It was only last year when I wrote about a famous hero, who was rightfully the Philippines’ first president. Andres Bonifacio, during his time, was seized of his position by the ambitious colleague, Emilio Aguinaldo. Nevertheless, it is national heroes’ day again in the Philippines. It is a good task to write something about a patriot, who happens to be my favorite writer. ” The pen is mightier than the sword,” is one of the quotes he was known for. I believe that there is no Filipino in this world who would not know Dr. Jose Protacio Alonzo Mercado Rizal. He is a quintessential person during his prime. A known ophthalmologist, leader, philanthropist, teacher, engineer and artist. He is a pride of the Malayan race. He was real tough guy who risked his life by challenging the Spanish colonizers in the Philippines through his writings. He believed in peaceful reform. Thus , he refused to get involved in the armed struggle of the Katipunan, which was lead by Gat Andres Bonifacio.
Jose Rizal was the seventh child of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Realonda Alonzo. He was also the second son. He was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna. He finished Bachelor of Arts in Ateneo Municipal. During those years, he witnessed the execution of the three priests from Cavite. He became conscious of the harsh and unfair treatment of the natives by the Spanish colonizers. He started taking medicine in the University of Sto. Tomas. However, he did not finished it. He went to Europe where he studied Ophthalmology. It was there where he wrote his two novels, the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. These books are now required to be read by high school college students in the Philippines. Stage plays and TV series were based on these novels and were patronized by the young and old. He has an unfinished novel, ” Makamisa,” which was a very funny satire. It showed that the serious Rizal also had some sense of humor. (Actually, I wanted to be like him so much before that I applied for a pre-residency in ophthalmology after I passed my board exam. However, fate led me somewhere and I realized that I found delivering babies into this world much rewarding. I became a writer, though. )
Noli Me Tangere was a story of Crisostomo Ibarra, who went back to the Philippines after years of studying in Europe. He searched for the body of his late father, which was unfortunately been thrown to the crocodile-infested river by the men who was ordered by his nemesis, Padre Damaso, a Spanish Friar. Crisostomo never saw his father’s remains, and his good intentions like building school was contradicted by Padre Damaso. He was erroneously accused of subversion. His sweetheart was bethrothed to a Spaniard ,and later, it was found out that his love, Maria Clara, was a biological daughter of Padre Damaso. The ending showed that Crisostomo was able to escape with the help of a man named Elias. The story was quite full of controversy and I could imagine the ire of the friars when this book was published. However, the stories like this, actually, occurs even in the present time.
The El Filibusterismo was a sequel of the Noli Me Tangere. Crisostomo Ibarra returned to the country as Simoun. Being wealthy and friend of the governor-general, he was able to influence the government officials to abuse their constituent Filipinos. He thought that by doing so, the Filipinos would be instigated to revolt. He asked Basilio, who was then a medical intern , to join him in starting a revolution. Basilio consented only after his sweetheart, Juli, fell from the convent as she escaped from the friar, who was harassing her. However, he had second thoughts when he saw that the lamp where Simoun planted the bomb in the wedding banquet of Paulina and Juanito, could kill a lot of innocent people. Conscience bothered him so much. So, he divulged to Isagani, Paulina’s ex-boyfriend, the details of the bomb.Hence, Isagani went to the wedding banquet and threw it to the river. Simoun, on the other hand, escaped to the place of a priest whose name was Padre Florentino. He poisoned himself and had confessions before he died. Rizal ‘s writings are relevant to this day. Even if there are no more colonizers, the dreams of the poor are still hard to reach. Crab mentality of the Filipinos pull those who want to have better condition of life. There are still corruption in the government because many officials are greedy and are in love with the material things in this world. The poor are enslaved because what could possibly improved their lives were placed in the pockets of the few. They are also retained to that miserable state because many refused to dream and to achieve because of the expensive blocks. Expensive because the tuition fees are high, and the transportation from the boondocks are too much for those who have to cross the river and the seas just to get to school or to get to the market to sell their goods . There are still a lot of tribes who need clothing, and their feet are thickened by walking barefoot under the heat of the sun. Hospitals are miles away for many. Not one doctor is available in many villages. Thus, the unfortunate in the far-flung places have very little money to afford the things that we just take for granted in the city because even with little amount of money, these things are easily reached. Perhaps, Rizal saw these situations when he built a school and a hospital in Dapitan when he was exiled there by the Spaniards. Nevertheless, I believe that the real freedom is when all of us could have access to education, health institutions and better livelihood options that could make the people live comfortably. When would this happen in my country, I would not know. I am optimistic, nonetheless, because I believe that not only few could see the situation. A century might not be needed for the country like us to get things right.