as valid today as
they were yesterday. It cannot be said that because the political ideals of Rizal have
been achieved, because of the change in the institutions, the wisdom of his counsels or
the value of his doctrines have ceased to be opportune. They have not."
This article will attempt to answer two questions: (1) Who made Rizal the foremost
national hero of the Philippines (2) Why is Rizal our greatest national hero? Before
proceeding to answer these queries, it will be better if we first know the meaning of the
term hero. According to Webster's New International Dictionary of the English
Language, a hero is "a prominent or central personage taking admirable part in any
remarkable action or event". Also, "a person of distinguished valor or enterprise in
danger, or fortitude in suffering". And finally, he is a man honored after death by public
worship, because of exceptional service to mankind.
He is our greatest hero because as a towering figure in the Propaganda Campaign, he
took an "admirable part" in that movement which roughly covered the period from
1882-1896. If we were asked to pick out a single work by a Filipino writer during this
era, more than any writer writing contributed tremendously to the formation of Filipino
nationality, we shall have no hesitation in choosing Rizal's Noli Me Tangere (Berlin,
1887). It is true that Pedro Paterno published his novel, Ninay, in Madrid in 1885; M. H.
del Pilar his La Soberania Monacal in Barcelona in 1889, Graciano Lopez Jaena, his
Discursos y Articulos Varios, also in Barcelona in 1891; Antonio Luna, his Impressiones
in Madrid in 1893, but none of these books had evoked such favorable and unfavorable
comments from friends and foes alike as did Rizal's Noli.
Typical of the encomiums that the hero received for his novel were those received from
Antonio Ma. Regidor and Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt. Regidor, a Filipino exile of 1872 in
London, said that "the book was superior" and that if "Don Quixote has made its author
immortal because he exposed to the world the sufferings of Spain, your Noli Me
Tangere will bring you equal glory..."Blumentritt, after reading Rizal's Noli, wrote and
congratulated its author, saying among other things: "Your work, as we Germans say,
has been written with the blood of the heart... Your work has exceeded my hopes and I
consider myself happy to have been honored with your friendship. Not only I, but also
your country, may feel happy for having in you a patriotic and loyal son. If you continue
so, you will be to your people's one of those great men who will exercise a determinate
influence over the progress of their spiritual life."
Again, we ask the question: why did Rizal, become the greatest Filipino hero? Because
in this writer's humble opinion, no Filipino has yet been born who could equal or surpass
Rizal as a danger, fortitude in suffering." Of these traits of our hero let us see what a
Filipino "person of distinguished valor or enterprise in and an American biographer said:
"What is most admirable in Rizal," wrote Rafael Palma, is his complete self-denial, his
complete abandonment of his personal interests in order to think only of those of his
country. He could have been whatever he wished to be, considering his natural
endowments, he could have earned considerable sums of money from his profession;
he could have lived relatively rich, happy, prosperous, had he not dedicated himself to
public matters. But in him, the voice of the species was stronger than the voice of
personal progress or of private fortune, and he preferred to live far from his family and
to sacrifice his personal affections for an ideal he had dreamed of. He heeded not his
brother, not even his parents, being whom he respected & venerated so much, in order
to follow the road his conscience had traced for him.
He did not have great means at his disposal to carry out his campaign, but that did not
discourage him; he contented himself with what he had. He suffers the rigors of the cold
winter of Europe, he suffered hunger, privation, and misery; but when he raised his eyes
to heaven and saw his ideal, his hope was reborn. He complained of his countrymen, he
complained of some of those who had promised him help & did not help him, until at
times, profoundly disillusioned, he wanted to renounce his campaign forever, giving up
everything. But such moments were evanescent, he soon felt comforted & resumed the
task of bearing the cross of his suffering."
As we read through his life, we can see how the moral sinew and fiber grew year by
year as he faced new perils and was forced to make fearful decisions. It required
courage to write his two great novels telling nothing that no other man had ventured to
say before, standing almost alone against the most powerful interests in his country and
in Spain, and knowing fully well that despotism would strike back. He had reached
another loftier plateau of heroism when he wrote those letters to Hongkong, "To be
opened after my death", and sailed to the "trap" in Manila without illusions. Then in his
Dapitan exile when he was tempted to escape, and said "No" not once but hundreds of
times for four long years, and when on the way to Cuba, Pedro Roxas pleaded with him
to step off the boat of Singapore upon British territory to save his life, what inner
struggle it must have caused him to answer over & over again, "No, no, no!" When the
sentence of death & the fateful morning of his execution brought the final test,
December 30, 1896, he walked with perfect calm to the firing line as though by his own
choice, the only heroic figure in that sordid scene."
And for the third and the last time, we repeat the question: Why is Rizal the greatest
Filipino hero that ever lived? Because he is "a man honored after death by public
worship, because of exceptional service to mankind". (Maguegad, 2001).
Jose Rizal and Philippine Nationalism: National Symbol
According to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), official national
symbols of the Philippines represent the country's traditions and ideals and convey the
principles of Philippine sovereignty and national solidarity. Some of these symbols are
stated in the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, which is also known as
Republic Act 8491. The national language of the Philippines is Filipino as stated in the
Constitution of the Philippines. Aside from those stated symbols in the Constitution and
in Republic Act 8491, there are only five official national symbols of the Philippines
enacted through law, namely 1) sampaguita as national flower, 2) narra as national tree,
3) the Philippine eagle as national bird, 4) Philippine pearl as national gem and 5) arnis
as national sport. There are symbols such as the carabao (national animal), mango
(national fruit) and anahaw (national leaf) that are widely known as national symbols but
have no laws recognizing them as official national symbols. Even Jose Rizal, who is
widely considered as a national hero, has not been declared officially as a national hero
in any existing Philippine law according to historical experts.
Although in 2003, Benigno Aquino, Jr. was officially declared by the President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo as a national hero by an executive order. On the other hand, a
National Artist of the Philippines is a rank, or a title given to a Filipino citizen in
recognition to the recipient's contributions to Philippine arts and letters and they are not
considered as a national symbol that represents traditions and ideals. On February 17,
2014, Bohol First District Representative Rene Relampagos filed a bill at the Philippine
House of Representatives that seeks to declare or re-declare and to recognize a
number of national symbols. The proposed bill, House Bill 3926 or the "Philippine
National Symbols Act of 2014", aims also to encourage nationalism and unity; to
guarantee respect, preservation, and promotion of national symbols; and to correct the
"unofficial" status of the symbols.
Among the proposed national symbols listed in the measure are Jose Rizal as the only
historical Filipino to be recognized as national hero, adobo as national food and jeepney
as national vehicle. It also includes the previously mentioned national symbols. During
the Commonwealth Era in 1934, it was Governor-General Frank Murphy who declared
sampaguita and narra as national flower and national proclaimed the Philippine eagle
as the national bird in 1995 through Proclamation tree, respectively, through
Proclamation No. 652. Philippine President Fidel Ramos No. 615.
Ramos also declared the South Sea Pearl or Philippine Pearl as the national gem in
1996 through Proclamation No. 905. In 2009, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
declared arnis as the national sport and martial art through Republic Act 9850. In
February 2013, the Philippine Senate passed a bill declaring waling-waling (Vanda
sanderianá) as the national flower alongside sampaguita.
A similar bill in the House of Representatives had already been passed in 2012.
Normally, the bill would become law after being signed by the President however, it was
vetoed by President Benigno Aquino III. The veto has left the waling-waling as an
unofficial national symbol.
Making a National Symbol Official
Once a national emblem for the Philippines is acknowledged by a legislation or
proclamation, it is regarded as legitimate. The cariñosa, carabao, bangus (milkfish), and
anahaw (footstool palm), which are in circulation from diverse sources, are not
recognized as official national symbols and have not been established by law. The
majority of these unauthorized symbols, according to Nestor Castro, a cultural
anthropologist from the Philippines, were passed down as tradition in schools each fall
when students were urged to purchase posters with the purported national insignia.
Although official national symbols are established by law, Castro and Teodoro Atienza,
Section Chief of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), believed
that the public should be consulted before a national symbol is established.