Jose Rizal: The words of this Philippine hero live on

by Alexa Basa

• Rizal grew up to be skilled in both arts and sciences, and is better known as the author of his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
• Rizal also contributed to La Solidaridad, a newspaper that pushed for reforms. His famous essays in the newspaper were the Sa Mga Kadalagahan Sa Malolos, Bulakan, Filipinas Dentro De Cien Años (The Philippines Within a Century), and Sobre La Indolencia de los Filipinos (On the Indolence of the Filipinos).
• Other written works of Rizal are Mi Retiro (My Retreat), Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell), and an annotated edition of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.
• The country continues to pay tribute to his heroism through the many monuments, shrines and places that are named after him.
• No one can miss Rizal in a regular day in the Philippines, starting with his face on the one-peso coin, a main avenue in any city or town named “Rizal Street,” major sports venues, university, elementary and high schools, even hospitals that carry his name.

PHILIPPINE HERO – Dr. Jose Rizal, who used nonviolent means for advocating reforms, was executed by a firing squad on Dec. 30, 1896 after being convicted of rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy.
(Photo by Library of Congress website/Manila Bulletin file photo)

Jose Rizal, a Philippine hero who stood up against Spanish colonizers by choosing the pen and not the sword to fight injustice, is the focus of tributes as the nation commemorates his 126th death anniversary on Dec. 30, a non-working holiday.

Rizal’s life was short. At the young age of 35, Rizal was executed by a firing squad on Dec. 30, 1896 in Bagumbayan after he was found guilty of rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy.

I first “met” Rizal through a small, thin book that I read when I was a kid. The book—titled Talambuhay ng mga Bayani—tells the short biographies of Filipino men and women who contributed to the country’s independence from Spanish colonizers. I learned the story about the hero from a summary of his life from his birth to death. I was very young then and I remember trying to memorize the details, especially his complete name. 

Rizal (Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda) was born on June 19, 1861 in Calamba, Laguna. He was the seventh among 11 children—two sons and nine daughters—of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso.

RIZAL MONUMENT -The Rizal monument stands at the Rizal Park, more popularly known as Luneta Park, in Manila. 
(Manila Bulletin File Photo)

He grew up to be skilled in both arts and sciences, and is better known as the author of his novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

Rizal also contributed to La Solidaridad, a newspaper that pushed for reforms in the country. His famous essays in the newspaper were the Sa Mga Kadalagahan Sa Malolos, Bulakan, Filipinas Dentro De Cien Años (The Philippines Within a Century), and Sobre La Indolencia de los Filipinos (On the Indolence of the Filipinos).

Among Rizal’s popular written works are Mi Retiro (My Retreat), Mi Ultimo Adios (My Last Farewell), and an annotated edition of Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas.   

Rizal’s written works are proof that the pen and paper are powerful tools to influence opinion and to bring reform as they inspired people to take action. He chose the pen as a peaceful way to advocate reforms without causing bloodshed.

Rizal’s talent and skills exceeded what is expected from one person. Aside from being a writer, Rizal was an “architect, artist, businessman, cartoonist, educator, economist, ethnologist, scientific farmer, historian, inventor, journalist, linguist, musician, mythologist, nationalist, naturalist, novelist, opthalmic surgeon, poet, propagandist, psychologist, scientist, sculptor, sociologist, and theologian,” according to joserizal.ph website.

The country continues to pay tribute to his heroism through the many monuments, shrines and places that are named after him. No one can miss Rizal in a regular day in the Philippines, starting with his face on the one-peso coin, a main avenue in any city or town named “Rizal Street,” major sports venues, university, elementary and high schools, even hospitals that carry his name. There have been many essays and stories published about him, and films and television shows produced about his life.

In Manila, Rizal Park, popularly referred to as Luneta Park, is the main venue for family gatherings, festivals, shows, exhibits, and dozens of tree planting activities held every so often to celebrate any occasion.

It is also at Rizal Park where a 12.7-meter monument stands with honor guards 24-hours a day.

Near that monument, in a small corner of Rizal Park is the site of where the national hero was executed on Dec. 30, 1896.  A diorama of the execution showing Rizal and the soldiers stand in that plot of land to remind locals and foreigners of our hero. 

If you want to pay your respects to our hero today, visit Rizal Park.

German Scholars Take Interest in Dr. Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere”, “El Filibusterismo”

By: Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Philippines

A growing number of German scholars have taken interest in studying Dr. Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo” as the two novels provided the framework for a Master’s degree summer course entitled, “Jose Rizal y El Realismo Espanol,” which is being conducted from April to July 2020 as part of the Ruhr University in Bochum’s Philippine Studies program.

The course, which is attended online by students of Spanish literature under Professor Roger Friedlein, attempts to define the essence and strategies of realist writing in metropolitan Spain and the Philippines.

“Rizal is not only one of the key figures of the Philippine independence from Spain who has biographical links to Germany, but he is as well a poet, dramatist and essayist and one of the most interesting Spanish-speaking novelists of the 19th century,” said Professor Friedlein.

The professor added that through the course, German students can gain better appreciation of Rizal’s novels as a valuable source of knowledge in the study of colonial society. The course also allows them to keenly establish the connection and similarity in literary techniques between Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Philippines, which were both distant territories of Spain in the 19th century.

“I am glad that German scholars have taken interest in studying Rizal’s writings and see their enduring relevance. As we commemorate Dr. Jose Rizal’s 159th birth anniversary, the course is but a timely reminder that there will always be something in Rizal the people of today can emulate. There is always something in Rizal for everyone, including the Germans,” said Philippine Consul General to Frankfurt Evelyn D. Austria.

The two novels are being related to Spanish literature of Realism, which was the dominating literary aesthetic of Rizal’s time. Since they were originally written in Spanish, Rizal’s novels are being studied in comparison with Spanish novels like Doña Perfecta (1876), and Fortunata y Jacinta (1887) by Benito Pérez Galdós, one of the most influential Spanish realist novelists.

The course is the third seminar conducted at Ruhr University under its “Philippine Initiative” program, which is an interdisciplinary cooperation of researchers with an interest in topics related to the Philippines. Two other Philippine-related courses held recently were "Las Filipinas Hispánicas" (The Spanish Philippines) and "Berichte der Entdeckungsfahrten nach Südostasien" (Chronicles on the voyages of discovery to South-East Asia).

The program forms part of the recently-signed cultural agreement between the Philippine Consulate General in Frankfurt and the University. The agreement, which was sponsored by Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda, aims to support academic and research activities on Philippine matters, and the creation of a center that would serve as a hub for Philippine-related projects in Southern Germany. 

The activities may be followed on the blog: philippinen.blogs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

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Noli me tangere - Ruehr' mich nicht an... - Don't Touch me...

Ich war schon immer fasziniert von Jose Rizal, dem philippinischen Nationalhelden.

1887 erschien in Berlin ein spanisch geschriebenes Buch mit dem lateinischen Titel NOLI ME TANGERE (Ruehr' mich nicht an!). Autor war der junge philippinische Schriftsteller Jose Rizal. Er hatte nach seinem Studium in Madrid und einem Aufenthalt in Paris 1886 Deutschland bereist und in Heidelberg die Niederschrift seines Romans beendet.

Der Erscheinungsort Berlin ist kein Kuriosum. Wie so viele wache und begeisterungsfaehige Koepfe jener Zeit suchte Rizal die Verbindung von wissenschaftlicher Erklaerung und "deutschem Idealismus". Sein Roman, der von der spanischen Kolonialherrschaft der Philippinen als politisch brisant betrachtet werden musste, war "mit Herzblut geschrieben", wie Rizal's oesterreichischer Freund, der Gelehrte F. Blumentritt, schrieb: Er wollte ebenso aufklaererisch wie aufruettelnd wirken.

Die spanische Kolonialmacht erkannte sofort die subversive Kraft des Romans: nicht in den manchmal karikaturartigen Einzelgestalten, sondern darin, dass die Fremdherrschaft eben als FREMDherrschaft ad absurdum gefuehrt wird. Noch im Erscheinungsjahr 1887 wird der Roman verboten. Am 30.12.1986 wird Rizal als geistiger Urheber der nicht laenger zu unterdrueckenden philippinischen Freiheitsbewegung exekutiert. Zwei Jahre spaeter endet die spanische Herrschaft auf den Philippinen, ebenso auf Kuba, wo Jose Marti eine aehnliche revolutionaer-literarische Rolle gespielt hat.

Noch heute teilt sich die leidenschaftlich politisch-ethische Kraft dieses wirkungsreichen  Romans dem Leser unmittelbar mit.

Ich besitze die spanische, englische und deutsche Ausgabe (aus dem philippinisch Spanisch uebersetzt von Annemarie del Cueto-Moerth, 1. Auflage 1987, Insel Verlag, Frankfurt/Main).

Happy Birth Anniversary Dr. Jose Rizal

 Born on June 19, 1861 and was martyred on December 30, 1896, Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was a polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era.

 He was born to a rich family in Calamba, Laguna and was the seventh of eleven children.

He attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts, and enrolled in Medicine at the University of Sto. Tomas.

He continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine.

He also attended the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. 

Rizal was a polyglot conversant in 22 languages.

He was a prolific poet, essayist, diarist, correspondent, and novelist whose most famous works were his two novels "Noli me Tangere" and 'El Filibusterismo'.

As a political figure, according to historical account, Jose Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organisation that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo/

He was a proponent of achieving Philippine self-government peacefully through institutional reform rather than through violent revolution, although he would support "violent means" as a last resort. 

History also has it that Rizal had the belief that the only justification for national liberation and self-government is the restoration of the dignity of the people.

He was quoted having said, "Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?" The general consensus among Rizal scholars was that his execution by the Spanish helped bring about the Philippine Revolution.

I have been always very much interested in Rizal's works and life since I met my former Philippine mentor, the late Monsignor Professor Dr. Dr. Hermogenes E. Bacareza, who was our chaplain in the Philippine Community in Berlin already during the 1980s.