Balbona, Denmar B.

HRIZAL- ARC154

I.

1. What is Republic Act 1425? Explain how and why it became a

Law in June 12, 1956 (5pts)

Answer: R.A 1425 or otherwise known as An Act to Include in the

Curricula of All Public and Private Schools, Colleges and Universities
Courses On the Life, Works and Writings of Jose Rizal, Particularly His
Novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Authorizing the Printing
and Distribution Thereof, and for Other Purpose. It was a law authored by
the late Senator Claro M. Recto and the late president and senator, Jose P
Luarel which aimed to teach the student to offer their selves to the ideals
of nationalism and patriotism to which our heroes live and die for.
(Chua,2014). An act that will deliberately be challenged not only by other
Philippine senate but also by the Catholic Church.

The fight for the enactment of the Rizal law was never easy for both of
its proponents. According to Xiao Chua a history professor from De La
Salle University, the reason why the Rizal Law was important for both of
its author is because that in 1956 where our culture was bounded on the
interest of the United States of America even we are fully a independent
country, the two senators are fearing that we may fully forget our identity
as a Filipino and we were slowly turning into” brown American of Asia”.

1.1 How it became a Law

According to the book, “State and society in the Philippines” by
Donna Amoroso, Claro M. Recto was met by the allegations during
the 1956 Senatorial election and labeled as communist by the
Catholic Church. After the 1956 senatorial election, the late senator
Claro M. Recto authored the law and during the deliberation of this
law, the Church threatened to close down its schools if the senate
will approve the bill. Claro M. Recto did not believe the threat of the

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catholic church believing that that schools are so profitable to be

closed( Chua, 2014) and state that its ok if the catholic schools will
be closed, the government will then turn them into public schools
( Amoroso,2010 ) . The bill was objectified by 3 senators in the
senate namely, Francisco Soc Rodrigo, Mariano Jesús Cuenco, and
Decoroso Rosales. Senator Cuenco castigates Rizal’s objection of
the idea of the purgatory and said that even the people in Sulu
believe in the concept of the Purgatory. Outside the senate people
who objectified the passing of the bill was mostly part of the
Catholic Church. Archbishop Rufino Santos of Manila issued a
pastoral letter stating that the faith of the catholic students will be
strongly affected if these students will read the expurgated version
of the 2 of his books. In an article published by Manila Bulletin,
Arsenio Lacson, the mayor of Manila and a supporter of the bill
walked out of the mass after the pastoral letter was reading during
the mass. People from Catholic community marched for objectifying
the law are met by the Veteranos de la Revolucion (Spirit of 1896),
Alagad ni Rizal, the Freemasons, and the Knights of Rizal. (Cruz-
Araneta,2010)

On May 12,1956, Jose P Laurel acknowledge the stands of the

catholic church and the bill was passed into law stating that only
the colleges or the Universities have the freedom of reading the
expurgated version of the 2 books written by Dr. Jose P. Rizal. The
bill was enacted into law on June 12, 1956.
The presidency of Fidel V. Ramos fully applied the law. He
ordered the Department of Education, Culture and sport to fully
implement the law since some of the educational institution did not
implement the law until his administration in 1994.

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2. How and why Rizal chosen as National Hero? Was Rizal chosen
by Americans? (5pts)

The lecture given by our Rizal Course professor last March 3,

2020 states that Rizal was chosen by Americans as the Philippine
National Hero. From my further research, this arguments about Rizal
as the Philippine Hero can be traced as far as 1960’s. One of my
source is linking to the lecture given by Renato Constantino, a Filipino
Historian who argues the pronouncement of Rizal as a national hero
instead, he pronounce the fact that Rizal was an established National
hero by Americans. He supported this claim on his lecture, “The
Veneration without Understanding” in 1969.

Three evidence of Rizal as an established National Hero

1. Act 137: Changing the name of Morong Province into Rizal

Province
2. Act 243 the Erection of a national Monument ( Luneta Park )
for Dr. Jose P. Rizal
3. Act 345: Declaring December 30 as a holiday or a day of
remembrance of his death.

Sub-question: Why Rizal? Why not Aguinaldo, Bonifacio or Mabini

Renato Constantino cited an article from the Philippine Free

press in 1946 stating that Civil Governor William Howard Taft calls for
a meeting for the meeting to the Philippine Commission in 1901. The
meeting was met by the presence of Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Benito
Legarda and José de Luzuriaga. The said meeting established Rizal as
a national hero and not Aguinaldo nor Bonifacio or Mabini. They

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subsequently reasoned that Aguinaldo was to militant, Bonifacio was

so radical and Mabini was so unregenerate. Although this information
comes from a lecture of a historian, recent discovery such as the
discovery of Ambeth Ocampo states that the particular meeting
between civil governor William Howard Taft and the member of the
Philippine Commission did not happen. He disseminates this finding on
Philippine Historical Association Conference in 2011 in which he said
that he already finished discerning the reports from Philippine
Commission and the said meeting was not even stated in this
voluminous report.

Historian Dr. Xiao Chua stated that the pronouncement of Rizal as a

National Hero was effective in promoting the American Ideals to the
Filipinos. He quotes that Rizal was effective in imposing the American
ideals of public school system.

II. Explain the following aspects during Rizal’s time and context
(1861-1898) (15 pts)

a.) Social
b.) Economic
c.) Political

A. Social

Through Jose P. Rizal’s character in his two books ( Noli Mi Tangere

and El Filibusterismo), the readers were able to see the situation of the
society This book was dedicated to the 3 executed priest (GOMBURZA )
from ten years before. His book magnified the inequality in the society
through his characters such as the Friars, the government the ilustrados
(upper class) and the mestizos ( the Spanish). His novel implies that the

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Friars has so much power that they are almost recognize as the authority
in the whole country. They are so much powerful that they hold so much
authority such as they affect the judgement of the government making it
impartial. This was also magnified in the movie Rizal by Marilou Diaz-
Abaya where the Friars has something to do with the judgement given to
Rizal. The mishaps on the life of his characters, Simoun and Ibarra has
something to do with the authority of the Friars. This is evident from the
killing of Ibarra’s father to the abusive undertakings taken by the Spanish
Friars in the novel. As I quote from the Rizal’s lawyer response when
asked by Rizal about the effect of its effect to him in the film “halos di ako
makatulog pagkaraang matapos ko ang iyong mga nobela” is I think one
of the best reactions to the injustice in the society during Rizal’s time.

As a conclusion, Rizal thinks that the Spanish government is exploiting

his fellow Filipinos. Through his 2 novels, Rizal was able to show the
despotic rule of the Spaniards by magnifying the lives of every Filipinos to
his character. A drastic move that will soon be noticed by the Friars.

B. Economic

The aspect of economy in the times of Rizal has something to do with

the unequality happening in the society. According to our professor, the
Mercado’s misfortunes has something to do with their dispute to the friars
ruling their lands. On September 6, 1890, a platoon of soldiers stormed
the Mercado’s land and seize their control over it. Farmers and the family
of Rizal are displaced because of their lost to the case they filed against
the Dominican friars in 1898. Rizal was informed by the family’s
misfortune through the letter sent by his brother, Paciano when he was in
Europe. From this view, Rizal has seen the fact of injustice among his

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fellow Filipinos. The Philippine is an agricultural country and the friars

seize this opportunity to grow their assets.

These economic situation in the time of Rizal was proven in the paper
presented by Guerrero in 1998 which studied the Philippine Institutions.
The paper found out that the power of the friars was extended from being
head of the church to the head of the authority or town mayor. This
power of the friars has made their selves of total authority over any
agricultural products.

Rizal’s also believe that Filipinos are not lazy but their laziness is an
effect of colonialism. In his essay the Philippines, a century hence, Rizal
argued that Pre-colonial Filipinos are not lazy but their attitude towards
their work are effect of the colonialism. My Rizal professor expound this
by stating that most of Filipinos in the time of Spanish Colonial are
expected to have a shorter siesta time (nap time) than the Spanish in
which I recalled from the lecture last February 26, 2020.

C. Political

Although his work influenced revolution, Rizal has not known the term
freedom Kalayaan (freedom) not until he was 25 years old. Unhindered
by this, Rizal was able to write something that will soon rage a revolution
against the government. An undertaking which is not base on the concept
of freedom but from the ideals of equality among Filipinos and the
Spanish.

Rizal did not wish the Philippines to be free from the Spanish
Government but instead, he wishes to have a Filipino representative in
Spain. In his essay, A forecast of the Philippines, a century hence, Rizal
was able to iterate his political ideals such as a Filipino representative
from Spanish Cortez, freedom of Speech, reorganization of the
administrative system, equal rights for both Filipinos and Spanish such as

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equal rights to government offices and justice as the foundation of

Society. As progressive as his political ideas, the political situation in the
Philippines is in contrast to the ideas that he wants thus he reflected it on
his novels. The main characters in his novel somehow, reflect the life of
Rizal. The political injustice happened to Ibarra is somehow, related to
the mishaps in the life of Rizal.

Rizal believe that the Philippines may not achieve total independence
but somehow can develop itself through colonialism of the Spain. Even in
his essay, Rizal predicted that in 100 years, Filipinos will soon achieve an
inherent right that is the same with the Spaniards. Although this
prediction did not materialize, his second prediction happened. The
second prediction states if the 1st prediction did not materialize, Filipinos
will soon revolt against the Spanish government. (1896 Revolution) the
3rd prediction happened in which states that other country will soon
colonize the Philippines in which, the American colonialism happened.

Politics, according to my Politics and Governance professor is the

ability of a person to dominates or suppress one political person. In
Rizal’s case, the most dominant are friars and the suppressed is Rizal. His
trial proves that the political power of the Catholic church during his time
is extensive to the fact that it can manipulate the justice system of a
country.

The Novels created by Rizal reflected his political ideals. In my own

understanding from my subject, Politics and Govenance, my professor
taught us that there are ways of changing the government. One of this is
revolution which can be characterize into two, the peaceful revolution and
the violent or bloody revolution. In my own opinion, the two novels can
be differentiated base on their view towards the achievement of freedom
and emancipation. The first novel, Noli Mi Tangere is I think, reflect

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Rizal’s optimism towards a peaceful revolution. In the book Noli Mi

Tangere, the encounter between Elias and Ibarra shown the stand of Rizal
against the revolution

An Excerpt of the conversation between Ibarra and Simoun from the

Movie Jose Rizal by Marilou Diaz- Abaya

Elias : What are you waiting? You came back here full of ambition. Full of

hope. What good it did to you

Ibarra: Evil cannot be remedied by another evil

Elias: What can cure then? Bottled holy water bought from the friars?

Indulgences?

Elias : What we need is revolution!

Ibarra: The people are not prepared. We have to wait.

Elias : When will they be ready? Once you yourself are arrested and

tortured? You are blind to our sufferings senyor Ibarra.

Elias: Slowly, people are seeing the truth. Now they see clearly the fearful

Holocaust of fire and blood

Elias: Education has no use for them now. What they need are weapons.

Deadly Weapons! Because the days of oppression are over

The optimism of Ibarra gives me a sense that somehow, Rizal believe in

revolution. Even in Dapitan, he told Pio Valenzuela that the Filipinos are not

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ready for a bloody revolution. The following book El Filibusterismo, where

Simoun uses violence somehow gives me an impression that Rizal was on
the verge of breaking into his stand against bloody revolution but may later
reflection told me that revolution is not the key to freedom and
emancipation. This is rooted from the fact that Rizal did not end his novel in
violence but somehow, he guides his readers to the absurdity of a bloody
revolution.

III. Explain thorough the following ( 20 pts )

A. In his exile in Dapitan for 4 years ( 1892-1896), would you

consider that in his exile, this could be an example of his
planned state.

Answer:

Rizal’s time in Dapitan is considered as one of the most productive

time of his life. Xia Chua, a historian from De La Salle University coined
Rizal’s stay in Dapitan as Rizal’s “Imagineering” his ideal nation.
Fortunately enough, Rizal together with his friend, Don Ricardo Carnicero
y Sanchez and another Spanish had won 20,000 Pesos from the lottery
in which they parted with an amount of 6000 pesos each. From this
money Rizal was able to develop a community he called Talisay and
further develop its agricultural domain. He further use his engineering
degree in surveying as a way of developing a irrigation for farmlands.
With this undertaking, Rizal had provenly created his dream community
into reality by creating tangible developments that made Dapitan
prosperous.

Rizal’s being a traveler in Europe has something to his idea of an “ideal

community”. According to the column made by Gerardo P. Sicat in the

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Philippine Star in 2019. Rizal was influence by the ideas of Enlightenment

in which defined as The advancement of individual liberty, social
progress, and scientific knowledge, these were the main ideas of the
Enlightenment. ( Sicat ,2019) by examining these advancement, I was
able to conclude that Rizal was able to execute this ideals to Dapitan

Individual liberty

Rizal was able to execute this idea by providing education for anyone who
wanted to be educated. He was a private tutor and also a public teacher. By
instituting the right to education in every individual, he was able to implies
the individual liberty to education for all people regardless of class an
individual belongs.

Social Progress.

By creating cooperatives, Rizal was able to develop the skills that each
individual in Dapitan had but not fully discovered. Rizal was able to develop
the economy of agriculture.

Scientific Knowledge.

Rizal was able to develop this by examining the sources that can be found in
Dapitan. This includes the people and the sources which is the fuel of the
economy. His various scientific discovery also disclosed an ideal for a free
exchange of Scientific discoveries.

B. ) With the political structure of unity of church and state in

Rizal’s time, would Rizal has an idea to change it for the
betterment between the relationship of the church and the
state during the Spanish colonial period?

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The political structure that Rizal had envisioned in the Philippines is

one that is highly influence by his travels in Europe. I remember on one
of our lectures in this subject that Rizal was astonish by the idea of
separation of church and state in Europe. Our professor told us that Rizal
was astonish by the idea that if you questioned the authority of
government and the church in Spain, you will be praise but in the
Philippines, if you questioned the authority of the government and the
church, you will be exiled and morbidly, you can be executed. This stories
made me think of Rizal’s first encounter to the idea of liberalism. A
concept which will soon fuel his novels.

Although a firm critic of Church, Rizal praised the Catholic church for
what have they done to the country. Ironically, in the book “ Rizal
Through a Glass Darkly” by Fr. Javier De Pedro, Rizal praise the friars for
the development they have done to the Philippines. They were founders
of towns and cities, educators, builders of roads and bridges, philogist
and scientist, doctors and pharmacist, introducers of crops and farming
techniques etc.,” ( De Pedro,2005). Unfortunately, they clung to these
functions even when the Filipinos were ready to take them on by
themselves., (De Pedro,2005) ( From this fact, I was able to grasped or
to see some shed of lights from Rizal’s perspective on the position of
church and state.

My conclusion lies on Rizal’s belief that Filipinos can do what the

government do for the betterment of the country. I think that Rizal
believe that Filipinos can do what Spaniards can do in governing the land
and as a result, this will include the separation of state and church
because Rizal did not believe on some of the dogmas that the church had
imbued to the Filipinos. He did not believe in propagation of Christian
faith through fire and sword as seen in his annotation of Sucesos de las
Islas Filipinas. The idea of the unity between the church and the state is

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not and idea that Rizal want to change for the betterment of the relation
of the church and state thus, Rizal want to iterate his firm stand on the
clear separation of church and state because he believes that the
teaching of Catholic dogmas are just for a small minority the country.

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