R.A. 1425 is also known as the Rizal Law

At present, we now live in a postmodern world dominated by electronic gadgets, cyber technology and robotics. Our country Philippines, in spite its status, it manage to get by with the current trend of development especially in the field of technology. It is a fact that education plays a vital role in the growth of a country, for an educated and functional population maneuvers the fate of its country and its fate as a people.

 Many tertiary students, particularly those who taking up technical such as engineering and nursing courses ask about the relevance of Rizal Course to their courses and planned career paths. As like them, I also wonder about this Law R.A 1425 which is amended that a subject Rizal is to be part in the curriculum of tertiary students which in fact that if we think about, it is only a repetition of what we had during high school. As student who taking up this subject, we can think that Rizal Law can only be a requirements for graduation or it is just a waste of money and time. And if we focused on our technical subjects we can conclude that subject Rizal is not applicable to our profession.

Because of this Law most of us students tend to be antagonistic not only to the subject but to the teacher and, worst is to Jose Rizal himself which is not a better attitude. If we able to have a conversation with several students who taking up this subject, we can traced that in general they are already unaware of our historical past. Some of us already stopped caring about it, thus making us ignorant of the good lessons we should have learned for our own good. Some of us were jus so preoccupied that we had no time to be conscious and look back to learn from the deeds and principles of the people who started shaping the destiny of our nation. On the other hand, if we disregard it or not, it is our own choice to study, to remember the life, works and writings of Rizal and applied it on our everyday’s life.

The R.A. 1425 is also known as the Rizal Law, was definitely implemented. Today it is a part of the curriculum of the tertiary students. Meanwhile, schools, colleges and universities must act in accordance with R.A. 1425 and equip their libraries with materials about Rizal. And in fact, many Filipino and foreign writers works about Rizal. But we can’t hide the fact that some are still arguing that the Rizal Law is needs to be abolished or amended. But the law is still very simple, yet it caters to the Filipinos not to hero-worship but to remember a hero who chose death for the sake of his convictions and of his country.

With regard to the Rizal Law, as a student given a power to amend, add, remove or change it, I will made no provision with it because that’s only a simple law that students must learned for our own good.

Heroism is in the blood of every Filipino

MANILA, Philippines - Heroism is in the blood of every Filipino, President Aquino said.

“I believe the blood that runs in our veins is the blood of heroes. We’re a nation of heroes. There are many ways to heroism in the present times, and there’s no need for guns or spears, no need to shed blood”.

This is only a phrase from the speech of President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino in his National Heroes’ Day message at the Libingan ng Bayani at Fort Bonifacio. As a Filipino citizen, I really appreciated the way he was able to elaborate his own will to define what heroism is.

For me; it is really true that a sense of heroism remains in our blood as a Filipino through the struggles and achievements of our heroes to set the future and destiny of the Philippines as what we had in today’s generation. If we recall in the history of our constitution, our heroes serves as a model to our fellow countrymen to risen their unconsciousness in order to fight for our freedom and justice. Our heroes aim for one goal which is for the common good of our nation and not as a servant to those foreign invaders. We had our beloved land that can provide our living, properties and people which can build independent nation that can stand alone without foreign dictators. The sense of nationalists and heroism of our heroes up raise the country from being idiots to the eyes of those colonists. Heroes lost their lives through injustice, some in battlefields, but the way they did is an act of heroism because actually they had only one goal which is to have our freedom and prosperity in our own land. Based on the heroism act of our heroes, today, it is true that heroism can be done in many ways.

Heroism can be done through simplest ways that there is no need to lose our lives. We can consider ourselves as a hero by helping our fellow countrymen, if we help each other; we are also helping our nation. We are all heroes to ourselves and to our brothers. The rampage of poverty can be ease if we will help those who are in down. No poor Filipino, no poverty, and then we can aim for a progressive country. We must be our brother’s protector and we are heroes of our nation.

Nationalism


Nationalism is  loyalty and devotion to a nation. An atttitude, feeling or belief characterized by a sense of nationalism consciousness, an exaltation of one nation above all others, and an emphasis on loyalty to and the promotion of culture and interests (as political independence) of one nation as opposed to subordanate areas or other nations and suprarational group. - F.H. Heller.


Philippine nationalism

According to Anderson (1994, 106) on the book entitled "A Nation Aborted Rizal, American Hegemony and Philippine Nationalism" states that it is caused mainly by a fundamental change in nationalist conciousness between the 1890's to 1950's and also by halting rise in Manila- after independence- of official nationalism". Later, Anderson refers to this also as "an immense subterranean shift" "a fundamental reshaping of Filipinos conception of themeselves " "a fundamental change in the imagining of the Philippines and Philippine society that started in the 1880's but reach its fruition only two generations later.


Events in 19th century that lead to the development of Philippine nationalism.

History books state that with this tragic event, Philippine nationalism was born. The assumption is that, before this date, the people did not feel they were one nation, and any sign of protest against the foreign presence that was Spain was a localized act of rebellion to which the rest of the country did not relate. -by Nati Nuguid


*The Cavite Mutiny of 1872

This event that was one of the beginning of Philippine nationalism on January 20, 1872. The Cavite Mutiny was composed of uprising of military personnel of around 200 soldiers and laborers of Fort San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in Cavite, Phlippines. Eventhough this nationalist movement was unsuccesful, it reveals the bad motives of Spanish to the Philippines that according to the scholars, it rose up the unconsciousness of Filipinos to the sense of nationalism that lead to the Philippine Revolution of 1896.


*Christian Martyrs (The execution of three Filipino priests)

Father Gomez, Father Burgos and Father Zamora were summarily tried and sentenced to death by the garrote for the Cavite arsenal revolt of January 20, 1872.The priests, who were active in the fight for the secularization (or, in effect, nationalization) of the clergy were creating trouble for the despotic Governor Rafael Izquierdo and the powerful regular religious orders in the country. By linking them with the uprising in the Cavite arsenal, whether they indeed had anything to do with it or not, the administration found a convenient way of doing away with the troublesome trio.
Were the three really involved in the uprising? The question will probably remain one of the great unsolved mysteries in the Filipinos' fight for freedom. Msgr. Meliton Martinez, Archbishop of Manila, was served a copy of the death sentences with a request that the priests be defrocked. In reply, the archbishop said he needed more convincing proof of their guilt and refused to be instrumental in effecting the crowning touch to their humiliation. Besides of this issue many people believe that this three  christian martyrs serves us one of the basis that lead to the Filipino nationalism.


*January 20, the payday revolt

From the published article in the Revue des Deux Mondes by Edmund Plauchut, one of the event that showed a sense of nationalism of Filipinos is January 20, the payday revolt, where laborers, workers, engineering and artillary corps in Cavite arsenal found out that governor Iquerdo deducted taxes from their personal payment of force labor. This causes to the revealed of ignorance to the right of Filipino workers. In this event, they are forced to mutinied and joined others who revolted.


*Rise of the Clase Media

These were the Peninsulares, the Insulares, the clase media or middle class, the Chinese and the indio. The Peninsulares, which included the Spanish friars, were the Spaniards born in Spain, ( the Iberian peninsula) and were the wealthiest and most politically powerful among the social classes. The Insulares were the Spaniards born in the Philippines. The clase media consisted of three subclasses: the Spanish mestizos or mestizos de Español; the principalia; and the Chinese mestizos or mestizos de Sangley. Because of mixing of races that more class media also Spanish was able to married indios and a smaller population of creoles in the Philippines, they were able to take some control over commerce and industry and acquire (and dispense of) a disproportionate share of wealth. Chinese mestizos who had a higher position in society. This promoted a nationalistic environment in country that serves the aimed for freedom of some Filipinos.

*Opening of the Philippines to world commerce

This event upgraded  the Philippine economy that causes a financial support to the nationalist party that gives motivation and promote nationalism to Filipinos in order to continue their aimed for the freedom.


*Opening of Suez Canal

The opening of Suez Canal lead to establishment of a regular steamship, which traveled between Manila and Europe. This was the beginning of the reformist campaign of the ilustrados. Their nationalist movement from Spain is easily reached the Philippine island that ease the difficulties of communication and secret business between the Filipino nationalist abroad in the Philippines.


*Some factors that lead to the development of Philippine nationalism


*Racial descrimination against natives in all aspects of public life
*The secular-regular conflicts
*Administration of Carlos Maria de la Torre
*Impact of European Liberalism
*Lack of government support to any commercial ang agricultural enterprise
*Constantly lessening encouragement to labor and trade that leads to poverty
*Abuse of human rights by the agencies of the states


Heroism

 For me, it refers to a characters of a person display courage and the will for self-sacrifice for the common good of all humanity. He who will face danger and adversity for the sake and some purposes.




Criteria for National Heroes - Answers.com

1.Heroes are those who have a concept of nation and thereafter aspire and struggle for the nation's freedom. Our own struggle for freedom was begun by Bonifacio and finished by Aguinaldo, the latter formally declaring the revolution's success. In reality, however, a revolution has no end. Revolutions are only the beginning. One cannot aspire to be free only to sink back into bondage.



This criteria refers to the persons who struggle for freedom of the country that created a common good to all his/her countrymen. A heroes that able to finished their objectives and success.


2. Heroes are those who define and contribute to a system or life of freedom and order for a nation. Freedom without order will only lead to anarchy. Therefore, heroes are those who make the nation's constitution and laws, such as Mabini and Recto. To the latter, constitutions are only the beginning, for it is the people living under the constitution that truly constitute a nation.


A persons that did their best in order to set their objectives. This objectives and goals that they achieved was serves as basis and benefits the country. An objective from the past that contributed to the system or life of the present generations.




3. Heroes are those who contribute to the quality of life and destiny of a nation.



They are the persons that we considered as our heroes today because they have sacrificed their own life for the sake of the country and for the people to set their own destiny for their own good.


Additional Criteria for Heroes


1. A hero is part of the people's expression. But the process of a people's internalization of a hero's life and works takes time, with the youth forming a part of the internalization.


2. A hero thinks of the future, especially the future generations.


3. The choice of a hero involves not only the recounting of an episode or events in history, but of the entire process that made this particular person a hero.


Rizal develop his sense of nationalism

Jose Rizal, the most cultured of the reformists, was born in Calamba, Laguna, on June 19, 1861, the son of Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso. A precocious child, alleged to have writtened tagalog poem at the age of eight entitled "Sa Aking Kababata" a poem that teaches love of one's own language. He studied at Ateneo Municipal and University of Sto. Tomas and in 1882 he left for Spain.
The event that developed his nationalist aspiration is even as a boy, he had already learned from observation and experience the difficulties that attended the daily life of the people. His mother became a victim of gross in justice and was imprisoned that this sad event deeply affected Rizal, that developed  his sense of nationalism who determined to work for the welfare of his country.

This is the beginning that Rizal fight for the right of Filipino people, through his writings.
He joined in a literay contest and which the supposedly superior Spaniards participated and won first prize in his work entitled "A la Juventud Filipina. Later, his allegorical play, El Consejo de los Dioses was not awarded first prize simply because he was a Filipino.

As foreseeing that his own country was under the grievances, impoverished and brutalized by Spaniards, he travelled far from his country, and looked across the seas to find its strength as will as its weaknesses. And he will be back to seek for freedom of his beloved country through his writings of awakening the unconscoiusness of his fellow countrymen.