WHY DR. JOSE RIZAL IS OUR NATIONAL HERO The findings of Ambeth Ocampo in his research about the plan of Jose Rizal to migrate to Sandakan with his persecuted family and town mates in Calamba did not lessen his greatness and his passion to gain independence for the Philippines without bloodshed. Rizal envisioned with British North Borneo official the settlement of Filipino colony in Sandakan where Rizal could write in peace. Rizal’s effective weapon in warfare was not sword or gun but his pen. Though Rizal was a polymath, none had been said about his business acumen. The Chinese blood in him showed that sacrifices in the beginning will spell success in the long run. The Chinese are known to the practice of making the least profit in every transaction but will earn more by multiplication of business dealing. Or they may lose in some but will gain in others that will make great profit at the end. If Governor General Eulogio Despujol permitted the petition of Rizal to migrate in Sandakan, the present Sabah controversy would have not happened. And Rizal could have softened Spain to grant liberal education to Filipinos in preparation to the granting of Philippine Independence. And even if the Philippines was ceded by Spain to America by virtue of the Treaty of Paris Rizal could have worked well with the American for Philippine education with eventual granting of independence without violence when the Filipinos were well prepared for self-governance. If Rizal succeeded the Philippine would not have been corrupt as it is today as the education Rizal was dreaming for the Philippines was not only knowledge of human science but more on moral education (or spiritual) that the Spanish friars failed and refused to the Filipinos. The greatness of Dr. Jose Rizal was not affected by his plan of Sandakan settlement. The status of Dr. Jose P. Rizal as our national hero was not officially proclaimed by any edict of the land. In fact no hero on any level was officially proclaimed. Though Mayor Antonio Villegas made Andres Bonifacio a hero of Manila, erected a monument for him in Plaza Lawton (renamed as Liwasang Bonifacio) and had the Postal Service designed and released a stamp with the image of Andres Bonifacio as national hero of Manila those were not official proclamation. According to the National Heroes Commission heroes should not pass through legislation as that may stir protest from other regions or sectors but must be left to the academician to appreciate. People’s acclamation of heroes is enough recognition. In fact there are criticisms for considering Jose Rizal as national hero as he refused Dr. Pio Valenzuela who was sent by Andres Bonifacio in his exile in Dapitan to join the revolution that was fighting for Philippine independence. Some even accused him of being a coward when he refused to be seized by force by Andres Bonifacio from captivity of Spanish authority before he was sentence to death. The truth was Rizal organized La Liga Filipina, a movement with the purpose of seeking reform in governance of the Philippines through the Spanish Cortes. Andres Bonifacio even joined the movement and initiated its reorganization when Rizal was arrested and exiled in Dapitan. The Liga was eventually disorganized due to division of means. The conservative wanted peaceful means while the radical led by Bonifacio wanted to take armed struggle. Rizal was opposed to bloody revolution as that will only transfer the power to slaves who will eventually become tyrants. They wanted education as the first step in seeking independence to prepare the Filipinos to govern properly and effectively. They found also the revolutionary movement lacking armament to counter superior arms of Spanish army. They have no military training thus lacking strategy on combat; as a result of which they had not won any battle but lost many lives. They had no foreign ally to support them and that was a necessity in fighting foreign aggressor. If the revolutionary movement had heart in their struggle for independence, Rizal had heart and brain. Then who among our heroes from then to the present could exceed the greatness of Rizal?
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:04:24 +0000
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