Unveiling the Truth about Our National Hero

As time passes, the historical background of Jose Rizal is being revealed. Some
criticize him, but most schools and universities only teach the positive aspects of Rizal's life and
work. To begin, Rizal was known for his works such as El Fili and Noli, of which Noli has been
criticized for being a cookbook because he mentioned a lot of typical Filipino dishes such as
tinola and sinigang in some chapters of Noli Me Tangere. He is reputed to be a good cook, and it
does show in the culinary references in his novel. Rizal contributed some of his writings, which
we are obliged to study as college students. "Sa aking mga Kabata," one of his sample works, is
said to be the first poem he wrote in 1869, when he was only 8 years old. The poem "Sa aking
mga Kabata" is about a person’s love for his own language, but some people argue that he did
not write the poem; although an expert in Tagalog, historians contend that Rizal was unable to
write in his native language. A sample of the evidence is that in 1869, when he was 8, the use of
"k" was not much used yet. In Rizal’s childhood, they spelled words with a "c" rather than "k.",
Then why did he use "k" in the wordkalayaan," which has been mentioned twice in the poem?
There were a lot of critiques about it, but still, there is no evidence yet about the legitimacy of
Rizal’s authorship, and now several historians believe that it was just a hoax. Rizal’s works
served as an eye opener to the Filipino people, encouraging them to stand up for their country
and fight against the colonizers. Thus, though he might not believe in the success of the
revolution, Rizal had inspired it. In 1887, Rizal wrote an essay in French called "Dimanche des
Rameus", which means Palm Sunday. It opens the idea that Catholic churches became the church
of the rich and powerful against the poor, as he writes: It was the poor who accepted Christianity
first; yes, it was the poor who did not see ministers of God in their priest but despots. The poor
gave Christianity its power because it was their religion. In today’s society, do you think the
church is still the church of the poor? Or do you still consider it a church or a business for the
founders?

As we can see in today’s generation, many people are not interested in Rizal’s works
because they're too serious, but in Noli, he did not write only about revolution; he mixed it with
drama, romance, action, and lusty scenes just to make it more interesting. Someone said Rizal
has such a good public image that he can win as president if he wanted to, and in some chapters
Rizal inserted some interesting stories. For example, the reason why Noli was banned during the
19th century is because of Chapter 23, where it tells a story of 5 holes in a banca with 5 girls and
5 plugs in a banca with 5 men. He wrote those kinds of stories so that while reading his work,
you would be entertained and at the same time, you would learn from it.

In addition to this, there are a lot of people asking why Rizal is our national hero. Despite
the fact that Rizal is considered to be our national hero, he has never been proclaimed a national
hero. There is no specific law or proclamation that has been enacted to proclaim a historical
figure to be our national hero. Well, in fact, he could have lived beyond 1896 if he kept his
mouth shut. If he just stayed in Hong Kong, then he might have lived like how normal people do
during their time. There was also hearsay that he was an American-sponsored hero, and it’s true
that he was an American-sponsored hero. William Howard Taft endorsed him as the national
hero of the Philippines in 1901, and even though Americans are the ones who encouraged the
hero worship of Rizal, he was already considered a hero to the Filipinos before the Americans
sponsored him as such. But Rizal has a story about his hatred for an American, which he
described as hambog." In his travel diaries, he wrote about a train ride he took from Paris to
Dieppe in 1899, where a boorish American gave him the best reason for his low regard for
Americans. While on the train, Rizal is with two Frenchmen and three Americans; the two
French were not talking the whole trip, as were the two Americans, but there is this one hobo
American who is so obsessed with his own country. He did nothing but slander and compare to
New York the beautiful places they’ve passed by. Rizal was so irritated with the ham-handed
American that even if he disliked the Spaniards, he was compelled to defend Spain and Europe
in front of this annoying American. His mind was so imprisoned by the beauty of his own
country that he could no longer appreciate the beauty of other places.

Just a fun fact, did you know that during Rizal’s time there were only 12 students in his
class, and nine of those, including Rizal, graduated sobresaliente, or outstanding. Do you believe
that Rizal is really intelligent? Rizal did get good grades in Ateneo, but in UST he wasn’t as
great a student as he’s been made out to be. Rizal is not also entitled to use "Dr." before his
name. He was unable to take the examination that would have qualified him for a doctorate. He
only had a license in medicine, and being a medical doctor, he was allowed to practice the
profession. Technically, he could not carry the academic title "Dr." before his name or attach
"M.D." after his name. There was also a discovery among his relatives in Laguna, where the
Alberto house still stands: Jose Alberto was Rizal’s uncle, but the relationship between Teodora
Alonso and Jose Alberto remained unclear; a descendant of Jose Alberto, Don Zoilo Alberto,
received the interviewers. Don Zoilo was not proud of being related to Rizal because in some of
Rizal’s writings he only makes the story better by lying. For example, Rizal said that Jose
Alberto was educated in Europe, but a researcher found out that he was educated in Calcutta. In
terms of the relationship between Rizal and Alberto, it depends on whose book you are reading.
One thing is for sure: Teodora Alonso and Jose Alberto are both illegitimate.
Moving on, we all know that Rizal’s family has Chinese roots, Rizal’s great grandfather
is also a Chinese named Cua Yi Lam or Domingo Lamco. Despite having a Chinese bloodline,
did you know that Rizal disliked Chinese people during his time? He even refused to buy
Chinese products because the Chinese people dominated the business industry of the Philippines.
In Rizal’s letter to his Austrian friend he described how he organized the farmers’ cooperative
while in exile in Dapitan to empower local traders against Chinese counterparts, he said, "Here I
have become half physician, half businessman. I have established a commercial company here. I
have taught the poor Mindanao folk to unite for trading so that they may become independent
and free themselves from the Chinese and thus be less exploited."
Based on what you have read, do you still consider Rizal as our national hero? Do you
think if we followed the ideologies of Rizal we would achieve the better Philippines? There’s a
lot of theories and hearsays about Rizal but it depends on you on how you will you fact check
those things. If Rizal would’ve lived up until today do you think he would still say “Kabataan
ang pag-asa ng bayan”? or “Ang kabataan na ang unti-unting sumisira sa ating bayan”.